Lu: Well, finally, another chapter. A bit shorter than usual, but I wanted to end it between the Mai vs. Joey and the Yugi vs. Mako episodes. I can't wait until I can actually add something in... I did add a tiny bit at the end of Mai and Joey's duel here, but that's about it. Anyway, reviewers:
DayDreamerz: If they say JoeyxMai romance, I expect romance y'know? Thanks for the review.
Galux Kitty: Thanks! I might change the dialogue later. If I get time. Y'know, lots and lots of projects and fanfictions to update.
The Six of Hearts: What webbie are you buying things off? I'd like to see it, and see if I can get subbed versions of the Doom Arc Yu-Gi-Oh! Series for cheap. Thanks for the review!
Darkhope: What JoeyxMai fan could help themselves? Anyway, that story really should hav a lot more romance in there. It just isn't fair to us JoeyxMai supporters to advertise a stoy as JoeyxMai and then not have any JoeyxMai in it.
SereneDolphin: Why thank you. I've been workin' on de whole accent thing. ;) Anyway, thanks! P.S. The JoeyxMai duel is this chappie.
Mai Wheeler: Thankies! It just stuck that in 'cause I thought it sounded like something Joey would say.
Hope for Love: Battle City's a long while away yet. But I am getting there. I promise. Don't hurt me!
Tari Orona: I'm putting in whatever I like, thank you very much! I am yielding to the temptation of it! So ha! If you don't like JoeyxMai, then don't read it. I don't want to turn into the non-romance story from Mai's POV. They promised to have JoeyxMai! But they didn't! sob
Hysterik-Angel: Update you beep. I'm impatient. I know I'm no better than you, but hey. Please, please, please update. /puppy-dog eyes/ I know that doesn't work but it's always worth a try. And how can you forget to review the wonderful, marvelous me?!
Everyone else: Sorry I couldn't reply to you personally, but my internet crashed at this point. Excuse me while I sweatdrop.
Lu: Welcome to the new chapter of Joey's Side of the Story. Yami, if you will.
Yami Lu: Please buckle your seatbelts, and keep your hands and feet inside the transport at all times. Today's journey: inside Joey's mind. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Joey's Side of the Story.
Afta Pegasus made his announcement and opened de tournament officially; Yuge, Tea, Tristan and I were walkin' down a path, lookin' for duellists to beat. I wasn't really payin' much attention to what anyone was sayin'. Ma mind was still on Mai. Oh, man, she was so beautiful... ahem. Right. On with the story.
Anyway, we were walkin' down de path, an' den Yuge spotted dat worm Weevil Underwood on de road ahead. Yuge ran up ta him, really wantin' ta duel him ta pay him back for chuckin' his Exodia cards over de deck. And guess what de cheatin' piece of scum did?
He ran off! Dat scumbag ran away from Yuge's challenge! So anyway, Yuge wasn't gonna let him do dat, so he ran afta him, so we followed. He led us through a forest, an' den out into a clearin', when he stopped 'n' faced us. He accepted Yuge's challenge.
Suddenly, dis huge duellin' arena rose outta de ground. Weevil jumped into one end, 'n' Yuge followed suit. Den de duel started.
Yuge wasn't doin' so well in de duel. Weevil had lead us to dis place so he would have a field advantage. Yuge may have beaten Kaiba, but Weevil was Regional Champion; 'n' dis time Yuge didn't have Exodia. Anyway, we were watchin' Yuge duel, and den guess who turned up? Mai! Anyway, Mai came along ta watch de duel. However, at dat point, Mai wasn't really de nicest person on Earth. In fact, she was pretty much a... umm... bitch. Though I'd never really want ta say it about her.
So anyway, Mai was pretty much bein' a bitch, discouragin' Yuge 'n' tryin' to make us lose faith in our friend. She was confident dat Weevil was gonna win. But we all believed in Yuge.
In de end, Yuge managed ta beat Weevil's Great Moth, one o' de strongest Duel Monsters in de game. Yuge took Weevil's two Star Chips, givin' him a total of three.
Afta dat, it was my turn ta test my duellin' skills.
"Bring 'em on!" I yelled ta no one in particular. "I'm gonna challenge de next player we see!"
I'd never really duelled before, except friendly games against Yuge, Tea 'n' Gramps. Therefore, Yuge, Tea 'n' Tristan were doubtful of my amazin' duellin' skills. OK, so I was a little cocky. OK, very cocky. I simply shouted out dat I'd be de next Duel Monsters World Champion.
Den my thoughts wandered. I was standing on a cliff, lookin' out ta sea. De sea reminded me of Serenity, and when we used to go to de beach as little kids. Since Mum 'n' Dad were too wrapped up in arguin', I would usually take a little bit of money 'n' Seren 'n' I would catch de bus ta de beach. We'd hang out dere for de whole day, and de last time we went, I promised her dat I would bring her back even if our parents broke up. Dat night, Mum drove off with Seren, 'n' I never saw her again.
Anyway, afta I'd snapped outta ma trance, we saw huge amounts of duels. All different fields, loads of different duellists. We were all admirin' de view, when a fairly obnoxious voice sounded from behind us. Guess who? Yep. Mai.
She had just defeated another duellist, and was tauntin' him about his loss. First she suggested dat she duelled Yuge, but Tea wasn't very pleased with dat idea. Yuge is oblivious, but it is fairly obvious dat Tea likes him. Anyway, afta dat idea was rejected, Mai claimed dat she would duel me. She said it was easier to knock out de weak duellists first. As ya can imagine, I wasn't very pleased about dat, and my attraction towards her just made me all de more confused. So, being delirious as I was, I accepted her challenge, much to de shock of de others.
So, Mai 'n' I grabbed de nearest duellin' arena. I thought dat I'd chosen de perfect arena for ma cards, which were almost all Warrior-type monsters which get power ups from meadow fields. I was wrong. Only 20% of de field was meadow - de otha 80% was mountain 'n' forest. Accordin' ta Mai, dat was de perfect field for her monsters.
Before de duel started, I asked Mai why she duelled. I was interested, dat's all. Nothin' more dan dat. Ahem. Anyway, she told me dat it was for de prize money, 'n' all de materialistic goods dat de money could buy fa her. I realised dat I couldn't really give her dat. She'd probably want a really rich guy like moenybags dat could buy her everythin' she wanted. I was a bit upset at dat, 'n' told her dat she should duel for people 'n' de ones she loved rather dan things dat don't really mean anythin' in de long run.
Anyway, de duel started. I opened by playin' Masaki de Legendary Swordsman, before endin' my turn. Den somethin' weird happened. Mai started hummin' weirdly, her eyes closed. Her hands hovered over de cards, movin' from one to de otha. I was kinda freaked, 'n' den she picked up one of de cards without turnin' it over, and placed it on de field. It was her signature card, de Harpy Lady.
I asked her how she did dat, and she explained dat she was psychic, and had ESP. I attacked, bein' freaked as I was. But I didn't realise dat I lost de field power bonus by movin' outta de meadow area of de field, 'n my monster was destroyed. I lost 590 life points, bringin' my life point counter down ta 1490. Yuge yelled out dat I should think before I attack, but Mai pulled her little psychic act again, 'n I was thoroughly spooked. I summoned another monster and attacked, 'n lost another 390 life points. Mai placed a card face down, and ended her turn. I caught on, and placed a monster face down in defense.
Mai activated her face down magic card, which turned out ta be Cyber Shield. Her Harpy Lady got a huge power boost, bringin' its attack points up ta 2190! It detroyed my face down defense mosnter. I was really, really stressed by now, and Mai wasn't helpin' by claimin' dat "Your next card won't help you either."
I was convinced dat she had ESP by dat point. How else could she possibly know her cards before she looked at them? Yuge and Tea were bein' real nice an' all, encouragin' me from de sidelines. But den Mai turned dat against me too, sayin' dat friendship couldn't win duels. Yuge gave me a hint, tellin' me dat she relied on de one monster card and powerin' it up with her magic cards.
Mai den gave me a real blow. She pointed out dat even if I did get to de finals, I'd have ta duel Yuge. What would happen to our friendship den? I'd promised Yuge dat I'd help him get his grandfather back, but I needed de prize money for Serenity's operation, 'n she was countin' on me!
I closed my eyes to try an' clear ma mind, an' den I smelt somethin'. It smelled good, but it was comin' from Mai's cards. Perfume! Dat was how she could tell which cards dey were before she looked at dem. Truth be told, dat would have been a lot of work for Mai, because she had to spray de cards with different perfume and remember which smell went with which card. It was probably more trouble dan it was worth.
Anyway, afta I revealed her psychic act, she was as nervous as I had been. Fortunately, I had regained heaps of confidence because of my discovery. Thus, I played Baby Dragon. But Mai, out of a pure act of luck, drew one of de only cards dat could have helped her. She played it. Elogant Egotist. Dis card duplicated her Harpy Lady, so dat dere were three of dem. Luckily, she was not allowed to attack on de same turn she played dat card. Dat gave me one turn ta think of a strategy to defeat her.
Yuge gave me another hint. OK, not exactly a hint, just a little prompter to clear my mind. Anyway, regardless of what it was, he simply encouraged me to remember de card dat could defeat de Harpy Ladies. And den it hit me. Time Wizard, de card Yuge gave me on de boat! But I had to draw it dis turn, or my life points would be gone as soon as my turn ended. I had ta believe in de Heart of de Cards, a strategy strongly supported by Yuge and Gramps. I placed my hand on de deck and drew...
De Time Wizard! I played de Time Wizard and activated its special ability, making time zoom forward a thousand years. Not only did it make my Baby Dragon turn into a Thousand Dragon, but Mai's Harpy Ladies grew old and their attack points were lowered to 1300. I attacked and won de duel!
Mai took losing pretty badly, though not as badly as Kaiba did. I felt really sorry for her, but pointed out dat she had to duel for people and things dat she loved rather dan her selfish needs.
"I don't need any help with duelling, thank you very much Joseph! Especially from a child!" she spat.
"I'm not a child!" I shouted indignantly. "I'm sixteen! Dat's at least a teenager! It's not like you're any older dan me! And it's Joey!"
"Well, I'm twenty-four, and that's at least an adult. And your full name is Joseph, I'm guessing, therefore that is what I'm calling you by. And you don't act like a teenager. You act like a child. Therefore you are a child."
With dat comment, she stormed off, throwin' de star chip dat I'd won over her shoulder and onto de ground. Dat really hurt... she really was a bitch den, even though she was de most beautiful bitch I'd ever seen. I moved forward, anxious 'bout Mai. I hoped I hadn't hurt her. But Tristan held me back, tellin' me ta let her go. I picked up de star chip 'n clipped it onto my glove.
Anyway, Tea and Tristan were amazed by my win, 'n really impressed too, 'cause I am de world's greatest new talent an' all. Nah, jokin'. Yuge, however, said dat he knew I could win it all along. I thanked him fa his hints, and we continued on our way.
Lu: And that's it. What did you think of the added in bit? looks at reviewers anxiously Oh well, review and tell me!