Author's note: OMG, I'm alive! Yahoo! This is the beginning to the longest and hardest piece of work I've ever done. I guarantee by the time I actually finish this entire series....it will be well over my Love Is Forever story in length and depth. I've worked extremely hard on this and have even given each season an opening and ending song, lol. I'm crazy, but very devoted. My characters belong to me and this time, I've worked out each of their different personalities so that way no one will be confused or angry with me. I'm not fond of flames, and besides, it's close to summer. Flames will only make it hotter . This fic will have small bits of romance blossoming. The next few stories you'll see how far the little romance can go...hehe. I've really enjoyed writing this fic and I hope to get some good reviews.
Disclaimer: This fic is based from the Duelist Kingdom saga of Yu-Gi-Oh with many added twists. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, though it'd be a nice birthday present...hint hint . Please read and review!
Opening: "Heaven SNY Mix" by DJ Sammy
Ending: "Sunlight Sunrise Mix" by DJ Sammy (You can hear the sample songs at the site: www.djsammy.com)
Duelist Kingdom: The Untold Story
Chapter 1: Making Friends
It had been a long, grueling experience for Alana Wilson on the boat ride to Duelist Kingdom. First, she had nearly missed the boat because she had forgotten that her car needed gas and she only had 10 minutes until the boat left. Then, her friends all decided that they would come with her, despite the rule that only people with duel gloves and starchips were allowed on the boat.
Alana was a pretty average American girl. She wasn't model thin but she wasn't big either. She was a decent height of 5ft 7in with long waist length black hair that she thanked her deceased grandmother for. She had fiery violet eyes that were often narrowed in suspicion. At the moment, she was wearing a red sleeveless top with black leather pants that she cursed herself for wearing. Had she known that the weather was this warm, she would have thrown on a pair of shorts instead. Just as she was fastening on her duelist glove, her best friend, Tonya Henderson, came rushing up to her.
"Alana, I've talked to the guards on the boat but no one's seen Kaiba!" she breathed.
Tonya was younger than Alana by about a year and she was pretty short for her age as well at 5ft. She had ocean blue eyes that contrasted nicely with her red-auburn hair that was close to shoulder length. She had two strands of short bangs hanging in her eyes as well. Around her neck was a strange golden ball with the Eye of Ra on the front. Her mother had given it to her when she had turned 12 and she was hardly seen without it. At the present time, she looked flustered and out of breath as if she had just run a marathon.
"Calm yourself, Tonya," Alana chuckled. "Kaiba's probably gonna come in his own transportation, knowing him. He likes to travel in style, not low class."
"Oh, well, um...."
"Don't worry about it. Where are the others?"
"Sapph's overlooking the starboard side and Jade's probably with her."
"Okay. Let's go see 'em." They walked together until they found two people leaning over the edge of the boat. "Hey guys," Alana greeted.
A girl with golden blonde hair in a ponytail turned around with a big smile. She had amber eyes with a tint of brown in them. She was wearing an aqua green one-piece dress outfit with brown boots to her knees. "Hi," she said. This girl was Jade Stevens, daughter of the famous entrepreneur Henry Stevens, president and CEO of Stevens Inc. Although her father was rich and famous, Jade never looked the part. She took after her Texan mother who had divorced her father two years after Jade had been born.
"How you guys doing?" Tonya asked.
"We're fine," the other girl beside Jade replied. She had neck length black hair that fanned out at the ends and two eye-covering bangs. Her eyes were a startling sapphire color, hence her name. Her name was Sapphire Tsukino, who lived in America yet was ethnically Japanese by her father's side. Sapphire was probably around 5ft 3in at the most in her shoes. She was wearing a sleeveless green trench coat, a cream colored top underneath that coat, and brown jeans with black boots. Around her right wrist was a golden bracelet with small trinkets attached to it around the same symbol that was in Tonya's item. "I saw this funky little kid pass by us a little while ago though. He was accompanied by this tall blonde guy too."
"Oh. So no sign of Kaiba?" Alana inquired.
"Nope. Zip, nada, zilch, goose egg."
"Okay, we get the point," Jade said sweat dropping in annoyance.
Sapphire gave her a grin. "I haven't spotted ol' Prince Kaiba at all since we boarded this boat. He obviously chickened out about coming to this tournament."
"I don't think so, Sapph," Alana stated with a cold glint in her eyes. "Kaiba's got other reasons for not coming, I'm sure. Let's not press the matter."
"Whatever. I still say he's a royal ass."
"Yeah, you think that. Right now, he's the one person I wanna duel in this tournament."
"Why?" Tonya asked. "I keep forgetting why you're so psyched on beating this guy."
"He says he's the top duelist in all the world, so I'd like to see his skills."
"Of course, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's cute to boot," Sapphire teased.
"Well, that too," the black haired beauty admitted. "But right now, it's strictly duel business. Nothing else. He'll come, I have this strong feeling that he'll come."
Once the boat finally docked, everyone hurriedly got off to assemble themselves in front of Maximillian Pegasus's castle. When he came out onto the balcony to greet everyone, Tonya stiffened by Alana's side and for good reason. Pegasus was Tonya's biological father that had had a one-night fling with her mother shortly after his own wife had died. Tonya resented him with great distaste and also in a way thanked him for giving her a life. Without his genes, she wouldn't even be alive.
Around the contestants, a commotion began about some kid named Yugi Muto that had beaten Seto Kaiba at Duel Monsters. Alana thought this sounded stupid and ridiculous. How does a kid who's barely even heard of just all of a sudden beat the World Champion? Someone must have heard wrong or something.
"Lonnie," Tonya whispered. "Did you hear that? Some kid named Yugi beat Kaiba."
"Yeah, I heard. I think it's a load of crock. If this kid's so tough, then I'd like to beat him myself for tarnishing Kaiba's title. I wanted to be the one to beat Kaiba, but some new twerp beat me to it. He'll get what's coming to him."
"Don't hurt him. You don't even know who he is."
"I'll find him eventually." They were able to catch the last few seconds of Pegasus's speech before the fireworks sounded and they were off to find someone for Alana to duel.
After two days on the island, Alana had won seven starchips. There was still no sign of Kaiba anywhere. Just when she was close to giving up hope, she bumped into a small kid with tricolored hair and big, innocent violet eyes. He dropped the firewood he had been carrying and blushed slightly.
"Sorry," he said quietly. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
Alana couldn't help but like him. "It's okay," she said. "It was my fault anyway. Here, let me help you." She helped him pick up the wood and smiled warmly at him. "By the way, I'm Alana Wilson."
"I'm Yugi Muto," he replied.
For a moment, Alana was silent. Yugi Muto? This innocent little boy was Yugi Muto?! No way, this kid couldn't possibly be the same one who beat Kaiba! He was too short to probably even stand on the platform, but nevertheless, her eyes wandered down to the duelist glove on his hand. Her heart pounded.
"Um, you wouldn't happen to be the same Yugi Muto that beat Kaiba, would you?" she asked nervously.
"Uh.....yeah, that's me," he blushed. "I'm not exactly proud of taking away his pride like I did, but I did it to reclaim something from my grandfather that Kaiba had taken."
He's loyal to those he loves, she thought. I can't be mad at someone who fights for a good cause. "I understand," Alana sighed. "At first I was surprised to learn that someone so....eh...."
"Vertically challenged?" Yugi giggled.
She laughed. "Yeah, sorry. Like I was saying, I never would have expected YOU to be the one who beat Kaiba. You must be pretty good."
"I'm no champ. This is my first tournament. I'm dueling only for the sake of my grandpa. Pegasus....kidnapped him and well, you know."
"That jerk kidnapped your grandfather? Man, he's even worse than Tonya told me...."
"Tonya?"
"Oh, she's my best friend. She and the others are probably waiting for me over there."
"Cool. I have a group of friends waiting for me by that fire over that way. Wanna join us?"
"That'd be real nice. Thanks, Yugi."
"No problem." Alana gathered together her friends and followed after Yugi who introduced them to his friends. There was a boy with messy blonde hair and warm, gentle brown eyes. His eyes seemed to light up when he saw the four girls following after Yugi.
"Hi, I'm Joey Wheeler," he introduced while shaking all their hands. In Alana's opinion, he seemed like a street tough guy and wondered why he hung around an innocent boy like Yugi, but when she learned from Yugi how he and Joey had become friends, she understood.
The next boy was a brunette that had his hair ending in a spike on his head. He had hazel eyes and he also looked like he belonged in the street tough category, but he was a lot nicer than the guys at Alana's high school. He shook Alana's hand, saying his name was Tristan Taylor, which in her opinion was a nice, strong name for him. Of course, she was a sucker for any guy who had a old English name like Tristan.
There was a brunette girl with neck length hair and shining blue eyes. She was very kind and nice to the new comers. Shaking Alana's hand, she introduced herself as Tea Gardner, a childhood friend of Yugi's. Tonya and Tea sat next to each other and began trading stories about dancing, which was obviously one of the many things they had in common. Another girl, more like woman, in Alana's eyes, was a blonde she recognized as Mai Valentine, aka Alana's idol in Duel Monsters. Mai was featured in many duelist magazines and Alana had gotten into dueling because of her and also because of Kaiba. But that's another story.
Jade had begun a conversation with Mai and when the other blonde had learned about her being Henry Stevens' daughter, she was positively glowing with excitement and started asking Jade when the next shipment for clothes would be in. The last person Alana met was a shy, quiet boy with long white- ish hair and chocolate brown eyes. He had the palest skin she had ever seen, but in a way, he looked like an angel. Around his neck was a similar item as to what Tonya and Sapphire owned. Alana looked back over at Yugi, when she now realized that he had an item in the shape of an upside down pyramid that had the same symbol in it as the others.
The white-haired boy shook her hand gently, saying his name was Bakura Ryou. When she heard his voice, she melted. He was British. She was a sucker for an accent, especially a British one. But she noticed Sapphire eyeing him up and so she left her relationship with him strictly as a friendly one. Once all the introductions were complete, everyone sat around the campfire telling stories and such.
Joey suddenly brought up a boring subject about school. "Yeah, an' I beat da guy like dis!" he said motioning in the air with his hands.
"You mean you HE beat you like THIS," Tristan said with a pensive look and smacked the air with his fist. "Joey, stop trying to impress the girls. They're not interested in learning about your 'heroic' fights."
"Sure dey are!"
"Um, sorry to break it to you, Joseph, but we're not," Mai said sweetly. Jade looked over at him and blushed slightly. Joey hunched his shoulders and sighed.
"So uh, do you guys know Seto Kaiba, besides Yugi I mean," Alana said.
"Do we know him? Yeah, we know him," Joey growled. "He's a frickin' bastard though."
"He's as bad as they say, huh?"
"Even worse. If yer havin' an off day, he'll just kick ya where it hurts. He'll find a way to make ya hurt."
"Man. Can't wait to meet him," she said sarcastically. "So do you know if he's even gonna be participating in the tournament?"
"He might be, but it's not like he needs the money," Tristan replied. "He's rich enough as it is."
"Yeah, I'm duelin' fer my sista," Joey said proudly. "She needs da money fer an eye operation."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Joey," Alana said. She had really no intention of winning the prize money, just to duel against Kaiba. That was her one wish and she would go through any lengths to make that wish come true.
The night seemed to drag on as everyone eventually started getting tired. Mai had said goodbye to the group, saying that she wanted to go win some more starchips to repay Yugi for helping her get her own back. Tea, Jade, and Tonya all decided to sleep in the tent that was set up. The others slept outside. Alana turned on her side and saw that Bakura and Yugi were sitting up and talking to each other. Eventually, they also went to sleep. Halfway through the night, a gust of wind began to blow, waking everyone up.
"What IS that?" Jade growled sticking her head out from the tent. "I didn't know tornadoes came by here!"
"Idiot! We're on an island!" Sapphire snapped. "If anything, there would be a hurricane! But this is different....."
Sure enough, a helicopter suddenly came into view, flashing its front lights. "Hey! SOME of us are tryin' ta sleep here, ya insensitive jerk!" Joey hissed while covering his eyes.
The chopper landed before them. Everyone curiously stepped closer to the contraption until the door slid open and a tall figure jumped from the cockpit. He was a young boy, probably 15 at the most, with piercing ice blue eyes and chestnut brown hair that was combed neatly. He was wearing a long blue trench coat over a matching green shirt and pants and he was carrying a silver briefcase.
"It's Kaiba!" Yugi exclaimed.
"Yeah," agreed Tristan. "And judging by that look on his face, he isn't too happy."
Yugi ran up to Kaiba, which caused Alana to fight back a laugh at how short Yugi was compared to Kaiba. "Here, Kaiba," he said holding his hand out with a deck of cards.
"Thanks," the colder boy grunted while taking the cards. "You'll be compensated for all your trouble." He turned to leave, but Yugi called him back. "Look Yugi, I'm here solely to get my brother back and nothing else," Kaiba snarled. "Have fun with your tournament."
Alana had never really believed all the rumors about how cold Seto Kaiba was, but now she understood. He was acting like a complete asshole. Joey ran after Kaiba and roughly grabbed his shirt collar. "Look Kaiba, we all got somethin' worth fightin' for, so don't think yer da only one here fightin' for a good cause, capiche?" he growled.
"Nice grip," Kaiba hissed taking hold of Joey's hand. "Let me show you mine." He then threw Joey to the ground roughly, almost enough to shatter ribs, which luckily, Joey didn't. Yugi and the others rushed forward to see how hurt he was, but he got to his feet saying that he was fine.
"That was uncalled for!" Bakura spat at Kaiba.
"British boy's right!" Sapphire said standing beside him. The white-haired boy blushed slightly at his new nickname. "I don't care if you are the richest guy in the world, I'm gonna beat your face in for what you just did! All Joey did was—"
"Do I even KNOW you?" Kaiba sneered as he turned to her. "As a matter of fact......I see several new faces in this crowd. Finally found some girlfriends, eh?"
"You shut your mouth!" Alana growled, finally fed up with his attitude. She stomped up to him, her face red with anger. "I can't believe you're the same Seto Kaiba that I actually respected!"
"Who the hell are you?" Kaiba barked glaring down at her, shocked that this girl would stand up to him.
"My name is Alana Wilson and I've, sadly to say, been idolizing your skills ever since I can remember. I would hear on the International news about this dueling prodigy and I immediately knew that I had to meet you. Now that I finally have, I realize that you're a complete jerk!"
His eyes flared and he restrained himself from grabbing her throat to kill her. No one, absolutely NO ONE, spoke to him like that. "Alana, maybe you should back away......slowly," Tonya muttered.
"No way! I'm not gonna let him get away with hurting Joey like that!"
"You've just dug your grave, Alana," Kaiba stated coolly. He loomed over her, giving her his deadliest glare. "I suggest you back down now, before I lose my temper and 'accidentally' kill you."
Her violet eyes widened in shock at being threatened. "I can't believe you, Kaiba," she said coldly. "I've heard all the rumors about you, but I never believed them. Now I do."
Kaiba smirked at her and made sure his eyes made contact with hers. "If it's any consolation, I'd do you if I had time," he sneered.
Alana gasped and brought her hand up to slap him, but he caught her hand. "Not too wise on your part, I'm afraid," he said. "You better watch your back." Without looking back, he walked away, leaving her fuming.
"That bastard!" she cursed. "I can't believe I ever looked up to him! Now I KNOW I gotta beat him!"
"Calm down, Lonnie," Tonya said nervously. "Kaiba's pretty strong and he looks like he could break you easily."
"Speaking of which, did he hurt you, Joey?" Alana asked with concern.
"Not really," he shrugged. "I've been hurt worse den dis so it's nothin' new."
"Still, he had no right to do what he did."
"Yeah."
"Anyway, let's all get back to sleep," Yugi added. "We'll need our rest for tomorrow." The others nodded and went back to their sleeping spots from before. Alana stared after where Kaiba had left for a long time. Eventually, she stood up and decided to follow after him.
"Alana," she heard Sapphire say lazily. "Where are you going?"
"After Kaiba," was the short answer.
"Why?"
"Do I really need a reason?"
Sapphire's grin was clear even in the dark. "No, I guess not. Go after the bastard. I'll tell the others where you went in the morning."
"Okay. Thanks, Sapph."
"Whatever."
Kaiba grunted angrily as he felt the weight of her slamming into him. His briefcase lay a few inches from his reach. Alana just lay on his back in shock. "Very smooth," Kaiba sneered. "I see you have the elegance of a professional."
"Shut up," she spat as she got off him. "I hadn't planned on falling on you. I wanted to jump you."
"Well, you accomplished knocking me to the ground anyway," he replied picking up his briefcase and dusting himself off. "Why are you following me?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
He rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for weak, pathetic duelists like you."
"I am NOT weak and pathetic!" She made to slap him once again, but he ducked.
"I'm prepared for your little slap attacks now. You're a pretty feisty girl. I have no doubts that you ARE American."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
He smirked knowingly at her. "Look, I have business to settle with Pegasus. I don't have time to baby-sit you."
"I want to duel you, Kaiba," Alana stated. "I wanna see your skills for myself."
"I'm not wasting my time proving myself to someone like you. Besides, I have other skills besides dueling ones...."
"You pig!"
"I'm a man, that's what we are."
"I thought you were different," she muttered.
Kaiba walked up to her and took her chin in his hand. "All of us men are the same, love," he said seductively. "We all want the same thing."
"I'm not giving you what you want, you creep. I have more self-respect than that."
"Judging by your attitude, I would agree. However, tell me why you hang out with Yugi and the others."
"They're nice people......"
"Bull. They're friendship-ranting lunatics. All they do is get in the way, and you're no different. Because, for you see, you are in my way of rescuing my little brother." He pushed by her.
"You know, I've always heard these rumors about you, Kaiba," Alana said suddenly, causing the brunette to stop in his tracks. He stared at the ground. "These rumors differed, but they revolved around two things. Your two different personalities. One side is cold and ruthless, damaging any and all adversaries in your way. The other side is gentle and caring; the side you only show to the person you care most about: your brother. That's the side I had hoped on meeting, but I realize that that side is only reserved for those that are close to your black heart."
Kaiba turned around, his blue eyes narrowed angrily. "What right do you have questioning me about my life?!" he growled. He fastened his hand around her throat.
She stared defiantly into his eyes. "I admire you for caring about your little brother," she choked out. "Not many siblings would risk their lives to save their brothers or sisters. To tell you the truth, I kind of prefer this colder side to you. What I don't like is that you always bottle up your emotions."
"All right, shut up!" he spat dropping her from his grip. "I don't need to be lectured. If you wanna follow me, then fine. But I better not here one peep out of you, or I'll leave you to die."
"How very sweet of you," she said sarcastically. "I am forever in your debt, oh magnificent one." He scowled at her and turned to walk away. Alana shrugged her shoulders and began following after him.
There ya go, first chapter done...so what do u guys think? Good? Bad? Please tell me!