Chaos Effect

Chapter 100: Chapter 100

I like them," Mai said softly, running her finger along Edwin's back. She traced the arch of the left wing that had appeared on his flesh after the events of his...

Her hand froze.

She shuddered, still hating to think about it.

How very close she'd come to losing him. How she HAD lost him... only to get him back. And how, even though they'd only been together for less than a year... she didn't know how she'd go on if he were gone. It wasn't a Selene thing either... it was all her.

She needed Edwin.

He made her a better person. Not through anything he did but rather she wanted to be better FOR him. Just as she knew he wanted to be a better man for her. They encouraged each other and drove each other to move beyond who they once were. And she feared what would happen if she lost him.

Worried that she would slip back into who she once was. Someone who would have most likely embraced Selene, never said a word to Yuri, and seen Renard as someone to use and nothing more.

"They are very you," she said instead, smiling even if she knew her boyfriend couldn't actually see her. His face was pressed into his pillow as she reached over and grabbed some lotion, warming it in her hands before she set about continuing his massage. Kaiba had postponed the tournament the day before, allowing Edwin to recover, and now Mai was pampering him a bit.

"At least its not a tramp stamp," he muttered.

"Oh, I don't know... a cute little butterfly right above your butt..." she paused before adding with a sly purr, "or one right on your waist that says 'Property of Mai' and pointing down at your-"

"Careful now," Edwin said, cutting her off, "we don't have enough time to have fun if you get me riled up." Seto had been clear that while he was willing to give Edwin some time he wanted things back on schedule asap.

"We could always forfeit the tournament," Mai reasoned. "Let the others deal with this mess while we just stay in bed."

"That sounds more like Selene than you."

"Sometimes she has good ideas," Mai admitted before setting about kneading the hard muscles in his back. She was amazed how someone who could be so casual could at the same time be so utterly tense. "...you died, Edwin," she said softly. "That... changes perspectives."

"Yeah," he said softly.

Mai focused on the tattoos, watched them distort slightly as she pulled and stretched and pushed and squeezed his back.

"...do you want to know what it's like... on the other side?

She swallowed. "No." She shook her head; she could tell from the way he relaxed that he really didn't want to talk about it either. "No... I don't want to think about that. I want to think about you and me. Right here. Right now. Alive and well."

"...I like that," he murmured.

"Good."

Mai once more let the silence linger. She focused on his back and the wings, watching as her fingers carefully pressed into his flesh. She kept expecting to see some sort of wound there... some mark from where Ishizu had stabbed him. Edwin hadn't said a word about what had happened; it had been Tristan, and that was only because Renard demanded to know.

She hated that they had no idea where the witch had disappeared too. They were pretty sure she was on the blimp, tucked away somewhere, but Yuri was rather sure they wouldn't find her. With the Millennium Necklace she would be able to see Kaiba's security staff coming and move before they found her bolthole.

"Kaiba drew the next match while you were taking your nap," she finally found herself saying. "Its you and me. We're the next match."

It was the worst draw they could have gotten. She knew he was scared of her facing Marik or Ishizu... had admitted as much during their time on the Broken Symmetry. While he knew she had the powers of a goddess and he doubted Selene would let her be hurt... he had still feared what they could do to her. And... considering that Ishizu had killed him... Mai got that. But the two of them forced to duel each other? It just wasn't fair. She wanted the two of them in the final round, battling it out for the title of King of Games and-

Edwin finally lifted his head up to look at her, a smile playing on his lips. "Well then... we'll need to give them a fucking show, won't we?"

Mai returned the smile. Of course he wouldn't care. "And... side bet?"

"What are you thinking?"

She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Position."

Edwin stared at her before suddenly lashed out, grabbing her and drawing her into a kiss.

~MC~MC~MC~

"You may have heard of the new Joey Wheeler Burger at Burgerpoloza... but to that I say NEIN! I would never eat a burger there, especially if it were made by Herr Kaiba! I much prefer a Christorra, which is far more healthy and tasty! So please get some from Weinersberg, a division of Schroeder Corp."

A different, fast pace voice added, "Note: Christorra have 70 to 80% fat content."

"Weinersberg... good cooking, good fun, death to Herr Kaiba."

"How was THAT allowed the air?" Martin complained from the couch. "It broke... several laws at least!"

Sally shrugged. "I don't know but it does sound good."

"The Christorra or the death to Kaiba?" Caesar joked.

"Eh."

"Has anyone noticed that Siegfried looks a LOT like Pegasus?" Aria asked, tilting her head.

Cassie shrugged. "I think they are cousins... I'll have to look at my big board to determine the connection."

"Big... Board?" James asked; he hadn't been able to get off work the day before but starting that day he was on vacation and Cassie had invited him to the watch party.

"Yeah, Cassie has a whole board trying to figure out how everyone is connected to everyone so she knows who might be trying to destroy Seto this week," Martin commented.

"Its rather in depth," Caesar stated. "Until she showed it to me I had no idea I had a grudge to settle with Kaiba."

The others stared at Caesar, waiting for him to reveal that was a joke.

"...wow," Aria muttered.

"Honestly is it that surprising?" Cassie asked. "Our boss seems to go out of his way to piss the world off."

"As the guy he keeps coming to when there is a lawsuit," Martin muttered, "I attest to that."

Sally frowned. "Is that the board that has all the different pictures of Edwin?"

"That's my 'What The Hell Is Edwin Chaos?' board," Cassie chirped.

"You mean 'who'."

"I know what I said."

Caesar frowned. "He's our friend."

"Yes but... also no. Edwin is... something." She stared at the others. "Come on, you must all realize there is something off about him. Knowing things he shouldn't. Freaky powers. The fact that he can apparently teleport..."

"I assumed he was a monster hunter," Martin said with a shrug. "I always suspected Gene from Accounting was a Werewolf."

"For the last time just because he's hairy and has a wet nose and we never see him during the full moon-" Caesar frowned. "Wait... did I just argue my own point?"

"Alien," Aria suggested. "But like a Star Wars alien so he looks completely human."

"Fae," Cassie said with a shiver. "That's why I stay on his good side. And always have iron around."

"Multiverse traveler who was sucked into a fictional realm," James suggested.

The others stared at him before bursting into laughter just as the commercials ended and the CCN Network Dueling Studio appeared.

"Welcome back folks!" Marc said with a smile. "We apologize for the delay in our scheduled match but hope you enjoyed the Wild Wild World of Cricket!"

Only Cassie nodded her head, a smile on her face. When the others looked at her she rolled her eyes. "British."

"...are you though?" Martin asked, focusing on her lack of an accent.

"Piss off."

"But now we have a truly amazing match to make up for the delay!" Scott said. "If you thought seeing best friends battle it out was amazing wait til you see tonight's match."

On the screen video of Edwin and Mai announcing they were taking part in Battle City appeared.

"Edwin Chaos and Mai Valentine. Half of the finalists in Duelist Kingdom. And after becoming the talk of not just the Dueling World but the world at large they have became one of the hottest celebrity couples on the planet!" Images of Edwin and Mai having dinner, walking in the park, and locking a paparazzi in a broom closet appeared on the screen. "And now this couple is going to be battling to determine which of them is the better duelist in the relationship."

Rather than the standard images they had been using of the two duelists facing each other with intent gazes the screen showed Edwin and Mai holding each other, heads resting on each other's shoulders.

"It's a duel we're calling Moonlight Sonata!" Marc proclaimed.

"So should we be worried that mom and dad are dueling?" Aria asked.

"Mom and dad?" Caesar asked.

"Well... Edwin basically has adopted all of us at this point."

James chuckled. "I don't see Seto dueling though."

His phone buzzed at that moment and he looked down at the text.

"...how did Seto Kaiba hear that, get my phone number, and then think he could fire me? I don't work for him!"

Cassie shrugged. "It's Seto. At this point I'm surprised if he doesn't have everyone's house bugged."

She glanced suddenly at her lamp.

"That... was always here, right?"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Ya know, normally duelists only shake hands before duelin'," Joey said, tilting his head as he watched Edwin and Mai kiss in the middle of the dueling arena. Night had fallen but the full moon seemed to be all the brighter that night, shining a spotlight right down on Edwin and Mai and the entire dueling platform. Even with the wind blowing around them it was warm out and many of the people watching the duel had shed their jackets. It reminded Joey of him sneaking Serenity into the drive-in theater to watch cartoons, hiding next to cars and eating candy bars he'd nicked.

"I'm glad ya only wanted ta shake my hand, Wheeler," Rex groused, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"What's that supposed ta mean!?" Joey exclaimed, turning on the dino duelist.

"Only that if I'm gonna be kissing anyone I want it to be someone like Edwin or Mai, not you," Rex said. Joey blinked at that, his anger going away in the face of his confusion. "I'm bi you idiot."

"Bi... like... huh?"

Tristan sighed. "It means you like men and women."

"...ya can be that?" He looked at his friends before settling on Koyo. "Seriously?"

"Yes," Koyo said gently and for some reason his smile looked rather... soft. Gentle. But also pleased. It confused Joey a lot.

"Would you hurry up and begin dueling?" Kaiba groused, folding his arms over his chest. "We aren't interested in seeing you two swap spit and neither is anyone else."

"Actually," Mokuba said, holding up a tablet, "according to the instaratings this is the most watched part of Battle City so far."

"And social media is blowing up," Tea commented, having pulled up her phone. "They are debating on the ship name on Twitter. Maiwin is the current favorite."

"Already three song remixes on Youtube!" Tristan called out.

"Nobody is interested!" Kaiba snarled. "Just get on with the duel!"

"Sure thing," Edwin said with a wink and a smirk at Seto... before blowing him a kiss.

"Oh, that is SO going to become a gif," Yuri said with a laugh, Kaiba just glowering the entire time... though he did reach up and wave his hand in front of his face like he was trying to bat the kiss away.

"Joey..." Yugi asked softly as Edwin and Mai shuffled their decks, "are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, course I am!" He looked down at his friend and while he still smiled at Yugi it lost a bit of its shine. "Yeah... its hard after everything that happened and what I... what I hoped Mai and I might have but... that feels so long ago. Like it was decades ago. Its there but... dulled." He rubbed his chest and shook his head. It felt like so much had happened... he briefly found his thoughts lingering on what had happened after Ishizu and Odion's duel but then those thoughts were gone, brushed aside for the here and the now. "I'm fine though, Yug. Don't have ta worry about me gettin' possessive and all that."

"I'm glad," Yugi said.

"Mai?" Edwin called out. "You pick. Who goes first?"

"I think I will," she said. "Beauty before beauty."

"Oh, they are going to flirt this entire duel," Rex muttered.

"Yeah, its going to be disgusting," Yuri said with a smile.

Mai held up her first card. "I'll start by activating my Amazoness Call, allowing me to select one Amazoness monster from my deck to my hand." She took out her deck and looked it over carefully. "Yes... this will do. And because I have no monsters on the field I can special summon her right to the field. So say hello once more to my Amazoness War Chief!" The very muscular red-headed Amazoness appeared on the field, flexing her arm as she stared right at Edwin. "Is that distracting?"

"Not at all," Edwin said casually. "After all... how can I be distracted when you're right there?"

"...oh, that was smooth," Tristan said softly.

"Well," Mai said, narrowing her eyes but smiling at the same, "when my Amazoness War Chief comes onto the field I can set one Amazoness card from my deck to the field."

Tea shook her head at that. "Mai is so dangerous with her deck. It lets her keep pulling out cards and not relying on her draws in order to get what she needs."

"You're right, Tea," Yugi said. "So much of Duel Monsters is the luck of the draw... but Mai's amazoness deck eliminates that worry completely!"

Mai held up the card she'd selected and a second one from her hand. "And I'll set these two cards onto the field... and end my turn."

"Two facedowns and a strong monster," Pegasus commented from where he stood; other than the Ishtar family everyone had come to watch Edwin and Mai battle. "For anyone else I'd think that was a strong set up. For Edwin... I wonder if Mai has done enough."

The duelist in question looked over his hand. "Okay..." he rolled his neck, causing it to crack, "let's do this."

"I want your best, Edwin!" Mai called out with mirth. "I want you to go farther than you've ever gone before. Your peak. Because that is what I'm giving you!"

"My best?" he echoed. "Okay then."

The Millennium Key appeared around his neck and Joey narrowed his eyes. "Does that seem... different?" he asked Yugi.

"It does," his friend stated. "Its... new." He gestured at his own puzzle. "The Millennium Puzzle, even when I shine it up, has weight to it. Age. But the Key... its like its brand new. Just forged." He frowned. "And there is a lightness to it... I can't explain it but... it feels different from the Puzzle suddenly."

"That's new too!" Tea exclaimed and Joey looked up to see Edwin's eyes were glowing... but rather than the black and gold they were used to instead his eyes were golden with rings of white. "Wow..."

"They're beautiful..." Serenity murmured.

"My very best," Edwin said, holding up a card. "Very well then Mai. I'll start by setting my Servant of Endymion in my left-most Pendulum Zone." A young woman dressed in black and green robes appeared, wispy and transparent, looking over a scroll carefully. "And then I will set my Magical Abductor in my right most Pendulum Zone!" On the opposite side of the field a dark haired mage appeared, her staff gleaming before she took out a spell book and began to leaf through it. "And because she was activated as a Pendulum monster that gives my Servant a spell counter."

"And there he goes," Solomon said with a shake of his head. "Edwin loves to build up his spellcounters... there are so few ways I can think of to stop him from doing so. You'd have to build a deck around stopping all spell cards but that would hurt you as well."

"You have to be faster than him," Renard said. "Hit harder and quicker. Those two?" He nodded at Mai and Edwin. "This is a dance. Its only a matter of who trips first."

"Next," Edwin said, "because every good mage needs a place to work, I activate both the Citadel of Endymion and the Endymion's Laboratory!" The hologenerators whirled and the great city of Endymion appeared before them before everything suddenly zoomed in, giving all those watching the oddest sense of vertigo before they found themselves in a research facility. It looked rather like the very first dueling arena Joey had ever seen, where Yugi and the Pharaoh had battled Kaiba after he'd hurt Gramps. The only difference was there was a sense of magic in the room, flowing through its walls.

"I am never going to get used to this," Tea murmured.

"I hope I never get used to it," Yuri admitted.

"And because those are also spell cards I get to add more counters to my cards. Citadel was played first so it adds a counter to Servant and Adductor and Lab adds to my two Pendulum Monsters as well as my City-State. Meaning I have just enough... to do something really special!" He thrust out his hand. "I activate Servant of Endymion's special ability! I can remove 3 spell counters from her in order to summon her and one monster that can have a spell counter placed on it, and has over 1000 attack, from my deck to the field!"

Edwin smirked.

"I think you know what is coming."

"No... way..." Duke whispered.

"He couldn't," Rex added. "Not on his first turn!"

Tea though merely smiled. "Yes... he could."

Edwin thrust out his hand. "Now then! Behold the might of the Master of the Citadel! The Master of Magic! Come forth ENDYMION!"

~Earth-77~

"Sorry, sorry!" Serenity said as she hurried back into the room, flopping down onto the couch. They'd just been getting ready to explain why they were all gathered there when she'd needed to dart away. "Man, them sodas just go right through me, ya know?"

Yugi chuckled at that. "Then maybe don't have ten of them, Serenity."

The teen let out a whine of protest. "But they're so gooooood!"

"Have as many as you want, so long as you don't break my toilet," Miho teased.

"Eh, I wouldn't do anything like that!" Serenity exclaimed. She instantly reached for another can of pop, cracking it open before snagging one of the bowls of popcorn that was on the table. "So, explain ta me what we're watchin' T?"

Tea smiled at her best friend. "Josiah was able to get it for us. He thought it might be fun for us to see a duel from the universe his brother is in."

"I still can't believe Josiah is from another universe," Rebecca said with a shake of her head.

"It does explain a bit though," Miho stated.

"Be nice," Tea said just as Josiah entered the room with a selection of different sugary treats. It always amused her and her friends how the man could be so thin yet gobble down a ton of sugar. Honestly she wondered just how skinny he would be if he didn't have his treats. Reese's Pieces, Gummy Bears, Butterfingers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...

"Okay, so what has Tea told you?" Josiah asked as he sat down on the couch next to Rebecca, the blonde girl handing him his peppermint tea.

"That this is some duel your brother is in."

"Right," Josiah stated. He looked at the TV, which had the interdimensional streaming box on it, which was currently playing a commercial. "So on the Earth Edwin is on he's competing in the Battle City Tournament."

"That's the thing Mai is setting up, isn't it?" Miho asked.

"Great, so we have ta see girl gal in two realities?" Serenity complained. She truly hated Mai for making fun of her all the time, dismissing her as a weak little girl from a poor family who didn't have the drive to make more of herself.

"She's not like that in her reality," Josiah said. "In Edwin's world she's more like Seto."

"...nah, I can't see it," Serenity said with a shake of her head. "Valentine being all concerned about her looks and flirtin' and all that? Besides, Seto is a great guy when he ain't bein' a jerk-"

"Which he hasn't been since Duelist Kingdom," Tea stated. While he still had his moments of arrogance for the most part Seto had settled down and become much more friendly with the group. Still competitive with Tea and especially Serenity but still willing to stand with them if battle lines were drawn.

"They're coming back," Miho said as the program returned from commercial. The announcers explained that they'd needed to take a quick break to allow the dueling systems to figure out just how many spell counters Edwin had gathered and then lost during his series of moves and were giving a brief recap for those just joining in...

"Hey!" Serenity cried out, pointing at the screen. "What gives?! That creep Mai stole your deck, T!"

"It's a different dimension, Serenity. This Mai uses a completely different deck."

"Going to be weird not watching her use Gorgon deck," Miho commented.

"Well then," Mai said, "I was wondering how soon you'd get your Ace out. Unfortunately for you, love, I know all its tricks... and how to spring them. I activate Amazoness Onslaught!" Mai smirked as the trap card flipped up onto the field. "You know how dangerous this card is... are you going to use Endymion's effect to destroy it or are you going to take the brunt, hoping that you can survive and perhaps destroy my other face down."

"I could go on a long rambling monologue-"

"No, you!?" Mai teased, gasping in mock surprise.

"-but instead I'll do this." Edwin closed his eyes and held his hand out over his duel disc. "Yes... my psychic powers are calling to me..." He gave a large dramatic sniff.

"Oh, you are NEVER going to let me live that down!" Mai complained but the smile on her lips showed there were no real hard feelings.

"Yes... yes... the spirits say I will tease you forever about this... and then I will activate Endymion's effect because I don't trust that your downface isn't a bluff. Endymion! I remove my Citadel from the field so you can claim its spell counters and use them to destroy her Amazoness Onslaught!"

The staff of the Master of Magic glowed before he swept it through the air, the city around the duelists disappearing revealing-

"Are they on a BLIMP!?" Rebecca cried out in shock. "Is Mai going to make you duel on a blimp?"

"Different universe," Tea reminded her, though she had a sinking suspicion that Mai was going to do the exact same thing.

"And now its time for my Endymion to attack your War Chief. She is a lovely gal but its time for her to join your Onslaught in the graveyard. Endymion the Master of Magic, attacking with Spell Power Blast!"

"Activate Amazoness Hot Springs!" Mai called out, her smirk growing all the more fierce. "Turns out it didn't matter which of my traps you destroyed... the other was still going to hurt you!"

"Ya ever hear of this card, Tea?" Serenity asked, frowning as a jungle hot spring appeared on the field.

"No..." Tea said softly.

Mai continued on. "Amaozness Hot Springs has two effects. First it allows me to look for a Pendulum Monster in my deck and either summon it to the field or add it to my hand." She took out her deck and quickly selected the card she wanted. "Next it has a continuous effect: when I take battle damage involving an Amazoness Monster I gain lifepoints equal to what I lost."

"That would mean that any attack ends up doing no damage!" Miho proclaimed.

Beside Tea the Amazon Queen who shared a body with her appeared. 'She's right, Tea. That would be a powerful card to add to our deck.'

'Then we'll have to see about finding it. We have War Chief and Onslaught so hopefully that means the Hot Springs card also exists in our universe.'

"Good move, Mai, good move." Edwin placed his Citadel of Endymion back on the field. "I'll be real interested to see what you do next turn."

"He's taking that rather well," Miho said.

Yugi shrugged. "Apparently they are dating so even though this is an important duel this is just fun and games for them."

"Ugh, who could date Valentine?" Serenity groused.

Josiah merely leaned forward, curious what his brother would do next.

~MC~MC~MC~

'That was close,' Mai thought to herself as she looked over the field. 'If I hadn't drawn such a good opening hand I'd have been in for a world of trouble.' She looked over at Edwin, feeling her heart pounding in her chest from exhilaration. 'He's giving me his absolute best... and I'm going to give him the same. If only one of us is getting through to the next round then I am going to make sure the world knows that our duel was the toughest one! Marik, Ishizu, even Kaiba and Yugi... they won't be able to match up with what the two of us throw at each other.'

She looked over Edwin's monsters and the spell counters that were adorning their forms.

'His Endymion and his Abductor both have 3 counters. Servant has 2 and Lab has one.' She glanced at her hand, a frown tugging on her lips. 'I have something fun planned but its going to help him too... that's the problem with his deck, its designed to force you to either help him out or cripple your game.' Mai let out a huff. 'Well... I am going to beat him no matter what!'

Out loud Mai declared, "Now then... I bet you think that with all your Spell Counter Gatherers on the field you're going to limit me on what spells I can use. Well... I hate to break it to you Edwin but I'm not going to cripple my game. I'm not scared of you getting some shiny new balls." She flashed a naughty smirk. "You know how much I love your balls."

"Hey!" Joey exclaimed, trying to cover Serenity's ears. "Don't talk like that in front of my sister!"

Serenity though frowned. "I know what balls are, Joey."

"EEEEEEE!" he cried out, shaking in terror that his sister wasn't sheltered.

"Well Serenity," Mai said, "there is a difference between knowing about... and knowing how to use!" Mai slapped two cards onto her Duel Disc. "I set in my pendulum zones my Amazoness Golden Sword Master and Amazoness Silver Whip Master!" On her side of the field the two Amazoness sisters appeared, quickly moving to hide in the shadows of the Citadel. But as they appeared all of Edwin's monsters and spell cards gained two more Spell Counters, making it look like it was raining the glowing orbs of pure captured magic.

"Aw, you give me all the nicest presents," Edwin teased. He looked at Pegasus. "She's my sugar mama."

"I know what we pay you Edwin," Pegasus replied. "And considering Kaiba makes you do no work that makes him-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll sic the hounds on you."

"He has hounds on a blimp?" Tristan asked.

"I assume its just his goons in dog costumes," Rex said. "Don't get excited, Joey."

"Eh?"

Mai selected another card. "Next I'll set this card and then I will summon my Amazoness Swordswoman!" On the field the blade-wielding amazon appeared, pointing her sword right at Endymion; the spellcaster, for his part, merely raised a single eyebrow at the action. "And thanks to my Golden Sword Master and Silver Whip Master, my Amazoness Swordswoman increases her attack to 2300!"

"I activate my Servant's effect," Edwin said. "By discarding one card I am able to give every monster that can gain a spell counter another one." He slipped a card into his graveyard and more orbs began to appear on the field, floating over to his Citadel and those that dwelled there.

'For all my teasing... that is concerning,' Mai thought. 'He can do so many different things with those spell counters... I need to go hard and fast now, before he can move and begin using them! And that starts by getting rid of one of his monsters.' Outloud Mai declared "Amazoness Swordswoman, attack the Servant of Endymion!"

The wild woman nodded and rushed forward, easily cleaving the Servant of Endymion in half. But rather than cry out in pain the spellcaster's form flickered... and she zipped back to the Pendulum Zone.

"My Servant is a good student. She learned the secrets that Endymion discovered and as such as become living magic... when she is destroyed as a monster she simply returns to my Pendulum Zone!"

'Crud,' Mai thought. 'That's not good.' She watched as more Spell Counters appeared and her eyes went wide. "She became a spell card..."

"And thus more Counters are produced!" Edwin called out happily. "Thank you Mai, I love my gifts."

Mai though didn't let his tone get to her. "I'm glad you enjoyed them... because now I'm going to give myself a few things. First I'll use Golden Sword Master's effect: when one of my amazoness monsters is involved in a battle I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field. And I select your Lab!"

The room shattered, taking out a part of one of the towers in the Citadel, and the Spell Counters flowed down into the city itself, slotting into other casings.

'It was a risk... but I know the least about that Lab. Citadel is just a Spell Counter Sponge for his other cards and while I could have gone for the two Pendulum Monsters that Lab... not knowing what it did was too big a risk.' Mai took out her graveyard. "And Amazoness Silver Swords Master allows me to select one spell or trap from my graveyard and add it to my hand... so I'll take back a card-" she grabbed her Onslaught, "-and set it on the field. I end my turn."

She looked over the field carefully. 'Well... I've done all I can. I have something hard for him to kill and even if he does it will hurt him. I have defenses and counters set.' She stared at Edwin who merely continued to smile, eyes glowing brightly. 'But... he's going to keep coming at me. This duel... its not going to be a blow by blow. We are going to keep throwing up barriers and shields... but someone is going to get through. And whoever does... that will be the killing blow!'

Mai... smiled.

"God I love you," she murmured.

~MC~MC~MC~

Ten Years Later

"I'm here! I'm here!" Jaden Yuki called out as he rushed into the Slifer Red common room, kicking off his shoes and nearly stumbling into a table as he did so. "Don't start, don't start..." He looked at his friends who were all gathered on the couch, several boxes of pizza already open and partially consumed. "You started without me?"

"Of course we did, you idiot!" Chazz complained. "We told you we were starting at 5! Its now nearly 6!"

"And its not a dvd, Jaden," Alexis informed him. "We can't tell the network to hold off til you show up."

Chazz glared at him. "Where the hell were you?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Jaden complained.

"...so it was your fault," Chazz said, Chummly nodding in agreement.

"It wasn't!" Jaden whined as he moved to set his backpack down and wash his hands.

Syrus sighed. "Crowler give you more detention, Jay?"

"Nah, wans't him this time," Jaden said with a shrug. "Marty-"

"Prof. Fields," Syrus corrected him.

"- got mad at me... for no reason!"

"In other words," Bastion said as Jaden walked over, "you failed to do another assignment?"

Jaden flopped down next to Syrus and Alexis. "Its dumb! Why do I need to know about World War IV anyway?"

"...there has only been two world wars, Jaden," Bastion said slowly.

"Huh." The teen blinked. "So maybe THAT'S why he kept glaring at me." He rolled his head back. "It was stupid though! We are here to duel!"

"We are here to learn," Alexis said, carefully spreading a napkin over her lap so she didn't dribble pizza sauce onto her pants. Sure, red sauce, Slifer Red uniform but it was the principle of the thing. Prof. Potts had been nice enough to let her bring a few pizzas from the cafeteria to the common room for the viewing party and Alexis didn't want to be disrespectful and spray it all over herself."You have to take this more seriously, Jaden."

"Can we talk about the idiot failing everything later?" Chazz complained. "Let's get back to watching the duel."

Jaden perked up at that. CCN had been re-airing the classic Battle City Finals all week and while it had been exciting to see all the duels by the living legends the duel they were doing that night was one Jaden had been REALLY excited for. Sure, he might have missed some of it because of detention but he could still catch the end!

Grabbing a slice of pizza he asked, "So, what did I miss?"

"It's the headmaster's turn," Syrus said. "Prof Valentine-Chaos just finished summoning her Swordswoman and setting up her field!"

"Every day pathetic duelists go hungry," a kind voice said as images of Weevil Underwood scrounging for food in a garbage can were shown on the screen. "But for a dollar a day you can help."

"I'm doing just fine!" Weevil complained.

"You can make sure a pathetic, whiny, diseased, pathetic-"

"Hey, you said pathetic twice!"

"-duelist gets the care he deserves."

"I don't need your help!" Weevil complained before looking down into the garbage. "Hey, this bagel only has a few toenails on it!"

"The United Duelist Fund"

The screen switched to the CCN logo.

"We now return to this special re-airing of the Battle City Finals."

"Man, look at Mai!" Jaden said, leaning forward. "I can't believe how young she looks!"

"Prof. Valentine-Chaos," Syrus corrected. "Come on, Jay, you know that the professors want you to call them by their last names at minimum."

"Nah, its cool!" He looked up suddenly as the head of the Silfer Red Girl's Dorm walked by. "Isn't that right, Aria?"

"Prof. Potts!" she informed him firmly.

"Would you shut up?" Chazz complained.

"That was some fancy dueling there, Mai. Going to really push me to give it my all after that showing. But for you... I go all in."

"Oh, believe me Edwin... I know when you have your mind set on something you don't give in. You are tireless. Determined. Driven to take me to the edge."

"They are talking about sex," Chummly stated.

"They are not!" Syrus exclaimed.

"But," the younger version of their Headmaster said, "this isn't the bedroom."

Chummly looked smug.

"So you might not enjoy what happens next!" Headmaster Chaos thrust out his hand. "I start by reactivating my Servant of Endymion's special ability, allowing her to resummon herself to the field at the cost of 3 spell counters!" The three orbs disappeared while the Servant flickered before suddenly appearing back on the field in defense mode. "And where she goes another of Endymion's household goes as well. So I will now summon from my deck thanks to Servant's effect the Queen of Magic: Reflection of Endymion!" On the field a blonde woman in golden robes and a masked headdress suddenly appeared, glancing over at Endymion before turning her attention back to Prof. Valentine-Chaos and her monsters.

"amazing how the hard light technology has changed," Bastion stated. "Its so odd not to see the monsters breathing and shifting as they wait for commands."

'Yeah, ain't that amazing Boss?' Ojama yellow declared, his brothers sitting behind Chazz and loudly munching on popcorn, not noticing how Chazz was grinding his teeth.

"Now, when Reflection is summoned to the field I can target one card you control and one card I control and return them both to the hand, so long as mine has a spell counter!" With that command Reflection held out her hand, Magical Abductor surrendering her spell counters to Reflection before disappearing from the field. "So say goodbye to your Swordswoman!"

Prof. Valentine-Chaos though merely smirked as she withdrew her monster. "Do you truly believe that will be enough to stop me?"

"Not at all," the Headmaster commented. "But I want to see what you hid on your side of the field."

"Then let's dance, love."

"You got it baby," Edwin retorted... before making a face. "No. Never calling you that again."

"Yeah that was awkward."

"There are just no good pet names for you," He complained. "Pet? Ugh." He scowled and Prof. Valentine-Chaos joined him. "Not calling you love, you just called me that. Sweetheart is for kids..."

"We'll think of something."

Seto Kaiba, on the sidelines, groused, "Would you two stop flirting and just duel?"

"I don't know," the Headmaster said with a smirk, "we could just waste time talking about what we love about each other. I for one think Mai is so (censored) smart and she doesn't get credit for how cunning she is and that is a shame."

"Reverse for Edwin," Prof. Valentine-Chaos said. "Everyone talks about how cunning he is but damn he has a hot body." She eyed him up and down like he was a tasty treat.

"...yeah," Alexis said.

"Yup," Chummly declared.

"Come on, get back to the duel!" Jaden said eagerly.

The Headmaster narrowed his eyes. "Well then... as fun as that was to rile up Seto... let's give the audience a show. Endymion, attack Mai directly!"

"I activate Amazoness Willpower to bring back my War Chief!"

"I activate Endymion's effect, returning Servant of Endymion to my hand in order to negate and destroy that card!"

"I counter with Amazoness Onslaught which allows me to return Amazoness Swordswoman to the field! And it gives her a 500 attack bonus this turn while my Amazoness Golden Sword Master and Amazoness Silver Whip Master give her a 800 point attack boost to bring her to 2800, making her a match for your Endymion!"

"Continue the attack!" the Headmaster declared and the two monsters clashed in an explosion of spells and swords. The screen lit up and even in the dorm the students had to cover their eyes but when the light finally faded they saw only 10 spell counters remained where the two monsters had been standing and those floated to the Citadel.

"And because Onslaught is on the field your Endymion is banished rather than going to the Extra Deck," Prof. Valentine-Chaos informed him.

"And because he isn't banished till after he was destroyed I can still use his final effect to add one normal spell card from my deck to my hand," the Headmaster stated, taking out his deck.

"...wow," Syrus murmured.

"I suppose it is skill like that which saw the Headmaster and the Prof. chosen to run Duel Academy," Bastion said.

"And the fact that Sheppard let a bunch of kids disappear," Chazz muttered though he grimaced when he saw Alexis wince.

"Still, they are amazing," Chummly commented.

"Yeah..." Jaden said, leaning forward. "I can't wait to see what they do next!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Was it as good for you as it was for me?" I teased as I finished selecting what card I wanted from my deck.

Mai merely flashed me a playful look. "The fact that we're both able to stand tells me it wasn't good enough."

"Flirt."

"Gag me," Seto complained.

"We aren't into that!" I called out. "Geez Seto your brother is RIGHT there! Show a bit of decorum." I turned back to Mai and shook my head. "I swear, sometimes I worry about him."

"I know, right?" Mai teased. "Good thing we are around to set a good example for everyone." She turned and looked directly at one of the camera drones. "After all, if it weren't for my lessons and guidance Yugi Muto would have never become the King of Games!"

"Hey!" Joey cried out. "That ain't what happened!"

"But it is, Joseph!" Mai answered back. "Yugi had barely managed against Weevil-"

"And that should tell everyone how bad he was doing," I chipped in. "I mean... its Weevil!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"I. Hate. All. Of. Them." Weevil gritted out.

"Sir, if you aren't going to buy anything you need to leave," the Burgerpoloza worker said with a sigh.

~MC~MC~MC~

"I remember when we first met Mai," I said dramatically, taking a step forward. "Spotlight." One of the drones quickly did as I requested and shined a light down on me. "The scent of perfume was in the air-" I saw Mai's smile slip a touch at that, "-which barely hide the desperation that wafted up from my dear godson Yugi."

"I'm not your godson," Yugi complained.

"Shhh," I hissed, "let your godfather talk. Anyway, Yugi had barely managed to defeat Weevil and he was worried about how he would continue on!"

"You weren't even there for that," Tristan commented.

"Tea, who is beautiful and brilliant and may also be a secret Chaos-"

"Its true," Tea said with a grin.

"Tea!" Yugi squawked.

"Hey, he called me brilliant and beautiful, let him ham it up."

"-was doing her best to help cheer Yugi up. And that's when Mai appeared... naked riding in a clam shell which I thought was odd but hey, I guess it beats public transportation. And she said "I shall teach you the ways of dueling!"." I paused. "And she did."

The only sound to fill the air was Rex laughing.

"Anyway," I commented as I stepped back, waving off the spotlight, "I will now reset my Servant of Endymion, then my Magical Abductor." The two female spellcasters reappeared in my pendulum zones in their spell forms. "And next I activate an old favorite. You love it... or hate it... so let's activate Spell Power Grasp!" On my side of the field more spell counters formed up, filling up the Citadel and those within it. Night fell upon the magical city but the Spell Counters caused it to glow all the same, creating a rather beautiful sight.

"I must admit, Kaibaboy... these hardlight creations of yours truly are magical," Pegasus murmured.

"Makes you wonder why we use them for dueling instead of... anything else," Yuri commented.

Troy popped up next to me and began to sing, "Kiss the girl..."

"Kiss her?" I commented. "After this I am going to do FAR more than that."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't," Mai said. "The future Queen of Games demands pleasure."

"Still have to beat me Mai," I commented, ending my turn.

~96 Years Later...~

"Okay... one moment... got it!" Crow stepped away from the television and grinned. "All back up and running!"

"Good," Jack said from where he was standing, arms folded over his chest. "I was afraid we wouldn't be able to watch the rest of the duel."

"Its so weird to watch how they dueled back then," Luna commented.

"Weird but cool!" Leo corrected.

"We can learn a lot by watching these old duels," Jack stated. "There are still strategies that were used back then that professional duelists use now. The Yugi Offensive and Wheeler's Gamble-"

"Shhh!" Akiza hissed. "They are starting up again."

"Haven't you seen this a ton of times?" Leo asked. "I mean-"

Yusei cut him off. "Let's just watch, okay?"

They had managed to find an old DVD copy of the Battle City while hunting for parts for their D Riders and all had agreed that they wanted to watch the duel as it had originally aired. It could be found on streamers and the like but there were new edits and commentary tracks and the like for 'modern audiences'. The Signers wanted to see the raw footage of the two duelists going at it.

"Well Edwin," Mai said, "you are forcing me to feed your greedy little spellcasters... so I activate another Amazoness Call." More counters began to appear on the field even as Mai went through her deck and selected a card. "But it will be worth it. I summon my Amazoness Paladin!"

"Hey, that looks like your mom!" Luna told Akiza.

"Wonder if Pegasus meant to do that," Yusei muttered.

"Could be a quirk of fate," Jack commented.

"And thanks to my two Pendulum Amazoness Warriors she gains 800 attack... but that's not all. For every Amazoness monster on the field she also gains another 100 points, so now my Amazoness Paladin reaches 2600!" Mai paused. "And I'm far from done. I use my Amazoness Onslaught to bring forth my Amazoness Queen!" The regal amazoness ruler appeared on the field, a massive sword held in her hand as she looked upon Edwin and his side of the field with an almost bored expression. "And while my Paladin increases her attack to 2700 my Queen gets the Pendulum Bonsues plus a single turn 500 point bonus, bringing her to 4100!"

"WHOA!" Leo exclaimed. "That's... insanely powerful!"

"Yeah," Crow agreed. "But that doesn't mean much in this duel! Those two are going at it like a couple of ravens!"

"That's Edwin and Mai for you," Jack said with a shake of his head and a slight smile on his lips.

"And now its time to finally clear your field and give the people what they want!" Mai declared.

"The two of us sitting down and doing an interview about our relationship?" Edwin asked, tilting his head in mock confusion. "Because my uncle has been fielding calls from reporters wanting to do a special on us but I keep telling him no..."

Mai laughed. "We can do it after Battle City. You can talk about how I beat you! Amazoness Queen, destroy Edwin's Reflection of Endymion!" The Queen nodded, hefting up her blade before, with a burst of speed, rushing across the field and slashing down on the Queen of the Citadel, causing her to cry out before she was destroyed. "And my Amazoness Onslaught also triggers, banishing her from the game." Edwin merely nodded and removed the card from his duel disk. "And now... Amazoness Paladin! Attack Edwin directly!"

The Amazoness Warrior gave a nod before she too raced forward, slashing her sword and causing Edwin to take a step back. (Edwin-1300)

"And thanks to my Amazoness Golden Sword Master and my Amazoness Silver Sword Master, I am able to reclaim one spell or trap from my graveyard and then destroy one of your spells or traps. So its time for the lights to go down on your Citadel!" The Silver Whip Master's weapon shot out from the shadows, shattering the Citadel and revealing once more the blimp and the night sky to all those watching and dueling. "And that ends my turn."

Edwin... smiled.

"Oh... that isn't good," Yusei said, leaning forward as Edwin drew his next card.

"Yes... I believe it does," Edwin said.

"That really doesn't sound good," Leo chimed in.

"You built something amazing, Mai. Truly. There will not be another duelist that challenges me like you have here. Of course... why not? You are skilled, smart, cunning, funny, beautiful-"

"Now that's smart!" Crow said with a laugh. "Save beautiful for last!" Akiza smacked him on the leg lightly but Crow just continued to chuckle.

"So I don't want to hear anything tomorrow about how you wasted your chance or didn't come through. Because you almost won, Mai... you almost won."

"Getting ahead of yourself, aren't you Edwin?" Mai asked.

But the blond man merely narrowed his glowing eyes.

"Mai... when have I EVER given this speech... and been wrong?"

"...ooooooooooh," Luna drawled out, leaning back against the couch. From the way Mai's eyes widened it was clear she realized too just how serious Edwin was.

And then... the music began to play.

You sit there in your heartache

Waiting on some beautiful boy to

To save you from your old ways

You play forgiveness

Watch it now, here he comes

"I activate... Twin Twister!"

"No!" Mai cried out as the two storms appeared on the field.

"By discarding one card to the graveyard I can destroy two cards on your side of the field! And I select your two Amazoness Pendulum Monsters!" The twin cyclones rushed across the field, the other two amazoness monsters on Mai's side of the field reaching out for the two pendulum sisters but were only able to watch as they were caught in the storms, shattering into pieces.

"Well, that reduces the Queen down quite a bit," Jack said. "But he still has to deal with her other monsters and her Hot Springs as well as that Onslaught."

"Yeah," Yusei said, "but I have a feeling he knows that... and already planned for it.

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus

But he talks like a gentlemen

Like you imagined when you were young

"Now, I bet you're wondering what card I discarded," Edwin said with a smirk. "And Mai... its going to blow your mind." He lifted the card out of the graveyard.

Spell. Power. Grasp.

"Why would he do that?" Leo asked. "Spell Power Grasp... that generates spell counters for him! And he needs those!"

But before any of the friends could make a comment Edwin spoke up again. "And its needed there... for this: Spell Power Mastery!" He slapped the new card on the field. "Now I can add one Endymion card from my deck to my hand and then add to the monsters on my side of the field spell counters equal to the number of Spell Power Grasps and Masterys I control. So with these two grasps and my Mastery I add three more Spell Counters to my Abductor and my Servant. And a spell counter to each thanks to Mastery being a spell itself. And you should know Mai... that me and spell counters? A VERY dangerous thing..."

Can we climb this mountain?

I don't know

Higher now than ever before

I know we can make it if we take it slow

Let's take it easy

Easy now, watch it go

"I activate Servant's effect, allowing me to, say it with me kids, summon her and one monster from my deck. So say hello to my second ENDYMION, THE MIGHTY MASTER OF MAGIC!"

The spell counters flowed off of Servant and rolled onto the field before shattering, their energy turning into Endymion himself, his staff held in his hand and his eyes narrowed as he looked over Mai's side of the field and smirked.

"Oh, but wait!" Edwin exclaimed in delight. "You think your Hot Springs will protect you! Keep your lifepoints at 4000 because every attack against one of your monsters will just be countered by a lifepoint increase." He shook his head. "No... the time for relaxing is over. You wanted my best, Mai? I give to you! All I am! Right here! RIGHT NOW! I SET IN MY PENDULUM ZONE MY THIRD ENDYMION!"

We're burning down the highway skyline

On the back of a hurricane that started turning

When you were young

When you were young

"Holy crap!" Crow exclaimed.

"He managed to get the final one on just a draw!" Jack said in shock.

"Jeez," Yusei whispered. "I knew that Edwin was good..."

"And Mai... he isn't staying there," Edwin said with a rumble. "I remove from my side of the field 6 spell counters in order to summon my final Endymion to my side of the field!"

"No!" Mai cried out. "With his effect..." Her shoulders slumped before she shook her head and let out a huff of disbelief. "You got me..."

And sometimes you close your eyes

And see the place where you used to live

When you were young

"Yeah... I got you," Edwin said in a husky voice. "Endymion... destroy the Amazoness Queen, Paladin, and Onslaught. Spell Power Sweep." The mage nodded and waved his staff in a wide arch in front of him, causing a wave of magic to shoot out and shatter the two monsters and the trap card, leaving Mai only with her Hot Springs... and no defense. "I meant it, Mai. You pushed me so very hard. Against anyone else... you would have won."

"I know," she said with a faint smile. "Now Edwin... do it."

They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet

You don't have to drink right now

But you can dip your feet

Every once in a little while

"Endymions... Servant... attack Mai directly."

His monsters nodded, rushing forward... only to stop right in front of Mai, all three considering her for a moment before, in unison, they bowed low to her. Mai stared at the sign of respect before closing her eyes and nodding, allowing them to lightly tap her with their staffs. (Mai-0000)

"Edwin Chaos has defeated Mai Valentine and moves on the Battle City Semi Finals!" the ref declared.

But Mai and Edwin didn't acknowledge him. Nor the cheering of those that were watching the duel. Instead the two walked up to each other, their duel discs deactivating and the monsters fading away leaving only them and the night sky.

"Good job Edwin," Mai said when they were face to face. "You defeat Yugi, you hear me? You defeat-"

Edwin swept her into a passionate kiss, Mai at once grabbing onto him.

"Ugh," Akiza said, flopping back onto the couch. "Turn it off!"

"What?" Crow asked, looking at her in amusement. "What's wrong?"

"I get to see that enough at home!" she complained.

"It's true," a new voice called out. "She does. We SO torture her."

The Signers turned as Edwin Chaos entered the living room.

"I mean, its just so disgusting," he continued on with a smirk, reaching down to adjust his duel band. He was wearing a long brown duster coat, white lines running up and down the fabric, and under that a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Yet the man still commanded the room, drawing in attention and respect with just a few words and a swagger. "All the kissing and the hugging..."

"Its true," Akiza said with a dark look before she finally broke, getting up with a laugh. "Perfect timing, by the way. We just got done watching your duel."

"My..." Edwin looked at the screen. "Oh." He swallowed. "Was I ever that young?"

"Yeah, shocking with how you are so ancient now," she teased, looking at his blond hair and wrinkle-free skin. "A regular mummy."

"I will ground you," he teased. "I can wait if you have more to do... "

You sit there in your heartache

Waiting on some beautiful boy to

To save you from your old ways

You play forgiveness

Watch it now, here he comes

"Nah, I'm good," she said, waving to her friends before pressing herself to Edwin's side. "Mom will be wondering where we're at." She smiled as they began to walk away, Edwin wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss to her temple.

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus

But he talks like a gentlemen

Like you imagined when you were young

(Talks like a gentlemen, like you imagined)

When you were young

I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus

But more than you'll ever know

Akiza smiled. "Let's go home, dad."