- Chapter Four -

The Chosen Ones

Two days later...

Nina woke up and got ready. Nothing out of the ordinary. She grabbed her bag, and headed out the door. As she locked the front door to her house, someone stopped her. "Excuse me, ma'am. Are you Nina West?" The mailman asked.

"Yes. That would be me, who's asking?"

"You're a duelist, aren't you?" He smiled.

Nina was shocked, but she didn't want to be rude. "Yes...why do you ask?"

"Then I think you'll like this package," he smiled as he handed her a box, and walked off.

~ oOo ~

Nina searched the patio to have lunch with her new friends, but couldn't find them anywhere. "Strange...did they forget?"

After a couple more minutes of waiting, since the class she had with Yugi was after lunch, she headed to her next class.

When she entered the classroom, there they were. "Oh, there you guys are!"

"What's up, Nina?" Joey waved.

"Hey," Tristan nodded.

"Hi, Nina..." Yugi didn't look at her.

"I thought we were having lunch at the patio again. Did you guys forget?" Nina pouted.

"Of course we didn't forget! I was just about to go find ya!" Joey patted Nina's shoulder.

"What happened was, Tea told us to meet here before lunch started. We asked 'what about Nina?' but she said that after she was done talking to us, we could go find you. She was very insistent...sorry about that!" Tristan scratched the back of his head.

"Oh. Well that's okay! I'm here now!" Nina smirked.

"Right!" Joey nodded.

"Hi, guys! Oh. Nina's here...?" Tea threw on a fake smile.

"Hi!" Nina was being nice, thought she felt like saying 'rude much'.

"Hey, Tea," all of the boys said at once.

"Guys, I have good news!" Tea bounced up and down.

"I have the exact opposite," Yugi said.

"What is it Tea?" Joey asked, though it sounded like he really had no interest.

"You started your period?" Tristan clapped sarcastically.

"Wha- NO! I just scheduled a dance audition!" Tea cheered.

"You dance Tea?" Nina asked.

"Like a pro!" Tea put her hand on her right hip.

"That's nice, Tea..." Yugi stared off into the distance.

"What's wrong, Yugi?" Nina asked with a caring tone.

"My grandpa's soul was taken..." He answered with tears in his eyes.

"What!? How is that even possible?!" Nina dragged her cheeks down with her hands, making the skin under her eyes drag down.

"Last night when I was at home, I got a package from-"

"Industrial Illusions..." Nina finished for him.

"...How did you know?" Yugi slowly turned his head in her direction.

"Because I got a package too."

Everyone looked at Nina in shock. "I thought you kept da fact that ya duel a secret!" Joey cringed.

"Oh, I do."

~ oOo ~

Nina went back inside and opened the package. "A glove? What are these star shaped holes in it?" Nina tried on the glove. She then looked at the star chips, and saw that they went into the glove. "Well, that explains that." Nina continued observing, "The last thing we have here is this video..." She placed the tape in her v.h.s.

The video turned on, and Maximillion Pegasus appeared on the screen. "Ah, hello there Nina girl!"

Nina scuffed.

"You can reply, I'm really here." Pegasus smirked.

"How do you know me?" Nina asked in shock.

"Well, if I'm being completely honest...I don't!" Pegasus laughed.

"Wait, then how did you get my address?" Nina's head felt light from confusion.

Pegasus moved his hair to the side, "my millenium eye told me so."

"Your eye can...talk?" Nina gulped.

"Not exactly, it just makes me...aware of things. It gives me knowledge."

Nina didn't know how to respond to that.

"It tells me that you have a talent for my game, and that you hide it. It also tells me that I need to invite you to Duelist Kingdom for my tournament!"

"I'm flattered, but I'd prefer not to let people know that I duel," Nina simply said.

"Oh but this is your destiny, Nina girl! Even if you weren't very good at dueling, I would still invite you because my eye says it's your destiny. And even you, Nina girl, cannot escape that fact," Pegasus grinned.

"But what if I don't come?" Nina challenged.

"Oh, trust me Nina girl! You will." Pegasus said and the video ended.

~ oOo ~

"So you're going to duelist kingdom?" Nina asked Yugi.

"Yeah, I have to. For my grandpa...are you?" Yugi replied.

"Yes," Nina said. If she wasn't sure before, she was now. "It's okay, Yugi. I haven't met your grandpa, but I'll still help you get his soul back!"

"Thanks, Nina!" Yugi looked a bit more happy now.

"When does the tournament start anyway?" Tristan asked.

"Saturday," Nina answered.

"Yeah, we can all meet when the boat takes off on friday," Yugi added on.

"Sounds like a plan!" Said Joey.

"DOES NO ONE CARE ABOUT MY AUDITION!?" Tea raged.

"Fine...Tea, when's your audition?" Joey rolled his eyes.

"Saturday. Thanks for asking! " Tea smiled, acting like she hasn't just yelled at everyone.

"Oh. Well while your doing that, we're all gonna be in Duelist Kingdom!" Tristan shrugged.

"Yeah, we're gonna help Yug get his grandpa's soul back!" Joey did his creepy chin face.

"But...I wanna help!" Tea stomped.

"Too bad! You're gonna be havin fun at your audition, or whatever!" Joey mumbled.

"Fine! I'll just cancel it then!" Tea crossed her arms.

"She sure is one annoying bitch..." Nina thought.

~ oOo ~

At the patio...

"Alright people, hand it over," Tristan put out his hands, and Yugi and Nina both but money in them. Nina voted for Joey because she didn't really like Tea. Yugi voted for Joey because he knew he was going to lose, so he just wanted to cheer him on.

"Ah, I'll beat ya next time!" Joey frowned.

"What do you mean, Joey? You always beat me!" Said Tea, making everyone look at her for that false comment. "At losing!" She added on, and made Joey growl.

"Hey, how about you duel me, Tea?" Nina smiled.

"Duel you? I think I'll pass."

"Oh, c'mon! It'll be fun!"

"Yeah, we wanna see Nina duel anyway!" Joey argued.

"Mmm...okay, fine." Tea rolled her eyes.

Nina sat across from Tea. "Duel!"

"I'll go first," Tea said, looking at her hand. "I set a monster. That's the end of my turn."

"Okay then, I draw! I summon a monster in attack position." Nina summoned Magical Ghost. "Go, attack Tea's monster!"

Tea groaned as she was forced to place her monster in the graveyard.

"I set a card, and end my turn." Nina added on.

"Alright, now I draw! Okay, I summon Flame Sorcerer in defense position, and end my turn." Tea grinned. "She can't take down my flame sorcerer with her lousy Magical Ghost!"

Nina drew a card. "Alright, I guess I'll summon Wattkid in attack position. In addition, I set a card. That's the end of my turn."

"Your mistake, I tribute summon Dark Magician Girl!" Tea sent Flame Sorcerer to the graveyard, then summoned Dark Magician Girl. "My monster is now going to attack your Wattkid!"

"Not so fast!" Nina objected. "My trap activates! Gravity Bind doesn't allow monsters level four or higher to attack, so Wattkid is safe." (Dark Magician Girl is level six).

"Then I guess I end my turn..."

"I activate my faced down card. Union Attack allows me to add the attack points of all of the faced up monsters that I control. I only have one other face up monster, Magical Ghost, who has one thousand three hundred attack points. If you add that to Wattkid, he now has two thousand three hundred attack points. Wattkid, attack Dark Magician Girl!" Dark Magician Girl was wiped off the field. "Luckily for you, this card doesn't allow you to receive damage, or allow me to attack with any other of my faced up monsters. So, I'll just set this card and end my turn. "

"My turn. I summon Maha Vailo in attack position. Attack Wattkid!" Tea had a grudge against Wattkid now.

"Hold on, my trap activates!" Nina's trap was Draining Shield. This denied Maha Vailo's attack, and added his attack points to Nina's L.P. Nina now had five thousand five hundred fifty L.P.

"Ugh! I end my turn!" Tea frowned.

"I summon Phoenix Neon in attack position-"

"Wait, you can't do that! Phoenix Neon is level five!" Tea whined.

"No, I can normal summon him. His level will just become level three. Now...attack Maha Vailo, Phoenix Neon!" Tea's L.P dropped to three thousand six hundred fifty. "Magical Ghost, attack her life points directly!" Tea's L.P were now at two thousand three hundred fifty. "Finally Wattkid, attack her directly!" Tea's L.P decreased to one thousand three hundred fifty. "I end my turn."

"My turn...I set a card..." Tea said hopelessly.

"I wonder what that card is...it doesn't matter. At this point, I have to take the risk," Nina thought. "Phoenix Neon, attack her life points directly!" Phoenix Neon attacked, and Nina won. "Good game!"

"Yay, good job Nina!" Joey said, as he high-fived Nina.

"Thanks!" She replied.

"You duel pretty damn good, Nina! " Tristan agreed.

"Awe, thank you!" Nina hugged Joey and Tristan, making them both blush. Nina noticed that, "hey, I said you've got a friend in me! Nothing more!" She laughed. The three of them took in deep breathes, as if they were going to sing again.

"You better not sing again!" Tea demanded.

"We'll do it when she's gone... " Tristan whispered to Joey and Nina. The two nodded.

Nina saw Yugi look all sad and alone. "Awe, don't think I forgot about you!" She hugged him. He blushed the most.

"Aye, does anyone smell New York coming?" Joey shouted, making Tristan laugh.

"What?" Nina cringed.

"I'll tell ya when you finally get it," Joey winked.

"Okay, weirdo..." Nina laughed.

"Nina," Yugi said.

"Yeah?" She looked down at him.

"I'll have to beat you in a duel..." he looked nervous to tell her that.

"What?"

"I can sense it..."

"Oh. Okay!" She shrugged.

"You aren't mad?" He looked up at her.

"Of course not! We're friends now! And besides, you can't win duels if you can't lose," Nina smiled.

"Right!" Yugi smiled.

"Wow. Such a beautiful moment!" Joey pretended to cry.

"You're right. Let's ruin it," Tristan smirked and Joey nodded.

"DOG PILE!" Tristan yelled.

"Wha- AHHHHHH!" Nina screamed as Joey and Tristan landed on her, and she fell on Yugi.

"You guys are SO immatture!" Tea swooshed her hair and walked away.

"Someone needs to change their pad," Tristan said, making everyone laugh.

"Tristan, you're terrible!" Nina tried to hold in her laughs.

"Only when I want to be."

"Dat must be always..." Joey rolled his eyes.

"Alright guys, can we get up now? I think I feel my ribs bending..." Yugi said.

"My bad," Tristan, who was on the top of the pile, got off. The rest followed after.

After Nina got up, she gave Yugi a hand. He grabbed hers, and she pulled him up. "Anything broken?" She asked sarcastically.

"Thankfully, no!"

"That's nice." She laughed.

"It sure is! I wouldn't want this getting broken!" Yugi held the millenium puzzle in his hands.

"Your necklace?" Nina questioned.

"It's no ordinary necklace," Yugi smiled.

"Oh, really now?" Nina raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain later!" Yugi said as the bell rang, and they all headed to class.

~ oOo ~

Friday night...

Nina, Yugi, and Joey were in line to get on the boat. Nina was wondering how Tristan and Tea were going to sneak on, while Yugi was trying to help get Joey on the boat. "I sure hope they'll be okay..."

"C'mon, Nina!" Yugi called her over.

"Coming!" She speed walked towards them.

As they got onto the boat, Joey looked excited. "Duelist Kingdom, here we come!" He said, ready for the long journey they had ahead of them.

~ oOo ~

A/N: Wow, there hasn't been a duel in this story since Atem was still alive. I just had to add one. I almost forgot this was YU-GI-OH! Also, does anyone smell New York coming? I'll explain that later. Hee hee hee... Until next time!