*7:56pm*

The sky was getting darker as stars began to rise from the depths of sun that hauled down towards the bottom of the Earth. Yugi and his friends began to wonder where the pier is located at since the invitation never informed them.

"Damn it! I can't stand searching for that damn pier!," Jonouchi hesitated.

"Well, we would've actually find the pier earlier if it wasn't your desire to eat some hamburgers and nearly wasting two hours inside of a fast food restaurant!," Anzu complained angrily.

"It's not my fault! Everyone else was hungry so we had to eat something!"

"Yeah, but you kept ordering and held us back from going to the peir. Not to mention that we have almost no more money, smartass!," she shot back.

"Hmph! It would've been faster to order if you were working there like you did back at our freshman year of high school."

"Take that back you piece of-"

"Calm down you two! Let's try and find that pier instead of arguing with each other," Honda insisted while he observed the cement platform and the cargo holds around that area.

"Hey guys! I think we're actually close to the pier," Yugi pointed out, "we just have to keep moving forward and eventually find it."

"Yugi's right. I believe in places like these are usually where boats and piers come to get cargo hold or pick up people and travel to take them somewhere," Bakura explained as he walked forward from the group, "besides, I already spotted the reaf from here!"

The whole gang of friends walked forward with Bakura and finally found the pier right in front of their eyes.

"There it is! We've finally made it!," said Honda excitedly, "now all we have to do is just walk over there with no need of worrying."

"You sure about that? Because there's plenty of duelists all around there," Anzu stated as she pointed at the crowd full of duelists, "I don't think that we'll get through easily."

"You have a point, Anzu but it shouldn't be that hard to walk right into the crowd," said Yugi.

"Let's get going now guys," Bakura suggested, "we don't want to keep the pier waiting and most definitely don't want it to get too crowded."

From the other side of the cargo holds, Usagi had arrived at the pier, looking shocked at the enormous amount of duelists there that sort of decreased her self-confidence by a short amount.

"Okay, Usagi...you can do this...this is your chance to finally meet new people. It's time to leave your isolation to the past," she told herself confidently.

As she took her first steps towards the pier, the crowd seemed to have been a bit larger than it was seen.

"Maybe on second thought, it might take me while to do this."

It wasn't long until she reached to the middle of the pack of duelists. She studied her surroundings and already planned her next moves, taking time to know where to start.

"Okay. Now that I'm here, all I have to do is-"

Usagi felt a bump from the back, making her nearly trip over the horde in such surprise.

"Ack! I nearly had a heart attack! Thank god I didn't fall flat on my face," she muttered.

"Ahh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you in purpose! Please forgive me!"

Usagi heard someone apologizing behind turned herself around to see who it was. It was no other than the one and only, Yugi Muto .

Her eyes widen with disbelief. "The great Yugi Muto! It's such a honor to meet you."

Usagi slightly squealed excitingly as she shook hand with him. "You must have really neat skills, even to beat the Duel Monsters Champion, Kaiba Seto!"

"T-Thank you...," Yugi stuttered a bit with a light blush on his face. Eventually, the rest of the gang caught up with Yugi, due to duelists who were covering the way.

Jonouchi and Honda immediately noticed the beautiful blonde duelist who greeted Yugi. In a flash, they ran up to her to introduce themselves, for Anzu, she pictured them as fan boys.

"Hey there! I'm one of Yugi's best friends, Jonouchi Katsuya, a participant of Duelist Kingdom that'll reach the top!"

"Don't forget about me! My name's Honda Hiroto!"

Usagi was a bit startled by the surprise introductions but believed it was a good thing since she was starting to meet new people sooner than what she imagined.

"Hi there! I really do apologise for those idiots to startled you like that. The name's Anzu Mazaki and this besides me is Bakura Ryou."

Bakura gave her a welcoming smile that lighten her feelings for them. Usagi just smiled back.

"It's really nice to meet you all. I am Usagi Tsukino, a participant of this tournament who is here to win the title of "King of Duelists" and the grand prize money of 3,000,000¥."

"Usagi? I've heard that name somewhere before but I don't remember where," Bakura stated.

"Hmm. Oh, I remember! Your that one female duelist from Juuban who's been beating many high-rank duelists," Yugi pointed out, "I also heard that you have an unbeatable deck to take down any kind of monsters, possibly even the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"!

"You're partially correct, although it all depends if I draw the right cards to my hand. That's why I always believe in my deck and cards in order to win."

"That's a surprise! I believe my cards to win as well!," Yugi noted happily.

Their conversation stopped when Saruwatari, one of the members of Industrial Illusions, announced something from the enterance of the pier to all of the duelists who were participating in Duelist Kingdom.

"Attention duelists! You may now make your way into the pier at this point. Each one of you must have at least one or more star chips in order to participate," he explained, giving them all a serious look, "those who don't have any star chips will immediately be escorted out of this tournament!"

"Hahaha! Are these children seriously going to duel? This is preschool all over again!"

The gang heard the loud confident feminine voice behind them and turned around to see who stated that rude comment.

It was a woman with blonde, lightly curled hair that reached down her back. For her clothing, she wore a short-sleeved purple coat over her white tube top, revealing her midriff, along with purple high-heeled boots. Her face came with a pair of purple-violet eyes and rose lips, ready to kiss any man.

"Woah," Jonouchi thought.

"What a babe!," muttered Honda.

The bold female duelist noticed Yugi and looked at him with an amusing expression.

"You know your famous, right?," she questioned.

"Uh...," Yugi murmured.

"I honestly never thought a kid like you would actually beat the Duel Monsters Champion. But I must say, you really do look cute."

The blonde gave him a wink and made Yugi blush. "Thanks...," he finally answered.

"Grrr...just who is this lady!?!," Anzu brooded.

The woman then switched her attention to Usagi.

"And of course, Usagi Tsukino! I've heard so much about you! I'm glad that you are here to duel for the top too! You're a duelist that I admire very much."

"Thank you. You must be Mai Kujaku. A duelist who traveled all over the world to explore it but not only that, you've dueled professional duelists along the way in piers."

"Yep, that's me. I only take on duelists if they're are serious about dueling. A game wouldn't make sense if my opponent acts like a child and starts crying when they lose." Before Mai was able to take another step, Jonouchi and Honda blocked her path.

"What about me? I'm Yugi's best friend, Jonouchi Katsuya, not to mention a well-trained duelist."

"And I am Honda Hiroto if you wanted to know!" "

Hmph. As if I cared to learn your names. I will destroy any man that gets in my way. In a duel, obviously."

With that, Mai walked through the drooling boys, already making her way to the pier. "Oh, and more thing...I'm looking forward to dueling you, Usagi. I'll be waiting for a duel that I will truly enjoy...and win," she said, giving her a serious look before she left.

"So will I, Mai," thought Usagi, "I'll prove to you that I improved my confidence and bravery through my journey!"

Mai had left a trail of perfume that made the teenage boys enjoy the smell. "What a beautiful aroma," said Jonouchi.

"What a babe," Honda noted.

Even Yugi seemed to enjoy it.

"You idiots!," Anzu fumed angrily.

"That's enough guys. Let's go now," Bakura suggested.

Yugi nodded and turned his head to look at Usagi with a smile. "Aren't you coming with us?"

She looked astonished. "Really?"

"Why not? You're part of our group now. We never leave any of friends behind, no matter what."

Usagi wanted to cry with delight after realizing she had been accepted as a friend after such a long time of loneliness.

"What's wrong, Usagi?"

"N-Nothing...let's go. The others are waiting."

As they caught up with the rest Jonouchi and Honda seemed brighten to hear that Usagi was part pf their group of friends now.

"Hell yeah! Let's go Usagi!," Jonouchi and Honda declared joyfully. Anzu walked besides her.

"Don't worry, Usagi. You'll learn a lot from us as we know each other better. I'm very happy to have another female friend other than myself."

"I believe so, Anzu. I'm glad to have friends who'll always stick together."

Bakura grabbed her hand and walked besides her too. "Usagi, with us, we have deep memories of our friends and you are already in them."

She stayed quite but gleeful. "Friends...even if I never had any...they're dwelling in my heart now like blossoms blooming beautifully...thank you, Yugi."