Onward to Sunnydale

By Tru Faith and Yugi-Redwall-fan

"Did ya hear about the knew duelin' tournament goin' on in Sunnydale, California, USA? For once I got an invite!" Joey held up his letter proudly.

"Yeah, I got an invite too!" Yugi exclaimed excitedly. He shuffled through his cards, looking for his particular favorites.

"And of course, we're going to have to sneak on the plane or something. Just like Duelist Kingdom." Tristan sighed.

"Unless if we don't go…" Tea started.

"How could you even think of that? Yugi and Joey need our support!" Tristan reasoned angrily.

"Well…it's just, I've heard about Sunnydale…you know, I read and all that…" Tea started.

"All the time." Tristan interrupted.

"And I read about what goes on around there. People go missing all the time. There are countless deaths. And…" Once again Tea was interrupted.

"And there's also a duel tournament going on, but if you want to stay here all alone, and not be there for Yugi and Joey, then go right ahead. I'm not stopping you. You're the one who came up with these." He held up his hand, and even though their friendship mark had been erased, they new what he meant.

"Alright, I'll go."

*~*~*

"Xander, tell me again why you joined this tournament?" Buffy asked annoyed. "And what exactly is a duel? A duel of what? I've been in duel's, I know this, is it like a death thing? What were you thinking? You could-" She was cut off by Xander.

"Okay, Buff, I know what I'm getting into, they're just cards that kinda…could…make you lose your soul, but still, I heard this from a friend, and he says it's a really good game." Xander told her confidently.

"And what's this friend's name?" Buffy crossed her arms.

After a few minutes Xander answered meekly, "The internet…"

"Since when do you use the internet?" Willow asked with interest,

"Since you told me to enter the world of the future!" Xander replied with a weak grin. "What better way than the internet?"

Cordelia, who had obviously been eavesdropping, entered the conversation. "Oh god, my boyfriend's a computer geek…" She then turned to Willow. "No offense."

"Well, I heard about these weird dueling tournaments. They use monsters to fight." Willow added, ignoring Cordy, who decide to speak up again.

"Weird and monsters…gee Buffy, I'm surprise you never heard of this dueling stuff." Cordy directed at the Slayer.

Buffy glared at Cordy for a moment before shrugging. "Well, maybe Giles knows something about it. I'm pretty sure weirdness and monsters is Giles-territory."

Xander slouched, "Why does everything I do nowadays hafta do with monsters?"

Buffy glanced at Xander sympathetically. "Sorry, Xand. But that's kinda what happens when you live on a hell mouth."

He sighed. "Just kill me now…"

*~*~*

"Sneaking into the plane. Shouldn't be as hard as sneaking onto a boat, right?" Tristan asked no one in particular nervously.

"I'm not so sure about that Tristan…" Yugi replied.

"It's easy!" Joey exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. "You sneak past security, where they first take your luggage, then you go into the cargo hold. Easy as pie."

"Really difficult pie." Tristan muttered.

"Someone should distract the guard." Joey added. Everyone looked at Yugi.

"Me? Why me?" Yugi complained.

"Because. You're the small and innocent here. They'll be sure to believe you!" Joey replied simply.

"Okay…" Yugi responded unsure.

"Alright then, go! Now!" Joey urged Yugi.

"Are you sure this'll work?" Tea shifted in her spot nervously.

"Like I said before Tea! Easy as pie!" Joey replied confidently.

Yugi walked up to the two guards, looking around frantically. "You have to help me! My dog ran out of his cage before we could get him to the terminal! You have to help me!" He wailed, flailing his arms around, trying to get the guards attention.

"It's okay kid, we'll help you find your dog. What does he look like?" One of the guards asked.

"Well…he's uh…a white dog…with ah…black spot on his…ear." Yugi told them as his friends ran behind the guard's backs to where the plane was being loaded. Joey waved for him to hurry up. "Um…oh! There he is! Over there!" He pointed somewhere off to the right, then dashed behind the guards and ran out. "Hurry, they might realize that I snuck out here!" The two friends ran behind one of the wheels of the plane, making sure none of the luggage carriers were around. "Where's Tea and Tristan?" Yugi asked.

"They boarded already I guess." Joey replied unsure. They then went up the ramp to the lower luggage compartment. Only minutes later, the ramp to the luggage compartment closed on them.

"Told ya! Easy as pie!" Joey exclaimed proudly. Tristan smacked him upside the head. "Whaddya do dat for?"

"That was for this and other stupid ideas you may have while we're in Sunnydale." Tristan replied.

"It wasn't stupid. It worked, didn't it?" Joey asked.

"Would you normally sneak onto a luggage compartment of an airplane?" Tristan asked.

"Uh…maybe?" Joey responded uncertainly.

"My point exactly." With that, the airplane took off.

*~*~*

"Dueling…Monsters?" Giles asked, mildly interested.

"In CARDS. I mean, really, how is that possible?" Buffy asked, still unconvinced.

Oz shrugged. "Maybe they're tiny, flat monsters." They all stared in bewilderment. "It SOUNDED convincing in my head."

"Giles, I'm really not liking this. Are they like 'maim and torture' monsters? Or what do they do?" Buffy started with a serious tone.

"Guys! All they do is duel. They're DUELING MONSTERS." Xander shouted. "Cards! Nothing dangerous."

"Yes, non-dangerous cards which cause the occasional losing of your soul! See above, RE: Angel!" Buffy shouted back. "I don't want you to end up like that."

"She's right! If you end up like Angel, I'll be Buffy! Do you realize what that could do to my reputation? It's bad enough people know we're going out." Cordelia interrupted. Typical Cordy. Making a serious situation about her.

"Well would research help? Maybe they have like some ancient books on it." Willow chimed in.

"Will, we can't do the research thing now. Snyder's giving us the 'privilege' of showing our new exchange students the grand tour of SD." Buffy droned on. Xander sighed with relief. Buffy turned to him. "You're coming, too, card-boy."

*~*~*

"So, this is what Sunnydale is like huh? Quiet, small. Sunny. What do you think Big Brother?" Mokuba looked up at Kaiba.

"I think this place is just a cheap excuse for a town. If I wanted to, I could own every single company in this town. Which are probably few and cheap." Kaiba frowned. "If this wasn't duel monsters, I'd turn this place down."

"I wonder where those people are that we have to meet. Did you get their names?" Mokuba asked.

"No, and I don't really care either. Pft, show us around. I can find my own way around." Kaiba answered stubbornly.

"Look over there!" Mokuba pointed over to a black haired teenager holding a sign saying 'Exchange Students!' next to a short blonde girl and a red-haired girl. "I think that's them!"

"Great." Kaiba answered sarcastically. They walked over to the three.

"Um, are you guys the exchange students?" Willow asked.

"No, we're the air pilots." Kaiba replied sardonically. "Of course we are."

"Sorry for the name shortage. Our principal didn't really tell us who we were picking up." Buffy apologized. "So, what are your names?"

"I'm Mokuba Kaiba! And this is my big brother Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed excitedly.

"Just call me Kaiba." Seto Kaiba said, annoyed.

"I'm Xander. And this is Willow and Buffy." Xander introduced the two. A slight smirk crossed Kaiba's face.

"Buffy?" He asked, a snicker rising in his voice. Buffy closed her fist, tempted to punch him across the face. Something about him reminded her of someone, and she didn't like him at all.

"Where are we gonna find these people?" Joey asked Yugi, looking around frantically.

Tea, being the more observant one, pointed to where Kaiba, Mokuba, Buffy and friends were at. "Maybe over there near Kaiba and Mokuba?"

"What? Kaiba? Where?" Joey looked around even more frantically. "Why da heck is he here?" He asked angrily, spotting them. Without another word, he stalked angrily towards the group, Yugi, Tristan, and Tea not far behind.

"Seto! Look!" Mokuba pointed out Yugi and his friends coming towards them, Joey in the lead. "It's Yugi and his friends!"

"What is that mutt doing here? It surely can't be for the tournament. That 3rd rate duelist doesn't stand a monkey's chance." Kaiba smirked.

"Wait. You don't by any chance mean the duelist tournament…would you?" Buffy asked.

"Of course. I'm world champion of the game." Kaiba smirked proudly.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god…" Xander repeated over and over under his breath.

Buffy smiled cryptically thinking she finally why these people had actually come here. "Ever wonder why they put something that bit in a small little hell hole like this?"

"Hell hole?" Joey asked coming up behind them.

"Heh, speaking of hell…" Willow started.

Once they all gathered around Buffy started to speak again. "Duelists. Welcome to the Hell Mouth."