Yu-Gi-Oh! Love Selflessly (Version 2 - SEMI FINAL)

Chapter 20

Emiko stood out in the hallway, leaning against the wall in defeat, clutched her locket and held it close to her chest. She thought, "I promised I'd save them. I promised Seto and Mokuba. I promised myself. I couldn't do it." She took a shaking breath. She felt a few tears rolling down her cheeks and jumped when she heard Yugi's voice in front of her. He asked, "Emiko? Are you okay?" She sniffled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, and said, "I-I...Yugi...I'm sorry." He frowned and asked, "Sorry? What do you mean?" She said, trembling out of frustration and fear, "I promised them...I promised my brothers I'd get them back." He placed his hand on her shoulder and said in his soft, comforting voice, "Listen to me, Emiko. Everything is going to be alright. I will win back your brothers' and my grandfather's souls." She nodded.

"I know," she said, "If you can't do it, Yugi, then I'm not sure who else could." He said, "Stay strong, Emiko." She smiled through her tears and said, rubbing her eyes and wiping away the rest of the tears, "I believe in you. Please, Yugi. Win this tournament." She walked past him towards the viewing balcony. Yugi walked out onto the blue side of the duelling arena, looking across the way to Mai, who was already shuffling her deck. Croquet announced, "The winner of the previous round, Bandit Keith, will now move on to fight Joey Wheeler in the next round." Yugi shuffled his deck and both he and Mai placed their cards on the board.

"Now," Croquet continued, "the next duel of the semifinals will begin. Up next is Mai Valentine versus Yugi Muto." He said, "You must both show me your tournament entry cards." Mai and Yugi held up their qualifying cards. Croquet said, "Both qualify. The duel may proceed."

Emiko muttered, "Good luck, Yugi." Téa shouted, "Go, Yugi!" Joey cheered, "Alright! Go, Yuge! Wipe her out, man!"

As the life point counter set itself to 2,000, both duelists drew ther initial hand of cards. Mai enthusiastically called, "Here I come, hotshot!" As Mai looked over her cards, Yugi chuckled and said, "If you're playing honourably, you can't try your psychic act on me the way you did on Joey." Mai shook her head and said confidently, "No tricks this time, Yugi. I'm not all smoke and mirrors, kiddo. Even without my tricks, I can duel with the best of them and I play Harpie Lady in attack mode!"

"That's Mai's standard opening move," Tristan said. Emiko looked down at the playing field and sighed. Joey patted her on the shoulder and said, "Don't you worry, Em. Yugi knows what's coming. He's seen Mai and her Harpie Lady in action like a billion times already." She smiled a little, then turned back, watching as Mai finished her turn with another face-down card.

Yugi summoned Gaia the Fierce Knight, but just as he sent his attack, Mai activated a trap card called Mirror Wall, taking down Gaia's attack power by half and stopping his attack. She powered up her Harpie Lady and destroyed Yugi's monster, bringing Yugi's life points down. Yugi struggled against Mai's powerful combination of cards for several turns. After some time, Mai said, "Yugi. You promised you'd try harder, but I can see now that isn't gonna happen." She drew a card, then smirked, summoning Harpie's Pet Dragon and destroying his Summoned Skull with very little effort. Her dragon was powerful and when it was on the field alongside Harpie Lady, it gained an additional 300 attack points. Mai taunted, "I told you, you're gonna have to concentrate and step up your game if you're gonna stand a chance against me." She paused. Yugi grimaced.

"Why are you playing so poorly, Yugi?" Mai asked. She said skeptically, "I've got you on the ropes and you're barely even putting up a fight. I want to duel you at your best, but there's only so far I'm willing to go." She glared over the arena at him and said, "You know, Yugi, I remember Joey once asked me an important question about why I duel. The answer I gave him was frivolous, but honest. Can you answer the question, Yugi? Tell me: why are you duelling in this tournament?" Yugi said without hesitation, "I'm duelling for my grandfather, Mai."