Ambitions from the Heart

Written by: TheDemonHuntress

Chapter 6: Journey to the Island

The lights flickered on in the hallway immediately, blinding most of the duelists. I took a quick glance around to see richly decorated wallpaper that lined the walls and numerous doors that went as far as the eyes could see. We were all standing on a bright red carpet that paved the length of the hallway. I was immediately swept up by the elegance of the ship.

A voice was heard over the intercom, but I did not recognize whom it belonged to.

"Welcome, duelists!" it announced. "You are all aboard the Cambria, the ship that will bring you to Champion Island, where my tournament will take place. In the meantime, you may all choose your own rooms, and I hope you enjoy your stay! We will arrive at the island in about a day."

Everyone was relatively quiet, letting the speech settle in. But Joey and Tristan were quick to react, with Joey yelling, "Yea! Our own rooms!" before he and Tristan ran off down the hallway and disappeared.

Yugi and I looked at one another, embarrassed by Joey's sudden outburst.

After we found the two, we all booked rooms close to one another. And the rooms were nothing short of the luxury that I had come to expect of anything aboard the ship.

"Hey! This is great, isn't it?" Mai asked, dragging me into the doorway of her room. Her room was nice, only I expressed my opinion to her differently:

"Mai, this looks exactly like my room."

"Huh?!" Mai asked incredulously. She quickly dashed over to my room and compared it to hers. "Oh, I see…"

I laughed. It was funny to see Mai's sudden change in emotions. "Don't worry, at least you know that my room's not better than yours!"

But further down the hallway, I could hear Joey starting up a racket over something. I walked over to him at the end of the hallway, in time to see him arguing with a guard.

"How d'ya expect me to live on this ship without a TV?!" Joey cried in despair.

"Sir, please calm down," the guard replied calmly. "There is-"

"Wait…" Joey interrupted him mid-sentence. "Did you jus call me 'sir'?"

The guard looked annoyed, and did not respond. This would probably be a good time for Joey to stop talking, I thought.

Instead, Tristan was there to save him. "Hey, Joey!" he shouted. "The TV's in the cabinet! Neat, huh?"

Joey blinked once, twice, thrice. "Oh… that's cool…" He was embarrassed, alright.

The guard walked away, still irritated that he had probably wasted his time with Joey, who couldn't think before he acted.

"You've wasted all of our time, Joey," I said. "That guy didn't look too happy…"

"Ah, quiet." Joey shuffled into his room, and, not surprisingly, he turned on the TV and closed the door behind him.

I also wasn't surprised to find that most of our opponents from Battle City had been invited as well. But there was nowhere near the amount of duelists in Duelist Kingdom. Perhaps that was for the better- the competition would now be more fierce.

I looked out my window that night, my eyes being greeted with seawater reflecting the starts above in the great beyond. Waves lapped up against the side of the ship, splashing water onto the decks. The moonlight shining on the sea crated the illusion of the ship plowing through a sea of chrome.

And yet, I still wondered about the tournament that loomed ahead. It seemed so sudden, and I doubted if anyone else I knew was here on this ship. I was thinking about Andrew at the time, but more about Kaiba and Mokuba. If Yugi had been invited, then they certainly were considered top-notch duelists as well.

I slept with ease that night, the gentle rocking motion of the ship and the chronic splashing of waves aboard the ship lulling me to sleep. Who knew what was held in store for me tomorrow? I was headed off to a tournament in which the very host's identity was unknown.

Thanks again, Yun Fei! Next chapter should be up sometime this week...