Chapter 3-

Duelists Prepare

And so the month passed. And in that passing month, Seto Kaiba held a tournament as well, Battle City. Because of Kaiba's tournament, Yugi almost completely forgot about Pegasus' tournament. It all came back to Yugi when he saw Joey after school.

"'Sup, Yugi!"

"Hey, Joey," responded Yugi to Joey.

"So, you syked about da' tryouts?" asked Joey.

"Ummm, I don't play basketball, Joey."

"Noo, not for school! Da one being held at Duelist Kingd'm! Duh," said Joey frustratingly.

Yugi stopped in his tracks, slapped his head, closed his eyes, and grunted.

"Uuuungghhh! Joey, why didn't you remind me at Kaiba's tournament?!?!"

Joey looked offended.

"Hey, don't blame me," he closed his eyes, grinned, and pointed his thumb at his chest.

"I marked my calendar!"

"Forget it! How long do we have?" asked Yugi.

Joey took his school planer out of his backpack, and opened it.

"Looks like we got uhhhh…" Joey slapped his planner shut. "This weekend."

"Hey, guys!" Yugi and Joey's friend, Tea, ran up to them.

"Hi, Tea," responded Joey and Yugi in unison.

"Whatcha' doing?" she asked.

"Finding out the tryouts to something are tomorrow, and that it's in the middle of the ocean," blurted Yugi looking at Joey.

"Hey, maybe if you used a calendar-" started Joey.

"You guys are still entering Duel Monsters competitions? Jeez, this is, what, the third one in two months?" interrupted Tea surprised.

"Yep," said Joey proudly.

"Well, if it floats your boat…" Tea murmured.

"Hey, what if Bakura, Marik, or Kaiba come to the tournament?" inquired Joey.

Yugi and Tea laughed.

"I doubt that, Joey," answered Yugi.

Thousands of miles away, in Cairo, Egypt, Marik Ishtar was getting the mail.

"Bill…catalog…junk…bill…hey! This one's for me!"

Marik hurriedly ran in the house he and his sister shared, threw the other mail on the coffee table, yelled without pausing to his sister, Ishizu, "Hisisbyesis!",(Hi sis bye sis!) and ran upstairs to his room.

"What have we here?" Marik asked himself, while tearing open the envelope. He took the flier out and read it fast.

"Greetings! You are invited to try out for a role…pay attention to these next two sentences…how your cards play a role in your strategies…see you there… Hey, Ishizu! I'm invited to another tournament!"

"WHO'S HOSTING IT?" Ishizu yelled up to Marik.

"MAXIMILLION PEGASUS!" Marik yelled back to Ishizu excitedly.

Back in the U.S., Ryou Bakura finds out from the same source as Yugi and Joey; the phone pole at school.

"So, sounds like Pegasus can't get losing his Millennium Item out of his head," said the evil spirit who dwells within the Millennium Ring, looking at the Millennium Eye on his nightstand.

"Why not? Maybe humiliating again will put him out of his suffering."

He ended his sentence with a series of evil cackles.

Seto Kaiba heard the news as well.

"You goin' to the competition, big brother?" asked Mokuba Kaiba to his older brother. "Huh?"

"Of course not. I haven't the time for such nonsense."

"But it would be a good opportunity to make people forget," Kaiba cringed as Mokuba finished his sentence, "That you lost your own tournament," Mokuba insisted.

"Eeergggh! Don't remind me," Kaiba spat.

"Sorry. But if Yugi enters, and you beat him, wouldn't that jumpstart your publicity?"

Kaiba quickly whirled around and smiled.

"Good idea Mokuba. Plan a flight to Duelist Kingdom, would you Mokuba?"

Mokuba smiled. "Yes sir!"

All duelists who planned on entering were making plans for the tryouts. They didn't know the son of Maximillion Pegasus was hosting it. Or that all he wanted was to run his father's company. But either way, all the duelists were excited for the coming of March 1st.