I was putting on my socks when I heard Yami's voice through the curtain.
"You have ensembled a powerful deck," Yami said,
"But what if it's not good enough to win?"
"There comes a time when there is nothing left to do but believe in the deck that you have created. Yugi, this tournament isn't like any other challenge we have ever faced before."
"Right,"
"The fate of the world depends on us, so you have got to be strong and trust in your cards."
"But there is still so much we don't know."
"Our destiny will reveal itself when the time is right. According to Ishusu an ancient evil force will return to threaten the entire world, and you and I must defeat it –"
I cough and pulled back the curtain.
"I think you are missing another key player," I said with my eyebrow raised. Yami smiled sheepishly at me. "Yugi, don't worry ok, we are going to get through this," I took his hand. "Together,"
He smiled at me, giving me a small nod of confidence.
"Now we should get going, let the odds be ever in our favour." I smirked, before opening the door and gesturing for Yugi to go through…
"Yugi! Mana!" I turned around to see Mai waving as she ran towards us.
"Hey Mai," we said together, I pulled her into a hug.
"Pretty big turnout for this thing all losers."
"Well there's a lot of duellists here I've never seen before." Yugi looked around the crowd.
"Ohh this is so exciting, I wonder whose butt I should kick first in this tournament." Mai rubbed her hands together.
"Yugi, I thought I'd see you buzzing around," my stomach dropped. I knew that voice.
"If it isn't Rex Raptor and Weevil I thought I'd smelt something," Mai wrinkled her nose.
"I'll never forget how you played me in duellist kingdom like a chumasorus Mai, now it's payback time."
"And Yugi, next time we duel you won't be so lucky. My deck is infested –"
"Oh enough of the puns, and get lost."
"I'd suggest you do as the lady says." The towering shirtless Mako made his way over to the group. He looked at me and bowed. "And who is this lovely siren?"
I looked down avoiding the eyes trying to connect with mine.
"Forget her," Weevil sneered, he spoke again, but a leather clad arm gently tugged me away. I looked up to see Yugi and Mai backing up from the three bickering duellists.
"Thank God," I muttered.
"Oh you're not off the hook yet," Mai said putting her hands on her hips. "You need to learn how to talk to boys."
"I already have a boyfriend," I protested, her eyes widened as she broke into a grin.
"Who? Is he a duellist or someone from school?" she looked over our heads as though she would recognise this mysterious person.
"Oh someone I've known for a long time," I smirked. "He's really old fashioned."
"I look forward to you telling me all about him," she said. "But for now I have a competition to win, I'll see you both at the finals." She waved as she walked away.
"Nice joke," Yugi nudged me.
"I wasn't joking, all of what I said was true," my smirk turned into a grin. "Let's go find the others before this starts, and you get swarmed as the current champ," I grabbed my brothers jacket as we made our way through the crowds. After ten minutes of searching, we still couldn't find Joey.
"Greeting's Duellist, and welcome to Battle City."
I looked up to see a giant blip; I rolled my eyes, he was such a show off.
"It's time to put your duelling skills to the test. I hope none of you entered my tournament looking for friendly competition, Battle City's going to be an all out war. Before the duels begin I thought I'd let you all know what you're in case you want to back out. Let's begin with my new duel discs. Everyone who I decided was good enough to enter received one. With it, you duel anytime, anywhere and they contain a tracking chip, that allows me to watch every move you make. Next let's talk about the most important tournament rule, the loser of each duel is required to fork over their rarest card to the winner. If you don't have the guts to risk losing your precious cards then I suggest you forfeit now, and anyone who is foolish enough to challenge me to a duel because I'll also be competing!"
"Thought so," I heard Yugi mutter.
"Big surprise," I rolled my eyes.
"Don't get your hopes up because I intend to win and there's one duellist out there who I can't wait to beat."
"You're on Kaiba," Yugi muttered.
"And speaking of winning,"
Oh my god will he shut up, I thought my neck sore from looking above.
"Only the best duellists will make it to the final round and these finals will be held in a hidden location. In order to find the finals, you'll need these locator cards. You've each received one with your duel disc, but don't get to excited because one's not enough. You need six of them to make it to the finals. Every time you win a duel you get a locator card from your losing opponent. When six cards are put together, they make a map of battle city and –"
Oh, I had had enough he was as bad as Pegasus we get it the six cards give you the map to the finals. I yanked my headphones from my bag and began to blast music to drown out his words. I watched until the helicopter flew away, then removed the tunes from my ears.
Yugi nudged me as I heard Joey's voice.
"Come on," Yugi said grabbing my hand and pulling me towards Joey's furious voice.
As we pulled our way to the front of the crowd, we saw Joey yelling at a guy in a cape. My heart thumped, this had to be to do with our destiny.
"Joey, what's going on? What are you yelling about?" Yugi grabbed his arm.
"That's one of the dudes who snatched my red eyes. They call themselves rare hunters, which translates to me as cape wearing, card takin' freakaziods, and this one owes me a rematch so I can win back my red eyes black dragon."
He closed his laptop. "I've already told you, you have nothing of use to me, but perhaps your friend would be interested in being my next victim. It would be my pleasure to hunt the Duellist Kingdom champion and snare his Dark Magician. So I challenge Yugi Muto to a duel."
"Look, this is between you and me got it," Joey clenched his fists.
"Joey wait," Yugi said. "Fine rare hunter I accept your challenge,"
"But Yug –"
"It's the only way to win back your red eyes black dragon. I promise you I'll beat him Joey." He said as he switched to the Pharaoh.
"So do we have a duel Rare Hunter," he asked. "As my first Battle City opponent if you lose you must return Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon."
"Yugi there is no way I am going to letting you risk your Dark Magician. I can take um, I'll never forgive myself if that ugly bum takes your most valuable card! I'll deal with this!"
Yami put's his hand up to stop Joey's speech.
"Thank you Joey, but I must duel this Rare Hunter –"
"But –"
"I'll have to risk losing my Dark Magician eventually. this is the first step towards my destiny."
"Let's get on with the hunt already, the sooner I take my prize the better."
"I'm ready to duel whenever you are Rare Hunter."
"Yug! Wait –"
"Ah, ah, ah don't even think about revealing my strategy Joey Wheeler. If you say a word about how I defeated you, I'll tear your Red Eyes Black Dragon to shreads, so I'd give my mouth a rest if I were you, and allow me to stalk the Duellist Kingdom champion and take his Dark Magician without your commentary."
Fine, I'll duel you one on one." Yami said getting his disc up.
It was obvious he was waiting for something with his repeat defence, Joey kept trying to say what his strategy was, but his continued use of Graceful Charity he must want a specific card. I frowned searching through my knowledge of the game. Exsodia! Yami figured it out around the same time I did. And he did it! He actually beat Exsodia!
I began to cheer, hugging the Pharaoh. He chuckled, hugging me back. The crowd followed in suit and roars filled the area around Chino's café. Yami let me go and took his deck, filling through till he found Joey's card. The guy had fallen to his knees like a lifeless doll.
"I am taking Joey's Red eyes, and your locator card." He frowned and spread the cards out.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Something's rubbing off on my fingers, all of these cards are marked." Yami ripped up the cards throwing them into the air.
"Forgive me Master," he yelled, making me jump back. Yami's arm yanked me behind his body. "I tried my beat. No please don't be angry!" he clutched his head, standing up. "No Master! Don't! Please! Spare me!"
I gasped as I saw the millennium symbol on his head.
"Yami look," I said, pulling out my pen sized staff.
"We meet again Pharaoh," said a new voice mingled with that of the Rare Hunter. "Remember me Pharaoh. Actually, perhaps you don't you were trapped in the puzzle after when I duelled little Yugi." Yami grunted, keeping me behind him. "Congratulations on defeating my Rare Hunter, though he was the weakest duellist of my crew. My other minions will prove much more formidable. Pharaoh, I've waited for you for years. Finally, after all this time I will destroy you. I will not allow my other Rare Hunters to fail me like this one did. I have little time for forgiveness so I have taken over his body, and trapped his mind in the Shadow Realm. I am in control!"
"Millenium Rod!" I covered my mouth, the Pharaoh looked at me, then back to then possessed body.
"Yes, Mana I see your memories are returning. I possess the millennium rod and I will be the owner of the puzzle. Remember my name, Marik."
"You'll never claim the puzzle!" Yami glared at him.
"Ha! I possess the power of three Egyptian Gods, I will defeat you, Pharaoh. Your power will be mine, the boundless energy of the ancient ruler, hidden deep within the puzzle. The end is near Pharaoh. It's my world now!"
The guy collapsed, the people around us began to yell, rushing towards him. I saw one woman get out her phone and call 911.
"He needs to be locked up, the Pharaoh what's a joke," I heard another duellist. Good no one believed. They thought he was a raving lunatic.
"Here you go Joey," Yami held out the card to the slightly frazzled Joey. He looked between the guy on the floor and us.
"That's the guys you have to face?" he said.
"Looks like it," I said.
"Yug, you keep the card, you need it to help you beat this guy. You have taught me everything about this game. I'd be nuthin' if it wasn't for you guys. Heck Tristan and I would still be bullies. I got so much to thank you for Yug. Take it as a symbol of our friendship. Beside you give me a rare card when we were on the boat over to Duellist Kingdom, I can use my Time Wizard to compete. Speakin' of which I suppose we better get going, huh?"
"I'm going to go and try and find Téa, good luck to both of you." I said, I give them both a hung and make my way through the crowd. I made my way towards the park near Starbucks and sure enough Téa was sat watching the world go by, iced latte in hand.
"I went looking for you, I guessed you slept in," I grinned as I got closer.
"Guilty, I didn't turn on my alarm last night," she said, pretending to hit her hand. I laughed at her, sitting beside her.
"Our Egyptian past has already started unravelling into the tournament." I told her; her eyes widened.
"What? What happened?" she grabbed my arm. I explained about Marik, and how he wanted to take the power of the Pharaoh, and how he and his Rare Hunters would be trying to stop us from completing the Prophecy.
"Whoa, that's a lot of information for someone who woke up twenty minutes ago."
"The joys of our little group." I said pushing myself up, and offering my hand. Téa took it and got up. "We should probably try and find Yug, or Joey."
She nodded, we began to walk the way I had come hoping to come across either of them.
"Hey Mana, is that your Grandpa." Téa pointed into the crowd. I squinted to see green overalls.
"Yeah," I said turning my body to squeeze through the crowds. "Grandpa! Hey Grandpa!" he turned, and smiled at us.
"Hey Mana, you kids left so early this morning, that I didn't get to tell you. Your Dad is staying an extra couple of days."
"That's great," my stomach felt lighter, I was glad that I didn't have to say bye to him tonight.
"That's great Mr Muto," Téa said. "Have you seen Joey or Yugi anywhere?"
"No I haven't, have either duelled yet."
"I know Yugi has, but I don't know about Joey." I reach on my tip toes trying to find a familiar head in the crowd.
Ring! Ring!
Téa looked at her phone, before putting it to her ear.
"Hey Tristan, where are –?" she pursed her lips as I could hear Tristan's muffled voice. "Where is he? Can you tell us where the duel is?"
Grandpa and I looked at her waiting.
"Yeah, ok great. See you soon." She hung up then looked at us. "Joey's having a tough duel near the Starbucks near the fountain. Let's go."
We speed walked to the fountain, I could see the green woman, but where was Joey.
"There look at that crowd." Téa said pointing about 20 metres ahead.
When we got to Joey looked about ready to give up.
"Hang in there, Joey," Téa yelled.
"Don't let this fraud get to you, you can still do this!" I yelled as we pushed through to the final part of the crowd so he could see us.
"Téa, Mana."
"Tristan called from the hospital and said that he is watching the duel on the internet right now with Serenity. And she wants you to know something Joey." Téa did the peace sign code between the siblings. "You two are a team and she believes in you, so don't even think about giving up."
Yeah, she wants the first thing she sees to be you duelling, are you going to let her down." I called grinning at him. "Beside we need you in the final too if we are going to do what we need to."
His eyes widened as he understood and nodded. Turning back to his opponent with a new fire.
Joey beat him, and his brothers showed that they didn't care if he won or lost cause they are family. The sight of all of them together made me smile. Hopefully they would change him. Then Espa walked over to Joey handing over his rarest card and a locator.
After a moment Joey, walked over to us, smiling.
"Good job, Joey." I said high fiving him.
"I am impressed how far you duelling has come Joey," Grandpa said, as we began to move away from the crowd.
"Thanks Gramps, couldn't have done it without yah,"
"No, you couldn't," he chuckled.
"I think we should go and try and find Yugi," Téa said, Grandpa nodded.
"You guys go, I'll stay with Joey. I think one magical person should be with each group at any time… just in case." I said moving closer to Joey. "We don't know how many of Marik's goons are out there and if they possess any powers or items. Magical people are still around, it's just a lot of them don't know why they are always lucky or they have never been injured. But some do and some may be working for this lunatic."
Téa and Grandpa nodded.
"Well see you later, keep us updated." Téa waved her phone in her hand.
"Same to you," I smiled, as Joey and I walked away from them. What would cross our path next?
Ohh Battle City is really starting to get started now. I hope you guys are still enjoying the series, I love seeing your comments. :D
Cara xx