Lu: Hello! Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is so cool! Sorry, this is a fanfic, huh?
Yami Lu: It's been fifteen chapters, you should have figured it out by now.
Lu: I hope I get 100 reviews soon. That would be so cool! I'm on, what, 79 now?
Chapter 16 – I'm Coming!
Back outside, Yugi and Ryou were having a conversation in whispered voices.
"What are we going to do?" asked Yugi. "We have to head off soon if we want to get into the city in time for the tournament, but we can't really go while Joey and Mai are angry at Tristan."
"I don't know," sighed Ryou. "Maybe we can talk to Joey or Mai..."
"Once Mai's in a mood, she doesn't snap out of it very quickly. Joey might listen..." said Yugi doubtfully.
"But he's changed so much since he started liking Mai. It's been more and more obvious each time we have gone to a tournament. In the first tournament, they were always fighting. In the second tournament, Joey would have died for Mai if you hadn't stepped in. And now, they've been caught kissing. He's been changing subtly ever since he met Mai. Who knows how he'll react?" asked Ryou.
"Well, we're never going to get out of here if we don't try," said Yugi, getting up. Ryou got up and followed Yugi over to Mai's tent.
"Mai! Joey! Can Ryou and I talk to you for a second?" There was some scrambling noises from inside the tent, and then Mai's voice said "Sure, come in!" Yugi and Ryou entered and found Joey standing up looking stunned and Mai sitting down crossed legged on her sleeping bag.
"OK, Joey, Mai, we need to talk to you," said Ryou. "We've stopped here for a while so Joey's leg can heal, but now it's getting better, and we think we better move off, if we want to get to the tournament on time."
"That's right," said Yugi. "But we can't really start off while you two won't talk to Tristan. So can you try and make it up with Tristan?"
"Yeah, I suppose," said Joey with a sigh. "I hope he understands what he did was wrong."
"I think he does," said Ryou. "He sounded like he meant it. He didn't want to tell you guys, but we wouldn't let him know that you two... well, you know... without you two knowing."
"Well, it isn't as big a problem as we thought it would be," said Joey. "We were only going to tell you two, because we knew that you two would be cool with it. But Tristan and Tea we weren't so sure about. We weren't going to tell them until later."
"Well, we're glad that you trust us Joey, but it would have been hard to conceal it from those two. As soon as Tristan saw you two, he came back and told us," said Yugi. "Ryou and I told him to leave you two alone, but Tea wanted to know more."
"I expected as much," said Mai. It was the first time she had spoken since Yugi and Ryou had come into the tent. She still seemed to be pouting.
"Mai, please, just forgive them," pleaded Ryou.
"C'mon Mai," urged Joey. "For me?"
She glanced up at Joey. "Fine," she said after a couple of seconds of looking at him.
"You really mean dat?" asked Joey.
"I suppose," she sighed, and got up with Joey's help.
"I'm glad that's settled," said Ryou to Yugi outside the tent.
"We'll get going tomorrow. Let's go tell the others," said Yugi, and ran off to find Tristan and Tea.
The next day, all six of them were packed and ready to set off. There was silence among the group as they began the journey to the city. Joey and Yugi had spent the whole of last night discussing duelling combos, with small inputs from Mai. She was still angry with Tristan, and wouldn't talk to him, so she tended to keep very quiet, only talking to Joey, and seldom talking at all. The other five tried starting conversations which included her, but they rarely lasted more than three minutes, as Mai was determined to make everyone else as miserable as she was.
When they set up camp the next night, she skulked in her tent all night, not even talking to Joey. He spent the whole night talking about who they thought they would see at the tournament.
"OK, Mako Tsunami will probably be dere," said Joey.
"Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, definitely," said Yugi.
"Espa Roba?" said Joey.
"Probably not," said Yugi seriously. "He cheated in the last tournament, Kaiba wouldn't let him in this one."
"Ishizu Ishtar? Even Marik?" said Joey, hopefully. He still wanted revenge on Malik Ishtar for what he did to Mai.
"Doubt it," said Yugi. "Kaiba hated Marik. He didn't like Ishizu much either. He hated all of her talk about destiny."
"Who else?" asked Joey. "Dere's gotta be someone else we know!"
"Duke Devlin?" said Yugi.
"Ooh, yeah!" said Joey, eagerly. He loved beating Duke Devlin. They were good friends and fierce rivals ever since Joey lost a match to him and had to get dressed up in a puppy dog suit to fulfil a bet he made with Duke. They were unable to think of anyone else that might be in the new tournament, so they packed up for the night and went to sleep.
In the morning, Mai had calmed down a bit and started talking to everyone, except Tristan. Tristan tried talking to her, but she just ignored him and talked to Joey. Joey was becoming a lot louder than he had been in the last couple of days. Yugi was glad to see this because he was worried that he was going to lose his best friend. But Joey still spent a lot of his time with Mai. They both walked at the back of the group. This may have been because of his leg or face, which was still open and bleeding, but Yugi was sure it was because Mai wanted to talk to Joey.
She still seemed to love him a lot, judging from all the laughing that came from the back of the group. Joey seemed to like her a lot too, but didn't seem to want to get too serious yet. Tristan and Tea did glimpse Mai kissing him from time to time, but it was never more than a peck on the cheek, and Joey seemed to freak out every time she did it. But Ryou and Yugi kept Tristan and Tea away from the couple, so they could have a little private time.
But Yugi was getting lonely. He didn't really like Tea or Mai more than friends, although he knew his Yami liked Tea a bit. Tristan was a good friend, but he didn't have the trust that Joey had in him. And Ryou, although he was nice and was probably most like Yugi, wasn't really the kind of best friend Yugi was looking for.
"Mai," said Joey one night. Her head was resting on his shoulder and they were looking at the stars.
"Yeah," she said dreamily.
"I reckon we gotta spend more time with de rest of de group," said Joey quickly.
Mai sighed and said "I know. Yugi is looking so lost lately. He really needs you there to support him."
"I'm glad you understand, Mai," said Joey, looking relieved. "I promise we'll still spend de nights together, but we probably should pay more attention to everyone else during de day." Mai took her head off his shoulder and turned to him. He looked at her. She kissed him on the lips again. Tristan happened to walk around the corner at that moment. He saw Mai kiss Joey. Joey once again froze over.
"He really doesn't know how to kiss," thought Tristan. Mai broke away again, looking slightly disappointed, but nevertheless pleased.
"I'm sorry, Mai," said Joey guiltily. "I just get really nervous when you kiss me, ever since Tristan came and saw you kiss me." Tristan blushed, although no one saw.
"It's OK, Joey, I get nervous too," she said quietly. She stood up. "Well, it's getting late, we better go to bed."
She helped Joey to his feet, and then retreated to her tent. Joey went and set up his bed outside.
The next morning, as Joey, Yugi, Tristan, Tea and Ryou were having breakfast, Tea alerted them to an astonishing fact.
"Hey, Joey, where's Mai?" she asked him, while reaching out for a piece of bread for her sandwich.
"I dunno," said Joey, his mouth half full of an apple. "Last time I saw her was last night when she was going to bed."
"Come to think of it, has anyone seen Mai this morning?" asked Ryou. Everyone murmured "No".
"Where is she?" said Joey in a concerned voice. "Mai?" he shouted, when nobody could think of an answer. He looked around the campsite with the others.
"Maybe she's still asleep," he thought, and moved towards the tent. When he poked his head inside, he saw, not Mai, but a note.
"Hey, guys, come over here!" he shouted over his shoulder, and ducked inside the tent to pick up the note. He read it with wide eyes. "Oh no!" he shouted. Yugi, Ryou, Tristan and Tea ran up behind him.
"What is it?" asked Yugi. Joey held up the note with trembling fingers.
It read: "I may have failed at the Battle City Tournament, Pharaoh, but I can try again. If you want to see the girl alive again, meet me at the top of the last mountain before the city of Seto Kaiba's tournament." It was signed on the bottom by Malik Ishtar.
"He's back," growled Joey, while the others stood there with their mouths open slightly. There was a sudden flash of light, and Yami Yugi emerged from the Millennium Puzzle. Joey had a determined face on, although tears were dripping down it and mingling with the blood still seeping from the open wound on his face.
"We've gotta go get her," he said in a determined voice.
"Joey, we can't just rush into this," said Yami in a soothing voice.
"No, Yami, dis time he's gone too far," Joey growled. Yami did not reply to that. Joey was soon ready to go. He was ready to ditch the crutches, his leg was just about better.
Yami, Ryou, Tea and Tristan decided that it was foolish for all of them to go, as they might get into danger. Yami and Ryou were to accompany Joey for the rescue mission, while Tristan and Tea would stay with them until they began the ascent of the mountain.
"Malik, you better leave Mai alone," Joey thought with his teeth gritted.
Meanwhile, at the top of the mountain, Mai was struggling against the chains binding her to a great stone tablet.
"Malik, let me out of here," she shouted.
"Shut up, girl," he snarled. He was tightening her binds.
"Malik, Joey and..." she started.
"Oh, yes, Joey," he smirked. "Your boyfriend."
"Go away," she said quietly. He grinned.
"Joey, Yami, Ryou, Tea and Tristan are going to come up here, and then you've got a problem on your hands," she shouted.
"Shut up!" he shouted, and pressed a button. Mai immediately screamed.
"Now will you be quiet," he snarled. Mai shut her mouth and nodded limply...
"Mai!" shouted Joey, waking up from a nightmare.
"What is it, Joey?" asked Yugi sleepily.
"Mai's in trouble!" Joey shouted.
"We know that, brainiac," said Tea.
"No, she's hurt, we gotta get to her!" he said, standing up.
"Joey, calm down," said Yugi, alarmed.
"No, Yuge, she's in real trouble!" shouted Joey.
"Joey, please, calm down!" said Yugi.
"Yuge, you don't understand, I just saw Malik torturing Mai!" Joey shouted. Yugi's eyes widened. The Puzzle flashed again, and Yami appeared in Yugi's place.
"Let's go," he said, standing up next to Joey. Joey and Yami each picked up their packs, and walked over to Ryou to wake him up.
"Wa?" said Ryou sleepily.
"Ryou, we've gotta go now! Mai is in more danger than we realised!" shouted Joey. With a bit of encouragement and abuse from Joey, Ryou got clumsily to his feet and picked up his pack.
"Let's go," said Joey in a determined voice, and began striding in the direction of the mountain.
"Goodbye, Tea and Tristan," said Yami, before turning and following Ryou and Joey. After many hours of walking, and in some cases running, they reached the foot of the mountain.
"Don't worry, Mai, I'm coming for ya," thought Joey...
Lu: Poor Joey and Mai! I'm sorry it's a bit late today, I was watching Queer Eye last night so I had to update at school in the morning.
Yami Lu: Do you ever work in the mornings?
Lu: Yes! OK, not that often. Mornings are known as my fanfiction time. Does anyone know the name of the fic where the Yu-Gi-Oh! cast watched the dubbed version of the show? 'Cause I had to stop reading it halfway through, and I want to finish it. Review!