Chapter 3

Game On

"Usagi! Wake up!" a voice called out to her in the midst of her dreams. "Come on Usagi! We're going to leave without you!"

"Five more minutes Mako." Usagi mumbled, curling up into a ball and sinking deeper into the couch.

"We don't have five minutes! The registrations for the tournament are today. It's either you get up now, or you don't get to sign up at all."

Usagi jumped up from the couch, bringing herself to her feet, and grabbing for her backpack. "Why didn't any of you wake me earlier?" she cried, throwing her back pack over her shoulder and rushing out of the room with Mako.

"We tried." Mako replied. "You just kicked whoever came within a two inch radius."

Usagi rolled her eyes, rushing out of the shop door, seeing that Yugi and the girls were standing on the sidewalk, waiting for her and Mako. "Sorry about that, guys." She said, taking her place within the group. "Are we waiting for someone?"

Yugi nodded. "My friends are coming with us, and Jounouchi is signing up for the tournament too." He paused, looking off to his left. "And that's them!" He waved his hand in the air, signaling his other friends, Anzu, Honda, and, of course, Jounouchi.

Once again, they went through the introductions between Yugi's friends, and the Scouts. Once that had been sorted out, they began their walk to the store where registrations were being held.

Usagi and Mina had bonded with Anzu instantly, sharing interest in both recent fashion trends, gossip, and, in Mina's case at least, love of dancing. The three giggling girls had earned eye rolls from both Jounouchi and Honda. Ami, Rei, and Mako kept to the sidelines of the group, talking amongst themselves.

Once they had reached the shop, Usagi could barely contain her excitement. She found herself surprised that she wasn't bouncing off the walls with all her built up energy.

Mina stood in front of her in the line they had formed. Her having more experience in Domino City, and Duel Monsters, had officially made her leader of the group. Not that Usagi minded, of course. Less stress for her that way.

"Excuse me." Mina said politely, gaining the cashier's attention. "We're here to sign up for the Battle City Tournament."

The cashier smirked. "Doesn't surprise me. You and everyone else in the world. Name please?"

"Minako Aino."

The man turned to his computer, typing furiously. He squinted at first when the page popped up, but then shrugged. "Minako Aino. Winner of three regional championships in Tokyo, and qualified for the tournament." He smiled. "Congratulations Miss Aino." He bent down behind the counter, and pulled up a big box. "And here is your Duel Disk. Comes with instructions and everything." He passed the box over to Mina.

"Thank you." Mina replied, tucking the box under her arm.

"Next!"

Usagi was about to go forward, but Mako had beat her to it. "Makoto Kino" The tall brunette said.

"Makoto Kino. Winner of four regional championships in Tokyo, and participant in one national tournament. Made it to the semi-finals before defeated. Correct?"

Mako simply nodded, and that was enough for the clerk. He handed her the box that served as her rite of passage into the tournament.

Once again, Usagi found herself cheated out of her turn to enter. Yugi and Jounouchi had gone ahead of her, revealing that Yugi was more than qualified for the tournament. Jounouchi, not so much. Through Honda, the girls learned that Jounouchi had made enemies with Seto Kaiba.

"Wait, Seto Kaiba?" Mina asked. "As in Kaiba Corporations Seto Kaiba?" Which she then realized was a stupid question. How many Seto Kaiba's were there in the world?

Honda nodded. "Yeah, he and Jou kinda got off on the wrong foot during Duelist Kingdom. Hated each other ever since." This then led Mina to wonder. What could he have done to piss off Seto Kaiba, of all people?

Despite this, Jounouchi had been allowed to enter. (Which Usagi found odd, but didn't think much on it.) And Usagi's turn finally came. She rushed up to the counter. "Usagi Tsukino." She said proudly. As the cashier pulled up her information, Usagi began to wonder what Luna and Artemis had written about her. "I wonder if they made me a regional champion too…. Oh! Oh! What if they made me an international champion? That would be perfect!"

"Usagi Tsukino." The clerk said, scanning over the information. "It says here that you've participated in seven different tournaments already, barely coming in fourth place in almost all of them…."

Usagi's fists clenched. She was so going to kill Luna when she got home.

"But, you do meet the requirements for the tournament. Here's your Duel Disk."

She immediately took back her previous thought, snatching up the box from his hands, and giggling with excitement as she and the rest of the group exited shop.

With a smirk, the clerk lifted up a telephone next to him and dialed a number. "Everything is going according to plan, Master." He spoke into the phone. "In fact, there are three girls with cards that might be of interest to you." He glanced back down at the computer screen, taking note of the three cards. The man on the other end of the phone interrupted his thoughts. "Excellent. I'll see to it that the Rare Hunters deal with them." And with that said, the man hung up the phone, and returned to his work.


When the friends left the store, they made a quick trek back to Yugi's house to drop off their Duel Disks. This way, the friends wouldn't have to lug them around all day. Once this was finished, Yugi had brought up the subject of what to do next. Unsure of what there was to do in town, the Scouts (aside from Mina) found themselves without suggestions.

"We could go to the arcade." Anzu suggested.

Jounouchi glanced down at his watch for a moment. "Sure, I've got time to kill before I head to the hospital."

The rest of the group gave their vote of approval, and they took off down the sidewalk towards the arcade.

Once they were inside the building, the group had split off in excitement. Mina and Anzu had gone off towards Dance Dance Revolution, Ami and Rei had decided to try their hands at some shooter game, and Honda had gone off to play pin ball. This left Usagi, Yugi, Jounouchi, and Mako to decide what they were going to do.

Mako's eyes lit up upon seeing the air hockey table. "Hey Jou, bet I could beat you in a round of air hockey." She said, nudging him in the side. Jounouchi grinned, elbowing her side lightly in response. "You're on! Though I will admit, I am quite a pro at air hockey."

With that said, the two dashed off to the game.

Usagi scanned the rows of games, trying to find the best one to suit her. Then, her eyes widened in shock. "They have the Sailor V Game here?"

Yugi stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was serious about the question. "Of course they do. It's practically all over Japan."

In her excitement, Usagi had latched onto Yugi's arm, and yanked him behind her. "It's a two player! Let's play!"

The two sat themselves in front of the game, put their money into the slot, and started. As the game went on, and the two passed through the first level, Usagi had noticed that she was doing fairly well. Usually, she would've been dead by now, and on her fifth try.

"Jump over that!" Yugi shouted, pointing at the screen. "Awesome! Now pick up that heart!"

With Yugi's guidance, and Usagi's new-found skill in the game, the duo had made it to the final level.

Usagi bit her lip. She'd never made it this far before. "What if I fail, like I always do?" she wondered.

A comforting hand landed on her shoulder. Usagi whipped her head around to see "Yugi" seated next to her. Except this time she could see the difference between Yugi, and the figure sitting next to her, plain as day. Those dark red eyes were no trick of light.

"You can do this, Usagi." He said, his voice full of confidence. Those words were enough to convince Usagi to forget about the conclusion she'd made about this figure, and continue the game. She pressed the start button, the screen showing the two Sailor V figures, up against some giant monster.

With combined attacks, and special abilities (courtesy of "Yugi") the two took down the monster within a matter of seconds. The game screen exploded with the "Congratulations, You Win!" logo with balloons and confetti trailing down the screen behind it.

Usagi shot up her hands in victory. "Yes! I won! We won!"

A smirk crossed "Yugi's" lips. "You did well Usagi."

She smiled in return. "Thanks." She replied. "I couldn't hav- Hey, what's that?"

She bent over, picking up a silver plastic egg from the ground. It was one of those eggs you would get out of prize machines.

"It must have come from the game." Usagi concluded aloud. "I wonder if Luna had something to do with this. Like at the arcade back home."

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" A voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She glanced over at "Yugi", realizing that it was him. She laughed softly. "Oh yeah. Sorry."

She popped the egg open, and two necklaces fell into her lap. One was silver, chain and all, with a crescent moon shaped charm. The second was golden, and with a charm in a sunburst type shape.

Usagi glanced up a "Yugi" for a moment, than back at the necklaces that now sat in her palm. "It's kind of girly, but if you want one, you might as well take one." Usagi said. "I mean, you did play the game with me after all. It's only fair."

By the time she had finished, "Yugi" had already chosen his. The golden sun. "I could care less about how 'girly' it is." He said as he clasped it around his neck. "As you said, it's only fair."

Usagi nodded, struggling to clasp her own pendant around her neck. She turned her back to "Yugi" slightly embarrassed by the situation.

Suddenly, she felt two hands reach from behind her to take a hold of the necklace chain. "Here, let me help." Usagi felt a blush creep slowly across her face as "Yugi" fixed the now tangled chain, and clasped the necklace. "There. Better?"

Usagi nearly stumbled out of her chair, her face turning a violent shade of red. "Um, yeah." She said, her nerves showing in her voice. "Thanks." She stood up quickly, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Um, I think I'm going to find Anzu and Mina. Ok?"

She didn't wait for him to reply. But the time he could even open his mouth, Usagi had already run off.

"Yami… I think you scared her off." A voice piped up in the back of Yami's mind.

"I hate to admit it, but I think I did." Yami admitted solemnly. "Was I too forward? Did I make it awkward?"

"A little bit." Yugi admitted. "I think she notices the difference between the two of us. Which is really odd, because no one else does. That might be what made it awkward. Just give her time to adjust to it, and then you can talk to her again."

"Alright. That seems like a good idea."

And with that said, the spirit retracted from Yugi's mind, giving the young boy back his control.


"I'm telling you Rei, there's something off about him!" Usagi insisted as she walked with Ami and Rei through the arcade. "I don't know what it is, but something really weird is going on with him."

"And I'm saying that I haven't gotten any vibes off of him." Rei countered. "I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't think there's anything wrong with him."

"But I swear Rei, his eyes were like, blood red!"

"Maybe your eyes are just playing tricks on you." Ami added. "It's not uncommon. Certain lightings can cause violet to look red."

"This was no light Ami." Usagi insisted. "It's something else…. Something more."

The three girls soon found themselves at the DDR machine. I huge crowd had gathered around it, and in the very center were Mina and Anzu. Their feet flew across the dance pad, matching up their own dance moves with the game. So far, Anzu had a pretty high score, but Mina was catching up fast.

By the time the song ended, the two girls had ended up with a tied score. Panting, the two stepped off of the pad, receiving a cheering roar from the crowd.

"Wow Mina!" Usagi exclaimed. "That was amazing! You did great! Oh, and you did too Anzu." She added with a sincere smile.

Anzu smiled in response. "Thanks." She said, taking a sip from a small water bottle she kept in her purse. Mina dug through her own purse, fishing out money to go but her own water bottle from a vending machine.

"So, what's the plan now?" Anzu asked.

Usagi shrugged. "We were just going to see if everyone else was ready to go."

"Well, I'm ready if everyone else is." Anzu replied. "I'll go get Mina and we can meet up out front."

The Scouts nodded, and then decided to go find the others.


The puck slid across the table, nearing its target. Much to its dismay, and the dismay of the player, the puck was intercepted and sent sliding in the opposite direction.

Mako narrowed her eyes, whipping the puck back towards Jounouchi's side of the table. She wasn't going to lose this round.

One second. That was all it took.

One second of Jou's hand twitching. One second of letting his guard down. One second for the puck to slide into the slot, declaring Mako the winner. She shot a fist into the air as a sign of victory.

"Yes! I won that round! That makes… What, three now?"

Jounouchi grinned. "Ok, so you got lucky. But trust me, next time I'll beat you."

Mako returned his grin. "I'll hold you to that… Hey, what time is it?"

Jounouchi glanced down at his watch. "It's almost seven… Damn it!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"I need to be at the hospital in Thirty Minutes! Shizuka's going to have her operation tonight! Sorry Mako, but I need to get going."

By the time Jounouchi had grabbed his jacket, the rest of the gang, including Honda and Yugi, had caught up with them. Jou repeated the same apology that he gave Mako before quickly heading out the door.

"Jounouchi! Wait up!" Mina shouted behind him. When he didn't show signs of stopping, she took off after him.

Mako glanced at the gang, then at the door. "I'm going to follow them and make sure they make it to the hospital. You guys should just head home, I'll catch up. Ok?"

Reluctantly, the rest of the group nodded in agreement, and Mako took off. "Hey guys, wait for me!" She cried.

While she was running, Mako couldn't shake something in the back of her mind.

"I have a bad feeling about all of this. Something is going to happen tonight…. I just don't know what."