Lu: Hello, and welcome to the real story! Well, the beginning of the real story. I'm sorry, but the actual story begins next chapter! Sorry! But this is just like a bridge between the story and the prologue.

Chapter 11 – Meat Dripping with Fat

The next week was fairly uneventful, except for Joey getting his stitches out and his crutches taken away. He was told not to do too much rigorous exercise, because his leg might not have been able to take it.

Two weekends after the recounted incident, the school holidays began. The holidays at Domino High were based around the Duel Monsters tournaments, since so many students participated in them. Kaiba's tournament was to start in a week, so the gang needed to get moving if they wanted to get there in time. It was in a city not far from Domino as the crow flies, but no one had a car so they were walking. So the group decided they would set off on the Monday after school broke up. Serenity was at camp for the first couple of days before the tournament started, but her friend at the camp lived close to the city, and offered to give her a lift.

Yugi hung the thick chain that held his Millennium Puzzle around his neck, and the connection between him and his Yami began once again.

/Hello, Yugi/ said Yami's deep voice from the soul room.

/ Hi Yami// said Yugi cheerfully. / Ready for the tournament//

Yami nodded. /I'm looking forward to it./

/We better get going; I told the guys that we'd meet them in fifteen minutes. Have you checked out the deck/ asked Yugi, referring to the changes that he had made to their deck last night.

/Yes. I think that you have made some very good changes/ said Yami.

Yugi smiled. /Thanks./

/Let's go. I don't think Joey will be able to wait/ smirked Yami.

/Yes he will. The doctor told him not to do much exercise for the next couple of weeks. Mai'll make him calm down/ said Yugi.

Yami laughed. /I'll bet she will./

Yugi laughed in reply. /Yeah. Let's go, before one of them comes around here looking for us./

Yugi met Joey, Tristan, Tea and Mai at the last house before the city opened up onto the country. Yami had been right - Joey was eager to go, and Mai was holding him back.

"Come on, let's go!" said Joey, straining against Mai's grip. Mai sighed and released him. That caused him to fall over. Tristan laughed.

"Great job there, Wheeler," he chuckled.

"Shaddup, Tristan," muttered Joey, picking himself up.

"Let's go," said Yugi. "We gotta get moving if we plan on getting there in plenty of time, preferably a couple of days."

Everyone nodded. So they set off.

"Joey, slow down. You know what the doctor said," said Mai after a while when Joey was becoming very hyperactive.

"Oh, Mai, come on, give me a break. I can't help it dat I haven't had any exercise in de last couple of days, and I need to have a decent amount each day. And, to fill up de time I usually shoot hoops etc. so on and so forth, I eat. So I have more to eat and less exercise," complained Joey.

Mai grabbed the back of his shirt. "At least walk in the middle of the group," she prompted.

Joey was about to refuse, but then Mai said "For me?"

Tea, Tristan and Yugi knew what was going to happen. Joey liked Mai too much to refuse a request like that. He had risked his life for her once, and they were sure that he would obey a simple command like that.

Joey looked at Mai and sighed. "Fine," he said, and dropped back. Tristan prodded him in the back. Joey ignored him.

That night, they set up camp. Tea and Mai planned on sleeping in Mai's tent, while the other three were going to sleep outside.

"What's dere to eat?" asked Joey eagerly around the campfire.

"I think I got something we can cook in here," said Tristan, digging into his backpack. "Ah ha!" he said, extracting a small package.

"What is it?" asked Tea.

"Just a bit of meat, but something none the less," said Tristan.

"Tristan, that meat is dripping in fat," exclaimed Mai in disgust.

"But it's still food," said Joey, grabbing the parcel from Tristan, and chucking it into the fire. "It'll be done soon."

A couple of minutes later, the boys were wolfing down the meat. Tea and Mai stared at Yugi, Joey and Tristan in disgust.

"I can't see how you guys can eat that," said Tea.

"It's nice. 'Ere, 'ave some," said Tristan, with his mouth full of food. He chucked a piece at Tea, who made a sound of repulsion and backed away.

Lu: Yay! All done. Warning: I may not be able to update once per day because I've got a novella to write for school. I'm so sorry!

Yami Lu: Yeah, she's gotta write a thriller story. Ha!

Lu: Shut up! Review!