Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, but if I did, we'd have an uncut, subbed version of BOTH series in the USA, an English translation of the manga, and cuddly little Yugi dolls with brushable hair...*crosses fingers*...
Author's Note: This is a revised version of chapter one! Really, I didn't change it at all except that I've done a bit of reorganizing, and added the following:
Summary: After Yugi defeats Pegasus, he returns home only to find that he's been invited to yet another tournament! But before the tournament even starts, there's trouble awaiting him and his friends. What is the connection between seemingly incongruous people and events? What do the tournament's organizers want with Anzu? With Yugi? Will their friendships survive a series of ultimate trials? And most importantly, will Yugi and Anzu, and Jou and Mai, ever get over themselves and admit how they feel for one another?
If you're a fan of Yugi/Yami, Anzu (Téa), Jounouchi (Joey), Bakura, or Honda (Tristan) (!), you will love this story! If you like Mai and Kaiba, you'll love it in later chapters! All characters will make appearances by the time this thing gets done. Promise!
Non-yaoi, no Mary Sues. But it does have just about everything you love in a fanfiction, and definitely all you love about YGO! 100% of your daily Vitamin IC needs. =D
You May Have Already Won!
By Kvaedi
Adventure One: Days of Disaster
Chapter One - Via Dal Vecchio Castello
*takes place at the end of the Duelist Kingdom arc, before another set of stories starts up.
Yugi was thrilled to be back home again, at last. Although he was completely exhausted--as though anyone had done anything other than party after that victory--he felt so relieved, so happy. He had his grandfather back, and now everyone was heading home to sleep. The night sky was clear overhead, and he stared up at the stars, his hands in his pockets, as they waited for a cab. The crisp wind blew his yellow bangs in front of his glassy purple eyes. 'What an adventure,' he thought, his mind wandering...his eyelids began to close...
Jounouchi gave him a clap on the back that nearly knocked his lungs out his nose. "'Ey, Yug', smell ya later, eh?"
"Um, yeah, smell you tomorrow, too, Jou," said Yugi, recovering his balance. Honda and Jou looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
"So, what perfume ya gonna wear?" Honda asked, fluttering his eylashes. The two began to scuffle.
"Wiseass...I oughtta..." grumbled Jou.
Sugoroku, Yugi's grandfather, began to laugh. "I think my grandson needs some rest, and this cabbie doesn't look like he'll wait forever. Come on, Anzu, we'll take you home with us, so you don't have to ride with those walking hormones."
"Who ya callin' a hormone?" demanded Honda and Jou, as Sugoroku, Yugi, and then Anzu squeezed into the cab's back seat.
"Probably you, perfume-boy," chided Honda.
"Oh YEAH?"
"Let's see, I bet you wear...Obsession!"
"Huh? I don' even know what dat is! What the hell are you talkin' about?" Jou demanded, his fists up.
"I would have thought he was more of a Polo Sport man myself," offered Bakura, smiling sideways.
"Hey, you stay out of this!" Jou howled.
"My mom has plenty of perfume, if you're out, Jou."
"That girl Mai has even more. I'd wager she'd be a dear if you asked her nicely," offered Bakura.
"That DOES it! I'm gonna make you regret you ever crossed me!" Jou shouted.
Yugi's face was beet red. He watched Jou and Honda argue for a minute, then waving goodbye to his friends, he slumped against the torn leather seat of the taxi. It smelled like gym socks, hamster cages, and week-old sashimi.
"Where to?" barked the driver, blowing yellow tendrils of smoke from his mouth and nose. A fat stogie with two inches of ash at the end (defying gravity) hung from his blackened lip, and his equally blackened fingers adjusted the fare meter. Static crackled from the broken speakers of the radio. Sugoroku barked back at the man, and the cab lurched forward into the street, cutting off three people and frightening pedestrians.
Yugi cringed at the noise and coughed on the smoke. This guy was worse than the weird foreign cabbies, and smarmy like Bandit Keith. Only, Bandit Keith had some charm. Yugi retreated further into the cushion, blushing deeper as his leg came close to brushing Anzu's next to him.
She yawned and stretched, smiling at him. "Wow, Yugi," she said. "I don't think I've been this tired since..." she paused. "You know, I think I'm too tired to remember."
"I know what you mean, Anzu. I can hardly even keep my eyes open!" Yugi confessed. He looked over at her, but she was already asleep. A silly grin spread across his face, without him realizing it.
Yugi heard his grandfather chuckle. "What, Grandpa?" he asked.
Sugoroku just winked at Yugi, giving him a huge thumbs-up. "You two must have gotten pretty close in the Duelist Kingdom, eh, Yugi?" He winked again.
Yugi looked embarrassed. As a matter of fact, he'd gotten closer to all his friends, but none in "that way." He thought about Anzu for a minute, and found his thoughts wandering. Sugoroku shook his head. The driver adjusted his mirror, and cut in front of an ambulance. Yugi dozed off with a siren blaring in his ears.
He awoke with a start as the driver pulled up in front of Anzu's house. Even Sugoroku was asleep. Immediately he noticed the mirror. The driver's cold eye stared back at him, but Yugi could clearly see that the man was looking at Anzu. He felt a twinge of anger, and energy coming from his puzzle, but he suppressed it. The driver spoke.
"It's her stop. Pay up." He pointed to the ungodly sum on the fare meter. Yugi reached for his grandpa's wallet, and pulled out some notes.
"Oh, I'm home!" Anzu said, waking up. "Bye Yugi, Grandpa!" She hugged Yugi and then hopped out of the cab, skipping up to her front door.
"Bye, Anzu," said Yugi, and turned to pay. The cabbie took the money, but stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it. He was staring out the window. Sugoroku let out a loud snore, and the cabbie drove again. Now Yugi was awake, and he watched the man in the mirror all the way to the game shop. There he paid his and Sugoroku's fare, and he woke the old man up.
"Great to be home!" the old man pronounced. They stood in front of the door to the Turtle Game Shop, the sign reading "Out to Lunch", and the corner of an envelope peeking out of the old-fashioned mail slot. Yugi watched the cab drive away, his lower eyelid twitching, his hand on his puzzle. Sugoroku noticed. "Something wrong?"
"That man gave me a strange feeling...like the others I've met, who hid their true nature..."
"Well, I have no idea what you're talking about. Besides, no need to worry about him now! Let's have a look and see how the shop held up while we were away."
"Right, Grandpa!" Yugi felt better already. He took the key to the shop from his pocket and opened the door--
And fell into a pile of mail as tall as he was.
"Yugi! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, and look at this," he said, laughing and holding up a "Publisher's Clearing House" mailing. "You may have already won! Three million dollars!"
Sugoroku laughed. "Now that's going in the shop window! Let's get this mess cleaned up, first." Yugi nodded.
As he dug through the pile, Yugi began talking rapidly. "Just look at all this mail! We only just left! I guess it sure piles up quickly, huh, Grandpa? We must be on every junk mail list in the country! Doesn't anyone use e-mail? Or instant messaging? Of course I get a lot of junk mail there, too..."
"...Grandpa?"
Sugoroku stood transfixed. Slowly, he lifted his hand, and pointed to a spot in the pile.
"Wh-what is it, Grandpa...?" Yugi slowly turned to look.
He screamed when he saw it.
"A...a...another tape!" He took a step backwards and slipped on a gaming catalog. "I'm not watching it!"
"I'm not touching it!" proclaimed Sugoroku.
//Bring it on...// said a voice in Yugi's head.
"I don't think that would be wise," said Yugi aloud.
"What? Why not? We'll just leave it where it is, and hopefully some customer will take it off our hands, either that or we can burn it, yes, let's burn it."
Yugi walked to the back of the store and stepped behind the counter. "What are you doing?" called Sugoroku. Yugi didn't answer; he just picked up a pair of gloves used for handling the rarest cards. "You're going to touch it! Yugi, leave it alone."
"Grandpa, don't worry. We took care of Pegasus, so what danger could there be in looking--"
Sugoroku held his breath as Yugi tore off the plain brown paper that wrapped the tape. "Ha, as I thought, it's nothing to worry about!"
"What is it?"
"Well, it says here 'Hot, Wild, and Barely Leg-'" Sugoroku grabbed the tape from Yugi's hands before he could finish.
"Give me that!" He held it up over his head.
"No fair, Grandpa! I want to see!"
"Not until you're over eighteen. You wouldn't appreciate this masterpiece. Besides, you need to be getting to bed."
Yugi slumped, suddenly remembering his fatigue. "Yeah, I know. I could sleep for a week!"
"Not this week, my grandson. You have school tomorrow!" Sugoroku grinned lecherously at the tape. Yugi flinched. "And...think about it this way. Even champions have much to learn."
"...Especially about women," Sugoroku added under his breath.
"I heard that," said Yugi. "Well, goodnight, Grandpa. It's good to be home."
"Good indeed."
Once Yugi was in bed, Sugoroku scooped up the rest of the mail and popped in the tape. It wasn't very interesting, as in his extensive travels Sugoroku had seen it all before. He mindlessly sorted the letters, until one caught his attention.
"What's this? For Yugi?"
The envelope was marked "To the champion." Sugoroku carefully peeled back the adhesive, so that it wouldn't look like he'd opened it. The glue stuck to his wrinkled fingers, then finally a paper slipped out.
"An invitation to a tournament? But Yugi only just defeated Pegasus! Who could have known?" He scanned the page for information, but found only that the tournament was to be held in America. 'I have a bad feeling about this...' he thought, replacing the paper, and hiding the envelope where Yugi wouldn't find it. Then, returning to his favorite chair and his television women, he let himself fall asleep.
