The playing field was a mix - 40% mountain (represented by a 3D area that was higher than the rest), 40% grassland, and 20% wasteland. Most of the wasteland was evenly distributed, while the grassland was mostly on Jounouchi's side.
Mai offered up one Star Chip while Jounouchi offered up the same, feeling a bit of the pressure of it. This was her only chance to really defeat someone, and she guessed that Mai was a tough opponent who wanted to have a good challenge.
Of course, Mai pulled her 'card trick' early on, the two staring down as she laid out her cards and played Harpy Lady without even looking at it. Jounouchi frowned but said nothing about what she smelled...Mai had managed to scent her cards, and it took skill to pick out the various ones. Kinda like how it took skill to do a lot of things, but this particular trick was meant to throw off someone who either couldn't smell the cards, or just thought it was her perfume.
"You're really gonna pull that stupid trick on me?"
Mai blinked, then smirked at her. "Well...at least I don't have to say I'm psychic then. You don't mind, though? I enjoy the show."
"Want me to look impressed?"
"No." She motioned to where a small crowd, besides her friends, had been drawn to the idea of the 'two girls' Dueling, "I think just you being yourself and me being myself will suffice. If anything, I'm going to get those Star Chips way earlier than anyone else. You should ditch your friends and work with me."
"Thanks, but I kinda like the idea of proving them wrong. Besides...life's never dull around them."
Mai smiled and motioned as Jounouchi pulled out her first card. "I play Tiger Axe!" The animated beast-warrior roared at the Harpy Lady, but remained where he was.
"Not going to attack?"
"I landed on enough dumbasses to know that you have to be careful about attacking something from below," Jounouchi said with a small smile, "besides, should you wow me with what you can pull out of the line-up?"
Mai laughed a bit at that and shook her head. "You're right. Ok then," she drew and put it down before taking another care and saying, "I play Electro-whip and equip it to my Harpy Lady." The Harpy Lady pulled out a whip, cracking it as it sparked with electricity. (1690-1990) "Let's go then. Attack her Tiger Axe!" The tiger roared and made an effort to dodge, but the aerial assault was too much and it fell quickly.
Mai: 2000
Jounouchi: 1700
Anzu shifted as she watched Katsuye going up against that Mai lady. She hated being helpless, and watching Katsuye slowly work through her cards as the Harpy Lady became more powerful on each turn, eating away at her life-points, was hard to watch. She wished that Yugi had spoken up, or that Yami had demanded that he duel against Mai instead of allowing this to happen. Sure, Katsuye could hold her own in a physical fight, but recent events had also prove that she was horrible at other things. She'd nearly died during Death-T multiple times by simply being herself, and her recklessness had gotten her trapped in the Monster World with record speed.
Katsuye's life-points were down in the 400s, while Mai's hadn't been touched, as Katsuye drew a final card, facing three Harpy Ladies with an attack of 2490, and smirked as she did.
"Hey, Mai...wanna hear a riddle?"
Mai blinked and, after a chuckle, said, "Sure...let's hear your last little joke."
"What can you show but no one can see?" Anzu found herself freeze at the odd riddle, and at Yami's chuckle as Jounouchi said after a bit, "While you think on it, I'll play Time Wizard."
"Time Wizard?"
"If played with Baby Dragon, the Time Wizard can do Time Magic and age the dragon to an adult. Ready? Go!"
The small sentient clock raised it's wand, the whole of the table twisting briefly before an older dragon glared back at them, snorting out a small gust of steam. (2400)
"You think you can...wh-what happened to my Harpies?" On the other side of the board, the three Harpie Ladies were now aged and gray, flying low to the ground and looking haggard. (2490-1300).
"It affected the whole board...you don't just bring one up, you brought them all! Now, Thousand Dragon, let's end this Duel!"
The Dragon pulled in a deep breath and bellowed out, blasting away all the Harpies in one fell swoop.
Jounouchi: 430
Mai: 0
Mai slumped at the loss and Anzu smiled, happy to see the woman get taken down a peg as Katsuye collected the star chips and patted Mai on the shoulder, the woman finally letting out a small laugh and standing to shake Katsuye's hand. "I never expected that...you'd better have more up your sleeve then some party-trick."
"That, coming from you, is kinda hilarious."
Despite having won against Mai and now having two Star Chips, finding another Duelist to go up against was pretty hard. Yami remained firmly at his five chips, and though Katsuye went to go and bother ("I'm challenging, Anzu, how else will someone want to Duel?"), no one took up offers to Duel her either, a fact that seemed to just irritate both Katsuye and Yami more and more as the day wore on. Anzu sighed as they took a seat in the plains area that suited Katsuye and held the most Duelists. The few that they'd approached had either backed down with a glance at Yami, or been put-off by Katsuye herself.
"You could ask them nicely," Bakura pointed out, Katsuye letting out a groan as she sat down on a nearby log.
"I'm not threatening them, I'm not jumping them from behind, and I'm letting them pick the Duel box," Katsuye told him, looking angry at the accusation. "This is as nice as I'm getting for these assholes."
Yami let out a huff of annoyance as well, appearing upset by the lack of Duels for himself as well. "I would have put off my own Duel with Haga, if I'd known we'd have all these...problems," he seems annoyed by how scared the other Duelists are, but then again, who could blame them? Yami was the best Duelist here, and it was obvious he'd do all he could to help Katsuye if he could be heard through the box.
Honda let out his own annoyed breath before saying, "After what happened with Mai, I'm guessing all the guys are really scared of Jounouchi. I mean, none of them could beat her."
Anzu frowned at the reminder of that Mai lady. The woman was far too forward in her antics, and had gotten under Anzu's skin really quickly. She claimed to be psychic, and had probably gone easy on Katsuye as a fellow girl-Duelist, or at least had realized she couldn't use her boobs and winks to get Katsuye to go easy on her. Either way, it wasn't like Katsuye matched up to her, or to some of the guys around here.
After a pause and some snacks, the group headed back in search of other possible Duelists, though a few had stopped when their friends or other Duelists were sent away, put in semi-impressive row-boat to head back to the mainland. Haga was onboard the first of these, as were about nine or so other Duelists, and after their departure, a lot of the group began to actually try to Duel.
Of course, no one approached them after that point either…not until they'd heard a cry of, "YOU! Yeah, you, Jounouchi!"
The group turned and blinked as they saw Dinosaur Ryuzaki standing nearby, Mai looking both apologetic and annoyed as he said, "I'm challenging you to a Duel!"
The group all blinked, Katsuye suddenly breaking into a smile before she said, "Alright, let's do this."
Yami glanced over at Mai as they walked over to the nearest Duel box, Anzu seething at the arrival of Mai and how bored she looked, but also the fact that the woman had eight Star Chips. She seemed to pick up on Anzu's upset and smirked a bit, making an overly exaggerated move to start thinking as Yami glanced at her and said, "I take you were luckier than we were."
"Yes. I also got pissed that the kid," she motioned to Ryuzaki, "wanted to try again when he'd lost so badly last time. I told him I'd only fight if he battled Jounouchi, and then he ran off to find her." She shrugged. "Not like she can't handle herself."
Yami nodded as Anzu glared at Mai. What was this woman thinking, bringing the runner-up over here to duel Katsuye? It was bad enough, watching her friend's fumbles as she went against Mai, but now Katsuye seemed pumped and ready.
"Don't think I haven't learned my lesson!" Ryuzaki said, "I ain't goin' easy on you just 'cause you're a girl!"
"Well, I wasn't going to go easy on you just 'cause you're an idiot, so we're even."
Ryuzaki blinked and then smirked at her. "Alright then, get ready."
It's weird, how close the Duel is and how much fun both Ryuzaki and Jounouchi seem to be having as they battle and yell at each other. Ryuzaki's dinosaurs are a bit much against Jounouchi's warriors, but generally they're evenly matched. When she drags out her Flame Swordsman, he's quick to slice through Ryuzaki's dinos as well as most of his life-points, before he finally summons his final monster – the Red Eyes Black Dragon.
The minute he brought it out, Ryuzaki said, "Hey, since this is a trading-card game, I'll offer up a trade! My Red Eyes against your Time Wizard…this is a super-rare card, you're not going to get a better deal!"
Jounouchi blinked at that, nodding before drawing a card and smiling herself. "Yeah, I got an idea for that card. I summon Time Wizard and use his special ability!"
"oh…shit."
The roulette on the Time Wizard's wand spun rapidly slowly before finally stopping on the top portion, which allowed for Time Magic and which, with its effect, ended the game. Ryuzaki let out a groan and handed over his own card, shaking Jounouchi's hand afterward and giving her a smile.
"That was a good game. What's up with only having two Star Chips?"
"I guess they think I'm gonna make them play Yugi next or something," she told him as they exited the Duel Box, fitting the two new chips into the glove, "or they don't wanna fight 'the girl'. It's annoying."
Ryuzaki nodded and glanced over at Mai before saying, "Don't think I won't come back! And I'm ready to win that card back from you, Jounouchi!" She smiled as he headed off, Yugi smiling and congratulating her as Mai watched. It was sweet, to see such a close-knit group, but she also noticed how that Mazaki girl seemed to hang back, as if uncertain about Mai's presence as they congratulated Jounouchi and began to head away to try their luck. Mai considered going after another Duel, but many were heading off to areas to set up camps or to join together with the few who came prepared. Very few were still Dueling, and she soon let out a huff of annoyance before following after the group, finding Jounouchi holding up a pack as Honda attempted to get at it.
"You've been stealing food all day, you idiot!"
"But I'm hungry!"
Mazaki and that white-haired boy she'd not learned the name of trying to hold him back, while Yugi looked a bit different and was sighing, looking over and spotting her first before smiling and waving. He seemed completely different from before, and she waved back, walking up while eating a small nutrition bar.
"Miss Kujaku," Yugi said, getting her to shake her head.
"Please, call me Mai. I already feel too old to be on this island," she smirked as both Honda and the white-haired boy looked at the bar longingly, while Jounouchi smiled at her arrival. It appeared that her sending Ryuzaki over after her had heightened Jounouchi's spirits, and at least he'd treated her like an actual duelist. He'd been peeved at Mai for the 'trick' and wanted to have an 'actual duel', so she'd sent him after Jounouchi. If anything, Ryuzaki now seemed more invested in beating them both, as Duelists rather than because they were girls.
"It's too late for Duels," Mai pointed out as Mazaki asked why she was here, "I figure we call a truce for the night and set up camp."
"Sounds good," Jounouchi said, "I didn't get a chance to bring a tent, but it's still warm enough to sleep outside."
"Well, I brought a tent and some other things, plus some food for cooking." She smiled at the two men who seemed to drool over the prospect of food, "Should we set things up?"
They found a good place near the cliffs, with a decent clearing for a fire pit and enough dried branches to start a good fire. It was also near enough to a fresh water source that they managed to get a stew going, as well as heated up some water for a small shower. Mazaki was looking less and less angry at Mai's presence, especially after Jounouchi and Mai let her use the shower first while the white-haired boy, Bakura, started to cook.
They were done with cooking by the time the three girls were done with their quick showers, and everyone seemed grateful for the lull in Dueling and for the fact that the night didn't have a sudden freeze. There was the sound of a few others nearby and also making food, but no one really came to visit the other camps.
The group made small conversation about what was going on, with Jounouchi and Yugi moving away to talk about what was happening while Mai saw Honda, after his second helping, stretch and go to find a place to rest. Bakura shifted but also moved away, checking on something in his bag and then moving to find his own place to rest. It left her and Mazaki alone, the younger woman looking a bit upset by it but also sheepish.
"You could cheer Jounouchi on, you know," Mai finally said, getting Mazaki to glare at her. "I saw what was going on. You don't believe she's strong enough to win this on her own. I find that a bit insulting."
"She lost a basic neighborhood challenge," Mazaki said.
"Really? Even if her deck was worse than when she went up against me, I'd say she probably won. But…well, I don't suppose you've noticed that a lot of the boys here aren't exactly the chivalrous type, so what makes you think it's any better in a neighborhood tournament? And Jounouchi strikes me as the type of girl who'll end up getting disqualified due to violence, rather than losing."
Mazaki was silent after a moment, apparently thinking for once instead of just going straight for the cheering or sad looks, when Mai heard something shifting nearby. She frowned, looking over to see someone hiding in the bushes, glancing at the food and the group. Mai looked over at Mazaki before saying, "Hey, do you want to set the tent up? I don't really feel like sleeping outside right now."
Anzu blinked but nodded, the two working to set up the tent as she kept an eye on the campfire. Soon, she saw the slight movement from the bushes, and the slow creep of a small figure towards an abandoned bowl and the food.
Jounouchi grabbed the kid up, holding him up as he started to kick out right as Honda and Bakura started, heading back while Yugi raced up, looking as confused as Mazaki right before Jounouchi said, sounding surprised and a little confused, "Mokuba?"
