8. Communication Breakdown

Yugi moved through the second day of the tournament on Monday in something of a fog. He'd slept poorly, his mind too occupied with Téa's strange reaction to the possibility of his going to school in New York to allow sleep to come. He just couldn't figure it out. When he'd imagined telling her about New York, gauging it to see her response, he'd envisioned a whole spectrum of reactions she might have, everything from a sort of schmaltzy soap-opera-ish scene where she throws her arms around him, thrilled that they could be together at last to what he'd thought was the worst case scenario where she says something along the lines of "Oh, that's fabulous, I can't wait for you to meet my new American boyfriend, I know you'll be such great friends!"

Never once in his worst nightmares did he imagine she would be horrified at the thought of him possibly living in the same city.

I thought we were friends, he kept thinking. At the very least, I thought we were friends.

Replaying the conversation in his mind, he turned over every word, every syllable, trying to figure out where he went wrong, what he could have possibly said to upset her, to make even the possibility that he might be moving to New York the worst thing ever. He couldn't come up with anything that made any sense. The only thing he could think was that maybe he'd sounded too much like he was going there just for her and it scared her. She had a new life, new friends. She'd been dating. No one serious that he knew of, but then again he had been out of the loop for six months. A lot could happen in six months. The last guy she'd dated she'd only just broken up with before Yugi had left Cairo. Maybe they got back together. Heck, she could've gotten engaged in those six months for all he knew.

No. Someone would've told me. There's no way we could go a day and a half on a ship together and no one let slip that she's serious about someone.

Then again, she had been trying to tell him something the night before when they'd been interrupted by Joey. Every time he'd mentioned going to New York to see her, she'd acted funny, like there was something he didn't know.

Oh no, it's true, he thought miserably. She has a serious boyfriend and she didn't know how to tell me. And then I go and make it sound like I'm moving to New York just to be with her, so of course she freaked. He groaned. That must be it. It all made sense. But if that was it, he could make it right. He could tell her he'd decided to go to California instead, that Berkeley was a better school and that he wanted to keep studying with Professor Hawkins. If he could show her it was no big deal, that he could be just friends, that she didn't have to worry, it would be fine.

Well, not fine, really. But better than this anyway.

He didn't get much of an opportunity to say anything to her, however. At breakfast she avoided him, choosing a seat with Serenity as far on the other side of the table as she could possibly get from him. He even thought she wasn't going to come to his first duel of the morning; it had already started when she and Tristan arrived, and it was only then that he remembered Joey's duel had been just before his and it had probably run long.

Only when he was dueling did the fog clear and he was able to think past Téa and the night before. Lost in his deck and the Heart of the Cards once the duel had started, he hadn't been thinking of her until she and Tristan arrived, and though he had felt immense relief just knowing she cared enough to come, he was easily swallowed back into the game moments later. His second round opponent was an Irish woman named Cassie O'Toole. She had a very strong Earth deck, but Yugi had beaten her without too much difficulty and advanced to the third round.

As soon as Cassie's Life Points hit zero, the escape the duel offered was gone and Téa immediately returned to the forefront of his thoughts. Folding up his duel disk, he headed over to where she and Tristan had been standing, but they were already working their way out of the room.

"Téa!" he called out, but she just gave him a sort of plastic smile and waved instead of stopping.

"Great duel, Yugi! We gotta go catch Duke's duel now." And they were gone.

Lunch was about the same as breakfast, with Téa glued to Serenity's side on the opposite end of the table. At least there were plenty of distractions; Joey, Duke, and Rebecca had all won their second round duels as well and would be competing in their respective division semi-finals in the afternoon. Duke and Rebecca were both dueling right after lunch and he and Joey were dueling before dinner. Mokuba stopped by long enough to flirt with Rebecca and tell them both he and Kaiba had also advanced to their division semi-finals. According to the scoreboard the tournament officials kept in the dining room, Mai Valentine had also advanced, but they still had yet to see any sign of her.

After lunch, Yugi was back in the Apollo Dome on the Sun Deck where the Black Division duels were being held. He watched the first duel, a rousing match between a Swedish duelist with a dragon deck and a Canadian with a wind monster deck. The Swede, a tall thin reed of a man named Alrik Cronhielm, prevailed in a rather surprising turnaround when he was able to special summon the very rare Armed Dragon Level 7 to the field when he was down to only two hundred Life Points. With the sacrifice of Chaos Emperor Dragon from Alrik's hand to the Graveyard, Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect destroyed all of his opponent's monsters with an attack strength of three thousand or less. This included all three monsters the Canadian had on the field, leaving his twenty-seven hundred remaining Life Points open to attack from Armed Dragon's twenty-eight hundred attack points. Yugi was impressed. Alrik would be a tough opponent to defeat in the Black Division finals—assuming Yugi won his next duel, that is.

Yugi's opponent for the division semi-finals was a young boy from Tokyo named Sho Inoue. Joey had dueled with him many times in various tournaments in Japan and had warned him that he was a bright kid with a spellcaster deck similar to Yugi's. Joey figured he was a fan of Yugi's, though at first Yugi was pretty sure his friend was vastly overstating the case. As he'd watched Sho duel in the first two rounds, however, he'd been surprised to see how similar the boy's style was to his own. As his duel was announced, he and Sho exchanged decks to shuffle and cut then shook hands. As Yugi walked back to his place and slid his deck into its slot on the duel disk, he glanced at the crowd gathered to watch. He was relieved to see Téa slip into the room. She gave him a somewhat guarded smile and a wave and he gave a short nod of acknowledgement in return. She's here. She could have gone to Joey's duel instead, but she came to see me. It was a start, anyway.

The duel was long and difficult and somewhat eerily reminiscent of the Ceremonial Duel where he battled Atem. There were no Egyptian God monsters or Seal of the Golden Chest, but he did feel at times like he was playing against himself. Sho matched him card for card, turn for turn and looked like he might win when he had both Dark Magician and Dark Magician of Chaos on field to face Yugi's Dark Magician and Beta the Magnet Warrior. Sho's Dark Magician destroyed Yugi's Beta the Magnet Warrior while his Dark Magician of Chaos attacked Yugi's Dark Magician, but Yugi activated his Magical Hats and Sho attacked the wrong hat, sparing Yugi's Magician. Still, Yugi lost eight hundred of his one thousand Life Points while Sho still had sixteen hundred Life Points remaining.

Yugi then drew Magic Formula. With a victorious smile, he played Monster Reborn to bring back Beta the Magnet Warrior, which he immediately sacrificed to summon Dark Magician Girl. He then attacked Sho's Dark Magician with his own, sending them both their respective Graveyards and increasing Dark Magician Girl's attack from two thousand to twenty-six hundred. Next he equipped her with Magic Formula, increasing her attack another five hundred points, giving her thirty-one hundred attack points to Dark Magician of Chaos's twenty-eight hundred. She destroyed him, bringing Sho's Life Points down by three hundred. He now had thirteen hundred Life Points to Yugi's two hundred, but no monsters on the field. The best he could do on his next turn was to play a facedown card in defense mode and another facedown card.

Yugi drew Mystical Space Typhoon. He played Celtic Guardian in attack mode, and then played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Sho's facedown card, which turned out to be Mirror Force. Had he been able to play that card, he would have destroyed all of Yugi's monsters in attack position as soon as one of them attacked. Without it, he had only his facedown defense monster to defend his Life Points. Yugi attacked it with Dark Magician Girl; it was Big Shield Gardna with twenty-six hundred defense points, not enough to save it. Then Celtic Guardian attacked Sho's Life Points directly, bringing him down to zero.

The tournament judge stepped onto the playing field between Yugi and Sho. "The duel goes to Yugi Mutou, who will play Alrik Cronhielm in the Black Division Final two days from now. The Duel at Sea Tournament Host, Mr. Maximillion Pegasus would like to extend an invitation to both Mr. Mutou and Mr. Cronhielm to join him tonight at seven o'clock for a private dinner in the Acropolis Club for division semi-finalists only, no guests. Attendance mandatory. Congratulations, Yugi Mutou and best of luck to you in the division finals!"

The judge shook Yugi's hand then Sho's. Finally, Sho and Yugi shook hands with each other.

"It was an honor playing you, sir," Sho said almost shyly. "I've been following your career since Duelist Kingdom."

Yugi blushed. "You played very well. How old are you?"

Now it was Sho's turn to blush. "Fourteen."

"I was fifteen when I played at Duelist Kingdom. You like spellcaster cards?"

"I've always liked Dark Magician."

"Me too. It was a pleasure dueling you. I'm sure we'll play again in other tournaments."

"I look forward to it, sir."

"No 'sir.' Please just call me Yugi."

A smile spread across Sho's face and his blush deepened. "Thank you, Yugi." They bowed to each other and parted, Yugi's eyes immediately scanning the crowd for Téa, but she was nowhere to be seen. His heart sinking in disappointment, he checked his watch. It was already six thirty and he had to be at the Acropolis Club in half an hour. Stupid Pegasus. Why did he have to have a private dinner tonight?

Frustrated, he headed out of the Apollo Dome toward the Aloha Deck and their suite to change for dinner. With a little luck, maybe she'd be there and he could talk to her a few minutes before he had to go, although he sort of doubted it. If she were avoiding him, which she seemed to be, she wouldn't be anywhere near the suite, at least not without Serenity attached at the hip.

He sighed. Well, at least Joey was likely to have better luck tonight. Yugi was fairly certain both he and Mai would have made it to their respective division semi-finals. If attendance at Pegasus's dinner was mandatory, then Mai would have to be there and Joey would finally get a chance to talk to her.

Hope your luck is better than mine, Yugi wished for his friend.

He looked out the window of his penthouse watching the city lights start to wink on below. It was warm for May in San Francisco, but having spent the better part of the last two years in Egypt, the air felt chilly to him. Though born in London and raised in Bath, he'd always felt most at home in Egypt. It was his land, his domain.

His birthright.

The phone on the desk behind him rang and he picked it up without averting his gaze from the window. "Yes?"

"Everything's ready." The voice sounded tinny and there was a bit of white noise in the background, though not as much as he would have expected. Ship-to-shore telecommunications had improved greatly over the years.

"What was the reaction when our host announced himself?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"Everyone was pretty stunned. Kaiba about wet himself and Mutou and his group looked like they were having a little conference about it. Valentine completely wigged out." He paused. "You knew it was Pegasus all along, didn't you?"

He laughed, but it was completely devoid of humor. "Of course. Why else would I be interested in this tournament? But what of your other assignments?"

"Going very well, I think. I've had some unexpected… opportunities. Quite enjoyable."

He frowned, guessing by his tone exactly what that might mean.

"Oh, and yesterday at dinner was brilliant. Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor accused Mutou and Wheeler of cheating. Underwood actually threatened them. Almost had to put them off the ship."

He smiled, amused. "Fabulous! It must have been very engaging. And it will of course raise some eyebrows after tonight."

"Yes. I imagine they'll be getting some scrutiny over the next few days."

"Excellent! It will give you some breathing room. And they can be useful down the road, too."

"I don't know, sir. They're pretty brainless."

"They don't need to be intelligent, just easily manipulated. Given their hatred of Mutou and Wheeler, I don't think that will be a problem. Keep up with them and your other subject as well—but let's not enjoy ourselves too much," he said, a note of warning in his voice. "Do not misplace your loyalties."

"Never, sir!" came the protest, and he was pleased to hear the appropriate amount of abashment. "My loyalty is only to you."

"Yes. Now, tell me your plans for this evening."

"Well, first I have to go to some dinner Pegasus is holding for the 'sweet sixteen.' After that, when the crew is changing shifts, I'll have a chance to get into the bridge. Incoming and outgoing communications and navigation will be incapacitated then."

"Will it be discovered too soon?"

"I don't think so, no, not for a few hours at any rate. Even if they do, I will take care of it. As for the main event, that should be right on schedule. We're good to go."

"Excellent."

"I won't be able to communicate with you for a while once everything is put into motion. It will be difficult for me to separate myself once we've landed."

"Of course, although I have other ways of staying informed as to what is going on once you've arrived. You have Reshef the Dark Being. When he is with you, I am with you."

"Yes. He's in my deck."

"You understand what must happen then?"

"Yes, sir."

"The duels must continue, although the tournament must not finish, and if at all possible, find a way to remove our two so-called 'pharaohs' reincarnate from the picture."

There was a pause. "Are you sure, sir? Wouldn't their contribution be the most valuable?"

He arched his eyebrow. "You think you can beat them?"

"Yes, sir."

He laughed again, with the same lack of mirth. "You grossly underestimate them, I believe, and should you be defeated, we'll lose any gains we will have made. No, it would be best for them to be removed from the picture entirely. But, failing that, you must only face them at the appointed place, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. Do not attempt to battle Kaiba or Mutou unless you are in the Chamber of Wedju. Only there will the power over them be strong enough for you to prevail. I have spent the better part of three years personally preparing that chamber. It is where you must eventually bring all of them."

There was another pause, which meant the other man was questioning him again. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing; he liked his servants to be able to think for themselves. However, any more than this and he would be bordering on insubordination. "You doubt my wisdom?"

"No, sir, of course not. I just think when we get the items into their hands—"

"That will be a start, yes, but it won't be enough. And there's a very good chance Mutou won't be fooled. But no matter. Long before that, they will begin to feel the darkness if you plan it carefully. I believe Mutou and Valentine will be the most susceptible, although the others will be as well. Oh, and the young Miss Hawkins." His lips curled into a leering grin. "I believe she will also feel the effects immediately. I don't know why she's so susceptible, but she is." He took just a moment to enjoy the idea of causing the girl—and by extension, her grandfather—some pain before getting back to the point. "But do try and remove Kaiba and Mutou if you can. And Pegasus, too, come to think of it, though you are welcome to battle him outside of the chamber if necessary. Underwood and Raptor may prove useful in these endeavors."

"Yes, sir."

"I… I wish I could be there myself, but it isn't yet time for my personal involvement, other than through Reshef the Dark Being, of course. I trust you to handle things. You are my Tjaty, my trusted Vizier."

"Thank you, sir."

"You are familiar with the location, correct? You have planned out every detail?"

"Yes, sir."

"You will find everything there you need. Good luck tonight and over the course of the next few days. I leave the rest in your capable hands."

"Thank you again, sir. I will not fail you."

"See that you don't."

The line disconnected and so too went his last line of formal communication with his vizier For the rest, he would have to wait for the darkness to do its work.