After some hours, we were now at the front of the ship, and honestly, it's a miracle noneone thought honda and anzu weren't duelists.
Man was security useless in this world.
"Yugi, we're here," Jonouchi said, taking me out of my thoughts
"This is Duelist Kingdom," Yugi responded quietly.
As we docked,we noticed a group of guards waiting at the port. We all started to disembark, but honda looked especially nervous.
"Anzu, what if they check for star chips again? We're stowaways!" Honda whispered, his anxiety showing.
"Relax," Anzu replied calmly. "They won't check again. Just don't act suspicious."
While walking down the gangplank, I noticed honda moving stiffly, clearly on edge.
I just ignored it, I knew nothing bad would happen to him or us.
And so, we were finally on firm land, not with honda almost screwing it up, though.
"Man, my heart almost stopped!" Honda complained.
"You act tough, but you really are a coward" Anzu said mockingly.
"A coward wouldn't have sneaked off into a boat with security to show support to his friends in the first place, anzu" I corrected her.
"Alright! We all made it ashore!" Jonouchi exclaimed, and because he didn't catched the cold, he didn't sneeze this time.
I looked around, and I catched haga looking at me, seemingly growling.
"Look guys, milhouse is growling like the bitch he is" i said kinda loudly while pointing at him.
When the four caught up to who i was pointing up to, honda and jonouchi started laughing.
"You're right lily, he really looks like millhouse!" Jonouchi said without breath for laughing so much.
"Oi, yugi, you should call him that during your duel!" Honda suggested.
Sadly, just then Mr-i-like-kidnapping-kids appeared.
"Welcome, duelists! Please gather at the castle gate," he said, pointing toward a massive staircase.
"All right, let's go!" Jonouchi said, his enthusiasm clearly showing.
Meanwhile, me and my non-gym-ass carrying a baggage and a backpack stared at the stairs in horror.
By the time we finally reached the top, I collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?" Anzu asked, sweat dropping at my dramatic display.
"Easy for you to say, you go to dance lessons!" I shot back, my voice laced with annoyance.
After a few minutes of recovery, pegasus appeared on one of the castle's balconies.
"Pegasus finally makes his appearance," Jonouchi muttered.
While he explained the rules, I decided to talk to a certain friend of mine.
'Reshef, question, can you make it so pegasus doesn't read my mind? I don't want him to figure out our plan' I asked in my mind.
"Well, not really, what i can do, however, is for him to only access my mind, since i'm not a human he wouldn't be able to comprehend it nor gain important information" Reshef explained.
I sighed in relief, and thought 'Man, you really can do lots of things, uh?"
He chuckled, and boasted "Well, I'm based on a deity, what did you expect?".
'Touche' I couldn't help but reply in my mind.
Then, finally, pegasus walked away.
I turned to yugi, jonouchi, honda and anzu, and said "Well, I wish you guys luck! Remember, you're all dueling for a loved one here".
They nodded, and so, as they walked away, I finally sighed.
'Time to put the plan in action, reshef' I declared in my mind.
He nodded, and so, we started walking away.
Then, as we entered a place with lots of young duelists, I shouted "Every duelist present,listen closely!".
When they all turned to me, I smirked, "The person who defeats me in a duel will receive a box full of duel monster cards!" I declared as I took out the box with cards from my backpack, and continued"And if that person loses, they will still receive two cards of their choice from the box for each starchip lost!".
In just a second, lots of kids started approaching me, demanding a duel.
I smiled smugly.
A little boy with a hat covering his head and a bandana was crafting a makeshift ladder out of bed sheets.
After tying it to the bed, he then jumps out the window and climbs down the ladder towards the forest below.
However, he soon realized that the ladder is much too short to reach the bottom, and ends up falling in some bushes when the ladder breaks for his own weight.
Just as he moved away from the bushes in pain, he heard a feminine voice say "Holy shit! Are you okay kid?!".
He turned around to what seemed to be a young adult woman with short black hair, black eyes behind some glasses, a gray shirt, a black jacket tied around her hips, blue jean pants and black shoes approaching him.
Just then, he noticed her glove full of starchips.
Still in pain, he stood up, and tried to grab her glove.
Key word in "tried".
Because just as he was about to grab her glove, she moved away.
"Did no one teached you that stealing was bad?" The girl huffed.
"You- give me your starchips!" the boy shouted.
"I can't, these starchip are the only way I can have a little chat with pegasus for what he did to the grandfather of a friend of mine" The woman replied in a sinister tone.
That shocked Mokuba, and couldn't help but ask "W-Who did he hurt?".
"Mutou yugi, he did something awful to his grandfather just to force him to compete here" She answered.
At first, the boy was angry at the mention of the boy who defeated his brother, but stood shocked as she told him the reason he was here.
The girl looked up to the tower where he came from, and declared "Let's go somewhere private, allright?" before walking away to grab a baggage and a backpack close to a tree.
Mokuba was still with the guard up, but feeling that the girl seemed sincere, he decided to follow her.
As they walked away, after some minutes, the woman noticed the boy grunted in pain and walked awkwardly.
"I think we're far enough for now, we should stop" the woman stated.
Then, she opened her baggage and took a camping tent.
As she armed it, she asked "When was the last time you ate?".
"I don't remember, I refused to eat whatever they brought me inside the castle, what if it was poisoned?" he answered.
She raised an eyebrow "You say that like they're trying to get rid of you".
He grunted "They are, thought".
Her eyes widened, and she asked incredulously "W-why?! You're just a kid!".
Finally, he took out his hat and bandana.
Shocked, she said "You're-!"
He covered her mouth.
"Yes, I'm kaiba mokuba, you don't need to shout" he hissed.
She nodded, and he took his hand out of her mouth.
"But I don't get it, why would pegasus kidnap you? Unless he has something to gain-" she started.
Mokuba let out a humourless laugh "He does, thought".
He then sighed, and seeing she seemed genuine, he decided to tell her the truth.
"Pegasus spreaded the notice of my brother's defeat into yugi's hands then, kaiba corp Lost the trust of his investors, and business has plummeted".
He paused, and shook, "That was what he was waiting for! So, he made an alliance with the five men that have stock of kaiba corporation for him to be the new owner, but for that…he needed to get rid of me and my brother, along with defeating yugi".
Finally, he shouted "This Is all yugi's fault-!".
Before he could continue, however, he felt himself getting hugged.
"Shhhhh" the woman started, and added "Look, i know this seems bad, but yugi's as much of a victim here as you and your brother, and all because of pegasus".
She then stopped hugging him, and started "I don't care who pegasus thinks he Is, he just kidnapped you, an innocent kid, Is probably going to hurt or worse your older brother, a teenager,and hurted yugi's grandpa, an innocent old man,".
She paused, and added "If he thinks he can destroy two families and get away with it, he's dead wrong!".
Mokuba was shocked by how angry she seemed.
"I-I don't get it, why are you so angry? You don't know me" Mokuba whispered.
She looked down to the floor, and revealed "I don't have a family anymore".
His eyes widened.
"My parents, my brothers, everyone i loved are gone, and just the thought of someone passing for something similar, especially done by a bad person just, makes me angry, okay? I know it may seem stupid, but if i can do something so that doesn't happen, i'll do it!" She declared.
Mokuba seemed shocked by how honest her words sounded.
She then scratched her neck, and said awkwardly "Sorry, i didn't want to make you feel awkward"
Mokuba tried to negate with his head, but then he grunted in pain.
Seeing his state, she took out of her backpack a bottle with water and a sandwich.
"Here, eat this, don't drink all the water though, you'll need it for the medicaments" she stated.
"M-medicaments?" the younger kaiba stuttered.
She motioned him to get inside the tent, and he did.
Inside, there was a med kit that had lots of pills ,remedies, and even bandages.
"W-Why did you bring all of this?" Mokuba asked.
She just shrugged, and said "My mom used to overpack a lot when travelling, guess I inherited it from her".
Then, she asked him "Where does it hurt the most for you?".
"In my back" he winced.
She took out some pills and separated them from the rest.
"Allright, time to eat, you're not taking any medicine with an empty stomach" she stated.
He nodded, and at first he took a little bite of the sandwich.
But then, he started devouring it like an animal, which considering what he said earlier about not eating in days, made sense.
She smiled as Mokuba finally finished it, and started drinking some water.
She took out the pills she separated earlier, and gave one to the kid.
"There, this one Is for the back pain" she said.
He nodded, and took it before quickly drinking water.
That's when he realized something.
"Hey, uh, what's your name?" Mokuba suddenly asked.
She smiled, and gave him her name "Lily smith".