Author's Note: This is the ninth revision of this exposition chapter. If not for the server crash, you guys would have been reading absolute crap -.- But some people might have found it funny, so I'm thinking about posting "outtakes" on my site (under construction, heh). Aa, and I know that the title to this chapter looks misspelled. It's a joke.

Next update: eheh...sometime soon? I'm really fond of this story, but it takes me a long time to write. Chapters eight and nine are half done, though--see, just like chapter four grew out of control, so did chapter seven. Which means, you can imagine what is going to happen when we get to the tournament. All the rest of the story is outlined out, give me some reviews and they'll come faster. I need to be inspired. Oh yeah and I started work on a few illustrations...

NOW ENTERING PART II: THE EARLY ROUNDS

Chapter Seven - Boarderline Personality

Sugoroku held a photocopy of the invitation in his hand, Yugi having taken the original with him. The kids had gone to the airport a few hours ago, but he missed them already. This tournament, as has been said before, made him nervous. In a lot of ways, so did Yugi's choice of friends. When he dropped them at the airport, he noticed that all but Yugi had some terrible bruises and bandaged cuts. With that group, you couldn't avoid misfortune for long.
He sighed, and for the hundredth time, he re-read the letter:

Dear Yugi Mutou:
As organizer of the First Annual Duel Monsters New England X Tournament, I cordially invite you to join in the event, to be held here in the United States of America, in the beautiful New England region, on [the date was smeared out by the photocopier], sponsored by the corporations on the letterhead. The tournament is by invitation only. All participants are permitted and encouraged to bring one (1) guest. Reservations have already been made for your flight and meals/lodging will be provided during the tournament, which is expected to last until [again, the date smeared out].
Congratulations on the accomplishments which have led to your reputation. You may have already won other tournaments, but I expect that you will find mine a true challenge.
Sincerely,
[unintelligible]

What traps lay in store for his grandson? Sugoroku couldn't be sure. He wandered up into Yugi's room, looking around at the simple furnishings, the desk with the half-finished homework assignments abandoned on its surface, the forgotten mini-camera lying on the bed next to a change of socks.
"Their home movies," Sugoroku said to himself. "Yugi probably wanted this. Oh, well--if I miss him too much, I'll have something to watch."
He thought for a while about the tournament, then went downstairs to turn the sign on the shop door to "open," and wait for customers to trickle in.

*

Final boarding call for flight 945 to Los Angeles, U.S.A.! All ticketed passengers please report to Gate B74 for immediate departure!

The speakers rang with high-pitched feedback in the ears of Jounouchi as the five friends, much cramped for space, stood in line at the ticket counter. All around them, as far as the eye could see, was a sea of people (every shape, size, and pigmentation) and luggage (most of which were nearly identical), to everyone's dismay.
"Crap! We're gonna miss the plane!" he whined, taking an elbow in the ribs from another man in the queue.
"How many times to I have to tell you, that's not our flight!" Honda corrected. "Sheesh, where would you be if I wasn't here to hold your hand?"
Jou drew back with a horrified look on his face. "You ain't holdin' my hand!"
"Oh, would you two pipe down and be patient? There's only a few more people ahead of us, and besides, our plane doesn't leave for another two hours," Anzu huffed. Someone shoved her from behind, and she whirled around, waving her fist. "Hey, watch it!"
"Besides, it's not so bad waiting," Bakura contributed.
"Fsht," Honda harrumphed. "How could it be any worse than this? We've been here for three hours already!"
"You could have Yugi's view of things." Bakura smirked.
"That's not funny, Bakura!" Yugi snapped. Poor Yugi had been stuck behind an obese woman for the last three hours, and at his height her ample hindquarters completely consumed his field of vision. For the most part, he'd coped by keeping his eyes closed.
"Don't be mean," chided Anzu, giving the white haired boy a look that said "if you say anything more, I will pull your testicles off through your nose." The men pondered the anatomic possibilities of this, and as they did, the person at the counter finished, and the next person stepped up.
"Hey! We're moving!"
"Really?" Yugi asked, his hands over his eyes. Anzu guided him forward, and the line stopped again.
"Aww, man, we're never gonna get to America at this rate!" moaned Jou.
"Well, the whole trip is supposed to take eighteen hours..." Honda said, under his breath.
"What?! Eighteen hours?! And I only brought one CD!"
"Hope it's a good one," Honda teased, opening his bag to reveal his stash: game boy advance, at least twenty games, two novels, comic books, and a minidisc player.
"Not fair! You'd better share some of that," Jou grumbled.
"I'm sure you can find yourself some decent entertainment at the airport newsstand," said Honda, grinning, while Jou steamed.
"Wow, that's a lot of stuff! Did you leave any room for clothes?" asked Bakura.
"After running off to the Duelist Kingdom in a miniskirt, I learned my lesson," supplied Anzu. "And from the way you guys smelled when we got back, I hope you brought a change of socks, at least."
"Of course I brought socks," said Honda. "Observe. Thermal-activated, isoinsulated, hydroscopic microfiber tencel wool blend with arch support and toe cushions!"
"Sounds expensive," said Jou.
"They look like regular socks to me," said Anzu.
"And I suppose you'd say these look like regular boxers to you, too!" said Honda, pulling out a polka-dotted pair.
"Ew!" Anzu shrieked.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Yugi, cautiously opening one eye.
"Huh--oh, the line moved again!"
"Hey, no cutting!"
"Outta my way!"

Now boarding flight 2142 for Chicago, U.S.A.! All first class and skyclub ticketholders please report to Gate C80!

"Oh, man, we're gonna miss the plane!"
"Shut up, Jounouchi!"
"Fine, be that way," Jou muttered. "Hey, what's that?"
A uniformed security guard was wheeling a large sign up to the ticket counter.
"Don't tell me they're closing the counter! We were so close, too!"
"I don't think they're closing it, Anzu," said Bakura. "But it's hard to make out from here, with all these people in the way...Honda, you're the tallest, give me some help."
"Sure, Bakura."
Jounouchi cracked up, holding his stomach with his bandaged arm. "Sure...Bakura..." he gasped between laughs, "he'll...make out...with you!"
Anzu rolled her eyes. They were so immature.
Bakura squinted, trying to read the sign.
"That's not funny, punk!" Honda snapped, giving Jou a shove.
"Yeah it is," Jou countered, shoving back.
"Careful, guys!" Bakura cried, but it was too late. Honda pushed Jou back, Jou smacked into Anzu, Anzu smacked into Bakura, and Bakura backed into Yugi, who stumbled face first into the obese woman. She let out a scream.
"Pervert!!"
The group collectively winced as from out of nowhere they were surrounded by security guards.
"Look on the bright side," said Bakura timidly. "We don't have to stand in line any more..."

*

There was nothing that Mai liked more than turning heads. Even defeating a drooling male at Duel Monsters wasn't as fun as making one fall over just by walking past. It was especially funny when their girlfriends or wives assaulted them with pocketbooks for doing it. Besides, she needed the self-esteem boost after losing (more than once) on the island, and missing out on all that prize money.
Money--that was what she really needed. After her loss she'd gotten to thinking. It cost more to keep up with all the expansions and new cards than she was winning at the local tournaments. Well--maybe not that much, but her designer wardrobe, apartment, car, and gourmet tastes took up the remainder. She was shocked to find, when she returned to her flat, a bill with red ink--she was in debt! But just when things seemed the worst, she found something else in her stack of mail.
'I'd better win this next tournament,' she thought. 'If I don't, when I get home there will be repo men getting their grubby hands on my new tiffany lamp!'
So Mai stormed her way through the lines at Domino International Airport, leaving the peons to cower and grovel in her wake.
"The name's Mai," she told the lady at the ticket counter. "I have reservations for flight 116 to the United States of America."
Someone screamed, and Mai looked across at the crowds at the other nine counters for InterContinental Airlines. She had a bad feeling about this flight.
"Sign here, please," said the clerk, and Mai shrugged off her misgivings, surrendering her bags and heading off for her gate.

*

Bakura had been right. They didn't have to stand in line any more. Instead, they had their pictures and fingerprints taken by airport security, without the long wait. They got a stern lecture about horseplay from a guy in a tight-fitting uniform covered in medals, which they only half listened to. Finally, they were escorted back to the ticket counter for check-in, and they learned what the sign had said. First, no metal objects would be permitted on board. Yugi's puzzle was just an oversized charm necklace, said Jou, and they agreed to let him bring it. Throughout this discussion Bakura looked very nervous, and when no one was looking he stuffed something into his unusual white suitcase. He did not want to be caught with the Millennium Eye.
The second thing that the sign had said was that due to a late reservation by a group of handicapped people, they'd been bumped from first class to coach. None of them really minded, because they didn't know the difference.

Of course, Mai did. "I never travel coach! Where is the captain? I demand to see the captain!" she snapped at the harried flight attendant standing guard at the boarding ramp.
"Is there a problem?" purred the pilot, looking at Mai's blond ponytail and tight caramel-colored pants, then at her snug black turtleneck.
"This woman--" Mai glanced at the attendant's nametag "--this Debra woman says that I have been moved to coach! I'm a duelist. I never travel coach."
"Really?" said the pilot, not really listening at all. "Why don't you and I go grab a coffee and talk about it. There is a whole hour until takeoff, after all."
'Men,' thought Mai, shrugging and following him to one of the newsstands.

*

Meanwhile, at the Kaiba Villa:

"Big brother?"
Seto Kaiba sighed at the sound of his brother Mokuba's voice. It had that certain tone--the one that meant, "I'm reading your mind."
"What is it, Mokuba?" Seto asked, kneeling down to face the younger boy.
"When are we leaving?"
"For what?" Seto asked, chuckling. He had read his mind after all.
"The New England X Tournament," Mokuba replied matter-of-factly. "I know all about it!"
"Do you now," said Seto, watching the repairmen drop yet another pane of glass out the damaged window. "You're paying for that, you know," he hissed at them.
"I can't wait to go to America!" Mokuba cheered. "I want to see the Statue of Liberty, and eat hamburgers, and...and other American stuff! Please, Seto, please can we go?"
Seto Kaiba knew better than to look at his brother's eyes when he said please.
"I am going, but you are not," he said. "You need to stay here, while I settle the score with Yugi."
"But Seto..." Mokuba protested. "Last time you left me here, Pegasus's stooges kidnapped me and they locked me in the tower, and then I broke free and watched Yugi duel a ghost you, only it wasn't really you, but I knew all along, and then I got locked in the dungeon and you came but Pegasus put me in a card, and then..."
"I know, Mokuba. Yugi rescued you. And that is why I must defeat him in a duel!"
"But Seto! Why can't I come and watch?"
"It is too dangerous," said the elder Kaiba, his long coattails swishing behind him as he strode out of the room. "See you later, little brother." He disappeared.
Mokuba pouted a devious sort of pout, and ran off toward his room.

*

"Well, here we are," said Yugi, looking up at the sign above the boarding ramp. The light marquee read "Boston, U.S.A."
"And just in time, too," added Anzu. They hopped into line, holding their boarding passes and ID.
"See, Jou? We aren't gonna miss the plane," teased Honda.
"All right! California, here I come!" Jou cheered.
'California..?' thought everyone else.
"Blue skies, palm trees, surfing, naked beach volleyball..." Jou grinned, his eyes skyward as he pictured it.
"Naked beach volleyball?!"
Anzu thwapped Jou with her carry-on. "Jounouchi! We're going to Boston."
"Ow," he said, giving her a blank look.
"Boston, Massachusetts...?" she prodded.
"Right, Boston, Massachusetts, California! They're right next door, ain't they?"
Honda smacked himself in the forehead and the other three shook their heads slowly.
"What, so I guess I'll have to take the bus a ways to the beach. Can't be that far..." They were still shaking their heads. "Well according to this map, they aren't!" he protested, pulling a crinkled piece of paper from his pocket. It had ketchup stains and grease-windows all over it.
"Let me see that," said Honda, snatching it away. "What the--? Statue of Liberty ride? Grand Canyon log flume?"
"Jounouchi, that's a novelty map from Burger World! That's the new AmericaLand Amusement park!" Anzu cried.
"What? Oh, well, what do you expect? I got a C in geography." Jou tossed the map in the trash. "So, where is this Boston place, anyway?"
"Got your ID and boarding pass out, kid?" the stewardess asked him, before any of the others could answer.
"Yeah, uh, somewhere..." Jou checked all his pockets, worry creasing his forehead. "Hang on a sec...I had 'em a minute ago..."
"Step out of line, sir," Debra the stewardess told him.
"Heh, fooled you!" Jou laughed, holding up the papers which had been in his hand the whole time. Debra took the ticket and returned Jou his receipt, rolling her eyes the whole time.

"Wow, check it out!" Honda exclaimed as the friends stepped on board the 777. The seats were widely spaced, in three columns of two seats each. Drink carts were tucked into little alcoves, and every seat had a pillow and a cupholder, stacks of magazines, and a small private screen that would show the in-flight movie.
"This must be first class," said Bakura.
"Looks great! Where are our seats?" asked Jou.
"Not here, I'm afraid," Bakura replied. "My ticket says 25-A. What about yours?"
"25-C," said Jou. "So let's see... 1-A/B, 2 A/B..."
"I think we have to go beyond that curtain," said Honda, leading the charge through the wide aisles of first class. He pulled the curtain back, and stood in horror.
Before them the cabin of coach class loomed, their home for the next 14-odd hours. It had three columns of tiny seats, the two on the sides having three seats, and the center having four across. Almost all the seats--and there were hundreds of them--were filled, and the people in them glared at the five as they slowly walked along the narrow aisle, tripping over the edges of bags and tall people's feet.
"Talk about downgrade," Jou quipped, dodging a laptop case that fell from the compartment.
"Aa!" Anzu exclaimed, knocked forward by someone getting up from his seat. She fell on top of Yugi.
"Watch it!" snapped the man.
"I'm sorry--Yugi, are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine," Yugi replied, hoping vainly that people falling on him would not become the recurring theme of this trip. Well, he didn't really mind if it was Anzu. She looked rather pretty as she tried to gather up the items that fell from her bag. Her soft sky-blue sweater really brought out her eyes...and she looked so nice in jeans, he wondered why she didn't wear them more often. And her hair, loosely pinned at the back of her head, had just a few locks trailing down in front of her eyes, covering the little green smudge on her cheek that remained from their adventures a few days before. Yugi found himself staring.
"...You sure you're okay?" she asked again, raising an eyebrow.
"Hey! Our seats!" Jou cheered, jumping in and forcing Honda to climb over him. "Now dat's more like it!"
Yugi shook himself off and tried to hide his blush. Anzu offered him a hand up, and he accepted. He checked his ticket--24-B, right in front of Honda.
"There they are," said Anzu, sitting down in her window seat, Yugi climbing in after her. After all, she was Yugi's guest on this trip, so of course they would be seated together. Sugoroku had insisted that this would be a great idea, *nudge-nudge-wink-wink*, enabling him to get some quality time with his good friend, *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*. Yugi felt a little nervous. Maybe he should switch with Bakura--he turned around to look at his friends.
Honda had taken out his GBA.
"Let me play a while," said Jou.
"I just took it out!" Honda protested.
"Well then you're not really into any game yet, so I can play." Jou grabbed for it, and Honda pulled it away.
"No way!"
No, Yugi didn't think he'd be trading with Bakura any time soon.

"So, you like to fly, huh," Mai sighed. Apparently her good looks were too much for this little fly boy, as he'd been reduced to a simpering idiot at the sight of her ruby-red lips on the iced mochaccino's striped straw. Mai debated buying a banana, to be evil.
"I never get tired of it," the pilot, whose name was Mike, gushed. "You know, as a pilot you get to go anywhere you like. And pilot's spouses get all the benefits."
"Really, now. Is that so."
"But the feeling of being in the air is the best feeling in the world. I've never done anything that gave me more pleasure!"
"Not yet, anyway," Mai teased.
The pilot's eyes lit up, his face turning the same red shade as his hair. "It would have to be something fantastic to beat flying," he said, winking.
"Well, since you like flying so much..." Mai began, bringing her arm up toward his face, and tossing her hair.
"...Yeah...?"
"You'd better get going, because you take off in fifteen minutes." She held her watch up in his eyes to prove it.
"Crap!" he shouted, running for the gate.
"Hey!" Mai called, running after him. "What about my first-class seat?!"

"What's going on back there?" demanded Debra, storming down the aisle as the last few stragglers buckled themselves into their seats. Honda and Jou were having a fistfight in their seats, with Honda valiantly resisting Jou's efforts at theivery.
"Come on, just one round of Mario!"
"No!"
"Ow!" yelped Bakura, catching a deflected attack with his face.

"Welcome aboard InterContinental Airlines Flight 116, with non-stop service to Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.! We'll be taxiing shortly, so please be seated and fasten your seatbelts as demonstrated by Debra, your friendly flight attendant--wherever she is. If you need assistance with your seatbelt, please notify a flight attendant immediately," a stewardess droned over the intercom, her speech known by heart.

"Crap," Mai muttered, striding into the plane's first class cabin. There didn't look to be any seats--except one, next to a handsome-looking gentleman, and it was right in front of her. She decided to try her luck at a bluff.
"Excuse me, sir, I'd like to get into my seat," she purred in his ear, discreetly waving a perfumed wrist near his nose.
The man laughed. "I know for a fact that's not your seat, but a pretty girl like you can travel with me any time."
'She'll be perfect,' he thought to himself, inwardly cackling at his impending success.
Mai blinked in surprise, but sat down anyway. That was almost too easy. She buckled her seatbelt and sipped her mochaccino, taking a novel from her pocketbook.

*

Mokuba grabbed his favorite backpack from his bedroom closet, quickly filling it with toys, and, as an afterthought, a change of socks. He thought about it a minute, and then stuffed his shirt in there, too, switching into a black one. All the better to hide in.
He was going to America, whether Seto liked it or not.
Where was his favorite hat? He couldn't find it anywhere. His big brown eyes scanned the room nervously, looking under the bed, under the dresser, in the toy chest. No hat! No hat, and no bandanna. No scuffed-up sneakers, either. He couldn't figure out where he'd lost them, so he just pulled on his newer sneakers, which he didn't like as much. The shoelaces were still white.
Lastly, he stuck a deck of Duel Monsters cards into the front pouch, scrunched in with a bag of gummis and a lichee gel.
The little boy crept out of his room, checking both ways down the hall to make sure he wasn't being watched. He couldn't be sure of his safety any more, after Pegasus's takeover attempt. The thought of going back to the Shadow Realm terrified him, even though he didn't remember the experience all that clearly. It was starting to occur to him that he'd have to look out for himself, and even though he could always rely on his big brother, sometimes even big brothers needed help. That's why he was so determined to go. He ran down the hall to the secret elevator, trying desperately to keep his footsteps from squeaking on the waxed floor.
The ride down to the Kaiba villa's private jet hangar seemed to take forever. Mokuba was sure that at any moment the doors would open and it would be a guard, or Seto himself, poised and ready to put him back in his room and foil his plan. But then, the elevator chimed and the door slid open, and like a stealthy ninja, Mokuba slipped into the shadows of the underground hangar. He ran in short bursts, trying to stay behind large objects. That much his brother had taught him a long time back.
He was in luck. The jet hadn't taken off yet. Two of his brother's flunkies--who hadn't faced his wrath for the takeover attempt--were wheeling the mobile stairs up to the side. They pushed it into place, and walked away. Fortune was with him. He waited until they were out of sight, then ran for the stairs, sneaking up them with true Kaiba grace. Mokuba crawled in, slipping past the cockpit, and hopping into the luxurious cabin. He hid behind a chair, curling up into a small ball, waiting anxiously. Was Seto here? Would they take off soon? And, he hadn't really thought about it, but what would happen when they got to America, and he was discovered?
Surely, Big Brother wouldn't be angry with him. He'd already taken out all his anger on his former buisness partners, making the two boys much richer as they no longer had to pay their salaries. The dark haired boy felt his stomach growl. He'd have to eat, or his own belly would give his hiding place away. He reached into his pack for a gummi. The wrapper crinkled in his fingers.
'Uh-oh,' he thought. He peeked out from behind his hiding space. Seto was in the pilot's seat. Mokuba heard the stairs being rolled away, and the hatch closing. The jet started up. They were leaving! He felt the plane tear along the runway, then blast out of the open door in the cliff side. He did it! He was going to America!
"You can't be comfortable back there." Seto Kaiba's cold monotone broke through the silence.
The little boy's jaw dropped. He'd known all along!
"Why don't you come up here and sit with me. I'll show you how to fly."
Mokuba's eyes lit up. "You mean--you're not mad?!"
"I packed your favorite hat. You'll need it in New England."
The younger boy ran up to the cockpit and jumped in his brother's lap. "Big brother!"

*

"Listen, you're going to have to tone it down until we're airborne," said Debra. "Once we turn off the fasten seatbelts sign, you can decide who gets the toy." She stomped up to the front of the plane as her fellow flight attendant finished her speech, and the plane began to roll down the runway.
"Eh, what's eatin' her?" Jou asked. "Must be that time of the month."
Anzu waved a fist at him, and Jou grinned because she couldn't reach. "Heeeh," he laughed.
Debra sighed as she strapped herself in to the flight attendant seat near the front of coach. Her friend, a redhead, patted her arm reassuringly.
"Hey, come on," the redhead said. "It's your last day."
"Yeah," said Debra, her voice trailing until it was just her inner monologue. 'Yeah...if those kids get on my nerves bad enough, I can get them back! They'd better watch out for me!'

The plane lifted into the sky gently, the shift from taxi to flight barely perceptible. As it climbed, Yugi felt himself pulled backwards into his seat. His ears hurt from the change in pressure, and he accepted a piece of gum from Anzu (over a piece of gum from Jou, which was missing the wrapper and now had the distinct flavor "pocket lint").
Honda's Game Boy sat in his lap, the green-gray of the powered-off display tantalizing Jou. How he wanted to press those buttons, to make Mario soar above dinosaur land. He still had to beat that second castle! Honda never let him play. He never let him have anything. It just wasn't fair.
The plane continued its climb, now banking right in its ascent. The small game device slid toward him, now falling off Honda's lap and touching his leg. His hands shook with anticipation. Honda was watching out the window. He wouldn't notice. Jou slowly moved his hand down toward the device, cautiously wrapping his fingers around it. He picked it up, turned the volume down to zero, and turned it on.
'Ah, crap, it's Golden Sun! I hate this game.'
"Hey! My GBA!" Honda cried.
In a move befitting the most desperate of men, Jou jumped from his seat, GBA in hand.
Some passengers screamed.
"What the hell?!" Debra demanded, whirling about. Those kids!
"Give that back!" Honda snapped, rising from his seat, cautiously making his way over Jou's bag and into the aisle.
"Never!" Jou shouted, running toward the back of the plane. Honda started to give chase, but was grabbed by two flight attendants, and put back in his seat.
"Stay where you are, sir," they demanded, walking back toward Jou, who had disappeared into the plane's bathroom.
"Come out of there with your hands up!" shouted one of the attendants.
"Sorry, I really had to go," Jou protested, an impish grin on his face. He let them lead him back to his seat, lecturing him and questioning him all the way.
"I guess he was telling the truth," said Debra, grinning, as Jou sat back down, setting the GBA on his friend's lap. Debra pointed down at Jou's pants. "XYZ," she said, and walked back up to the front of the plane.
Honda cracked up as Jou turned a deep shade of vermilion.
"Thanks for bringing back the GBA," he said, flicking the power switch to "on".
...
Nothing.
Honda flipped the unit over, opening the back.
"The batteries! Jounouchi!!"

Yugi sighed, trying to ignore his loud friends, thinking about the tournament that awaited them in this foreign land. Why did Grandpa seem so nervous when he saw them off? How had the tournament's organizer known to invite him? And he understood Jou's invitation, but Bakura? Something wasn't right!
For that matter, what about their most recent misadventure? He knew it was tied to Pegasus--could it be tied to the tournament, as well? Yugi felt Anzu's hand next to his on the armrest, and that sent his train of thought down another track.
What did all of this have to do with her? She sat staring out the window at the endless ocean of clouds. Yugi was more confused than ever before--well, maybe not quite as confused as when Pegasus contacted him. But at least Pegasus explained himself--through speeches, rants, ravings, mysterious hints, treatises on the glories of cartoons--oh, and that diary that Anzu'd read to them--
"ALL RIGHT!" he heard Jou cheer. "In-flight entertainment!"
"In-flight movies?!" Honda echoed. "What's first?"
Jou squinted at the screen, far in the distance, a pair of airline headphones on his ears. "Not Another Teen Movie, I think."
Yugi groaned. It was going to be a long flight.

*

Well, that's it for chapter seven. What'd ya think? Huh? Huh? Next up: Mai and Jou: they're on the same plane. How horrible can this author make their reunion? Read and find out.