Dragged my heels a bit with this, but here is the next chapter.
No warnings. It is devoid of my usual innuendo, smut and violence.
Just a reminder that I don't own Yugioh.
Beyond Egypt 2
Chapter 10. A Busy Weekend.
At last, it was the weekend. Friday had been a slightly embarrassing experience for Yugi. He had no trouble standing in a stadium, surrounded by cheering fans while dueling. But the thought of standing on a stage in front of the whole school had freaked him out!
The headmaster had used the weekly Friday morning assembly, to introduce Yugi to the pupils as the new ambassador. This honour was usually bestowed upon students who had demonstrated themselves to be outstanding individuals among their peers; either academically or within the community. And since Yugi had risen above the bullying to become famous all over the world as the reigning duel monsters world champion and King of Games, he was given this honour.
Yugi had been forced to sit with the teachers, on stage, while the headmaster had given a rather embarrassing speech about how he had worked his way from being a timid, small boy, with slightly above average grades, who found it difficult to fit in and was often bullied. To being a confident, strong minded young man, with a will to succeed and be the best in the world at his chosen skill. He had used his strengths to overcome his weakness. Because of this, he was a shining example, that anyone can succeed at something, if they put their mind to it.
Throughout the whole speech, Yugi could feel eight hundred pairs of eyes all looking intently at him, many in awe, some with hope and a few full of jealousy.
He wished the Shadow Realm would open up and swallow him.
Afterwards, he had been asked to address the students. His body felt like a plank of wood as he stood up in front of the microphone. Thankfully the bruising he had sustained the previous day had not been too bad thanks to Mai, with her excellent skills of using make up to conceal the bruise. No body could see it unless they looked really closely.
At first he had no idea what on earth to say. "Ahem." His amplified voice echoed around the school hall. Oh crap!
He glanced at his scribbled notes and began the speech he had prepared. Saying that he was honoured at being chosen as an ambassador for the school.
Without realising he had done it, he crumpled the notes in his hand and stuffed them in his pocket. He didn't really need them, for as soon as he started talking the words just kind of rolled off his tongue. He even amazed himself with how easy he had found it.
He held his posture confidently and addressed the pupils. "When I first came to this school, I was bullied because I was quiet and shy, and kept to myself. Because of this, people tended to either pick on me or ignore me completely. I was just this kid with the weird hair, who sat playing games on his own. Deep down I was desperate to make friends but I didn't know how. I was also frightened to tell anyone I was being bullied." He paused for a moment to gauge the reaction. It was favourable so he continued. "My wish, is to make the fear and isolation that students feel when they are being bullied, a thing of the past."
He swept his hand out in a gesture towards his audience. "I know for a fact, that some of you are being bullied. I also know that some of you are bullies. My aim is to make you look closely at yourself. Why do you get bullied? Why do you bully others? I want you to think; how does the person who's lunch money you just stole, feel? Would you like it if someone bigger punched you and took your money every day? I will tell you. You would feel lonely, miserable and dread coming to school."
He could see lots of students nodding in agreement and looking at others who they knew were bullies or had experienced bullying. Yugi looked right at one of the boys who was known to liberate younger children of their money. The boy immediately looked down and started nervously twiddling his thumbs.
"If you see someone is being picked on, I want to know about it. Please do not allow yourself to turn a blind eye when you see someone having their lunch money beaten out of them. Tell me, or one of the teachers and we will ensure that the perpetrator is dealt with." He turned and gestured to the teaching staff. "I trust that I will have your support in taking a stance against these spiteful acts of cruelty, that make the everyday life of some students, miserable?" The teachers all nodded. They too, had often felt frustrated by the reluctance of young victims to report their attackers. Pupils were often afraid to 'grass' on fellow pupils, for fear of reprisal. It made it difficult for them to discipline the minority of badly behaved students.
Yugi was on a roll now. It was his chance to stop other people suffering the helplessness and loneliness he had suffered. "If you see someone who seems withdrawn or unhappy, befriend them! It won't kill you, and you might even find you like that person!" He paused while there was a round of clapping. As it died away, he started to talk again.
"Just one more thing. I would like to start a games club, where people can bring in their favourite games to play. I am happy to teach people how to play duel monsters. I'm sure my friend Jonouchi would be keen to pass on his knowledge too."
Jonouchi grinned and stood slightly to answer. "You bet I do Yuge."
Yugi smiled at his friend. "Thanks Jonouchi. Okay, I will place a notice on the board, and if you are interested you can put your name down. We can then arrange a suitable time with the teaching staff."
When he had finished, everyone stood up cheering and clapping. He had been impressive. Anzu had tears of joy in her eyes at the reaction he received. This was her Yugi. Two years ago, she would never have imagined it possible that he could present himself in such a commanding way. He reminded her of Atem, and the imposing way charisma used to ooze from him. It was not that surprising when she thought about it, Yugi had learnt from Atem, and Atem had once said that Yugi had the heart of a Pharaoh.
The most amusing part came when Yugi went to leave the hall. There in the corridor was the boy Yugi had glared at. He was obviously on a guilt trip, because he was standing in the corridor handing back all the money he had stolen, and was apologising to his victims. Yugi smiled to himself. Looks like he has learnt something today and turned over a new leaf. I hope it continues.
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Looking forward to the day ahead, Yugi stretched himself out and then rolled out of bed. Anzu always had ballet lessons on a Saturday morning, and since the ballet studio was in the same fitness centre as the gym and swimming pool, they had all decided to go along together, so that Yugi and Jonouchi could enrol, and find out when the martial arts classes were held.
Anzu had already started her lesson by the time Yugi and Jonouchi had finished filling out their application forms and liability waivers. They ticked all the boxes to state that they were both fit and healthy. Mai, already a member, had got bored and gone into the gym without them.
After they had been given a tour of the fitness studio, they were given an induction into the gym and shown how to use the exercise machines.
They were then left on their own to do their workout.
"Finally!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "I thought that was never gonna end. Forty minutes! Shit, I dunno if I can be arsed to do anything now," he yawned.
"It was kind of tedious," Yugi agreed.
They were joined by Mai, who quickly reprimanded them. "But it was for your own safety, you idiots. You can hurt yourself on this equipment if you don't know how to use it. Anyway, did you find out about the martial arts classes?" She asked.
"Yup, sure did. Karate tomorrow morning," Jonouchi said, adopting a fighting stance. "Hii..ya!" He did a Karate style kick.
Yugi groaned and looked round when he heard someone snigger. People were watching them with amusement. He felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn't cool to look like a dork in front of all these fit muscular looking guys.
"For god sake you moron. Stop showing yourself up." Mai had also noticed the stares. "You can be really embarrassing sometimes."
"So what. I don't care." Jonouchi marched off towards the weights racks.
After he had gone, Mai turned back to Yugi "So, What classes did you want to do Yugi?" She cringed upon hearing Jonouchi grunt when he selected some weights to use. He then boasted. "Ya, who's da man. Watch out Arnie." They guy next to him sneered at him and moved away slightly when Jonouchi started waving his weights around.
"Just ignore him, he will be fine once he calms down," Yugi assured her.
"Yeah, I guess. It still makes me cringe though. He will get chucked out if he waves the weights around like that." She winked at Yugi. She always did have a soft spot for the spiky haired boy. She had also held a great deal of respect for his other personality, the Pharaoh. All that Ancient Egyptian spirit stuff had sounded a bit far fetched at first, but nothing really surprised her anymore. And after that whole Orichalcos fiasco, nothing weird would ever surprise her again! "Anyway, did you see a class that grabbed you?"
"Well, I quite like the look of Aikido. The emphasis is on defence rather than offence. I might sign up to do that on a Monday and Wednesday."
"Yeah..." Mai nodded. "I can see that suiting you. Not sure about Hong Kong Jouey over there though. He is more your knuckle headed gorilla type." The remark made Yugi laugh.
"Well, time to try out some of this equipment I guess. He decided to go on the rowing machine first, it looked fun.
After they had finished in the gym, they went to find Anzu. Her dance class had ended but she had stayed in the studio with her tutor to work on some more detailed moves. She was keeping it secret at the moment, but she was planning on auditioning for a part in a local production of On Your Toes.
While Jonouchi waited outside in the corridor with Mai, Yugi went to the studios to find her. The dance studio was divided into two rooms. She wasn't in the first one that Yugi looked in. He could hear music coming from the other room so he decided to look in there.
Sure enough, there she was, gracefully dancing to a piece of music that Yugi didn't recognise.
Smiling, he leant against the door frame with his hands in his track pants pockets, and watched her with admiration and love in his eyes. She looked so beautiful.
She didn't seem to be aware that he was standing there, watching her. Oh, how he wished he could walk gracefully over to her, take her in his arms and dance with her seductively, full of romance, passion and artistic grace. Unfortunately, his inability to express himself in this way, and with his clumsy two left feet! He would probably trip them both up. So he just stood gazing at her.
As soon as the music faded, her dance instructor gestured in Yugi's direction. "Your boyfriend is waiting."
Anzu almost jumped in surprise. How much of her routine had he seen? She had always felt a little embarrassed dancing in front of her friends and family. Whenever her parents asked her to show them what she had been learning, she would always get a fit of giggles and forget her routine.
She came skipping over to him gracefully and with poise. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him away from the door frame he was leaning on.
"Yugi! Did you.. How long..?"
"Quite a while." He cut her off before she finished her sentence. "That was fantastic, you are so graceful, beautiful and amazing." His voice was full of emotion.
She kissed his cheek. Oh, Yugi.."How was the gym? Did you find a class you want to do?"
"Yeah, gym was great and I found an Aikido class that might suit me. C'mon, Mai and Jou are waiting for us. If you're ready to leave that is."
Anzu looked at her teacher. She nodded her approval. "I think we should leave it there for today. If you can make it at 11am tomorrow morning, we can go over the rest of your routine."
Grabbing her bag and pulling on her grey tracksuit trousers and pink hooded top, emblazoned with the logo 'Dance Star,' Anzu followed yugi outside.
"What routine is that you are learning. Is it for anything special?" He was suspicious, he could sense that she was keeping something secret.
He knows. Now she was going to have to tell him before she was ready to. Still, she knew she could trust him not to tell Jonouchi or Mai just yet.
"Promise you won't tell anyone yet?"
He nodded, "Of course I won't. You know you can trust me!"
"Okay. I am learning the routine for On Your Toes. It was a Broadway hit. A local company are doing a production. Don't laugh, but I thought I would audition."
Yugi didn't laugh. "Wow, that's fantastic. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because, I want to go for the lead female role. I'm probably not good enough anyway, so I didn't want every ones sympathy when I failed."
"Don't be silly. You won't fail and you don't have to do these things on your own! I want to support you." He squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"I know. I'm silly. I shouldn't get embarrassed about failing. But I can't help it."
"Yeah, well I think you are awesome, and you will blow them all away with your beauty. You certainly blow me away." He embraced her in a hug.
"Thank you Yugi. I don't deserve you do I?"
He smirked. "Mmmm... Nope, you don't." There was a hint of humour in his voice. Anzu playfully slapped his arm.
"Hey, what kept you?" Jonouchi demanded to know, when they finally arrived back in the reception area.
"Anzu's lesson hadn't finished," Yugi told him.
"Anyone fancy getting a burger?" Jonouchi suggested.
"Have you guys all showered? I could use a shower before I go anywhere," Anzu was still in her ballet kit underneath her clothing.
"Not yet," Yugi admitted.
Jonouchi sniffed at his own armpit. "Nah, I didn't bring a towel or nothing. We can sit outside. No one will notice if we stink, not with all that greasy fast food smell."
"Well, I can certainly smell you," Mai wrinkled her nose at him. "I suggest we do the drive through and then go to the park to eat. I'm not letting you eat those disgusting things in my new car."
"That sounds like a plan. Burger World drive through it is then," Yugi stated. Everyone nodded their agreement.
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When he woke up the next morning, Yugi could hardly move! "Ow!" He carefully got out of bed and tried to stretch. Someone had tied his muscles in knots; muscles he didn't even know he had!
He pulled his dressing gown on and gingerly walked downstairs to the kitchen. His mother was busy making breakfast - placing items on a tray to take up to Sugoroku, who enjoyed having his breakfast in bed on a Sunday morning, whilst listening to the radio. Yugi called the radio programme he listened to an old persons show.
His mother looked at him with an amused expression and raised an eyebrow. "Did someone over do it in the gym yesterday?"
He raised his arms above his head, grimacing. His shoulders and chest felt sore. "I have discovered muscles I didn't know existed." His lower back also felt a bit tight.
"Oh dear! I think your grandfather wants you to rearrange the displays, ready for the mid season sale today."
"What! Why didn't he tell me? I was going to meet my friends at the arcade this afternoon."
His mother handed him a mug of tea. "Maybe your friends can help."
"Maybe... I will call them."
His mother frowned. He seemed a little disappointed at the prospect of working on Sunday. She couldn't blame him, Sugoroku was naughty sometimes, to just expect Yugi to drop his plans to help in the shop. "Are you hungry? I have made some miso soup with fried tofu and nori seaweed. Your grandfather wanted rice porridge. I have made extra if you wanted some of that instead. "
"I'm starving. Can I have both please?" All that exercise had left him with a huge appetite this morning. Plus if he was going to be moving shelving...
"My my. You must be hungry. Are you having another growth spurt I wonder?"
He laughed. "I hope so!"
After he had finished eating, he rang his friends. They were all happy to help out. The only person missing would be Ryou, he was working as a volunteer first aider at a football match that afternoon.
Anzu would be over after lunch, when her ballet practice had finished.
In the end it was just Honda who arrived to help out after Jonouchi called back to say he had just received a call from the police. His father had been on another bender and had managed to get himself arrested for antisocial behaviour, yet again.
Jonouchi hated the responsibility of going to the police station to fetch his drunken old man, so Mai was going to go with him to lend moral support. Thankfully, his father was usually quiet, docile and reflective, once he had sobered up over night in a police cell.
"I'm really sorry son. I promise this is definitely the last time. I'm going to stop drinking at get my life back together. I really mean it this time."
"Yeah, yeah. No sweat pops. I really wish I could believe you." As usual, Jonouchi was sceptical. He had heard this dozens of times before.
Mai nearly threw up at the smell when they lead him out to her car. He stunk of vomit, stale booze, cigarettes and piss. Hastily, she grabbed a blanket from the boot and threw it over the seats. She didn't want that smell on the soft cream leather upholstery."
"He'll never change Mai. But he's still my dad," Jonouchi told her sadly, as he slipped into the passenger seat beside her and fastened his seatbelt.
Mai placed a comforting hand over his and smiled softly. "You never give up on him though, do you." It was one of his endearing qualities. He always remained hopeful and never gave up on a person, no matter how awfully they had behaved; herself included.
She kept her window wound down as they drove home.
I can't believe I wrote a friendship speech! I have been watching some Yugioh episodes and it must have rubbed off on me. I can't believe how many friendship speeches and do good lectures 4 Kids put in. It gets a bit nauseating after a while. Tea always gets verbal abuse on fan fic for it, but Yami, Yugi and even Joey were just as bad! No wonder I prefer the manga.
Please review.