With her palms on the duel board, Mai keeps staring into space, with an expression of despair.
Pegasus ends his turn, so the Dark Dog's ATK points drop back to 1800.
'It's your turn, woman,' Pegasus solemnly declares. 'Draw a card and make your move.'
However, Mai seems unresponsive.
'Umm, Miss Valentine,' Croquet tries to draw her attention, with an awkward yet formal expression. 'You need to draw a card for your turn to begin.'
The woman keeps ignoring them.
Even Croquet, the usually cold and indifferent bodyguard of Pegasuses, catches himself feeling a little sorry for her. However, he still feels the need to stick to the letter of the rules. 'If you don't draw a card within one minute, it will count as a forfeit and I shall declare Mister Pegasus the winner of the duel.'
Mai remains unresponsive.
Croquet sighs, raises his arm and starts looking at his watch.
Pegasus places his index finger on his nose and chuckles. It's only a matter of one minute!
Mai is lost in despair. So this is how it is going to end. She will die. And, moreover, she will die as she has lived: alone. Because that's what Mai has been all her life. Alone!
Being the daughter of a militarian, Mai always had a hard time making friends in her childhood, both because of her strict and overprotective father as well as because her family had to constantly move, due to the nature of her father's job. Things got even worse when she entered teenagehood. Her body developed prematurely, which made her a target of mockery and bullying for her female classmates. As for the boys, they treated her as a whore. They believed that just because she had large breasts meant that she was willing to get laid with anyone, anytime, anywhere. She reached a point where she couldn't even address a boy without him automatically assuming that she was hitting on him.
Mai hated everyone: her oppressive parents, her classmates, her teachers.
After she graduated from high school, she attended college for a while, pursuing a degree in architecture. Still, though, the 'cool' girls would give her a hard time. One time, when the channelor was delivering a speech in an auditorium, with his face shown on a big screen, Mai heard two of the college queen bees, who were sitting right behind her, whispering something, intentionally loud enough for Mai to hear.
'I wonder which is bigger,' one of the two aforementioned girls said. 'The channelor's face on the big screen or Mai's boobs?'
'Mai's boobs,' the other girl answered and they both giggled.
Okay, that did it! Mai stood up, turned around and punched them both in the face! Hard!
Needless to say she was expelled after that. As she was packing her stuff in her dorm room, she wondered what to do next. Go back home and face a furious dad? Nah! Who needs that asshole? Who needs parents? Who needs anyone?
It was then that she made a decision on impulse. She went to the harbor and got a job on a cruise ship. And so, she spent years working on board, traveling around the world. And you know what? She came to like that lifestyle. She felt so free, so independent.
She learnt how to play duel monsters by watching passengers dueling. Well, she learnt the rules that way, but it was only later that she started playing herself. It was one time that a card accidentally fell out of the pocket of a passenger. The Harpy! Mai picked it up and ran behind him.
'Umm, excuse me, sir. You accidentally dropped this,' she said.
The passenger fixed his eyes on the card for a while. Then he laughed. 'You can keep it, girl,' he responded as he was walking away. 'It doesn't have many ATK points. I wouldn't put that card in my deck anyway.'
Mai stayed there for a while, staring at the picture on the card. That grotesque yet feminine creature! It was as if she was talking to her. She looked so cool, so confident. She was the besty Mai had never had! Mai felt that fate had led her to that card.
And so, Mai began collecting duel monsters cards. It wasn't long before she managed to assemble a deck of her own.
Years have passed since that day. So, after all these years, after all these duels, after all these experiences, it will all end now? In such a dishonorable manner?
Mai sighs and closes her eyes, waiting for Croquet to declare what will essentially be her death.
'MAI!'
Huh? Tea?
'WE'RE HERE, GAL!'
Joey?
'YOU'RE NOT ALONE!'
Tristan?
Mai opens her eyes and turns them to the balcony. She smiles. Heh. Those dimwits have come after all!
'PEGASUS, LEAVE HER ALONE!' Yugi (in his Yami state) cries, pointing a finger at the master of the island.
'Or else what, Yugi boy?' the white haired man gives him an exasperatingly nonchalant smile. 'You will sit on a stool, force me onto your lap and spank me?'
Having no good retort to that, Yugi growls, tightening his fists.
'Deal with it, Yugi boy,' Pegasus carries on. 'The duel has already begun. And, since that woman agreed to it, there is nothing you can do for her anymore.'
'Mai,' Yugi cries desperately. 'Please... somehow... JUST WIN!'
Yugi doesn't really believe Mai can do it. Hell he doesn't even believe he himself could do it if he had got to fight Pegasus. From the beginning, he was hoping for a miracle. But now, with Mai being instead of Yugi the one who is dueling Pegasus, Yugi wonders whether even a miracle would be enough!
'Mai, remember what you told me before,' Tea cries determinedly, clinging to the railing. 'If you back down from a challenge, a part of you will die forever. It's up to you to keep that part alive, even if you lose this duel and your physical life along with it. It's up to you to decide HOW you will go down.'
Mai smiles. The babygirl is absolutely right! With her eyes blazing with resolve, she turns back to Pegasus. 'My turn!' she cries and draws a card.
Pegasus mumbles something, annoyed. Darn. It would have been a matter of only a few more seconds if Yugi and his friends hadn't come here to reignite that woman's fighting spirit. Oh well. This will just prolong the battle, but the final result won't change. Pegasus will win! This fact is an unshakable law!
Mai looks at her hand. If she wants to stand a chance in this duel, she has to somehow combat Pegasuses mind scan. Yesterday, Kaiba tried to, by discarding all cards in his hand and dueling by drawing and playing one card at a time, without looking at it first. However, he still lost in the end. If Mai tries the same stunt as Kaiba, she'll lose as well. No, she must think of something else. But what else? Good question.
'I set 1 card,' the woman declares, with a square on her field starting emitting a flickering light. 'Then I play the Amazoness Fighter (1500/1300) in defense mode.'
A muscular, dark skinned woman appears on the field. She has black hair, tied in a ponytail, and eyes the same color. She's almost nude, with the only garments on her body being a light blue bra and a loincloth the same color. The monster kneels down into a defensive position.
'I end my turn.'
As Pegasus draws a card, his Millenium Eye glows. A picture of Mai's face down card appears in his mind. It's a purple card depicting a glass wall.
'So she set the Mirror Wall,' Pegasus thinks. 'In that case, I'd better not attack yet.'
'I play Ryu Ran (2200/2600) in defense mode,' the man says out loud.
A giant egg appears on the field, with dragon arms, legs and wings protruding from cracks in it. In another crack, two menacing, yellow eyes are glowing.
'Also, I switch the Dark Dog into defense mode.'
The Dark Dog curls sideways, still looking at Mai's field and growling nonetheless.
Lurking in a shadow of a corridor, Yami Mokuba peeks at the duel hall. So what's the score? Whoah, that woman's life points are down to 200 while Pegasus is unscathed! It seems this fight has been decided.
Mokuba sees Mai draw a card, check her hand, mumble some curses and pass her turn.
He can feel Pegasuses fighting spirit. It's huge! Darn. It wouldn't be smart to make a move now that Pegasus is so powerful.
And so, it's Pegasuses turn again. The white haired man draws a card and looks at it. He smiles. 'Perfect,' he says in his head.
'I set 1 card,' the man says out loud and sets the card he just drew.
'Next, I switch Ryu Ran into attack mode.'
The red dragon pushes away the upper part of the egg, with its body now almost on full display.
'And I play this spell card from my hand. Ryu Ran Hatches!' (ORIGINAL CARD)
Pegasus places on the board a spell card depicting an egg shattering. On cue, whatever part of the egg was still surrounding Ryu Ran on the field shatters, as the monster grows in size and gets on all fours, with his teeth becoming larger and sharper and his look more ferocious. Ryu Ran produces a roar that almost shakes the duel hall, as his DEF points rise to 3200 and his ATK points to 4000!
'What? He created a monster with 4000 ATK points just like that?' Joey cries. 'I bet that card is tournament illegal!'
Yugi growls. Most likely, this is another card that that cheater never circulated in public, reserving it only for himself!
'Ryu Ran, attack,' Pegasus cries.
The huge dragon starts gathering fire in its mouth.
'I activate my permanent trap card,' Mai cries. 'Mirror Wall!'
The mirror wall appears, extending across Mai's field.
'And I activate my face down card. Magical Neutralizing Force Field!' Pegasus declares with a calm expression as he turns over his face down spell card depicting a hexagram with a whirlwind around it. 'It destroys all continuous spell or trap cards on the opponent's field.'
Mai gasps as a whirlwind shatters the mirror wall. And so, Ryu Ran's attack goes through. The Amazoness Fighter is engulfed in flames and destroyed.
'My... turn,' Mai draws a card, a bead of sweat on her forehead. She looks at it and mumbles curses.
'I play the Unfriendly Amazon (2000/1000) in defense mode and end my turn.'
A female warrior appears on the field. She has long, braided, blue hair. She's dressed in a kinda gothic style: black boots, long, black gloves and black armor. She's wielding a black sword. The woman kneels down into a defensive position.
Pegasus draws a card and looks at it. Next, he smiles at Mai meaningfully. 'Do you like cartoons, Mai girl?'
The woman widens her eyes in terror, having got the message. That creep is about to play...
'TOON WORLD!'
A huge, magic book appears on the field. It has green covers, on which the 'Toon World' title is written in large, capital, multicolored letters.
The book opens and starts emitting a large amount of pink smoke, with cartoonish sounds coming from seemingly nowhere; sounds such as that of someone jumping on a spring, a bomb going off, the laugh of someone who has just inhaled a large amount of helium etc Eventually, the book absorbs the two mosters on Pegasuses field into it. Next, it slams shut. After a few seconds, it opens again, with a beautiful landscape protruding from its pages. The landscape consists of grassy areas, waterfalls, a volcano and... a dog house. Pegasuses monsters pop out. Except they're now different from before. They look like caricatures of their former selves. Manga Ryu Ran has a toothy smile on its face. The Toon Dog is laughing like a lunatic, with ridiculously large amounts of rabies drool streaming out of its mouth. Their laughs resonate across the duel hall.
On the balcony, Yugi and his friends gasp in horror. Under different circumstances, these cartoons would look cute and funny. But now, they don't; they're the messengers of Mai's death!
'Manga Ryu Ran, attack,' Pegasus commands.
The Unfriendly Amazoness is engulfed in flames and subsequently destroyed.
After the attack, Manga Ryu Ran and the Toon Dog blow raspberries as they're absorbed back into the magic book, which slams shut anew, protecting its residents under its impenetrable covers.
'This Manga Ryu Ran creature seems unbeatable,' Joey comments.
'It combines an insanely large number of ATK points with the toons' invulnerability,' Tristan adds.
'Yugi, what can Mai do?' a concerned Tea places her palm on her friend's shoulder.
'I don't know,' Yugi admits. 'I don't know what I'd do in her shoes. I don't think I would find any way out.'
In the meantime, Mai has played the Amazoness Chainmaster (1500/1300) in defesne mode and ended her turn.
'How long can you stall by playing monsters in defense mode, annoying girl?' Pegasus wonders in his head. 'Sooner or later, you will run out of monsters or I will draw one of my cards that can bypass your defenses, such as the Fairy Meteor Crush or the Gorgon's Eye.'
Pegasus draws a card and subsequently activates it. 'I play the Pot of Greed.'
Pegasus places on the board the well known spell card depicting a green jar with a creepy, smiling face on it. Then, as the aforementioned spell card allows him to do, he draws 2 cards. He looks at the two new cards and smiles.
'I set 2 cards.'
Two squares on Pegasuses field start emitting flickering lights.
'2 face down cards? Great,' Mai says in her head sarcastically. 'As if things weren't bad enough already.'
'Next, I attack the Amazoness Chain Master with Manga Ryu Ran.'
The magic book opens, the fiendishly powerful, red toon dragon comes out and, with a smile, reduces one more monster of Mai's to ashes before going back into the book.
Once more, it's Mai's turn. She looks at her deck with a gulp.
'It's checkmate, girl,' Pegasus thinks with a triumphant smile. He already knows what the 3 cards in Mai's hand are: The Harpy, the Elegant Egotist and the Dramatic Rescue. None of those 3 cards can help her.
Toon monsters are immortal. They can be destroyed neither by attacks from normal monsters nor by magic effects. Even if Mai has the Harpy Phoenix Formation in her deck, it's of no use.
Moreover, the Toon World's magic is superior to that of almost any other spell card; it cannot be destroyed by stupid spell/trap destroying cards, such as the Harpy's Feather Duster. The only card that can destroy the Toon World is the Magical Neutralizing Force Field, a card which Pegasus created just in case and never circulated in public. But even if Mai somehow manages to take that card from Pegasuses graveyeard and play it against him, one of the two cards he has played face down on the board will put an end to her hopes. Can you guess what card it is? A second copy of the Toon World! True, Pegasus never circulated that card, but don't tell me you expected him to include only one copy in his deck!
Pegasus shall take no chances. He's so close to reviving Cecelia. He just can't lose. Soon, he will defeat that laughing blondie and...
Huh? Did I say laughing blondie? Yes. Mai is laughing. In fact, she's laughing her head off! Has she gone insane? Has she got past her fear and stopped caring?
On the balcony, Mai's friends are as shocked as Pegasus.
Finally, the woman gets serious and looks forward. 'Pegasus, you're weak,' she declares.
'WHAT?' everybody else in the hall (including Pegasus himself) cries in unison.
