29

Joey Falls In Love

Chapter One: The Meeting

Joey and Yugi were once again looking out at the sea. They were on their way to Duelist Kingdom, a tournament of all the greatest duelists, and as they looked out at the turbulent ocean, they were each filled with their own secret, silent worries. Joey voiced one of his own fears. "Yugi, what if I don't have enough strong cards? Or enough cards period?"

"I'm sure you will, Joey." Yugi said encouragingly.

"But how do you KNOW?" Joey asked in his Brooklyn accent.

"Well, here. Take this card." Yugi answered, pulling Time Wizard out of his deck. "It will help you get out of tight spots."

"If you're giving away cards, I want one," a voice added behind them.

Joey and Yugi turned around. A woman, dressed in a tight-fitting white shirt and flowing purple skirt had strolled up next to them. Her long brown hair hung almost to her hips, and she was just a little bit shorter than Joey. She had a sharp, angular face, piercing blue eyes, and full, red lips. She paused, surveying them, and finally said in her deep, throaty voice, "I said, if you're giving away cards, I want one."

"Oh, he's not giving away cards." Joey hastily exclaimed. "Yugi's just giving me one because we're friends."

The woman looked at them with new respect. "So you're the Yugi and friend that my sister told me about."

"Your sister?!" Joey exclaimed. "She must have been that Mai Valentine person who called me a chump!"

"She called you a chump? That sounds like her. Sorry, sometimes Mai can come on a little strong, but she's good at heart." She turned to Yugi and asked, "So, you're the famous Yugi Moto? The one who beat Kaiba?"

"Uh huh, that's me." Yugi nodded. "And this is my friend Joey Wheeler."

"Nice to meet you, Yugi," she nodded, "Joey," she nodded again. "I'm Sanai. Sanai Valentine."

"Nice meeting you, Sanai." Yugi and Joey chorused. Then Joey leaned down beside Yugi and whispered, "I think she's even cuter than her hot sister!"

"I heard that," Sanai replied, amused.

"WHAT!!??" Joey exclaimed, blushing furiously.

"It's ok. Sanai said. Then, suddenly shy, she added, "I think you're cute too."

"Really?" Joey asked, shocked, while Yugi just stood there looking bemused... or possibly amused. Then an abrupt change took place. "Well, of course you do. Most girls do. I'm just so sought after," he added airily.

"I'm sure," Sanai said, her eyelashes fluttering as if there were an island breeze concentrated on her face. "So, anyway, Yugi, how did you beat Seto Kaiba? He's one of the best players in the world!"

"Well-" Yugi started.

"Oh, I can tall you all about that." Joey interrupted. He swaggered over to her, and both Yugi and Sanai were fighting not to laugh at him.

"He beat him with Exodia," said a nasally voice behind them.

"What?" the group asked as they turned to face the speaker.

"Yugi beat Seto Kaiba with Exodia, the Forbidden One," the little boy replied. He had short blue hair, and was about the same size as Yugi, which wasn't very tall. His golden-rimmed glasses gleamed up at them, and he stared at Yugi with a strange expression on his face.

"Oh, hello Weevil," Yugi said politely.

"Weevil?" Sanai asked, looking blankly from Yugi to Weevil.

Weevil got a good look at Sanai, and changed his manner completely. "I apologize, my sweet, for not making your lovely acquaintance at once." Weevil said smoothly, grabbing Sanai's hand and kissing it before she could pull away. "I am Weevil, the champion of the last duel tournament. That means I am one of the top duelists in the world," Weevil added condescendingly. "And you are?" he looked up at her.

"This," Joey said, placing an arm possessively around Sanai's shoulders, "is Sanai Valentine, my girlfriend."

Yugi looked at Sanai for a moment, waiting to see if she would yell at Joey or slap him or at least glare at him for his impertinence (obviously Yugi had been spending too much time with his Grandfather to think of using words like "impertinence") but she merely blushed prettily and allowed Joey to stake his claim.

Abruptly losing interest, Weevil turned back to Yugi. "Can I see them?" he asked.

"See what?" Yugi inquired.

"Exodia! Can I see the five cards that form Exodia, the Forbidden One!" Weevil said impatiently.

"Oh," said Yugi, reaching for his cards. "Of course. I don't see any reason why not."

"I do." Joey muttered darkly to Sanai. "I don't trust that guy. Did you see how he treated you?"

"Just because a guy hits on me, it doesn't make him evil." Sanai replied, amused. "Otherwise pretty much every guy in the world would be evil! But I do see what you mean. No honest person could change attitudes that quickly."

Meanwhile, Yugi had handed Weevil the five cards that had helped him make history; he was the first person to be able to draw all five cards in one game, the first person to be able to summon the unbeatable Exodia. "I spent the entire trip thus far thinking of a plan to beat Exodia." Weevil said, looking at the cards. "However, I couldn't think of anything… until now." Quickly, Weevil turned and threw the cards overboard.

"No!" Yugi shouted! "Not my grandfather's cards! Not Exodia!"

Sanai turned to Weevil. "How could you?" she cried, slapping him hard across the face. "How could you do that to someone who trusted you?" she asked, slapping him again. The second slap dislodged his glasses, which followed the cards into the ocean.

"My glasses!" Weevil cried.

"Serves you right!" said Sanai vindictively, but then she was distracted by a loud splash. While Sanai was looking for the cause of the splashing sound, Weevil stumbled away blindly.

"Joey!" Yugi called.

"What?" Sanai exclaimed, rushing beside Yugi. She peered overboard, the rail pressing into her, and saw Joey swimming beside the boat.

"I'll rescue your cards, Yugi!" he shouted up at them.

"Joey, no!" Yugi cried. "You don't have to do this!"

Grabbing a floating card, Joey called, "I got one!"

"Joey, come back!" Sanai cried. "It's not worth it! The boat will leave you behind!"

"I got another one!" Joey cried, ignoring all protests from above. "Just three more to go!" Then, in a quieter voice, he added, "It's… so… cold."

"Joey, NO!!!" Sanai shouted down at him. "Come back!"

"I've… almost… got it!" Joey panted, and then sank into the dark ocean.

With an anguished cry, "Joey!" Sanai slumped down against the rail, sobbing uncontrollably. Then, she heard another splash, and once more peered overboard. "Yugi!" she cried, for Yugi had jumped into the sea to save Joey! Yugi pulled Joey's head out of the water so he could breathe, but Joey was too big for him, and Sanai knew that if she didn't act soon, neither of them would survive.

She jumped up, calling for help. "Joey and Yugi have fallen overboard! Help, someone! Please, they won't last much longer!"

Suddenly, a tall girl with short brown hair came running out of an alcove, quickly followed by an even taller guy with the same color brown hair. Then Sanai saw what they were carrying behind them.

"A ladder!" she cried. "Take it over here!" she called over her shoulder as she rushed to the spot where Yugi frantically paddled to stay afloat.

Lowering the ladder, the new girl called, "Yugi, Joey! Climb onto the ladder. We'll help pull you up!"

Sanai didn't waste breath talking. She merely pulled with all her might. Slowly but surely the ladder began to rise. Finally, with one last heave, Sanai and the two other people pulled Joey and Yugi on board.

Sanai immediately ran over to Joey. Kneeling beside him, she put her arms around him, and hugged him tightly. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"I think so. Just c-c-cold." Joey replied.

"Good." Sanai said. Then she slapped him, but not very hard. "Now don't you EVER do a thing like that again, do you here me? EVER!!!" she shouted at him.

"Ok, ok," Joey answered meekly.

Then Sanai turned to the two people who had helped them during the rescue. "Thank you, both of you, for helping me save Yugi and Joey."

"No problem," the girl answered. "They're our friends too. My name is Tea, and-"

"And I'm Tristan!" Tristan said, jumping up and bowing. "It's always a pleasure to help out a lovely lady such as yourself. What is your name?"

"I'm Sanai Valentine," she replied.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman." Tristan replied gallantly.

"I think there's something you should know," Sanai said, amused.

"Shhh. No need to speak. I know what you're going to say. We connect. It's love at first sight." Tristan interrupted.

At this, Joey woke up out of his half-daze. "Actually," he said pointedly to Tristan, "what I th-think that Sanai was g-going to tell you i-i-is that she's my g-g-girlfriend!"

"What???" Tea and Tristan chorused.

"I'm afraid Joey's got the right of it."

"Since when?" Tristan asked.

"That's a good question. I was there, and I'm still not sure," Yugi responded.

Joey glared. "IV'E got a good question," he proclaimed. "WHY in the world did you bring a LADDER to the side of the boat? Does the term "life preserver" mean anything to you?"

"Well, why did you and Yugi jump into the ocean?" Tea inquired.

"Well, it'll t-take a lot of e-e-explaining." Yugi started.

"Which we will do in my room" Sanai said firmly. "You two need to get warm and dry, which you should be able to do in the private room my sister is winning from Rex Raptor."

"Your s-sister is dueling R-rex Raptor?" Joey asked incredulously. "I'm sure sh-she's good, b-but he's one of the b-best duelists in the c-country. Are you sh-sure she'll w-win?" he asked, teeth chattering.

"My sister's really good." Sanai assured him, and then, with a look at the shivering Joey, increased her pace.

As they approached the part of the ship with private suites, they saw a figure on slumped on the floor. When they came closer, they heard Mai saying, "Here's your stuff, thanks for the room, stay out for the rest of the trip." Joey's mouth dropped open at the sight of Rex Raptor, runner up of the last duelist tournament, sitting on the floor with her stuff scattered around him.

"Rex, you l-lost to M-Mai!?" Yugi asked in disbelief. Rex ignored him, and shoved Tea aside as he stormed off.

"Some people are just sore losers." Sanai said, shrugging. Opening the door, she called, "Mai, I'm back, and I brought some friends. They took a little dip; does this room have any towels?"

"Yeah," Mai called from the bathroom. "Let me get some. Does this ship have a pool?"

"Not exactly," Sanai answered.

"Then how did they get wet?" Mai asked. "Where are those towels?" she muttered to herself.

"That's what I'd like to know." Tea said.

"Oh, here they are!" Mai exclaimed. "How many friends did you-" then she caught a good look at Sanai's new friends.

"Well. Yugi and the chump, plus two. We meet again, a bit sooner than I expected. How did you pick up these friends?" Mai asked Sanai.

"I think that there is going to be a lot of explaining going on all around, but the first order of business is to get Yugi and Joey dry. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't call my boyfriend a chump." Sanai said.

"Your boyfriend?" Mai asked.

"Not for long." Tristan muttered.

"Who are you?" Mai asked Tristan. "And who are you?" she asked, turning to Tea.

"And what is this?" Yugi asked, pulling something out of his navy blue boot.

"Mai, Joey, Yugi, Tea, and Tristan." Sanai said, pointing to each in turn. "And those," she said, pointing to the item that Yugi was holding up, "are Weevil's glasses. They must have gotten caught in your boot. Good thing, too. It wouldn't have been very nice of us to leave him blind for the rest of the tournament. Now help me get these two dry before they get sick!"

"Of course!" said Tristan, jumping up. "I'll do anything to help you out, Sanai." He immediately grabbed a towel and started to dry off Yugi. Mai joined Sanai in drying off Joey, and Tea went to help Tristan.

When everyone was dried off to Sanai's satisfaction, they all sat on the big bed of the suite. "Now, what should we explain first?" Sanai asked, glancing around.

"How did Joey get a girl like you to date him?!" Tristan asked immediately.

"Yes, how did that chump manage to catch my sister?" Mai asked.

"Joey" Sanai said pointedly to Mai, "Yugi, and I met just a little bit ago, out on the deck. Yugi had just given Joey a card, and…" Sanai proceeded to explain everything that had just occurred.

When she finished, Mai got up and said, "I'm going to give that little Weevil a piece of my mind."

"Will you give him his glasses too?" Yugi asked, holding up the wet, slightly bent pair. Everyone stared at him. "What? It's not like he deserves it or anything, but he can't duel without his glasses."

'And I want Yugi to beat the little twerp, WITHOUT Exodia!" Joey added.

"Sure." Mai said. She went out the door, asking the first available male she saw, "Did an observant man like yourself happen to see…"

Sanai shut the door, and then returned to her new friends. "Now what I'd like to know is how all of you met. You don't seem like you would get along well together; you're all so different, but you're acting like good friends." she said.

"Well," Joey began, "Tristan and I met Yugi at the same time. We were having a little fun, teasing him, and-"

"Teasing me?" Yugi asked. "You threw a piece of my Millennium Puzzle into the pool!"

"Well, I went and got it afterwards!" Joey said defensively.

"So this whole jumping into water to save Yugi's stuff thing… it's happened before?"

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid." Joey said.

"Only when I say it like that?" Sanai asked. The group laughed, and then Joey continued on with his story.

When Joey finished, Tea told her story, and then Sanai had only one final question. "What is a Millennium Puzzle?"

The group glanced at each other. "Should we tell her?" Yugi asked.

"I think we should." Joey said.

"Me too!" Tristan added.

'I don't know why, but she fits." Tea said. "It's like," she paused, searching for the right words to convey her feeling of certainty that Sanai belonged with them. "Well, you know how we're all friends?" she asked.

Everyone nodded, and Tea continued while Sanai waited apprehensively. "We're a team, a group… a- a circle. And our circle wasn't complete until Sanai came. We belong together. It's almost like fate, like we've known each other before."

"I agree." Yugi said. "Tea's right. Sanai is part of us. It was meant to be."

Joey looked around at everyone. "So it's unanimous? Sanai's part of us?" Everyone nodded.

"Do the words 'Anam Cara mean anything to you?" Sanai asked? Everyone looked confused. "Never mind."

"Well, anyway, Sanai, I guess Yugi should tell you about the Millennium Puzzle."

And Yugi did. The new circle of friends continued to talk and laugh and bond even tighter as the ship sailed ever closer to Duelist Kingdom, and the tournament.