Morning. Domino City train station. Serenity and her mother are about to get on the train. The train that will take Serenity away from this city. The place she was born and raised in. The place she will never see again, not because she will never come back but because... you know... she's permanently blind.
Mrs Wheeler gets on board first. She gives her hand to her daughter in order to help her. 'Come on, Serenity. Take my hand.'
Before taking her mother's hand, Serenity sighs and turns her head, in order to have one last look at this city. As if she could see it. As if she could see the woman that is now approaching them and whose presence Serenity is not aware of yet. A young, tan skinned woman in an archaic outfit. I guess you all guessed who she is, am I right?
'Serenity, wait,' Ishizu calls out, raising her hand as a 'wait' gesture, although Serenity cannot see the gesture anyway.
'Huh?' the young redhead tilts her head, confused.
'Serenity, what's wrong?' her mother gets off the train. 'Hurry or we'll be lat... huh? Who are you, miss?'
'My name is Ishizu Ishtar,' the other young woman politely introduces herself, with her palm on her chest. 'And I want to urge Serenity to come with me and attend the Battle City quarter finals tonight.'
Silence. Serenity and her mother seem taken aback.
'Hey, are you gonna get on the train or not, ladies?' the station master asks, annoyed.
All three females ignore him, to his further irritation.
'Are you a friend of Joey's?' Serenity asks Ishizu.
'No,' the tan skinned woman shakes her head, even though Serenity cannot see her shaking her head. 'I don't know your brother. I have never met him in my life. Ask me not how I know about you, Serenity. Just listen to your heart and trust me. If you want to!'
Even more silence.
'The train will leave, with or without you, ladies,' the station master yells.
'What do you want to do, Serenity?' a troubled Mrs Wheeler asks her daughter.
The sun is setting above the Domino City stadium, where the KaibaCorp aircraft is landed. Two security guards are standing at the door, waiting for the finalists to show up.
A third security guard appears. The two other guards raise eyebrows. This guy is really tall but awkward looking. And his face is a little too youthful. He has blue hair and he's wearing glasses.
'Hey, colleagues,' the tall security guard greets them, in a theatrically cheerful manner, coughing as if he's trying to make his voice more manly.
'Are you hired to work here?' one of the two shorter guards asks, scratching his head.
'Umm, yeah,' the taller guard drawls, chuckling for no apparent reason. 'I'm hired. Just as you said, pal. So hired! I couldn't be more hired than I already am!'
'May I see your pass?' the other guard asks.
With awkward movements, Weevil fumbles in his pockets and shows the guards the pass he and Rex got their hands on thanks to Noah's hacking abilities.
The two guards look at it, with Weevil gulping. A bead of sweat is trickling down the boy's forehead.
The two guards give him back the pass. 'Ok, colleague. Welcome to the team.'
'Thanks, dudes,' Weevil chuckles again. 'So, when are we taking off? Have the finalists arrived yet?'
'So far, only two of them,' one of the guards answers. 'We're waiting for six more. So far, only Robert Schmeichel and Mai Valentine have appeared.'
'Grr, Mai...' Rex mumbles underneath the coat that is covering him. Weevil punches him before his mumbles expose them.
'Umm, I mean, Mai is really hot. Right guys?' the blue haired boy tries to maintain their cover. 'Don't you want to do her?'
'Oh, yeah, big time,' one security guard answers.
'I'd fuck that chick so hard,' the other guard admits as well.
With one more chuckle and clumsy steps, Weevil enters the aircraft.
Soon after, Mokuba, Marik and Odeon appear.
'Greetings, Mister Kaiba,' the guards slightly bow with respect.
'Has anything extraordinary happened?' the possessed boy casually asks, with his hands in his pockets.
'No, sir,' the guards shake their heads, having decided not to classify their encounter with that tall security guard earlier as something extraordinary.
Yami Mokuba grins. He sure can't wait for the quarter finals to begin. Not only because this will take him one step closer to his goals, but also because he will get to duel again, after such a long time. He may be an immortal, timeless spirit, he may be pure evil, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any dueling instincts at all. And thanks to the money he has had at his disposal ever since he became the president of KaibaCorp, he has immensely strengthened his occult themed deck with horribly strong cards. He can't wait to put his new strategies to the test!
Meanwhile, Marik turns to Odeon. 'Go and hide somewhere, Odeon,' he commands him. 'I hope you remember what you have to do.'
'I do, Master Marik,' the taller man nods. 'When Yugi and his group appear, I will come out and introduce myself as Marik.'
'Good,' Marik smiles.
Odeon walks away and hides in the shadows.
'And what about you, Marik?' Mokuba asks. 'You are in the quarter finals too. What will you say if someone asks you what your name is? Don't you think you need an alias?'
'You're right,' the blond man scratches his head. 'How about... Namu?'
'And what about your last name?' Mokuba questions.
'Bliss! Namu Bliss!' Marik snaps his fingers. 'That's who I will be in this tournament.'
It's almost dark. Yugi (in his normal form) is walking, heading to the stadium. And of course, he's accompanied by the other two finalists (Joey and Rebecca) and the supporting characters (Tea, Tristan and Duke).
Speaking of Duke, he will often hold Joey's hand, with the blond boy pushing him away. 'Knock it off, Duke,' he yells, annoyed. 'It's really hard to walk like this.'
'But this is how couples walk,' Duke smiles. 'Holding hands.'
Joey sighs. It's not that he doesn't like Duke anymore. It's just that he is still new to this 'couple' thing, let alone a gay couple.
'Don't be embarrassed, Joey,' Tristan winks. 'You should be proud of your sexuality.'
'After all, it's the only thing about you worth being proud of,' Tea adds. 'Because your dueling abilities... you know... suck.'
'They don't suck!' Joey yells, irritated.
'Even I beat you,' Tea reminds him with a teasing smile.
'That was ages ago,' Joey screams, with his head becoming huge in an anime gag manner.
Meanwhile, Yugi laughs, shaking his head. He sure loves seeing his friends having fun. Let's enjoy it while it lasts. Because, who knows what will happen in this tournament, where, if what Bakura told him last night is true, they might face not just one but two villains!
So, although he doesn't want to spoil the mood, Yugi brings it up, 'Umm, guys, do you think it is possible that Mokuba is the one currently possessed by the spirit of the Millennium Ring? I mean, he has been acting strange lately.'
'I don't think so,' Joey casually answers, with his hands behind his nape. 'Rich kids always act strange anyway, at least in my opinion.'
'Don't worry so much, my Yugi muffin,' Rebecca comforts him with a smile and lovingly wraps her arms around his neck. 'The two of us will kick the butt of whomever stands in our way. And then we will face each other in the final.' The female child prodigy is wearing a celadon t-shirt, a denim skirt and white boots. Her hair is loose. She's wearing contact lenses instead of glasses.
Normal Yugi blushes.
Robert is in his room in the airship. He's lying on the bed, with his hands under his head and his feet touching the floor. He's lazily staring at the ceiling.
Kaiba is sitting on a chair, with his legs crossed in a graceful manner.
'See?' Seto smiles. 'I told you I would be able to sneak in too, without anyone noticing me.'
'That's because nobody ever notices you anyway,' Robert retorts. 'You might as well not exist!'
'WHAT?' Seto jumps to his feet. 'I dare you to say that again.'
The former tycoon clenches his fists, as if he's about to charge at his partner.
Even so, Robert does not seem scared at all. He knows that Seto cannot do anything to him. 'Look, I'll win this tournament, just as you want,' he sighs. 'Now settle down.'
Yugi and his friends arrive at the stadium. Mokuba is waiting for them at the airship door. And who's that blond guy next to him?
'Hello, fellows,' the 12 year old boy greets them with a smile that gives Yugi a bad feeling. 'I see three more finalists have arrived (he's referring to Yugi, Joey and Rebecca). Two more finalists are already in the ship, Mai and Robert. And, along with me and this one (gestures to Marik), it makes a total of seven. We're waiting for one more.'
'Wait, Mokuba, are you too in the tournament?' Yugi gasps.
'Why not?' the possessed boy nonchalantly answers, producing his duel disk. 'There was no rule forbidding the one who organized the Battle City tournament to also participate in it.'
'But... but... since when are you a duelist?' Yugi keeps questioning. He recalls the time Mokuba fought him at the Duelist Kingdom. Or at least that was what he tried to do. The boy had just escaped from Pegasuses tower, stolen the deck of some nameless duelist and challenged Yugi. Not much of a fight. Yugi could tell right away that Mokuba lacked even the most elementary understanding of how this game is played.
How the hell did he manage to qualify for the quarter finals? Has his duelist skills improved THAT much since then? With all that stuff that has happened in the preteen boy's life lately, one would say that practicing to become a duelist should be the last thing in his mind. Yugi is now almost sure that this is not Mokuba!
In any case, before Mokuba (or whoever he is) can answer Yugi, Joey decides to introduce himself to the other blond duelist. 'Hi. I'm Joey Wheeler. I guess you have already recognized me. After all, I reached the semi finals at the Duelist Kingdom. And what is your name?'
'Namu. Namu Bliss,' Marik answers with a shy smile.
'Well, congratulations for reaching this far, Namu,' Joey kindly says. And, taking a more boastful expression and placing his hands on his hips, he continues, 'But I'm afraid you stand no chance against me. If we are matched up together, I'm gonna eliminate you.'
'It will be an honor, Mister Wheeler,' Marik timidly chuckles.
'Sorry to break this to you, guys,' Rebecca interjects, 'but I'm the one who is going to win this tournament anyway, so, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter which of you eliminates whom.'
'In your dreams,' Joey disagrees.
The preteen girl and the teenage boy exchange glares.
Yugi looks around. 'So, there is only one finalist left,' he comments.
'And we haven't heard from that Marik scumbag yet,' Tea adds.
'Do you think he's gonna come here in person?' Tristan wonders.
'I hope so, though I highly doubt it,' Yugi answers. 'So far, that coward always opts to play it safe and gutlessly hide behind his mind slaves.'
Marik clenches his fist, repressing a growl. Did the boy who shares his body with the Pharaoh just call him gutless? Marik wants to crush this schoolboy's stupid skull right here, right now. He wants it so badly. Unfortunately, he has to keep giggling like an idiot, so that nobody will suspect him.
Eventually, Odeon comes out of the shadows he has been hiding in. Everybody turns their head.
'Hey, look at this tall, tattooed guy. Freaky, huh?' Duke comments.
Yugi frowns. Can it be...
That moment, Joey notices something. 'Hey look. He's holding something. It's a Millennium Item!'
Yugi gasps. The Millennium Rod!
Marik smiles surreptitiously. Perfect. The fake Millennium Rod has fooled everyone!
Odeon stands in front of the group. He removes his hood. 'I am Marik,' he says indifferently.
'I knew it!' Joey yells. 'You scumbag. You're so dead!'
He's about to charge at him, but Tristan restrains him. 'It's not worth it, dude,' he advises him. 'If you hit him now, you will probably be disqualified. Just wait till the matches begin to put him in his place.'
Tea looks at the newcomer too. With hatred. 'You are a poor excuse for a human being,' she says. 'I will never forgive you for what you have done to me and my friends.'
Odeon is just looking at them silently, which enrages them even more, since they interpret his expression as indifference, as lack of regret. The truth, though, is that Odeon is sad. He can feel everybody's hatred. And although it is not actually directed to him but rather to whom all those people think he is, it still pains him. In any case, he is willing to suffer as much as needed, if that means that he can protect Master Marik this way.
Meanwhile, Yami Yugi and his counterpart from the modern world are speaking, in the latter's mind.
'Partner,' Yugi says in his head. 'Is it just me or does something feel off?'
'No, it is not just you, Yugi,' Yami conceptually shakes his head, troubled.
This guy is so silent. Can he really be Marik? Can he really be the same madman who wouldn't shut up during their previous duels, when he was talking through his mind slaves, when he kept provoking the two Yugis?
And, if he's not Marik, who can he be? He definitely does not look like a generic mind slave. What is going on here? Both Yugis have a bad feeling.
