April 18th, 2014
Docks, Mr. Owen's Private Island
10:00 P.M.
"Ah, feels good to be back on the land again!"
Valon stretched his arms out as he walked off the ship, taking in a deep breath of air. Mai, Jonouchi, Bakura, and Yugi came off right behind him. Mai rolled her eyes.
"You're making it sound like you haven't been on land for months," she commented.
Valon smirked.
"What can I say? I'm not meant to be at sea."
"I didn't think it was too bad," Jonouchi said. "I mean, I remember when Yugi and Atem had that one cruise tournament that we were on the ship for about two weeks straight!"
Yugi nodded.
"Yeah. In fact it was one of mine and Atem's first tournaments."
"Why would a tournament be on a cruise ship?" Bakura questioned. "In a closed in area, something is bound to go wrong."
"Like someone getting one of their cards stolen?"
Bakura met Jonouchi's narrowed gaze. He gave off a soft laugh.
"Perhaps."
"Oh wow!"
Mana ran off the ship, her eyes large with wonder.
"Did you guys see that mansion in the distance?" she asked, her voice growing with excitement. "It's so cool!"
Everyone turned to where Mana was pointing at. Sure enough, in the dark gray distance a large mansion could be seen, its elegant architecture similar to a medieval castle. Around the mansion, and covering almost the entire large island, was a very dense forest, probably packed with many kinds of wild life. At the edge of the docks, there were two cars in parked, each able to fit five people.
"So, are we suppose to wait for someone to come pick us up?" Marik asked as he and the rest of the duelists finally got off. "And what are we suppose to do with all of our luggage?"
"Well, I don't see anyone besides us," Atem commented, his eyes scanning the area. "However, there are those two cars over there."
He turned to face everyone.
"Maybe we are supposed to drive ourselves to the mansion?"
Kaiba growled.
"We better not. My opinion on Mr. Owen is already very low. He would have to have some nerve to invite someone like me and expect-"
"Will you stop making yourself seem so important, rich boy!" Melvin suddenly shouted, his eye twitching. "All your talk just makes me want to kill somebody!"
"Melvin!"
Marik quickly pulled his mentally unstable brother away from Kaiba, giving him a hard slap to the face.
"You need to keep together if you want to stay in the tournament," Marik hissed. "It still hasn't been enough time since the...incident!"
Melvin glared at his twin.
"...Fine. But I know I'm not the only one thinking the same thing..."
"What are you two talking about?"
Bakura crossed his arms as everyone stared at the Ishtar twins. Marik gave an uneasy smile.
"Let's...just get to the mansion now, shall we? I'm sure you all are as tired as I am..."
He picked up his luggage and made his way to one of the cars, Melvin close behind him. The others watched them go for a moment, as if hesitant to get close to them. But soon they all went, Marik, Melvin, Bakura, Mai, and Valon getting into one car while Atem, Yugi, Jonouchi, Mana, and Kaiba got into the other. They then started the cars and drove on an old dirt path, making the ride very bumpy and unpleasant. After about a fifteen minute drive, they arrived at the mansion. Parking in a nearby open garage, the duelists all got out of the cars and took their luggage all the way to the front door. Being the first one there, Kaiba knocked at the door, however no one answered right away. They all waited a moment, until Kaiba got impatient and knocked again, this time harder. But again, no one answered. Kaiba cursed.
"Owen better have a good reason for delaying our entry!"
Bakura turned the doorknob.
"Strange," he remarked, "it's unlocked..."
He opened the door and everyone quickly went inside. The room was pitch black, only a dim amount of light coming out of the open doorway.
"Someone find a light switch!" Kaiba ordered. "Why are all the lights turned off?"
Feeling around the room, it was Mai who was able to locate the light switch. She quickly turned it on, to reveal that they all stood in an elegant, brightly colored entry hall. A large fleet of stairs stood in the very back of the room, leading to the other floors, where there were three entryways on each wall, all leading deeper into the mansion.
"Let's see if we can look around and find Mr. Owen," Yugi suggested. "Since he didn't answer the door, I doubt he will come to us."
A twisted smile appeared on Melvin's lips.
"It would seem so. I can't wait to see what kind of person he is..."
"Neither can I," Kaiba replied, "as I have a few choice words to poke at him."
"Kaiba, you have choice words to poke at everyone," Atem said.
Kaiba glared at him but said nothing in reply.
Through the three entryways, the duelists split up in hoping to find Mr. Owen. Down the west entryway, Mana, Marik, and Melvin came into a large dining room, the table having exactly ten seats.
"Huh...that's strange," Mana said, stopping right next to the table. "You would think there would be eleven seats, for all of us and Mr. Owen."
Marik blinked, walking over to her side.
"That is a little strange. Perhaps he ran out of chairs or maybe he will eat privately from us?"
Mana raised an eyebrow. "Why would he do that?"
"Who knows. From what I've seen, this guy is as unpredictable as ever."
Marik's eyes scanned the entire table, his violet gaze soon locking on the decoration on the table.
It looked like a silver food tray, around it having ten figurines of ten different duel monsters. The monsters were the Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Dark Necrofear, Harpy Lady, Psychic Armor Head, Revival Jam, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and Kuriboh. Both Mana and Marik approached it.
"How cute!" Mana commented with a smile. "It looks like Mr. Owen was getting into the theme of duel monsters for the tournament."
Marik said nothing in reply, only having an uneasy look in his eyes.
"Marik, Mana!"
They both quickly turned around to see Melvin coming out of the kitchen, carrying with him a large piece of paper.
"You might want to assemble the others," Melvin said, a mixture of emotions flowing through his voice. "It turns out that Mr. Own has something more in mind then just a simple little tournament..."
Marik raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I prefer to just explain it only once," Melvin answered with a large smile. "You will find out soon enough."
Marik sighed.
"From the way you're grinning..."
He turned to Mana.
"Get everyone to meet us here."
Without question, Mana nodded her head and quickly ran out to get the others. In no time, she was able to assemble everyone in the dining room, everyone taking notice to the duel monster tray.
"So, what is this about?" Bakura demanded. "Is it some kind of joke?"
Melvin chuckled.
"Apparently, and it is a very amusing one."
He walked over to Bakura and handed him the note.
"Read it. Out loud, if you don't mind."
Glaring at him for a second, Bakura snatched the note out of Melvin's hand and read it silently to himself. His dark eyes grew wide, his face paling dramatically as he read.
"What...what..."
He shook a bit.
"Are you alright, mate?" Valon asked concerned. "You look like you've seen a ghost just now."
Bakura quickly regained control of himself.
"It...it can't be. But it is..."
"What can't be?" Mai questioned.
"Just read us the note!" Kaiba snapped. "It's almost eleven and I would like to get some sleep before the tournament!"
"...You won't have to worry about the tournament, Kaiba," Bakura said slowly. "Because there is no tournament!"
Everyone gasped.
"W-what?!" Atem exclaimed. "You've...you've got to be joking!"
Bakura met his gaze.
"I wish I was."
He began to read the note.
"'Dear my fellow duelists. I welcome you all to my island and hope you are all looking forward to our little tournament. Unfortunately, there will be no tournament, but a trial. Yes, a trial, my dear duelists, for you all have brought shame and evil towards our fellow community for the murders that have been involved with in your pasts.'"
There was a mixture of reactions, some gasps, some paled faces, some wide eyes. But on each of the duelists' faces, there was some look of horror and shock.
"'Instead of dueling for glory, you will be dueling for your lives,'" Bakura continued. "'One by one, you will all be brought to justice and by the end of the week, you will be dead. Prepare for the duel of your life.'"
He tightened his grip on the note.
"'Your host, U. N. Owen.'"
There was a long silence, each of the duelists refusing to look at each other in the eye.
"This...this is nonsense!"
Kaiba unexpectedly snatched the note from Bakura's hands, leaving a small paper cut as Bakura pulled back his hands. Kaiba read the note silently to himself a few times.
"I don't care if this a private tournament or not!" he shouted, anger rising in his voice. "I have had my fill of this madness and I'm getting off the island right now!"
"I'm afraid you can't, Kaiba," Melvin said, a dark glow in his eyes. "The ship left the docks as soon as we all got into our cars, and I don't remember seeing any other boats out there. Besides..."
At that moment, there was a loud clash of lightning. Everyone froze, a thick tension rising in the air.
"...Look," Yugi finally said, "we've all had a long night and standing around worrying about...that will only make things worse. I say we all find ourselves a room and get some rest and figure out something in the morning when we're all rested up."
"Are you mad?!" Bakura exclaimed. "If we sleep in a place where someone intends to kill us all, we'll all be dead by morning!"
"But where will we go?" Jonouchi pointed out. "I don't like it as much as the next guy...but this is the only place we can stay on the island."
Marik nodded.
"Jonouchi has a point. As long as we lock our doors we should be fine, maybe even partner up just to be safe."
For some reason, the idea of partnering up didn't seem like a wanted suggestion. Kaiba rolled his eyes.
"I don't believe there is an actual murderer in this house. It's just a mad bluff, there is nothing to worry about."
He made his way towards the doorway.
"Now if you excuse me, I'm going to find a room."
He then stormed off. It did not take long for the others to do the same, as reluctant as many of them were. With a storm thundering outside and the shadows of evil crawling inside, it was going to be a long night.
