Yugi and his friends are gaping at Mai, who keeps laughing. Okay, now they're really freaking out. They're genuinely worried about her mental health.
Even Pegasus catches himself being kinda sorry for her. 'Umm, miss, are you sure you are in condition to continue the duel?' the master of the island inquires with an uncertain expression.
Mai finally stops laughing and looks forward with a smile of determination. 'I never was better!' she answers, eliciting further gasps from the spectators on the balcony. 'You're not the only one who can read minds, Pegasus. I can read your mind too! And I have seen how weak you actually are.'
Pegasus growls. Okay, this is getting annoying! 'Explain yourself, woman, before I lose my patience,' he demands to know.
'I need no Ancient Egyptian thingies to read your mind, Peggy,' Mai keeps provoking him with a carefree expression. 'I worked on a cruise ship for years. Do you know how many desperate, rich men I met? I have come to know the opposite gender like the back of my hand. You think I cannot recognize a heartbroken man when I see him?'
Pegasus gasps, taken aback.
Mai smiles, realizing that she has just hit a nerve. 'I'm dead on. Right?'
Pegasus growls, trying to come up with one of his witty retorts, but his mind feels paralyzed right now.
'Was it that blondie on the portrait in the dining room?' Mai caresses her chin, smiling meaningfully and provocatively. 'Did she dump you?'
'You know nothing about Cecelia,' Pegasus cries on impulse.
'But I know everything about you,' Mai carries on. 'And I know that you're acting like a jerk because that Cynthia chick dumped your sorry ass.'
'Cecelia!' Pegasus corrects her.
'Yeah, yeah, whatever,' Mai makes a dismissive gesture. 'I don't care what her name is. Just because she was unsatisfied with your dick size does not mean you have the right to take it out on everyone else. If you think that cheating and beating everybody in a children's card game will make you feel that your cock is bigger than it actually is, you are...'
'SHUT THE FUCK UP!' Pegasus screams, slamming his hand down on the duel board, almost accidentally knocking his cards off the board in the process. His scream reverberates across the duel hall, freezing everybody's blood. Even the usually indifferent Croquet is genuinely shocked; never before has he seen his master show that much emotion!
Pegasus lowers his eyes to the duel board, without actually being able to see it. All he sees in front of him right now is a vision of his deceased lover. 'Cecelia, forgive her,' he thinks. 'I'll avenge you. I'll...'
'I END MY TURN!'
Huh? Still confused, Pegasus raises his eyes.
'Umm, Miss Valentine has just conducted her turn, sir,' Croquet hesitantly informs him.
Pegasus inwardly swears. It seems that, while he was looking down and talking to his dead wife, Mai drew a card and subsequently set it. Also, she summoned the Harpy in attack mode.
Oh, whatever, let's just read her mind in order to find out what she played. Pegasus draws a card, thus beginning his turn. 'Mind scan,' he inwardly says as his Millenium Eye glows. With his eyes (both his real one and his millenium one) fixed on the woman, who is standing opposite him with her arms crossed, he tries to concentrate, to reach deep in her mind and see what card...
That moment, Mai is replaced with Cecelia! Actually, Mai is still there, but, instead of her, Pegasus sees another blonde woman: his wife.
The man closes his eyes, clutches his temples and screams, as if he's in agony. 'No, not now, my love. Please, get out of my mind. This isn't the right time. I have to focus, to read the mind of that woman.'
The spectators on the balcony are gaping dumbfounded at the restless man. Mai is looking at him with her arms crossed and a smile of satisfaction. Heh. She has managed to throw him off balance!
Four minutes pass this way. 'Umm, Mister Pegasus,' Croquet hesitantly says. 'I inform you that your turn will be over in one minute. Perhaps... (gulp)... perhaps you should hurry up, sir.'
Pegasus opens his natural eye wide, with a deranged smile. Whatever, let's just attack and win! That woman has nothing that can beat his precious toons anyway. Let's get this over with and revive Cecelia!
'MANGA RYU RAN, ATTACK!'
'And now, Mister Pegasus,' Mai inwardly says, 'I'll show you how weak a crush on a woman can render any male.'
Bakura is standing and gazing out of the window in his room. How did he end up here? And where is the Millenium Ring?
The last thing he remembers is watching the duel Mai versus Keith along with Tea. Next thing he knew, he woke up here, on his bed.
Should he worry? And, most importantly, should he inform his friends about this memory gap? Or about the fact that his Millenium Item has gone missing? No, he decides not to. His friends have much more serious problems right now. Why should he worry them with this trivial stuff? Besides, that ring has given him only trouble since the day he found it. He guesses he'll be better off without it.
The toon book opens and the unstoppable Manga Ryu Ran pops out. With a threatening smile, he opens his mouth wide, revealing his sharp teeth, and begins gathering a sphere of fire.
Joey and Tristan are watching, clinging to the railing, with their eyes bulging in trepidation.
Tea closes her eyes and buries her head in Yugi's armpit. 'I can't watch this,' she admits in a muffled voice.
The multicolored haired boy is just staring silently with a neutral expression.
'Pegasus,' Mai cries as she slowly turns over her face down card. 'Your pathological love of a woman was your demise. And now, your monsters shall feel the same kind of pathological love as their master. Feminine Charm!' (ORIGINAL CARD) Mai reveals a card depicting a woman with black hair, tied in a bun, and green, expressive eyes. She's dressed in a blue, maxi dress. Her hands are clasped together in front of her chest.
Pegasus gasps and steps back, sweating in anxiety. Even though he's the creator of the cards and, therefore, he knows what every card does, Mai feels the need to explain: 'This trap card can be activated when the opponent declares an attack, if I have a female monster on my field. All male monsters on your field shall fall in love with that specific female monster and fight one another for her hand. Even those in defense position will automatically switch into attack mode and fight their allies.'
On the field, the Harpy takes a seductive expression. Clouds of steam in various colors start slowly and sensually coming out of the square under her and ascending. The Harpy starts dancing around them, using them as a makeshift, gaseous pole. She's moving her legs, flapping her wings and wiggling her breasts in a sexual manner while still shooting sultry glances at Pegasuses monster.
Manga Ryu Ran dissipates the fire ball he has been creating. His eyes are replaced by two pink hearts, as in cartoon gags. The Toon Dog pops out of the book, also having gag heart eyes. Also, in another popular, albeit overused, cartoon gag, the hearts of the two monsters are now almost beating out of their respective chests.
'No!' Pegasus inwardly says, shaking his head in desperation. 'Toon Monsters cannot be destroyed by magic effects, but they can still be affected by them in other ways. Such as this one! Curse you, woman!'
'Yes!' Yugi thinks, clenching a fist with a triumphant smile. 'Mai knew that cartoon monsters can be destroyed only by one another. That's why she used the Harpy's seductive tactics to turn them against each other. She's a brilliant strategist!' For the first time since he lost to Mai, Muto feels hope.
Pegasuses monsters look at each other, with their normal eyes back. Their expressions are angry. They're growling and baring teeth, thus saying to each other something like, 'Back off, asshole. The chick is mine.'
Pegasus clings to the duel board, with his eyes widened. 'No, stop, stupid monsters,' he cries desperately, even though he knows full well that it's futile. 'You're supposed to fight our opponent's monsters, not each other!'
Predictably, the two monsters of Pegasuses ignore their master and initiate combat. The Toon Dog bites Manga Ryu Ran's leg, trying to severe it. Ignoring that, since the dog's attack is nowhere near strong enough to damage him, Manga Ryu Ran begins gathering fire in his mouth anew.
'Great!' Tea squeals. 'When Manga Ryu Ran destroys the Toon Dog, Pegasus will take 2200 damage to his life points and he will lose!'
The Toon Dog is engulfed in flames and dies. Although his scream and expression are still cartoonish, they also clearly show his fear and agony.
'NOOOO!' Pegasus screams, with his eyes bulging, helplessly watching his life points drop from 2000 to zero!
Joey, Tristan and Tea are jumping in joy and hugging one another.
Mai raises her eyes, smiles at Yugi and gives him a thumbs up. Yugi is looking at her with a serious expression and his arms crossed.
Mai inwardly acknowledges that she would never have come such a long way had she not met Yugi.
She recalls the first time she met him, on the boat that brought her and the other participants here, to the Duelist Kingdom. Of course, she had heard about him before that. I mean, only someone who had been living under a rock wouldn't have heard of the boy who had beaten Seto Kaiba, causing what had probably been the greatest upset in the duel monsters world until then.
At first, Mai didn't believe it. She disregarded it as a hoax made by stupid Internet trolls. It sounded inconceivable to her that anyone could beat someone who has 3 copies of the Blue Eyes White Dragon in their deck. But it was true after all! In any case, that news inspired her to pursue her own dream, to believe that she could win the Duelist Kingdom tournament; if a no name could defeat the world champion, why couldn't she, too, beat anyone?
The first time she met Yugi, she was taken aback. She had no idea what he looked like physically, but she definitely didn't expect him to look like that. She roamed the ship for a long time, asking other passengers whether they knew who Yugi was, even mistaking some cool looking boys for him. In the end, a passenger showed her a short, timid boy and said to her, 'Over there. That's Yugi.' Mai inwardly gasped, being like, 'That little nerd is the one who defeated Seto Kaiba? I can't believe this!' Still, though, she walked over to him in order to introduce herself, pay her respects and inform him that she was planning to strip him of his unofficial title of the world's no1 duelist.
Mai soon found out that the personality of that little boy essentially becomes totally different when he duels. Whenever he stands in front of a duel board, that awkward kid becomes someone way cooler, more confident. At times, more ferocious! It's something magical, beyond logic. Mai would swear that those changes are almost physical! She thinks she has overheard Yugi's friends talking about the magic powers of that pendant he's wearing and she wonders whether there is a connection. Well, she can't really understand that part, but still, the transformation, regardless of its nature, is impressive.
Mai first saw Yugi in action against Weevil, the Japan champion, though it wasn't until she saw him duel Panic that she began grasping the full extent of that boy's dueling skills. During that duel, Yugi showed her how you can turn an opponent's mind games against them, how you can crush their spirits when those are as high as they can be, how you can retain your confidence even when the foe is trying to get into your head. And today, against Pegasus, she applied all those lessons she learnt that night. And now here she is, having finally carried out her 'threat', having stripped Yugi of his title, having rightfully been crowned Duel Queen.
But why isn't Yugi smiling? Isn't he happy that she won? Is it possible that he feels... envious? That he feels bitterness? No, Yugi is not that kind of person! Then what the...
'Mai, look in front of you,' Yugi points his finger, with the same serious expression on his face. 'The duel isn't over yet!'
Huh? What is that crazy boy talking about? Sure it's over. Once the opponent's life points hit zero, the duel ends. Why is Yugi telling her to look... WAIT A MINUTE! The hologram of the Harpy is still on the field. This isn't normal. When the opponent's life points hit zero and the duel ends, the holograms disappear right away. What is going on here?
Mai realizes that Pegasuses field is shrouded in eerie, brown smoke! With that smoke concealing him, Pegasus laughs like a devil. 'You will never beat me, woman!'
Eventually, the smoke starts dissipating, revealing a monster. Mai gasps. What is that grotesque creature?
