Prologue: Tickets for Eight

Another day at Domino's High School was about to start. In the meantime, kids were sitting around the room, finishing up some last minute homework, or playing some card games before class started.

On the side of the room, Yugi and Téa had turned two desks around to face each other and were now involved in a simple game of Duel Monsters while Tristan and Bakura stood by their desks and watched. Kaiba sat a little bit away, involved in a book and ignoring that which was going on around him.

"Sorry, Téa," Yugi smiled as he placed another monster card down on his side, "but this attack brings your life points down to zero."

Téa sighed and started gathering her cards back up. "It figures-I should have known better than to duel with you, King of Games."

Yugi turned red. "Thanks, but it's not just me, Téa-my wins are a joint effort on the Pharaoh and my part."

Thanks, partner, the Pharaoh told him in his mind.

Tristan looked up and around the room. "Hey, does anybody know where Joey is?" he asked. "If he doesn't get here soon, he's gonna be late."

"You say that like it's an abnormal thing," Kaiba muttered to himself.

Just then, Joey Wheeler came into the room. He had a strangely ecstatic look on his face and was almost jumping with joy as he went over to the others, waving eight tickets in his hand.

"Goood morning, everyone!" he cried out happily.

The others stared at him. "Joey, are you okay?" Tristan asked. "You're acting even weirder than you look."

Almost instantly the grin on Joey's face vanished. "Ey, watch what you say ta me, man," he snapped, "'cause if ya make me mad, den I just might not let ya have one a dese." He waved the tickets in Tristan's face.

"What are those for?" Bakura asked.

Joey grinned with delight. "Oh, I was just headin' ta school when I saw one a dose street lottery games an decided to give it a whirl…an lucky me managed ta get de grand prize."

"A new brain?" Kaiba said.

Joey whipped around and yelled at him, "WAS I TALKIN' TA YOU?!"

Kaiba merely smirked in reply.

Joey turned back to his friends and grinned, "I have, in my hand right here, eight tickets for a five day trip to…HAWAII!"

Everyone stared up at him in shock. "Are you serious?!" Yugi cried.

"Yep."

Tristan put one arm around Joey's neck and said with a sheepish grin, "Joey…buddy…pal…you know I didn't really mean what I just said, right?"

"Maybe I will if ya buy me lunch for de next two weeks," Joey replied, grinning back at him.

Tristan stared. "Aw, man…" he sighed.

Joey handed out tickets to Yugi, Téa, Bakura, and a glaring Tristan. "I tought dat dis would be a really nice way ta finally get a vacation from all a de…ya know…tings we hafta take care of," he said.

Tristan stared at him and slapped a hand to his forehead. "Aw, man, did you have to say that? Now you've jinxed us!"

"What? It's not like since I say it dat means it's gonna happen," Joey cried.

Téa looked down at her ticket with saddened eyes. "Maybe that wouldn't really matter…" she murmured. "It seems like no matter where we go, there's always somebody there who needs our help…whether we'd want it or not…"

"Téa?"

She looked up, startled to see that Pharaoh had taken over for Yugi. He smiled reassuringly at her and said, "Come now, there's no need to worry. We will have time to actually enjoy ourselves while we're on vacation, and even if, perhaps, we do end up finding someone who needs our assistance, I'm certain that it won't be anything we can't handle, okay?"

Téa smiled wanly. "Thanks, Pharaoh."

Pharaoh looked up at Joey and said, "Joey, perhaps we should take caution and give the other three tickets to the others in our, um, group."

Joey stared at him. "Aw, man, you're not sayin'-"

Before he could finish, a folded-up piece of paper knocked against his shoe. He reached down, picked it up, and opened it.

"What does it say?" Pharaoh asked.

"'Absolutely not'," Joey read. He turned and looked back at Kaiba, who was still reading but had a nastier scowl on his face now.

"Well, if that's what he wants then it's quite all right, but I do hope he realizes that if something happens, he would most likely be forced to come down anyway and make others around him wonder why he's leaving under such suspicious circumstances-and I'm certain that Hawaii would allow for access to computers," Pharaoh replied.

There was a pause for a moment. Another folded up paper slid up to Joey's shoe. He picked it up, unfolded it, and read: "'Give it to me'."

Joey looked around to make sure none of the other kids in the room were watching, then took a ticket, held it up, and let it flutter down onto Kaiba's desk. Kaiba quickly moved his book in front of it and used one hand to slip the ticket into his pocket.

Joey handed another ticket to Pharaoh and said, "Dis one's for Gramps, but how are we gonna get de last one ta Spencer?"

"Hmm…well, perhaps if those particular three are watching us at this moment, which I'm certain they are, then maybe they would be willing to let him know about it?"

The ticket suddenly vanished right out of Joey's hand in a swirl of black and white sparks. We'll do better than that, D.M.'s voice replied in their heads. We'll give it right to him; we're certain he'd love to take a tropical vacation from his kingly duties.

"Awright, nice," Joey grinned. "Even if a certain someone is coming," he looked back and glared at Kaiba, "notin's gonna be able ta ruin dis vacation now!"

"Oh great," Tristan murmured, "now we're doubly jinxed-the vacation's doomed."

"Aw, c'mon, man," Joey rolled his eyes. "Quit bein' so negative-in fact, I'm gonna betcha a bunch a yen dat notin's goin' ta happen!"

It was the middle of the day on the island of Hawaii. The golden sun was shining down on the tan sand and the deep blue ocean, letting it sparkle as though little diamonds were floating on top. A gentle breeze went through the palm trees, shaking the milk-filled coconuts they carried just slightly. It was a perfect day for one to swim, relax, or perhaps to take a hike around one of the famous Hawaiian volcanoes.

On the volcano known as Kilauea, widely renowned as the site of the formerly molten, golden strands of Pele's hair, one who was walking around the place would have seen a very strange sight: Lying on a Pele's hair formation was a beautiful young Hawaiian girl with flowing black hair, deep black eyes, and perfectly tanned skin wearing a red tank top, grassy Hawaiian skirt, red flowers around her neck and another one in her hair. Her hands were behind her head, and she let out a small sigh as the breeze blew through her hair. "Wonderful day…" she murmured.

Suddenly, a chill came into the breeze. The shock of it sent her bolting upwards to see that a bunch of ice crystals had suddenly appeared in front of her, strangely unaffected by the blazing hot sun. The crystals came together and transformed into another beautiful young woman with dark blue hair, blue eyes, and creamy skin wearing a white evening gown with a furry white jacket, white boots trimmed with fur, and fuzzy white earmuffs.

"Hello there, Pele," the woman in white grinned nastily at her.

Pele glared angrily at her, and her outline glowed with a fiery red light. "What are you doing here, Poliahu?"

"Oh, nothing…" Poliahu replied, examining her painted white nails. "I just wanted to let you know that your time as goddess of volcanoes is about to be up."

"Oh, really?" Pele commented, getting up and folding her arms. "And what exactly makes you think that?"

Poliahu grinned and reached into her jacket pocket. She pulled out a large, beautiful stone that sparkled with all of the colors of the rainbow as the sunlight shone down on it.

Pele's eyes widened with horror. "It's…it's…"

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Poliahu grinned. "It's your family's Makua Stone, as I'm sure you know. Your oldest sister was kind enough to give it to me-she's still pretty ticked about you making out with her boyfriend thousands of years ago." She held the stone out at Pele. "I'm curious to see how it works-and I think I'll find out by using it on YOU!"

A white light shot out of the stone; before it could hit Pele, however, she suddenly transformed into a pool of lava which quickly slid down Pele's hair and all the way down and off of the volcano.

Poliahu grinned as she watched the lava flow off of the volcano and out of sight. "Yeah, run you pathetic excuse of a goddess," she sneered, "but sooner or later those nice little volcanic powers of yours will be mine."