Test of Friendship
Chapter 20
After about thirty minutes alone in the kitchen, Joey and Mai emerged from her kitchen to see Mokuba sitting on her couch, quietly reading a magazine that Mai had purchased the day before.
"Oh…hello, guys." Mokuba said with a smile as he saw the two of them holding hands. The two lovebirds looked down and noticed their "error" and let each other go with a bit of a blush.
"Hey Mokuba, what's dat ya reading?" Joey peered around the edge of the couch.
"Just a Duelist magazine; it says you've dropped 10 spots in the World power rankings."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"
Mai muffled a giggle as Joey thumbed through the magazine. "Where are those rankings?"
"Joey, dear, there is a thing called the table of contents you could look up."
Mai laughed as her boyfriend glared over at her and stuck out his tongue. Despite this juvenile display, Joey found the table of contents and decided to check out the rankings.
World Duelist Power Rankings Top 201.Yugi Mutou (Japan): "King of Games" still rules!
2. Seto Kaiba (Japan): Big duel with Mason Knight looming
3. Mason Knight (USA): Knight's biggest test yet in Seto Kaiba
4. Braylon Stafford (UK): "Iron Giant" emerging as a force
5. Mai Valentine (Japan): Best Female Duelist in the world
6. Xavier Omanamu (South Africa): New African Continental Champ!
7. Rebecca Hawkins (USA): Life of College student slowing her down…
8. Alex Clausen (GER): Up-and-comer with a tough Beat-Down Deck
9. Weevil Underwood (Japan): Somehow stays in Top 10
10. Malik Ishtar (Egypt): Part-Time Duelist, Full-time Skills
11. Mako Tsunami (Japan): Tide rising again….
12. Siegfried von Shroider (Ger): New European champ gets little love
13. Vivian Wong (China): Duels as good as she looks!
14. Joey Wheeler (Japan): Hasn't dueled in two months…
15. Magnus Armstrong (Aus): Should be in top 10 very soon…
16. Billy Patterson (USA): WAR EAGLE! "Air Raid" deck's very tough.
17. Joel Bailey (USA): No place like Nebraska? "Lil' Red" on the rise!
18. Ishizu Ishtar (Egypt): When she duels, can play with anyone.
19. Marcel Ortiz (Mex): Most underappreicated Duelist in North America.
20. Rex Raptor (Jap): Falls a little further than his Insector buddy.
"So lemme get this straight…I'm ranked below a psycho-boy, an Insect Boy, a fisherman, and a stuck up college brat? WHAT THE HELL?"
"Um, Joey, this ranking is not only based on your win-loss records, but how often you duel. The more times you duel, the better chance of you having a high ranking." Mokuba explained as he thumbed through the rest of the magazine.
"Heh…guess dat explains why Weevil and Fish-boy are ahead of me." Joey scratched his head. "What can I do to get my rankin' back up?"
Mai shook her head. For a kid who surprisingly ranked near the top of his class in school, Joey could be very dense at times. "You could duel someone Joey. Challenge Weevil or someone and have a match."
Mokuba nodded in appoval. "Yeah! That'll get your ranking up in a hurry!"
"Ahhh...I don't wanna waste my time wit that Insect Freak...Kaiba and Yug are already booked. No offense, but I've beaten you already, Mai..."
"None taken...since you won on a fluke anyway." Mai stuck out her tounge playfully as Joey racked his brain for a new opponent.
Chimes Restaruant
Baton Rouge, LA
Mason and his friend/rival had decided to go out for a bite to eat before each left for their respective hotel rooms. Or rather, Jonas was so upset about losing that he drug the smaller teen out and demanded that he buy him a meal.
The spot they had chosen to eat was a bit quiet, mainly because of the time being just after three in the morning. It had the feel of any roadside diner in the United States, except there was a little less grease.
"Sorry, man...I couldn't afford to lose to you today. I had to keep people interested in the duel between me and Kaiba on Tuesday." Mason managed to talk with his mouth full of a piece of pizza and not spew the chewed-up contents over his counterpart.
"Whatever. There's something I want to talk to you about. You know that most of the elite duelists here in the U.S. are friends, especially those of us in the southeast, right?"
Instead of trying to talk again, Mason merely nodded his head.
"Well...do you know that half of them are pissed off at you?"
The poor teen nearly choked on his dinner. "ME? Why? What the hell did I do wrong?"
"Hmmm...let's see...insulting every duelist you've gone against for the last six months, putting out that horrible rap album, blowing off tournaments because they interefere with your schedule. Is that enough, or should I go on?"
Mason looked away from the tall redhead in front of him, his shame and surprise evident in his silence.
"Let me tell you a story about somebody I knew, back before I a ramblin', gamblin' helluva engineer. He was kind of like you...perhaps not as skilled, but just as brash. Maybe even more so. But as soon as he started to rise to the top, he forgot about his friends. He forgot about all of the people who had helped him get where he was. Soon, his life started to spiral out of control. The ones he counted for support were gone, so he turned to drugs and alcohol as his new companions. When they didn't help enough, he turned to gambling. I saw him for the last time about a year ago, a broken, frustrated caricature of what he once was."
Mason turned to his friend and glared at him harshly. "I'll say this once, and never again. Keith may have been my cousin, but I am absolutely nothing like him. Don't bring him and his memory into my life." (A/N 2)
"Whatever, kid. Just remember us, your friends, when you duel Kaiba. Oh, from what I hear he'll-"
Before the giant of a young man could continue, a young blonde woman walked by the table flashing a seductive smile. Her white blouse was very tight-fitting, and her pink skirt was barely long enough not to be considered underwear.
"Gotta go, bro." Jonas stood up and nearly chased the girl out to the parking lot, leaving Mason all but alone in the diner.
There was only one thing left to say, he concluded.
"Check, please!"
As Mason made his way to the parking lot, he got a call on his cell phone.
"Hello?...MAI! What's up?...yeah, it was about a year ago.That was one of the best tournaments I've ever been apart of (A/N 2)...So what is it you need?...Heh, I've already got somebody in mind..."
Mason grinned wickedly as he steped into his black Jaguar. Ruin my date, Jonas? I'll get my payback soon enough, buddy...
Malik shook his head in disbelief. "Sister...him? Of all people to be in love with, you chose that pompous, snobbish windbag?"
Ishizu shrugged her shoulders. "You can't help who you love, Malik."
"Yes, you can. You've seen for yourself what he's tried to do to our friends! He's tried to tear us apart ever since I've been around, and probably before that. Do you realize the chaos that he's put Yugi, Tea and Joey through? Ra knows what he's done to poor Mokuba."
"Brother, I realize that, and I understand your frustration. But that doesn't change the way I feel about Kaiba. Nothing you or anyone else says will."
Malik grabbed his head and groaned. If he knew this what life was going to be like after his main task in life was complete, he would have stayed underground.
"Well, what are you going to do now sister?"
"I'm not sure."
"SIR!"
Seto Kaiba sat in his room/office, his eyes bloodshot from a lack of sleep. "This better be important!"
"We've found your brother's location. 532 Southern Terrace in the southwest district!"
Kaiba's glare grew more intense at his head of security. I knew that blonde wench was lying from the start. "Get me a vehicle immediately! And notify the police!"
The guard ran out of the office as quickly as he had come, and Kaiba grabbed his trenchcoat.
A/N 1: "Bandit" Keith and Mason Knight are cousins. Since Keith's tragic downfall, Mason had been very reluctant to discuss the even slightest similarities between him self and his older cousin.
A/N 2: Mason and Mai had met in a Duel Monsters tournament in Osaka about six months earlier.
Just a few quick jabs before I go:
I AM SOOOOOOO VERY SORRY FOR THE LONG TIME IT TOOK TO UPDATE THIS STORY! I know some of you at least find it half decent, so I hope this update was to your liking.
All of my review responses will be posted on my profile page. Unless that's banned in the rules too...
Geaux Tigers! LSU football is 5-1...next game versus North Texas, this saturday.
I'll try to update most (if not all) of my fics this week, so if you're a fan of my other stories, thanks for being so patient.
Thanks for reading...lots of choices, yet you chose to read mine!
BDB...out.