Chaos Effect

Chapter 6 - 6

Chapter 6

'This is going just as I had hoped!' Mai thought to herself as she watched that pathetic miscreant of a duelist Joey Wheeler struggle against Rex Raptor and his dino deck. 'That fool Joey fell right for my trap. I knew if I played on his ego he'd rush into facing Rex without a second thought. He's like all little boys, so sure of themselves but the moment you press them they crumple like a paper bag.' She watched as the blonde twerp's Axe Raider, that he'd been crowing about moments earlier, was destroyed by Rex's Sword Arm of Dragon, leaving him once more with no cards on the field. Which was frankly becoming the story of the duel: Joey summoned something, thought he finally had a solution, and then was brought back into the mud where he belonged. 'Soon Rex will defeat Joey and get back the Star Chip Joey won off me. Which, after I defeat Rex, will be right back in my dueling glove.' She glowered a bit as Joey set a monster and a card in his Spell/Trap Zone. She hated it to no end that Joey had one of her Star Chips. It didn't matter that none of the other competitors knew that... she did. It was a mark of shame, a taint on her standing as a duelist, that the oaf would lumber from duel to duel thanks to one of HER Star Chips. She would get it back and everything would be right!

'And,' she thought to herself, 'I will beat Rex rather easily after watching him reveal his entire deck to me taking on Joey!' The dino-doofus didn't even see what he was doing! Mai knew that Rex wouldn't be able to resist pulling out all the stops to crush Joey, thinking that doing so would impress her. 'As if. Rex is merely Joey with a bit more skill, that's all. I saw that when I dueled him for his room and I see it now. He'll throw out every trump card he has, reveal his weak combos and tactics, and then me and my Harpies will crush him!'

Yes, everything was working out just as Mai wanted.

So why wasn't she happy?

She should have been grinning ear to ear. Her plan had worked! She'd tricked Rex into doing her dirty work and then goaded Joey into a duel he wasn't at all prepared for. She'd even gotten Yugi to butt out, keeping his backseat dueling out of the match, and Joey had alienated his little cheering squad with his attitude. Already the tall kid had stormed off and with how Joey was acting she wouldn't be surprised if the girl and even Yugi abandoned him! He would be alone... like a loser like him should be. Every time his lifepoints ticked down was a step closer to her victory that would taste oh so sweet!

So why did she feel so...empty?

Mai found herself unable to focus on the duel as her mind drifted to only a handful of minutes earlier. Joey had just punched out his friend and Rex had continued to egg the boy on, even after he had accepted the challenge. Mai had challenged his manhood one more time, just in case he was thinking of backing down, only to notice Joey and his friends to look up and beyond her. She'd turned... and seen him.

Edwin Chaos.

He had been with some kid but that hadn't mattered to Mai because the way he was looking at her... she'd seen that look before. Heck, she'd looked at plenty of people the same way. It spoke of disgust, of seeing someone, something, that was so beneath the other person that they weren't even worthy of a second of their time. Edwin had looked right at her, his eyes searching her own before he just kept walking towards Joey and his friends, not even acknowledging her existence. They might as well have been complete strangers rather than two people who had spent an afternoon together. And enjoyable afternoon, Mai could admit, even if it hadn't worked out how she'd wished.

"Hey! Who the heck are you?" Rex had snarled, clenching his fists together and taking a step towards Edwin. "If you've come here to muscle in on my duel then just forget it! I'm taking on Wheeler, you hear me?"

He hadn't even responded to Rex. He'd merely turned his head, his glasses flashing in the light of the setting sun, and Rex had clammed up at the piercing gaze.

"You gonna get on me too?" Joey had said sternly when Edwin shifted his focus back on him. "Well save it... I'm duelin' him no matter what you have to say-"

"I saw everything that happened," Edwin said. Though he kept his voice low the tone was like that of a king passing judgment upon a beggar. "Everything. I have nothing to say to any of you." There had been nothing rude about what he said yet... to everyone's ears it had come off as the most cutting of insults. With that he 'd moved to stand with the kid away from the others, a clear divide between himself and Joey and his friends. That had shaken the blonde twerp, Mai could tell that, but in the end Joey had finally nodded to Rex and the dueling platform, which was only a short distance from the Non-Aggression Zone, had risen up.

And now he was right where she wanted him to be and all she could think about was how Edwin hadn't even looked at her.

'He can't still be mad about when we last talked, right?' she thought to herself. 'Okay, so he wasn't pleased I tried to trick him... and I'm not sure why he ran off like he did when I offered to join him for dinner but he wasn't happy with that either. But still... he can't still be upset about that! What, does he expect me to apologize?' She heard Joey declare something but she didn't even look up, lost in her thoughts. 'What for? I didn't do anything wrong.' She grimaced. 'Heh, even I don't believe that. Still... its just part of the game, right?' She flexed her fingers, feeling the leather of her dueling glove crinkle slightly. 'Though maybe to him it wasn't part of the game quite yet?' She mentally let out a groan. 'Oh grow up and admit the truth, Mai... you offended him by first trying to trick him and then trying to do so by turning it all into a come-on. He didn't like that, saw through your tricks, and then you didn't even follow after him to apologize. That's why he is acting like you aren't even here.'

Mai huffed.

"Well, time to see about that," she said softly to herself before walking up to the girl... Taya or Tina or something or the like. Yugi had run off, Mai wasn't for sure but she wondered if it was so he could fight the urge to chime in to help with Joey's horrible dueling skills, leaving the girl all by herself. Though she seemed to have enough good will and cheer in her to be a one-girl pep rally.

"What do you want?" Tara asked in annoyance as Mai moved to join her.

Mai help up her hands. "Now now... one would think you weren't happy to see me! I thought you goodie goodies were all about friendship and kindness."

"Yeah, for people we actually like! Not rat finks that trick my friends into duels!"

"Joey is a big boy. If he didn't want to duel Rex he could have said no at any time. You're just mad that he didn't do what you wanted... far too used to the boys leaping to your beck and call?"

"What? I... no... I mean..." Tanya flustered a bit before glaring at her. "Why don't you just go back to rooting for Rex, huh?"

"Oh, those two will keep swapping blows for a while now. I wanted to just ask about the newest member of your group..." she nodded towards where Edwin was, the man leaning against a tree watching the duel, the kid sitting next to him. "I've met Edwin but who's that? His brother or something?"

"No," Tippa said, watching as Joey debated what card to put out next. Mai could almost see the monkeys working in his brain, fumbling with wires as they tried to make a proper connection. "If you must know that's Mokuba."

"Mo... Mokuba? As in Mokuba Kaiba?" She looked at the young boy and suddenly remembered him from one of Seto Kaiba's matches. "Kaiba keeps him on such a short leash... what is he doing here by himself?"

"Pegasus brought him here. Using him as leverage to try and get Kaiba's company. Edwin battled one of Pegasus' Eliminators to secure his freedom."

"Is that so?" Mai asked before moving away from Terri without another word.

"Mai?" Rex called out. "Hey Mai! Where ya goin'! I'm about to destroy this fool! You better not be tryin' to get out of our duel!"

"Oh calm down! I can only take so much of Joey's brain grinding gears trying to work out how to win a battle. Need a bit of a break. Focus on actually winning, Rex!"

"I summon Flames Swordsman!"

Mai quietly grimaced, not even looking back to watch as Joey's new monster easily destroyed Rex's. 'That rock-headed... he completely forgot that per Duelist Kingdom Rules Dinosaur monsters are weak to Fire Types.' Sure enough Rex let out a howl of protest. 'Still, I'm not that worried... Rex nearly was the National Champion of Japan... no way does one Warrior with a burning sword take him down.' She moved over towards Edwin and as she got closer she could hear him quietly talking to Mokuba, who was studying the duel intently.

"Alright, so Joey has out Flames Swordsman who gets an attack boost because of the field and his Fire Typing... for some reason only that our glorious Nixon of an organizer Pegasus understands... gives him an advantage over dinosaur monsters. What would you do to defeat that card?"

"But I don't even know what is in Rex's hand."

"I didn't ask you what Rex should do," Edwin said gently. "Nor am I asking you to come up with a strategy. I'm asking you to consider the playfield and think of what you could do to take down Flame Swordsmen."

"Well... obviously I could summon a monster that was stronger that Flames Swordsman."

"In what way?" Edwin pressed.

"What do you mean?"

"Just attack points?"

"Well... yeah!" Edwin looked up and pointed towards the field as Rex summoned his Serpent Night Dragon. "Oh! I get what you mean now! Since Dinosaurs are weak to Fire summon something that isn't a Dinosaur!" Mokuba though tilted his head. "Why would Rex have a Dragon in a Dinosaur deck?"

"I honestly have no clue," Edwin said before shaking his head. "What else though? What other ways could you get rid of Flame Swordsman?" As he asked that the dragon easily defeated Joey's monster, putting Rex back in control.

"...what if a Dinosaur monster had a Water typing?" Mokuba asked.

"Exactly! Water beats fire, so it would allow you to drench the sword and stop your Dinosaurs from losing attack points while also dropping Flame Swordsman's. What else?"

"What else is there?"

Edwin grinned. "The field itself. You could attack and destroy it in a way to eliminate the bonus."

"But your monsters would be weakened too," Mokuba pointed out.

"Not if you broke the field in such a way that gave Dinosaurs a different way to power up. Like maybe... saying that all the fallen dinosaurs' bones create a Dinosaur Graveyard that power up other Dinos? But it can only be revealed by shattering the meadow?"

"That would work?"

"Under Duelist Kingdom rules it would."

Intrigued at what he was doing, for it didn't sound at all like he was trying to help Joey (especially since his example dealt with DEFEATING Joey) Mai decided to make her presence known. "Hello Edwin."

The blonde man looked up at her. "Mai."

"Oh, so you did notice me," she said in a teasing tone. "I was beginning to think you were going to ignore me. Didn't say hello to me or anything when you showed up."

Edwin, much to her surprise, actually grimaced at that. "Sorry, I didn't know what kind of welcome I'd get. Still, should have said something at least. Sorry again."

Mai blinked. She'd expected a snarky comment, an insult, denial... not an honest apology and embarrassment. It threw her off and left her feeling flatfooted. "Well... perfectly fine. You can see now that there are no hard feelings."

"You two know each other?" Mokuba asked.

"We met in Domino City," Edwin stated. He shot Mai a look. "She tried to figure out my deck. Endymion with burn and destruction effects by the way... just in case you were going to try something else out to get the information."

She had been and decided not to even try and deny it. "Well now the only reason I have to ask you to have dinner with me is because I'm hungry and enjoy your company." He glowered and she quickly threw up her hands. "Okay, we're not at the point of joking about that..." she moved to stand next to the tree, watching as Rex's Red-Eyes Black Dragon destroyed Joey's two battleguards (and when had he summoned those?). "So, what are you two up to anyway?"

"Mokuba wants to learn how to duel but doesn't have a deck yet. So I am teaching him how to strategize using the travesty of a duel."

The words almost left Mai's mouth. They were so very close. The mocking that Seto Kaiba's little brother didn't know how to duel and had to have some stranger, someone that had never competed on the tournament circuit, teach him how to play the game. But she forced herself to stop. First and foremost because Mokuba was a kid and from what Tea had told her he'd had a rough time of it. Second that at that moment she realized that Yugi was back to watching Joey and she remembered how he was a nobody as well who had defeated Kaiba, Weevil, and apparently Mako as well.

And finally because she got the sense that if she opened her mouth now it would be the last time she got to talk to Edwin Chaos. And while she couldn't quite pinpoint why... she didn't like the idea of having him his an enemy.

'Maybe because he's the first person to see me not as a conquest... who actually got offended when I suggested that,' she thought to herself before out loud asking, "Travesty, huh? Not cheering on Joey?"

"Oh, I hope he wins," Edwin said. "Joey is a good guy. He's an idiot but he's a good guy." Edwin looked over at Mokuba. "List off why this was stupid of Joey."

The kid thought it over. "Well, my brother would say that Joey was way out of his league."

"Not acceptable. Any duelist can win at any time. Any given Sunday, as the athletes say. Try again."

Mai was rather impressed. Edwin was on the island to report on the tournament but he acted more like a professor than a newsman.

"Well... he didn't learn about the field bonus." Edwin motioned for him to continue. "He knew Rex used dinosaurs but didn't alter his deck to take that into account. Oh! And he gambled all his Star Chips when he could have only done one!"

"That it?" Edwin asked.

"I think so."

"Then you missed the biggest one: Joey rushed in angry and emotional instead of using logic. That made him be sloppy and cost him early on. Even though it started with him mad he should have taken a breather when he first drew his hand and considered just what to do before laying his first card down." He shot Mai a dark look. "No matter what anyone says or does to try and goad you into a duel you don't do it unless you are in control of yourself."

"Hey kid," Mai called out, "you mind letting me and Edwin talk alone for a bit?"

Mokuba looked over to Edwin who nodded. "Stay near Yugi and Tristan and Tea, okay? That way I can see you. We won't be long, I don't think." Mokuba didn't look too sure of that but finally nodded and hurried over to the others, who were cheering Joey on as he thought about his next move. Mai hadn't noticed them all returning. "Alright Mai... floor is yours."

"First off I want to say I'm sorry about last time we spoke," she said, surprising even herself with her apology. Though he had apologized to her so that was only fair.

"Are you apologizing because you understand why what you did was wrong? Or because I got mad at you and you just want to fix things? Or that but you still think you're right and just want me to let it go?"

"Uh... the second one I think."

He chuckled at that. "At least you're honest."

"But now I sense you aren't exactly happy with me right now either."

"Noooooo!" he exclaimed in an exaggerated shock. "Ya think?" He waved towards where Joey was setting up his next move. "You tricked someone who has only had one professional duel in his life into dueling a regional champion because you are upset he got lucky and beat you... despite the fact that you have 8 Star Chips already. So you played on the fragile ego of someone who is dueling just so he can get his sister an operation so she doesn't go blind." He didn't even bother to look at her. "You must be so proud of your accomplishment here."

She had been proud but his scorn turned her victory into ash. And she didn't like that. "Hey, he's the arrogant loudmouth that crowed about beating me! He's just getting what he deserved."

"You cheated using perfume to mark your cards," Edwin snapped back. "Had Joey wanted the moment he realized you were pulling that trick he could have demanded you forfeit the duel. You would have been banished from Duelist Kingdom... because believe me Pegasus doesn't like cheaters, just look up the name 'Bandit Keith'... and pretty much ruined your entire career. The fact that he celebrated his first official win a bit too wildly? That was peanuts over what he could have done."

Mai screw up her face at that. She hadn't considered just how badly things could have gone had Joey pushed her little fake-psychic trick and demanded one of Pegasus' staff to intervene. She'd just assumed no one would be able to pick it up, figure out the trick... and there were enough duelists with gimmicks that what was one more? But she now saw how risky that gamble had been. Most people knew that Pegasus had defeated Keith Howard at the Intercontinental Championship by writing out Keith's strategy for a boy in the audience, so that he could counter his plan. What only a few who were deep in the duelist culture knew was that there had long been rumors that Keith was a cheat. That he'd just so happen to get the right card at the right time... even though no one remembered seeing him with that card before. Or that when rewatching the tapes a card that was in his graveyard at the moment was in his hand the next, seemingly by magic... or quick fingers. Nothing had ever been proven but some, like Mai, had suspected that Bandit Keith had been found out by Pegasus and that was why he'd chosen to humiliate him as he had. It certainly was out of character for the man.

And that could have been her.

"What," she snapped, refusing to answer what Edwin had posed, "willing to look the other way with Joey and all he did?"

"Not at all," Edwin stated firmly. "I already told Mokuba he was an idiot. What I didn't mention was that when we have a few moments Joey and I are going to have a discussion about him solving his problems by using his fists. It works sometimes, don't get me wrong... but the moment he swung at Tristan he crossed a line and we're going to chat about that." He pursed his lips in thought. "The rest of his friends need a talking to as well. You were right about Yugi... he can't keep couching Joey during duels. He does too much during them and not enough outside of them. Tristan was condescending so even if Joey was wrong to punch him he deserved it. And Tea can't preach friendship one minute then rag on him the next and then get upset when called out on that." He scoffed. "I came here to have fun and now I'd playing parent to three teenagers and an 11 year old."

"Well, you and I are the oldest people competing," Mai said, folding her arms under her bosom.

"But everything Joey did... that doesn't make what you did here right, Mai. You went after Joey for the pettiest of reasons."

She rolled his eyes at that. Of course he was one of the bleeding hearts that thought that people were good and kind and if you did enough things to help others you'd be rewarded. "Life is cruel, Edwin. If you don't think that you need to grow up quick. It takes things away from you and you need to-"

"Don't," he snarled, voice suddenly guttural and harsh, and it seemed to Mai as if all the light had disappeared from the universe, the way he bit that word out, "ever... talk to me about life taking things from you. You understand me? Don't you ever talk down to me when it comes to that."

She swallowed. The moment came and went in an instant but still she felt the weight of it. "Who was it?" she asked softly.

"... my mom." He blinked rapidly, suddenly fighting back tears and the guilt she had felt before was but a grain of sand compared to the desert that now flooded her heart as he struggled to contain his grief. She reached over and touched his shoulder and he flinched like her hand had burned him but then relaxed. He sucked on the inside of his cheek, smiling, but she knew he was only doing that to keep from sobbing. "One day maybe I'll talk about it but not now. Please."

"Okay," Mai said. She wanted to say she was sorry, that she understood, but she knew that was the last thing he'd want to hear. To drop it... that was the only gift she could give him.

"You have choice, you know?" he asked, quiet and solemn yet also weirdly hopeful. In front of them Joey activated the Time Wizard card and Edwin smiled as it landed on the Time Machine, causing eons to pass on the dueling field. "Life gives you so much bad... but you have a choice. Whether you pass that along to others, make them feel as bad as you do... or if you decide that you want to make sure that others don't know the pain that you do." He reached up and adjusted his glasses. "That's what life is, honestly. The purpose of all of this." He motioned at the two of them and the area around them. "To be able to do good. To make the world better."

"Even if it is so bad to you?"

"Especially then." He reached up and patted her hand before slowly rising. He faced her and he was back to being himself... or, as she wondered, the version of him he let the world see. "My eyes good? No red? Don't want to make Mokuba worry."

"You're good," she said. He nodded and began to make his way towards a celebrating Joey and Mai, after a few moments, followed after him.

"It was a good duel, Joey," Edwin said. "Would have been better if you hadn't liked like an asp beforehand."

"Hey, what are ya..." Joey began but seeing Edwin's stern face he wilted. "Yeah... yeah, you're probably right." He turned to Tristan. "I'm sorry about hittin' ya man. Shouldn't have done that."

"Well... yeah, you shouldn't have." Tanya cleared her throat and Tristan rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "And I shouldn't have been so condensing when you accepted the duel. I'd have hit me too if that had happened to me."

"See, isn't that better than fighting?" Tafada asked.

Joey turned and shot Mai a cocky grin. "So much for your little revenge plot, Mai!"

She had an insult on the tip of her tongue but seeing Edwin shooting her a questioning look she quickly swallowed it back up and let out a weary sigh before nodding. "You did good, Joey. Congrats."

"Well, I mean-wait, what?"

Rex though was livid. "What the heck is this? The doofus defeats me and suddenly you are nice to him?"

"I'm nice because that's how I should be anyway, Rex," Mai countered. "Because it's easier to be nice than to eat humble pie all the time." Seeing how befuddled Joey was looking made that confession almost as sweet as revenge.

"Well that might be but you still owe me a duel!" Rex declared, jabbing his finger at Mai. "I don't care what our deal was, I want a duel for all the suffering I went through!"

Mai scoffed at that. "You had your chance-"

"Oh, give him his duel," Edwin interjected.

"Excuse me?" Mai said, turning and glaring at him.

"You had your fun. Made him dance to your merry tune, so why not just duel him?" Edwin smirked, the unstated challenge hanging in the air.

'A test it would seem,' Mai thought to herself. 'And not just of my skills.' She looked at Rex and considered. 'I know what monsters he'll play and he lost that Red-Eyes so the only real threat would be his Serpent Night Dragon and I have enough combos that I could defeat that easily. That would allow me an easy victory and even if I lost Rex only has 3 Star Chips... I'd be able to recover quick enough, even with the weak duelists getting pared down rather quickly. And if I won that would put me over the top... hmmm.' Shooting a look towards Edwin she said, "Okay Rex, I'll duel you... tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? What's wrong with dueling right now?"

"Yeah, I want ta see ya both duel right now!" Joey said, inserting himself into things. "Come on Mai, ya chi-GAA!"

Edwin pulled Joey back firmly and shot them all a dark look. "Alright, the kids have played but grumpy Uncle Edwin is now stepping it. It's getting dark, it's getting colder, we're all hungry and tired. So we are going to pitch camp for the night and in the morning you can all decide who is and isn't a chicken for recklessly rushing into duels. But if you press the matter now... fine. But no tent, no fire, no food. Got it?" Joey looked down and mumbled. "Got it?"

"...fine, Ed, fine, I got ya."

He turned to Rex. "What about you? Want to join us?"

"Join with the dork that took my Red-Eyes?" the dino duelist complained. "Hard pass." He shifted his bag onto his shoulder. "Besides, I want to work on my deck before Mai and I duel and knowing her she'd look over my shoulder the entire time!" Mai stared at him before giving a playful shrug. "I'm head back up where we first met, Mai... I expect to find you there tomorrow, you hear me? No funny business!"

She held up her hands in mock surrender. "Heaven forbid!" She let out a mild huff. "I'll find you Rex and you'll have your duel. Now get out of here so we can set up camp!"

~MC~MC~MC~

Pegasus stood on the balcony of his castle, looking out at the forest, swirling his drink ever so slightly.

'How does the saying go? "For Alexander wept for there were no more worlds to conquer"? But what does it mean? That he has claimed all... or that he is so blind and arrogant that he believes he has conquered all when there is so much beyond him?'

But it didn't matter what one believed for those that quoted that statement were quite wrong. The actual quote, while not as poetic, was far more true: When Alexander learned there were infinite worlds out there he wept for he had not managed to conquer even one. It spoke of the folly of man to believe that they could dominate and control all, for even the mightiest of them couldn't even control one single world they knew of, let alone all of existence.

He stared out at the dark forest. This was his kingdom, his Duelist Kingdom, yet at the moment when he should feel the most in control... he did not. Seto Kaiba had escaped and he knew that it wouldn't take long for him to come to the island, especially after the cyber attack against his systems. Yugi Moto continued to defy the odds, winning two duels so far against skilled opponents even when he'd had a disadvantage. And then there was Joseph Wheeler, who Pegasus had written off as little concern but who'd managed to defeat Mai Valentine and Rex Raptor.

'And then there is Eddy-Boy,' he thought to himself. He should have been a non-entity... a reporter sent to cover the tournament. Pegasus had expected Kipling Chaos, an average duelist but nothing too impressive. The old news hound would have lost fairly quickly but rather than be dismissed he would have been invited to Pegasus' castle to be an honored guest. Pegasus would then have wined and dined him, whispered in his ear all the right things to say, so that when Yugi arrived and made his wild claims the man would instantly side against the boy. Articles would be written of Pegasus' win and him taking control of KaibaCorp. He'd even gotten documents forged that would show that he and the Kaiba brothers were distantly related, so that he could claim guardianship of Mokuba. He didn't need KaibaCorp for long, just to get their hologram technology, and with the right tutors Mokuba would grow up to be a fine businessman who could run the business for Pegasus. He'd done such things before... 'And I truly should check in on Yako and Gekko at some point...'

He shook his head, focusing once more on his plans and how they'd been torn asunder by Kipling breaking his leg and thus setting the stage for his nephew to take his place. Edwin Chaos was far more cunning than his uncle, both in dueling and in life. While it had taken him a bit to pick up the rules of Duelist Kingdom once he understood them he had easily hit his stride, taking out both Alto Stratus and the Mimic of Doom. On the interpersonal side of things Pegasus had learned that Edwin, unlike his contemporaries Weevil and even little Yugi, networked like a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. In the span of a day he'd made connections with Mako Tsunami, Mai Valentine, Yugi Moto and his friends, Mokuba, and finally his head Eliminator. He'd formed an alliance with Yugi-Boy and gotten Mai to actually spend some time around the teenagers and assist them.

It was... worrisome.

His entire plan dealt with separating Yugi and making him feel alone and desperate. First by getting him to feel like he couldn't trust anyone on the island, then driving his friend Joseph away. Classic psychological warfare. And yet Eddy-Boy had ruined all that, creating a support structure to help Yugi.

'But that isn't what's truly bothering me, if I am to be honest,' he thought to himself. 'Its what Edwin said about me.' Pegasus had listened in on Edwin's conversation with Mai and Mokuba and his comment about Pegasus and his dislike of cheaters had struck a nerve. He had always believed in fair play, that a man should be judged by how they operated within the rules rather than how they could avoid them. Any fool could break a law... a cunning man used the law as his blade. 'And yet as I stand here I allow PaniK to rig one of my dueling platforms to attack opponents with flames...'

The mere fact alone that he'd brought that monster in showed how desperate he was. PaniK had been banned from tournaments all over the world for his tactics. Intimidation, threats, theft... the man had even broken into one opponent's home, sitting by their baby brother's crib and explaining why they would forfeit the match; he'd only been caught thanks to a baby monitor. He was a vile creature... and Pegasus had allowed him onto his island. He wanted to regain control but now saw that he'd only cost himself more.

He shut his eyes before walking back inside, going to his desk and pressing a button on his phone. "Croquet?"

"Yes Mr. Pegasus?"

"Get me Renard Volpe on the phone. I need his help."

~MC~MC~MC~

I was doing my best to remain in a good mood.

But it was late... well past 8pm by the time everything was set up and we could actually get supper started. I was hungry and I was cranky because the idiot twins Joey and Tristan had spent half their time arguing about how to set up my tent rather than just let me read the instructions. It had finally taken the threat of me banning both of them from camp that had gotten them to go collect water. Mai had gotten the easier time of it, getting Tea and Mokuba to help her set up her tent and the portable shower she'd brought with her, and Yugi was left to collect the firewood. Tea had gone off to take a shower... for some reason, I really didn't understand but didn't feel like getting Mai and Tea rolling their eyes at me and complaining about men so I didn't prod that bear.

"Why did those idiots pour everything onto the ground?" I asked Yugi as he tended the fire, getting it ready to begin cooking the mushroom rice Mai had brought with her. And thankfully she had brought spoons as, being a dirty uncultured American, I was shit with chopsticks. To tide myself over I grabbed a bag of trail mix; I had delayed myself from eating... again... to clean up the mess Joey and Tristan had made in their rush to get things organized, loading everything back into Mai's bag. I'd already stopped him from adding the candy bars to the mix, not sure what sort of drugged up Shaggy mess he was trying to make.

"They were just in a rush to get everything ready," Yugi said.

"I'm seeing a pattern in Joey's life."

Mokuba looked up from the copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that I'd lent to him. He was sitting near my absolutely massive tent, a red and white monster that was the size of a car. With him added to the group I was thrilled that I'd actually gone for the 6 person shelter instead of something smaller... even if I had the feeling before dawn came I'd be kicking at least one person out for making a ruckus. "Where are Joey and Tristan anyway? I thought they already got enough water."

"Enough for Tea to take 10 showers," I stated with a shrug, looking over the food I had and selecting my bag of trail mix. "But they began arguing about how they could make the fire hotter to speed up the cooking time so I suggested they get even bigger logs... they're probably out there trying to cut down a tree by ramming it with their heads billygoat style."

Mokuba snickered at that and Yugi shook his head, smiling even as he scolded me. "That wasn't very nice."

"If Joey isn't going to use his head to think then he can use it to cut down trees. I'm not going to let you all starve because you refuse to stand up to Joey and tell him he's wrong."

"It's not like that," Yugi complained, checking on the rice. "Joey just likes to do things his own way."

"And that gives him a right to do whatever he wants without repercussions?" I pressed. "He gets away far too often with a weak sorry, you cave, and then he does something else that is rash expecting you all to accept that and the cycle begins again."

"That is friendship, Edwin," Yugi argued. "Accepting peoples faults and being there for them."

"No," I said firmly. "That is a parasitic relationship. Friendship, true friendship, is about understanding who a person is, yes, but also working to ensure they don't hurt themselves. You don't give and give and give with nothing in return." I jabbed my finger at him. "You have caused more harm than good constantly coddling Joey."

"I told him not to duel Rex," Yugi pointed out, his temper flaring and for a moment I wondered if the Pharaoh was about to make an appearance.

I scoffed. "You, Tea, and Tristan mocked him... Tristan especially. And because Joey is used to always getting his way anyway it was a shock when you three didn't instantly agree with his decision. That's why he punched Tristan... in his twisted little world Tristan pulled the ultimate betrayal."

"You don't know Joey at all... you can't judge him based on only a few interactions," Yugi argued. "He's my friend! He'd do anything for me!"

"Even if it went against what he wanted?" I asked, glancing at Mokuba and seeing that he was trying to pretend to be reading even when in reality he was listening to every word the both of us said. Good... he needed to learn this as well... and I wanted to seed some information into his brain for later."If you told Joey that the only way to save your grandpa's soul was for him to forfeit this tournament and the prize money... would he? On one hand you have your grandpa's life... on the other Serentiy. And yeah, it is horrible that she might go blind but there are ways to get the money... and worst case she goes blind. She'd still be alive. But do you honestly think Joey would swallow his pride and do that when every instinct he has is screaming, "You have to save her?" Would he sacrifice your grandpa's life just to get what he wants?"

"...that's not a fair question," Yugi said, refusing to answer.

I rolled my eyes. "Within an hour of knowing Joey he challenged me to a duel because he didn't like the trade you and I set up. A trade you felt was perfectly fine. He knew better than you, Yugi, and decided to take the decision out of your hand. And I'm not being egotistical when I say that with his deck the way it was... I would have destroyed him. If I were an evil bassplayer-" Stupid, stupid 4kids! "-I could have kept drawing him in, getting him to bet more and more, till he lost his entire deck. Gambler's Ruin, it's a part of Chaos Theory, and Joey suffers from it badly. Would you have sat by and let him do that?" I leaned forward. "Would he have listened at that point?"

Yugi shifted, looking down at the pot that was merrily cooking over the camp fire.

"Listen," I said in frustration, guilt at pressing Yugi on this flowing through my veins, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to harp on you. But Joey has serious issues and you aren't being a true friend if you are too scared to stand up to him and tell him he's wrong about something. You have to help him or he's never going to grow." I paused, listening to the quiet sounds of the forest. I could have sworn I heard something and I knew that at any time Bakura would show up. But there was nothing and I finally turned back to the conversation. "Mai was right about you helping Joey too much during duels... but not in the way she thought."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked, his annoyance at me calling out the faults in his relationship with his first male friend and his natural curiosity warring with each other before curiosity finally won out.

I threw a handful of trailmix in my mouth, chewing on it quickly before I finally spoke. "You want to help Joey and he wants to learn. He takes advice whie dueling well enough." 'Though for how long?' I wondered to myself. Yugi and Joey hadn't spent a lot of time watching each other duel for much of Battle City and in later arcs and I wondered if Joey, full of arrogance that he was coming into his own as a true duelist, would even listen to Yugi's suggestions or believe he knew exactly what to do to win a duel. "But how often do you to sit down and actually discuss strategy? Help him look over his deck and figure out what is working and what he needs to change? Pour over the rulebook to determine what rules both of you might be missing?"

Yugi looked down at the rice, his prolonged silence the only answer I needed.

"You want to help him? Stop backseat dueling and get him to be proactive."

"Joey doesn't do well with that kind of training," Yugi said.

"I get the sense he doesn't like any kind of training... or work."

Yugi glared at me there. "Now that is enough! Joey is a great guy and you can't keep insulting him like that! Just because he isn't like you and me doesn't mean..."

"What?" I asked when Yugi tapered off. "Go on... say it." Yugi though pressed his lips together. "Lazy? Immature? Argue he isn't." The air grew heavy with the silence. "You know I'm right but you're afraid to admit it. Joey just wants to rush in and win with as little effort as possible. He expects others to fall into his line of thinking and when they don't it's never a question of what did he do wrong... he thinks they are the ones at fault. He wants to become an amazing duelist but he doesn't want to take the time to learn." I gestured at Mokuba. "Today Mokuba and I watched Joey's duel with Rex and we discussed strategy. When we get off this island he and I are going to go shopping and build a deck and then we're going to practice. We are going to find minor tournaments where he can start off slow and learn how to duel. Do you honestly see Joey doing all that?"

"...we're going to do all that?" Mokuba said in wonder.

I smiled at him and gave him an upward nod. "Assuming your brother doesn't want to? Yeah, sure. I won't mind if Seto wants to be involved, good bonding for you both, but I'm going to give you both my number when we get off this rock so we can stay in touch." The excited grin Mokuba gave me was like the sun shining after a thunderstorm. It was with the greatest reluctance that I turned back towards Yugi, who was looking down at the fire with a morose gaze. "I don't like saying those things but they need to be said. Joey has a massive chip on his shoulder and it needs to get knocked off quick." I flashed to him challenging Kaiba and getting utterly destroyed, him vs. Bonz, the Rare Hunter taking his Red-Eyes. "He needs to realize that if he wants to be a duelist... a good one... he either needs to slow down and learn the game... or he needs to grow up and get good real quick."

I never got to hear Yugi's response as Tea's screech had all of us instantly on alert.

"That sounded like Tea!" Yugi exclaimed, leaping to his feet and moving to where Mai had put the shower. Mokuba moved to join him but I held out my arm to block him, shaking my head. Even though I knew it was most likely Bakura (or, to be more accurate, Yami Bakura wearing the real Bakura like a suit) I didn't want to risk it actually being one of the Eliminators hoping to take advantage of the situation to make a grab for Mokuba; Pegasus might honor his word but I didn't trust Kemo or the other goons. With Panik somewhere out there looming in the shadows the last thing I needed was to force a needless confrontation.

After a few minutes though Mai returned back to our campground, dragging Joey in by the ear, Tristan and Yugi following behind with blushes and grimaces. "Do I even want to ask?" I growled, Joey still trying to free himself while at the same time whimpering in pain.

"This little peeper burst into the shower to get a look at Tea!" Mai complained, finally giving Joey a shove while I marveled at the fact that we'd actually gotten a deleted scene in this episode... moment... whatever.

"She was screamin' and I rushed in to help her! I'm a hero!" Joey complained, rubbing his abused ear.

"And when both Tea and I yelled at you, after you boldly proclaimed "Have no fear, Joey's here!" that you were NOT to go into the shower... you still felt the need to?" Mai pressed.

"Well... she could have been forced ta say that! Ya never know!" He rubbed his ear and Mai huffed, going off to stand guard for Tea while she finished.

Tristan shook his head as he sat down next to Joey. "I told you not to do that. Tea said she heard something OUTSIDE of the shower, not in it!"

"Would ya lay off me, man! I was just tryin' ta help!" He folded his arms over his chest. "Supposed ta be on my side instead of those crazy chicks."

I merely shot Yugi a look and he meekly looked away. 'Coward.'

After that things went easy enough. All of us dug into our supper, chatting about everything and nothing. The gang asked me about life in America and I found out that while Joey had a Brooklyn accent that mainly came from his father having grown up there; Joey hadn't actually been to New York. A couple times Mai seemed ready to make a sarcastic or biting remark, like when Yugi asked about her Star Chips, but then she'd look at me, let out a sigh, and actually tried to talk with them. And when she wasn't trying to portray herself as a cold hearted bitch Mai was rather fun to be around. She told stories of how she'd been a dealer on a riverboat casino, and of the time she'd gone to a tournament and her and her opponent accidently ended up swapping decks, forcing her to play a beast warrior deck and having no idea what any of the cards did. In exchange I had told them about how I had a rule named after me at the University of Michigan that forbid students from doing anything they wanted for a senior project (do one mock Mission Statement for a brothel and suddenly they are naming rules after you).

Finally, when it was got to 10pm, Mai went off to take a shower, and sadly lose to Panik but there was little I could do there to change that without leaving that maniac on the loose, and I changed into my pajamas (because I didn't care if I was camping I wasn't sleeping in dirty clothes), arriving back with a robe on to find Tristan in the middle of a ghost story.

"And when they looked in the back seat there were 25 pepperoni pizzas!" Tristan declared.

Even Mokuba stared at him blandly.

"What? Should I have done ham instead?"

Joey rolled his eyes, giving Tristan a light shove. "That ain't no scary story!"

"Sure it is! There was no garlic bread!"

"Crazy Bread," I muttered under my breath.

Joey rubbed his hands together. "Now, here is how you tell a scary story. We begin-"

"Nowhere," I said, cutting him off.

"Yeah," Tea said with a shiver. "Think about... Mokuba."

"I want to hear the story!" Mokuba complained.

"And I don't," I said firmly. The others stared at me and a rolled my eyes. "I have a hyperactive imagination. Thus scary stories screw with me REAL bad. So we aren't telling them, at least so long as I am in earshot. And considering how you four are I don't need any of you waking me up with night terrors. Besides," I looked to Mokuba, "you need to get to bed."

"But it's-" he let out a yawn, "-not that late!"

"Oh yes it is. And I want to be up early tomorrow before Pegasus can send a swarm of Eliminators after us. Scoot." Mokuba shot me a wounded dark look and I sighed. "Would Seto let you stay up?"

"...no."

"Then I don't need Seto kicking my alps for letting you stay up late." I sighed when Mokuba continued to look at me. "I promise if something exciting happens I'll wake you. But nothing will. We are going to talk for a bit and then I'm at least going to bed. This lot will probably stay up way too late and then be too tired to duel tomorrow but I'll be in the tent soon."

"Okay, fine fine," Mokuba said, sitting up and wandering towards the tent. "But you better wake-" he yawned, "-me up if anything interesting happens!"

"I will."

I didn't.

I had been thinking of what was to come next ever since I knew I would be heading to Duelist Kingdom: Bakura's first appearance and the duel he and the Pharaoh had using the souls of Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea. I knew the wisest thing to do was to get the hell away while they were doing that. The Millennium Items were cool in the show when you weren't affected by them but being stuck in this world... they terrified me. They were magic crafted from the sacrifice of innocents. They could ruin lives and destroy souls both in the sense of corruption and LITERALLY destroy them. The smart idea would be to find an excuse to wander away, maybe watch Mai duel, then hook back up with the gang once they were done.

That was the smart idea.

And I was going to be a giant idiot and let Yami Bakura/Thief Bakura/Zorc stick my soul into a card.

It was something nearly every fan of the series had thought about. What was their favorite card, the card they would want their soul to go into, and later on what card was their Ka or Ba or however it went. The card of their soul. That, and the fact that I'd get a taste of what it was like to have magic. I was a normal human in this world and unless Shadi decided to give me a Millennium Item I'd never get a taste for it except now.

(And if that mysterious ghost bastard did try and give me one I'd go running in the other direction; like I said the Millennium items were NOT things to play around with!)

But while I had decided to let Yami Bakura wallop me into a Shadow Duel there was no way I was letting Mokuba near one. Not just because he was a kid but also because it was so utterly dangerous. There were only 5 monster zones; enough for Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, and myself. I had no idea what would happen if Mokuba's soul was in the Pharaoh's deck when the duel ended. Would he return to normal? Or be lost. And then there was the worry that Mokuba might get summoned onto the field and would cause problems for the Pharaoh. Already I knew I'd have to deal with Joey and Tristan being stupid and rushing around attacking... and Yugi too, now that I thought about it. I couldn't remember much other than that Tristan and then Joey had gone to the card graveyard and it was only because of Tea's Magician of Faith card (and why was that her favorite card when the Dark Magician Girl became her favorite card... and would Yugi having it now screw up the duel?) that they both survived. We only had two chances to die, as strange as that sounded, and I couldn't risk hoping the Pharaoh would top deck multiple miracles.

So off to bed Mokuba went. And about 20 minutes later, just when I was about to get real annoyed-

"Don't you think we should check on Mai?" Tea asked.

Yugi nodded. "She has been gone a long time."

"Probably a trap," Joey groused, Tristan nodding only for the bushes behind Tea to begin moving around them. If I didn't know for a fact that Bakura was being influenced by Zorc I'd give the idiot a dope slap for being a creepy bastard. As it was I made a show of leaping to my feet while Joey, to his credit, leapt with Tristan to protect Tea. "Okay, I think Mai is sneaky but she ain't this freaky. Hey, come on out!"

And with that Bakura melted out of the bushes.

"See, I told you!" Tea declared, still half hiding behind me. "I haven't just been seeing things!"

"Tea, that is right in my ear," I complained, hoping that maybe in this world I wouldn't end up with tinnitus.

"What are you doing out here, Bakura?" Joey asked.

"Same as you guys, I guess."

I held up my hands. "That doesn't answer his question. Who are you and what are you doing here? I don't see a dueling glove on you and I don't remember you in the crowd at Pegasus' castle..."

Bakura smiled ever so slightly and I felt my skin crawl. 'Yup, Zorc is in full control at the moment,' I thought as Bakura answered.

"Well, my name is Bakura," he said with all the pleasantness of that scorpion asking the frog for a ride across the river. "And you are?"

"This is Edwin," Tea said, motioning for Bakura to join us. "We met him on the ship... he's been helping us out when we run into some sticky situations."

"...are you in your pajamas?"

"Yes, yes I am," I said with utter dryness.

Realizing that I wouldn't be able to press Bakura any more (and I was honestly interested in what excuse he'd use for being on the island) I merely sat down while the teens caught up with their casual friend. The show had apparently skipped ahead quite a bit as nearly an hour had gone by and I was getting rather tired when Tristan finally looked over at Joey and asked, "Why do you keep staring at that card, man?"

"I'll tell ya, so long as ya don't laugh," Joey said, looking down at the Flame Swordsman. "Sometimes, when I'm in a duel... I pretend it's me out there swapping blows with whatever card my foe has out." He leaned back and rubbed his head with a laugh. "Ain't that dumb?"

"No it's not," I said, quickly seeing through Joey's ruse. Whenever he was worried people thought he was dumb I was willing to bet he'd call it out first, pretending like it was all a joke to keep from being tormented and teased. I sadly wondered how many times his drunk of a father had mocked him for something being stupid and felt a pang of guilt for my rant against him earlier in the evening. "It's only natural to envision yourself in something you love. Movie, comic book," 'Anime,' I mentally added.

Bakura nodded in agreement. "Edwin is quite right. What card would you be, if you were one?"

"Eeeeehhhhhh.... This one!" Joey showed us his Flame Swordsman, standing up and mimicking swinging a sword. "The Flame Swordsman kicks everybody's butt!"

Tristan smiled and stood up as well. "Not my guy's! The Cyber Commander!"

"You guys and your cards are hilarious," Tea teased.

Yugi turned to her and countered, "I think everyone has a card they can identify with. You should see if you can find one yourself." Tea pulled out her deck and began to go through the cards. "What about you, Edwin?"

"I think that one's obvious," I said, pulling out Endymion. "Ever since I got my Uncle's deck I've felt a deep connection to him."

"Here we go!" Tea said. "The Magician of Faith."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Tristan exclaimed.

"More like the Magician of Freaks if you ask me!" Joey said, pulling a face and bringing RIGHT back to being annoyed with him.

"Tell me which one you identify with, Yugi," Bakura said.

"Well, I hate to copy Edwin but he has a point." He pulled out the Dark Magician. "Just like him I felt a deep connection to this card the moment I got it. I can't imagine dueling without him in my deck! Which one do you care about the most, Bakura."

"This one," Bakura said.

I suddenly looked up, swearing I could hear the dramatic music playing overhead.

"What does that funny lookin' card do?" Joey asked.

Bakura chuckled slightly. "If you want to find out why don't we have a friendly duel right now?"

"Yeah. After all this Star Chips stuff it will be nice to have a duel with no strings attached!" Joey declared.

"I agree!" Yugi said even as I braced myself.

"Why don't you all put your favorite card in Yugi's deck so it's like we're all playing?" Bakura said. The others quickly nodded in agreement and I, fighting a sudden case of the butterflies, did as he asked. Yugi and Bakura set up the playing field, complete with a dueling mat to protect the cards, while I began to pace.

'This is a dumb idea. Dumb dumb dumb! I'm already in Yu-Gi-Oh! why I am I taking such a needless risk? I already have Pegasus gunning for me now I am going to get Zorc's attention?'

"Edwin, come on!" Tristan called out.

"Before we get started there's a little something I'd like to share with you," Bakura said, eyes narrowing even as he kept his tone light. "especially you, Yugi."

"Hey, I need to go use the little duelist room," I said quickly. "So you guys-"

"A Millennium item!" Yugi exclaimed and I turned to see... IT.

The Millennium Fucking Ring.

Fuck.

"Oh Muppet Fudger," I muttered even as Bakura declared he was taking us to the Shadow Realm. The ring glowed...

...and everything went dark.