And so, Mai and Pegasus went out. No bodyguards, no limousines, no nothing. Just the two of them!
And, thanks to the makeover Mai had given Pegasus, almost no one recognized him. For the first time in his life, he was one of the crowd. Not a powerful, famous since birth, heir. Just a normal, nameless person who could go wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted, without anyone pestering him.
They went to a super market and had fun shopping and sliding a cart around. They walked on the streets, eating ice cream. They fed pigeons. They frolicked next to a street fountain.
And now, as the sun is setting, here they are, sitting on a park bench, gazing at the sunset.
'So this is what being a normal person is like,' Pegasus opens his arms, tosses his head back and sighs, spent. 'Thank you for showing me this new world, Mai. That was...'
He pauses. He was about to say, 'That was the best day of my life.' But then he remembered how many wonderful days he has spent with Cecelia as well, so, in order not to feel that he has offended his deceased lover, he says instead, 'That was one of the best days of my life.'
Mai jumps to her feet, perkily. 'This day is hardly over, Max,' she claps once.
'Where does that woman get all that energy?' Pegasus wonders in his head.
And so, Pegasus and Mai went clubbing. It was a fun night, as fun as the day that had preceded it. Well, if you put aside the fact that a jerk tried to flirt with Mai, even though he could clearly see that she was accompanied by another man. But he got what he deserved! When he became too persistent, Mai kicked his butt, in front of the rest of the club's guests!
Pegasus could only gape, flabbergasted. 'Remind me to never make this woman angry,' he made a mental note.
'Ladies and gentlemen, I think you all know why we are here,' one of the men attending this secret meeting says.
Actually, he should have said just 'gentlemen' instead of 'ladies and gentlemen', since there are no ladies here, but, you know, a slip of the tongue.
The five men are in a small meeting room. The door is locked and the windows are shut. The only source of light is an old ceiling lamp, which is dimly illuminating the place.
The Big Five! The five executives that have been working at KaibaCorp for a really long time, since the company was still run by Gozaburo Kaiba, Seto's and Mokuba's unscrupulous stepfather.
Gansley, the business strategy vice president. A third aged, fat, white haired, bald person.
Crump, the chief financial officer. A short, chubby, black haired, mustached, middle aged man.
Johnson, the chief legal officer. A younger man with a receding hairline. He's wearing glasses.
Nezbitt, the chief technical officer. He has dark brown hair with a widow's peak.
And last but not least, Leichter, the president's right hand man, in other words the second in command in the company. His hair is similar to Nezbitt's, his skin is darker and he has a beard.
'So, ladies and gentlemen,' Leichter repeats, steepling his fingers around his nose and mouth, elbows on the table. 'I think you all have noticed President Kaiba's strange demeanor lately.'
'He seems to have forgiven us. Just like that!' Gansley adds. 'After all we did. After we betrayed him and allied with Pegasus.'
'When I learnt that he was back, I thought we were as good as fired,' Nezbitt remarks. 'Yet he didn't even call us for an apology!'
'Personally, I don't know what to make of all this,' Leichter talks again. 'It seems that he suffers from some sort of post trauma disorder. Something must have happened to him while he was on Pegasuses island. And whatever it was, it devastated him. Even though I couldn't care less about Mister Kaiba's well being, his recent depression is harming the company. If this goes on, KaibaCorp's stock value shall plummet. The question is, will we just stay idle while this is happening?'
'Of course not!' Gansley snaps, even though the question was rhetorical.
'But what can we do?' Crump wonders. 'Our plan to trap him in that virtual reality video game failed. He's been so indifferent lately that he even refused to test it.'
'Well, we could try to legally declare him demented, thus moving him away from the company,' Johnson proposes.
'This won't be so easy, Johnson,' Leichter disagrees. 'We must think of something else.'
Silence prevails in the room.
Night. Mai and Pegasus are walking on the streets, after clubbing. Without having realized it, they are holding arms!
'Let's not go through this alley,' Pegasus says at some point, concerned. 'It seems dangerous.'
'Chill, Max,' a slightly drunk Mai giggles. 'I can take care of myself. As well as of you! As you saw earlier in the club!'
Pegasus sighs. Against his better judgement, he follows her into the alley.
'Missed me, girl?' a male voice is heard.
Mai and Pegasus gasp. They turn around and see a sturdy, black, bald man. He's wearing a green, sleeveless shirt and black trousers. It's the same man that tried to hit on Mai earlier. This time, he's wielding a club. Not the kind of club Maximillion and Mai went to earlier, mind you!
'You humiliated me in front of so many people, whore,' the man carries on. 'Prepare to pay.'
Pegasus steps back, afraid, trying to shield the woman with his body. Mai, on the other hand, does not seem scared at all. She lets go of her date's arm and takes a step forward.
'Zup, asshole?' she crosses her arms, haughtily. 'Want another beating?' She doesn't care how many weapons this jerk is carrying around. He's just an amateur. A few martial arts moves on her part should be enough to put him in his place once more.
However, that moment, the man smiles in an enigmatic way. Mai raises an eyebrow. Okay, now she's started worrying a little, though she's trying not to show it. What is this creep up to?
On the snap of the man's fingers, a group of men starts coming out of trash bins and wall nooks. They all look like criminals. And, of course, they're all wielding weapons: clubs, knives, iron bars etc
'So, do you still think you can win? Against all of us?'
They're approaching. Slowly and sadistically. From both directions. There is no escape, neither for Mai nor for Pegasus.
Mai gulps and takes a step back. Okay, now she's really freaking out. And she can't hide it anymore, no matter how much she'd like to.
'What... what do you want from me?' she stutters.
'I think you know, girl,' the original man answers, menacingly tapping his club on his other palm.
'Will we take turns with her?' another man asks.
'Yup,' the original man answers, his eyes still fixed on the petrified woman.
'And what about that one eyed faggot?' another man points at Pegasus.
'Dunno,' the original man shrugs. 'Kill him or something.'
Did they... did they just call him a faggot? Pegasus growls in anger. Okay, he may not be exactly macho, his demeanor may have some feminine elements, but that doesn't mean he's sexually interested in men! This is such a stereotype!
Darn. Mai shouldn't have insisted that he took off his Millenium Eye. Neither should she have insisted that he didn't even at least carry it around in his pocket. Thank Gods he didn't listen to the second part of her advice!
'That does it,' Pegasuses booming voice reverberates through the alley, drawing everybody's attention. His expression is now stern, as it was at the Duelist Kingdom whenever he was about to do something really evil, such as trapping someone's soul.
The tycoon takes out his Ancient Egyptian artifact and puts it on.
Some whispers are heard among the men:
'What the...'
'Hey, is that Maximillion Pegasus?'
'I don't care who he is!' the original man snaps. 'Kill the freak.'
'Now we're playing by my own rules, George boy,' Pegasus continues nonchalantly.
The original man gasps. How did that freak know his name is George? He probably just guessed it at random. Yeah, that must have been the case. Stop being paranoid, George!
'The rules are simple,' Pegasus carries on, his eye glowing and his hair slightly raised. He takes out his deck.
With everyone around being too shocked to stop him, he casually walks over to George and hands it over to him. Next, he takes a few steps back.
'Shuffle the deck. Then draw a card and look at it without showing it to me,' Pegasus instructs the criminal. 'Then I get to guess which card it is. We will repeat this process five times. If I guess all five cards right, I win. If I fail to guess even one card right, you win. Fair enough?'
'And why should I play your silly games?' George wonders.
'Because, Georgy boy,' Pegasus chuckles, closing his eyes and caressing his nose, 'in case you haven't realized yet, we're now in a Shadow Game. There is no turning back now, even if I wanted to, until the game is finished.'
Shadow Game? What the fuck is this lunatic talking abo... Some men look around and gasp when they realize that a dark cloud has blocked both exits of the alley. Some try to run through the cloud, only to end up in the same alley!
George, too, is now scared, for the first time.
'If you win, you are free to leave as well as to do whatever you want with the lady and me,' Pegasus explains, with the same nonchalant smile. 'If you lose... well, trust me, you don't want to know!'
George smiles, a bead of sweat on his cheek. Whatever. Let's play. There is no way that nutjob will guess all 5 cards right. He begins drawing and looking at his cards.
Pegasus closes his eyes and starts declaring them: 'Toon World... Red Archery Girl... Stop Defense... Big Koala and, oh, would you look at that, another Toon World!'
George's eyes bulge. All correct! Can't be!
'By the way,' Pegasus opens his eyes, taking a more serious expression. 'I'm sorry about the way your father treated you when you were little.'
'WHA... What do you mean?' George is breathing heavily.
'You know what I mean!' Pegasus answers meaningfully.
George growls. Yes, he knows. But he does not want to admit it!
'Anyway,' Pegasus puts his hands in his pockets. 'Since I feel sorry for you, I'll let you and your friends run away without mind crushing you. Just give me back my deck and leave.'
The cloud dissipates. The gangsters look around for a moment. Then they run away.
Pegasus walks over and picks up the cards that that George guy sloppily tossed on the ground before running away, having shat his pants. He checks them. Fortunately, they haven't been seriously damaged by that stupid man carelessly scattering them.
Heh. He still can't believe he let those scumbags go. Has that woman's presence started rendering him... soft?
Speaking of which, Pegasus remembers Mai. He walks over to her. Mai bursts into tears and falls into his arms.
Pegasus closes his eyes and softly hugs her.
'I was so scared,' Mai admits! 'I thought they would... I thought they would...'
She bursts into tears anew, unable to finish that sentence or even consider what might have happened.
'Sshhh, easy, girl,' Pegasus whispers, comforting her.
And so, Pegasus and Mai stayed there, hugging, silent. Neither of them knows how long. And, as silent as they were, they were telling each other things that no words can convey.
