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

Shining Friendship

Téa was getting very scared.

'Yugi?' Joey asked.

'Come on, Yug,' Tristan said.

'Why won't he answer us?' Téa demanded.

'I've never seen him like this,' Tristan murmured.

'He's totally out of it,' Joey said.

'Well, he did just lose his only chance to save his grandfather,' Bakura pointed out.

'Yeah.' Sharee huffed and walked around. She crouched down and then delivered a hard slap across Yugi's face. Without waiting for him to react, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him. 'Yugi Moto, you listen to me right now. The spirit meant no harm! He's just from a very different world where that sort of thing was acceptable. Where he and Shamee are from, if he didn't take that course of action it meant certain death. Now, sitting on the ground moping about it isn't going to help!'

Yugi still didn't respond.

YGO

Sharee wasn't sure how she ended up here. Oh, wait. Yes, she was. Mai showed up while Yugi was still in shock – which, by the way, hadn't changed – and was offended when he wouldn't accept the extra star chips she had. So Sharee found herself duelling Mai for them.

'I'll let you start,' Mai said.

'All right, then.' Sharee looked over the cards in her hand. 'I'll throw the Abyss Flower out in attack mode.' The square lit up and the Flower rose out. It snarled as it opened its mouth full of sharp teeth.

Mai nodded. 'I'll lay one card and then I play this. Harpy Lady, in attack mode!' She laid the card down and her favourite monster appeared. 'Destroy the Abyss Flower!'

The Harpy Lady screeched and dived in. Sharee winced slightly as the Flower was disintegrated. Her life points dropped down to thirteen hundred. Sharee's eyes flickered to the card Mai had face-down.

'Okay.' Sharee pulled two more cards out of her hand. An idea began to formulate in her head. 'I'll lay one card face down too and place the Fire Sorcerer in defensive mode. With a defensive power of fifteen hundred, it's higher than your Harpy Lady's attack points.'

Sharee knew that made it obvious that she wasn't hiding a trap.

'Very clever,' Mai said. 'Until I use this.' She held up a card. 'The Rose Whip! Equipped with this, my Harpy Lady's attack power is raised by three hundred points, making her more than strong enough to take out that Sorcerer of yours.' Mai smiled triumphantly. 'Harpy Lady, send that Sorcerer to the graveyard!'

The Harpy Lady cracked her Rose Whip. Sharee drew back and covered her face as her Fire Sorcerer was destroyed. That was her favourite monster too. She ground her teeth.

You need a hand?

Only if my strategy doesn't work. Sharee drew. Good. That one was the monster she needed, but she also needed something in place if it failed. She only needed one more card. 'I'll lay this card in defence mode.' Weak compared to the Harpy Lady, but face-down as it was Mai wouldn't know that. 'My only other move for this turn is to lay another card face-down on the field.'

'Hm.' Mai looked at it. 'Before I take my turn, Sharee, answer something for me?'

'Go ahead,' Sharee said.

'Why aren't you a competitor in this tournament?' Mai asked. 'You're cunning and methodical, just as every duellist needs to be, yet you're only here as support.'

Sharee chuckled. 'I don't play games to win. Don't get me wrong, I do have a competitive streak – a rather nasty one. If you put me in a scavenger hunt or something, I'd be the most competitive person you could possibly meet. I'd pull your hair and push you to the ground to get to the object first. And if, by some chance, you decided to try and do the same to me, I'd turn around and punch you in the face.'

Below, Sharee heard Joey make a remark. 'Remind me never to get into a scavenger hunt with her.'

Sharee went on, smiling slightly. 'But when it comes to any kind of games, from solitaire to Monopoly to Duel Monsters, I play to play. Too much competition in a game has the potential to suck all the fun out of it.' Sharee rolled her neck. 'Of course, that's not to say I wasn't invited here. I was. I just gave all my stuff to Joey. He'd needs it more than I do.' Her eyes narrowed. 'Besides, there was something more than a little fishy about that invite.'

'What do you mean?' Mai asked.

'I don't compete,' Sharee said. 'If I don't compete, people don't know how good or bad I am at the game. The only people who know I even play are the ones who know me. There is nothing exceptional about a teenaged girl playing cards with her friends. How did Pegasus know I even played the game? How does he know I'm any good at it? After all, it was the world's best that were called here, wasn't it?' Sharee shook her head. 'No, no, Mai. He wants something.'

As she'd been speaking, Mai had looked thoughtful. She nodded. 'Fair point.' She pulled two cards from her hand. 'All right, let's get this show back on the road. First, I'll take care of those two cards you've got face-down on the field with Harpy's Feather Duster.' She activated the spell card.

'Harpy's Feather Duster?' Téa demanded.

'Simple in theory, simple in practice,' Sharee said as she picked up her spell card, Amulet of Ambition, and her trap card, Destruct Potion. She dropped them into her graveyard pile. 'Harpy's Feather Duster sends all of your opponent's spell or trap cards to the graveyard.'

'That's right.' Mai held up her other card. 'And I'll also use this.'

Sharee saw the card. It was familiar enough because Sharee had seen Mai duelling Joey. 'Cyber Shield.'

'With this combined with my Harpy Lady, I can further raise her attack points by five hundred, bringing her up to twenty-two hundred attack points!'

The Harpy Lady flew up into the air with an almighty screech. Her body glowed brightly and, when it faded, she was wearing armour. Her attack points shot up, just like last time. Sharee quickly did the math in her head and nodded. 'Oh, very pretty.' She looked down at her deck. Yugi needed time, but Mai wasn't prepared to wait.

'Attack her defence, Harpy Lady!' Mai ordered and her monster easily destroyed Sharee's Blade Skater.

One card. That was all she needed.

Heart of the Cards.

Sharee reached down, putting all her faith into the draw. These cards, after all, drew their origins from the Shadow Games of Ancient Egypt, when real monsters were used for the fights. In that regard they were the real monsters. And they were just as alive as she was. If she believed, the cards would come through for her.

The necessary card was in Sharee's hand.

Down by their friends, Yugi finally lifted his head.

YGO

Yugi had slowly come back to himself. Sharee's words began ringing in his ears. She knew more about this than anyone else. And he was only now just realising that, because she had something in there too, she understood what was happening.

'The spirit meant no harm!'

But he was willing to risk Kaiba getting hurt.

'…From a very different world where that sort of thing was acceptable!'

A world where that was acceptable? Yugi found that hard to imagine. What kind of world was that?

'…if he didn't take that course of action, it meant certain death!'

Certain death? If Sharee wasn't exaggerating, it did explain what had happened. But didn't he realise…?

'…sitting on the ground moping about it isn't going to help!'

Yugi finally lifted his head. His friend all noticed and turned to him.

'Yugi!' Téa cried. 'You're back!'

Yugi nodded and looked up. From the looks of it, Sharee had gotten into a duel with Mai somehow while he'd been out of it. Sharee had no monster out on the field but she was smirking.

'I think we ought to call this duel to a close, Mai.' Sharee held up a card. 'And I know just how to do it.' She laid the card down. 'I summon the Dark Witch!' The monster took up form on the field, a female humanoid with large wings and carrying a long spear.

'But wait a minute,' Tristan said. 'The Harpy Lady's attack is much higher than the Dark Witch's.'

'Yugi?' Joey asked.

'What's that card in her hand?' Yugi asked, nodding. His friends all looked.

'Okay, yeah. The Harpy Lady is four hundred attack points stronger than my Dark Witch, but that won't last for long.' Sharee turned the card in her hand around. 'The Bracer of Power will raise my Witch's attack points by five hundred.'

The Dark Witch was shrouded by light and her attack points shot up so she was now stronger than the Harpy. Mai drew back, clearly surprised. Yugi, himself, was seasonably impressed. He'd seen Sharee duel before, but never seriously.

And he could tell it was Sharee.

'Dark Witch, attack!' she ordered. 'Destroy the Harpy Lady! Dark Spear Attack!'

The Witch charged forward and in the next moment, the Harpy was lanced on her spear. Harpy Lady disintegrated. That was Mai's only monster. A few minutes later, Sharee was back down with them. She held her hand out to Yugi.

'I believe that'll get us in.'

Five star chips.