Eliminator
Magicman: The world is wonderful for me! I got Final Fantasy Ten now! Oh what a glorious day! Huggles video game
Smokegirl: looks disgusted Just start writing.
"Hi Yugi!"
Yugi looked up curiously and smiled. "Hey Mai! How's it going?"
The blonde duellist laughed as she walked over to the little group. Tea looked up from her headphones and smiled at her friend and Tristan gave her the peace sign from where he was standing on his head. Tea, Yugi, and even Yami were clueless as to why he was standing on his head, but the instant the teen gave the peace sign, he fell over like a rock.
Mai laughed at the group's antics and sat down next to Tea, snatching the headphones off her head. "Hey!"
The little group of friends was located on the edge of the forest zone. The oceanic area was off to the west where they'd met up with Mako earlier, and Pegasus' castle was off in the horizon. This time Tristan had left his great outdoors survival guide at home, in favour of the burger stands and such set up. The supplies of hamburger and fries, fortified with fresh bottled water and the occasional milkshake, had fuelled the King of Games' efforts this tournament. Pooling their skills like they always did, Yugi and Yami had burned through several opponents, quickly earning five star chips. But then he'd given two away to some random kid who'd been eliminated early on. He still hated those eliminators.
Tea privately thought that Yugi was taking this whole tournament a little too personally; it was just for fun this time. And Yami certainly wasn't helping things with his talk of how the King of Games should stay the King and how Pegasus deserved what he'd got last time. She'd mentioned it to Tristan, but he'd just shrugged.
"Let them have their fun", he'd said. "It's just a game."
Tea hoped they remembered that little fact. She didn't want to see any shadow games played.
"So Mai" Yugi said as he shuffled his deck. "What have you been doing with yourself?"
Mai shrugged. "Oh, you know. This and that. I played in a couple minor league tourneys. Nothing big, but the money pays the bills you know. I passed through Domino a little while ago. I didn't run into you, but Tea, Joey, Serenity and I caught up on old times. I didn't stay long though, I had to practice for DK 2."
Tristan picked himself up and brushed off his jacket. "Speaking of Joey, have you seen him around? I tried to find out if he was in this tournament, but he wasn't home."
Mai winked. "Oh he's here. I ran into him a little while ago. He's doing great."
Yugi smiled. "Maybe we'll duel again in the finals. Uh, is something wrong Tea?"
Tea broke off her fit of coughing and smiled weakly. "Oh, uh just some dust in the throat. I'm fine, thanks."
Yugi blinked a little before smiling back and returning to Mai. "So, how are you doing in this thing?"
Mai lifted her glove. "I'm afraid I ran into a bit of bad luck with another duellist. He took most of my star chips and my Harpy's Feather Duster. Fortunately, I have a few of them. I've still got two stars, so I'll be alright."
Yugi looked crestfallen. "You lost most of your chips? Jeez, that's a tough loss."
"Oh don't worry about Mai" Tea put in. "She's a big girl."
"Tea's right Yugi. Don't worry about me. At least I have two chips left." The blonde bombshell raised an eyebrow. "He's uncommonly generous, for an eliminator."
"An eliminator?! You were attacked by an eliminator?" Yugi was shocked. Then he seemed to grow a little bigger and his eyes turned a darker shade of purple. "So Pegasus still hides behind his hired thugs."
Mai smiled charmingly. "Oh I wouldn't call them all thugs," she hummed. "The two I've met were actually quite sweet."
Yami looked puzzled for a moment, but it passed quickly. "Can you show me where you met this guy?" he asked. "I'd like to have a few words with him. Maybe convince him that preying on unsuspecting duellists is a bad career move. Neither Yugi nor I have any tolerance for bullies. Besides, we've dealt with eliminators before, and they always have it coming. Are you sure nothing's wrong Tea?"
Tea stopped signaling frantically to Mai and just laughed weakly. Mai grinned at her.
"You know what? You're right. He's back in the forest. Why don't you go teach him a lesson?"
Yugi took over the body again and smiled, flashing a thumbs up. "No problem Mai. What are friends for?"
That said, Yugi picked up his backpack and set off into the forest, following Mai's trail. Tristan followed after him, nodding to the girls as they passed. Tea waited until the boys had left before grabbing Mai by the collar of her purple vest and jerking the blonde toward her.
"What the Hell are you doing?!" Tea whispered furiously. "You know how Yugi feels about eliminators! Tristan will freak out, and who knows what Yami will do!!!"
"Whoa! Easy, killer!" Mai put up her hands defensively.
"Easy?! Yugi's going to try and take out Joey and all you can say is easy?!"
"This was your idea, remember? You wanted to see the look on Yugi and the others' face when they find out Joey's new career move." Mai shrugged Tea's hands off her clothes and struggled to unwrinkle her vest. "Give it a rest, will you? It's just a game after all. Besides, they're friends. They'll get through it."
Tea's mind whirled furiously as she thought about it. Yugi would be upset and Yami and Tristan would get downright mad. But they would find out sooner or later, and she DID want to see what happened. The fight was bound to be good, as was Joey's reaction. She could just picture the look on his face when Yami started yelling. 'You know what?' she asked herself, a smirk growing on her face, 'Mai's absolutely right. I am so not missing this.'
Mai stared oddly at Tea and waved a manicured hand in front of her eyes. "Hellooo? Anyone home? Earth to Tea, what's so funn- AGH!"
Tea grabbed Mai's hand and took off, dragging the taller girl into the forest. "What are you waiting for?" she scolded. "Do you want to miss the scrap?"
Mai winced as a branch whacked her across the cheek. "Remind me to stop encouraging you about things."
Tea just laughed and ducked under a tree limb.
"Hey! Just relax, okay? It's only a duel, and just one loss."
"But he pulverized me Joey! I choked!"
Joey let out an exasperation-laced sigh. He had not expected to be playing psychiatrist to any of his fellow eliminators in this line of work. "Espa, Rex is a great duellist. Getting beat by him is no shame."
"You're just saying that because you beat him" Espa sulked.
"Maybe, but you know what? I won through luck. It wasn't duelling skills or great cards, but sheer, blind, stupid luck. But then I rely on that a lot, so what can you say?" Joey shrugged. Time Wizard had saved his ass more often than it had failed him, so it may not have been luck exactly. "Anyway, coming from personal experience, losing sucks. But you know what? Life goes on. You got it?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Espa sighed over the walkie-talkie. "Oh wait. I think someone's coming. I'll talk to you tonight Joey."
The leaves in the nearby woods rustled loudly and Joey looked up. "Someone's coming this way too. See you later Espa."
Joey turned off his walkie-talkie and tensed, readying his finger on his glove's duel button. 'I'm not letting this guy get away.' He thought determinedly. But when he heard the voice waft through the trees, he nearly swallowed his tongue.
"Yugi, are you guys sure this is the right way?"
"Relax Tristan," a higher pitched voice piped up. "These woods don't have a trail leading through, so we're just following the trail Mai made when she cut through. I think I can see the end now." And with that, Yugi popped through a hole in the brush that Mai had made after Joey had duelled her earlier.
The diminutive duellist looked around the clearing for any suspiciously sinister looking people. But the only person he saw was..... "Joey!" Overjoyed, Yugi ran over to his friend and nearly tackled the larger boy to the ground. "It's great to see you! Where have you been these past weeks?"
Joey was even more surprised than Yugi. "Whoa! Yuge, relax. What're you doing here?"
"Pegasus invited me to compete like last time. But this time, he didn't take Grandpa's soul." Yugi grinned and stepped back a bit. "Did you get invited too?"
"Er, yeah you could say that." Joey laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"Yo dude!" Tristan rushed up and Joey grinned at his approach. The two banged wrists in greeting. "Where've you been man? I've been looking for you and Serenity, but you dropped off the map. Where'd you go?"
While Joey was frantically trying to come up with an answer, Yugi was checking out Joey's duelling glove curiously to see how he was doing. It was strange, because he seemed to have two of them. And they were green, rather than red like the other duellists Yugi had encountered. And there were considerably more star chips inserted in the slots than the required ten. And why did Joey's duelling gloves have little speakers in them?
"Well" Joey continued to babble, "You see, I got this new job, you know? And it kept me really busy. So busy that I had to have my lessons sent in from school, because I, uh, couldn't go." It was the truth, mostly. He had been getting ready for Duellist Kingdom 2, and the hotel where he, Serenity and the others had lived in was across town from most of the gang, excepting Tea. But he had still ignored most of his homework, hence the reason he was still struggling to maintain passing grades.
Yugi raised an eyebrow in a very un-Yugiesque way. "Then how did you get the time away to participate in this tournament? And how did you get that space age duelling gauntlet?"
Joey tensed for a moment then sighed and shook his head with a smile. "I never was a good liar, was I?"
Tristan looked back and forth at his friends, puzzlement written on his face. "Guys, what's going on?"
"I don't know Tristan" Yugi answered. "Joey?"
'They were going to figure it out sooner or later' Joey thought. 'May as well get over it.' He dug his hands into the pockets of his green jacket and bit the bullet. "This new job I've got, the one that earns me enough to support my sister and I, and that's been keeping me from school and you guys, is why I'm here. I'm one of Pegasus' eliminators. It's my job to take out duellists."
Now shock was written on Tristan's face, in big block letters. The writing loosely translated into "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!?!", apostrophe'd with a vigorous "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?!"
"Joey! Pegasus stole my grandpa's soul!" Yugi was on the verge of hysteria at the news he had suspected but hoped was untrue. "How can you work for that bully?"
Joey held up his hands defensively. "Whoa, whoa, whoa here! Relax you two. Just chill. Yes I'm working for Pegasus. Why shouldn't I? The pay is good and I love to duel. Besides, Pegasus is a pretty cool guy, you know?"
"No I don't know. Joey, don't you remember our friendship?" Now Yugi looked up at his friend with sorrow and sadness in his eyes. "Don't the atrocities this man has committed mean anything to you?"
"Yuge, that was a long time ago. Everyone got their soul back. Even Kaiba." The last part was muttered under Joey's breath. Aloud, he said "Didn't some famous guy once say 'honour the past but do not let it decide your future'?"
Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Didn't someone from Shaman King say that?"
"Maybe. I can't remember."
Right about now, Tristan came out of his shocked state of mind and grabbed Joey's jacket. "Are you nuts?!" Joey winced against the spit flying. "This guy is crazy and now you're working for him?!"
"Tristan have you been listening to anything I just said?"
Meanwhile, over in the bushes away from Tristan's ranting, Tea was covering her mouth with her hand, trying to smother her laughter. Mai winced and tried to pick briars and thistles from her soft sensitive flesh. She wasn't normally jealous of Tea but now her glare to the girl envied her unconscious ability to repel thorns and other unwanted instruments of nature.
Tea stopped snickering and checked out the trio of boys. "It looks like Yami is coming out." She said then looked over at Mai, who was scratching her bare arms furiously. "Come on and take a look."
"Of course!" Mai snarled sarcastically as she stomped over to Tea. "Who wouldn't be interested in spying on friends while squatting in a bush? Why am I itching?!"
Tea glanced over curiously. "It looks like you have poison ivy, to me."
"Never drag me through a forest again."
"I'll try, but no promises."
Back in the clearing things were fast becoming hostile. Yami was glaring at Joey in that self-righteous manner he had and Joey was getting ticked off at it.
"Joey I simply don't understand! Pegasus is a proven thief and criminal." Yami spread his hands, letting his points sink in. "Do you really think you can trust him to keep his promises?"
"He kept his promises back in DK one. He let the souls he took go."
"That he took them in the first place is unforgivable! You're obeying the commands of a snake."
Joey snorted. "I'll risk it. If it means a life for Serenity then I'll take out every duellist on the island!"
Yami raised an eyebrow. "Does that include me? Or Yugi?"
"Oh come on! We've been friends for a long time. Don't tell me it's all going to end over a stupid job!"
"If it's so stupid why did you take it?"
"Because I didn't have a choice!" Joey yelled, make the leaves on the tree branches shake. "I tried to get a job, you know. I tried everything! It didn't work out! The only thing I was good at was duelling. And do you think Kaiba or Duke would give me a job? Ha! Pegasus is a good guy once you get used to him. He pays good too, and he treats his eliminators right."
Yami raised an eyebrow. "So that's it? You betray your friends for money? Is that any better than Kaiba?"
Tea winced from the sidelines as Joey blew up.
"DON'T EVEN COMPARE ME TO THAT.....THAT....." Joey choked off his words, unable to think of something harsh enough.
"You made the comparison yourself." Yami countered. "You're here, aren't you? You're fighting for a sibling, aren't you? You're callously disposing of every duellist who gets in your way, aren't you?"
That did it and Joey's temper snapped. "Fine! I'll play it your way!" He pointed a fist at Yami and pressed the elimination button hard, crossing the point of no return. He grinned as the ex pharaoh looked down at the beeping in puzzlement. "You want me to callously dispose of duellists? Well, I guess it's time to do my job then." Joey pointed at a duel arena that rose from the earth. "You. Me. The arena. Now."
Yami nodded solemnly. "Alright Joey." He said calmly. "If this is what it will take to knock some sense into your head, then so be it."
'Yami!' Yugi gasped mentally to his darker side. 'What are you doing? Joey is our friend!'
'I know Yugi'. The spirit sighed. 'But now we have no choice. If the friendship we share with Joey means anything, hopefully it will survive this match.'
'We can only hope' Yugi answered, anxiety written all over his face.
Tristan had been silent for a while, but now he tried to cut in. "Guys? Is this really necessary? We're all still friends, right?"
"It's too late for that now Tristan" Joey snapped. "Even if I could just set aside that Kaiba comment, we have to duel now or Yugi is disqualified." He glared at his friend. "I'll see you in the arena when you're ready." The blonde then turned his back on his friend and stalked over to the arena. Yami followed more slowly.
Tea had expected something bad when the gang found out about Joey's job, and had figured that they would fight. She HADN'T figured that Joey would try and eliminate Yugi from the tournament. 'Serenity needs to know this' she decided, flipping out her cell phone and dialling Serenity's number. The phone rang and the younger girl answered.
"Hey Serenity? I've got something you might want to see."
"Go ahead Reni," Shannon grinned cockily, a braided ponytail thrown over her shoulder. "The whole game rides on this one decision. Go ahead. Make your move."
A bead of sweat rolled down Serenity's forehead and for a moment she couldn't talk. "Uh, C 4?"
"Miss." Shannon's grin widened. "E 6."
Serenity groaned as her last battleship was blown off the board. "Ah geez. How about four out of seven?"
Shannon stretched. "Well, if you're looking for another beating, I guess I could oblige." The erratic blonde examined the board, wondering what formations he should place her ships in this time.
Serenity's cell phone rang and she paused her own placement of ships to answer it. "Hello? Oh hi Tea! What's up? .....What?! Are you serious? That bad, huh? Oh man. I'll be right over. Bye." She hung up and looked Shannon square in face. "Joey is about to duel Yugi, the King of Games at duel arena thirty six."
Shannon paused for a second before a determined look came over her face. She glanced over to the left where a couple of golf carts were set up against the wall. It was a big castle, and these helped people get around. But in this case..... "Do you know how to drive?"
Serenity answered negatively. "Can you?"
Shannon shrugged. "I took my driving test, if that's what you mean. The ambulance kind of cut it short before I could finish. I'm just kidding" she added hastily, seeing the look on Serenity's face. "Actually, it was a cop." She jumped into the golf cart and beckoned to her friend. "You coming?"
Smokegirl: You put Shannon behind the wheel of a car?
Magicman: Yes. Why?
Smokegirl: sigh And you call me crazy.
Magicman: Anyway, I just recently saw Kaiba's blue Eyes White Dragon jet. I can honestly say without hyperbole that that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I mean, come on! The Blue Eyes White Train was bad enough, but a jet? Geez! I guess the guy is obsessed with dragons. Anyway, there you have it. Yugi and Joey are going at it. What happens next? I'll give you a hint. The outcome of this duel determines future events. Vague enough for you? Good. Till next time!
Magicman: The world is wonderful for me! I got Final Fantasy Ten now! Oh what a glorious day! Huggles video game
Smokegirl: looks disgusted Just start writing.
"Hi Yugi!"
Yugi looked up curiously and smiled. "Hey Mai! How's it going?"
The blonde duellist laughed as she walked over to the little group. Tea looked up from her headphones and smiled at her friend and Tristan gave her the peace sign from where he was standing on his head. Tea, Yugi, and even Yami were clueless as to why he was standing on his head, but the instant the teen gave the peace sign, he fell over like a rock.
Mai laughed at the group's antics and sat down next to Tea, snatching the headphones off her head. "Hey!"
The little group of friends was located on the edge of the forest zone. The oceanic area was off to the west where they'd met up with Mako earlier, and Pegasus' castle was off in the horizon. This time Tristan had left his great outdoors survival guide at home, in favour of the burger stands and such set up. The supplies of hamburger and fries, fortified with fresh bottled water and the occasional milkshake, had fuelled the King of Games' efforts this tournament. Pooling their skills like they always did, Yugi and Yami had burned through several opponents, quickly earning five star chips. But then he'd given two away to some random kid who'd been eliminated early on. He still hated those eliminators.
Tea privately thought that Yugi was taking this whole tournament a little too personally; it was just for fun this time. And Yami certainly wasn't helping things with his talk of how the King of Games should stay the King and how Pegasus deserved what he'd got last time. She'd mentioned it to Tristan, but he'd just shrugged.
"Let them have their fun", he'd said. "It's just a game."
Tea hoped they remembered that little fact. She didn't want to see any shadow games played.
"So Mai" Yugi said as he shuffled his deck. "What have you been doing with yourself?"
Mai shrugged. "Oh, you know. This and that. I played in a couple minor league tourneys. Nothing big, but the money pays the bills you know. I passed through Domino a little while ago. I didn't run into you, but Tea, Joey, Serenity and I caught up on old times. I didn't stay long though, I had to practice for DK 2."
Tristan picked himself up and brushed off his jacket. "Speaking of Joey, have you seen him around? I tried to find out if he was in this tournament, but he wasn't home."
Mai winked. "Oh he's here. I ran into him a little while ago. He's doing great."
Yugi smiled. "Maybe we'll duel again in the finals. Uh, is something wrong Tea?"
Tea broke off her fit of coughing and smiled weakly. "Oh, uh just some dust in the throat. I'm fine, thanks."
Yugi blinked a little before smiling back and returning to Mai. "So, how are you doing in this thing?"
Mai lifted her glove. "I'm afraid I ran into a bit of bad luck with another duellist. He took most of my star chips and my Harpy's Feather Duster. Fortunately, I have a few of them. I've still got two stars, so I'll be alright."
Yugi looked crestfallen. "You lost most of your chips? Jeez, that's a tough loss."
"Oh don't worry about Mai" Tea put in. "She's a big girl."
"Tea's right Yugi. Don't worry about me. At least I have two chips left." The blonde bombshell raised an eyebrow. "He's uncommonly generous, for an eliminator."
"An eliminator?! You were attacked by an eliminator?" Yugi was shocked. Then he seemed to grow a little bigger and his eyes turned a darker shade of purple. "So Pegasus still hides behind his hired thugs."
Mai smiled charmingly. "Oh I wouldn't call them all thugs," she hummed. "The two I've met were actually quite sweet."
Yami looked puzzled for a moment, but it passed quickly. "Can you show me where you met this guy?" he asked. "I'd like to have a few words with him. Maybe convince him that preying on unsuspecting duellists is a bad career move. Neither Yugi nor I have any tolerance for bullies. Besides, we've dealt with eliminators before, and they always have it coming. Are you sure nothing's wrong Tea?"
Tea stopped signaling frantically to Mai and just laughed weakly. Mai grinned at her.
"You know what? You're right. He's back in the forest. Why don't you go teach him a lesson?"
Yugi took over the body again and smiled, flashing a thumbs up. "No problem Mai. What are friends for?"
That said, Yugi picked up his backpack and set off into the forest, following Mai's trail. Tristan followed after him, nodding to the girls as they passed. Tea waited until the boys had left before grabbing Mai by the collar of her purple vest and jerking the blonde toward her.
"What the Hell are you doing?!" Tea whispered furiously. "You know how Yugi feels about eliminators! Tristan will freak out, and who knows what Yami will do!!!"
"Whoa! Easy, killer!" Mai put up her hands defensively.
"Easy?! Yugi's going to try and take out Joey and all you can say is easy?!"
"This was your idea, remember? You wanted to see the look on Yugi and the others' face when they find out Joey's new career move." Mai shrugged Tea's hands off her clothes and struggled to unwrinkle her vest. "Give it a rest, will you? It's just a game after all. Besides, they're friends. They'll get through it."
Tea's mind whirled furiously as she thought about it. Yugi would be upset and Yami and Tristan would get downright mad. But they would find out sooner or later, and she DID want to see what happened. The fight was bound to be good, as was Joey's reaction. She could just picture the look on his face when Yami started yelling. 'You know what?' she asked herself, a smirk growing on her face, 'Mai's absolutely right. I am so not missing this.'
Mai stared oddly at Tea and waved a manicured hand in front of her eyes. "Hellooo? Anyone home? Earth to Tea, what's so funn- AGH!"
Tea grabbed Mai's hand and took off, dragging the taller girl into the forest. "What are you waiting for?" she scolded. "Do you want to miss the scrap?"
Mai winced as a branch whacked her across the cheek. "Remind me to stop encouraging you about things."
Tea just laughed and ducked under a tree limb.
"Hey! Just relax, okay? It's only a duel, and just one loss."
"But he pulverized me Joey! I choked!"
Joey let out an exasperation-laced sigh. He had not expected to be playing psychiatrist to any of his fellow eliminators in this line of work. "Espa, Rex is a great duellist. Getting beat by him is no shame."
"You're just saying that because you beat him" Espa sulked.
"Maybe, but you know what? I won through luck. It wasn't duelling skills or great cards, but sheer, blind, stupid luck. But then I rely on that a lot, so what can you say?" Joey shrugged. Time Wizard had saved his ass more often than it had failed him, so it may not have been luck exactly. "Anyway, coming from personal experience, losing sucks. But you know what? Life goes on. You got it?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Espa sighed over the walkie-talkie. "Oh wait. I think someone's coming. I'll talk to you tonight Joey."
The leaves in the nearby woods rustled loudly and Joey looked up. "Someone's coming this way too. See you later Espa."
Joey turned off his walkie-talkie and tensed, readying his finger on his glove's duel button. 'I'm not letting this guy get away.' He thought determinedly. But when he heard the voice waft through the trees, he nearly swallowed his tongue.
"Yugi, are you guys sure this is the right way?"
"Relax Tristan," a higher pitched voice piped up. "These woods don't have a trail leading through, so we're just following the trail Mai made when she cut through. I think I can see the end now." And with that, Yugi popped through a hole in the brush that Mai had made after Joey had duelled her earlier.
The diminutive duellist looked around the clearing for any suspiciously sinister looking people. But the only person he saw was..... "Joey!" Overjoyed, Yugi ran over to his friend and nearly tackled the larger boy to the ground. "It's great to see you! Where have you been these past weeks?"
Joey was even more surprised than Yugi. "Whoa! Yuge, relax. What're you doing here?"
"Pegasus invited me to compete like last time. But this time, he didn't take Grandpa's soul." Yugi grinned and stepped back a bit. "Did you get invited too?"
"Er, yeah you could say that." Joey laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"Yo dude!" Tristan rushed up and Joey grinned at his approach. The two banged wrists in greeting. "Where've you been man? I've been looking for you and Serenity, but you dropped off the map. Where'd you go?"
While Joey was frantically trying to come up with an answer, Yugi was checking out Joey's duelling glove curiously to see how he was doing. It was strange, because he seemed to have two of them. And they were green, rather than red like the other duellists Yugi had encountered. And there were considerably more star chips inserted in the slots than the required ten. And why did Joey's duelling gloves have little speakers in them?
"Well" Joey continued to babble, "You see, I got this new job, you know? And it kept me really busy. So busy that I had to have my lessons sent in from school, because I, uh, couldn't go." It was the truth, mostly. He had been getting ready for Duellist Kingdom 2, and the hotel where he, Serenity and the others had lived in was across town from most of the gang, excepting Tea. But he had still ignored most of his homework, hence the reason he was still struggling to maintain passing grades.
Yugi raised an eyebrow in a very un-Yugiesque way. "Then how did you get the time away to participate in this tournament? And how did you get that space age duelling gauntlet?"
Joey tensed for a moment then sighed and shook his head with a smile. "I never was a good liar, was I?"
Tristan looked back and forth at his friends, puzzlement written on his face. "Guys, what's going on?"
"I don't know Tristan" Yugi answered. "Joey?"
'They were going to figure it out sooner or later' Joey thought. 'May as well get over it.' He dug his hands into the pockets of his green jacket and bit the bullet. "This new job I've got, the one that earns me enough to support my sister and I, and that's been keeping me from school and you guys, is why I'm here. I'm one of Pegasus' eliminators. It's my job to take out duellists."
Now shock was written on Tristan's face, in big block letters. The writing loosely translated into "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!?!", apostrophe'd with a vigorous "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?!"
"Joey! Pegasus stole my grandpa's soul!" Yugi was on the verge of hysteria at the news he had suspected but hoped was untrue. "How can you work for that bully?"
Joey held up his hands defensively. "Whoa, whoa, whoa here! Relax you two. Just chill. Yes I'm working for Pegasus. Why shouldn't I? The pay is good and I love to duel. Besides, Pegasus is a pretty cool guy, you know?"
"No I don't know. Joey, don't you remember our friendship?" Now Yugi looked up at his friend with sorrow and sadness in his eyes. "Don't the atrocities this man has committed mean anything to you?"
"Yuge, that was a long time ago. Everyone got their soul back. Even Kaiba." The last part was muttered under Joey's breath. Aloud, he said "Didn't some famous guy once say 'honour the past but do not let it decide your future'?"
Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Didn't someone from Shaman King say that?"
"Maybe. I can't remember."
Right about now, Tristan came out of his shocked state of mind and grabbed Joey's jacket. "Are you nuts?!" Joey winced against the spit flying. "This guy is crazy and now you're working for him?!"
"Tristan have you been listening to anything I just said?"
Meanwhile, over in the bushes away from Tristan's ranting, Tea was covering her mouth with her hand, trying to smother her laughter. Mai winced and tried to pick briars and thistles from her soft sensitive flesh. She wasn't normally jealous of Tea but now her glare to the girl envied her unconscious ability to repel thorns and other unwanted instruments of nature.
Tea stopped snickering and checked out the trio of boys. "It looks like Yami is coming out." She said then looked over at Mai, who was scratching her bare arms furiously. "Come on and take a look."
"Of course!" Mai snarled sarcastically as she stomped over to Tea. "Who wouldn't be interested in spying on friends while squatting in a bush? Why am I itching?!"
Tea glanced over curiously. "It looks like you have poison ivy, to me."
"Never drag me through a forest again."
"I'll try, but no promises."
Back in the clearing things were fast becoming hostile. Yami was glaring at Joey in that self-righteous manner he had and Joey was getting ticked off at it.
"Joey I simply don't understand! Pegasus is a proven thief and criminal." Yami spread his hands, letting his points sink in. "Do you really think you can trust him to keep his promises?"
"He kept his promises back in DK one. He let the souls he took go."
"That he took them in the first place is unforgivable! You're obeying the commands of a snake."
Joey snorted. "I'll risk it. If it means a life for Serenity then I'll take out every duellist on the island!"
Yami raised an eyebrow. "Does that include me? Or Yugi?"
"Oh come on! We've been friends for a long time. Don't tell me it's all going to end over a stupid job!"
"If it's so stupid why did you take it?"
"Because I didn't have a choice!" Joey yelled, make the leaves on the tree branches shake. "I tried to get a job, you know. I tried everything! It didn't work out! The only thing I was good at was duelling. And do you think Kaiba or Duke would give me a job? Ha! Pegasus is a good guy once you get used to him. He pays good too, and he treats his eliminators right."
Yami raised an eyebrow. "So that's it? You betray your friends for money? Is that any better than Kaiba?"
Tea winced from the sidelines as Joey blew up.
"DON'T EVEN COMPARE ME TO THAT.....THAT....." Joey choked off his words, unable to think of something harsh enough.
"You made the comparison yourself." Yami countered. "You're here, aren't you? You're fighting for a sibling, aren't you? You're callously disposing of every duellist who gets in your way, aren't you?"
That did it and Joey's temper snapped. "Fine! I'll play it your way!" He pointed a fist at Yami and pressed the elimination button hard, crossing the point of no return. He grinned as the ex pharaoh looked down at the beeping in puzzlement. "You want me to callously dispose of duellists? Well, I guess it's time to do my job then." Joey pointed at a duel arena that rose from the earth. "You. Me. The arena. Now."
Yami nodded solemnly. "Alright Joey." He said calmly. "If this is what it will take to knock some sense into your head, then so be it."
'Yami!' Yugi gasped mentally to his darker side. 'What are you doing? Joey is our friend!'
'I know Yugi'. The spirit sighed. 'But now we have no choice. If the friendship we share with Joey means anything, hopefully it will survive this match.'
'We can only hope' Yugi answered, anxiety written all over his face.
Tristan had been silent for a while, but now he tried to cut in. "Guys? Is this really necessary? We're all still friends, right?"
"It's too late for that now Tristan" Joey snapped. "Even if I could just set aside that Kaiba comment, we have to duel now or Yugi is disqualified." He glared at his friend. "I'll see you in the arena when you're ready." The blonde then turned his back on his friend and stalked over to the arena. Yami followed more slowly.
Tea had expected something bad when the gang found out about Joey's job, and had figured that they would fight. She HADN'T figured that Joey would try and eliminate Yugi from the tournament. 'Serenity needs to know this' she decided, flipping out her cell phone and dialling Serenity's number. The phone rang and the younger girl answered.
"Hey Serenity? I've got something you might want to see."
"Go ahead Reni," Shannon grinned cockily, a braided ponytail thrown over her shoulder. "The whole game rides on this one decision. Go ahead. Make your move."
A bead of sweat rolled down Serenity's forehead and for a moment she couldn't talk. "Uh, C 4?"
"Miss." Shannon's grin widened. "E 6."
Serenity groaned as her last battleship was blown off the board. "Ah geez. How about four out of seven?"
Shannon stretched. "Well, if you're looking for another beating, I guess I could oblige." The erratic blonde examined the board, wondering what formations he should place her ships in this time.
Serenity's cell phone rang and she paused her own placement of ships to answer it. "Hello? Oh hi Tea! What's up? .....What?! Are you serious? That bad, huh? Oh man. I'll be right over. Bye." She hung up and looked Shannon square in face. "Joey is about to duel Yugi, the King of Games at duel arena thirty six."
Shannon paused for a second before a determined look came over her face. She glanced over to the left where a couple of golf carts were set up against the wall. It was a big castle, and these helped people get around. But in this case..... "Do you know how to drive?"
Serenity answered negatively. "Can you?"
Shannon shrugged. "I took my driving test, if that's what you mean. The ambulance kind of cut it short before I could finish. I'm just kidding" she added hastily, seeing the look on Serenity's face. "Actually, it was a cop." She jumped into the golf cart and beckoned to her friend. "You coming?"
Smokegirl: You put Shannon behind the wheel of a car?
Magicman: Yes. Why?
Smokegirl: sigh And you call me crazy.
Magicman: Anyway, I just recently saw Kaiba's blue Eyes White Dragon jet. I can honestly say without hyperbole that that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I mean, come on! The Blue Eyes White Train was bad enough, but a jet? Geez! I guess the guy is obsessed with dragons. Anyway, there you have it. Yugi and Joey are going at it. What happens next? I'll give you a hint. The outcome of this duel determines future events. Vague enough for you? Good. Till next time!