Yugioh Gx Alice's New Family Part 20 (Patreon)

Once the party had ended Alice waited alone in her room till midnight, and then made her way over to her father’s study with her deck. When she arrived he was already there waiting for her.

“Come in,” he said before she could even knock on the door.

“Pardon the intrusion,” Alice said, slowly making her way towards his desk.

When she got close she noticed two duel disks sitting on his desk. He wheeled around in his chair to face her.

“Today was very stressful,” he said to her. “I’m sorry that I let things get that out of hand. You have my deepest apologies,” he said, bowing his head towards his daughter.

“You did nothing wrong,” Alice said back to him. “You protected both mother and I. I should be the one apologizing to you. If I wasn’t there nothing would have happened in the first place.”

“Stop,” he said to his daughter in a serious tone. “Don’t you ever think that way. You are not the problem, the people that can’t see past who you were before are. They are the ones that should apologize, not you.”

“You are the youngest daughter of the Rhodes family, you don’t have to apologize to anyone, especially not those monsters.”

“I’m sorry,” Alice said back to her father nervously. Never before has an adult told her that it wasn’t her fault. As Jaden, she was always blamed for everything, regardless of whether she did it or not.

“I know that coming here and dealing with all of this change is hard for you, so I decided to make you feel more comfortable with something you used to,” her father said, pointing to the duel disks. “Alexis and Atticus won't duel me, and you should know by now that your mother has no interest in it, but I personally love dueling.”

“In fact when I was younger I was a pro duelist in the underground circuit, known as The Gentleman. I heard you were quite the duelist yourself. Perhaps you would fancy a match with me?”

“Underground circuit? Isn’t that where they host illegal duels?” Alice had heard about the underground duel circuit but had always thought that it was nothing more than a rumor. That was until Zane came back for the Gx tournament. To actually meet someone that took part in those duels and have a chance to duel them was amazing.

“Ah, you needn’t worry, I won’t be playing by their rules. To subject you to those rules would harm my pride. Plus if I did Ariana would probably kill me. All I request is a simple duel between the two of us.”

“I am a very lighthearted player most of the time, though if I face a strong opponent I will not hold back. Though if you want to make the duel a bit more exciting, we could add a condition for the loser. Whoever wins can request one favor from the loser, which they must comply with.”

“So what do you say?” Adrian asked as he saw a smile return to his daughter's face.

“You’re on!” Alice said back to him in joy. A duel was exactly what she needed right now to relax and take her mind off what happened.