Mokuba talked to the assembled crowd for quite a while. His booming voice was often accompanied by whispers heard among the duelists as reactions to the things the underage heir was saying.
Most of the time, Yugi was not really paying attention to Mokuba's speech, having an uneasy feeling which stemmed from the 12 year old boy's sinister smile and apparent lack of grief over his older brother's recent disappearance. Nevertheless, he managed to get the gist of the young multibillionaire's talk; in the new tournament, there would be substantial changes regarding the rules of the game, with the most important of them being: 1) Duels will begin with 4000 life points instead of 2000. 2) Level 5 or 6 monsters can be normal summoned only by tributing one monster already on the field. Level 7 or 8 monsters require two tributes. Higher level monsters require three tributes. 3) Attacking your opponent's life points directly when there are no monsters on their field is allowed. 4) The winner of a duel gets to obtain the loser's rarest card.
When the last of the rules above was spoken, many duelists gulped and sweated, starting to doubt whether participating in this tournament is a good idea. On one hand, winning a few duels can immensely strengthen your deck with a bunch of powerful and rare cards. On the other hand, what if you have a rare card that is the cornerstone of your strategy? Lose a single duel and your deck will be ruined!
Even Yugi shuddered for a moment at the prospect of having to part with the Dark Magician. However, at the end of the day, he has to take that chance; the way to discover his ancient origins is through this tournament.
'AND DON'T FORGET TO PROCURE THE NEW, ADVANCED KAIBACORP DUEL DISK SYSTEM,' Mokuba concludes the speech. 'SOLD AT ALL GAME STORES. DUELISTS OF HIGH RANK CAN GET IT FOR FREE.'
With Mokuba's helicopter getting away, mumbles among the gathered duelists flood the area.
'Wow, a new tournament. Who could imagine?' Tea comments, merely to say something.
'This is gonna be awesome,' Rebecca cries, raising a fist. Next, she spontaneously hugs Yugi, making him forget about his concerns for a moment and blush. 'I'm so glad gramps decided to let me stay with you, guys. I'm gonna participate too. We're gonna kick so much butt together, Yug, until we face each other in the finals and...'
'Well well well, isn't this an interesting coincidence?' a well known voice is heard. A voluptuous woman is approaching.
'Mai!' Tea cries. The two women exchange laughs and hugs.
Next, the Duel Queen breaks the hug and turns her eyes towards Yugi and Rebecca. 'Yugi, don't tell me you are on a date with both these girls at the same time! Wow, you guys have taken open relationships to a new level!'
Stepping into Normal Yugi's shoes, Yami Yugi lowers his eyes in embarrassment, having not realized that his old friend was only half serious. 'Hello, Mai,' he mumbles.
'Hello, Miss Valentine,' Rebecca respectfully bows. 'I am Rebecca Hawkins and you probably already know me, since I am the famous USA duel monsters champion. I would like you to know that, as much as I respect and admire you, when we meet at the tournament, I shall wipe the floor with you.'
'Wow, this girl does not have an ounce of modesty,' Mai thinks.
Tea facepalms in shame. 'Sorry about that, Mai,' she whispers.
'It's okay,' Mai chuckles.
Tea regains her smile and slaps her knees. 'So, tell me your news,' she prompts her older friend. 'Don't tell me you have come all the way to Japan merely to hear the official announcement about the tournament?'
'And yet, I have, baby girl,' Mai winks. 'Thanks to Maxes helicopter, I can take a trip to the other side of the world as if I took a stroll! But don't worry. You'll see me again as soon as the tournament commences.'
'Speaking of which, how are you doing with Pegasus?' Tea continues the small talk, hands behind back.
Mai's face clouds over. 'I feel we've grown apart lately.'
Tea gasps. 'Oh... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have asked.'
'Nothing to worry about,' Mai chuckles with a dismissive gesture. 'I'm not depressed or anything.' And, crossing her arms, she resumes with a sigh, 'It just feels like, lately, we're more like friends... with benefits on occasions.'
'I'm not sure I got that,' Rebecca raises an eyebrow.
'Okay, this is not a discussion suitable for little children,' Tea scolds the younger girl.
'I'm not a little child,' Rebecca protests with an unintentionally cute pout.
Ignoring the 12 year old girl's last comment, Tea gives Mai a look of disapproval. 'You know, you shouldn't say such things in the presence of someone so young.'
Mai laughs heartily. 'As if she won't find out herself in a few years anyway,' she comments, eliciting more glares from Tea.
Yugi chuckles and shakes his head, amused at those females.
'Well well well, isn't this an interesting coincidence?' the same words are heard again, except it's a male voice this time.
All eyes turn towards the hooded, geeky boy approaching.
'Rex Raptor?' Tea raises an eyebrow. What does he want? It's not like they're friends or anything.
'Hello, Rex,' Yugi greets him with a neutral expression, having realized that he has no reason not to be on good terms with him.
'Hi,' Rebecca greets him, raising her hand with an innocent smile.
Ignoring them, the boy trains his eyes on Mai, who reciprocates with an unfriendly expression. 'What's wrong, dude?' she rudely asks, with her arms still crossed.
Rex points a finger at her. 'Don't think I have forgotten all times you humiliated me at the Duelist Kingdom, Valentine,' he snaps. 'Mark my words, in this tournament, I shall make you pay.'
Mai rolls her eyes. 'Get a life, boy,' she quips indifferently.
Rex growls. Mumbling curses, he walks away.
'What's his problem?' Rebecca scracthes her head curiously.
'He's been braindamaged since birth, that's all,' Mai sighs. 'Never mind him.'
The next day, at school, Yugi and his friends talked a lot about the upcoming tournament. Joey decided to participate too. Although his sister's eye operation is already due to happen tomorrow and, therefore, it's not like he needs any prize money to save her anymore, he still feels the need to prove something. To her. To himself. That he's a strong big brother his baby sis can count on, not just some goofy boy who would serve as a comic relief character if the story of their lives was a cartoon show.
And so, no matter how hard Tristan and Tea tried to dissuade him, claiming that he would lose his only rare card, the Red Eyes Black Dragon, Joey followed Yugi into the game store.
The clerk is a bespectacled, middle aged man wearing a blue shirt, a white apron and a yellow headcloth. 'So, which of you wants to register for the tournament?' he eyes the group indifferently.
'Me,' Yugi (now in his normal form) timidly raises his hand.
'Me!' Rebecca takes a step forward with confidence.
'And of course me,' Joey proudly puffs his chest. 'But I guess you have already recognized me, good man. I'm the famous Joey Wheeler, who reached the Duelist Kingdom semi finals.'
'Joey Wheeler?' the clerk scratches his head. 'Doesn't ring a bell.'
This elicits a snort from Joey and giggles from Tea and Tristan.
The clerk checks the duelists' data on his laptop. 'Let's see... Rebecca Hawkins. Rarest card: Shadow Ghoul. And I see that you are the reigning USA champion. According to the official database ranking, you are a 5 star duelist. You belong to the highest tier. Congratulations! Here is your free duel disk.'
'YAY!' the little girl squeals, causing Yugi to flinch. She grabs her newly acquired duel disk and raises it so that all her friends can see it. 'This is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. And Joey!'
Tea closes her eyes, places her palm on her mouth and giggles. 'Good one, Rebecca,' she remarks. Joey snorts again.
The clerk carries on. 'Yugi Moto. Rarest card: Dark Magician. You proved your worth when you reached the Duelist Kingdom semi finals. You are a 4 star duelist. You, too, qualify for a free duel disk. Here you are.'
'Thank you, sir,' Yugi shyly takes his disk.
'Congratulations, Yugi,' Tea smiles and winks at him.
'So, what about me?' Joey leans towards the counter, pointing at himself, with the expression of a little child waiting to get his Christmas toy.
The clerk presses some keys on his laptop and looks at the screen again. 'Joey Wheeler. You are a 2 star duelist. I'm sorry, Mister Wheeler. According to the database, you are not skilled enough to enter the Battle City tournament.'
'WHAT?' Joey screams. 'This is unfair!'
Over the following seconds, the blond boy is trying to climb the counter, with Tristan restraining him, Yugi and Rebecca just staring and Tea closing her eyes and being like, 'Oh, boy.'
'I don't get it,' Joey insists. 'Just as my friend, Yugi (points at the shorter boy), I reached the Duelist Kingdom semi finals. Why is he a 4 star duelist whereas I'm just a 2 star duelist?'
The clerk sighs, having started getting annoyed. 'For your information, sir,' he snaps, 'the ranking in the official database does not depend solely on how well a duelist did at a single tournament; all records about you are taken into consideration. As I can see here, before you participated in the Duelist Kingdom tournament, you were a no name, non existent in the official dueling world. Yugi Moto, on the other hand, was already famous before the Duelist Kingdom tournament, thanks to his victory against Seto Kaiba. Furthermore, you were disqualified at the Duelist Kingdom semi finals in a really laughable manner. You lost your qualification card! I mean, seriously, this has never happened in history before! You became a laughing stock on the Internet, Mister Wheeler.'
Joey lowers his eyes, clenches his fists and growls.
'Touche,' Tristan consolingly pats his blond friend on the back with a teasing smile.
'Don't worry, Joey. Maybe next time,' Yugi genuinely tries to console his friend as well.
However, that moment, the clerk (who is secretly working for the Rare Hunters) notices Joey's rarest card: The Red Eyes Black Dragon! Whoah! Where did that deadbeat duelist get his hands on such a rare card? He should not let this opportunity go to waste. He has to inform his superiors as soon as possible. But first...
'OH, WAIT, MISTER WHEELER, I apologize,' he exclaims while surreptitiously manually changing Joey's rank on the computer. 'I read that totally wrong. You, too, are a 4 star duelist indeed!'
Everybody turns to the clerk and gasps. Even Joey, for all his usual arrogance, cannot believe it. 'For... for real?' he points at himself in disbelief.
'Here is your duel disk,' the clerk leans and practically presses the disk against the startled blond boy, who almost loses his balance.
Soon, though, Joey regains his composure and proudly raises his disk in the air while humming the Zelda open chest tune, as his counterpart from the abridged series did at this point. 'What did I tell you, fellows?' he cries triumphantly. 'Nobody's better than Joey Wheeler!'
'Congratulations, Joey. I knew you could do it,' Yugi kindly smiles.
Tristan and Tea are still staring in disbelief.
'Whatever,' Rebecca shrugs. 'All the better for me. More weak guys to provide me with locator cards in the first round.'
'Whom did you call weak, you toddler?' Joey glares at her. 'Do you want me to crush you in a duel right now?'
'Oh ho ho, bring it on,' the preteen girl laughs fearlessly.
'Whoah, guys,' Yugi steps in between them. 'Save your passion for the day the tournament begins.'
The group leaves the store, joking and giggling in a good mood. 'In all seriousness, I'm happy that all you guys managed to enter,' Tea's whisper is heard before the schoolkids exit the building.
No sooner have they left than the clerk calls his superiors to inform them about the Red Eyes Black Dragon.
