Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Alternate Kingdom ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Alternate Kingdom

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! My hostile take-over doesn't happen for another couple of weeks. Kidding.

Look, I'm not dead! I know it's been a looong time since I updated but I got really busy with school. So now I've finally decided to put up the chapter I wrote months ago and hope someone enjoys it. Oh and I decided to skip doing the short intros with Yugi and Marik. They were starting to get whiny. If anyone misses them let me know. And now on with the story. Enjoy and tell me what you think afterwards.

Chapter 5

It had been one of the craziest duels that Tea had ever watched. Of course she never watched many duels except on tv but this one topped them all. That short boy Weevil knew exactly what he was doing. He had some scary monsters and the insults he threw at Joey were horrendous. But Joey's dueling was worse. Half the time it looked like he had picked up his deck yesterday, the other half he was too smug for his own good. The only way Tea thought Joey actually won was that 4-eyes couldn't figure out his strategy. But then again, no one really could. And now Tea was stuck dealing with the consequences- a Joey Wheeler way too full of himself. They had created a monster.

"So I says your bug is squashed, Weevil and the kid actually looks broken. That's what you get for agreeing to duel Joey Wheeler." The blond enthused, patting his chest. Then his stomach grumbled. "Tea? You bring eats with you in that bag of yours?" he asked eagerly.

"Uh no Joey, sorry." Tea said, clutching her bag to her chest.

"No worries bud. I've got ya covered. I got a book on edible wildlife that we can use." Tristan spoke up.

"I'm not eating moss." Tea squealed.

"Is the book edible?" Joey asked, holding his stomach. Then he paused and sniffed the air. "I smell barbeque."

Tristan nodded in agreement. "Fish. Definitely Fish."

Tea sniffed and shook her head. "I can't smell anything." Joey and Tristan exchanged glances and said in unison "Women."

Tea fumed quietly for a moment before hitting them both on the head with the survival guide. "Fine men. If you think you can smell better than me then lead on. Find food." Joey looked dazed for a moment before jumping up and running towards the shore.

"Just follow me." He enthused.

Tristan and Tea had no choice but to follow their friend, and hope he didn't lead them off a cliff. Finally Joey stopped. And Tea and Tristan with no warning slammed into him. Joey didn't even notice as he continued to stare at the campfire complete with juicy, delicious fish dinners. Tea however, could not take her eyes off the duel that was going on just off the edge of the cliff. It was a water duel with one opponent at a serious disadvantage because he was using land monsters. And yet he seemed to be the one in control of the duel. As Tea watched, the spiky-haired youth pointed a hand at the moon card he had played, declaring he was going to destroy it, along with the tide. As the water disappeared from the area, the boy's win was simple. The opponent, a well-muscled dark haired boy, shook his head. "You're a great duelist Yugi. I look forward to dueling you again in the future, once I have practiced some more." The boy with purple, gold, and crimson locks inclined his head in a nod.

"I look forward to that day as well Mako." He turned around then to look at Tea and she felt her heart stop for a moment. There was something about that boy…Then a blond in a miniskirt completely ruined the moment by jumping on the duelist.

"That was fantastic Yugi. You really are a great duelist. Not as good as me, but pretty good. I don't understand why you don't duel for real."

Tea got jolted out of her thoughts by an angry shout by the other duelist, Mako. "Hey you two- that's my dinner. If you want to eat, you're going to have to duel for it." Joey and Tristan looked up, mouths full of half-eaten fish and swallowed hard, looking up at Mako.

"I'll duel ya for it fish boy. I just defeated a bug this morning, I don't see you being any tougher. Noone's gonna get the better of Joey Wheeler." Joey announced, handing his fish over to Tristan, who then devoured it. However as soon as he said his name, chaos broke out on the cliff. The blond bimbo dropped her hold on the spiky-haired duelist and stared critically at Joey.

"You're Joey Wheeler?" she questioned. At the same time, the muscular fish boy stared between Joey and Yugi.

"There's two of you?" he asked, confused. Meanwhile, the small boy let out a gasp and Tea swore his eyes changed from piercing crimson to a gorgeous amethyst. He blinked and then looked around at everyone assembled, clearly shocked.

"Um, where am I?" the boy asked "And who are all of you?"

There was a silence after that as everyone just stared, unsure of what to say or do. And then the blond turned on Yugi.

"Look I don't know who you are or what your angle is kid but noone takes advantage of Mai Valentine and gets away with it. It's quite clear that you lied to me about your brother if you don't even recognize him in person. So give me back my duel glove and get out of my sight or I'll report you to Pegasus. Was that your scam kid? To pretend innocence and ask to play a duel for me and then steal my chips? How dare you!" The last statement came with a resounding slap as Mai's hand connected with Yugi's cheek, and the boy fell to the ground on his knees. Keeping his head towards the ground the boy immediately pulled off the nearly full duel glove and handed it to Mai.

"Please Mai I'm so sorry for whatever I've done but please don't tell Pegasus. He'll kill me." Yugi sobbed. Mai took careful time in putting the glove back on her hand.

"Oh don't be so dramatic Yugi. You'd only get thrown off the island. But I guess I can spare you that humiliation. Just don't get in my way again." She said, turning and taking off, leaving Yugi still sobbing on the ground. After a second, Mako ran after her yelling, "Mai you cheated me. If you're the duelist you need to duel me for those star chips." Mai laughed and kept walking.

"Honey you were beat by a child not even in the tournament. What makes you think you have a chance against me?" The two duelists turned the corner, and the rest of their conversation was hidden by the trees.

Slowly, the trio of friends approached the kneeling boy. "Are you ok?" Tea asked, kneeling down besides him. Wide, tear-filled eyes stared up at her and Tea found herself breathless for a moment.

"I don't understand," the boy said brokenly, "Mai said she'd help me find my brother. Why did she leave me?"

"What's your brother's name kid?" Tristan asked gently, as touched as Tea was by the sad story. Yugi sniffled and rubbed his red eyes with his arm.

"Joey Wheeler." Tea let out a gasp and Tristan turned to glare at Joey. "How come you never told me you have a brother?"

Joey glared back while shaking his head. "I don't have a brother you idiot." Yugi looked up, eyes shining with a glimmer of hope. "You're Joey Wheeler? I finally found you." Yugi said happily, reaching over to grab Joey around the waist.

"Whoa wait, hold on a second. Who are you- I don't have a brother." Joey protested while trying to dislodge the boy from his waist.

"I know that Joey I was simply looking for you. You have to help me save Mokuba. Please." Yugi pleaded, unwilling to give up his only lifeline.

"We'll help you." Tea blurted out, ignoring the looks from her friends. It didn't matter what they thought, this boy was in trouble and Tea Gardner was always there for her friends. The moment she had looked into his eyes she knew he was going to become a friend. She just had to convince him of this. It helped when he turned towards her and hugged her close, murmuring his thanks. Yup, friendship was right around the corner.

Tbc…

Ok that's it for this chapter- next chapter Yugi and gang contemplate their breakfast plans and Seto Kaiba comes to gripes with his "death". I'll try to not wait so long before posting the next chapter.