12. The Quarter Finals

Breakfast Thursday morning went at a more relaxed pace since there were only four duels to fit into the day—two before lunch and two after—instead of eight. While they ate, Evan Haines and Amy Burns made an announcement brought cheers from everyone: they'd spent the morning heating up some water to use for bathing. The stream where they'd been getting water was too cold, so no one had really washed since Monday and everyone was thrilled at the prospect. Amy and the nine other women went first, then the men would go in two shifts.

As good as even sponging off sounded, this announcement had nothing to do with Yugi's good mood. While the women were off washing, he found himself staring blankly at the fire, reliving the previous night with Téa, while Joey sat next to him, also too preoccupied to talk, so Yugi was not interrupted from his daydreaming. It was short-lived regardless; Tristan appeared behind them and jerked them both up off their seats by the collars of their jackets.

"All right, Romeos, Evan and Amy used up all the drinking water for washing up, so guess who's just been assigned to go get more. Come on," he told them, indicating several empty water containers. "You can both moon over your girlfriends later."

Yugi blushed, the words 'your' and 'girlfriend' sounding foreign to him together in the same sentence. Foreign in a really nice way, though.

Joey, on the other hand, immediately put up a protest. "I was not mooning and I don't have a girlfriend," he shot back as they gathered up the empty thermoses and headed south toward the stream.

"Oh give me a break," Tristan rolled his eyes. "You're so moony I'd be surprised if you could even tell me what my name is. And I can take Yugi being coy, but you're too much of a big mouth for that." He shook his head. "How is it that both my best friends get girls out here in the middle of nowhere? Even Mokuba's getting some action while I'm stuck in the friendship zone."

"And as long as it's my sister you're talking about, you better stay stuck there," Joey warned.

"Hey, you promised you'd lay off about that," Tristan said testily.

"Yeah… well… I'm just saying," Joey muttered.

Tristan threw his head back in self-pity. "I can't believe I'm forced to live vicariously through the two biggest dorks on the planet," he moaned. He looked at Yugi. "Tell us about your little walk last night, Yugi."

Yugi felt his cheeks burn. "I… uh…" he stammered.

"Yeah, Yuge," Joey added, nudging him with his shoulder, "you two definitely seemed real happy after that walk."

"Stop it!" Yugi protested. "I… that's…"

"Oh, don't get your shorts in a knot, you don't have to give any details," Joey laughed. "Just tell us, though, Yuge, things are going good, huh?" Joey asked.

"Oh yeah," Yugi replied, trying not to gush but failing miserably. Remembering both the things she'd said to him the previous evening and the time they had spent not talking, he couldn't help but wear a broad smile. "She's… she's amazing."

"Oh really…?" Tristan drawled, eyebrows raised.

"I don't mean that," Yugi said hastily, wondering if sometime in this lifetime he could manage to go more than five minutes without blushing. At least he was getting a lot of practice functioning while mortified. "I mean the way she knows me like no one else does."

"Yeah, she always was the one who got the whole Pharaoh thing," Joey agreed, and Yugi was grateful for the non-salacious reply.

"Well that, yeah, but not just that either. It's like she can see right through me and pull out the best in me. That's why I've always…" he trailed off, self-conscious once more.

"Had a thing for her since forever? We know, dude, it's not exactly a state secret," Tristan said.

"I know you know! You have all made it abundantly clear that everyone knows I've always liked Téa," he grumbled. "It doesn't exactly make it less embarrassing to talk about!"

"We're your friends," Joey said simply.

"I know; that's why I am telling you. This is pretty much the best thing that's happened to me ever. I can't not talk about it with my best friends."

"This is so cool. I told you she had a thing for you," Joey cried jovially, clapping Yugi on the back hard enough to make him stumble. "I'm really, really happy for you, buddy."

"Yeah, Yugi, it's awesome," Tristan agreed. "We've been pulling for the two of you to get together for a long time. A long, long—"

"Okay, I get it!"

Tristan laughed and turned to Joey next. "Okay, your turn. Tell us about Mai."

"Not much to tell," Joey shrugged, uncharacteristically quiet all of a sudden.

"I doubt that," Tristan said, nudging him. "I'll bet she's a great kisser."

Joey slugged Tristan on the shoulder. "Watch it," he growled.

"Oh come on, throw me a bone here!" Tristan moaned. "I can understand why Yugi won't dish, but you? You've bragged about plenty of girls before."

"Shut up!"

"Just tell me about one kiss," he taunted.

"Give it a rest, Tristan," Joey warned.

"Dude…"

"I wouldn't know, okay?"

"Oh come on, you're full of it!"Tristan griped, but Yugi believed him.

"Just drop it," Joey grumbled.

"You're not serious? 'Cause dude, I know I said before she doesn't care about anyone but herself, but I've gotta admit that I was totally wrong. Contrary to all known laws of nature and everything that is good and right in this universe, she is actually into you," Tristan said. "Into you," he repeated, shaking his head like it was the most impossible scenario he could imagine.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means she is into you. You do get how huge this is, don't you?"

"Maybe," Joey said noncommittally.

"Maybe? Maybe? Geez, Joey, you've only been carrying a torch for her for, what, like four years now? And here she's into you and you haven't even kissed her?"

"Since when is it any of your business?" Joey said irritably.

They reached the stream and knelt down scooping up water with the containers they'd brought, while Tristan continued ranting, "The hottest girl who will ever even look at guys like us twice is into you—and don't even try to pretend you're not into her, too, because we all know you've fallen hard for her. You know you wanna kiss her… at the very least."

"Okay, yeah, I wanna kiss her," Joey admitted, then sighed softly. "Man, do I wanna…."

"Then why the heck haven't you?" Tristan groaned, throwing his hands up in the air.

"You wouldn't understand," Joey replied.

"I would, Joey" Yugi said suddenly. He'd not intended on getting involved in this conversation, but something told him there was something here that was important to Joey and that maybe he should talk about it.

Joey grinned. "Yeah, Yuge, you probably would," he said.

"So what, I'm an idiot? Yugi would understand but not me?" Tristan complained.

"No, you'd just make fun of me," Joey retorted.

"I'm your friend!"

Joey sighed, resigned. "Okay, fine. Here's the thing. Look at her life. Everywhere she goes, guys are hitting on her, always wanting something from her."

"Uh," Tristan said hesitantly, "Not to make you mad or anything, but you do realize that she, uh, pretty much works it, don't you? And she knows how to handle herself."

"What am I, blind and stupid?" Joey asked, then quickly added, "Don't answer that," when Tristan started to open his mouth. "Listen, I know she totally flaunts it, okay? I know she uses flirting like a weapon to get whatever she wants.

"But think about her life, Tristan. You've heard where she comes from. Her mom was a lush who died when she was pretty young and her dad was a filthy rich gambler who owned casinos all over the world and who had no use for her until she hit puberty. Then when she was barely older than Rebecca, he was dressing her up in short skirts and low-cut tops and showing her off at his high-stakes poker games to distract his opponents. Barely older than Rebecca. Think about that. Can you even wrap your mind around the concept of someone dolling up Rebecca and using her to distract a bunch of dirty old men?"

This image chilled Yugi to the core. Though they'd all first heard about Mai's past way back at Battle City, she'd been rather cavalier about it at the time, so he'd never really given it much thought, but putting Rebecca in her place brought home how horrific it must have been. The idea of anyone so young being treated like that made him suddenly furious on her behalf.

Joey muttered, "I used to think my dad was a rat bastard—"

"Dude, your dad is a rat bastard," Tristan pointed out.

"Okay, yeah, but still, her dad better hope he never meets me in a dark alley," Joey threatened, his voice low and thick.

"So yeah," he went on, "she knows how to handle herself, because she had to learn when she was fourteen how to handle herself. And then when she was sixteen she got away from that jerk and went out on her own, pretending to be twenty-one to work on a cruise ship casino where more men—sleazy men more than twice her age—constantly hit on her. Constantly wanting something from her, and she's sixteen.

"Just think for a second. Imagine Téa around the time Battle City was happening, imagine guys treating her that way. Or Serenity just two years ago. Makes your blood run cold, doesn't it?"

He shook his head. "It's just… I don't want to be just another guy who's out to get something from her. She's important to me, and not because she's hot. Besides, she's going through some stuff right now and needs to know she has friends, people who care about her for her and that's what I want to be for her. Like I should've been after Battle City."

"I already told you, Joey, what happened after Battle City is not your fault," Yugi insisted, his anger and revulsion over Mai's past melting into admiration for his best friend.

"Whatever," Joey shrugged. "Anyway, that's why I haven't tried to kiss her. I'm not trying anything until I'm sure she completely gets that she means way more to me than that."

"That's really cool, Joey," Yugi told him earnestly.

"Yeah… that's like… almost sensitive," Tristan said, but the mocking was gentle and behind it he, too, seemed impressed.

"Shut up," Joey said without much venom. He looked a little embarrassed.

"You're a good guy, Joey," Yugi told him. "She's lucky to have you."

"Nah, I'm the lucky one. Mai's an incredible person. You guys have no idea. She's just so alive. No matter what happens to her, she keeps bouncing back. And under all that bluster, she has a huge heart."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Yugi grinned at his friend.

If Joey made the connection, he didn't indicate it. "I don't know how a girl like her even knows a guy like me is alive."

"Joey, you—" Yugi began, but was interrupted when they heard crunching in the underbrush behind them. They turned to see Pegasus emerge from the trees at the edge of the stream. He was carrying a canteen and was unscrewing the lid, apparently preparing to fill it at the stream. He stopped short, startled when he saw them, and Yugi was surprised to see an almost wild, fearful look in his eye. It was gone in an instant, replaced by something that looked like a mix of relief and impatience.

"Oh, it's you," he said.

"Since when do you fetch your own water?" Joey sneered. "Isn't that the kind of thing you keep Croquet around for?"

"I'm not really in the mood, Joey," Pegasus said peevishly as he knelt down beside the stream and dipped his canteen into it.

Yugi frowned. No calling Joey "Joseph." No silky smooth manners or slick, singsong voice. "What's wrong, Pegasus?"

The white-haired man looked at him. "Our situation may be much worse than we feared," he said, and again Yugi saw that sort of wild fear in his eyes. This was extremely unsettling; Pegasus was always calmly composed and gave the impression he was at every moment in complete control of his surroundings. He looked even more disturbed than he had on the night the ship had sunk.

"Why? What happened?"

Pegasus just shook his head. "I... I don't know. It may not be real, I need to find out."

"What may not be real?"

He shook his head again. "No, Yugi, not yet. You can't be involved in this yet. You have to finish the tournament. I will take care of this."

"Take care of what?" Yugi demanded, his frustration rising. "Pegasus, what's going on? What has you so freaked out?"

"There isn't time, and you cannot afford to be distracted from the tournament."

"I'm so sick of hearing about the stupid tournament!" Joey said. "We're shipwrecked and all the freaky stuff going on and that's all you can talk about! I say we bag the whole thing!"

"No kidding!" Tristan agreed.

Pegasus ignored them. He stood up and capped his canteen, slung it over his shoulder, and went straight to Yugi. Grabbing him tightly by both shoulders, he looked intently into his eyes. "Yugi, Goradon won't stop the tournament, so you must finish it. Promise me that no matter what happens to me, you won't quit as long as the tournament is still on."

Yugi was taken aback by his intensity. "What do you think will happen to you?"

"It doesn't matter. You and the others who have fought in the Shadow Games before, you have to figure out how to break free from whatever is bringing out your dark sides when you duel or you won't be able to fight when the real battle comes."

"What real battle? Would you mind cluing us in here?" Joey asked.

"The Shadow Realm!" Pegasus snapped at Joey, but didn't let go of Yugi's shoulders. "What have we been talking about for two days?"

"You've been doing a lot of talking but you haven't said anything," Tristan said. "What do you know that you're not telling us?"

"Yugi, we were both of us keepers of Millennium Items. You know the Shadow Realm is here and you know the only way to fight it is to prepare. I have my own quest for the truth and I have to go now, but Goradon will continue the tournament for his own reasons. You and your friends, Yugi, you are the warriors. If I succeed in what I'm going to do, then it will all be done and we can all get on with our lives. If I fail… If I fail, you will have to fight, and you won't be prepared if you don't keep dueling, if you don't pass the challenges and figure out how to stop the Shadows from controlling you. Promise me, Yugi. Promise me you'll keep going."

"I..." Yugi stammered, unsure what to say. He wanted to know what was scaring Pegasus like this, wanted to do something more than just continue on with the tournament like nothing was happening. He felt the urgency coming off Pegasus in waves, felt the need to prepare, but he didn't know how. Still unsure what to say, he simply nodded.

This was enough for Pegasus. He let go of Yugi's shoulders. "I hope to be back before dusk. If I don't return, don't come after me. Don't let anything distract you from preparing to fight." With that, he turned and briskly waded across the stream, heading further inland.

"Man that guy is a freak," Joey seethed. "I say we follow him."

"I think you're right," Tristan agreed.

But Yugi shook his head. "No. I want to know what's gotten into Pegasus as much as you do, but we decided yesterday that as long as Goradon insists on continuing with the tournament, we have to keep dueling. Whatever Pegasus is up to, he'll clue us in when he can."

"You don't actually trust him the way he's acting?" Joey asked, incredulous.

Yugi wasn't sure how to answer that. "It's not exactly trust. I just... I know he's on our side, that's all. However twisted his methods, he is as afraid of the Shadow Realm returning as we are."

"So you really wanna just let Pegasus go off on his own?" Tristan asked skeptically.

"I don't think we have much choice. I want us to be ready for our own battle. Whatever happens," Yugi replied.

Mai walked back to the campsite with the other women feeling both refreshed and annoyed with herself. Part of feeling refreshed was getting to wash up for the first time in three days. She hadn't been able to wash her hair and she had to put back on the same dirty clothes she'd been wearing since Monday night, and she really couldn't bathe so much as sponge off, but even that felt good. Mostly, though, she was still feeling a little euphoria from the time she'd spent with Joey that morning on the cliff.

That was the part that annoyed her.

It was strange, really. He'd gone through that whole elaborate "dancing" setup and she'd been sure it was an attempt to seduce her. And it had worked, too, much to her chagrin. She was not a woman easily seduced. She found most men's lines beyond boring and only once or twice since leaving her father and going out on her own that she had ever been genuinely interested in anyone. Joey Wheeler was not only four years her junior, he was also not exactly what she'd consider a smooth operator, and yet, when he'd squeezed her hand, she'd thought he was going to kiss her and it surprised her how much she'd wanted him to.

But he hadn't kissed her. And that in itself was the oldest trick in the book, she knew. Make them come to you. Feign disinterest, be unattainable. It never worked on Mai Valentine. And yet, by not kissing her, he had made her want to kiss him that much more.

But somehow, as cynical as she was about men and the tricks they used to get what they wanted from women, she was sure it wasn't like that at all with Joey. He had been anything but disinterested and hadn't tried to pretend to be. Instead, he did something totally unexpected: he reminded her that he cared. That he was there for her, would always be there for her. No one in her life had ever done anything like that for her before. He had tried to reach into her very nightmare and change the ending and she knew then it was no seduction, no game. Joey Wheeler simply wasn't that sophisticated.

She'd almost kissed him at that point, and even though she told herself that she'd refrained just in case it was a ploy after all, she knew that wasn't really it. It was almost as if a kiss would somehow have ruined the moment, that what he had given her was so much more than that. That scared her and energized her all at the same time. Flings she understood. Flirting, romance, coy games, kisses that meant nothing, these were all her strengths. Strip all these things away and what was left was something she wasn't sure she was prepared to feel. Yet here she was, reliving the morning over and over like a lovesick teenager. Hell, she was no better than Téa, who'd had a dopey grin plastered on her face all morning after her evening with Yugi.

Get a grip, Mai, she told herself firmly. But her own smile couldn't quite fade.

When they reached the campsite, none of the boys from their gang were anywhere to be found.

"They're probably taking their turn washing up," Mai said to Téa, Serenity, and Rebecca who had been walking back with her. They sat down by the fire to wait for their return.

It turned out to be a shorter wait than they'd expected. A few minutes later, Joey, Yugi, and Tristan appeared, lugging plastic jugs full of water. After they delivered it to one of the crewmembers by the fire, they joined the girls.

"Where's Duke?" Yugi asked, and Mai could tell from his face that something had happened.

"We thought he was with you," Téa replied. "Why, what's wrong?"

The boys sat down with them. "We got sent out to bring back some water and we ran into Pegasus," Tristan informed them.

Mai raised her eyebrow. "What's he doing out in the woods?"

"I don't know," Yugi replied, "but something spooked him. He said he had to find out something and that he hoped to be back by dusk but that if he doesn't come back, we need to keep going with the tournament as long as Goradon keeps it going. Made me promise we wouldn't quit."

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that," Téa said warily. "What is he up to?"

"See?" Joey said, prodding Yugi. "She doesn't trust him either!"

"None of us do," Mai added.

"I'm telling you, we should have followed him," Joey said.

"No," Yugi said wearily, and Mai could tell they probably had been having this argument all the way back to the campsite. "I don't like what's happening with the duels any more than you guys, and I don't totally trust Pegasus, either, but something freaked him out and it takes a lot to freak out Pegasus. Whatever is coming, it's worse than the sort of quasi-Shadow Games we've already been dealing with. We've got to be ready. We've got to figure out how to not lose control."

Mai steepled her fingers under her chin. "If something worse is coming from the Shadow Realm, we're going to have to duel our way through it, aren't we? And we can't do that if we're not ourselves."

"Exactly," Yugi affirmed.

"But how do we not lose control? It isn't like we didn't try, at least not the three of us," Joey said, indicating himself, Yugi, and Rebecca. "By the time we dueled, we already knew what was coming, but none of us could stop it anyway."

"I don't know," Yugi admitted. "And no matter what Pegasus says, if he doesn't come back by dusk, we'll go after him. This section of the island isn't that big. But in the meantime, let's just try and get through today's duels. There are only four of them."

Mai hugged herself, the exhilaration from earlier that morning draining away. Her last duel had been bad enough, but what was coming would be worse, they could all sense it. Another trip into the Shadow Realm. A new nightmare to create.

Joey sat down beside her and she looked at him. Whenever you reach for me, I will always reach back. Without even realizing she was doing it, she held her hand out to him. He immediately took it in his and gave it a squeeze.

The plan for the day was to begin the first two duels after everyone had a chance to wash up. Duke, along with Kaiba and Mokuba, had been with the first group of men to go after the women. When they got back, Yugi gave the three of them a quick recap. Duke still trusted Pegasus implicitly, but Kaiba was suspicious of his odd departure. Nevertheless, his priority continued to be finishing the tournament.

After Yugi, Joey, and Tristan got back from their turn at washing up, Mr. Goradon gathered them all on the beach. It was then that Evan noticed Pegasus's absence, to which Croquet gave a vague explanation, something about a morning constitutional. Evan wanted to stop everything to go search for him, but Goradon and Croquet assured him that despite his appearance, Pegasus was a seasoned outdoorsman and could take care of himself. This wasn't good enough for Evan, who took one of the other crewmembers to help him go search for the Duel Monster creator. Personally, Mai didn't give them good odds of success. If Pegasus didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

Meanwhile, Goradon continued with the tournament. He and Croquet put four slips of paper into someone's backpack and drew them out to determine the order of the duels. Joey's and Leon's came up first, then Mai's and Jacques's, Kaiba's and Zigfried's, and last, Yugi's and Rebecca's. Yugi was disappointed that he was last once again. He wasn't crazy about being slated to duel Rebecca while something might bring out the darkness in either or both of them and had hoped to get it over with quickly.

Joey and Leon's duel was first and went pretty much as they'd expected. It was a little hard to watch because Leon von Schroeder was such a nice kid. As he had with Mako, Joey played with a fierce anger, not only defeating Leon in a last-minute comeback, but knocking him off his feet in the process. He apologized when it was over as Serenity walked him off the field.

Mai and Jacques's duel was next. Jacques was a mean player to begin with and Mai very quickly fell under the control of whatever Shadow force was working on them and the duel as a result was vicious. Mai prevailed in the end, and Kaiba was satisfied to see Jacques out of the tournament at the hand of someone who, for whatever reason, was willing to play rough. When the duel ended, however, Mai seemed to have a harder time coming out the weird spell than Joey had; it took Joey shaking her by the shoulders before she was herself again, but at least she didn't knock him over this time.

At lunch, Evan and the other crewmember that had gone with him returned to report they had not found Pegasus. Again Croquet assured them of his boss's survival skills, but Evan insisted on putting together a full search party if he wasn't back before dinner.

After the lunch break—more fish provided by Mako—Kaiba and Zigfried dueled. It was similar to Mai's match against Jacques, although with Kaiba it was more difficult to tell if he was being controlled as he was a harsh player to begin with. This duel lasted longer than usual, but in the end Kaiba defeated Zigfried soundly with twenty-three hundred Life Points left when Zigfried's went down to zero.

After Kaiba's duel, there was an hour break before Yugi and Rebecca's duel was slated to begin. They were standing together on the beach along with their other friends, joking with each other, trying to keep their mood light, hoping to remember their affection for each other so things wouldn't go too badly. Rebecca was sharing a story about a weekend trip they'd taken with her grandfather before they'd left Cairo for the desert, back when they'd still been enjoying Egypt. She was interrupted by someone calling out Yugi's name.

Yugi turned to find Sho Inoue running down the beach toward them.

"Hey Sho," he greeted warmly.

"Yugi, I have something for you. Someone told me to give it to you just before your duel. It's supposed to bring you good luck." He stuck his hand into his jacket pocket and began fishing around for something. He found it and pulled his hand back out of his pocket, clutching something gold.

Joey, who was standing closer to Sho than Yugi, grabbed the thing from Sho. "A good luck charm, huh? Let me see—"

He stopped abruptly and dropped the object with a shriek.

"What's your problem?" Mai teased him, "you screamed like a little girl." But Yugi frowned when he saw that Joey's face was pale. Concerned, he bent down and picked the item off the beach and looked at it. When he saw what it was, he sucked in his breath and almost dropped it himself.

"It... it must be a fake," he breathed.

"Yugi, what is it?" Téa asked, alarmed.

He held the object out in front of him so they could all see. It was a golden ring about the size of Yugi's fist. It hung on a chain and had five arrows dangling from it. In the center of the ring was a triangle with the symbol of the Egyptian Eye of Horus embossed on it. Téa gasped when she saw it and Tristan exclaimed "No way!"

The object Sho had brought Yugi was the Millennium Ring.