4. WELCOME TO DUELIST KINGDOM

Welcome all my honored guests
To the ultimate duel with the best of the best
At my invitation you've come to compete
For the honor of suffering the final defeat

Isn't it grand what I managed to do
By kidnapping those closest to you
I've taken their souls to lay on the line
In a winner take all duel for all time

All your cunning strategies
All the tricks you try
Look like merely child's play
To my Millennium Eye

Face Up, Face Down, from the album "Yu-Gi-Oh!: Music to Duel By"


The trip to Pegasus's private island had taken all day and well into the morning to arrive, Yugi knew this because she had taken over a table in the corner of the dining hall since the staterooms had been taken over by the well-known Regional Champions and others were prowling around for easy prey to bully. A boy with glasses and a bug-like look had tried to target her, he walked away with a chip on his shoulder because she ignored him and was talking loudly to anyone that would pay attention. That had been two hours before the ship docked and everyone started to disembark to hear Pegasus's opening speech.

Going with the flow of the crowd, which was gravitating towards and down the gangplank that had been lowered minutes before, she found herself on a cobblestone ground in a mock peasant village with a large stage that was raised in the center and guarded by the same black suited guards from Domino City. She looked around and noted that many groups had formed, including Anzu's as the three boys gravitated towards her. At that, Yugi rolled her eyes and shook her head, but it was not any skin off her teeth because they were not her friends. "Such rabble." She heard a rather sultry voice state from behind her, prompting the tri-colored haired teen to turn around and face a blonde woman that was a few inches taller than her with long blonde hair and lavender colored eyes. Her attire raised a few eyebrows since she basically flaunted her well trimmed body in an open lilac coat that only went to her waist with a matching miniskirt that was held around her hips with a wide black leather belt that had a silver belt buckle and a pouch from her cards, her chest was clad in a strapless white corset that laced up the front and she wore white sneakers, which was practical. The only thing that made Yugi twitch was the gauntlet on her left hand and the two glittering gold stars, she still had reservations about wearing the cursed thing since what happened to her Grandpa and was attempting to put it off as long as possible.

"Is that so?" Yugi asked, keeping her tone more curious than annoyed in hopes of not making any more enemies, tilting her head to the side with her hands in her pants pockets. It would be bad due to the fact that it looked like they would be set loose on the island with no supervision of any sort.

"Look around, most here are high school rejects that know this brings them popularity and others that have an ego that is larger than them." She continued to say as a few glared at her, only she returned it and they looked away. "Most settle into the limelight well and milk it for all its worth, but if I have to hear…" she trailed off gritting her teeth as Yugi turned to face her fully this time with a grin.

"What makes you different from them?" she asked as the blonde frowned at the question. "I mean, you are a regional champion and you must be pretty high up since the press at the Domino City docks were following you around like lost puppies with flashbulb eyes." Her frown disappeared as she laughed, putting her hands on her hips and throwing back her head and drawing some attention from those around them.

"I'm the first female regional champion and one of the few females here at this tournament, besides yourself and maybe two others obviously." She added with a smirk. "You don't look half bad yourself." This time it was Yugi who frowned and stared the other down.

"Sorry, I don't swing that way, but thanks for the compliment." Yugi replied dryly as the blonde looked amused.

"You're not half bad, but let's see if you have what it takes." The blonde mused and stuck her left hand out. "I'm Mai Valentine, best female duelist around." Yugi pulled her right hand from her pocket and briefly shook Mai's hand, making sure she went for a medium strength in grip as the blonde matched. As they released hands, Yugi hooking her thumb into a belt loop while Mai rested her hand on her own hip; Yugi took the initiative to begin the formal introductions.

"I am Motou Yugi, your rival for such title." She stated with a slight bow. "I doubt the others will prove to be much of a challenge next to you, Valentine-san." Her eyes narrowed a bit, giving Yugi another once over as if evaluating the weight of that statement and if she was joking or not.

"You better, if would be such a loss for women to lose to one of these moronic little boys." She stated and glared at the bug boy that had been annoying Yugi on the ship, both watched in amusement as he paled and scampered away from them.

"Attention!" a voice shouted as all attention turned to the platform again, only a brown haired man wearing dark sunglasses in a black suit stood. He must have been the head of Pegasus's security detail, since he wore the glasses and the others seemed to snap to attention when he raised his voice to gain the attention of the duelist. "Mr. Pegasus is here to make the opening speech, so be respectful and courteous to him." In her mind, Yugi had added 'or else' to that statement because it seemed like the man would be the one to point at someone that was talking in the middle of the speech and tell them to attack like a well trained police dog.

After everyone fell silent a silver haired man in a garish suit, which was more blinding than when she had seen him on the tape, and everyone was looking up at him. Yugi screwed her eyes shut as a sudden image of a King, Pharaoh, or God addressing the lower classes, peasants, or his cult following and that resulted in the first sound of snickering from her Shadow and the first mental growl from her. Opening her eyes, and trying to ignore the snickering in her mind, she focused on Pegasus, who was smiling benignly down at them.

"Welcome all of my honored guests— especially the Regional Champions— to the first large scale dueling tournament with only the best of the best." He stated jovially arms spread in welcoming as the duelists all clapped or looking smug about this opening statement. "It will be a grueling test of your strategy skills, showing everyone just who has the mind to truly fear, but also to crown one of you the King of Games." Many were cheering at this point, but Yugi noted that Mai had crossed her arms and looked skeptical and felt her respect for the blonde go up at least one notch. Yugi's own opinion of the beginning of Pegasus's speech was that he was too dramatic and the technical title that he was giving away should have been 'King of the Duel Monsters Game' since there was obviously no other type of games around here.

She blinked a few times and brought her left hand up to cover her mouth, hiding the fact that she was grinning from those around her. The sudden thought that had popped into her head, despite the grumbling of confusion, was watching the present duelists trying to organize soccer teams for a round-robin tournament. At this point she had bowed her head and her shoulders were shaking, causing Mai to give her a weird look and others to inch away.

"The only catch is you will have to defeat myself to gain that prestigious title, and only the overall winner of the tournament will have that right." Pegasus continued on as he bent his right arm and placed his right hand flat against the center of his chest, dropping his left arm so that his hand rested against the railing of the platform. His one visible eye roaming over the crowd of excited teenagers, keeping his smile. "As you all know, each duelist has received a special dueling gauntlet and will start out with two star chips. Your goal is to reach ten star chips and this can be achieved by wagering a number of star chips on duels, in a true game of winner take all. Once a duelist has ten chips, they will be eligible to enter my castle and compete in the semi-finals of this tournament." He paused here as many were chattering amongst themselves and scouting out the competition, trying to find the weakest duelers to begin with.

"Curse you, Darwin, and your ever present theories." Yugi muttered to herself, after she stopped snickering and had stood straight up, both hands now gripping the strap of her messenger bag. Mai snorted to herself about that comment, secretly agreeing. The older blonde was uneasy with the set-up, since that meant the testosterone would get suffocating and there would be people resorting to physical violence instead of dueling to achieve their means.

"Also, just to make things very interesting, the arenas on this island have had several new rules added in. So, so be careful where you decide to duel and whom you challenge because these rules may just cause you some new troubles." He warned, bringing his right hand up and waving it with a laugh. "Since you all have had a day to prepare yourselves, let the tournament… BEGIN!" he declared as everyone cheered and started to set off to find the arenas that had been set up.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." Yugi muttered as she made her way towards the closet village exit, which showed a green meadow and a large arena in the distance and missed Mai's challenging smirk as she went the opposite way, towards the exit at the far side of the village that had access to the beginnings of a forest.

Yugi found it rather amusing how quickly twenty or so people could disperse. It took her five minutes to reach the dueling arena, noting that it seemed like no one was around. She poked around for a moment and noted that it was a big, bulky structure with two tall pedestals with a control panel on both and the field between the two pedestals was marked off to show the places where the cards would appear in holographic form. "All this for a card game?" she muttered to herself as her Shadow snorted and appeared before her, leaning against the side of the one pedestal with his arms crossed over his chest. She still could not see his face, but she could now tell he had a dark tan, and that his legs were strong and his fingers were slender, wrists and biceps sporting inch wide gold bracelets and cuffs with another around his throat.

If it were not for her control and pride, she would have swooned like in the cheesy romance novels. Steeling herself against his appeal, she glanced around the area and than carefully let her bag drop to the ground. Rubbing her right shoulder with her left hand, she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the left, and waiting for the knot to pass. "No bag weighting that much should be carried that long." She muttered, jumping a bit when she felt another hand mirroring her own. Cracking her eyes open she seen that her Shadow was not where he had first appeared. She let her eyes open all the way and she turned her head to the right and seen a tanned hand covering hers.

He may have been a spirit, transparent and all, but how could she feel his touch? His other hand was on the left side of her throat and gently pushed her neck so that she was looking forward and he had moved closer, his hand moving her hair over her left shoulder, so he could press a reassuring kiss to the nape of her neck. The comfortable moment was broken by a high-pitched laugh that made her twitch and her Shadow growl in annoyance before he faded away. "I challenge you to a duel, you ignorant novice!" the familiar yet grating, nasally voice declared as she turned her head to the left, wincing as her neck cracked, and seen a short boy with sea-green hair in a bowl cut wearing large, round glasses—the frames were yellow with the bridge rather wide and forming the pinchers of an insect. She blinked a few times and turned to face him.

"I take it you are one of those infamous Regional Champions." Yugi lazily replied as he growled at her calm demeanor and the nature of her statement, not noticing that she was looking him over with a calculating eye. He wore a white dress shirt with a red bow tie and an open, bright green jacket and matching pants. On his back was a simple backpack, but other than that there was nothing threatening about the boy other than his higher-than-normal voice.

"I am Insector Haga, the best of the Regional Champions. Have you been living under a rock?" he arrogantly asked, puffing his chest up as she pulled her hands from her neck and bent down to pick up her bag. "Are you chickening out already?" he cackled as she snorted and slung her bag over her right shoulder, and rested her left hand on the Millennium Puzzle. She turned around, showing her his back, and headed towards the dueling pedestal closest to them.

"Hardly, Haga." She replied throwing him a smirk over her shoulder, pausing in front of the ladder. "Any questions before we begin?"

"What's your name, novice, so I can proudly add you to my list of conquests?" he asked as Yugi twitched.

That sounded so wrong. She thought as her Shadow growled, but she was not in the mood to debate if it was due to the possible perverse nature of the comment or at losing to an arrogant fool like the boy before them. "Motou Yugi." She simply stated and started to climb the ladder as the boy was frozen to his spot for a moment, than he laughed.

"You're the one that beat Kaiba?" he laughed, obviously not believing that she had beat him, and all she did was roll her eyes and wait for him to get to his pedestal. In that time, and to ignore his uproarious laughter, she had sat her bag down and crouched down in front of it. By time he called out that he was ready to begin the betting, she had pulled out the dueling gauntlet she had stashed in her bag and slipped it on her right hand before reaching her now covered hand into her pants pocket and pulling out the lone star she had. Transferring that to her left hand, she

"How about this, Haga, if you win I give you the star and my deck and if I win I take both star chips?" she asked as the boy looked positively gleeful at that, throwing his two star chips into the wager basket at his left while Yugi sat one star chip and pulled out her secondary deck, to take the place of her primary deck in the basket at her left.

"Accepted!" he shouted with a devious grin that did not set Yugi's nerves easy. Obviously he knew some of the new rules and that may not bode well for her. "Let's duel!" he declared as she pulled her deck from the first pouch at her left hip and started to shuffle it, secretly asking for a good bit of luck and that the Heart of the Cards was on her side this time.

After shuffling her cards a number of times, she drew the top seven cards and fanned them out in her left hand as Haga did the same. Since he made the challenge she could go first, so she laid down Mammoth Graveyard in defense position and face down as her opponent kept his creepy smirk. "Are you going to announce what you did?" he asked as she blinked a few times.

"Why would I? You can see the move I made and I doubt I can attack anything just yet." She pointed out as he looked vaguely annoyed, but the smirk never fell. For some odd reason she had the feeling that she would be in for a ridiculously long haul, what else could possibly go wrong?

"Hey look who's dueling!" a voice screeched and Yugi felt a twitch developing at the corner of her left eye. Why was she cursed to always run into those idiots?

"I play Killer Needle in attack mode, attack Yugi's face down card!" Weevil declared loudly, and rather dramatically, with a cackle. She frowned as the Killer Needle took out her face down card, forcing it to flip and the Mammoth Graveyard to appear in it's skeleton glory to be skewered.

"Eh?" she got out, standing straight up with her right hand resting on the edge of the control console. She tilted her head to the side with a weird look on her face, now drumming her fingers as many thoughts ran through her mind about what had just happened and what caused it.

"That is one of the new rules, the field power bonus." Haga proudly told her with his nose in the air. "Each arena that Pegasus put on the island is in a different area of the island, a different setting. Look at our own, it is split into a wasteland and forest… boosting any card that could thrive in those sections."

"Yeah, yeah. Causing both the attack and defense to increase by a certain amount, I get it." Yugi drawled out and dismissed the rest of his explanation with a wave of the hand, knowing it would piss him off. "But if that is the case, going off of what you said about our arena, than your Killer Needle would be history as well since my Mammoth Graveyard would have received the same power boost, seeing it thrives in wastelands." She pointed out as his card imploded, making his eyes bug out much like his name. "Zombies have to be useful for something other than being creepy cannibals or the basis for B-rate movies." She arched an eyebrow when he started to grit his teeth and looked ready to throw a tantrum as he leaned over the console taking in deep breaths in order to calm down.

"No matter, I doubt you know the rest of them." Haga stated as he lifted his head and gave a rather creepy laugh, making Yugi roll her eyes. This boy was such a drama queen! With a sigh she drew a card and looked over her hand, keeping a straight poker face as she laid one card down in defense mode and than placed a second card, this one in the second row, denoting that it was a magic or trap card.

"I'm done, go ahead bug-boy." She drawled out as he growled at her.

"My name is not bug-boy!" he shouted, flailing his arms around like he was trying to fly.

"Whatever. Just make a move already." Yugi added in an exasperated tone as he finally drew a card, snickering this time.

"I play Hercules Beetle is attack mode." He declared loudly as the insect appeared, it's original stats being 1500 attack and 2000 defense but with the field bonus it was changed to 1700 attack and 2200 defense, and was ready for some action. "Attack her face down card!" he bellowed as the beetle did so, only to have his beetle get pushed back and 250 points of damage inflicted. The card on the field disappeared and a block stone soldier appeared with a sword before him, arms crossed in front of itself in defense, the Giant Solider of Stone with an attack of 1300 and defense of 2000 only with the bonus the attack was 1500 and the defense 2200.

"Nice try, but with that lovely field bonus my Soldier has an extra two hundred points to both his attack and defense giving me first blood in this duel." She stated with a nod of her head and drawing her own card while her opponent bit his lip and glared. So he was down to 4750 of the original 5000 life points, things may change, but Yugi seriously hoped not. Against her better judgment she played the Gemini Elf, with an attack of 1900 and defense of 900, face up and in attack mode. "Gemini Elf attacks your Hercules Beetle head on." She added on as the two elves darted forward, one attacking and than the other, and the insect fragmented with another 200 points being removed from Haga's life points, bringing him down to an 4550.

Haga was not happy with this duel; it was not supposed to be this way! This ignorant novice was supposed to be shaking in her shoes and the duel should have been in his favor, not her. He grit his teeth and drew a card, looked over his hand for a moment, and than smirked as a plan formed in his head. "I play Basic Insect in attack mode." He declared slapping the card down as a large, green mantis appeared on the field.

"I activate my trap card, Trap Hole." Yugi added in a cheerful tone as she flipped the magic card over. Suddenly a black hole appeared beneath the insect and it dropped through, clearing the field for her, as he looked a bit frantic now as his turn ended. She drew a card and looked her own cards over, betraying no emotion on her face while he waited expectantly. "I place one card in defense mode, and two magic ones down. Gemini Elf, attack." She added as Haga let out a shout of shock as the two elves attacked him directly, alternating their attacks like they had before. His life points dropped to 2650, while Yugi still had all of her points and he was not happy with this.

"Hey look! A duel started!" someone shouted from the forest part of the field. Haga scowled as he drew a card, than he made a show of thinking while a small audience gathered at the base of the arena. Yugi took a moment to look over those present and seen that Anzu and her friends were chief among the small group, the brunette was looking smug while Jonouchi was frowning.

"I play one card in defense mode and place two magic cards down." Haga stated in distaste as Yugi drew a card, at this point ignoring the bickering of two females in the audience.

"I play Magical Space Typhoon and destroy your first magic card." Yugi stated as the card automatically went to the card graveyard. "I also play a monster in defense mode." Haga drew his card and grinned before placing the card down and ended his turn.

The next two turns were uneventful, since Yugi was not willing to risk anything on activating Weevil's only other trap card and Weevil had no monsters that could counter the Gemini Elf or destroy her Giant Soldier of Stone and he was not risking her only face down card. The only excitement was Yugi managing to destroy the one trap card Haga had. It was on his third turn that he drew a card he needed, he announced it to everyone by laughing manically and causing whispers in the small audience that he had broken open the duel this time. "I switch my face down card to be face up and in attack mode!" he cackled, showing that it was the Larvae Month, with an attack of 500 and defense of 400 only the bonus put it at 700 and 600 respectively. "Now I equip it with my Cocoon of Evolution." He added as the card his the top of the pedestal and a cocoon surrounded the insect. "With the bonus that puts its defense at an even 2400, in five turns my Larvae will emerge as the Ultimate Great Moth. I challenge you, Motou, to destroy my cocoon."

Repressing her urge to growl in annoyance, Yugi drew a card and stared at it for a moment. "I play Gaia, the Fierce Knight in attack mode." She stated placing the card down in her next to last slot on the top of row of the console, watching as a knight in blue armor on a purple horse carrying a lance appeared, his attack being 2300 and defense 2100. "I also equip him with the Black Pendent." She added and placed that magic card down as a black amulet appeared around the knight's neck, taking his attack points up to 2800. "Attack his cocoon." She added as the knight charged at the cocoon, only to be repelled and 300 points damage inflicted on her own, bringing her down to 4700.

"Nice try, but I doubt that will work." Haga stated with a laugh, as if he had made a joke.

"Obviously." She dryly replied and ended her turn as he drew a card and ended his turn as well, confident that she would not be able to break the cocoon that held the pride and joy of his deck. He would win this, so no need to add more to the field so she could destroy them and his life points.

At the end of three turns, Yugi had managed to put together a means of ending the duel. At this point had laid down three magic cards and the Curse of Dragon, as her final monster summoning, and as the fourth turn began she drew the one she was hoping would turn up. "I play the Burning Land card." She stated and sat that magic card down as Haga paled drastically.

"What?" he shrieked as she rubbed her ears, his voice had cracked on that and her eardrums were not happy even with the distance she was away from him. The Curse of Dragon rose in the air a bit, inhaled, and than exhaled more fire than expected at the cocoon and watched as a small forest fire consumed it. "My moth!" he shouted as Yugi sighed, watching as the second part of the card took effect— the loss of 500 life points to both sides, bringing Haga to 2150 and Yugi's to 4200.

"Now, Gaia the Fierce Knight attack the cocoon." She stated as the knight charged at the cocoon again, only this time shattering it. With that done, she ended her turn he suddenly looked smug, even as the cocoon broke open to show the Ultimate Great Month, only it was weaker due to its full evolution being interrupted, with an attack of 2600 and defense of 2500.

"Joy." She muttered as he cackled.

"Ultimate Great Moth, attack her Gemini Elf." He stated happily as the elves were taken out, inflicting 700 points of damage and bringing her life points to 3500. Ending his turn and looking smug still, Yugi drew a card and shrugged.

"I play Raigeki." She told him as his jaw dropped when the lighting came down and sent his Ultimate Great Moth to the graveyard. "Now attack him directly, Curse of Dragon." She stated as Haga shielded his face from the bright attack, his life points going down to 150. "Gaia the Fierce Knight, finish his life points off."

Everyone was shocked into silence as Yugi gathered her cards up and Haga was staring down at his cards and console with a broken look. "How? How could I have lost to you?" he snarled as she slipped her deck back into the first pouch on her belt and easily collected the two stars that had been transferred to her own basket and picked up her secondary deck and slipped it back into place in the second pouch on her belt.

"She beat Haga." One boy stated in shock as she picked her bag up and slung it over her shoulder, proceeding to climb down the ladder as if she did not hear them.

"Good luck!" Yugi told them all and walked away from the arena and the audience while Haga was coming to terms with his loss. "Three down, seven to go… this vacation really bites."


A/N: I watched the duel while writing this and the field bonus's made no sense, since it seemed to go up random amounts, so I standardized that and the game will be played about the same as the card game with only a few of Pegasus's modified rules kept. Also, I tried to make it all sound and I hope it is. Instead of Eternal Duelist's 8000 life points I am using 5000 life points, since the duels would be notoriously one-sided and I found that out with the changes I made. Yugi's deck changed a tiny bit, but that is only based off of the number duels I have had and the number of times these cards had appeared.

Do comment on the duel, this is more of a test to how I should write these scenes cause I have no idea.

On that note, I'd like to make a notation I forgot in the previous chapters... after three, I think, or around there. S2teennovelist has taken on the job of reading my chapters before hand and pointing out issues I have in my writing, since I usually do not get a chance to reread them until I need to check on something.

Rewrite Completed: Thursday, April 17, 2008