Hellowe! Welcome to our very first fanfic! Yes, indeed: we! We are Maya and Rose and this story is based on true facts, fantasy and dreams. This story will contain adventure, mystery, humor, duels and above all romance and some drama. Unfortunately we don't own Yu-gi-oh!, but we do own some characters and the plot.

Now, enjoy the first chapter of Heart to Beat!

Chapter 1

It has been two years since the KC Grand Prix. Pegasus decided to organise a new Duelist Kingdom, named Duelist Kingdom 2. However this time, the rules must be obeyed. But he keeps the field power bonus rule. Everybody is allowed to enter the tournament. The duelists who have earned respect and fame in the Duel Monsters world are given luxurious chambers. Among them are Yugi Mutou, Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler. Other participants are Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, who are seeking revenge on Joey and Yugi respectively. However, this time, they have a good plan. Instead of immediately challenging Yugi and Joey, they are going to collect the required starchips first, so they'll at least make it to round two. This way they'll earn respect again and then they can humiliate them in front of the entire world! Unfortunately for them, they have to sleep with about 50 other boys/men in one room. This is not to their liking, because these 50 others are exchanging cards and are being very noisy. Rex and Weevil, on the other hand, would like to have some peace and quiet to prepare for the duels. They decide to go for a walk on the ship. After a while, they come across the girl's room. In front of the door are standing Croquet, Mai Valentine and two other girls, named Rose Lieben and Maya De Wolf, the legendary two who have defeated the 20 boys of Aarschot. This sounds very impressive, but actually they're just beginners. We're not going to describe Mai, everybody knows her. She's the Harpie's Duelist with the big breasts. More important are the two other girls.

The first is called Rose Lieben:

She has blue eyes (not the card), long hair almost reaching her behind, it's a mixture of red and blonde. She's about 170 cm tall and rather slim. She has a big problem with opening doors, even sliding doors. She was once stuck between one and has no idea how that happened. Maya had a good laugh, even though she couldn't understand it as well. She's often pessimistic and not very confident. Her favourite animals are dinosaurs, owls and goats. Therefore she uses a dinodeck.
Oh, and she likes nature a lot.

The second is Maya De Wolf:

She has auburn brown eyes and short, sometimes curly, hair. She's about 160cm tall. She has no sense of direction whatsoever. Despite her age (19 years old, just like Rose) she's still very childish and her appearance doesn't help to prove otherwise. She's often optimistic and quite confident. Her favourite animals are cats and dragons (and owls). Therefore she uses a dragon/cat deck.

Their personalities are quite opposite, so they balance each other out. They have for already seven years now. And it works quite well! Despite their differences they always understood each other.

Rex and Weevil immediately recognized Mai and hid behind the corner. They eavesdropped in on the conversation. "I can't believe it! Has nothing improved since last time? Still no showers? Worst of all I have to share MY room with these two wannabes who haven't even played this game once!", Mai angrily yelled at Croquet. Maya and Rose had an insulted look in their eyes, but they said nothing. Suddenly Joey and Yugi passed by.

"Hey Mai, what's up?", Joey greeted. Mai turned towards Joey and said: "These chambers are horrible! They don't even have any showers! Can you believe it?"

"Well, you can come to my room if you want to. I've got enough space."

"Huh?" she replied intelligently.

"Sure, Tea and Tristan are already staying with us. You can come too, no problem!", Yugi said.

"Oh! How nice! Thanks, you guys!" and then they left.

"Well, I guess that means this room is now yours, miss Lieben, miss De Wolf.", Croquet announced and left as well. Rose and Maya were stunned.

"Can you believe that woman? She doesn't even know us! How dare she insult us like that!", Maya exclaimed.

"I know, but did you expect anything else? It's always been like this. Remember what we found out about our classmates last year?"

"Yes, of course. How could I forget?"

"Or what they were yelling about us back in Greece? For some reason people just don't like us."

"But why? Why do they always judge us before even speaking to us? IF they even bother speaking to us at all that is..."

A depressing silence followed, as they stared at the wall. Maya looked up in anger. "And that Mai is the worst of all! She insults us in our face!"

Rose gritted her teeth in anger. "Forget about that stupid woman! We'll get back at her in a duel!"

They entered their room. Rex and Weevil couldn't help but feel a bit sad for them. The situation quite resembled theirs.

Evening came and so did diner. Pegasus had arranged for a great feast. On the menu were, among other things, roasted owl with croquets and various vegetables. As always, Maya and Rose went early out of fear that they wouldn't be allowed to sit with anyone. They searched for a table for two, but Pegasus had only arranged for tables for 5, 6 or 7. They took a table for 5 in the far corner of the room. As they were waiting for diner to come, they did what they do best: laugh at people. But suddenly Seto Kaiba appeared.

"ROSE! Look! Look! It's Seto Kaiba!", Maya enthusiastically yelled at Rose, who didn't share her friend's enthusiasm.

"Don't tell me you didn't expect that."

"I'd hoped he'd be here, but you never know with him. Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh... This is a dream come true! I have to make sure I make it to round 2. Then he can see me duel and win and then he'll be impressed with me! Waaaaaaaaaahhhh!"

"I wish I were that lucky...", Rose sighed sadly.

"...I know you don't want to hear this, "Maya said, "but it has been years since we last heard something from Rex Raptor. He only did great in one tournament and immediately lost in the next one. Since then we haven't heard anything from him. I doubt he's still duelling at all. How can you still be such a big fan of him, if you haven't even seen him for almost 4 years?"

Rose angrily replied, "I don't care! Rex is and always will be my source of inspiration!"

A silence came over them as Maya realized she had touched a sensitive point. Rose looked down at her plate and Maya turned her attention to staring at Seto Kaiba. The dining room was almost full when Rex and Weevil entered. They went from table to table, but were not allowed to join anyone. Just as they lost all hope of sitting down, Weevil noticed Rose and Maya and the three open seats.

"Hey, Rex, look, those are the girls we saw earlier. Maybe we can sit with them."

"Yes, it would be kinda hypocrite of them not to let us."

They hesitantly approached the table, expecting the snow to blow against their behind.

"Hey, can we sit here?", Rex asked. Rose looked up from her plate and was deeply shocked when she saw who were standing there. Even Maya was kind of surprised. However, Rose reacted quickly and with her biggest smile ever said: "Of course! Have a seat!" Rex and Weevil were relieved they had finally found a place to sit and gladly accepted the offer. After they sat down, there was a tense silence, especially from Rose's side. Realizing however that this was a unique chance, she decided to grasp it and spoke, but was interrupted by Croquet who came over with the food.

"Here you go. It's roasted owl with fresh vegetables and croquets." Everyone looked weirdly at Croquet. Maya desperately tried not to laugh. When Croquet left to deliver more croquets, Rose continued.

"You're Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, aren't you?", she asked. Rex and Weevil looked at each other hesitantly, knowing from experience that they would get to hear a lot accusations and insults.

"Yes, what do you want?", Weevil asked defensively.

"My name is Rose Lieben,", she pointed at Maya, "and this is Maya De Wolf, and I'm a fan of you two."

"...", Rex and Weevil looked surprised.

"Especially you, Rex! I love dinosaurs as well! My deck is full of them!"

Maya sighed, realizing her friend had just revealed her deck to two potential opponents.

"Really?", Rex asked, not really convinced.

"Yes, and it would be an honour if you would have a duel with me."

"Sure, we can do that tomorrow."

"Oh! Actually, we were planning on taking on the weaker duelists first, so that we can get into the second round."

"Except Mai! She's going down immediately!", Maya intervened.

"Yes, she must be removed from play immediately!", Rose agreed. Maya laughed at those words.

"Then when do you wanna duel? In round 2 or after the tournament if we don't get the chance.", Rex asked.

"Oh, I was thinking more of...tonight?", Rose started, "We are the only two girls in our room, so if you would come to us, we can duel in peace. Of course, you can come too Weevil."

"No. I'm going to prepare for tomorrow."

"And you Rex, do you want to come? You don't have to, I'll understand if you don't want to...", Rose trailed off.

"No, no, I'll come. I never refuse a duel."

"Great! Meet us there at 8 o'clock. Is that okay?", Rose proposed. Rex nodded. They continued diner in silence, Maya staring at Seto Kaiba and Rose trying not to stare at Rex. Weevil observed and Rex only paid attention to his food.

After diner Maya and Rose were in their room discussing tonight's meeting.

"Please Maya! I'm begging you, please leave! I want to be alone with Rex. Please!"

Maya crossed her arms. "Then why did you invite Weevil as well?"

"It would be kind of suspicious if I hadn't. Besides, I expected he would decline anyway. So, please!", Rose begged again.

"Then what would you have me do in the meanwhile?"

"Oh, I don't know. Go for a walk, go to a bar...there's probably one somewhere...oh! Go find Kaiba's room!"

"Okay!", Maya replied instantly.

"..too fast, Maya, way too fast..."

"Do you want me to leave or not?"

"Yes!"

"Then don't complain."

"I won't! I won't! Now go.", Rose said as she practically pushed Maya out of the door. "Oh, here, take your cell phone with you. I'll send you a message when you can come back. Bye!" And she shut the door behind Maya.

Maya: "Are you sure you're just going to duel?"

Rose: "What do you mean?"

Maya: "Nothing, nothing... Next chapter will be about ME!"

Rose: "Well you're getting lost again..."

Maya: "We'll see, but we still have to say something to our readers!"

Rose: "Of course! Dear readers, be aware that we are studying at university and for that we are very busy."

Maya: "So we'll try to post one chapter every month. If we have more time, we'll post it faster."

Rose: "And if we have less time, we shall announce it. Okay?"

Maya: "Okay."

Rose: "I didn't ask you."