"Come on, we'll miss it!" Marik ran up the narrow stairs with excitement as Ryou followed behind, suppressing a yawn. It was early, too early for many people to be awake just yet. This had been Marik's idea, though, and Ryou couldn't say no to him.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Ryou called out as Marik burst onto the deck and turned around to watch Ryou ascend the stairs at a slower pace. The tanned teen was practically bouncing with excitement while his white-haired lover still seemed groggy with sleep. The moment Ryou set foot on the deck, Marik seized his hand and pulled him along in a hurry, Ryou smiling in amusement. Marik finally came to a rest at the very front of the ship, just in time to watch the sunrise. After so many years in the darkness, it felt glorious to see the light, and sleeping inside the hull of the ship had felt too much like being underground again. His eyes were wide with rapture as the two held hands in silence, Ryou resting his head against Marik's as they appreciated the beauty of it together. When the sun had cleared the horizon, Marik glanced over at Ryou and grinned.
"Your hair is still messy," he chuckled, running his fingers through Ryou's long, rumpled, white locks.
"Ah, well." Ryou shrugged dismissively, glowing at Marik with eyes of melted chocolate. A throaty chuckle from behind startled them both and made them turn around. Ryou blushed an even darker shade of red as he realized that they were being watched—and who was watching them.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were there," Marik apologized with a blush of his own.
"That's alright, it's not like the ship is mine," Seto said breezily as he stood, a little stiff after sitting there for hours, but he'd felt worse before. "We should be arriving soon, since the island is right out there," he commented as he approached, not even needing to point since the distant island was in clear view on the horizon. "Is anybody else awake?"
"I don't think so," Ryou answered, his face starting to return to a normal color. "Joey was snoring pretty loudly when we left, and Anzu and Yugi were still sleeping soundly."
"I suppose now wouldn't be too early to wake them up, would it?"
"Nah, we all went to bed pretty early last night, so they should be fine," Ryou replied.
"Alright, sounds good. I just think we should have some kind of plan for what we're going to do when we get to the island."
It had taken longer than Duke anticipated for him to explain all of the details of Dungeon Dice Monsters to Pegasus, and even longer than he anticipated for them to go through the potential of every die, the make-up of every booster pack, the plausibility of making it compatible with an adapted model of the Duel Arena. It took them a few days to draw up the contract after that, and by this time, the Duelist Kingdom Tournament was hours from starting.
"I would love to fund the launch of your game, Dukey-Boy." Pegasus sipped his wine before he continued. "It sounds like it's going to be a smashing success. There's just one little thing I need to know first, before we sign the contracts: Who invented the Duel Arena?"
"Noah Kaiba, of course," Duke answered automatically, and a little too quickly. The fact that Pegasus even asked that question made him feel nervous, but he refused to show it, maintaining his usual aura of casual confidence and cocky intellect.
"Come now, do you really think I buy that explanation?" He laughed, the sound light and almost scornful. "He couldn't explain a single thing about it to me when I asked! He clearly had no hand in making it. So, let's try this again, Duke." He stood, setting down his wineglass before strolling over to sit on the edge of the table and face the teen. "Who created the Duel Arena?"
"I… I can't tell you." Duke turned his head, looking off to the distance as Pegasus started to smile. So he knew. That was all he needed to know, because now that he knew that Duke knew, he could get the information out of him. It wouldn't take more than an hour.
"Attention, duelists! Please disembark in an orderly fashion."
"Pst, Anzu," Marik whispered suddenly nervous. "Do you think they'll be able to tell that we're stowaways?"
"Not if you chill out!" Anzu snapped. "Just relax and act like you have every right to be here, and they won't tell the difference."
Marik let out a breath and tried to do as she said, straightening up and walking with more confidence as he followed Ryou off the boat, Seto behind him, followed by Joey, Anzu, and Yugi. They stood on the docks, looking around nervously as they sized up their competition.
"Hey Yug, look! It's that guy who made fun o' your hair last night!" Joey exclaimed, pointing towards Rex Raptor. "Looks like he just slithered his way off the boat and is already lookin' to start some trouble. That slimeball, I'd love to wipe that smirk off his face."
Weevil watched them from across the dock, smirking, and while Yugi actually felt tempted to retaliate—at least with a duel—he knew that he had bigger fish to fry than Weevil.
"Calm down, Joey. You can't afford to go barging into a fight that you're not prepared for," Seto said coolly, still taking measure of the other duelists and trying to pick out who the best opponents for him would be. It looked like there were plenty of people that he could beat easily, but he didn't see much honor in eliminating weaker duelists. Then again, he was starting with one star chip, thanks to his act of charity, and he couldn't afford to lose a single duel, let alone the whole tournament. Mokuba was counting on him to come home victorious, and he couldn't let his little brother down.
One of the black-suited security guards stepped up then, wearing a name tag that read "Kemo," and addressed the duelists on the pier: "Welcome, all duelists. Please—follow the stairs to meet your host!" He gestured to a long staircase built into the side of a hill, atop which rested a large, extravagant castle.
"That castle's gotta belong to Pegasus!" Yugi realized aloud, his eyes wide as he considered the home of the man who'd stolen his grandfather's soul.
"Then what're we waitin' for!" Joey exclaimed, charging forward towards the stairs, followed first by Seto, then by Yugi and Anzu, who walked side by side, with Marik and Ryou bringing up the rear, walking close by each other as they both felt overwhelmed by the island's vast wilderness. They could see thick forests, broad fields, sheer cliffs, intimidating mountains, rocky beaches—and who knew what else waited for them just out of sight?
As the duelists gathered before the castle, several acclaimed duelists were spotted, besides Seto himself: Weevil Underwood, the new regional champion; Rex Raptor, the who came in second place; Mako Tsunami, the third-place runner-up; Mai Kujaku, a professional duelist; "Bandit" Keith Howard, a runner-up in the last American regional tournament.
As they waited for the last duelists to gather, Seto overheard a conversation among some of the others duelists.
"Wow, these're all the best duelists in the world! But where's the world champion, Kaiba?" one boy asked his friend.
"Didn'tcha hear? Some kid beat 'im! On his own turf, too."
Seto stiffened as he continued to listen discretely.
"Are you serious? I thought Kaiba was the best."
"He was, but not anymore. Seto's supposed to be the kid to beat now."
They either weren't that observant or hadn't done their research, because neither of them realized that the new champion in question was only ten feet away from them. His friends must have heard this, because Joey nudged the brunette smugly while Ryou smiled at him proudly, making Seto somewhat ennerved by this evidence of his notoriety. He didn't want to become a target; he'd prefer to choose his own opponents rather than be challenged by who knew how many foolishly over-confident children.
"Attention!" Kemo was addressing the duelists again, this time from the castle's balcony-one of them, anyways. "Please gather around. Your benevolent host is anxious to greet you all."
They all watched the balcony with varying degrees of nervousness, intention, admiration, and mistrust. Pegasus appeared, walking past a row of bowing lackeys as his golden Millennium Eye glittered in the fresh sunlight.
"Boy, would I like to get just five minutes alone with that guy…" Joey grumbled, making Seto chuckle, since it was clear from his tone that his five minutes would be quite violent indeed, should he ever get them. Pegasus watched the crowd, his face shadowed and somewhat sinister as he started to chuckle.
"Greetings, duelists!" His left eye was covered again as he spread his arms wide in a welcoming gesture. "I am Maximillion Pegasus! It is my great honor and pleasure to welcome you all to the Duelist Kingdom. You stand before me, the world's greatest duelists—but come tournament's end, only one shall be crowned King of Games!"
While he listened, Yugi looked down at the deck in his hand, the one that his grandfather had helped him to create.
"I implore you all to assemble your dueling decks with care; with creativity; and with cunning! For this competition will test your skills like never before! To track your progress in the tournament, you've each been given a dueling glove. You've also been given two precious star chips. You must wager these star chips on each duel you compete in. To advance to the final level of competition for a chance at the three-million-dollar prize, you must win ten star chips! Ten star chips will admit you into my castle, where you'll face me in one final duel!"
If Grandpa's here, I'd bet my dueling glove he's hidden away in that castle! Yugi thought, focused entirely on his purpose for being here. But I'll never be able to get in there with all the guards around. We're just gonna have to win enough star chips to get inside.
"This will be a tournament unlike anything you have ever experienced! State-of-the-art dueling arenas cover this entire island, and intriguing new dueling rules will be in effect! I could tell you what these new rules are—but what fun would that be! You'll discover them as you compete, or you won't last very long! Remember—play boldly; think strategically; and duel mercilessly! You have one full hour to prepare—both your cards and yourselves. When the skies light up with fireworks, the duels will begin!"
As the crowd of fifty or more duelists started cheering, Pegasus turned and left the balcony, thinking, The duelists have arrived. Yugi has taken the bait. And the games are about to begin! Everything goes according to plan!
"Croquette," he said, beckoning to his chief of security.
"Yes, Mr. Pegasus sir?" his lackey replied, coming alongside his employer.
"I need two of your men sent on a recon mission to Domino. Here's the address with a description of the target," Pegasus said, handing Croquette a piece of paper from the side table. "For now, they're only supposed to observe and gather information: I'll give them direct orders when I need them to take action."
"Yes, sir. Your associates from KaibaCorp are standing by on video-chat in your private dining room."
"I see they don't quite trust me to carry out my part of the plan. Very well, I shall assure them as necessary. And the girl has been fed this morning, yes? We need to keep an eye on her, because if we lose her, this plan falls apart."
"Understood, Master Pegasus," Croquette replied promptly. "She has been fed and is confirmed to be secured with no means of escape."
"Excellent." The Millennium Eye glimmered behind the veil of hair that covered it. "I just love seeing a plan come together."
Seto had already struck out on his own, away from his friends. He didn't want to have to duel them, not unless it was in the tournament finals. They'd already agreed to as much on the ship that morning, but he also thought it unwise for so many of them to be traveling so closely together when they all needed to win enough duels to be among the first four to win ten star chips. He shifted his backpack on his shoulders, hoping that it's precious cargo would, as he hoped, help him win the tournament in the long run. He pulled his locket out from under his shirt and opened it for a moment, looking down at the picture of his little brother.
I'll make you proud, Mokuba. I promise.
Meanwhile, Yugi, Ryou, Joey, Anzu, and Marik were in a meadow not too far off from the docks, waiting for the tournament to start.
"Yugi, I don't know if I can win this thing," Joey said uncertainly, looking off in the direction Seto had gone in not too long ago. "Maybe it'd be best if I caught up with Seto and gave him his star chip back."
"He wouldn't have given it to you unless he really believed you had a shot at winning," Ryou assured. "If you really think you should give it back to him, I won't stop, but I think he'll manage fine without it."
"Yeah, besides, I promised Yugi I'd do everything I could to help him get his grandpa back, isn't that right, Yug?"
"That's right, Joey!" Yugi replied cheerfully, smiling up at his friend. "And with you helping me, there's no way we can lose!"
"You can do it!" Anzu enthused, despite that fact that she'd expressed doubts about Joey's dueling skills in the past. "You've just gotta steer clear of the more experienced duelists at first."
"Right, it's just a matter of working your way up!" Ryou grinned at Joey, before glancing back at Marik, who seemed to be happy and at ease, despite his silence. Just then, fireworks started shooting up into the bright blue sky from the towers of the castle, making Marik gasp in shock as he stared up into the sky with round eyes. He'd never seen fireworks before.
"The fireworks! It's starting!" Anzu exclaimed excited. All over the island, other duelists took note of the signal, some feeling hesitant, some confident, some sneaky, as the Duelist Kingdom Tournament officially began.
"Let's do it!" Yugi shouted, receiving agreement from his friends, entirely ignorant of just what was in store for them.
Author Notes: The next few chapters will be slow going, because I'm going to try to be more detailed with the duels and do the whole of Duelist Kingdom justice, while including more shipping fluff/fodder: peach, angst, polar, puppy, and others… ;)
Please review if you liked this chapter, because more reviews = more chapters! Curious question for my readers to answer: Who would you like to see Ryou duel in Duelist Kingdom: Bandit Keith, Mako Tsunami, the Paradox brothers (with Joey), or [insert name of preferred canon duelist here]?