Chapter one

The sounds of the croud's cheers reverberate throughout the lockerroom, oppenents calling their monsters to attack quickly followed by thunderous roars and clashing of metal. A young woman stands leans against one of the lockers, alone in thought until a familiar face musters up the courage to face her

"Looks like I really did go limping down the Isle alone after you were done with me, isn't that right, Mai?

The young woman looks at the man, immediately recognising the overconfident, B-Movie hack

"Well, well. If it isn't the washed up wannabe Jean"

"Hey! I'm not a wannabe, I was a one of a kind star, anyone could see that I had talent"

"Blind people don't count Jean, besides if that acting career is going so well then why are you here?"

Jean-Claude Magnum looked at Mai, stoic in his expression and then eventually letting the curves of his mouth form the shale of a smile

"Its simple Mai, I'm here to become a pro duelist, I am a man of many talents as you know"

Jean took a small bow and reached for Mai's hand, to which she responded by slapping his away as if it were a wasp

"Hah, you would be better looking into becoming a comedian, your jokes are about the only thing that isn't lacking"

Really? Do you think I could do well in that field of work? I've never actually thought about it before but now that you mention it I do make a lot of people laugh, the other day a young woman was doubled over with laughter, I only asked her if she wanted my autograph and the..?.!"

The words of Jean had already vanished from Mai's ears as she disappeared around the corner, beginning her ascent up a set of stairs which would lead into the main field of the stadium

She walked past many posters, duelists who were renound for being the best in the world, some were new faces like the young Aster Phoenix or Jesse Anderson, some were old familiar faces like the young Yugi Muto who was taking the dueling World by storm. However there was one face which stood out from among the rest, almost like they were the only picture with colour pasted against the world which had become so grey and dull.

"Joey..."

Mai looked at the poster, reading the description it gave of Joey as a 'hotshot duelist with incredible luck of the draw' Mai reached out a quivering hand to the poster, resting it on Joey's face. Many memories came back to Mai in that moment, the first being their darkest moment together

"ATTAC-"

Mai closed the memory off before it could play out in her mind, racing up the stairs and leaving the poster of Joey on the wall. She took her position as instructed by one of the referees, hearing the name of her oppenent being called into the center arena. Her heart felt like a jack Hammer inside her chest, the sound of her pulse echoed through her ears until the moment came.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I hope you're all having a good time tonight! Although for our next contestant I suggest you hold onto your seats because this ones bringing the force of a storm to battlefield today, I present to you all! The lovely, the elegant, enchanting, MAI VALENTINE!"

The roars of the crowd snapped Mai out of the sense of dread she had felt almost sweep over her, she smiled, descending the stairs and faced her opponent

"I can't afford to lose here if I want to make it to the pro league, so you're going down Mai!"

The young man facing her was quite stern with her voice, anyone else would be shaken by such a claim

"Sorry kiddo, but you're either a champ or a chump, and you ain't no champ"

The young man, apparently called Kev was red in the face at this remark, ready to retort with something else when the referee began his countdown

3.

2.. Both Mai and Kev were looking each other dead in the eye, preparing their duel disks and placing their decks in them

1...

"Duel!"

Kev (4000LP)

"I'll go first, draw! This is the perfect guy for the job, I summon Warrior Dai Grepher (ATK1700/DEF1000) in attack position"

The muscled warrior sprung onto the battlefield, swinging its sword mightily over its head, bringing it to rest at its side while maintaining its battle position

"That'll do for now, well Mai show me what you got"

Mai (4000LP)

"You seem nervous, kiddo. You've every reason to be, draw!"

Mai already had a victorious smile on her face, Kev tried not to be unnerved by her confidence, believing she was bluffing

"Kev"

"What is it?"

"I'm about to win this duel here and now"

Mai's cocky smile couldn't be removed from her face, it irritated Kev beyond belief. However it was Mai's eyes that were telling the whole story, they were saying she meant every word.

"Firstly, I summon Harpie Dancer! (ATK1200/DEF1000)"

A single feather fell in front of Kev's face, gently landing on the ground, however it was when he went to inspect it further that the shadow of the creature it came from loomed over-head. A beautiful blonde woman danced around in the sky, elegant white wings attached to her arms like gloves, she wore only a black bra to cover her chest and leather trousers which complimented the creature's firgure. Once finishing her dance, she flew over to Mai's side, giggling with glee as she looked at the opponent.

Kevin looked at the Harpie monster of Mai's with confusion, thinking to himself that it didn't have anywhere near enough attack to even scratch his monster, even letting out a sigh of relief.

"She may not look like much alone, but just wait until you meet her friends, I activate the spell card Elegant Egotist to summon Harpie Lady Sisters!" (ATK1950/DEF2100)

Blinding lights enveloped the duel arena, settling to reveal three more Harpie ladies. All wore golden armour around the middle sections of their bodies and had dark green wings this time, all three of the creatures had different coloured hair.

"I aint done yet hun, now I activate Harpie Oracle's effect from my hand, meaning I can special summon her to the field!" (ATK1400/DEF1300)

This time a Harpie with Ginger hair tied in bows glided across the field, she wore a skin coloured dress which hardly covered the creature, her black laced undergarments fully visible and her stomach exposed around the area of her belly button, her wings were purple in colour and she carried a staff in her right hand.

"Harpie Dancers effect activates!"

Harpie Dancer and Oracle began flying around together in the air, dancing elegantly until eventually Oracle flew back to Mai, high-fiving her hand as she flew past as if tagging her into the game before reverting back to card form. In her place flew out a tiny red dragon with an emerald crest on top of its head and a little harpie holding the dragon by a golden chain.

"This little guy is the Harpies Pet Baby Dragon, ain't he a cutie?" (ATK1200/DEF1000)

The little dragon bore its teeth at Kevin, making light grumbling noises at the opponent

"Now for the next part of my act! I activate Harpie's pet baby dragon's effec-!

Mai stopped speaking and glared over at her opponent, who had taken a seat on the ground and was scrolling through his phone, anger built inside Mai, threatening to erupt at any second.

"HEY!"

Mai's voice startled the young man, jumping up into the air and letting out what can only be described as a yelp.

"What!? You've literally taken 5 minutes on your first turn, I coulda won by now if you didn't hog all the spotlight"

"Sorry for having a deck that actually functions, all you did was summon a vanilla beatstick that's suit is tighter than my Harpies!"

"I didn't design the card!"

"Don't worry it'll be obliterated in a second" Mai proclaimed, her Harpies standing at her side seething with rage from the insults being hurdled at their partner

"You want speed, fine! Harpies pet baby dragon has his attack doubled due to his effect, I activate Harpies hunting ground as well, increasing all harpie lady monsters by 200! Now my Harpie's, make him regret speeding this up!"

In an instant all of Mai's monsters pounced at their opponent, baby dragon shooting a fire ball at the only monster on Kevin's field, incinerating it then the rest of Mai's monsters swung their claws at their opponent who's life points were depleted in a instant

Kevin (0LP)

Mai took one final look at her opponent, flicked her hair and walked away

"You definitely ain't no champ kiddo"

Kevin was still on the field, in shock at the result, despite mocking her for how long Mai's turn was, she still pulled off an OTK. He looked up at Mai as she walked away and quietly promised to himself that one day he would surpass her.

End of chapter 1

Hey guys! Just wanted to put a little note in here thanking you for reading this fanfic, its my first time doing this sort of thing. Just a little bit of context to why I chose Mai as the character, essentially I felt that her development was kinda cut short, she didn't appear at all in the final season of the original series and basically was forgotten about except for the fan base. Also I know that in terms of the release date of some cards Mai used they shouldn't technically exist yet because they weren't released, however Harpie's as an archetype was never used by anyone else except for Mai so I think its okay. If you guys could I would love to hear what you thought of the chapter overall, this is my first time writing and any feedback I'll take on board!