“Mr. Jean, ten points for a solid hit on that bit of flotsam.”

  “Monsieur Phil, I take that bet.”

  Seconds later a small pebble impacted a slightly larger piece of flotsam caught up in the wake of the ferry.

  “I do believe that was a hair off-center, Mr. Jean.”

  “I do believe you are correct, Monsieur Phil.”

  The smell of the sea air felt like it was lifting Phil’s heart up by the minute. There was just something about the salty freshness of it, the kind that cleared your mind and whispered of adventures to come. This wasn’t the first time Phil had smelled it, just like this wasn’t the first time he’d taken a ferry from the Domino City Docks. It was the same place as the ferry to Duel Academy left from to pick up and drop off kids on the island. Of course, at this point in time, Duel Academy didn’t exist. All of his old friends didn’t know him. But even that knowledge failed to overcome Phil’s nostalgia as he stood on the deck of the ferry, leaning against the railings with the smell of the sea in his nose and a smile on his face.

  “How long do you think the ride will be?” Jean questioned out loud from where he sat on the railing next to Phil, with his back to the setting sun. Bouncing up and down in one of his hands was a small collection of pebbles ready for Phil to call out the next target.

  “Overnight, I think. Same as when you last asked.” Phil offhandedly replied. That was his best guess. He knew it was at least one night, otherwise Mai Valentine wouldn’t have bothered dueling Rex Raptor for his room. More than one wasn’t likely either since the island was probably pretty close to the Japanese mainland.

  Jean made a noncommittal grunt. He didn’t particularly look to care how long the journey was either, seemingly more interested in gazing at the horizon with Phil as it became awash with streaks of red and orange from the setting sun.

  That was, until something splashed into the sea, followed by a string of angry yells. Phil’s head whipped over to look in that direction. On the other side of the ferry, a familiar spikey-haired boy was staring at the sea in horror. Next to him was the bug-like Weevil Underwood, and bobbing desperately in the waves was Joey.

  “Shit.” Phil and Jean said in unison before dashing over to that section of the ferry, their pebble-throwing game tossed to the wayside. A pit settled in Phil’s stomach. He’d forgotten that the ferry ride was also where Weevil pulled his classic dick move of throwing Yugi’s Exodia cards in the sea. Two flotation rings were quickly thrown into the sea for Joey to grasp at. As soon as his hands reached the rings, Phil and Jean worked together to bring the teen back to the side of the boat, next to a line of iron rungs he could use to climb back into the ferry.

  And then, the two men turned to Weevil.

  “Hey Jean.” Phil said, looking at the green-haired dickhead.

  "Phil?" Jean replied, also looking at the green-haired piece of shit.

  “His smug aura annoys me.”

  “Agreed.

  Together, while Joey pulled himself over the side of the ferry and Yugi took a half-step backward, Phil and Jean raised their arms and advanced, leaving no room for the stupid bowl cut to escape.

  “Wait! What are you- unhand me now! Get off me!”

  It was too late. Stupid bowl cut boy was squarely pinned between the two angry men so that he couldn’t move an inch.

  “Upsy daisy!” Phil and Jean chanted in unison with matching grins as they hoisted the boy up in the air to hold over their heads. The load was light – Weevil maybe weighed around 100 pounds soaking wet.

  “And a one, and a two, and a three!”

  What soon followed was a large metallic clunk, a fresh batch of screams from Weevil, and a very proud and manly series of backslaps, fist bumps, and handshakes shared between Phil and Jean.

  “Phil! Jean! No! You can’t just do that to someone! Omigosh are you alright kid?” Tea’s voice cut through the din, but Tristan was in front of her in a matter of seconds to defuse the situation, with Bakura following right behind him like a shadow.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  “Thanks… but did you really have to do that?” Yugi nervously said from where he was sitting in the common area. It was a simple room. A line of cubbies wrapped around the wall for people to put their stuff in, but there were no beds or even sleeping bags. The duelists either had to make do with what they brought with them or deal with sleeping on the unpadded tile floor. This alone had caused the rest of Phil’s group to shoot him grateful looks for his insistence on them bringing camping gear for the trip.

  Now, while most of the others were suffering on the tile, Phil and company were sitting casually in a circle on their sleeping bags, chowing through a bag of fries brought from Burger World. Fortunately due to Phil’s ingenuity, they weren’t forced to eat the fries cold. In between glares that conveyed the unspoken words across the room of ‘if you snitch, you join Weevil’, Phil had used a collection of stones he’d kept in his bag to create a fire circle that was a bit smaller than his head. Then, a few twigs and small sticks were introduced to his good friend Mr. Flint and Steel, and boom – a localized miniature campfire on the tile floor of the ferry. Very much not allowed, very much dangerous if it ever got out of hand, and very much convenient because only heathens like cold fries.

  Almost everyone else in the room was sleeping by now, so Yugi was forced to speak in a whisper to prevent anyone from waking. It was difficult to say how effective that was, compared to Joey’s muffled complaints underneath the towel Tea was using to dry him off (perhaps a bit rougher than she needed to, but to be fair, she had just spent the last ten minutes berating the boy about how dangerous leaping off the ferry was, and ten more after that angrily grumbling about how terrible that Weevil guy was).

  Phil shifted where he sat on his sleeping bag, waving his hand nonchalantly through the air. “Call it character development. Dude’s a dick.”

  "Jeez." Even Yugi couldn't find an argument against that. Still, it didn't stop him from shooting the occasional guilty glance toward the corner of the room. Specifically, the trash can in the corner of the room, in which Weevil Underwood was currently stuffed inside by the combined efforts of Phil and Jean. Such was the small size and unyielding nature of the metal trash can that Weevil, being upside down in it, had found his arms completely pinned to his sides, making any chances of escape on his own be next to none. There was not even enough room for him to rock back and forth, so as to tip the can over. Every so often his legs, which were the only part of his body sticking outside of the trash can, would wiggle, like a beetle flipped upside down. Phil couldn’t stop himself from maliciously giggling each time he saw that happen.

  “We’ll dump him out when the ferry arrives at the island if he hasn’t got out by then.” Jean kindly added on, entirely for the benefit of the kindhearted Yugi, who was the only person in their group who actually still cared about the green-haired boy’s situation. Tea had at first, at least until Tristan calmed her down long enough for Joey to explain the context in between violent shivers. The destroyed cards, along with how the cold water had very obviously chilled Joey to the bone, had drained every last bit of sympathy Tea might have felt for Weevil’s predicament.

  “Seriously Joey… you could have died!” Tea furiously whispered for what was not the first time, tossing the towel at Joey for good measure now that his head was mostly dry.

  Joey shot her a mutinous look. "They were my best pal's cards! What else should I have done? I’d do it again in a heartbeat! My only mistake was that I couldn’t get them all back.” He looked sadly at the two soggy cards in Yugi’s hands. “Sorry Yugi.”

  “It’s okay.” Yugi smiled. “You know what Grandpa says. The cards don’t make the deck. The duelist does. If I can’t win without Exodia, then it just means I’m lacking.” Then, Yugi’s eyes darkened. His posture deepened as well, giving the normally hesitant boy a more serious air.

  “Besides,” Yugi continued in a much more confident manner, “This can be settled for good on the island.”

  Phil couldn’t help but grin. It wasn’t as obvious as the manga and anime had made it, but he could tell that Atem had taken the wheel to say those words.

  “Well, if the other guy says it like that, then there isn’t a problem at all.” Phil laughed. “I’ll eat some fries to that!”

  Any more conversation on the subject was interrupted by a door slamming open, quickly followed by a familiar-looking boy with spiky brown hair and a red beanie being physically tossed out of one of the two adjoining single rooms that were allocated to the finalists of the previous tournament.

  Phil checked the clock on the wall. Midnight. Did Rex give Mai more of a fight this time? Good for him.

  “He looks… angry.” Tea observed. True enough, as Rex Raptor was picking himself up off the floor and brushing the dust off his shoulders, the teen was spitting enough fire to wake up everyone else in the common area, even managing to get a few extra frantic wiggles from Weevil’s legs in response to the noise.

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!” Rex let out one final scream, planting his foot so hard into the floor that the tile underneath his shoe cracked slightly.

  “Oh look, dino-boy lost to a harpie deck being carried with a psych-out strategy.” Phil offhandedly commented.

  Rex Raptor spun around with his finger pointed squarely at Phil, whose words had carried far enough to reach his ears. “HEY, FUCK YOU BUDDY!”

  Phil felt a shit-eating grin spread across his face as he glanced around the room. Everyone was already very much wide awake by now. So, it wouldn’t matter what he did next. He stood, arms spread wide out in the universal gesture of ‘yeah, and what are you gonna do about it’.

  “Dude, all I’m saying is that if you piss your pants over a gimmick that’s all about using smells to guess what card is next, then you just might be shit at the game.”

  In all reality, Phil didn't have much against Rex. In fact, his entire opinion about the boy from reading the manga could be summed up in one word – indifference. However, how could it be helped when it was so much fun to push the kid’s buttons?

  Unfortunately that was where the fun ended. Ignoring the glares of everyone else in the room who’d been startled awake from the yelling, Rex’s face took on an ugly color and he turned his back to Phil with a sneer, his anger only somewhat breaking once he saw how Weevil had been stuffed in a trash can.

  “A gimmick?” Yugi hesitantly voiced once Rex finished laughing uproariously at Weevil’s predicament.

  Phil tilted his head. Right. Spoilers. Then he mentally shrugged. It wasn’t that big of a deal in the long run anyway. “Right, so that duelist Rex Raptor faced, her name’s Mai Valentine. I won’t spoil you on her deck, but her gimmick is that she covers the cards in her deck with different perfumes so she can tell what she’s about to draw without looking at the card first. It’s just a stupid psychological thing, but if you duel her on the island, you should watch out for it. Don't let it rattle you. She can't see the future.”

  “Jeez, really?” Joey shot a wide-eyed look toward the now-closed door of the room Rex Raptor had rapidly and unwillingly vacated. “The things people do to win, right Yuges?”

  Phil tilted his head. “Weevil threw Yugi’s Exodia cards off the boat a little bit ago. How does this still surprise you? Remember what the prize is.”

  “30 million yen… (~$200,000)” Joey whispered to himself while Yugi glanced at the two special cards in his hands, Glory of the King’s Hand and Glory of the King’s Opposite Hand.

  "That much money can change a life if it's spent wisely," Phil said. "Not to mention the so-called 'unlimited' prize you can get from the Glory of the King's Opposite Hand. Some might be willing to die over that one.”

  Tea and Tristan both shot Phil an alarmed look in response to those words.

  “Really?” They whispered. People being willing to die over a tournament was something that had not crossed their minds before.

  Phil nodded. “Using it to free Yugi’s grandpa probably isn't the only thing it could be used for. Remember, Pegasus is a powerful man, in more ways than one. The power of a Millennium Item can't be underestimated. If he can throw people into cards and read your mind, what else can he do? Didn't the invitation clearly state that the prize for turning in the Opposite Hand is unlimited? Pegasus isn’t joking. That’s why the drawback is just as extreme. If you lose, he gets your soul. The Millennium Items have some seriously powerful mojo to them. Both his eye and your puzzle.”

  “How-“

  But Phil cut off Yugi before he could finish voicing the question. He lowered his voice back down to a whisper, but still spoke casually, as if he was chatting about the day’s weather rather than ancient magical artifacts. “Dude, remember what I said? I know things. It’s what I do.”

  Yugi fell silent. He balanced the Millennium Puzzle in his hands, a contemplative look on his face.

  Phil stomped out the fire and then leaned back into his sleeping bag. Though it was better than the floor, it still wasn’t entirely comfortable. Such was the curse of cheaping out on camping supplies.

  “You guys should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be one hell of a day.”

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Yugi woke up with Phil’s words still ringing in his ears. An airhorn had blasted through the common room to inform the duelists (most of which had slept pretty badly) that the dock was in sight.

  “Waa?” Joey groaned out under the malevolent gaze of the ferry’s captain, who was standing in the doorway holding the accursed airhorn and grinning as he observed his handywork.

  A granola bar was shoved in Yugi’s hands. He looked up to see Jean distributing an unfortunately boring breakfast to the rest of his friends before taking one for himself. Yugi split open the wrapper to take a tentative bite.

  Hm. Chocolate. Not boring. Not boring at all.

  Yugi took a much more vigorous second bite of the granola bar. Chocolate made it much better, even more so considering the sheer size of the thing. He didn’t know how Phil had found granola bars roughly the size of a grown man’s hand, but somehow he did. What store even sold those? ‘Giants-R-Us’?

  Frankly, Yugi didn’t know how Phil did half the stuff he did. It was like the guy was magic. A magic hobo. A magic hobo who often had animated conversations with thin air whenever he thought Yugi and his friends weren’t looking. A magic hobo with a strangely ‘big-brother-like' air about himself. Joey called him crazy (in a fond way, and he was probably right), Tristan liked the guy's jokes too much to care about his strange habits, Bakura… Yugi wasn’t sure what he thought. As good of a friend as Bakura was, the dude was hard to read. And Tea…

  Yugi could feel his cheeks heat up just thinking about her name, so much so that he couldn’t even finish his thoughts. She was the most beautiful, kindest, wonderful girl he’d ever met. And she was nice enough to hang out with a guy like him on a regular basis.

  Two hands slapped his back, one corporeal, one not.

  “Dude just ask her out. She’ll say yes!”

  “Yugi, ask her on a date. You won’t regret it.”

  Both Phil and his other self spoke at once. One a shaggy bearded guy, the other an older, more serious, and more confident-looking version of Yugi himself. Yugi didn’t think Phil could see his other self… but at this point he wouldn’t be surprised if he actually could. He could see his other self send Phil a curious look, before softly smiling and saying, “See, two of your friends agree. Joey, Tristan, and Bakura would as well if you asked them.”

  “I…” Yugi stammered out before taking his chance to escape the embarrassment by asking Joey about the cards he’d traded for last night from one of the other duelists on the ferry. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go on a date with Tea, it’s just that… yeah. He was too nervous to ask again.

  The one time they'd gone to the amusement park together, a freaking terrorist had interrupted what should have been a wonderful day. Of course, at that time she’d also been acting weird about his other self and… ugh. Why was romance so hard? Phil couldn't understand. The guy was a self-proclaimed 'eternal bachelor'. Well, maybe Jean could help him. As strange as the foreigner was (and as difficult as he was to understand sometimes), he did recently get married to a very pretty lady. There had to be some kind of trick there. Right? Some sort of silver bullet, a catch-all that would leave Yugi and Tea riding off into the sunset together?

  That was how it always was. Yugi’s head got on a train of thought, the train of thought got hijacked, and then the train of thought would always spiral out of control.

  “Check it out Yuges! A sweet trap card, two powerful spells, and a cool dragon!” Joey began to brag about his trades. Yugi took the cards in his other hand, the one that wasn’t preoccupied with balancing a seriously massive granola bar.

  “Wow! These could make some powerful combos!” Yugi exclaimed. In his mind’s eye, he could see the other him nod in agreement.

  “Shield and Sword can instantly turn the tides of battle if it is used at the correct time. Kunai with Chain is a powerful buff and can save your monster from a terrible end. Baby Dragon looks unassuming, but if Joey finds a way to unleash its potential, it can be a force to be reckoned with.”

  Yugi scuffed his shoes against the floor, careful to avoid getting the ashes of last night’s campfire on the soles. All of that he agreed with, but how did the other him and Phil manage to be so confident when saying it? Sure, Yugi was better than he used to be, no doubt about that, but he couldn’t help but feel a knot form in his stomach every darn time.

  But almost like he could read Yugi’s mind (which wouldn’t be surprising at this point), Phil caught his eye and shot a double thumbs up accompanied by such a ridiculous expression that Yugi had no choice but to abandon his mental circles to let out a snort of laughter.

  “Looks like we’re finally being released from the floating prison.” Phil nodded his head over to the door. The captain of the ferry was shouting for people to queue up in a line.

  "Yup! Looks like!" Yugi replied. The pit in his stomach deepened. It was finally here. If he didn't win this tournament, his grandpa would never be free of that card Pegasus stuck him in. The other him sent a reassuring smile Yugi’s way.

  Right. It wasn’t just Yugi here. His other self, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, Phil, and Jean were all in his corner. Even Joey, Phil, and Jean, having their own goals to pursue on the island, had promised to help him no matter what.

  The line shuffled forward. Rex Raptor, Mai Valentine, and a few of the other duelists Yugi had heard Phil talking about were among the first ones through the door. Even the talking stork was further ahead than they were. True to their word, when their spot in line came close to it, Phil and Jean hoisted up the trash can and flipped it over to dump Weevil out on the floor, where he landed with an audible ‘oof’ from the unexpected impact of his butt hitting the tile floor.

  “YOU!” Weevil Underwood roared out, but soon balked at the twin grins directed at him. “You! I’ll…” He struggled to a standing position, practically scuttling like a beetle across the floor in his haste to get to his full height. “I’d watch my back on the island if I were you!”

  While Phil laughed loudly at his threat, Weevil shook some of the grime from his green jacket, which was a futile gesture that only served to spread it further. Then he adjusted his glasses and walked away without any further words.

  It was strange. Weevil Underwood had tossed his grandpa’s Exodia cards in the drink, which did make Yugi sad to think about. Heck, it made him more than just sad. It was like another connection between him and his grandpa had been cut, leaving fewer and fewer ties that could cross the bridge between the real world and whatever world was inside that card his grandpa was trapped inside. But…

  Part of him still felt kind of bad for the boy. Not for the trash can incident, not really, but more for, well, Weevil himself. Underneath all those slimy tricks, the hateful words, and the sly grin, Yugi could still see the kind of person Weevil could be. Could still be.

  What kind of life had Weevil lived up to this point where he felt comfortable throwing someone else’s cards into the sea just to get a slight advantage in a duel that might not even happen? Yugi’s brows pulled together resolutely. Maybe Weevil was hellbent on getting revenge on Phil, but if Yugi got to him first and handed him a solid, honorable defeat, maybe that could help shake the kind of person Weevil could be out into the light.

  While he thought, and while the line grew shorter, Yugi could feel his hands moving on their own to pop open his deck box, take the deck out, and give it some test shuffles. At first the sensation had been strange, even terrifying, but Yugi was used to it by now. It was the other Yugi, taking brief control to make sure everything was alright. To make sure his deck was ready, and that they had the best chance possible to gather the required number of star chips, climb through the tournament, and defeat Pegasus.

  Oh… oops. When that happened Yugi would have to apologize to his grandpa for losing Exodia, wouldn’t he? Yugi’s posture became slightly wilted. Yeah, yeah. Grandpa wouldn’t care. Yet Yugi still felt bad about it in advance.

  An invisible, intangible hand fell onto his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

  “Grandpa will laugh it off. Just you wait, Yugi, he might even have a few more sets in the back of the store.”

  Yugi let out a soft sigh. He missed his grandpa.

  https://discord.gg/jfRn8j5GaE!