"There is only one way to bring the Pharaoh and the young Sun Priestess to me," Ra mused. "I must hold a tournament."
"And for that, my Supreme Friend, you'll need cash," said the shadowed business man on the screen. He had contacted Ra once more. "Which I have plenty of. But I think you'll need more than a large cash prize to draw them into your web, like the proverbial fly to the spider. If there's one thing I've learned from this video, and others I've managed to get a hold of, his biggest weakness is his pride. Once you bruise that, he's a sitting duck."
"Ah yes, the pride of the Pharaoh. That was almost his down fall ages ago." Ra said. "I will wound the Pharaoh's pride as never before. And I know exactly how to do it," Ra said. "I shall recover my lost Supreme Phoenix."
Transition
The sun was shining brightly. A little too brightly for Tea Gardner, who was out and about in the streets of Domino. She wanted to get some shopping done for the guys back at the shop. Without Mai there to take care of them, they had deteriorated into a slovenly mess.
"No wonder she quit!" Tea exclaimed as she lugged the shopping bags behind her. "I can't even go shopping for myself," she sighed as she passed a display in a shop window. The most fantastic boots she'd ever seen with the best dress on earth! "You can't find things like that in New York for less than 500 American dollars. I wish-"
"OOF!" Tea and another shopper gasped as they ran smack into each other. Tea dropped all the groceries, her oranges spilling out of the bag, eggs everywhere.
"Oh no!" Tea cried, "I'll have to go shopping again!"
"You? My boots are ruined!" said the girl who was toppled next to her.
"I'm sorry," Tea said, "Oh, they were nice boots, too. Here, use this," she said, opening the pack of paper towels and handing the girl a few.
"Wow, thanks," she replied. "You know the last person I ran into called me a ditz and walked off."
"So, I'm guessing you're a little accident prone," Tea said, gathering up what groceries she could. "Me too sometimes. It's a wonder sometimes that I got to be a dancer."
"You dance? For who?"
"No one- I mean, I'm in theatre," Tea said. She held out her hand for the girl to take, "Let me help you up. My name's Tea by the way."
"I'm Bast," said the girl.
"Nice hat."
"Thank you. You're the first person who's ever admired it."
"Well, I gotta go buy more eggs for boyfriend and his chow hound roommates."
"Let me go with you," Bast said. "I can help."
"But what about your boots?" Tea asked her.
"What boots?" Bast asked genuinely confused.
"The ones you just bought that I got egg all over?" Tea said.
"Oh, these. It doesn't matter," she said, looping her arm into Tea's. "Now where are the hen houses?"
'Is she for real?' Tea asked herself as they walked down back to the supermarket.
However, a golden-tanned hand grabbed Bast's arm and yanked her away form Tea.
"What do you think you're doing now, Bast?"
"Uh oh," Bast whimpered.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Tea demanded him. "You Can't treat a person like that! Who do you think you are?"
"He's my Master," Bast sulked.
"You're what?"
"Her Boss," said the tanned man in the business suit. "I am her Boss, and she's on the clock and supposed to be conducting business for me elsewhere. Not shopping around and spending money that's not hers."
"I'm doing consumer research… uh… from their point of view," Bast said.
"I don't care what you think you are doing. You aren't doing your assignment. Now go back to the… office and get back to work."
"Yes sir," Bast said, dejected. "What office?"
"NOW!" barked the boss.
"Yes Ra!" she said.
"Don't call me that," he snarled, "My name is Mr. Thebes!"
"I think I'll go now," Tea said, "You know, eggs." and she took off running.
"I hope I see you again!" Bast called to her, waving. Then 'Mr. Thebes' grabbe dher arm again and dragged her in the opposite direction.
Transition
It took them two days, but Rin and her friends had managed to track down Mai. They found her maxing out credit cards in a mall in Tokyo. Now that Souta was with them, they knew they could use his chaos powers along with Rin's 'sunshine powers', as she called them, to convince Mai to take Joey back.
"Take him back?" she laughed as she got another short skirted, low neck-lined dress. "What for?"
"Duh, cause he's miserable without you," Mokuba said. "He's a wreck. He hasn't changed his clothes-"
"And he needs a shave bad," Shippo added.
"You two are destined!" Rin insisted. "You must return or he will become so stricken with sorrow that he lose all desire to go on!"
"Save it for Shakespeare, kid," Mai said. "You're too dramatic. Oh, I don't have that one," she said, referring to another dress on the rack.
"But the stars!" Rin cried. "As your Sun Goddess, it is my duty make you both happy!"
"It is?" Mai asked, "Well in that case can you zap me up a no limit credit card?"
"No, but I can," Souta said. He snapped his fingers and it was there.
"Yoink," Mai said, taking it, "Federation Express… Nice."
"What are you doing?" Rin yelled at Souta, "You are messing with the stars!"
"Trust me," Souta said, winking at her. Mai grabbed a pair of stiletto heels, and went to the counter.
"Miss, I'm sorry, but this card appears to be stolen." said the clerk after he swiped it.
"What?" Mai asked him. Two security guards appeared and took her by both arms.
"Search her, boys," said the clerk.
"You can't do this! Loki! You said it was unlimited!" Mai screamed as she was led away.
"What have you done?" Rebecca yelled at the boy.
"Hey, she said 'unlimited'. She didn't say 'legit'. Besides, now she has Joey to spring her."
Transition
"You WHAT!" they kids cried when they returned to the Game Shop.
"I let her rot," Joey said as he slurped a cup of Ramen. He was slumped down in one of the Mutou's recliners, dressed in nothing but a muscle shirt and striped boxers. "What she did to me was a crime, too. She deserves a few hours in the Pokie."
"But she was taken to a Jail, not a Pokie," Rin said, confused.
"Let her stay there for a while," Joey said, rolling over in his chair. He dropped the Ramen and started crying again. "MAI! Why did you leave me? WAHHHHHH!"
"Well, you have to go to the Jail anyway," Souta said, "It was your credit card."
"What credit card?" Joey asked, drying up.
"The one Mai stole," he said, producing a copy of the police report.
Joey took the paper and scratched his head, "What credit card? I don't even have credit, much less a card."
"Oh, I might have had a hand in it," Souta said, smiling.
"Well I ain't goin," Joey said.
"You're already there," Souta said. In a blink, they were all standing in front of the police station, recliner included. Joey screamed and grabbed the cushion, covering up his boxers.
"You couldn't give me clothes?" Joey yelled.
"You're wearing 'em," Souta said. Joey looked down, and he was in his second best outfit. "I can't get rid of the Five O'clock shadow, though." Souta said, holding out a mirror.
"Geez, I look like my old man," Joey said, looking at himself. He sighed. "Fine, I'll go in. But for the card. Like I said, she can stay here." He went in and left the kids outside to wait for him, after all, the police station was no place for children.
"Do you think that he'll really leave her in there to rot?" Shippo asked then sat down on the curb.
"I hope not, otherwise we'll have gone through all this for nothing." Mokuba said pacing back and forth. Rin simply stood there with her arms crossed and stared at the doors until she thought they would never open again. Just then though, Joey came walking out with Mai following him.
"How was I supposed to know that those kids were going to pull something like this on me?" Mai demanded of Joey.
"You should know better than to trust a gift from Loki. He's the god of Chaos and trickery. Besides, you know they're all a bunch of little deviants."
"Oh no! They're still fighting!" The children exclaimed and slapped their palms to their heads.
"Relax," Joey said.
"We're not still ticked at each other." Mai told them.
"Right now we're more interested in learning why it was that you thought you could just butt into our personal lives?" Joey asked.
"Yeah, kids, when grownups like us fight, it's best to just leave us alone and let us work it out for ourselves." Mai added.
"So then you didn't need my help." Rin said hanging her head.
"It's not that we didn't want or need help, it's just that we're both responsible people who are in control of our own lives. You see dear, in this day and age, we don't need the help of deities with such simple problems like mine and Joey's." Mai told her. "Understand?"
"I do." Rin said. "And I will try not to butt in anymore..."she turned and grabbed her backpack from the curb.
"Rin?" Mokuba asked her.
"I am no help to anyone," Rin whimpered. A tear rolled down her cheek.
"That's not what they meant!" Mokuba said.
"I almost made it worse," Rin sniffled as she cried more. "I am a terrible goddess. I'm going home!" and she took off running.
"Look what you did!" Mokuba yelled at Joey and Mai.
"Whoa, I didn't make her cry," Joey said. He pointed to Mai and said, "She did." "Don't make me the scapegoat!" Mai yelled at him.
"Both of you SHUT UP!" screamed Shippo. He got up and stormed right up to Joey and Mai and said, "All she wanted to do was make people happy! She wants to be a good person. And what do you do after she worked so hard? You tell her to buzz off! In my opinion, she shouldn't have even bothered using her spirit of sunshine to help you guys. Now a very confused Sun Goddess is crying her eyes out at home. Are you going to go apologize to her and show her that she did help, or are you two really such big idiots!"
Mai and Joey just looked at him, shocked. Shippo was never this forceful before. He must have spent too much time with Inu-yasha.
"Take it easy, fox boy," Joey said, lifting his hands in truce.
"We'll go apologize," Mai added.
"And don't forget, you have to show her that she helped." Shippo said.
"What did you have in mind?" they asked him.