7. Return of the Shadow Games
Yugi, Rebecca, and Mokuba gathered with the others to watch the next duel. Kaiba stayed off in the background and kept a close eye on Jacques Rousseau while the rest of them gathered together at the sidelines. Yugi kept Rebecca by his side, and Mokuba hovered near her as well, still feeling bad about pushing her aside when he went to defend himself against Jacques's post-duel attack. Téa, standing on his other side, seemed strangely subdued.
"You okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah. I was going to ask you the same thing," she said, but before he could answer her, Croquet moved to the center of the field and announced next duel.
The Red Division final pitted Zigfried von Schroeder against Christine Aileas. Yugi had never seen Christine, a fourteen-year-old from America, duel, but she was one of the girls Rebecca went to the movies with the night the ship sank and seemed nice enough. A little bossy, like Rebecca, and prone to temper outbursts, but not an overly fierce duelist.
Zigfried von Schroeder, on the other hand, Yugi had met along with his brother, Leon, at Kaiba's KC Grand Championship tournament three years earlier. Zigfried and Leon were very similar to Kaiba and Mokuba; they were about the same age as the Kaibas, with older brother Zigfried rather cold and brutal while younger brother Leon was more gentle, though unlike the Kaibas, the younger of the two was the better duelist. Zigfried favored Goddess and Valkyrie cards, while Christine had a strong Fairy deck.
The duel held few surprises. Zigfried was merciless, but less so than Jacques. Christine, though quite skilled, didn't stand a chance against his triple-goddess combination of Goddess Skuld's Oracle, Goddess Belldandy's Guardian, and Goddess Urd's Altar. When her Life Points hit zero, she turned off her duel disk and stalked off the field without saying a word.
Yugi, who had kept Rebecca close at his side during the duel, turned to her. "How did this one seem to you?"
She shrugged. "Something still doesn't feel right, but it's more general. Not like the last one."
Yugi agreed, but he couldn't help but pointing out with a nod of his head toward Mokuba, "Are you sure you're not too preoccupied?"
She scowled and stuck her tongue out at him in return, but at least she was more like her old self. Yugi felt a little of the tension that had been building in him since Mokuba's duel started drain away.
"What was that all about?" Téa asked.
"I'll tell you later."
The third duel of the day was even more uneventful. It was the Orange Division final, Leon von Schroeder against Lawrence Andrews. Lawrence was another duelist Yugi had never seen duel before. He had a Fiend deck and a kind of erratic style that was disconcerting. He almost seemed to have no strategy at all, so when he successfully performed the Contract with the Dark Master Ritual to summon Dark Master Zorc, he took Leon by surprise. Leon quickly recovered, however, and used Mirror Force to negate its attack and destroy all Lawrence's monsters in attack position. Then he was able to quickly finish him off with Hex Trude. The duel had been the most civil of the morning and nothing seemed amiss.
The last duel of the morning before they broke for lunch would be the White Division final. Since this was Kaiba's duel and Mokuba wanted to be up front, Rebecca also wanted to be up front, which meant Yugi in turn wanted to be up front. As they made their way toward the edge of the circle of people surrounding the field, Yugi asked Mai and Joey about Kaiba's opponent, Raul Pérez, a wiry Argentinean of about eighteen. Like many of the other duelists who had risen up in the ranks over the last two years, Raul was someone Yugi had not heard much about.
"I don't know much about the South American Circuit," Mai shrugged, "but I have heard of him. He uses primarily machine monsters and has a reputation for being pretty obnoxious."
"Sounds like Bandit Keith," Joey sniffed, referring to the American duelist who had conned his way into the Duelist Kingdom finals where he cheated against—and eventually lost to—Joey.
"Pretty much. Or Jacques Rousseau. This could be another ugly duel," Mai warned, "especially with Kaiba as his opponent. He's not going to take any crap from anybody."
"No," Yugi agreed.
Mai's summary proved fairly accurate. Both duelists began hard and fast with Drillago on Raul's side of the field and Battle Ox on Kaiba's. They were both aggressive players with high-powered monsters and complex spells and traps. As the duel progressed, they hit each other harder and more viciously, and Yugi felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand on end. This feels wrong again.
Rebecca clearly felt it, too. As Mokuba moved forward and cheered enthusiastically for his brother, Rebecca shrunk backwards until she was practically on top of Yugi. He put his hands on her shoulders and gripped them tightly to reassure her.
"You two okay?" Téa asked, her voice tinged with concern.
Yugi shook his head. "Something's not right."
"Is anything ever right when Kaiba duels?" Joey asked. "He is one mean duelist."
"No," Mai said, and Yugi noticed that she was standing hugging herself as if cold. Although it was windy on the beach and the temperature couldn't be more than fifty-five degrees or so not counting the wind-chill, her lined leather jacket should have been more than ample to keep her warm.
"Whaddaya mean, no?" Joey asked. "When has Kaiba ever played nice?"
"I don't mean about Kaiba. Or Raul, for that matter. I'd expected it to be ugly, but… Yugi's right. Something's wrong. Don't you feel it?"
"What are you talking about, Mai?" Téa asked, worried.
She just shook her head. "I don't know. The attacks seem more real, don't they? Didn't you say you noticed that in Mokuba's duel?"
"Yeah, actually, I think you're right. Think maybe the duel disks are going wonky?"
"No, it's more than that," Yugi replied.
Joey looked at Yugi. "Yuge?"
Yugi, however, could no more explain his disquiet than Mai could. It didn't feel like a Shadow Game, exactly, at least not like any of the ones he had participated in or witnessed. It was more like Egypt, that disconnected feeling that the part of him that was him, that was Yugi, was retreating deep inside. It almost gave him a sort of claustrophobic sensation. "I don't know either, Joey."
By the time Kaiba had summoned one of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons to the field, he had only five hundred Life Points while Raul had twenty-eight hundred with Perfect Machine King in attack mode and Launcher Spider and Barrel Dragon in defense mode on the field. Kaiba played one facedown card, then destroyed Barrel Dragon. As Perfect Machine King gained five hundred attack points for every machine-type monster on Raul's side of the field, the demise of Barrel Dragon knocked its attack points down from thirty-seven hundred to thirty-two hundred, still two hundred more than Blue-Eyes. Raul laughed at Kaiba's stupidity for leaving Blue-Eyes open to attack from Perfect Machine King. He played a facedown card, then Giga Tech Wolf in attack mode and also switched Launcher Spider to attack mode. Perfect Machine King attacked Blue-Eyes, but Kaiba activated his trap card, Tyrant Wing, which added four hundred attack points to Blue-Eyes. Perfect Machine King was destroyed and Raul lost two hundred Life Points. He also no longer had anything powerful enough to attack Blue-Eyes. Howling in rage, he hurled some choice invectives at Kaiba, who merely laughed in return.
On Kaiba's turn, he summoned Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode. Blue-Eyes attacked Launcher Spider, but Raul activated his facedown card, Dragon Capture Jar, which forced Blue-Eyes into defense mode. Kaiba still was able to destroy Giga Tech Wolf with Kaiser Sea Horse and knock Raul down another five hundred Life Points, but Raul still had twenty-one hundred left. Raul then played a monster card face down and ended his turn. Kaiba played Monster Reborn to summon Barrel Dragon from Raul's graveyard. It's special effect allows him to toss a coin and if he got two heads out of three, he could destroy any card on Raul's side of the field. He tossed a heads, tails, then heads again and destroyed the Dragon Capture Jar, freeing his Blue-Eyes. Barrel Dragon attacked the facedown card, which was Acrobat Monkey with eighteen hundred defense points and Blue-Eyes attacked Raul's Life Points directly, ending the game.
Raul was shocked. Having been up by twenty-three hundred Life Points when Kaiba had summoned Blue-Eyes, he had expected to win. He started ranting in Spanish and making gestures that clearly were not friendly.
Kaiba, who spoke no Spanish but knew enough human nature to know when he was being cursed, stalked forward, his eyes cold and lethal. "You wanna repeat that in a language I can understand, you coward?"
"I don't speak imbécil!" Raul spat back as he and Kaiba both lunged at each other.
"Kaiba, no!" Yugi cried out, while at the same moment Mokuba jumped out from the sidelines and launched himself at his brother.
"Seto, no! They'll disqualify you!" he cried. He grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him back. "You won, leave it alone now!"
Croquet reached Kaiba at the same time. "This duel is over. Back off, Mr. Kaiba, or you will be disqualified."
Kaiba immediately complied, though he gave Raul another hard glare.
"Well that was fun," Joey quipped as Kaiba shook free of Mokuba and stalked past them off the field, his brother trailing after.
Yugi just shook his head and looked down at Rebecca who was still pressed back against him.
"I don't think that was fun at all," Rebecca said quietly.
"I don't know, guys, it seemed like a typical Kaiba duel," Joey said as they sat around the campfire eating a quick lunch during the break in the dueling. "What makes you think something is wrong?"
"A feeling," Yugi replied.
Joey had to admit he didn't like the way his friend looked moody and uncomfortable. It made him think more of the Pharaoh than of Yugi. Mai also didn't look very happy. She was sitting next to him with a skewer of fish and some trail mix from her own stash, but wasn't eating much. Not that Joey could blame her; after only about twenty-eight hours stuck here, he was already thoroughly sick of fish. She also wasn't talking much, which for Mai was cause for worry.
"Are we talking Shadow Games here? Do you think Raul and Jacques are both involved with all of this or something?" Tristan asked.
"I don't know," Yugi admitted.
Joey looked at Mai, concerned. Images of the barbaric Shadow Game Marik's Yami side had forced her into haunted him. Her duel was next and he wasn't sure if he could watch her go through something like that again. Nudging her with his shoulder, he asked, "You okay, Mai? Maybe we should try and get Pegasus to postpone the rest of the tournament until we get back to San Francisco."
He could almost see the walls go up as she put on a confident expression. "No, I'm good. I'm looking forward to it, actually. I always feel best when I'm dueling. Besides, I've seen my opponent duel. She's not exactly the Shadow Games type."
Joey gave a short nod, but he was not happy. He would give anything for a huge sledgehammer that could smash those walls into oblivion. She was one of the strongest people he knew, but he wished she would let herself lean on others, on him more. Isn't that what she'd said she wanted to do in her apology letter?
"What about Jacques and Raul. Does anyone know if there's any connection between them?" Téa asked.
"I've never seen them hang out together at any tournaments or anything, if that's what you mean," Joey said.
Mai shook her head. "Jacques duels in Europe mostly and Raul duels in South America."
"I've seen Raul with Renata Reis. They're dating, I think. But never with Jacques," Duke said.
They ate silently for a moment, and then Duke said thoughtfully, "I just thought of something. You know who we haven't seen all day?"
"Who's that?" Joey asked.
"Bug Brain and Dino Boy," Duke replied.
Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Rex and Weevil? They haven't been watching the duels?"
"You know, I don't think I've seen them around either," Téa put in.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Mai said dryly.
"No kidding," Serenity agreed.
Duke replied, "Well, I think it's a little odd that they weren't around all morning. I'm wondering if maybe one of us shouldn't do a little snooping around and see what they're up to."
"I think that's smart," Joey said. "I'm still not convinced one or both of them didn't have something to do with blowing up the ship. Or maybe even Mokuba and Téa's 'accident.'"
Yugi nodded. "Duke, do you want to see if you can find out where they got off to?"
"I don't mind poking around, but I do wanna see Becky's duel," Duke said. "She's next after Mai, right?"
"Yeah. They've been running about an hour to an hour and a half apart. Maybe take an hour and see if you can find Rex and Weevil and then come back?" Yugi suggested.
"Sounds like a plan."
When lunch was over, all of them except for Duke headed back for the beach along with the other passengers to watch Mai's duel. Pegasus, who seemed to disappear unless there was a duel going on, was once again seated on a rock overlooking the area of beach where they were dueling.
Mai was dueling against Renée Carole, another young American duelist. Renée favored Amazoness monsters and was a more cunning than aggressive duelist. Mai also had a lot of Amazoness monsters and her Harpies would be tough to beat, however. Joey and the others stood at the edge of the field on Mai's side to cheer her on.
"You get 'em, Mai!" Joey shouted as the two duelists took their places after the referee had them shuffle each other's decks. He realized then that this would be the first time he'd seen her duel since she'd beaten him in that Orichalcos battle in San Francisco. He was anxious to see how her style had changed over the past three years.
It started out fairly tame. Renée played conservatively, and Joey got the feeling she was trying to bait Mai into attacking. Mai, not one to shy away from a challenge, took the bait and found her Cyber Harpie caught in Spellbinding Circle. Still, it wasn't long until she had another Harpie on the field, then multiplied her into Harpie Sisters using Elegant Egotist.
At that point, Joey started noticing a change. Mai's dueling banter, which had started out sharp and feisty, started to become more and more calculating and cruel. Considering that her opponent was a girl barely into her teens, Joey couldn't help but think this a bit overkill. Her attacks were also brutal, with the holographic monsters once again delivering more punishment than normal. But most troublesome was something in her eyes. It didn't seem like the Mai he'd spent time with over the past couple of days, or even the Mai he knew from Battle City and Duelist Kingdom. It reminded him of how she'd played in California when she'd been working for Dartz.
"What is her problem?" Tristan asked when Mai played Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation which allowed her Harpies to join together to repel an attack from Renée's Unfriendly Amazon and destroy it, then followed up by calling Renée a pathetic schoolgirl who should stick to playground games.
"That's not Mai," Joey said, gritting his teeth.
"That's what you said when she played the Seal of Orichalcos, too," Tristan pointed out.
"This is totally different," Joey retorted. "We hadn't seen her for a year before that. We were talking to her two seconds before this duel and she wasn't acting like that." He looked at Yugi, whose expression was dark. "Yuge, are you getting that same feeling you got before?"
"Hm," Yugi replied, nodding.
"Is this a Shadow Game?" he asked, fear gripping his heart.
"I don't know."
Joey looked back at the duel. "Mai, come on, you're better than this!" he called out. "Just play a good match!"
Mai ignored him and drew a card. With a malicious smile, she played it: Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation. Since she had three monsters on the field, it allowed her to destroy up to three monsters on Renée's side of the field and then deduct their combined attack points from Renée's Life Points. Renée then activated her Dust Tornado trap to destroy Phoenix Formation, but Mai countered with a Curse of Royal trap, which negated and destroyed Dust Tornado. Renée had Amazon Archer and Amazoness Paladin on the field for a combined total of thirty-two hundred attack points, which were deducted from her Life Points, bringing her to zero and ending the duel. Renée, exhausted by the holographic effects of the loss to her Life Points, dropped to her knees, which provoked a gleeful laugh from Mai.
"Stupid useless brat," she spat.
Joey had heard enough. As soon as the referee called the duel, he was on the field, putting himself between Mai and Renée. "Mai, stop! What's gotten into you?"
She glared at him, her eyes as cold and hard as they'd been during that Orichalcos duel, before she'd turned things around. With a snarl, she threw out her left arm, her duel disk and elbow connecting with his chest and knocking the wind out of him. With an oof of pain, he crumpled onto the sand.
Mai felt as if a fog had lifted the second she saw Joey crumple to the ground. "Joey!" she cried out in horror. It was like the Orichalcos duel all over again. She sunk to her knees beside him, panic-stricken. "Oh my God, Joey, what have I done?"
"I'm…okay," he gasped, holing up his hand, trying to reassure her, but he was still doubled over, clutching his gut.
In an instant, Tristan, Yugi, and Serenity were surrounding them. "What do you think you're doing?" Tristan roared, grabbing her arm and yanking her to her feet.
"I…"
"Tristan… don't…" Joey tried, getting to his feet and leaning heavily on Serenity, but Mai could see he was still having trouble catching his breath. What did I do oh my God what did I do?
"Don't? Dude, she flattened you with her duel disk!"
"Tristan, I don't know why I did that, I swear." She looked at Joey. "Joey, I swear I didn't mean to hurt you."
Joey, still leaning on Serenity, met her eyes and put his hand out to stop her. "I know."
By this time, Nelson made his way through them to Joey and Mai. "What just happened here, Miss Valentine?" he said, furious. Clearly he was getting tired of all the brawls between duelists.
Joey answered before she could open her mouth. "It was an accident. She turned and I ran into her duel disk."
"An accident?" he repeated skeptically.
"That's right," Serenity chimed in. "Joey ran right into her."
Mai gaped at Serenity. Why is she protecting me after what I did to her brother?
"Fine," the ref replied after a moment. "But let me tell you people, I'm getting sick of the nasty behavior during these duels. We'd better have some clean matches from this point on." Then he announced louder for the group at large, "The duel goes to Mai Valentine! In fifteen minutes, we will begin the Yellow Division Final with duelists Rebecca Hawkins and Kenan Bagatui!"
He walked away and Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but Joey turned to face him, cutting him off. "Something is wrong here, Tristan, don't you get it?"
"Joey is right," Yugi said, his voice dark and low. He turned to Mai and asked her gently, "What happened, Mai?"
"I don't know. I just was so angry, I couldn't control myself I don't even know why I was angry… oh that poor girl!" she moaned as she vaguely remembered saying some horrible things to her opponent.
"You were being controlled?" Yugi asked.
"No, not quite. It wasn't like when Marik had Joey duel you in Battle City, if that's what you're thinking. I just hated her, wanted to crush her. Why would I feel that way about a nice kid like that? I don't even know her!"
"Yuge, what the heck is going on?" Joey asked. "That girl doesn't look like someone who'd be messing with Shadow Games," he added, indicating Mai's opponent who was walking off the field with her friend Christine Aileas.
"It isn't them," Yugi said, talking more to himself than to the others as if he'd just had an epiphany. "It isn't Jacques and Raul that made those duels feel wrong. They were just doing what they always do. It's us. Mokuba and Kaiba and Mai. We're the ones bringing back the Shadow Games!"
Mai felt a new rage wash over her, not fuzzy and universal like when she was dueling, but clear and focused. "Pegasus," she seethed.
Looking up, she saw him still sitting on the same rock where he'd watched all the duels. He was watching them with a sort of benign look of interest on his face. Breaking free from the others, she marched up to where he sat. "Pegasus, you little weasel! What exactly is going on here? You knew this would happen, didn't you? Is this why you continued the tournament?"
"Why Mai Sweet Valentine, whatever do you mean?" Pegasus sang with a smile.
Yugi appeared beside Mai with Joey and the others behind him. "Pegasus, we have to stop this tournament!" he demanded.
This produced a round of protests from some of the people behind them. Goradon flew to their side. "Oh no, no, no, Mr. Mutou, you can't be serious! Why would you want to stop the tournament? It's just some friendly competition!"
"Friendly?"
Jacques Rousseau emerged from behind them, swearing loudly in French. "Stop the tournament? This is madness! If Yugi Mutou is a coward and cannot handle a little spirited competition, he is welcome to withdraw, but I see no reason to stop the tournament!"
Yugi ignored Jacques and Goradon both. "Pegasus, you know that what is going on here is more than 'spirited competition.' This has to stop before it goes any further!"
"I'm afraid I don't have the authority, Yugi-boy. It's up to the IDMTC."
"You're the chairman of the board!"
"But I'm the president," Mr. Goradon said. "I decide if this tournament continues."
"Oh please, this is ridiculous!" Jacques spat. By this time, the other finalists were also gathering close.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with the little French weasel," Kaiba interjected from behind Mai where he stood with Mokuba and Rebecca.
"Kaiba! You know full well what is going on here," Yugi growled.
"What I know is that we're duelists and this is a World Championship. Anyone who can't take a little rough play doesn't deserve to be here."
"Would you stop thinking about your ego for two seconds and take a look around you? This is not about you and your precious Championship Title," Yugi said angrily. "Someone is using us through these duels. Mokuba's duel and your duel and Mai's duel, there was something wrong. We can't keep opening ourselves up to it! And the monsters, haven't you noticed how they're more real?"
"Oh, not this again!" Kaiba scoffed.
"Would you quit going all Scully on us and wake up?" Joey shot back. Serenity was at his side, nodding in agreement.
"Seto, he's right," Mokuba joined in. "Something wasn't right with my duel."
"You have no say in this, you are no longer in the competition," Jacques sneered.
"Let's get one thing straight, Rousseau," Kaiba seethed, shaking a finger at Jacques. "I might agree with you about continuing the tournament, but you don't get to talk to my brother. Ever. You so much as look at him cross-eyed and I will take you down."
"Oh please, your empty threats mean nothing to me!" Jacques retorted.
"Stop it, this is getting us nowhere!" Yugi cut in. He turned back to Pegasus. "We have to do what is right, Pegasus. We have to stop this."
"I'm afraid it's too late to stop, Yugi-boy," Pegasus said, and Mai felt the fury wash over her once more.
"You filthy… what have you done?" she raged at him. "Is this why you brought us here?"
"I assure you, Mai Sweet Valentine, that this was most definitely not my intention as I believe I've made clear numerous times. I certainly did not expect this, but if Yugi-boy is right and you are being used, then it is already too late. You know the old saying about closing the barn door after the cow got out, I presume? The only way out is through."
"That's insane, Pegasus!" Yugi protested. "We're not only putting ourselves at risk but everyone on this island!"
"Mr. Mutou, please," Goradon tried to placate Yugi, "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, but as I've already said, while Mr. Pegasus is the host, the Tournament Commission is in charge of implementing the tournament and it therefore falls to me to make these sorts of decisions."
"Then postpone it! We're shipwrecked and have more pressing survival concerns than who wins what division," Yugi argued, changing tracks with impressive speed.
"What is this nonsense? Are we here to duel or are we not?" Jacques asked.
"We're here because our ship sunk, you moron!" Joey jeered, "Or did you think this is the cruise line's idea of a shore excursion?"
Zigfried von Schroeder offered, "We have already decided that while we're stuck here, we might as well finish the tournament. I agree with Herr Rousseau and Herr Kaiba. This is stupid. Why stop now?"
"Because look at what's been happening in all these duels! People aren't acting normal! The attacks are affecting the duelists more than they should!" Joey insisted.
Zigfried shrugged imperiously. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. I have seen nothing but aggressive dueling and one stupid boy walk onto a field and into a player's duel disk."
Mai resisted an urge to fling her duel disk at him as Joey shouted, "You better shut your mouth, von Schroeder or I'll shut it for you!"
"Please, Joseph, let's not lose our tempers," Pegasus cooed.
Joey glared, but Yugi cut him off, addressing Goradon. "I can't let this tournament continue!"
"You can't?" Kaiba asked. "Now whose ego is the problem?"
"Kaiba, this isn't about me! I'm responsible for a thirteen-year-old girl who is supposed to compete next! I can't let her just walk into a Shadow Game! And you said yourself just yesterday that you didn't want to be involved in this duel under false pretenses."
"I always finish what I start."
Yugi glowered at Kaiba, then turned back to Goradon. "Mr. Goradon, if you insist on continuing this tournament before we're rescued and safely back in San Francisco, then I am going to have to withdraw."
This shut everyone up except Kaiba, who screamed, "You coward! You can't withdraw!"
But his threat had the desired effect on the right person, Mai noted. Goradon looked completely flustered.
"Mr. Mutou," he purred placating, "please, you don't want to withdraw. We're just trying to pass the time while we wait for rescue. Tournaments are always a little… spirited. Please reconsider."
Yugi just eyed him levelly, arms crossed.
Goradon tried a few more times to convince Yugi to change his mind, but when Yugi wouldn't budge, Goradon did something Mai completely didn't expect.
He called Yugi's bluff.
"Then the tournament will continue without you. I do hope you reconsider before your next duel," Goradon said icily. He looked around at the group gathered. "The next duel will be in ten minutes. If any competitor chooses not to compete, the IDMTC will be forced to consider it a forfeit," he said flatly, then walked away. Jacques, Zigfried, and other duelists drifted away, satisfied that the tournament would continue with or without Yugi's participation.
"Yugi," Pegasus said, his voice low and foppish mannerisms gone. He was down from his rock and he pulled Yugi close to him. Mai, Kaiba, Joey, and the other "Shadow Duelists" moved in to listen as well. "You can't quit."
"I can't compete under these circumstances," Yugi argued.
"Don't you understand what's at stake here?"
"Of course I do, that's why I want it stopped."
Pegasus shook his head, his mane of white hair floating elegantly around his face. "It's too late to stop and if you back out you will no longer be in a position to fight it."
"Neither will I be in a position to fight it if something is taking over my mind and I'm bent on crushing people! Did you see what happened to Mai? To Kaiba? To Mokuba? How are we supposed to fight the Shadow Realm if we're a part of it?"
"That you can figure out, but if you don't continue with the tournament, you won't be able to fight at all." Pegasus sighed and put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Yugi, I understand your concerns. I didn't expect this to happen. But backing out now will only make things worse."
"Don't be a coward, Yugi," Kaiba barked.
Yugi rounded on him. "After everything you've seen, Kaiba, everything that has happened to you and to Mokuba, how can you continue to deny what is right in front of you?"
"Are you deaf or just incredibly stupid?" Kaiba scoffed. "I've already told you, believing in Shadows doesn't mean I have to jump at them."
"So it doesn't matter to you that we're putting people in danger? Your own brother has already been affected by this, and it doesn't matter?"
"My brother is no longer in the tournament," Kaiba pointed out.
"Seto, what is the matter with you?" Mokuba jumped in, clearly almost as angry as Yugi was. "I may not be in the tournament, but Rebecca is. And Yugi, and Joey, and Mai. Our friends, Seto—no wait, make that my friends. You're so above having friends!"
"Mokuba!" Kaiba barked. "Let me handle this!"
"No, Seto. I'm not a ten-year-old kid anymore. I have my own opinions and I think you're acting like a jerk"
Kaiba's jaw was clenched so tight Yugi half expected it to crack in two. "If you—all of you—" he added, including Mai and all of Yugi's friends, "would put aside your self-righteous indignation for two seconds and think, you might recall that I was the one who didn't want any part of this in the first place. But we—all of us—went ahead with this tournament. What's done is done. If we have opened some kind of Shadow Game—and I'm not saying we have—then what would be the point of stopping now? As much as it pains me to ever agree with Pegasus about anything, he's right. Walking away from the fight now serves no useful purpose."
"You think protecting Rebecca from a Shadow Game isn't a useful purpose?" Mokuba argued.
"You know, Rebecca is standing right here and Rebecca can speak for herself," the child prodigy interjected, her arms crossed as she eyed all of them like a mother about to lay the law down on her wayward children. "And so help me, if one of you even thinks about reminding me I'm only thirteen, I will personally take thirteen years off your own life. I'm not afraid to duel."
Mai grinned, impressed by the little munchkin, while Yugi looked at her in surprise. "It's been bothering you since we got here. How can you want to duel?"
"I didn't say I want to duel, I said I'm not afraid to duel."
"Rebecca—"
"No, listen. You said it just now. I've been creeped out by this place since we got here, before the dueling started. I think you're right about something being really wrong with the duels, but something was really wrong before that, and not dueling isn't going to solve anything. At least if we keep going, we're working toward something, toward fighting it instead of waiting to see what happens."
"But the more the duels happen, the worse it gets for you. I can tell how much these duels are affecting you. Like—"
"Like Egypt," she agreed softly. "That's why I want it to stop."
"Dueling won't make it stop, it will make it worse!"
She seemed to contemplate this for a moment, her eyes somber. "Maybe. But it seems like something we have to do. Doesn't it?"
Mai watched the internal struggle play out his face before he exhaled in frustration. "Rebecca, I promised your grandfather I'd watch out for you. But I can't decide for you whether or not you should duel." He turned to Joey and Mai as well. "What do you two think? We're in this tournament together."
"You're the brains of this operation, pal. If you're out, I'm out. If you're in, I'm in," Joey said resolutely. Serenity, still at his side, looked worried, but patted his shoulder supportively.
"Mai?"
"It could've been worse," she shrugged. "At least we seem to go back to normal when the duel's over."
Mai saw Yugi's eyes meet each of his friends' in turn, duelists and non-duelists alike. Last they rested on Téa. She looked worried, but gave a small nod of support.
"Well, Yugi-boy?" Pegasus purred, already knowing he'd won.
"Fine," Yugi spat. "I'll stay in the tournament."
"Well then, it looks like we continue," Pegasus chirped. "Oh, Yugi-boy, don't look at me like that. It really is in everyone's best interest to continue."
Yugi gritted his teeth, then turned and stalked off after Goradon to inform him that he would remain in the tournament after all. Mai started walking away, then felt a hand on her shoulder.
"You okay?" Joey asked her, his voice thick with worry.
She raised her eyebrows. "Am I okay? Joey, I am so sorry…"
He shook his head and put his finger to her lips, giving her an unexpected jolt. "Shh. I told you, I'm fine." He gripped her shoulders with both hands. "But I'm really worried about you. I…" He looked down as if it were suddenly too hard to look into her eyes. "I can't stand to watch you duel in another Shadow Game, not after what happened to you the last time."
Mai swallowed as images from her nightmares, now four nights straight, flashed through her mind. But Joey's concern for her melted through them. Just a little. Screwing on her best cocky smile, she lifted his chin so he was looking at her again, she said, "Hey, who do you think you're talking to? Nobody gets the best of Mai Valentine. We'll show 'em."
He gave her a tight smile. "You bet. And you won't be alone this time," he vowed, his eyes boring into her and giving her another jolt. "I promise you that."
She nodded, unable to find any words to respond.
After what seemed like a long moment, he broke eye contact with her and let go of her shoulders. "Let's find a good place to watch Rebecca's duel."
"I'll be right with you," she said. "There's something I have to do first."
Looking around, she spotted Renée Carole. "Hey Renée," she called out, trotting over to where the girl was standing down the beach with Christine Aileas. She cringed when Renée gave her a cold look and backed away.
"No listen, I want to apologize," she said, holding up her hands in surrender. I seem to be doing that a lot lately, she thought with an inward sigh. But hey, it beat blaming other people for her screw-ups. "I don't know why I acted that way, but you didn't deserve that. You're a good duelist and you did a great job out there."
She shrugged noncommittally. "I understand how it is. Adversaries on the field."
It was as close to an acceptance of her apology as she would get. Mai nodded, then turned to go find Joey. Instead, she found herself facing Serenity.
"Oh! Serenity!" she cried, shame coloring her cheeks. It was one thing to have Serenity hear the stories of the Orichalcos duels; it was quite another to know she had personally witnessed Mai attacking her brother.
"Mai, I need to talk to you for a second," Serenity said abruptly.
"Okay," Mai said uncertainly. She followed Serenity even further down the beach, away from the group waiting for the next duel.
"I want you to know something," Serenity began. "I know I don't fully understand everything that happened between you and Joey when you were in California three years ago, but I've seen and experienced enough weird stuff since I've met all of Joey's friends to know that things aren't always what they seem. There are a couple of things I do know, though. I know you really care about my brother and that you won't hurt him again, not like that anyway, and I know that you are a really strong person. No matter what happens to you, you always come back fighting and you do the right thing in the end, no matter how hard that is. I want you to know I really admire you for that."
"Serenity—"
"When I first met you, I thought you were the coolest person I'd ever met. You were this great duelist, competing with all the guys. You talked cool, you dressed cool, you knew how to handle the attention from guys who just saw you as some kind of prize. You refused to be that, and I've always wanted to be like you.
"But you know, I was fourteen, and I don't think I really got what really makes someone cool, and it wasn't any of that. It's about being your own person, and you are that. No one can control you, Mai, ever. Not even in a Shadow Game."
Mai looked down. "I wish that were true, Serenity," she said softly.
"It is true. Whatever happens, whatever power is working here, making everyone act crazy, it's only temporary. It won't control you because you will keep fighting and keep choosing the right path, even if it takes a while to find it."
"You give me too much credit."
"No, I don't. You could have given up after whatever happened in California. Maybe you wanted to and that's why we didn't hear from you for so long. But you're here and I can't even begin to imagine how hard that must have been just to come here, but you did. That's how I know you and Joey and all the others will beat whoever is messing with us. Just keep fighting."