Somehow, Inari's early-morning loss seemed to be a harbinger of good things for the rest of her friends: Joey, Duke, and Yugi all won their next matches by absolute landslides, meaning they were all going to the semifinals, Téa found a ten-dollar bill on the ground, Tristan found someone who traded away a great Duel Monsters card to him, and someone had come floating by with a basket of flowers, sticking one behind Serenity's ear before waltzing along as if they had no idea where they actually were. They even dropped another daisy on the ground, which Atem immediately picked up and clumsily wove into Inari's hair.
She laughed, her fingers touching the strands he'd accidentally pulled from her braids. Her fingers brushed against the petals, and it saddened her that they were a little wilted. "You could have just let me do it," she chided gently, rearranging the mess and pinning it up into a loose bun. But she couldn't stop smiling, especially when he kissed her brow.
"You should be finding your next opponent," he replied, "Let me worry about the sillier things."
She insisted, "It's not silly, it's adorable." Atem's hand was touching her cheek, so she took it in her own and kissed his palm. "Thank you."
His smile widened, though he looked quizzically at the flower in her hair. Did it seem brighter… more alive than it had a second ago? But Atem didn't have the chance to point it out.
"Did I hear that someone needs a new dueling opponent?" Mako was approaching, a big grin on his face. The gang waved at him.
"Oh, yes," Inari replied. "I'm only two coins away from making the semifinals, so…"
"Excellent! So am I!" Mako pulled out his coin case and flipped it open with one hand. "I hear you like to duel with ocean creatures," he continued, his eyes hardening with determination. "I would like to see for myself. I have yet to face a duelist who excels with them as I do."
She laughed nervously, modestly waving him off. "I mean, it's not my entire deck, but yes, I often favor them." Mako suddenly clasped her hands in his.
"Then let's duel! We will both put two coins up, so that whoever wins gets to move ahead to the next stage of the tournament."
"… Alright." Her eyes were wide and blinking, unaccustomed to being accosted in such a way. Even so, his eagerness was infectious, and she found herself getting antsy.
The two of them headed the group who moved to the nearest available dueling arena. Atem was holding tightly to Inari's hand.
"Don't worry," he whispered in her ear, "You can handle this. You could swim laps around his sea monsters."
"Who's worried?" She sweetly kissed Atem's cheek. "Especially with the best cheerleading squad in the world?" Inari stepped up to her place in the arena, and started setting up her things. "Let's go, Mako. I can't wait to barbecue your fish."
"We'll see about that," he scoffed, "I've watched you play a little before now. I know your tricks." Mako proudly slapped down his deck leader. "I choose the mighty Kairyu-Shin!" he crowed. Inari smiled, enjoying his attitude. A long, writhing, blue sea serpent slithered out from the depths of the sea, spitting menacingly at Inari. It reminded her of her Aqua Dragon. She happily put down her Illusory Gentleman.
"I play the magic card Hinotama!" she started off, watching as a small shower of fireballs rained over Kairyu-Shin. One of her trademark opening moves. Classic.
"Is that all you got?" Mako taunted. "I play this card in defense mode."
Inari watched him, searching for a bluff, but his expression gave away nothing but cockiness. She put down her Rare Fish and moved it forward just to see what he would do. Mako responded by setting down a second card and moving it out to meet her. She scanned her hand. There were a few options, but she could only play one at a time. For now, she placed the Magical Neutralizing Force Field down by her side. She knew better than anyone how much water monsters could power up each other. She left Rare Fish where it was.
"Jellyfish!" Mako called, "Attack!"
It was a gorgeous monster, a floating, fancy jellyfish, and it was also stronger than Rare Fish. She winced, watching her beast get destroyed. Maybe she should have put it in defense mode. She didn't have any good monster options in her hand, so Inari put down Mesmeric control and moved her deck leader out of attacking range.
"You should learn to play a stronger defense!" Mako advised condescendingly, moving his Jellyfish.
"And you should probably recognize an obvious, spellbinding trap when your opponent puts one down. Go, Mesmeric Control!" Her card trapped his monster and weakened it enough for her freshly drawn Fairy of the Fountain to take out. Both Inari and Mako played it safe—he strengthened the defense around his deck leader, and she only let the Fairy of the Fountain move one space ahead, rather than the two she was allowed. "I finish with Red Medicine," Inari stated, regaining all of the life points she had lost, and then some.
"I strengthen this monster," Mako declared, "Switch these to defense mode, and end my turn."
Inari found that she had the opportunity to strengthen her Fairy, but if she wanted to take down Mako's powered-up monsters with her Neutralizing Forcefield, she would lose anything she did now. Instead, she discarded her Three-Legged Zombie and placed her Meteor Dragon down in defense mode. Fairy of the Fountain moved again, and Inari waited anxiously. Still, Mako didn't attack her. In fact, he let his cards give the Fairy of the Fountain a wide berth. She laughed, partly because her nerves were starting to fray, and also because she was realizing how ridiculous this must look to their small audience.
"Do you see how crazy-defensive we're being?" she asked him, cracking up. "We were getting all pumped up for a big, bad, epic fight, and this is what we're doing!"
Mako let out a loud laugh, too. "Are you surprised? We both have fearsome creatures of the deep within our decks. Neither of us want to engage them!"
"True." She smiled, calming, and placed her Fairy in defense mode. Which was a good thing, because the next second, a giant, brown snake-like creature destroyed her watery maiden with a pair of typhoons. Grimacing, she drew two more cards. "Oh, thank God," she whispered to herself. Mirror Wall, and Water Magician. Fabulous. But it would take time to set this stage. "First, I play the spell card Magical Neutralizing Force Field! It powers down any monster that you've enhanced with another card. Then, I'll set this one face-down." Mirror Force. Next turn, she would put out the Water Magician, then Star Boy after that. Then she'd stand a chance against the Roaring Ocean Snake.
That's when her finger slipped and sent her Illusory Gentleman right up to the big, slithering beast. She blanched, turning red at her mistake as she heard the mocking titters around her. "It's okay," she told herself, "Even if he attacks, Mirror Wall will cut the damage in half. Then Water Magician can beat the tar out of him." So, Water Magician went on the field next to the snake. Briefly, she wondered where he'd try to go.
Of course, he attacked Inari's life points directly. "Mirror Wall, activate!" she called with a sigh of relief. She only took a moderate amount of damage, and was behind by a couple hundred points. Another monster of his went after her Spirit of the Winds, some ugly, dark, blob-fish called Tongyo.
Her first move this turn was to move her deck leader out of the damn way. Then, she attacked a weakened Tongyo with Meteor Dragon, destroying it. "Now," she said, "I play Star Boy in defense mode, face up! His special ability amps up all of my Aqua Monsters' attack points! Which is plenty for this little lady to take out your Ocean Snake! Water Magician, attack!"
Pink hair, blue robe, and massive magical staff, the Water Magician sent a large blast of magic water towards the Roaring Ocean Snake, defeating it easily after a large, one-eyed starfish strengthened her. Inari let out the breath she'd been holding in. Part of her was convinced that it wouldn't work. Shockingly, Mako was giving her a big smile.
"Excellent!" he praised her. "Star Boy is a great card. It's nice to fight someone who knows how to use it."
"Th-thank you…?" She smiled back, puzzled, but grateful. She didn't even see what he'd done with his next turn. Not worried, she set down another monster and flipped it up. "I play Fairy's Gift in defense mode!" she said. "Its special ability gives me eight hundred extra life points." The green fairy with blue butterfly wings showered the Illusory Gentleman with a magical, white, glowing powder. She'd still been ahead, prior to this, but she liked the security. She even moved ahead her Water Magician.
The magician was right in the heart of Mako's defense line up, daring him silently to attack her. Then, she put down Crow Goblin, getting rid of Star Boy in the process now that he'd been rendered useless. Still, he wouldn't, merely shifting his cards around the field again.
"Come on," she groaned, irritated, "Attack me, damn it!" He gave her an amused smile, throwing her off-guard and making her blush. Inari averted her eyes and slapped down Magic Jammer face-down, grumbling, "Asshole," under her breath, and sent the Water Magician into battle with a defense-mode card. It must have been a spell, because nothing happened.
"Turu-Purun, attack!" Mako called, and a squishy, blue cat-thing holding a trident went after Crow Goblin. The robed monster read from the book it held in its talons and flicked Turu-Purun away as if it were nothing, destroying it. "Fine…" Mako gazed out at the map like a hawk. With a smirk, he said, "I believe that you are familiar with this particular monster, Miss." He flipped over a card, sending it to attack her Water Magician, and Inari's eyes widened as a gigantic, blue dragon with wings and massive teeth reared up and blasted the small humanoid monster with intense, magical water. "Say hello to my own Aqua Dragon!"
Gritting her teeth, Inari yelled back, "And say goodbye. Or have you forgotten about Mirror Wall?" Though she'd been shoved down, Water Magician staggered back up and hurled her own watery attack towards the beast. It was gone in a flash, and Mako's life points were down to 225.
Inari wasn't sure that she needed to, but she put down her Water Girl, just in case she needed the backup. Now, she took her Water Magician and attacked another face-down card—this time, one in attack mode. Unfortunately, it was a monster called Akihiron—an ugly, pale-blue, oblong creature with fleshy, membrane-colored wings, a single, giant eye, and a misshapen mouth. Its attack strength was the same as Water Magician's, and they destroyed each other.
"It's time for one last attack!" Mako declared, feeling a new surge of confidence now that he'd destroyed her heavy-hitter. "Bottom Dweller, attack her Meteor Dragon!" A big, green wyrm with a glowing ball on the end of its tail coiled itself up like a cobra, waiting to strike. Then it snapped at the Meteor Dragon, taking it by the throat. The molten monster roared, digging its claws into the Bottom Dweller, and tore it in two.
"You lose, Mako." Inari was breathing hard, trying not to scream out her excitement. A laugh escaped her lips.
"Winner, Inari Winters."
"I'm going to the semifinals," she whispered, breaking into a wide smile. This time, she did vault over the side of the arena and immediately pulled Atem into a tight hug, laughing as they were ganged up on by the others. "You're dueling me in the semis," she promised in Atem's ear, her voice low. He laughed and kissed her cheek.
"If it's up to me, then absolutely."
Joey and Tristan were half-strangling her when Mako approached, taking half of his rose coins out of his case and offering them up to Inari. "Here," he said, "They're yours."
With a muffled snap! of the coins being put in their slots, Inari gazed down at her complete set, and felt a fresh surge of pride. "Thank you, Mako," she graciously said, looking back at him with a grin. "Oh, what the hell." She suddenly crushed him into a hug, too, unable to contain her happiness. "Thank you so much for the match!"
He awkwardly extracted himself from her arms and took a step back, rubbing his forearm. "You had better go check in with the tournament officials. Make sure that no one muscles you out of your spot."
"Right." She turned to Joey, Duke, and Atem, wearing her most serious of expressions. "You heard him, boys, let's get going." Joey and Duke led the way to the semifinals registration table, the four duelists opening up their coin cases and handing them over to the two tournament officials.
"Excellent," said one, handing Atem back the case. "That makes six. We'll go ahead and have the announcement made to cease the dueling."
"Who's the other one?" Duke asked, "Besides Mai Valentine, I mean."
"Mokuba Kaiba."
"Alright!" Joey exclaimed happily. "This oughta be awesome!"
A few minutes later, they heard the announcement and collective groans from the other contestants. A few were glowering towards the finalists, but more were whispering, already debating who out of the four were going to win. More whispers, more glares when Mai and Mokuba joined their ranks. Pegasus returned to the main hall with the other duelists who'd been scattered around the other rooms, and he took to the microphone hooked up to the speakers.
"Duelists, though all of you have dueled valiantly, we have our six finalists. Tomorrow, we'll hold the semifinals, and the finals the day after that. Before all of that, though, please join us tonight at seven o'clock for a warm reception. Attire is formal, dancing is strongly recommended."
"Oh, God, it's Duel Monsters prom…" Mai murmured in Inari's ear, sounding amused. "Do you at least remember if you know how to dance, kid?"
"Prom…?" This was a word she didn't know, and she flushed with embarrassment when Mai gave her a confused look. "Er… I believe I know how. I'm not sure. I guess we'll find out." She laughed it off, hoping that Mai wouldn't ask any more questions.
"Well, save me a dance," Mai teased. Then, she turned her attention to Joey. "You'll be escorting me, of course. A fine lady like me can't just show up to a fancy event without a date."
Joey blushed, and started stammering like crazy, making everyone laugh. Of course, he eventually agreed.
Author's Note: Sorry, again, for the late update! Next week my university classes start back up, and I've been scrambling to take care of some last-minute details. As such, my updates are probably, unfortunately, going to keep being late, though I'll try my hardest to get them out at a decent time.
Thank you very much for reading, I really appreciate it! I also really appreciate feedback of any kind- constructive criticism is a huge help to me, as is encouragement. Lots of love, WolfMoonSinger