Tragic Duel Chapter 1

There was a large crowd outside the Kaiba Corporation Tokyo headquarters. Just last week Seto Kaiba had announced that he would be holding one last duelist tournament before the construction of his new dueling school began. This tournament was partially held to seek out potential students, but it was also Kaiba's last planned publicity stunt before the project actually started.

The crowd outside the building was nothing compared to the line of duelists on the inside that circled around the large entrance room multiple times. On the very outside ring stood Jonouchi, wishing he had gotten there earlier. The announcement Kaiba had made stated that the doors would be opening for registration at seven in the morning, and so that is exactly when Jonouchi arrived. He had not thought that there would have been a crowd of duelists that had been waiting since the night before.

"Ugh," Jonouchi whined along with his stomach. "Why didn't I think to come earlier?" Jonouchi bent down as the pain in his stomach grew.

"Get up," he heard a familiar voice order as he stared at the floor. "You look pathetic hunched over like that."

"But I'm so hungry!"

"Here," a manicured hand waved a power bar in front of Jonouchi's face.

"Thanks!" Jonouchi grabbed the food as he shot up into a standing position. There he could see his friend standing in front of him. "Mai!"

Mai smiled back.

"What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I'm going to win Kaiba's last duelist tournament."

"That's not what I mean. I mean, you would have been one of the people who came here before the doors opened. So why aren't you farther up in line?"

"Oh. Went for a bathroom break and the whole place was flooded with duelists when I came back out."

"Oh, today just is not your day then."

"Clearly."

"Hey, did you hear about the prize the winner gets? Apparently whoever wins the tournament gets three rare cards. I wonder how rare they are though."

"Depends on who makes it to the final four."

"Huh?"

"I overheard Kaiba talking about it. He said that the winner of the tournament gets to keep the rarest card of the each of the losers' decks. That must be why the registration is being held like this, so Kaiba and his committee can decide if you have a rare enough card to be worth playing for."

"I see." The line moved slowly as Jonouchi and Mai talked about what they had been doing since they saw each other the last time at Duelist Kingdom. It was almost three-o-clock before either of them made it to the front of the line. Jonouchi was first.

"Next up," Mokuba was announcing to Seto and the other committee member, "is Jonouchi Katsuya."

"No," Seto immediately cast his vote.

"Kaiba!" Jonouchi protested "Don't just say 'no' before I even get a chance!"

"Once a vote is cast you can't take it back."

"Well I vote yes." Mokuba countered.

"Take that back."

"Can't"

"Well I for one," the unknown committee member began, "would like to know just what rare card this young man holds."

"Red Eyes Black Dragon," Jonouchi announced proudly as he pulled the card from his deck.

"Oh, could I have a look?" Jonouchi brought the card over to the older man, who then took it and examined it closely. "It's in great condition. You rarely find any card that looks as new as this one without having been in a package moments ago."

"I've had Red Eyes for years."

"Impressive how well you've taken care of it. I vote yes."

"Congratulations Jonouchi," Mokuba said, "You've made it into the KC tournament at sea."

"Crap," Seto muttered.

"Haha," Jonouchi chanted as he took the manila folder that was handed to him and walked out of the room. It did not take him long to sniff out the breakfast bar that had been set up for the duelists who made it into the tournament. As he was preparing to gorge himself with a plate piled high with sweets, Mai walked in. Jonouchi waved.

"I see you made it in too." Jonouchi commented with a pastry in his mouth.

"Of course." Mai responded as if his comment was too obvious. "Hey, how did she get through there so fast?"

Jonouchi looked up to see a tall girl with her long bright red hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing tight fitting jeans that had been cut off at the knee, a plain white t-shirt and a black leather vest that matched her black leather hat.

"Was that the girl who was standing behind us?" Jonouchi wondered, since she looked slightly familiar.

"Yes, she went in right after me. They decided on her pretty quick if she's down here already."

"She must have a good card then."

"I wonder just what it is. We should go ask her." Without waiting for a response, Mai grabbed Jonouchi by the collar of his shirt and headed towards the food table where the redheaded girl was standing.

"Hey there" both Mai and Jonouchi greeted at once.

"Hi," the girl coldly responded.

"My name is Jonouchi, this is Mai we came to wish you luck!"

"Thanks."

"What's your name?" Mai asked.

"Crystal."

"That sounds like an American name. Where are you from?"

"California." the girl who never looked up from the food table was not willing to give a more-than-one-word answer. She grunted at any open-ended question intending to blow them off. After a while, Jonouchi and Mai realized that Crystal had no intention on talking to them any further.

"She seems nice." Jonouchi sarcastically commented after sitting down with a mouth full of food.

"Maybe she's just shy." Mai defended.

"She doesn't seem like the shy type."

"Attention duelists," Kaiba's voice rang over the intercom, "we will now be boarding the KC Cruiser for the start of the tournament. Any necessary information and the key to you room along with your duelist tag have been provided in the envelopes that were handed to you. Please keep your tag visible on your person at all times. The KC Cruiser will be leaving in one hour."

As soon as Kaiba ended his announcement, the crowd of duelists frantically started moving towards the exit, each one scrambling to get a hold of their tags.

"Nervous?" Mai asked Jonouchi as they were boarding.

"A little. You?"

"Not really. I'm excited, I haven't been on a cruise ship in such a long time."

"Yeah, me either. I hope I don't get seasick. Also wish Yugi would have showed up."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, but I haven't ever been in a tournament where he wasn't there to support me. And since only duelists and staff are aloud on the boat, Shizuka and the others won't be here to cheer me on."

"Well you have me, as long as we're not dueling each other or at the same time, I'll come to cheer you on."

"Thanks, Mai. I'll cheer for you too." With that being said, they boarded the ship and set sail.