DISCLAIMER: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.

AUTHOR WARNING: There is a graphic description of hunting animals and preparing them for human consumption in this. If this disturbs you, don't read it.


Attack From The Deep

'Woo-wee!' Joey cheered. 'Four stars!' He sniggered. 'This is so awesome! I can't believe it actually happened! Am I cool or what?' He started laughing.

'Is there a time limit on how long he gets to crow?' Téa asked.

Sharee giggled. 'Aw, cut him some slack.'

'Yeah,' Tristan said. 'Did you ever think Joey would actually beat Mai in a duel? I mean, Joey! Who would've thought?'

Yugi turned around. 'I knew he'd do it. I'm really proud of you, Joey.'

'Yeah!' Joey was cut off as his stomach rumbled. 'Aw, all that duelling made me hungry. Did any of you guys remember to bring any food with you?'

'Sorry, Joe,' the other four said.

Joey groaned. 'What were we thinking coming here with no food? How are we going to get through the rest of the competition without anything to eat?'

'That's a good question, Joey. This duelling really takes it out of you and I haven't seen any burger stands or restaurants since we got here.' Yugi turned to Sharee. 'Wait, you set animal traps, didn't you? Do you think you caught any food?'

'I can go and see,' Sharee said.

'You better hurry up, then,' Téa insisted. 'I've gotta have my five basic food groups or else…it's metabolic meltdown!'

'All right, all right!' Sharee turned and headed off. 'Take a chill pill. You don't have to bite my head off.'

'Do I have to wait?' Joey groaned and then he sniffed. 'No, wait!' He turned and pointed. 'I smell something cooking that-a-way!' He took off. 'See you!' They watched him go.

'He's hallucinating,' Téa said.

'Don't be so sure,' Tristan responded. 'You know it wasn't his brain that beat Mai, it was his nose.'

'Should we leave where Sharee's going to find us?' Yugi asked as they started following him.

'It'll be fine,' Téa said. 'She found us during the duel. And she always says she can find anything or anyone.'

YGO

Sharee was glad to find that a few of her traps had snagged some animals. Her skill wasn't as bad as she thought. She pulled her slingshot out from her back pocket, where it was tucked under her jacket. Sharee grabbed a stone off the ground and loaded it in. Drawing the launcher back, she let it fly. This was how she killed her prey.

You do that well. Are you sure you never lived in my time?

Sharee chuckled and sat down. Pretty sure. She started working on the birds. She pulled a carefully concealed hand-axe out of her bag and started chopping their heads off. Then it was string to let the blood drain out and the plucking of the birds.

You know, your actions just contradicted what you said. I am certain that most teenagers of the modern world don't catch, kill, behead, pluck…and gut birds with their bare hands.

If she'd been standing next to her, Sharee would have looked at her. As it was, she just stood there, looking at the handful of bird innards in her hand. She dropped them and chuckled to herself. Maybe not, but this is me. Most modern-day teenagers wouldn't find out they have a five thousand year old spirit in their head and take that as a reasonable explanation as to why they suffered blanks in their memory.

Shamee snorted in a very unladylike fashion. What is it you kids say? Touché.

Sharee smiled to herself and continued preparing the birds, making them unrecognisable to Yugi, Téa, Joey and Tristan as anything else but edible meat. Most people these days didn't like knowing where their food came from.

Once that was done, Sharee pulled a roll of tinfoil out of her bag and started wrapping the birds up. She finished by chopping off their feet. As she cleaned up her mess, she could just about see Shamee leaning over her shoulder.

Anyway, you certainly came prepared.

Sharee shrugged. People have a natural assumption nowadays that they're going to be catered to if they go to an event. I didn't think so. I figured the others wouldn't think to bring food and I could either bring some and it wouldn't last long or bring what I needed to get it from what's already here.

Everything was almost the way she left it – not much she could do about the blood splatters except wait for rain and the insides had been thrown into the underbrush for other critters to feast on. Sharee headed back. She just had to change her course because Shamee noticed they weren't where she left them.

Sharee found them by the ocean, Yami in a duel with Mako Tsunami. Sharee groaned and walked over to Joey, Tristan and Téa.

'Why is it every time I leave you guys alone, I come back and find someone duelling?' That said, Sharee handed the reins to Shamee.

YGO

Yami heard that comment of Sharee's right before Shamee took over. He had to agree. Each time, Sharee had gone to do something so far she'd returned to find someone duelling. But, unlike last time, she'd only come during the beginning.

'You're good, Mako,' Yami said. 'A brilliant opening play.' His life points dropped down to 1740.

'I am pleased you appreciate it,' Mako responded. 'Though I very much doubt your Imp did.'

'Well, now I know what I'm up against,' Yami mused to himself.

'Yes, the mighty ocean commands respect,' Mako agreed. 'As do the creatures that inhabit it.'

Maybe I can prepare an attack that will destroy his creatures, even though I can't see them. Yami took a card from his hand. 'Feral Imp.' He played the card and the monster appeared. My Feral Imp should dispense with Mako's monsters. No matter how deep they're hidden in the sea.

'I am familiar with your Feral monster,' Mako said, taking a card from his hand. 'And its electrical attack. So for my next card, I play my Giant Jelly Fish.' The monster appeared on the field…except, like the others, he couldn't see it. It was submerged underwater. It screeched loudly.

Yami drew back. 'I don't like the sound of that!'

Mako laughed. 'That is the battle cry of my creature.'

'It'll be crying all right.' Yugi threw down the card. 'Once I combine my Feral Imp with the magical Horn of the Unicorn!' The Horn appeared on the Imp's head and it rose up, screeching. Electricity crackled around it and its attack points rose to 2000.

On the sidelines, Joey worked it out fast and explained it to Téa. She drew the rest of the conclusions.

'Magic Lightning, attack!' Yami called. The Imp attacked but there was a problem. 'But what is this? Nothing is happening. Mako still has all his life points.'

Mako laughed. 'Your strategy has failed, Yugi!' His Jelly Fish rose out of the water.

'How?' Yami demanded.

'As a sea duellist, I am well aware that water conducts electricity,' Mako said. 'So I played my Giant Jelly Fish. It has the magical ability to absorb all electrical attacks, protecting all of my ocean creatures.'

Yami ground his teeth.

The Jelly Fish screeched as it went back down. 'And now it's time for my counter-attack. Fiend Kraken, crush his Feral Imp!' The tentacles shot out of the ocean again and wrapped around the Imp, pulling it from the shore. 'Crush him now!' The Imp was destroyed. Mako laughed. 'Did you enjoy my Kraken's embrace?'

Yami pulled his focus in, thinking. And he wasn't the only one. I've never duelled against creatures like these before. It feels as if I'm battling Mako's sea monsters and the awesome power of the ocean itself.

'Do any of your cards have the power to stand against my ocean pets?' Mako asked.

Yami laid a card down. 'I have the power of Silver Fang and I combine him with the magic of the Full Moon to double his ferocity.' Both cards appeared on the field. Silver Fang howled.

Mako laughed. 'Ferocious indeed, but the moon also controls the tides causing them to rise…'

Rat rot, he forgot about that. On the other hand…

'…allowing me to release my next creature.' Mako played another card. 'Rise, mighty Koriosheen!' The waves suddenly went flying up.

Yami drew back. 'What's this?'

A large water serpent rose up out of the water. 'Behold the colossal Koriosheen,' Mako said. 'A creature so enormous that when he rises up from the ocean depths, he creates his own tidal wave!'

'What a beast!' Yami exclaimed.

'Your wolf is brave, Yugi, but he will not stand before my Koriosheen's tidal attack.' As Mako said, the waves washed over the field and Yami's monster howled as into drowned.

'No!' Yami called. 'Silver Fang!' The water splashed up and he flinched back from it.

'Gone,' Mako said. 'But my Koriosheen's tidal attack did more than simply wash your wolf-cub away.'

'What?' Yami asked.

Mako pointed down. 'It considerably altered our playing field.'

Yami looked at it. 'My land! Koriosheen's attack wiped away nearly my entire land-based playing field.'

Mako laughed. 'You should consider yourself lucky, Yugi. In my previous duels, when Koriosheen attacks, absolutely nothing is left standing in its wake. I think it was quite considerate of my pet to leave you a little patch of dirt to stand on. Don't you? Or does it make you uneasy to be surrounded on all sides by the sea? All men give pause before the savage power of the mighty ocean, even the greatest of fishermen.'

Yami understood. 'You mean your father?'

Mako leaned over onto the duelling platform. 'My father was a great fisherman. He taught me my love of the sea, but…one day the sea…took him. I loved going out on the boat with my father, just the two of us and the big beautiful ocean, never suspecting that the sea would turn on us. My father saw the storm coming. He warned me that you should never take chances with the ocean. And father was right. Suddenly the calm, friendly sea turned into a raging maelstrom. It pitched our boat as if it were a toy. I couldn't hold on so my father tied me down to the mast. When the storm finally died out, our little boat had washed ashore. My father was right, I had been perfectly safe. But because he had stopped to tie me down, he had no time to secure himself to the mast! I thought I had lost him forever, but then I noticed that our life boat was missing.' He clenched his hand in a fist. 'I know my father is alive. So I will win this contest, buy a ship and search the seven seas until I find him. That is why I duel Yugi. That is why I must win and you must lose.'

'I understand, Mako, believe me,' Yami said. 'But I still can't let you win.'

Mako smiled. Down below, out of his peripheral vision, Yami saw Shamee nod and their friends talked amongst themselves.

With so little land left to me, I've really gotta make this play count. I need something that will help me turn the tide. Something like this card. Yami pulled it from his hand and played it in defence mode. 'Giant Soldier of Stone.' The soldier appeared. 'You may have shrunk my battlefield down to an island, Mako, but my Stone Soldier still gets a field power bonus.' Its attack points rose to 1690.

'Your massive monster can barely fit on that little rock, let alone do battle with my undersea attack force,' Mako said. He took a card from his hand. 'And his is surrounded on all sides by the ocean. Making him easy prey for…' He laid the card down. '…Great White Terror!' A shark monster appeared on the field, jumping to the surface before it submerged underwater again. 'This savage shark will lead my other creatures on an all-out ocean onslaught.'

Yami watched the sea monster come around and circle the Stone Soldier.

'This is it, Yugi,' Mako said. 'The duel is over but you played honourably.'

Yami smirked. 'You have been a fair and honourable opponent too, Mako, but I also duel with the fate of a loved one at stake. And I can't afford to lose.' He reached down. 'I switch my stone soldier to attack mode!'

'Attack mode?' Mako drew back. 'But why? He cannot attack my sea monsters while they are underwater!'

'But his target isn't your sea monsters,' Yami said. 'I'm having him attack a card I put on the field myself.' He pointed. 'The moon!'

'No!' cried Mako.

Yami gave the order. 'Now, Stone Soldier, destroy the moon!' The Stone Soldier thrust his sword up and struck the moon. It shattered and fell to pieces.

Mako cried out. 'What's happening? The tide…it's going out! But how?'

Yami folded his arms. 'As you yourself said before, Mako, it is the moon that controls the ocean's tide: its ebb and its flow. So I ordered my Stone Soldier to destroy the Moon, causing the ocean to reverse and recede. My Stone Soldier has beached all your sea monsters. You have no ocean left.'

'No,' Mako murmured. 'My precious fish.'

'And now I'll deliver the final blow.' Yami threw down the two cards. 'I combine my Curse of Dragon card with the magic of the Burning Land card, to wipe out your remaining life points.' The Curse of Dragon appeared on the field. 'Burning Land attack!' The Dragon shot fire out of its moth and burned all of Mako's monsters to little more but cinders, leaving the Stone Soldier unharmed. 'And that takes your life points down to zero!'

'No!' Mako cried out as just that happened.

'Way to go, Yugi!' Téa cheered as Shamee grinned. Joey and Tristan struck some poses which – Yugi's mind supplied – were supposed to be macho. Yami could see why Shamee was so exasperated at these kids so much. As a matter of fact, she was currently shaking her head at them indulgently. No matter how much affection they had for them, they were still kids. It reminded him of something…just in a different way.

'Destroying your own Moon card was a brilliant and unexpected move, Yugi,' Mako said. He smiled. 'What a grand duel! I salute you, my friend!'

Yami smiled back. 'This victory was not easily won, Mako. You're a great duellist yourself.'

Later, they stood on the shore.

'I am down to one star chip,' Mako said. 'But I will start over again.'

'And I bet you'll do fine,' Yami responded.

'You'd win that wager.'

Yami and Mako clasped hands. Odd how modern-day humans showed friendship. Behind him, Yami heard his friends talking.

'You know, I can't help but like that Mako,' Téa said. 'He's such a great guy and all. I hope he finds his father someday.'

Shamee chuckled.

Mako's stomach growled and he laughed. 'My friend, duelling you is hungry work. Time for Mako to fish again!' He leapt into the sea. 'Farewell!'

'Bye, Mako,' Téa said as she, Joey and Tristan blinked after him.

'Wish he'd bring us some fish,' Tristan mused.

'We've have to duel him again,' Yami pointed out. They all laughed. Yami waited until it died down before he said, 'Sharee, did you catch anything?'

For some reason, even when she knew different, Shamee had called him by his vessel's name. He assumed there was a reason for it. But until he knew what that was, he'd follow her rules.

'Couple of birds,' Shamee said.

'That sounds all right.' Yami turned and started leading them back into the forest. 'We'll cook them and that'll be lunch.'

'What, no instant food?' Joey asked.

Shamee rolled her eyes. 'Do I look like a waitress?'