Lion's Mouth: Part I (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next couple of hours dragged on. A summary will suffice.

Mokuba was nowhere to be found. My sadness distracted me from everything else going on as I followed my new friends around. Soon, the sun began to set, and I wondered what we would be doing for the night. I had remembered to bring food but had not considered any sleeping equipment. Oh well. There was still time to think about that.

We came across an area that had many duelists wandering around. I sensed that they were all normal and ignorant of magic, which made me relax slightly. Joey became anxious to duel someone, so we started looking for an opponent for him.

Then a woman showed up and introduced herself as Mai. The others obviously knew her and disliked her. She was tall with blond hair and wore tight fitting purple clothing. I sensed internal conflict from inside of her, making me more sympathetic than my friends. She had some problems to deal with, but I could feel no evil in her heart.

Mai insulted Joey and then challenged him to beat a duelist she had picked out for him: Rex Raptor, the runner up in the duel monsters regional competition. I had a bad feeling about this, but he accepted.

Apparently, Joey had won his last duel by taking advice from Yugi. This time, he wanted to win without his help. I admired and envied him for this. I could not get by without certain people in my life. I did not feel the need to go it alone. Was I being a burden on others because of this? Maybe that was the reason why I was separated from Bakura.

Tristan seemed to have a different opinion. I could tell that he thought Joey was shunning his friendship, so he ran off. I wanted to go after him, but Yugi did so instead. I focused on the duel.

It was still hard for me to tell what was going on, but it seemed like the duel went back and forth. I could feel a lot coming from Joey. He seemed to be fighting for something very important. Tea then explained that Joey wanted to win the tournament for the prize money. His younger sister was going blind, but their family didn't have money for the operation. My respect for him increased after hearing that.

Thankfully, Yugi and Tristan soon returned. Joey seemed to realize something and made up with his friends. I was at awe at the strong friendship between these guys. Joey was not a burden on them after all. They truly wanted to help each other. I wished I could have more friends like that.

Joey was soon put in a tight spot. Rex suggested that they bet a card on the game, the card they currently had in play. For Joey, that was the Time Wizard, and for Rex it was the Red Eyes Black Dragon. The monsters still scared me, but I did always have a liking for dragons.

Soon after that, Joey was able to win by using the Time Wizard. He excitedly jumped down and ran over to his friends to celebrate. I smiled as I watched them. I did not feel like a part of their group, but their happy emotions were contagious. I had been worried there for a minute, but everything had worked out fine.

We were all in better spirits as we walked through the woods. Soon, we decided to set up camp. We found a nice tree and sat around in a circle. It was then that I realized how exhausted I was from the long day. I tried to keep my eyes opened as the others told ghost stories.

"I'm starving!" Joey said suddenly. "Hey, Samia, do you have any of those rice balls left?"

I bit my lip and shook my head. I had only packed for two people. Besides, I also had thought there would be food for us on the island. What kind of place was this?