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Chapter 1 - Don't Gamble Kids
Rex glared across the table, his hands clenched into tight fists.
"No way!" he shouted. "My dinos got beat? I demand a rematch! That duel didn't count!"
Jaden raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure it counted," he said simply, gathering his cards.
Mai rolled her eyes as the sore loser carried on. She didn't have an ounce of sympathy for the idiot. "That's enough," she said sharply. "A win is a win, fair and square. Don't be a spoiled brat about it."
Rex's face turned even redder. "Stay out of this! I'm getting a rematch, right here right now!" He turned back to Jaden, eyes blazing. "Come on, let's duel again!"
Mai stood up, her heels clicking as she strode over to Rex and grabbed him firmly by the arm. Jaden was going to duel again, but it wasn't going to be against Rex.
"Hey, what are you—let me go!" Rex tried jerking out of her grasp, but she only tightened her grip.
With surprising strength, Mai dragged the protesting duelist to the door. "Sorry, hon, but a duels a duel, and you lost," she said, and with a sweet smile, she shoved him out into the hall and slammed the door shut. His muffled shouts could be heard for a few moments more before fading away.
Mai brushed her hands together and turning back to Jaden, her demeanor shifted completely. She smiled, regarding him thoughtfully. His dueling skill had surprised her, she was woman enough to admit that. Not being invited to the tournament himself and using such a silly archetype, she assumed he was going to lose against Rex who was runner-up National Championship.
At first glance, the childish cards had seemed harmless, almost a joke. Yet he had turned a weak monster like Elemental HERO Bubbleman into a powerhouse strong enough to beat Rex's ace card, Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
There was clearly more to him than she first thought, but she was still confident she could beat him.
Jaden leaned back on the couch as Mai strutted back over to him. She perched herself on the armrest, her thigh pressing against his shoulder.
"You might have beaten Rex, but how about a match against a real duelist," she suggested.
"Us?" Jaden pretended to hesitate.
"Oh, please!" Mai begged, leaning even further into him. Her corset was practically in his face. "Tell you what, if you beat me..." she paused for maximum effect, then whispered, "I'll give you a kiss."
Jaden shook his head, watching Mai attempt her usual routine—the fluttering eyelashes, the coy smile, the way she leaned forward just enough to make sure he got a nice eyeful.
"Look," he said, trying to give her an out, "this is a lose-lose for me. If you win, I lose one of my rooms. And if I win?" he let out a short laugh. "Then I'm just some creep who had to win a bet to get a kiss. Not exactly a good look."
Mai's eyes narrowed dangerously, the practiced seductress act dropping as genuine irritation flashed across her face. "Oh please, don't act all noble now," she snapped. "You've been staring at me since I walked in."
"Yeah, because you're a hot blonde with big tits," Jaden said bluntly. "But that doesn't mean I want to duel you for a kiss."
His casual dismissal made Mai want to scream. This punk was acting like he was above her usual tactics? Like he was doing her a favor? The memory of that cramped bunk, the thin mattress, the communal showers—it made her desperation spike.
She moved closer, gracefully invading his personal space and her fingers found his bicep, squeezing the muscle appreciatively through his shirt. "Would kissing me really be so terrible?" she purred, her thumb tracing small circles against his arm.
Jaden knew Mai was playing him—they both knew it. But damn if she wasn't good at what she did. And yeah, maybe part of him wanted to see just how far she'd take this little game...
"You just don't want to sleep in the common room," he said. "All this just because you don't want to spend a night with the lowly peasants?"
"Oh honey," Mai leaned in closer, her lips nearly brushing his ear. "Maybe I just want to see if you're as... skillful with other things as you are with those Hero cards of yours."
The innuendo hung heavy in the air between them. Jaden could feel the warmth radiating from her body, and see the way her chest rose and fell with each breath.
Fuck it…
"Okay, you've got a deal," he had tried to giver her an out and if she didn't want to kiss him she should be more careful when betting with strangers.
"But if I win," Mai said coldly, leaning away from him, her high-pitched girly giggle suddenly gone, "you agree to clear out of the room for the rest of the trip. Okay?"
"Tongue?" Jaden asked, enjoying the shock on Mai's face. She probably thought him similar to Rex, a blushing teenage virgin whose only action with a female was jacking off to the sexy Duel Monster cards.
"Deal," Mai agreed, crossing out his and Rex's life points in her notepad. Under the crossed-out numbers, she wrote out their names and a new set of life points.
Mai LP: 2000
Jaden LP: 2000
"You're way out of your league, kid," Mai rolled her eyes. "Now let's get this over with, I want to test out that tub I saw in the bath."
"Quite the high opinion of yourself, huh?" Jaden shook his head and drew his first five cards. "But sure, let's hurry this up. I've got things to do tonight."
"We'll see how cocky you are after I'm through with you, Hawkins," Mai huffed, drawing five cards herself.
Jaden rolled his eyes as she set all five cards down in front of her without looking at them. Fuck me, she's really going to do the whole psychic act, Jaden had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as Mai closed her eyes and started humming, her fingers dancing over her cards as if she was in some sort of trance.
Without an entire dueling arena between them, the perfume coming off those cards was so goddamn strong it made his eyes water. Jesus Christ, did she bathe them in the stuff?
He knew exactly what she was doing—each card was marked with a different scent so she could "divine" them without looking. Pretty clever trick if you'd never seen the show and didn't know better. But watching it in person? Holy shit, the theatrics were something else. Mai Valentine, queen of the perfumed deck and pushed-up cleavage, putting on her best psychic performance.
"I'm divining my cards," Mai explained with this breathy voice that probably made most guys forget their own name. "I have to mystically choose which one is the best."
Yeah, sure she did. And he was actually Seto fucking Kaiba.
"Whatever you say," Jaden muttered under his breath. He wasn't about to call her out on her psychic act just yet. Let her play her little games.
After what felt like an eternity of her humming— seriously, how long was she going to milk this?—she finally opened her eyes. Her fingers danced over her first card like she was in some kind of trance.
"Let's start with this one," she purred, touching one card delicately. "Hysteric Sign should get things moving."
Jaden remembered this combo from watching the show a thousand times. Hysteric Sign would get her Elegant Egotist, then when it hit the grave she'd get three more Harpie cards. Classic Mai setup, straight from the anime playbook.
"And now..." Her hand moved to another card, still keeping up the mystic bullshit. "Harpie Lady!"
Mai played her signature monster without looking at it once.
How surprising, Jaden almost scoffed. Mai playing a Harpie Lady...who could have seen that coming?
Harpie Lady****
Winged Beast/Effect Monster
1300 ATK / 1400 DEF
Mai glanced at him and the smile on her face fell off when she saw Jaden staring at her without a care in the world. Huh, most duelist his age fall to pieces when they see my divination trick, she frowned.
Well, if her "card divination" didn't shake him, she had more tricks up her sleeve to make him forget everything he knew about Duel Monsters.
Sliding one of her Spell Cards into place, Mai made sure to lean over as much as possible, squishing her breasts together in her corset making them practically spill over the top.
And just like any other boy in the world, Jaden looked. Mai grinned. "I'm not done yet, sweetie." Mai winked at him as she played her next card. "Elegant Egotist! Since my lovely Harpie Lady is on the field, I can summon Harpie Lady Sisters straight from my deck!"
Harpie Lady Sisters******
Winged Beast/Effect Monster
1950 ATK / 2100 DEF
Effect: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned with "Elegant Egotist".
She set one more card face-down in her backfield and ended her turn. "Your move," she said, leaning back in her chair, and stretching, making sure Jaden got an eyeful of that corset.
Jaden looked up from her chest. Focus! he scolded himself as he drew a card to start his turn. There would be time to ogle Mai later, right now it was time to win the duel.
He looked down at the five cards in his hand. Skyscraper, Pot of Greed, Spark Blaster, Bubble Blaster, Monster Reborn. By duelist Kingdom rules, it was one of the worst first hands he could have. If he didn't draw a monster, he still had Pot of Greed which would give him 2 more draws to get a monster or he would lose the duel.
He drew his sixth card and sighed in relief. Reinforcement of the Army—perfect. Time to show Mai what someone who'd actually seen every episode of her duels could do.
"First I'll play Pot of Greed," he said and drew two new cards—A Hero Lives and Hero Kid. Not the worst pull.
"I activate Reinforcement of the Army," Jaden said, already knowing exactly which card he wanted. "This lets me add one level 4 or lower Warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand."
He picked up his deck and rifled through it until he found one of his copies of Elemental HERO Stratos. Shuffling his deck again, he set it down and placed Elemental HERO Stratos on the field.
Elemental HERO Stratos****
Warrior/Effect Monster
1800 ATK / 300 DEF
Effect: When Summoned, you can either destroy Spell/Trap cards on the field up to the number of HERO monsters you control or add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand.
Mai gave him that condescending little smirk she always had in the show. It was weird seeing that expression in person instead of through a TV screen.
"Even with your hero's effect, " Mai said, "you won't be able to beat my Harpies."
Jaden picked up his deck again. "I choose Elemental HERO Bladeedge!"
Mai frowned, her confidence wavering for just a second. That's right, sweetheart. This ain't some amateur you can seduce into making mistakes.
"But I'm still not done yet, because now I'll play Skyscraper," Jaden set his Spell card on the field.
Elemental HERO Stratos****
Warrior/Effect Monster
2800 ATK / 300 DEF
Jaden pointed at Harpie Lady Sisters. "With the 1000 ATK boost he gets from Skyscraper, Elemental HERO is more than enough for your Harpie Lady, Sisters," he said with a grin.
The second the words left his mouth, Mai's hand moved flipping her face-down card upright with a perfectly manicured nail.
"Icarus Attack."
Jaden's stomach sank. Shit.
A satisfied smirk tugged at the corners of Mai's lips. She picked up her Harpie Lady card, twirling it between her fingers. "I'll tribute my Harpie Lady to destroy two cards on the field," she said before placing it in the graveyard pile.
Jaden watched as she gestured toward Elemental HERO Stratos and his Skyscraper.
Just like that, his setup was gone.
Stratos and Skyscraper were off the board, sent to the graveyard in a single move. And thanks to Duelist Kingdom rules, he lost 900 Life Points. All because he got cocky.
Mai LP: 2000
Jaden LP: 1100
Mai leaned in, elbows resting on the table, her chest pushed forward accentuating her cleavage—she really was playing up the whole femme fatale routine.
"Not looking so confident now, are you?" she taunted, her nails drumming idly against the duel mat, her voice dripping with amusement. "Face it, kid—you're out of your league. My Harpies are going to tear your heroes apart."
"Your move," Jaden ended his turn with a scowl. She might've won this turn, but the duel wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
Mai hummed in satisfaction, plucking her next card from the deck with a practiced flourish. She didn't look at it, but her eyes flickered with something familiar—self-assured, expectant, like she had already won. Watching it in person was something else entirely. On a TV screen, that confidence had been entertaining. Across the table, it was just annoying.
She placed the card on the field and let it sit there, untouched. "Your move?" The purr in her voice was deliberate, meant to tease, to bait. A half-lidded gaze followed as she tilted her head slightly, waiting for a reaction.
Jaden didn't give her one. Too bad for her—he wasn't some hormone-addled teen from this world. He ignored her and drew his next card—Fusion Sage.
The corner of Mai's mouth twitched down at how little her looks were affecting him.
Jaden glanced at the notebook and his dwindling life points—1100—then at Mai's Harpie Lady Sisters, with their 1950 ATK, befor he looked at the Elemental HERO Bladeedge in his hand.
In a normal duel, Bladeedge would be a brick—a Level 7 monster that needed two tributes. But this wasn't a normal duel. This was Duelist Kingdom. Here he could just slap this 2600 ATK beast right onto the field.
Which is exactly what he did.
Elemental HERO Bladeedge*******
Warrior/Effect Monster
2600 ATK / 1800 DEF
Effect: When attacking a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage.
Mai let out a dramatic gasp, pressing a hand over her chest. "Oh no! A big scary monster!" she mock-cried.
Jaden's eye twitched.
Mai smirked. "Come on, kid, you really think a simple strategy like summoning your strongest monster is enough to beat me?" She shook her head, waving a dismissive hand. "Please. It's cute that you thought you were about to blow my mind, though."
Jaden clenched his jaw but didn't let her get under his skin. She really was more annoying in person.
"I'll use Bladedege to attack your Harpie Lady Sisters," he said and Mai let out a mock wail.
"Oh no! My precious Harpies!" she fake-sobbed, dramatically swiping her defeated monsters into the graveyard pile.
She was really hamming it up.
Mai sniffled exaggeratedly, dragging her pen across her life points tally with slow, oh-so-devastated strokes.
Mai LP: 1350
Jaden LP: 1100
She looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes, pouting. "Happy now, tough guy?"
Jaden rolled his eyes. "You can stop with the tricks, Mai. Your little psychic perfume crap and showing off your tits might work on amateurs, but it won't work on me."
Mai's fake pout instantly vanished, replaced with a smug grin. She leaned forward, elbows on the table, chin resting on the back of her hand. "Oh, sweetheart," she cooed, voice thick with condescension. "I hate to break it to you, but the tricks are just for fun. I don't need them to beat someone like you."
She drew her next card off the top of her deck.
"I activate Card of Sanctity!"
Not the modern, nerfed version. In the anime the card let each person draw until they both refilled their hands to six cards.
Mai's smirk deepened as she looked over her new hand. The pen twirled between her fingers before she casually flipped another card onto the field.
"I play Harpie's Hunting Ground!"
Harpie's Hunting Ground
Field Spell Card
Effect: All Winged Beast monsters gain 200 ATK/DEF. When a "Harpie Lady" or "Harpie Lady Sisters" is Normal or Special Summoned, destroy 1 Spell/Trap on the field. The player who conducted the Summon targets 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target.
Harpie Lady****
Winged Beast/Effect Monster
1500 ATK / 1600 DEF
"Next, I'll activate Call of the Haunted," Mai flipped over the face-down card she had set in her backfield. "And thanks to my Harpie's Hunting Ground, my Harpie Lady Sisters will come back even stronger!"
Harpie Ladies Sisters******
Winged Beast/Effect Monster
2150 ATK / 2300 DEF
Jaden frowned. Even with the boost, her Harpie Ladie's sister was still too weak to attack Elemental HERO Bladeedge. But Mai, while a complete tease, wasn't a bad duelist. She had a plan and having seen her duel in the anime, he had a feeling she was about to use—
"I'm still not done," Mai set another card down. "I'll use Cyber Shield to boost my Harpies Lady Sisters attack power by 500 more points!"
Harpie Lady Sisters******
Winged Beast/Effect Monster
2650 ATK / 2300 DEF
"Sisters, destroy his pathetic hero!" Mai laughed, loudly and obnoxiously.
Jaden set Bladedge in the graveyard and reached for the notepad to adjust his life point tally.
Mai LP: 1350
Jaden LP: 1050
"And because of Harpie's Hunting Grounds secondary effect, because I summoned a Harpie Lady or Harpie Ladies Sisters, I can destroy 1 Spell or Trap card on the field," Mai picked up her Hysteric Sign and placed it in the graveyard. "Now that Hysteric Sign has been sent to the graveyard, I can add up to 3 "Harpie" cards with different names from each other from my Deck to my hand."
Probably Harpie's Feather Duster, Harpie's Pet Dragon, and another Harpy Lady, Jaden assumed as he drew again. That's what he would do. And with two Harpie Lady cards already on the field, her Pet Dragon would be no joke.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Mai asked. "Finally realizing you're out of your league?"
Jaden ignored the taunt and looked down at the card he drew—Captain Gold.
He slapped another card onto the table. "I activate Fusion Sage!"
Mai arched an eyebrow as he rifled through his deck, pulling out Polymerization and adding it to his hand. "Planning to summon that Flamewingman of yours?" she mused. "You won't get the chance. This duel ends when your turn does."
Jaden smirked. "You're right about that."
"I use Monster Reborn! Bringing back my Elemental HERO Stratos!"
Elemental HERO Stratos****
Warrior/Effect Monster
2800 ATK / 300 DEF
Mai's smirk tightened as Jaden retrieved it from his graveyard, placing it back on the field.
"You know the drill," he said. "When Stratos is summoned, I get to add a HERO monster to my hand. And I'm picking Elemental HERO Burstinatrix!"
Mai rested her chin in her palm, watching with mild curiosity. "Okay, fine, you've got monsters. But let's be real, Jaden—none of them are taking down my Sisters."
"Then how about a third?" Jaden slid another card onto the mat, a flicker of excitement in his voice. "I activate A Hero Lives! By paying half my Life Points—"
Mai LP: 1350
Jaden LP: 525
"I can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Elemental HERO" monster from my deck. I choose Elemental HERO Avian!"
Elemental HERO Avian***
Warrior/Normal Monster
1000 ATK / 1000 DEF
Mai's smirk finally faltered.
Jaden reached for his Polymerization card. "And now, I can use Polymerization to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix and Fusion Summon—Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!"
Elemental HERO Flame Wingman******
Warrior/Fusion/Effect Monster
2100 ATK / 1200 DEF
Effect: When this card destroys a monster in battle, inflict damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK to your opponent.
Mai frowned as he placed Flame Wingman on the field. So what? None of his monsters can hurt my Harpie Lady. Not without that Skyscraper card of his on the field.
Jaden wasn't finished. "Next, I discard Captain Gold from my hand!"
Captain Gold
Warrior/Effect Monster
2100 ATK / 800 DEF
Effect: You can discard this card to add 1 "Skyscraper" from your Deck to your hand. If "Skyscraper" is not on the field, this card is destroyed.
"When I do that, I can add 1 "Skyscraper" from my Deck to my hand."
"What?" Mai gasped...again. But this time he was sure she really was shocked. She didn't have a single card in her backfield, and this duel was over.
"Not faking it now, are you!" Jaden grinned as he set the Field Spell onto the mat. "And now, Flame Wingman, attack Harpie Lady!"
Elemental HERO Flame Wingman******
Warrior/Fusion/Effect Monster
3100 ATK / 1200 DEF
Mai barely had time to slide her monster into the graveyard before Jaden pressed on. "And thanks to Flame Wingman's effect, you take extra damage equal to your monster's attack!"
Mai barely reacted as Jaden's finger tapped against her Life Points tally.
Mai LP: 0
Jaden LP: 525
"I lost?"
"You did," Jaden nodded, collecting his cards from the table.
Mai stared at the field, her perfectly composed smirk frozen in place. She couldn't believe some no-name amateur had just beaten her. This loser wasn't even supposed to be in the tournament!
Jaden stacked all his cards together and slid his deck back into his pocket.
"Now about that reward?"