Chapter 7

Disclaimer: In the sub/manga, Weevil and Rex are called "Insector Haga" and "Dino Ryuzaki" I am not quite used to calling them that, so they are going by their dubbed names. Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor.

Thank you to Counting Sinful Stars, Cat, The Travel Writer, and Vampirsiren for your wonderful reviews.

And thank you to all that click "Follow" or "Favorite" and to those who are just dropping in.

Enjoy

Saturday night finally came. The friends had met up at the Kame Game shop before all heading to the pier together. It was a long walk to the pier, and it was also really chilly.

All six of them were dressed appropriately. They weren't sure what to pack, but had packed an extra set of clothes, and all wore jackets, or at least long sleeves.

Anzu was wearing a blue skirt with a yellow jacket covering her top. Honda had on a long brown jacket with black pants and a long sleeved button up shirt beneeath his jacket. Yugi wore his typical school uniform, except he had some odd set of belt buckles wrapped around his torso. Jounouchi wore a green jacket with a plain white shirt and jeans. Ryou had on a wool sweater, and jeans. And Kim wore a black jacket with jeans. Her t-shirt covered by the jacket, and her hands shoved into the pockets to protect them from the bitter wind.

"It's awfully quiet here." Anzu spoke up. "Are you sure this is the right spot?"

"The date and time says so on this card, it can't be a mistake." Yugi replied, double checking his entrance cards for the hundreth time that hour.

"Hey, there it is!" Jounouchi exclaimed, and the six looked up from the cards to see a very large boat sitting quietly in the ocean. There was a small glow around the entrance and there they noticed a pretty good sized crowd of teenagers and a couple of young adults.

"They're all duelists." Yugi said sounding a little excited. "They must've been invited by Pegasus. And look!" he pointed to a couple of boys. One was rather short, pretty much Yugi's size with a blue bowl hair cut and round glasses that made his eyes look like a bizarre insect. The kid was dressed in brown shorts and a green jacket. Beside him, was a taller boy with brown hair and a knit cap on his head, he wore a green jacket and jeans. "It's the guy with the insects. He won the last tournament,"

Kim and Ryou exchanged glances and she tried to hide a smirk "well, at least his appearance matches his deck" she said quietly to him. Ryou just smiled a bit.

"And check who's beside him, the runner up with the dinosaurs." Jounouchi said, gesturing to the one in the knit cap.

"Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor." Jounouchi and Yugi both said at the same time. "tough crowd." Jounouchi muttered once they got over their awe.

The group came closer to the crowd, if Yugi was nervous, he didn't show it. But Jounouchi kept darting his eyes around as he sized up the competition.

"Attention Duelists!" a man shouted. Everybody tilted their heads up, to see three men standing on the boat. Each were dressed in suits and sunglasses over their eyes, even though it was dark out. "Industrial Illusions welcomes you this event. We have researched your tournament records and even unofficial duels, and handpicked the best that Japan has to offer." he began to explain. "A light shines above your heads, where any one of you can reach for it. Come cross the sea and reach for this light at duelist kingdom!"

Below, the crowd began to cheer, caught up in the excitement and adrenaline. However, a laugh reached Yugi's ears and he turned to see who was laughing. With his head turn, everybody else turned to see what he was looking at.

A blonde woman stood amongst the crowd, laughing at them. "Man, this is like a pep rally for kids." she said with a condesending voice. "But, I suppose it is just little kids here.I haven't seen any real competition." she finished.

"Whoa..." Jounouchi and Honda both exclaimed. Yugi just looked at the woman in shock. "what a babe." Honda said softly.

Kim had to admit, the woman was rather attractive. With long curly hair, dressed in a short leather miniskirt, and a corset that was a little too revealing under a jacket, complete with high heeled knee high boots. Kim couldn't blame her three guy friends acting like total idiots as they drooled over the woman. A quick glance to Ryou made her a little satisfied that her new friend wasn't goggling at the woman like the other three. In fact, he had adverted his eyes and stared interestedly at the ocean.

The woman's violet eyes shifted and she spotted Yugi staring at her, with his mouth slightly agape.

"oh, you must be Yugi right?" she asked and gave a small giggle "I can't believe a little boy like you beat Kaiba. You're famous you know."

"Um...thanks?" Yugi managed to reply. Beside him, Anzu scowled at the newcomer.

"Excuse me ma'am, but I'm the best friend of Yugi," Honda began to say

"I'm Jounouchi!" Jounouchi cut off his friend before Honda could finish.

To her credit, the woman spared the two boys a look before she shrugged "It doesn't matter if my opponent is a little kid. Because whoever stands in my way will be crushed." she gave them all a wink, again, paralyzing the three teenagers. She began to walk away to board, "My name is Mai Kujaku. See you later!" she waved.

"What a woman." Honda sighed dreamily as Jounouchi continued to sniff the air where her perfume lingered.

"You idiots." Anzu said venemously.

"ah, relax Anzu. It's only once in their lives that a beautiful woman spares them a glance, much less talks to them" Kim said grinning at her friends reactions, she tugged on Ryou's arm to pull him out of his distracted trance. "Come on, let's go find some good seats."

"Right. Let's get on board!" Yugi said, snapping out of his dreamy state rather quickly.

The filed into a line and Jounouchi and Yugi had their cards and star chips checked out before they were allowed to proceed on.

"Hey, let's stand over here." Kim urged her friends, still holding onto Ryou's sleeve as she led them to the guard rail. "You can see the ocean and night sky."

"yeah, it's pretty." Ryou agreed as he looked out to the endless horizon.

No sooner had they taken their spots, a horn went off and they could feel the ship moving. Waves crashed against the bottom of the ship, and the wind began to pick up.

"Attention everyone." the man announced "I will show you your rooms, please follow me."

the group of duelists began to crowd behind the man eagerly. Each were all excited to see what kind of rooms Pegasus would provide them, and to also get out of the cold wind.

"Excuse me." A weezy voice said over the crowd, "you're Yugi Mutou aren't you?" Yugi turned to the voice, and was surprised to see Haga and Ryuzaki looking at him.

"ah, you're Weevil and Rex." he stated. "congratulations on winning the tournament."

"It was nothing."

"He won because I went easy on him." Rex put in.

"The tournament didn't mean that much to me, I can't call myself a proper duelist until I've beaten you or Kaiba."

Yugi only nodded vaguely, he was still a little sad about Kaiba's situation.

"Hey, what do you mean we get this room?"Jounouchi asked loudly "a boat this size has to have plenty of space, we don't even have beds!" he complained. Once Kim had been shoved through into the room by the crowd, she noticed that Jounouchi was right. The room was very large and there seemed to be enough space for this big of a group, but it did lack any comfort.

"sorry, only the finalists from previous tournaments get private rooms." The man said

"heh, sucks to be you, we get luxery rooms." Rex said with a smirk.

"well, see you later." the two duelists said together before disappearing.

"Hey, we can just sit here." Yugi said as he managed to find a corner for the six of them.

"It'll just be like a sleep over" Ryou said smiling a little.

"Why don't we work on our decks." Jounouchi suggested to Yugi "I got some new cards and I want to try and see what better strategy I can use."

"Sure." Yugi said kindly.

So, the two began to rummage through Jounouchi's cards as they looked at what he had. Anzu, Honda, Kim and Ryou watched a little interestedly, but eventually, Kim found her mind wandering. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in what was going on, but she was more concerned on what was going to happen on the island. It felt odd that Pegasus would go through such great lenghts to make sure Yugi participated.

But perhaps, he was after something. That seemed more logical than just wanting to have a fun weekend on his island. She tried to recall everything that her friends had told her. But now that she thought of it, it had been very vague. They were all too concerned with how Yugi was handling it.

She sat back against the wall, before standing and excusing herself, and going out to the deck.

Kim stared out into the sea, enjoying the view of the waves and how the stars and moonlight reflected along the water.

"Are you ok?" A soft voice said next to her and she looked up to see Ryou.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." she smiled, "I guess I just wanted to come out into the open air, it was getting a little crowded in there."

"Yeah." Ryou agreed and looked up into the sky. "The stars are pretty tonight."

"Yeah, no city lights are ruining the effect they have." the girl agreed. "It's hard to appreciate them in the city."

The young boy could only nod in agreement, his chocolate brown eyes glancing amongst the twinkling dots in the sky, and he took a deep breath of the salty sea air.

The two friends stood there, enjoying the peace and sound of the waves crashing against the boat.

"I wonder what sort of information Pegasus has." Ryou said aloud,

"About the millennium items?"

he nodded "yeah." Kim offered a slight shrug in response, unsure of what to say to put Ryou's worrying to rest.

Before the two could really dwell more about the mysteries of Duelist Kingdom, they heard a familiar voice shout out "My cards!" Kim and Ryou glanced at one another before they began to rush off towards where the sound had come from. The duo had come upon their friends with Weevil hanging around. Yugi was hanging over the edge of the railing, looking at the crashing waves horrified.

"I've found my strategy." Weevil said snickering rather cruelly, "Now without Exodia there's no way you can defeat me."

"Hang on Yuge, I'll get them." Jounouchi suddenly jumped over the railing and dived into the icy waters.

"Jounouchi!" Kim and Yugi cried. Kim ran over the side of the rail as she looked down in both shock and horror as her friend struggled to remain afloat, scrambling desperately about the merciless waves.

"No, Kim!" Ryou cried as he wrapped his thin arms around her waist, for Kim had climbed the railing and was about to jump over the edge herself to help out Jounouchi.

"I-I have to help him!" she said as she struggled against the boy, "I can help him."

Honda came up from behind her, tossing a rubber floaty into the ocean. Down below, Jounouchi at first ignored it, but finally gave in and grabbed onto the floaty, allowing his friends to pull him up.

Weevil had stood by, watching the entire scenario unfold before him, all the while, grinning maniacally as he watched the blonde fumble in the ocean for the lost cards, and the group of friends all worrying for their friend swimming in the ocean.
"Now it will be easy to defeat Yugi." he said cheerfully, Yugi turned to him, his face full of rage, a fire glowing in his now amethyst crimson taited eyes.

"That's it." he said darkly, his voice much gruffer and deeper "When we get to the island, I'm taking you out first." he promised.

"I'd love to see you try." Weevil sneered, before leaving the group, Kim had grabbed onto Jounouchi from under his shoulders and pulled him over the railing, where Anzu gave him a towel to dry off.

"What on earth were you doing?" Kim asked as Jounouchi dried his blonde hair.

"He was trying to get Exodia back for me." Yugi said stiffly, glaring down at the ocean. "that scumbag, Weevil, tossed them overboard,"

"Guess he was too intimidated to really go up against Yugi." Jounouchi said hatefully as he glared in the direction the kid had walked away. The group stood there, as Kim and Ryou took in this information, feeling disheartened for Yugi, but Kim could see the rage in Yugi's eyes, and knew that the spirit of the puzzle was now in control. "I'm sorry Yugi, I could only get two of the cards." Jounouchi apologized with a sad sigh.

"Thank you Jounouchi." Yugi said as he continued to look at the ocean, where his beloved cards now rested. "But you shouldn't have risked your life."

Jounouchi shrugged and muttered something,
"Let's head inside where it's warm." Anzu suggested, "Jounouchi will get sick if he stays out here for much longer." Aside from some grumbles Jounouchi let out, the group agreed and all trudged back to their corner on the boat. But before Kim walked into the room, she felt Ryou grab her hand and pull her aside.

"I'm sorry for stopping you." he said when they were in a quieter area. "But, I-"

"It's ok." she shook her head "Jounouchi was pulled back to safety."
Ryou nodded before looking down, thinking about how he saw Kim ready to leap off the boat without a second's thought.

"W-why would you do that though?" he asked, "The safety equipment had been nearby, it would've been smarter to use that instead of diving headfirst into the water"

Kim raised her head, blinking at him, before her cheeks turned a pale pink and she looked away.
"I dunno, just wasn't thinking, I just knew he was in trouble, and I had to get down there to him." she replied "I guess it was pretty stupid to do that, instead of looking for another solution."

Ryou found himself at loss as to what to say as he processed her words. No thoughts of her own safety, no regards to any smarter methods, an instinct had taken over the girl, and she was ready to dive headfirst into any dangerous situation.
The whitenette suddenly felt jealous of this group he had just befriended. They had a very valuable member in their group. Not only was Kim kind, and funny, but she was loyal, and Ryou really valued that trait. He thought back to the classroom when Yugi announced he was going to participate in Duelist Kingdom. He had felt guilty for wanting to tag along for his own selfish desires, and yet Kim had agreed and even backed him up on his thoughts.

"Well," he managed to say after clearing his throat, "Let's not linger on this, we're all safe and well. We should get some rest."

"Right." Kim agreed and the two headed back into the room, and to their group. Jounouchi had laid his wet clothes on the side, borrowing one of Honda's spare pants, and had his brown coat draped around him.

"I can't believe you didn't bring another set of clothes" Anzu chastised him, while the group was poking fun at Jounouchi's carelessness, Kim and Ryou's appearance hadn't even fazed them, and the two leaned against the wall, watching as the group aggravated the blonde.

But after a while, many of the duelists began to lay down, and the lights were turned off. Cuing the others to be quiet and get some rest.

Ryou made himself comfortable, and had just closed his eyes, when he suddenly felt a weight collapse onto his right arm, he didn't need the light to see who it was that had fallen asleep against him. The young Brit shifted to get into a more comfortable position without waking the girl and tilted his head back against the wall.

"Just like a sleepover," he muttered to himself.

(+_+_+_+_+)

the night wore on peacefully, and soon enough, the duelists began to wake, creating loud chatter and waking others up as a result. Kim woke when she heard Jounouchi loudly exclaim about no complimentary breakfast, and that such a luxury ship could afford it! She shifted her head into her pillow, wondering why on earth Jounouchi was exclaiming loudly in her room about a ship and no breakfast.

It was then she remembered she had gone with her friends to a tournament, and that she hadn't bothered to bring a pillow. so what was she laying on that was so soft?
Shifting her head, her cloudy eyesight saw blue denim jeans, and her cheek felt soft wool. Startled, she shot up and realized she had fallen asleep against Ryou, and used his lap as a pillow.

"Are you awake?" Ryou asked as he stretched his legs out from their cramped position.

"W-why didn't you wake me up?" Kim asked, putting on her glasses and feeling herself blush, especially knowing that he had politely waited for her instead of pushing her off.

"I don't know," Ryou muttered looking at his jeans, "Guess you just seemed content with being asleep and I didn't want to be rude."

The brunette opened her mouth to say that she wouldn't have minded, and to apologize for the inconvenience. But before she could get the words out, she heard Jounouchi say "There it is! It's the island!"
The group of friends hurried outside to get a peek at the remote pacific island. And within no time at all, they were all stepping foot onto land, where the men in suits lead them to a castle at the center of the island.

"wow, it's really a castle" Anzu said, "Pegasus sure has some weird tastes."

"I think it's cool!" Kim exclaimed as she took in the layout. It really did look like a castle, and even though she wasn't dueling, excitement was building in the pit of her stomach. She really liked castles, and it almost had a fantasy look to it.

"Mr. Pegasus has a special announcement to make." One of the men said in a loud voice that could be heard by all, "So please, pay attention. Mr. Pegasus..." he stepped aside, and a man came out to the balcony of the castle, overlooking all of the duelists. The man had long silver hair, one side of his face curtained by it, and he wore a red suit.

Pegasus gave the group a smile before loudly exclaiming "welcome everyone. Welcome to Duelist Kingdom. Allow me to explain the rules of this very special tournament."

Kim noticed that Pegasus seemed young himself, he couldn't be more than in his mid twenties at best. But he talked to the group like they were a bunch of kids!

"The duels will take place using only duel monsters cards of course." he began "I hope you all brought your most powerful decks, but you are allowed to trade with one another if you desire. Now then, you all should have received a glove and two star chips. At this time, put your gloves on and insert the star chips into the crevices."

All around, the duelists began to put on the red gloves, and their star chips as instructed.

"These stars are essentially your life." Pegasus said "Whenever you duel, you must stake one or more star chips, the loser of course, surrenders their star chips to their opponent. Whoever reaches ten star chips, is granted entrance into my castle, where they then receive the chance for the prize."

A murmur broke out among the crowd, of course they all wanted the prize money.
"The duels will begin in one hour." Pegasus continued "and will last for fourty eight hours, those who have less than ten star chips will be deported from the island immediately. I pray for your success!"

With the speech done, Pegasus retreated into his castle, leaving the duelists to wander and meander about, getting a good feel of the island and what it had to offer.

"It seems wrong to duel on this island." Ryou remarked, "It's really peaceful."

"I don't know, it's a pretty cool twist." Kim said as she looked out to the ocean.

The friends hung around, eating some snacks to help with their nerves,however, Yugi wouldn't touch the snacks, merely letting his sharp eyes gaze over the island. They knew he was searching for Weevil.

Finally, a horn sounded, ending the hour, and signaling the duelists to begin.
Yugi led the group into a forest, where much to his delight, Weevil was standing in front of, waiting.

"heh, so you had the courage to come and face me." he said

"Of course, I mean, if I beat you, the rest will be too easy." Weevil said with a grin. "I challenge you to a duel, right here, and right now."

"You asked for it." Yugi said, as he followed the shorter boy into the forest, where Weevil showed them a dueling box. Yugi climbed in and the two boys sat across from one another, a table for their cards sitting in between them

"What? You only have one star chip, did you lose a game already?" Weevil sneered, looking quite delighted "Guess I only need to stake one star chip."

"No. you will stake two." Yugi said calmly, eying the boy with great dislike. "I told you, I will take you out first. I will stake one star chip, and my life."

"Jeez, he's intense" Kim muttered. She thought back to his duel with Kaiba, his game with the spirit of the ring, and based on what Anzu said, knew he had gone through some other intense games. Kim had little doubt about his skills in gaming, but she still couldn't help but feel a flicker of concern for him.

"Smash this bug!" Jounouchi encouraged, as they all cheered him on.

Yugi and Weevil set their cards on the table and drew five from the decks.
"Let's duel." they both exclaimed.

And there's another chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it.

I might get another chapter in soon, but we'll see, I'm going to a convention this week (eek I'm so excited) but I'm sure I'll have some down time, waiting around in an airport for over twelve hours, haha!

I'm trying to take my time, but ugh, I'm just so excited to get to the more exciting moments of the story, cuz lets face it, it's pretty dull on Kim's end here.

Review please!

~DSSM