"Alright, I think we're set," Serena said. After realizing that they were going to be spending some time in Domino City, the girls had made a trip back home to grab travel preparations. She herself had just finished cramming her stuff into the back of Amy's vehicle.
"Aren't we forgetting something?" Luna asked. All eyes turned to the cat. "Accommodations. Where are we supposed to stay during the tournament? I'm quite sure we aren't all cramming into Yugi's room or even the game shop," she said. The girls just kind of stared at each other.
"Uh… good point, come to think of it. We could book a hotel," Mina suggested. Amy rose an eyebrow.
"Since when do you have that sort of money laying around? Hotels aren't free," She reminded her friend. Mina's face fell. "How about we give Yugi a ring? Maybe he'll have an idea," She suggested. Serena nodded and pulled out her cell phone, dialing the number as she did.
"Hello? Oh, hi Mr. Moto. We need to talk to Yugi. He is? OK, cool," Serena waited. "Hey, Yugi. We kind of had a question… where are we going to stay?" The other Scouts waited as Serena listened for a minute. "Yeah, hotels are a little out of our price range." More listening. "I don't know… He didn't seem like the kind of- wait, are you seriously suggesting blackmail? Yugi, that's not even right… Although we are there for basically tournament security," she added as an afterthought. She sighed, thought, and finally nodded. "Alright, we'll try it. Thanks, bye," She said before hanging up.
"Well, basically Yugi wants us to blackmail Kaiba into getting us a place to stay," Serena explained. Eyebrows rose. "Yugi gave me his office number. Said to tell Kaiba that unless he can get us a place, 'certain people that we may or may not know may or may not be able to sabotage the tournament,'" she quoted. Lita's face broke into a broad grin, Rei and Mina looked neutral and Amy had her palm firmly placed on her forehead.
"Seriously… do it, I guess," She said finally. Serena dialed the number and waited.
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"Telephone call for you, Mr. Kaiba," A voice came over his speakerphone. Kaiba gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he picked up the phone. "Kaibacorp, please state your business."
"Uhm. Mr. Kaiba? My name is Serena Tsukino. My friends and I were the ones that Yugi said knew something about the strange people you met the other day," The girl began.
"Ok…? Is there a point here?" Kaiba asked impatiently.
"Well, yeah. We know who they are within a reasonable, educated guess. And those particular people are, well, let's just say that if they want a piece of your tournament, they'll surely be up to no good. We'd like to enter your tournament to keep an eye out, but we kind of don't have a place to stay," Serena explained.
"Then rent a hotel. Problem solved, aren't I a genius?" Kaiba responded dryly.
"We don't exactly have that kind of money lying around, Mr. Kaiba. That's the problem; we don't have the means to find a place. We were kind of hoping that maybe you could help us out? Book a hotel under the company name or something?" Serena asked somewhat timidly.
"KaibaCorp doesn't do charity work for a couple of girls that can't get a room, sorry. You'll have to figure it out," Kaiba replied. He was halfway to hanging up the phone when he heard her speak again.
Serena hesitated a second before finally screwing up her courage. "Well, in that case, we just might not be able to be there when this tournament screws up like the last Battle City did and KaibaCorp's good name is in danger because they can't hold a tournament without people getting hurt," She said bravely. Kaiba's jaw dropped on the other end.
"Are you seriously blackmailing me?!" He half-yelled into the phone. "…Hold on a minute," he said. He set the receiver down on the desk and turned around. Thoughts flew through his head. If she's right, and she sounds pretty certain, then my next Battle City could completely ruin the company name if it gets hijacked! If these… what the hell did Yugi call them? Sailor Scouts, I think. If these girls actually can protect my tournament from the inside, I can't afford to not have them around… Son of a bitch, He realized that he was going to have to cave in to blackmail.
"…Fine. Be at… screw it, the Domino City Mariott in three hours. Can you do that? Good. My brother will be there with your pass cards, and since you're entering the tournament anyway I'll have your Battle City door packages in the rooms. There, that's my charity for the year. Goodbye," He said before hanging up. On the other end, Serena pumped her fist in victory.
"Yes! It worked! Domino City Mariott in three hours, we'll have our doorcards and duel disks and everything," She said happily. Amy groaned, still in disbelief that they had just bribed a multi-million dollar CEO into booking them a hotel.
"Let's go then," She said after a moment of rubbing her temples. And with that, they were off.
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"Tomorrow's the big day… I can't sleep!" Serena told Luna. They'd been in the hotel for three days now, dueled each other a few times for practice and now it was finally the night before Kaiba's next big tournament. "Maybe I should just look through it one more time…" She reached for her deck, but Luna put a paw over it.
"You second-guess yourself too many times and you'll wind up fixing what isn't broken," She said wisely. Serena thought for a moment, realized that Luna was right and started to lay back down in bed when she heard strange murmuring. She glanced at Luna, who nodded. Serena rose from her bed, gripping her Moon Prism ready for action.
"Who's there?" She asked, stepping into the hall. She looked left, saw nothing, then looked right and saw a white-haired man in a striped shirt and leather pants checking the door number. Her voice made his head whip toward her, and he cursed the moment he saw the Scout.
"Why in the bloody hell can't they have lights in these Ra forsaken halls?" He muttered. "To answer your question… I go by Bakura, The Thief King. Then again, that was five thousand years ago. These days it's just Bakura," He told her with a dark smile. Serena could feel pulsing, radiating from this man.
"And just what are you doing here at…" Serena looked at her cell phone, "two-thirty in the morning?" She queried. Bakura's grin widened.
"Looking for you, actually. You are, shall we say… an unpleasant presence to me. You may even pose a minor threat in what I have in store for these next weeks. I need to eliminate you and your Scout friends while I have the chance," He explained, taking a Duel Monsters deck from his pocket.
"Well, at least he's honest," Luna said dryly. Serena's eyes narrowed.
"If it's a duel you want, I'll-" Bakura laughed quietly and shook his head.
"Silly girl. Duel Monsters is all well and fun, but I have no need for that tonight when I can simply summon my Morphing Jar!" He pulled a card from his deck and held it up. It glowed white, and suddenly a REAL version of the Morphing Jar, a regular vase with some odd creature hidden in it, emerged. Serena's eyes widened.
"Moon Prism Power!" She shouted. "I call on the Lunar Scepter!" She called after the transformation was complete. The familiar weapon appeared in her hand, and she ran forward with a mighty swing at the monster. It easily shattered, and Serena looked smugly at Bakura, who looked at though he was judging.
"Impressive," He said. Then, without warning, he grabbed her and flung her down the hall, her back slamming up against a window at the top of the stairs leading to the next floor. He charged and Serena rolled to the side as he came at her. She quickly realized he was going too fast to stop and watched in horror as he broke the window. Her horror changed to a shocked yelp as he grabbed her by the collar, taking the both of them out the window. Serena thanked the Moon that they were on the first floor as she picked herself up, looking across the alleyway they'd fallen into to see her opponent already charging her again.
This time she was ready. She grabbed his arm as he aimed a punch, twisted it around and threw him into the alley wall before clobbering him with the Scepter. She heard him yelp a word she didn't understand as she backed away, ready to strike again. Instead, she missed as he ran down the alley and into the street ahead. Oh, great, she thought. She recognized that area; it was the commercial district. No way in hell she'd be able to keep this fight quiet now.
He turned to face her after a couple minutes, grinning. "The hotel and alleyway were a little cramped for our first battle, don't you think?" He asked, pulling another card out. "Since you didn't seem to get along with my Morphing Jar, let's see how you play with Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World!" He said as the card glowed. This time, though, it was no small monster. A hulking demon of a dragon came forth, roaring at Serena and causing hordes of citizens to flee. Amazingly enough, Grapha had Summoned without destroying any property, but Serena was sure that wouldn't last.
"Grapha, attack with Dark Helfire!" Bakura called out. The dragon reared back, a nasty-looking energy charging in its mouth. Serena made to make a shield with her moon powers, but another voice rang out.
"Spellbinding Circle, GO!" Serena looked up to see Atem leaping from a car, a card glowing in his hand. Just as it had Secutor in their duel, a mystical circle surrounded the dragon, freezing it in place. "Sailor Moon! Attack now while I have it stunned!" He called to her. She nodded.
"Moon Tiara Magic!" She cried, flinging her tiara. It caught the dragon dead on, and with an anguished cry it disappeared. Bakura snarled; he had not expected the Pharoah's interference. His eyes darted back and forth for a moment as he made a decision.
"Dimensionhole!" He said, holding a Spell card up. Before either of them could act, Bakura stepped back through a portal that opened behind him, leaving no trace of his presence besides a broken window. Atem rushed toward the heroine.
"Are you alright, Serena?" He asked quietly. She nodded. "Good. Where are your friends?"
"The hotel walls are soundproofed. I doubt they even woke up," She replied with a laugh. "I'm not even sure how I heard… Bakura, right?" Atem nodded. "I think it was his evil energy that caught my attention… he radiated it like a bad smell," She said. Atem nodded again.
"Go back, get some sleep. We will talk in the morning, before the tournament gets underway," Atem said gently. Serena nodded.
"…Thanks," She added as they made their way to the hotel. "I don't think I would've been able to stop that thing alone with that Spellbinding Circle," She said. Atem smiled.
"Any time. See you in the morning," He said as they came to the hotel entrance.
