Episode #38- Family Ties & Breaks
Everyone else was dead silent, blankly staring at Mai like they'd seen a ghost. Kevin was mostly surprised, he was hoping to get through this without so much as an embarrassment to his new friends. Mai gave him a look of expectation.
"Now is that anyway to say 'hello' to your cousin after all they years, Little Harpie Brother?" Mai said to Kevin.
"Cousin?" I was ready to drop dead in shock, he was related to Mai Valentine.
"Little Harpie Brother." Ashley snickered as did some of the non-serious types. Kevin turned back over his shoulder and his face was turning red.
"Mai, please, no." Kevin begged.
"You're awake Mai?" Yami was one not to laugh at Kevin.
"Yeah, I'm up Yugi." Mai looked away from Kevin for a moment, "Though before I came out of it, it sounded like Marik was defeated."
"I was, and so was the demon." Marik stated, "Miranda destroyed the demon that possessed both of us."
"I didn't." I said quickly and Marik turned around with the same insane look in his eyes like before Yami Marik was banished.
"You didn't?!" He repeated in an angered tone
"I only banished him to the only part of the world where there's a definite line between the living and the dead." I briefed. Marik cooled off his quick temper.
"OoooK," Mai said with uncertainty of the conversation and looked back to Kevin. He was trying to sneak away before she snatched him by the shirt collar. "Where do you think you're going?" She said and spung Kevin around. "You didn't even tell them we're related?"
"At least they look related." Ashley commented close to my ear, I agreed.
"Whoa, Kevin's related to Mai?" Joey took the news in his own way, as a joke. "Call the papers."
"No, Joey." Kevin begged with his face still red.
"You're acting just like in junior high school when I had to monitor your little softball game. It's not that bad." Mai commented.
"Are you kidding?" Kevin asked discretely with gritted teeth, "You caught half of the male teachers' attention back there." Then snorted out of my throat.
"But you're related...?" Tea asked following after Joey in crowd comment.
"Cousins. Though I did have to babysit him a while back." Mai answered, making Kevin redder than a stop light.
"Aw man I am so dead..." Kevin grumbled.
"And I thought I had it bad." I commented.
"What do you mean?" Ashley stopped her petty giggling.
"Ringing my neck like those huge medallions rappers wear is embarrassing enough." I replied, "Heck I wouldn't be surprised the first time you saw me after three years you didn't fall right through me."
"Wha?"
"Even back there in Domino when I was wearing that black cape, I was a ghost." I said with some anger backed up.
Kevin took his attention from Mai and looked around, specifically laying eyes on the female attendance, "Great, I thought trying to keep myself together in front of Ashley, Miranda, Serenity, and Tea was gonna be hard, now Mai's gonna blab everything." He muttered with his face as red as a steamed tomato.
"I heard that." Mai answered with another teasing smile.
"Mai, don't." Kevin begged Mai behind my and Ashley's childish fight. Mai grinned with a little secret that was spilled out behind our backs.
"So you already have a crush on someone?" Mai said aloud, making everyone stop chatting about it and look at her. "This is good. So who is it, Serenity?"
"Hey!" Duke and Tristan said at the same time; instantly in two quick THWACK they were knocked out by Joey standing behind them with a sword still in its case.
"Thanks Miranda." He handed my sword back to me.
"No big." I replied and strapped the sword back around my hips.
"It's not Serenity." Kevin bobbed his head around. "It's not Miranda, it's not Ashley, it's not Tea."
"That's odd." Mai looked to the sky a bit.
"What?" Kevin got more embarrassed now.
"When you mention names in a list like that, they're in alphabetical order." said Mai, "You would really say 'It's not Ashley, it's not Miranda, it's not Tea.' You said Miranda's name first and it's always A before M."
"So what if I said Miranda's name first?" Kevin paused a bit to try and catch up with Mai, "Oh no..." Kevin pointed a shaking finger as his voice trembled. "D-don't you e-e-even go there."
__________
"Miranda!" Mai called my name.
"Mai, no!" Kevin begged desperately, now on his knees. I just casually turned so my red bangs covered the front of my face, clearing my throat somewhat with a small impression of laughing.
"You're getting Miranda embarrassed too, Mai." Ashley pointed out.
"I am not." I replied, "It'll take more than Mai's teasing to get me embarrassed. Like you talking to a bowling ball."
"That's Uncle Eddie and you know it!" Ashley cried back.
"She talks to a bowling ball?" Kevin and Mai got out of their own fight to us. 'And I thought Mai was crazy...' Kevin thought to himself. "Why does she talk to a bowling ball?" Kevin got out of the unison.
"Because it has Uncle Eddie's-Miranda's father's-dead spirit in there." Ashley replied.
"Whoa, sorry about your dad, Miranda." Kevin pitied me.
"He's not completely gone. So there's nothing to worry about. As long as I'm not living with his drunken brother, he's happy." I denied his sympathy. "Though I don't know why he hasn't left for the other side yet."
"Maybe it's just what happened a half-hour ago that lasted for more than two days." Ashley said from behind my back.
"Shad-da-ap." I answered back with smooth laps of word.
"Well, I don't blame you. My mom died right after I was born." Kevin added on and Mai swung an arm around his shoulder.
"So I've been giving him the feminine touch ever since." Mai said without any discomfort.
"Ma-ai." Kevin threw her arm off like he was embarrassed enough already, which I could tell he was.
"Are we going to start this Duel or what?!" Kaiba got impatient, "You two can get reacquainted later. But first, Yugi and I have a Duel. I'll easily take his Egyptian God Card, and then I'll be going for you, Guinaldo."
"But Kaiba, Marik said himself that Ra is the most powerful of the Egyptian God Cards. And Yin-Yang's no different. Though I'm surprised that Kevin's Biolizard isn't considered a God monster." I cocked back.
"Seriously?" Kevin said with hopeful eyes. I glanced back at him with my usual modest smile.
"No doubt. Chaos Emperor Dragon couldn't even destroy it by its obliteration effect." I replied, "And its power was incredibly juiced up just by the Blue-Eyes White Dragon alone that you took out of play."
"There's also two more tricks that I haven't pulled from it yet." Kevin reminded.
"Then I suppose I'll have to Duel you to find those out, right?" I went into giving him the same grin as Mai did earlier. Kevin just edged off towards Mai, an ironic move.
"Can we get this going or not?!" Kaiba grew tiresome.
"Oh geez, what's your problem with family stories?" Ashley cocked up to Kaiba. Kaiba brought a hand back and smacked Ashley hard across the face, forcing her to the ground. Everyone gasped after Ashley took the hard hit. I just walked up to her side and waited; knowing Ashley like the quick- temperament she has, she'll hit back.
"I want this tournament rolling and soon. You're of no concern to me now that you're out of the tournament." Kaiba made his statement and headed for his side of the holodeck. Ashley got to her feet with an enraged expression and was ready to fire back. She was only three inches from the back of Kaiba's skull when I intervened by grabbng Ashley's wrist.
Ashley was still forcing her way through me but catching her by the wrist kept her somewhat unmobile to move closer. Kaiba gazed back at me holding Ashley back without as so much as using my sword with the sheath. "Miranda, I'd appreciate it if you can keep your relatives under control." He commented.
"Yugi, you might wanna head up there." I said without my response to Kaiba. Yami nodded and advanced towards the holodeck circle himself.
"Miranda." Ashley grumbled while I kept a constant grip on her wrist.
"Goes to show you've crossed the line." I stated, "Just like us, Kaiba hardly has a family left. He only has Mokuba now."
"But what about Uncle Eddie?"
"He's a spirit to the family, but he's not flesh and blood now that he's bones under the earth."
"That Yami Marik spirit brainwashed you, hasn't he?" Ashley asked, which made me let go of her wrist.
"Yami Marik has taught me two things during the possession: One, learn to let go when you have to; and Two, never let anyone get to your head." I informed, Ashley backed off in some terror, "To say truth, Dad and the rest of the family hardly got along too well thanks to your real father. I suppose that's why I felt more comfortable when we're just talking to each other on the internet and phone, and that was the only communication we had." My heart spoke out that time. After that, I turned away and paced in another direction. Raikoukou waited before turning around and tilted its head towards Ashley with the selective communication it had.
'Please excuse my Master; she's readjusting.' Raikoukou said before following me like the loyal spirit it was.
"Yeah..." Ashley mumbled as she saw Raikoukou catch up to me, "Whatever..."
__________
When seeing me walk off from Ashley, Kevin looked to me in concern. Then he turned to Mai, "Mai, try not to embarrass me while I'm gone." He said and headed in my direction.
"Whenever have I done otherwise, Little Harpie Brother." Mai muttered as her cousin went out of her reach.
I sat myself leaning on one of the points of the tower as Kaiba and Yami prepared themselves for a Duel. Raikoukou laid down beside me with its tails fanned out above it like a shade umbrella. I saw Kevin coming up towards me, but I didn't mind as much. I was about fed up with my own family, I considered myself a loner. Until my mom's urban brother stepped up to take care of me when I was eleven years old, I stayed in Kyoto under the care of my Master's Assistant.
Kevin got to my level and leaned his back on another side of the point, half of the side standing outside the rail. "What was that all about?" He asked with some concern.
"I suppose now that most of my family have been killed off, I could tell." I answered without looking at him, "While I lived in America, there were constant court fights over Last Wills on my dad's side of the family. My dad, 'Ed the Bowler' as most called him, is the oldest and sanest of three children. Even doctors said everyone else on his side needed therapy except for him. His brother is a drunken abuser, and his sister is a big whimp who can't even take a papercut without suing."
"And he was perfectly normal?" Kevin commented with shock.
"Merit Roll in high school." I continued, "Ashley is my dad's niece born from his brother. Though my grandma was fortunate enough to call child services before things got too far. Then my mother is the one that kept my father's outbreaks in check. However when she was called back to Japan after I was born, my dad took the measure of taking me with her. That had to be the luckiest day in my life."
"So now what happens now that your father's gone?"
"All Hell breaks loose that I have no business in." I said without any impression, but the phrase was said like "as-if-it-was-no-surprise." Kevin just stared at me with shocked sky-color eyes.
"How can you say that?" He kept his questions to my stories, "Families are supposed to drive you crazy. Just look at Mai and me." I returned his comment with a deadly glare.
"You can't look at my family without saying they escaped from an insane asylum." I fired back.
'Maybe a change in subject will help...' Kevin thought, "Well, what about your mom's side? They can't be all maniacs, right?"
"Actually, it's my mom's side that I acquired my skills as a swordsman. I didn't have enough time spent with my dad to admire him like I did my mother. But she lost her life in the conflicting battle against demons." I answered, though I knew Kevin would question the demons part.
"Demons?"
"If you can believe Raikoukou, you can believe demons."
'Because I am one.' Raikoukou jumped in on the conversation.
"I guess I could believe that." Kevin turned around once to see the fox lie down next to me on my opposite side. "But why be so harsh to Ash?"
"I'd apologize for that if I didn't make so much as a huge scene out of it." I replied, "Look, just go watch the Duel. I'll be up when I'm ready." Kevin didn't say a thing and got back on his feet.
He looked back to Mai, she held a photo and giggled about it with Ashley and Serenity. Kevin turned red with embarrassment again and dashed to snatch the picture from Mai. "Mai, you didn't!" He yelled at her. Though my pet peeve was finding out what is going on, I didn't care about it, and turned my attention to the Duel ahead.
"The second Semifinals match of the Battle City tournament will now begin: Seto Kaiba, versus Yugi Motou." Kathy declared and the Duel was on.
To be continued...
Everyone else was dead silent, blankly staring at Mai like they'd seen a ghost. Kevin was mostly surprised, he was hoping to get through this without so much as an embarrassment to his new friends. Mai gave him a look of expectation.
"Now is that anyway to say 'hello' to your cousin after all they years, Little Harpie Brother?" Mai said to Kevin.
"Cousin?" I was ready to drop dead in shock, he was related to Mai Valentine.
"Little Harpie Brother." Ashley snickered as did some of the non-serious types. Kevin turned back over his shoulder and his face was turning red.
"Mai, please, no." Kevin begged.
"You're awake Mai?" Yami was one not to laugh at Kevin.
"Yeah, I'm up Yugi." Mai looked away from Kevin for a moment, "Though before I came out of it, it sounded like Marik was defeated."
"I was, and so was the demon." Marik stated, "Miranda destroyed the demon that possessed both of us."
"I didn't." I said quickly and Marik turned around with the same insane look in his eyes like before Yami Marik was banished.
"You didn't?!" He repeated in an angered tone
"I only banished him to the only part of the world where there's a definite line between the living and the dead." I briefed. Marik cooled off his quick temper.
"OoooK," Mai said with uncertainty of the conversation and looked back to Kevin. He was trying to sneak away before she snatched him by the shirt collar. "Where do you think you're going?" She said and spung Kevin around. "You didn't even tell them we're related?"
"At least they look related." Ashley commented close to my ear, I agreed.
"Whoa, Kevin's related to Mai?" Joey took the news in his own way, as a joke. "Call the papers."
"No, Joey." Kevin begged with his face still red.
"You're acting just like in junior high school when I had to monitor your little softball game. It's not that bad." Mai commented.
"Are you kidding?" Kevin asked discretely with gritted teeth, "You caught half of the male teachers' attention back there." Then snorted out of my throat.
"But you're related...?" Tea asked following after Joey in crowd comment.
"Cousins. Though I did have to babysit him a while back." Mai answered, making Kevin redder than a stop light.
"Aw man I am so dead..." Kevin grumbled.
"And I thought I had it bad." I commented.
"What do you mean?" Ashley stopped her petty giggling.
"Ringing my neck like those huge medallions rappers wear is embarrassing enough." I replied, "Heck I wouldn't be surprised the first time you saw me after three years you didn't fall right through me."
"Wha?"
"Even back there in Domino when I was wearing that black cape, I was a ghost." I said with some anger backed up.
Kevin took his attention from Mai and looked around, specifically laying eyes on the female attendance, "Great, I thought trying to keep myself together in front of Ashley, Miranda, Serenity, and Tea was gonna be hard, now Mai's gonna blab everything." He muttered with his face as red as a steamed tomato.
"I heard that." Mai answered with another teasing smile.
"Mai, don't." Kevin begged Mai behind my and Ashley's childish fight. Mai grinned with a little secret that was spilled out behind our backs.
"So you already have a crush on someone?" Mai said aloud, making everyone stop chatting about it and look at her. "This is good. So who is it, Serenity?"
"Hey!" Duke and Tristan said at the same time; instantly in two quick THWACK they were knocked out by Joey standing behind them with a sword still in its case.
"Thanks Miranda." He handed my sword back to me.
"No big." I replied and strapped the sword back around my hips.
"It's not Serenity." Kevin bobbed his head around. "It's not Miranda, it's not Ashley, it's not Tea."
"That's odd." Mai looked to the sky a bit.
"What?" Kevin got more embarrassed now.
"When you mention names in a list like that, they're in alphabetical order." said Mai, "You would really say 'It's not Ashley, it's not Miranda, it's not Tea.' You said Miranda's name first and it's always A before M."
"So what if I said Miranda's name first?" Kevin paused a bit to try and catch up with Mai, "Oh no..." Kevin pointed a shaking finger as his voice trembled. "D-don't you e-e-even go there."
__________
"Miranda!" Mai called my name.
"Mai, no!" Kevin begged desperately, now on his knees. I just casually turned so my red bangs covered the front of my face, clearing my throat somewhat with a small impression of laughing.
"You're getting Miranda embarrassed too, Mai." Ashley pointed out.
"I am not." I replied, "It'll take more than Mai's teasing to get me embarrassed. Like you talking to a bowling ball."
"That's Uncle Eddie and you know it!" Ashley cried back.
"She talks to a bowling ball?" Kevin and Mai got out of their own fight to us. 'And I thought Mai was crazy...' Kevin thought to himself. "Why does she talk to a bowling ball?" Kevin got out of the unison.
"Because it has Uncle Eddie's-Miranda's father's-dead spirit in there." Ashley replied.
"Whoa, sorry about your dad, Miranda." Kevin pitied me.
"He's not completely gone. So there's nothing to worry about. As long as I'm not living with his drunken brother, he's happy." I denied his sympathy. "Though I don't know why he hasn't left for the other side yet."
"Maybe it's just what happened a half-hour ago that lasted for more than two days." Ashley said from behind my back.
"Shad-da-ap." I answered back with smooth laps of word.
"Well, I don't blame you. My mom died right after I was born." Kevin added on and Mai swung an arm around his shoulder.
"So I've been giving him the feminine touch ever since." Mai said without any discomfort.
"Ma-ai." Kevin threw her arm off like he was embarrassed enough already, which I could tell he was.
"Are we going to start this Duel or what?!" Kaiba got impatient, "You two can get reacquainted later. But first, Yugi and I have a Duel. I'll easily take his Egyptian God Card, and then I'll be going for you, Guinaldo."
"But Kaiba, Marik said himself that Ra is the most powerful of the Egyptian God Cards. And Yin-Yang's no different. Though I'm surprised that Kevin's Biolizard isn't considered a God monster." I cocked back.
"Seriously?" Kevin said with hopeful eyes. I glanced back at him with my usual modest smile.
"No doubt. Chaos Emperor Dragon couldn't even destroy it by its obliteration effect." I replied, "And its power was incredibly juiced up just by the Blue-Eyes White Dragon alone that you took out of play."
"There's also two more tricks that I haven't pulled from it yet." Kevin reminded.
"Then I suppose I'll have to Duel you to find those out, right?" I went into giving him the same grin as Mai did earlier. Kevin just edged off towards Mai, an ironic move.
"Can we get this going or not?!" Kaiba grew tiresome.
"Oh geez, what's your problem with family stories?" Ashley cocked up to Kaiba. Kaiba brought a hand back and smacked Ashley hard across the face, forcing her to the ground. Everyone gasped after Ashley took the hard hit. I just walked up to her side and waited; knowing Ashley like the quick- temperament she has, she'll hit back.
"I want this tournament rolling and soon. You're of no concern to me now that you're out of the tournament." Kaiba made his statement and headed for his side of the holodeck. Ashley got to her feet with an enraged expression and was ready to fire back. She was only three inches from the back of Kaiba's skull when I intervened by grabbng Ashley's wrist.
Ashley was still forcing her way through me but catching her by the wrist kept her somewhat unmobile to move closer. Kaiba gazed back at me holding Ashley back without as so much as using my sword with the sheath. "Miranda, I'd appreciate it if you can keep your relatives under control." He commented.
"Yugi, you might wanna head up there." I said without my response to Kaiba. Yami nodded and advanced towards the holodeck circle himself.
"Miranda." Ashley grumbled while I kept a constant grip on her wrist.
"Goes to show you've crossed the line." I stated, "Just like us, Kaiba hardly has a family left. He only has Mokuba now."
"But what about Uncle Eddie?"
"He's a spirit to the family, but he's not flesh and blood now that he's bones under the earth."
"That Yami Marik spirit brainwashed you, hasn't he?" Ashley asked, which made me let go of her wrist.
"Yami Marik has taught me two things during the possession: One, learn to let go when you have to; and Two, never let anyone get to your head." I informed, Ashley backed off in some terror, "To say truth, Dad and the rest of the family hardly got along too well thanks to your real father. I suppose that's why I felt more comfortable when we're just talking to each other on the internet and phone, and that was the only communication we had." My heart spoke out that time. After that, I turned away and paced in another direction. Raikoukou waited before turning around and tilted its head towards Ashley with the selective communication it had.
'Please excuse my Master; she's readjusting.' Raikoukou said before following me like the loyal spirit it was.
"Yeah..." Ashley mumbled as she saw Raikoukou catch up to me, "Whatever..."
__________
When seeing me walk off from Ashley, Kevin looked to me in concern. Then he turned to Mai, "Mai, try not to embarrass me while I'm gone." He said and headed in my direction.
"Whenever have I done otherwise, Little Harpie Brother." Mai muttered as her cousin went out of her reach.
I sat myself leaning on one of the points of the tower as Kaiba and Yami prepared themselves for a Duel. Raikoukou laid down beside me with its tails fanned out above it like a shade umbrella. I saw Kevin coming up towards me, but I didn't mind as much. I was about fed up with my own family, I considered myself a loner. Until my mom's urban brother stepped up to take care of me when I was eleven years old, I stayed in Kyoto under the care of my Master's Assistant.
Kevin got to my level and leaned his back on another side of the point, half of the side standing outside the rail. "What was that all about?" He asked with some concern.
"I suppose now that most of my family have been killed off, I could tell." I answered without looking at him, "While I lived in America, there were constant court fights over Last Wills on my dad's side of the family. My dad, 'Ed the Bowler' as most called him, is the oldest and sanest of three children. Even doctors said everyone else on his side needed therapy except for him. His brother is a drunken abuser, and his sister is a big whimp who can't even take a papercut without suing."
"And he was perfectly normal?" Kevin commented with shock.
"Merit Roll in high school." I continued, "Ashley is my dad's niece born from his brother. Though my grandma was fortunate enough to call child services before things got too far. Then my mother is the one that kept my father's outbreaks in check. However when she was called back to Japan after I was born, my dad took the measure of taking me with her. That had to be the luckiest day in my life."
"So now what happens now that your father's gone?"
"All Hell breaks loose that I have no business in." I said without any impression, but the phrase was said like "as-if-it-was-no-surprise." Kevin just stared at me with shocked sky-color eyes.
"How can you say that?" He kept his questions to my stories, "Families are supposed to drive you crazy. Just look at Mai and me." I returned his comment with a deadly glare.
"You can't look at my family without saying they escaped from an insane asylum." I fired back.
'Maybe a change in subject will help...' Kevin thought, "Well, what about your mom's side? They can't be all maniacs, right?"
"Actually, it's my mom's side that I acquired my skills as a swordsman. I didn't have enough time spent with my dad to admire him like I did my mother. But she lost her life in the conflicting battle against demons." I answered, though I knew Kevin would question the demons part.
"Demons?"
"If you can believe Raikoukou, you can believe demons."
'Because I am one.' Raikoukou jumped in on the conversation.
"I guess I could believe that." Kevin turned around once to see the fox lie down next to me on my opposite side. "But why be so harsh to Ash?"
"I'd apologize for that if I didn't make so much as a huge scene out of it." I replied, "Look, just go watch the Duel. I'll be up when I'm ready." Kevin didn't say a thing and got back on his feet.
He looked back to Mai, she held a photo and giggled about it with Ashley and Serenity. Kevin turned red with embarrassment again and dashed to snatch the picture from Mai. "Mai, you didn't!" He yelled at her. Though my pet peeve was finding out what is going on, I didn't care about it, and turned my attention to the Duel ahead.
"The second Semifinals match of the Battle City tournament will now begin: Seto Kaiba, versus Yugi Motou." Kathy declared and the Duel was on.
To be continued...