Aboard their private Jet, Team Kaiba arrived in Hong Kong, and boy was Inu-yasha in noodle heaven.
"Oh man, look at all this great food!" He exclaimed as they all sat down to dinner in one of the fancier restaurants.
"Naturally, my team is going to be well fed, and that means that you can all eat up." Kaiba told them. Inu-yasha removed his mask, but not his cowl, and started digging in. He was helping himself to the last of the Gingered pork when his ears pricked to hear his name or at least the name of his outer persona spoken at the next table over.
"Is that the guy?" Asked one of them.
"Yeah, that's the Masked Duelist, he was runner up in the last tournament sponsored by Kaiba Corp. They say he's never been defeated."
"IF he's never been defeated then why is he only a runner up?" The First guy asked.
"Cause he and his opponent were deadlocked in battle and so to avoid dishonoring himself with a defeat he simply gave up." Said the second guy
"Why give up?" Asked another one.
"It's some Japanese thing, something about there being more honor in death than in defeat." Answered the Second one.
"That sounds like the right guy then. My brother will be very interested in knowing about this guy." Said the First one. The three men got up to leave and then Inu-yasha went back to his meal, knowing full well that after they left, they would be running into trouble. There was nothing Inu-yasha hated more than facing trouble on an empty stomach.
----------Scene Break---------
As they were exiting the restaurant, Mai began to yawn and stretch.
"That was a great meal Kaiba, thanks for treating. So what's a girl do for fun around here?"
"There's no time for any frivolities," Kaiba informed Mai. "We've wasted enough time, now if we don't want get disqualified, we need to get to Hong Kong ferry."
"Fine," Inu-yasha said, "get a limo thingy and let's go."
"That will take an hour, and we've only 45 minutes." Kaiba said.
"And we're burning daylight!" Mokuba yelled. Suddenly, three cars whizzed by, followed by a two man bicycle. When the four opened their eyes, they saw their opponents were already ygheading to the ferry!
"Time to play by my rules," Mai said. She unbuttoned two buttons on her shirt, stuck her arm out in traffic, and screamed, "TAXI!!!" Three screeched to a halt in front of them. They all climbed in.
"Where will it be, mack?" asked the driver. "Hey, what goes on here? What's with ninja?" with lightening quick speed, Inu-yasha whipped out the Tetsusuaiga, and held the blade to the driver's neck.
"Hong Kong Ferry," Inu-yasha growled. "NOW!"
"Y- Yes sir!" stuttered the driver. He stomped on the gas, and screeched into the street. Ahead where the others, but they were still too far ahead.
"Step on it now, buddy," Inu-yasha snapped, "Or you'll be needing a new head."
"But there's too many people ahead!" the driver pleaded.
"Pass them!" Kaiba ordered, "Drive over them! Just get us there!"
"Well, I do know a short cut," the driver said. "Hold on!" He turned the wheel sharply, making the car spin in a circle around in a circle, and in a blink, they were driving on the side of a building, down a tight alleyway! The rims of the wheels hitting the bricks made sparks fly around them.
"Big Brother! I'm gonna be sick!" Mokuba cried.
"Let go of me!" Mai screamed. In the frenzi, Mai's seatbelt had come undone, and she was sprawled across the laps of her three male teammates, her gogo booted legs braced against the far window.
"A little fast on the first date, huh?" Inu-yasha joked.
"When we get out of here, we're getting you neutered!" Mai screamed.
"Cover your eyes, Mokuba," Kaiba said, shielding his brother's eyes.
"Hold on to your jerky," the driver said, "This is the dangerous part!" The car flew inot the air as it exited the alleyway, and it dove nose first towards a dock! Then, it bounced as it impacted on the dock, and once again, they were air born, hopping form pier to another, until at last, they reached the ferry.
"I don't feel good," Mokuba said, tumbling out the door. Inu-yasha fell out on top of him.
"Me neither, kid," the han-you groaned.
"Out of my way!" Mai yelled, running to the side of the pier and hurling into the water. Kaiba stepped out, looking for the most part unrattled.
"How did you learn to drive like that?" Kaiba asked the driver.
"I was a pro stunt driver for 15 years, then I retired and went to cabs." said the middle aged man. "Name's Murry, and that's 15.20 American." Kaiba waved a fist full of money in Murry's face.
"I'll pay you 500 a day if you drive us everywhere we need to go." Kaiba said.
"Sure, I can do any driving anywhere." Murry replied.
"Can you do 14 cities in 14 days?" Kaiba asked.
" Only if you got a jet plane," he joked.
"I have one standing by," Kaiba said. Murry grabbed the cash, stuffed it in his hat, and said, "You just bought yourself a driver, boss!" At that moment, a huge Volkswagen mini van came pulling up, and out came team Higurashi. Kagome paid the driver, as Joey did a double take.
"Hey! What are you guys doin here?!" Joey exclaimed, "We left you behind miles ago!"
"When you have money and big nasty sword, you can get a lot of things done in a hurry." Kaiba said.
"Don't look now, but more are joining the party," Mokuba said. "There's about 50 more duelists coming this way!" Everyone screamed at the sight of all those duelists running, as fast as they could to get to the ferry. Way out in front, peddling as fast as their little legs could go, were Rex and Weevil.
"Get the lead out shrimp!" Rex ordered.
"I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!" Weevil whined. But then, on their left, a motor cycle and side car zinged by, making them swerve to right,. And on the right, almost running over them, was a another taxi cab! They screamed as they were nearly run down by the blue, cab.
The motorcycle and cab pulled up, and their occupants, Team Bakura and Team Wheeler came out. Rex and Weevil just barely made it to the ferry as the bar came down, and the boat started to depart from the dock. And behind them, shaking their fists and yelling obscenities was the huge crowd of slower, unlucky duelists, who were all now disqualified. Then, from the main cabins, stepped the announcer, and three very shady looking characters.
"Look," the Announcer whispered to them, "I'll - I'll pair you up with they ones you want, just please, settle down," he begged. He turned to the duelists on the ferry, and said, "Welcome lucky contestants. You have proven yourselves worthy of this adventure!" As the Announcer went on talking into the camera and to the rest of the gang, Kagome felt a familiar pulse emanating from one of the men standing on the far left. "And who might you be sir?" The Announcer asked Murry.
"Hey look Mack, I ain't no duelist, I'm just the driver. I came along for the due and because the guy in the mask has a big sword that's all. Here talk to this guy he's my boss." Murry shoved Kaiba in front of the camera, which he did not approve of, but did his best to show off the Kaiba charm to all the people out in Television land.
"Oh my word!" Cried the Announcer, "If it isn't Seto Kaiba, leader of the Kaiba Corp. Team from Domino Japan. Folks let's get his perspective. How's the tournament shaping up so far?" He asked. Kaiba cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and then started swearing up a storm. "You f-----! This is the most haphazard tournament I've ever been in!" Then Kaiba pulled out his Millennium Rod and threatened to send the announcer to the shadow realm if things didn't start to shape up like he'd expected it to.
--------Meanwhile--------
"Hey guys," Yugi said to Tea, Bakura, and the others. "How goes the tournament for the rest of you?"
"Going pretty good." Duke replied. "I've yet to actually take the field and duel but Tea's already won some incredible cards."
"Wow really Tea?"
"Yeah, we met up with Raphael and we dueled him out of his last four cards." Tea said holding up three of them. Serenity held up the fourth one and they all beheld.
"Wow, I suppose this wasn't Raphael's tournament, he lost all his favorite cards." Yugi said.
"Yeah, I heard that some other guys got to him before we did. One of them was Mako, and the other two are complete unknowns to the Dueling world." Duke said.
"Yeah, those guys over there." Serenity said pointing. Then she recognized one of them. "Oh my gosh, Kagome, that's one of the two brothers!" They all turned and looked to the one on the far left and indeed around his neck was a shard of the sacred jewel. Just as they were about to form a plan for getting hold of it, the mysterious duelist came walking over.
"You're the one called the Masked Duelist?" He asked Inu-yasha as he placed and 'friendly hand' on his shoulder. The two of them starred each other down for a moment before another word was said. Inu-yasha recognized him as being one of the three men from the restaurant.
"Yeah, that's me. What's it to you?" He asked.
"I challenge you to a duel." The mysterious man said. He was tall, dark headed, and ominous looking.
"Our first challenge of the evening ladies and gentleman. Let's duel!" The Announcer said
"Hey wait, I never said yes to this." Inu-yasha stated.
"It's the rules kid, duel, or go home." The Announcer said. "So let's Duel!" Everyone was ushered to the sides of the ferry to give Inu-yasha and his opponent room. "Duelists take your positions and state your names for the record and remember none of that Masked Duelist or just call me Anonymous nonsense. We and the viewers at home want to know who's dueling."
"My name is Flame." Said Inu-yasha's opponent. "I command the element of fire with my Pyro deck.
"My name is Inu-yasha, and I'm a half demon from the depths of hell, come to take your soul." Inu-yasha said. Just then everyone noticed that there was something different about Inu-yasha. He wasn't acting like himself.
"That's right, come and face me Inu-yasha, I've been waiting for a chance to take you on." Flame said. "Feel the power of my jewel shard pulse through you." Inu-yasha looked and where Flame had touched his shoulder there was a shard of the sacred jewel pinned to his cloak. Everyone gasped for they now knew that the reason for Inu-yasha's strange behavior was that he'd been possessed by a jewel shard. And when that happens he becomes a full blooded demon. "Now Inu-yasha, I will expose you to the world for what you are. You will pay for what you did to Master Vash and Mistress Viola."
"Then does that mean?" Tea asked.
"He's a Rare Hunter!" Yugi exclaimed.
"That's correct." Said Flame, "I and my brother are the last of the Rare Hunters. You, Yugi Mouto, and you, Inu-yasha have been traveling around the world taking apart the last remnants of our organization. Every time a new leader emerges to restore the pride and the glory of the Rare Hunters, you appear. We've lost Master Merik to your foolish ideology. Master Vash, Mistress Viola, and even Master Ra'd Amir have fallen to you so now it's your turn. You and your friends will perish at our hands as our leaders have perished at your hands."
"You've made a big mistake in giving me this shard willingly, though I have to admit, it's easier than pulling from your cold dead fingers."
"Inu-yasha!" Kagome cried. "S…"
"No!" Yugi/Yami cried. "He must snap out of it on his own. If he does not then he'll be forever controlled by his demonic side and one day we'll loose him forever. Kagome, you must trust Inu-yasha to be his own reminder of the goodness within him. Remember he's faced Rare Hunters before and we've faced great evil before. Now we must face our own greatest fears and weaknesses. That was the point of this tournament all along I would suppose though. To get Inu-yasha and myself away from our friends, away from our support bases, and away from everything that reminds us of what we're fighting for. This Tournament is a sham, is it not?" Yugi/Yami turned to the Announcer who then removed a mask of his own and his camera man threw aside most of his equipment.
"That's partly true Pharaoh." He said. "We're all Rare Hunters here and we're out for blood. This Tournament is real but we've hijacked it as we usually do to suit our own purposes. The Element Brothers, Flame, and Blitz have been waiting for you and your friends. So have we all. We've come for your rarest cards and we won't be stopped by anything this time." The Rare Hunters all came out of the woodwork then and they stood in pairs with their duel disks at the ready. "Now who wants to take us on?"
"I'll take you on." Kaiba declared.
"As will I." Yugi said.
"Count me in." Said Shippo,
"Yeah, let's take them down Ryou." Sango said as she, Miroku, and Bakura all stepped up with their decks in hand. They were all ready for a match up against the Rare Hunters, and they were all fully prepared to do there parts but just then Inu-yashs growled.
"NO!" He shouted. "No one else fights, no one interferes, I want this human on my own."
"Inu-yasha." Kagome couldn't believe how stubborn he could be sometimes. "Alright then, you've got it, we'll stay out of your way. In the end, that's all we can do, right Yugi?"
"True."
"Flame?" The other Rare Hunter who'd pretended to be the Announcer asked.
"Do as he says, we're fighting alone this time, and no one is going to help us. Isn't that right Inu-yasha."
"Another fine mess we've gotten ourselves into huh." Rex said from the back.
"Yeah, how do we get ourselves caught up in all this Rare Hunter business?" Weevil wondered.
"I'm as perplexed as the two of you are." Replied Murry.
"Who are you?" Weevil and Rex asked together.
"I'm Murry, the driver, my boss told me wait over here."
"Your boss?" They looked over at Kaiba who was now upset and spoiling for a fight.
"Oh brother." Both of them resounded. The waves were choppy, the boat rocked, and slowly the sea began to pull them further and further away from land.
"I'll start this off." Said Flame as he drew his five cards. "I play Incandescent Ordeal and sacrifice two cards from my hand to special summon The Legendary Flame Lord with 2400 attack points."
"Not that impressed." Inu-yasha said. "So you've managed to summon a high ranking monster on your first turn, so what. I've got better cards than that in my deck. Prepare to meet some friends of mine." Inu-yasha said. "Cause now it's my turn and I play The Exiled Force in attack mode. And this card acts as five cards meaning that I can summon five monsters to the field at once." Five armored soldiers appeared on the field, each with 1000 points, and each with a really nasty look on their faces. "Now I equip my Exiled Force with Fusion Sword which brings their power up to 2000 points. Now I play Banner of Courage with raises also raises their attack another 500 points. Oh there's another little secret to my Exiled Force. They all five attack on the same turn that they're summoned.
"What?" Flame exclaimed.
"Go my Exiled Force, attack his monster, and his life points!" All five monster charged and the first struck down the Legendary Flame Lord, while the other four attacked Flame himself. His life points counter fell to zero and he collapsed over the side of the boat into the see. The waves took him and he disappeared beneath the ocean.
"Master Flame!" The Rare Hunters all ran over to the side of the ferry and called out to him but it was too late, the sea had taken him.
"Who's next?" Inu-yasha asked as he removed his cowl to reveal the look of hell fire in his red, glowing eyes.
"Run away, run away, run away!" The Rare Hunters all cried and began leaping over the side of the ferry into the water. But before he left, the Rare Hunter who'd pretended to be the Announcer gave them a warning. "You haven't seen the last of us. Master Blitz is still alive and well and he's waiting for you in New York for the finals." Then he too leaped from the ferry into the water.
"Inu-yasha you did it!" Kagome cried and ran to hug him but then she remembered that he was still in his demon form.
"What do you want?" He asked her when she came up to him.
"Inu-yasha, come back to me, it's okay now. Just give me the jewel shard. Please." She begged. "You know what's right, you've done once before, remember? When we were in the desert together and you saved me from those Rare Hunters before by transforming into that demon dog?"
"Yeah, I remember." He said and handed Kagome the jewel shard. She sighed a sigh of relief and then she took his arm. It was all Inu-yasha could do to raise his other arm high in a fist and then to bring it down hard against his own head. Everyone there gasped as before their eyes, he transformed back to old normal self. "So Kagome, does this mean that you forgive me?"
"For what?" She asked him.
"For calling you fat." He said.
"I knew it!" She cried out and began bashing him again. "I knew that you'd called me fat and I knew that sooner or later you'd admit it!"
"Ouch-ouch-ouch-ouch-ouch!!!" The Han-you shouted as Kagome bashed him in the head repeatedly.
----------Meanwhile------------
"Hey guys look at what we found." Shippo and Mokuba came out of the ferry's cabin and following close behind them was the real Announcer and the real cameraman along with the Captain of the ferry, all safe, all sound, and all very grateful for being rescued.
"You don't know how terribly frightened we were when those Rare Hunters showed up and took us all hostage." The Announcer said.
"Believe us, we know what it's like to be in danger 24-7." Shippo said. "We're just glad that now the Tournament can go on. Right Mokuba?"
"Sure am. Let's go, who wants to duel me first?" He asked.
"Well, let's see." The Announcer said, as the Cameraman got everything set back up to film and Inu-yasha quickly recovered his face.
"Hey Chief, what should we do with all this footage that the Rare Hunters shot?" The Cameraman asked.
"Tape over it, we can't afford to have these kinds of expenses, besides no one wants to see that junk." The Announcer told him, to everyone's relief. "Now let me see, we've got five teams here, with four, three, and two people each. Okay, I know, let's give some team captains a chance to compete. Kagome Higurashi can pick her teams opponents from teams Kaiba, Wheeler, and Bakura.
"Hey, what about us?" Weevil and Rex asked together.
"I'm sorry." Said the Announcer, "Team Underwood/Raptor will be disqualified dew to lack of points."
"What!" They both exclaimed. "We lost again." Said Weevil.
"We're just a couple of losers." Agreed Rex.
"Now hold on, is that fair?" Miroku asked. "They've come just as far and worked as hard as we have and it's only the second day of the tournament. If no one else will stand up for these two then maybe none of us should be dueling today." He said.
"He's right." Yugi agreed.
"Yeah, I'm not dueling unless Rex and Weevil get a shot." Serenity seconded. They all agreed that it wasn't fair.
"Oh very well, but you're the ones who'll have to decide who duels them." The Announcer said. "We don't want to loose some of our most prominent duelists after just the first day."
"Hurray!" Rex and Weevil danced about with each other for a moment then, realizing how gay they looked, they stopped.
"Right, then I suppose it's up to us four to see who goes up against who." Kagome said to Kaiba, Serenity, and Bakura.
"I'm dueling Weevil." Said Miroku just then. "If I'm going to continue preaching then I should practice what I say."
"I'll duel Rex." Serenity said.
"I want Tea." Kagome said.
"Then I suppose it's up to me to duel Wheeler again." Kaiba said.
"Let me duel him this time bro, it'll be good practice for the finals." Mokuba said.
"Very well then, but don't underestimate him, I've seen just how well he can duel when he wants to." Kaiba warned. The duelists paired off then and began their duels. Needless to say, this was what they had each been waiting for. Their first opportunity to duel against each other. Rex and Weevil were the first to loose and then were disqualified for sure this time. They had lost their rarest cards and that meant that their decks were pretty much worthless anyway.
Tea was the next to fall before the might of Kagome's improved deck. The two girls were tied neck and neck at first because of their two guardian cards. They had both managed to summon them to the field almost at the same time thanks to a special card that Tea had called Arsenal Summoner, which allowed her to draw her Butterfly Dagger Elma which in turn allowed her to summon her Guardian Elma and Kagome her Guardian Kay'est. Because of both cards special abilities though, neither of them could attack the other until Kagome added her Rod of Silence Kay'est to her guardian and then her attack points were more than Tea's monster. It was then that things began to get interesting.
"Hey Tea, want to up the steaks a bit?" Kagome asked her friend.
"What do you mean?" Tea asked.
"Instead of playing for just two cards, let's play for the pick of cards from each other's deck." This was a tempting offer that Tea just couldn't pass up cause she knew of some great cards that Kagome had that would really enhance her own deck.
"You got it." Tea said. But unfortunately, as I said before, she lost. Kagome's Guardian Kay'est proved to be too much for Tea's deck. So not only did Kagome win Tea's two rarest cards, but she also won the pick of cards from Tea's deck. When the duel ended the two girls went over to the cabin to begin picking and trading. Miroku was already inside though helping himself to the Captain's cooler and admiring his new cards.
"What did you win from Weevil Miroku?" Tea asked when she and Kagome sat down inside the cabin with him.
"I won Weevil's rare Insect Princess and Prickle Fairy." He said holding up the cards. They bore the images of two scantly clad insect and plant women. Yes, Miroku was terribly pleased with himself for his latest conquest. "Say Tea, I'll trade you my Rare Bowganian for those two common cards there." Tea looked at her two spirit monsters, Otohime, and Tsukyomi. They weren't especially dear to her but then again she loved all her cards, even those she'd won from other players. Then again her deck was decimated now so it really didn't make that much a of a difference.
"Sure, here you go." She said and handed the two cards over. Miroku gave her his card then and Tea vowed that she would rebuild her deck with the cards that she had left and would win the next Tournament even if she had to duel Yugi himself.
"Dang!" cried Joey as he handed over the rare cards he'd won just that morning. Mokuba had won their duel, but Joey was still in the game, with all rare cards still in his deck - like Jinzo, Insect Queen, Legendary Fisherman, and his Red Eyes Black Dragon- he was more than capable of handling more opponents.
"Sorry, Joey," Mokuba said, slipping the cards in his deck, "But those are the rules. Nothing personal."
"Beat by a kid," Joey mumbled, "This is humiliatin."
"Not as humiliating as being beaten by a girl," Rex said.
"That's my sister," Joey said, "You should be honored to be beaten by her."
"SO much excitement in only 2 days!" cried the Announcer at the camera. "Stay tuned, loyal viewers, for more of the World Tournament Adventure, as our duelists meet tier opponents in New Zealand at the fabulous, awe inspiring site: Mount Sunday!"