Disclaimer: Here is a little quiz. What do I not own?
a) The plot of this story
b) Yu-Gi-Oh!
c) All my Inuyasha and Lord of the Rings DVDs.
d) My life and all of the above (I must be pitiful, right?)
The answer is b. If you did not get that, then I suggest you study the previous disclaimers and then come back for a make-up quiz.
CHAPTER 10: Round Two [Water]
"Round one is officially over!" Yugi announced. "Round two will begin shortly. All who are disqualified please step out to the side." A murmur of voices rose as people relocated themselves. In the crowd, Mai caught up to Téa, who was standing near a window.
"That was simple," Mai proclaimed.
"I so agree!" Téa agreed. "But I can't find Yami! Have you seen him?"
"No. He's probably hanging out with Lumina."
"GR!"
"Take a chiller, Téa." The two waited near the side for Yugi to announce the next duel pairs. Meanwhile, Serenity was not too far away, admiring the new red stone she had in her Duelists' Glove. She looked up as Yugi started to announce the duel pairings. She crossed her fingers. She heard her name.
"Shizuka Jounouchi will face………" Serenity closed her eyes. Please say Seto, please say Seto!! "Shizuka Jounouchi will face Aquaria Silverstream." Serenity growled as she looked over at a blue-haired, blue-eyed girl who immediately looked in her direction. She had heard her sisters talking about her. Serenity looked to her other side, spotting Seto in the corner. She noticed that he looked mad for some reason.
Seto was mad for the same reason Serenity was. He was hoping to duel her to find out more about her identity. He had his fingers crossed, but Yugi announced her too early. He cursed under his breath. He had seen "Shizuka" duel. He wanted to face her badly.
………
"MAI! TÉA!" The two girls turned around as they say Joey and Ian rushing up to them, followed closely by a blonde haired girl.
"Joey?" Mai queried in disbelief. "How did you get here? Domino Academy is half the kingdom away."
"I know……… it is just-,"
"Excuse me!" DMG cried as she suddenly came between the two boys. "I was talking to you, before you rudely shouted and tried to catch up to your girlfriends-,"
"My turn ta' interrupt. She ain't my girlfriend; she's ma' stepsista'!"
"Big difference! Anyways, how did you get here that fast?" Joey sighed.
"A blue fairy with a long green dress and blonde hair zapped us hear, okay?" Ian said sarcastically out of annoyance. DMG looked shocked, not catching the sarcasm. She turned away from the others. They shrugged and kept talking.
"Mystical Elf! How could she!?" DMG thought to herself. Meanwhile, the others talked on.
"No……… how Joey and I really got here was by sneaking onto a carriage as it drove close to the castle from the Academy. It seems that Yami was called by his brother to help him judge. Luckily, he's our friend so he allowed us to secretly get on," Ian explained. Téa and Mai nodded.
"I see," Téa said. "So why did you want to come here in the first place?"
" 'Dat's easy! I wanna see ma' sista' duel!" Joey said. "If ya' two got an invitation, she did too!" Mai and Téa looked at each other nervously.
"Uh……… oh!! Right! Wait a second……… we have to hear the pairings." Mai motioned to Téa and the two walked away from the two boys.
"What do we do?" whispered Téa urgently. "Serenity isn't here!" Mai bit her lip and thought for a minute. She looked around to try to find a solution. She faintly heard her name in the distance and noted that she needed to duel someone named "Polly". Suddenly, her eyes fell on a veiled girl looking in their direction. She suddenly slipped away. Mai snapped her fingers.
"Aha!" she said. "I have an idea. You saw that mysterious girl, right? Shizuka? Well, no one knows what she looks like and nobody can see her face. Why don't we pretend that's Serenity?" Téa clasped her hands together.
"Perfect!" she cried. "We'll lie to Joey that that is Serenity and he'll believe us because he doesn't know who she really is and can't see her face! It's too perfect!"
"And…" Mai added. "If he asks us about her name and all, we'll say that she wants to be mysterious to surprise Seto!"
"Let's go tell Joey!"
………
Serenity sighed as she waited for Yugi to finish announcing the names. She wished she could duel Seto right then and there. As she waited, she looked around her to see if she found any familiar faces that she hadn't notice before. She saw Mai and Téa whispering to the side. Serenity smirked, and Mai looked around before resting her eyes right on her. For a moment, the two looked at each other. Conscious of what she was doing, Serenity gasped and slipped away. Then, Yugi announced the final pairing, the duelist facing Seto, and the girl next to Serenity squealed with joy at the mention of her name.
Serenity squeezed through the crowd as she went to go find her partner in an empty space to duel. She saw Aquaria standing next to the corner. Her jaw dropped as she saw Joey and another boy standing in that corner, and Mai was whispering something to them in the last second before rushing to her partner that happened to be right next to Serenity. Joey waved to Serenity, which nearly made her heart stop.
Don't panic! He can't recognize you. You know Joey. He's always trying to impress girls. Maybe Mai told him about me being all suspicious. I can defiantly feel everyone's eyes on the back of my head. Serenity breathed deeply as she approached her partner. Just then, DMG skipped over to Joey and Serenity's jaw dropped for the second time.
………
Mai and Téa went different ways as the crowd starting searching for their partners. After a while, Mai saw Joey already standing ready to watch the mysterious veiled girl. She rushed over to him and he turned to acknowledge her.
"There! See that veiled girl? That's Serenity. She wants to surprise Seto by being suspicious so that's why she's wearing the veil. I have to go now." Mai quickly left and Joey turned toward the approaching girl. Even though he was a little confused, he still waved to her. He thought he saw the girl, or "Serenity", falter as he noticed her.
"Hey!" Joey almost jumped out of his skin. He looked to his right to find DMG standing next to him. Joey sighed with relief.
"Don't do 'dat!" he cried.
"Sorry, sorry!" DMG winked. Joey and Ian looked at each other. They looked back at Serenity, who was just starting to shuffle her Deck. Aquaria shuffled too, then slid her Deck into the card recognize her.
………
Serenity closed her eyes and shuffled her deck. Not only was she nervous that she was having her second duel and by now a lot of the easier opponents had gone, but also that Joey was standing a couple of feet to her left and he seemed to recognize her.
Don't be a fool. He can't recognize you. Are you crazy? Serenity shook her head and slid her Deck into the card recognizer. She looked up and found that Aquaria was ready to Duel, five cards already in her hand. Serenity also drew her cards and waited for Aquaria's first move.
"Okay, my turn first!" Aquaria declared in a musical voice, drawing a card. "Ah perfect! Merri the Water Witch () in Attack Mode. This Spellcastor has 1600 attack power. Your turn!"
"Alright!" Serenity made a quick mental note to keep using the accent, and then drew a card. She had more than enough Trap cards in her hand. Unfortunately, she was missing some good Magic cards. She had an idea of a good strategy in her hand, but she decided to wait for Aquaria's next move to confirm it.
"I place this card face down in Defense," she said, and a glowing yellow rectangle appeared on the field. Serenity smiled to herself as she mentally perfected her strategy. She had a good idea on how to use the Trap cards, but she wasn't sure yet. Suddenly, Joey yelled out something, and whatever strategy Serenity had in her mind was swept away as she turned to him in disbelief.
"GO! GO SERENITY! YOU CAN DO IT, SIS!"
………
"Where is he? I can't see him! Did a mob of girls attack him? Where is he dueling? Did he lose already? Oh, Maximillion, I'm-,"
"Cecilia, calm down! I see him over there in that corner. Come on!" Pegasus led his wife and Mokuba as the three of them hurried down the palace steps onto the Dueling Ballroom Floor. None of the Duelists paid attention to the fact that the king, queen, and prince had entered the room.
"There must be over a hundred girls here! Surely one of them will be able to beat Seto!" Maximillion assured Cecilia.
"Yeah?" Mokuba challenged. "My brother is the best duelist in Domino… wait! The best duelist in the entire world… wait! Make that the universe!" Cecilia smirked.
"Thanks for reassuring that Seto will definitely get a bride today, Mokuba."
"It's okay, Mom! Besides, if he gets married, then he won't play with me! That's why I don't want him to get married!" Pegasus kneeled down next to Mokuba.
"But think of it this way… if Seto marries, then you can tease him all the time about the two of them together." Mokuba thought for a moment.
"That's a good idea! Thanks Dad! I can't wait for Seto to get married!"
………
"Hi! My name's Polly! I know you're Mai. Everyone knows you! You're that daughter of Gozaburo Kaiba. That's why you can operate these disks so well! I know you can Duel well! Can you teach me? Let's duel first! I'm going to beat you! Don't go easy on me!" The blonde haired girl opposite Mai said this all in one breath before flashing a toothy grin at her opponent. Mai slightly smiled back, but everyone could clearly see she was annoyed (if they were looking, that it). Polly quickly drew her first card and laid five cards face down.
"Your turn!" she announced. Mai raised her eyebrows as she saw all five cards laid out on the field, all Magic and Trap. Mai drew a card and looked at it. She placed it on the field.
"Harpie Lady in Attack Mode! Then, I play Harpie's Feather Duster! Now all your cards are gone. Finally, I play Elegant Egotist and call upon two more Harpies. Now all of them will attack!" Polly gasped as her LP went down to zero in an instant. Mai was equally shocked. She had expected more of a challenge, not a one-second Duel.
"That must've been the shortest Duel in history!" she remarked. Polly scowled and stomped off. Mai shrugged and headed back to Joey. He saw he was still watching the veiled girl. She played a Monster face down and ended her turn. Suddenly, Joey shouted out something that made Mai stumble. She saw the veiled girl whisk around to face Joey.
"UH OH!" Mai cried, running toward them.
………
He didn't say that! He did not say that! Joey did not recognize you! Come on, Serenity! Don't give up now! DMG was praying that Serenity did not throw off her disguise. It was a very precarious situation. DMG knew that Serenity would have definitely panicked by now. Come down, Serenity. Remember! Just, keep the act going! I'll get you out of this… somehow!
"Joey!" DMG sighed with relief as Mai came calling. She rushed over to Joey and pulled him away.
"Wha'?" Joey queried.
"You idiot! Didn't I tell you that Serenity wanted to be kept a secret? Pretend her name is Shizuka and don't shout out like that!"
"Sorry…" Mai nodded and quickly walked over to Serenity.
………
Serenity was near the end of the panic line at that moment. Just when she thought everything was going smoothly and that she might have a fighting chance in this duel, Joey screams her name and she realized that she has to give up her fake identity. To add to that, Mai was coming toward her. Maybe I should just come clean and tell the truth. Maybe they won't get too angry with me. Joey will protect me. Maybe I can go off with him to Domino Academy…wait, that's an all boys' school. Maybe there's an all girls' school nearby.
"Shizuka," Mai whispered urgently as she got closer. Serenity prepared to take off her veil but Mai quickly proceeded. "Listen! That was a whole mistake! That boy, his name is Joseph and he's my stepbrother. You see, he comes all the way from Domino Academy and he thought his sister was going to Duel. The problem was, she wasn't invited."
Liar! Serenity thought.
"Anyway, we told him that you were her just so he wouldn't get all worked up about it. After all, no one sees your face. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," Serenity replied, using her British accent.
"Good. In fact, can I ask you a favor? Can you act like you know him? Call him Joey and maybe say every once in a while a thank you for his support. Would that be too distracting?"
"No, not at all. It will be fun to play along," Serenity lied.
"Great! Thank you so much, you're a doll!" Serenity watched as Mai went back to stand near Joey. Serenity gritted her teeth. She's right, I am a doll! Or actually, a puppet is more like it. I'm on DMG's strings and hers. I, Serenity, have to pretend like I'm not Serenity pretending to be Serenity! How confusing! Serenity turned back to Aquaria, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot in impatience.
"What was that all about? Why did he call you Serenity?"
"No reason. It's hard to explain. I am really Shizuka. Now it's your turn." Serenity turned back to Mai, Joey, Ian, and DMG. Mai, Joey, and Ian gave her a thumbs-up. DMG shrugged and pointed to the clock. Serenity noticed it was already eight. She nodded and concentrated on the Duel.
………
"Wow!" Mai whispered to DMG while the boys weren't looking. "That was a close one."
"You bet," DMG replied. "I hope you told her that she has to pretend like she's Serenity."
"I did. Now, I have two questions. One is… how do you know of Serenity?"
"Oh…uh…me? Oh…uh… I met her in the market one day. Yeah, in the market. She was lost or something. Yes, I met her and we talked a little. That's all."
"I see. Next question… why are you wearing those clothes?" Joey and Ian also turned at the hearing of this question.
"What clothes?" DMG stuttered. She buried her mind for an excuse. "OH! OH, these clothes! Well…these clothes? Um… oh, I'm wearing them because my friends and I are doing… are… doing a play! Yeah, a play! I'm playing a Dark Magician Girl, as you can tell. Yeah… I was just about to go home from the theater but I decided that in wanted to watch the Dueling. Yeah…"
"Do you live around here?" Ian asked.
"Of course."
"Then why weren't you invited? I heard that the prince invited every young unmarried woman in the kingdom."
"Oh… that… well… you … see… I … I … I'm engaged! Yeah, engaged recently."
"OH!" Mai cried. "Oh, that's so lovely! Who's the lucky guy?"
"My fiancé? Oh… he… he… his name is Svrion and he plays the Dark Magician in the play! Yeah! We met on the set and all…"
"Aw! That's so sweet! On a side, completely random, what's your name?"
"My name? It's Cyrrielle." Joey, who had turned back to the Dueling, suddenly whipped around.
"Who said cereal? I want cereal!"
"NO! I meant C-y-r-r-i-e-l-l-e! Cyrrielle! Don't worry, though, I get that a lot." Mai nodded and they all turned back to Dueling. DMG sighed with relief. Ha! I actually named my biggest rival, Svrion, as my fiancé! I must be going crazy!
………
"I attack your face down card with Merri! Go! Attack!" Serenity smirked as the Witch came to attack. She quickly pushed a button on her Duel Disk.
"Ha! My Yamiyari Princess () is too strong for you with her 1700 Defense." Aquaria's eyes widened as her attack was repelled and she went down to 2900 LP.
"Alrigh'! Go Shizuka!" Joey yelled from the side.
"You can do it!" Ian added. Serenity turned toward them and nodded, though she felt really nervous inside. How was she going to pull off the fact that she was not Serenity to everyone, but still pretending to be Serenity for Joey and Ian? It was so confusing for her to remember who knew and who didn't and even, who was supposed to know what. Serenity's brain hurt thinking about it, nonetheless thinking about an actual strategy.
"Oh fine! It's not that bad!" Aquaria declared as she eyed her cards. "Ah perfect! I place this card face down on the field! End turn!" Serenity drew a card.
"Remember your strategy!" Mai called. Serenity turned to her and she winked.
"Yeah, the strategy!" DMG repeated with a wink of her own. Serenity gritted her teeth. The only strategy I need right now is one to defeat Aquaria, not to be acting myself and not myself. What to play! I'm so confused! I don't know what to do! I'll just do something random. Serenity selected a card.
"I place one card face down, like you. I end my turn." Aquaria drew a card and placed it face down.
"I end my turn." Serenity drew and she was flooded by a wave of encouraging remarks from her friends, the ones from Mai and DMG being excessively obvious as double meanings. Serenity couldn't concentrate with the pressure of keeping herself from not blowing up. She took a card from her hand and laid it face down. She nodded for her opponent to start her turn. Aquaria raised her eyebrows.
"Is that how you want to be, eh? Well, ah, perfect! I love these games." Yeah, game! I have two people who are using me like a toy, and two people that think I am who a really am but not trying to be. Lovely game my life is. And all because I want to duel Seto! Aquaria placed one card face down and ended her turn.
Serenity's only strategy was to keep imitating her opponent. She placed another card face down. Aquaria placed two more cards face down and so did Serenity. Now the two of them had five cards each face down and one monster a piece. They each had five cards in their hand. The only difference was that Aquaria had 2900 LP and Serenity had her original amount.
"Now," Aquaria said, looking at the array of cards glowing yellow on the field. "Let's see who has the best strategy here." Go ahead, Aquaria. Soon you'll see I have no strategy. Aquaria drew a card and smirked.
"Now, I'm going to dismantle you piece by piece. First, I'll start off easy by activating my Magic Card first. It's called Little Bubbles (). It destroys your monster and deducts 1000 LP for any non-Water monster you have. So, say good-bye to your Yamiyari Princess!" The face down card rose up and thousands of bubbles flew toward the Princess. Serenity randomly pushed a button and one of her own face down cards flew up.
"I activate… Mirror Sight (). This card deducts the same amount of LP that I'm about to lose." Joey and Ian cheered as they shouted her fake name. Mai and DMG gave her applause and winked as if to keep reminding her. Serenity bit her tongue and nodded to them, even though what she really wanted to do was stomp over and remove their hide.
"Nice try, but you forget my other cards. I activate Flooding (), a quick-play card! This allows me to stop all damages to either players LP. Now, all that happens is the Yamiyari Princess goes bye-bye!"
"No way!" Serenity insisted. "I refuse to allow you to take my Monster. I activate Stop Magic (). The effect of Flooding is canceled."
"Oh yeah? Well guess again. I have had enough of this. All our cards are going! I activate Relinquish! (). Now we have to get rid of all the cards on the field." Joey, Ian, DMG, and Mai gasped, suddenly shouting all at once a myriad of suggestions. Serenity couldn't concentrate. "Now, after the cards are destroyed I shall play a powerful Monster and rid you of most of your LP."
"Not so fast! What did I say about giving up my Princess? Never!" Despite the fact that Serenity had no idea what cards she had placed face down, and that she had to act like a totally different person for Mai and DMG while still being the same person for Joey and Ian, she was still not about to give up one of her favorite monsters. "I activate Stop Trap (). Like my previous Trap, this allows me to destroy your Relinquish."
"Well, my cards are as precious to me as yours are to you. I activate Trigger (). Since you played that Trap card, you lose 1000 LP for your unkindness." Another multitude of helpful comments and positive encouraging arose from the sideline cheerleaders, who had now been joined by Téa. Mai quickly explained what was going on and she understood.
"Unkindness? Well, you haven't seen anything yet! I activate Counter (), which makes the 1000 LP deducted from your LP instead of mine."
"Tsk! Tsk! How cruel indeed. Well, luckily I have my last Trap, Destroy (). This destroys any card that was played before this. I choose your last one. By the way, did you keep track of who lost what by now?" Serenity thought to herself.
"No! But there's no need for that. It's time to reveal my last card, and it is… Reverse Time Reset ()! This Trap has multiple steps. First, all effects of cards are canceled. Second, each of us discards every card we have in our hand and field into the Graveyard." Aquaria realized she had no more cards she could play so she had to obey. She took her Hand and Field cards and slid them into the Graveyard slot. "Third, our LP reset back to 3000. Finally, we each draw five new cards and begin again. Just like the beginning of the Duel, you go first but cannot attack. The only difference is that we each have over ten of our cards in the Graveyard. No problem. My Yamiyari Princess served me well."
"So it's like we're back to the beginning to start all over again? Give me a break! I am way to smart for this!" Serenity raised her eyebrows.
"What do you mean?" she asked. She then realized that her accent was coming along so well it was like she had used it for years. "You can't just-,"
"I quit!" Aquaria declared. "If we keep dueling, it will take forever for us to finish! I'm not going to spend my life trying to beat you and win Seto's heart. There are other ways, Shizuka. Dueling does not make you fall in love with someone. There's no point in beating someone just to marry them. Bye-bye!" Serenity's jaw dropped as Aquaria simply took of her Duel Disk. Serenity's own Duel Disk turned off and a small blue stone appeared out of the same secret place as the last. Aquaria walked off.
That was strange, but luckily it's over. It's almost half past eight right now. I don't have much time. It looks like most of the Duels are over. I have to go talk to DMG. Serenity slipped the blue stone into her glove and skipped over to the others.
I am still happy though. I actually won two duels! At least, one and a half. Next, there'll only be thirty-two Duelists! There's a bigger chance of me Dueling Seto. I can't wait!