Chapter 1: Just Getting Started
Japan: August 30, 1996
Mai Valentine had been a loner all her life. From three years old, she knew how to navigate the kitchen, how to move a chair to reach whatever she needed. From thirteen, she knew how to navigate society, how to wink at the right boy and flatter the right teacher to get whatever she wanted.
But from twenty-three, everything changed. At twenty-three, she entered Duelist Kingdom, and when she looked at Joey Wheeler as an opponent, she found instead her first real friend. The tournament had lasted three days, but three days were enough to show her something she'd never learned before in all those years. And even though she had to leave the people behind when she left the island, she carried the knowledge with her.
The knowledge that being a loner was not real happiness or real power.
"Shut your face!" Tristan shouted, grabbing Joey in a chokehold. "That is not how it went down!"
"Cross my heart!" Joey gasped out, laughing so hard he was crying.
Anzu smacked Tristan's shoulder. "Cut it out before you knock over the food table."
Without a word, Mai reached out and gently took Serenity's shoulders, moving her out of the way as the boys wrestled by. They were ridiculous teenagers, but they were genuine, and Mai's heart felt light just to see them again.
"Come, my charmer," she said, smiling at Serenity, "gather shrimp before the monsters consume it all."
After grabbing a plate, she dished a variety of food for the shy girl, who accepted it with a bow. Anzu forcibly shouldered past the boys as she gathered her own preferences. The five of them were crowded around the food table Kaiba's employees had set out for the finalists. The other finalists had been led to the lounge with them but never joined the main group. Duke had gathered a plate of food and left quietly. Mai was fairly certain Ryou had snuck food into his pockets while pretending to leave with only a drink. The two purple robes had left immediately without touching the table at all. Joey and Tristan had already gathered two plates of food each at a nearby dining table and were back to collect a third, although the plates seemed to be forgotten in their lively conversation.
With a gentle push on the shoulder, Mai guided Serenity to one of the lounge's round, metal tables. Anzu joined them as well, relaxing into her silver chair with a sigh.
"If they break anything, Kaiba's gonna throw them out a window," she said, "and I probably won't argue."
Serenity giggled. "I'm glad Joey has friends he can have fun with."
"You have those friends now as well." Mai smiled, cutting into the fish fillet she'd chosen as main course. "Allez, allez! Tell me all about you! Joey said very little in Duelist Kingdom, only the surgery."
The girl blushed becomingly. "I don't know how much there is to tell."
"Things you do. Things you like. All things."
While Mai regularly interjected "Incroyable!" between her words and between bites of food, Serenity outlined her schooling in America—the biology studies she enjoyed so much and was president of a club for, the tennis team she'd worked hard to join.
Anzu shook her head. "Joey never said you were an athlete!"
At that, Serenity's expression fell. "I'm not sure he knows. Mom doesn't let me call very often, and she won't let me send letters at all because of the address." She ducked her head, pushed a strawberry around on her plate. "There's lots I don't know about him, too."
Mai reached out to rub a hand across the girl's back. "What matters most is that you can see him now. And there are no parents here, so enjoy the moments."
"Mai's right," Anzu agreed, but her eyes were across the room on Yuugi, who'd just entered.
Serenity nodded. She smiled over at Joey, who noticed her gaze and waved even while still stuffing a week's worth of noodles into his mouth.
The floor shuddered, and a gentle weight pressed on Mai's skin, the familiar feeling of movement in the vessel around her. Although there were no windows in the lounge, she knew they were flying at last.
"Yuugi," Anzu called out. She pointed to the last empty seat at their table.
Yuugi nodded and finished gathering food. Then he came to join them, setting down a bowl of rice and a plate of chicken wings and vegetables.
"Your friend came?" Mai asked.
"Yori?" He smiled. "Yeah, she made it. Ishizu's here, too, so that gives us all ten finalists."
Anzu glanced at the hallway. "Yori wasn't hungry?"
Yuugi paused, a bite of rice halfway to his mouth. The tips of his ears colored. "I didn't actually talk to her. But I think she went to ask Seto about something?"
Anzu frowned. "She knows Kaiba?"
He shrugged, filling his mouth with rice and squash.
Mai raised an eyebrow. "Does not everyone know Kaiba?"
"Fair point." Anzu shook her head. "People usually just don't want to talk to him."
"Understandable, considering you will get fire back for your response."
Serenity gave a nervous giggle. "He does seem kind of intimidating."
"Intimidating? Mais non. He is a child with tantrums."
"Hey, now!" Yuugi looked up with a pained expression. "Seto's not that bad."
Mai smirked. "Says the boy who even said 'please' and 'thank you' while addressing Pegasus the Snake, who was guilty of kidnapping."
Yuugi blushed. Anzu laughed.
"Without his Millennium Item, Pegasus isn't all bad either," the boy mumbled into his rice.
Anzu's expression changed at that, gaining an intriguing light.
Mai raised an eyebrow. "Ma chère, you are thinking of an idea."
But before they could continue, an announcement sounded from speakers in the ceiling.
"Attention, Battle City finalists!"
Joey shrieked, nearly dropping a plate of food. Tristan laughed so hard he doubled over.
The man's voice was familiar, likely one of the KaibaCorp employees from the stadium. He continued: "We are quickly gaining altitude and will soon proceed with the duels of the semi-finals. You have the next forty minutes to rest, eat, refresh, and prepare in any way you wish before the first duel will begin. The participants of each of the five semi-final matches will be decided by lottery in the lounge."
"Ah." Mai pointed knowingly to an obtrusive machine in the corner of the room. It was built with three Blue-Eyes White Dragon heads around a large glass globe, and the inside held a collection of white ping-pong balls. Each ball probably corresponded to one finalist.
"Use your time wisely. Battle City continues in forty minutes!"
As the message ended, Joey let out a whoop, again nearly spilling his food. Mai smiled.
"So eager to lose to me, are you?" she called out.
"I ain't losin' to nobody!"
Yuugi grinned. "We'll see about that, Joey!"
"Who beat you to the finals, Yuug'? You too, Mai!"
"Rude," Yuugi said, but he laughed.
Mai shook her head. "Stop counting early chickens."
As she spoke, her eyes watched Anzu, who'd left the table during the announcement and gone back to the buffet as if to gather more food—but she'd thrown her own plate in the trash and taken a new one. After filling it, she headed for the door with purpose.
"Excuse me, my friends," Mai said quickly, rising from the table.
When she stepped into the hallway, she called out, "Anzu!"
The girl came to a rigid stop as if she'd been caught stealing. She turned slowly, laughed nervously.
Mai approached her with a smile. "Who are you taking food to, ma chère? Surely not Monsieur Kaiba."
"Of course not!" Anzu blushed.
"Mais non, of course not. Then who?"
The girl shifted her weight. Let out a sigh. She mumbled her response too low to be heard, and Mai leaned forward.
"Pardon?"
The girl sighed again. "Marik? The guy who . . . made an entrance."
"You have exotic tastes." Mai frowned. "Perhaps dangerous."
"No, I know. And it's not like that at all. I just think he might need . . . a friend."
Mai wasn't sure the girl believed her own words.
"You should not go alone."
Anzu shook her head. "I'll be okay. It's really no big deal. I mean, I'm dropping off a plate of food. That's all."
Mai tapped her foot, folded her arms. It wasn't her place to be anyone's commander, but she was bothered nonetheless.
"Your friends would worry," she finally said.
"You are here worrying." Anzu smiled. "I didn't tell anyone because I don't want to make a fuss. I'll be right back, and I'll be just fine. Promise."
"Very well." Mai shrugged. "But if you do not return, I will slit his throat with cards."
"Mai!" Anzu gasped.
"Incorrect expression? I stand by it the same."
Anzu laughed. "Well, I don't want murder on my hands, so I'll be back. Don't tell Yuugi?"
Mai frowned. Through all of Duelist Kingdom, Anzu's biggest worry had been Yuugi, so much so that Mai had been certain the girl had a hopeless crush. But almost half a year had passed. Mai had been on the other side of the world for months, and some judgments weren't hers to make.
"Very well," she said again.
The girl vanished around the corner, and Mai pursed her lips, considering. She made her way back to the lounge.
"Hey, Mai, I stole your seat!" Joey grinned at her from the table with Yuugi and Serenity. "You snooze, you lose."
"Want me to grab you another one?" Tristan asked, reaching for a chair at the next table.
Mai waved him off. "No, please continue. I must take my leave and prepare to beat Joey in the semi-finals."
Joey squawked. Serenity giggled.
"My deck's got all kinds of new tricks," he warned. "Better watch out."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow and clicked her tongue. "As if you think my deck has not changed. My Amazoness warriors will fillet you, mon cher."
Joey gulped, earning a laugh from everyone at the table. Mai winked. She took a new plate. Filled it with food.
Then she headed for the hallway once more.
The knock at his door came completely unexpected, but Marik assumed it would be Odion, opening it without a thought—
—which left him in a very awkward position when he came face to face with Anzu Mazaki.
A moment passed in silence as they stared at each other.
Then she raised a plate of what appeared to be foreign noodles and breaded fish.
"Hungry?" she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. "Is it poisoned?"
"No!"
She seemed scandalized by the very thought, which made him snort. Perhaps he should have had a stronger reaction, but his mind was still trying to work out what leverage she could hope to gain by bringing him . . . dinner.
She shifted, looking uncomfortable. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"
He leaned on the doorframe, looking her up and down, but her blue eyes gave nothing away. Of course, he could have known her intentions instantly by looking into her mind.
But for some reason, he didn't.
"Why would I?" he drawled.
With an expression that said he was a bit slow, she raised the plate again, gesturing at it with her other hand.
The brace around her hand and wrist didn't escape Marik's notice.
"Unless you want to eat standing in the doorway," she said.
"I don't want to eat," he said flatly. "Hence why I declined gathering food in the lounge and instead came to my room to be undisturbed. Funny how that's turned out."
Anzu frowned. "I thought you just didn't want to eat with the rest of us there."
The answer seemed genuine.
Marik shrugged. "Why would I care who's there and who isn't? If the pharaoh wants to battle, I am always ready. If anyone were to try something underhanded, they would never make it past my Millennium Rod."
She sighed. "Look, I just thought—"
"Thought what? That you could appeal to your enemy through his appetite?" He leaned forward. "I have no taste for either you or your food."
"Okay." She snorted and shook her head. "Okay, this was a stupid idea. Forget I came."
She set the plate on the floor and turned away.
Marik frowned. "Tell the pharaoh—"
"The pharaoh didn't send me, and I'm not a messenger." She turned to glance over her shoulder at him. "I just thought maybe you would have liked some company."
"I could see the truth in your mind if I wanted."
"Then take a look."
His frown deepened.
She shrugged. "Suit yourself. We're all trapped up here until we land, so if you change your mind, I'm sure you can find me."
She continued down the hall and turned the corner. Her footsteps echoed for a bit even after that, and it wasn't until they faded completely that Marik reached down and lifted the plate of food, then turned back into his room and closed the door behind himself.
Mai watched from around the corner as Anzu knocked on Marik's door. She couldn't hear the conversation well from where she stood, but she got the gist through word and body language. He didn't appear to be threatening, so she nodded to herself, satisfied, and moved to the next hallway over. The finalists' rooms had been divided into two sections with even numbers on one side and odd on the other. Even-numbered rooms were at the outer edge of the blimp and had windows, but the odd-numbered section was in the center of the craft, windowless. As duelist number five, Mai's room was the center of the center, a fate she bemoaned silently.
But it was not her own room she approached. It was room number one.
She rapped her knuckles on the door and waited.
After several moments, it beeped, sliding aside to reveal a tall, well-built man in a purple cloak.
"Bonsoir, monsieur."
His startled expression was endearing and much less gruff than she would have expected.
"I am Mai Valentine, finalist number five. And you are?"
He cleared his throat. "Odion Ishtar."
"Enchantée, Monsieur Odion." She held up the plate of food she'd brought with her. "You skipped dinner, no? Here, for you."
The tattoo down the left side of his face crinkled under a frown. He bowed as he accepted the plate.
No resistance whatsoever. Mai smiled.
"Thank you," he said, still looking a bit stunned.
Manners, too.
"My friend took a plate to your companion. I thought it only fair to do the same for you, since you followed him from the lounge without eating."
He seemed uncertain what to say to that.
"Your companion." She raised an eyebrow. "He seems not very friendly."
His mouth compressed to a line; he said nothing once again. Loyal in addition to the rest.
"I hope we may all get along during these finals," she said. "After all, the game is for fun."
When he made no move to answer that either, she shrugged a shoulder and bid him goodbye. After he closed the door, she moved to her own room, holding her ID card up to the square reader beside the door. A green light blinked, and she pressed the "Enter" button. The door beeped and slid aside, the lights switching on automatically when she entered.
It was small, cramped. But it had a bed and a small table to sit at, which was miles ahead of Duelist Kingdom. It also had a mini fridge, and while she wished it would have held a bottle of pinot noir, the bottles of water would do.
She took a seat at the table, unpacking her deck and spare cards. Without knowing who she would face in the semi-finals, it was pointless to build a deck to counter their strategies, but after her final duel of the preliminaries, she still had two cards she wanted to change out before her next encounter.
After making the changes, she went through her whole deck again, ensuring it covered the essential strategies she wanted. It seemed hardly any time had passed at all when she heard the announcement:
"Attention, Battle City finalists! Please gather in the lounge for the lottery to determine the first two duelists of the semi-finals."
Mai stood, snapped her deck into her thigh holster, and checked her Duel Disk. When all was ready, she headed to the lounge once more.
Note: Oops, I got excited. I couldn't wait until tomorrow, haha. The gang is back, and the semi-finals are about to begin. Here we go! Next update will be Thursday, August 1st.