Travel to a Tournament

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Yugioh Legacy!verse, leads to the Phantom Tournament
Chapter Summary: The group waits for the transportation to the tournament.
Word Count: 920
Rating: teen

              Téa shivers again as they wait for the limo that was supposed to pick them up.
              “Give her your coat,” Joey suggests, and Téa shakes her head.
              “It’s not cold.  I’m fine,” she assures him and hopes that her mood hasn’t been ruining Yugi’s.  She turns to him.
              He’s standing taller, alert, regal.  He’s in full King of Games mode, and when he glances over it’s wry and sharp all at the same time.  “I feel it too,” he whispers, voice deep.  “Let’s hope it’s just our nerves getting the better of us.”
              “And how likely is that?” she whispers back, getting a little closer.
              “I don’t want to think about the odds.  Let’s just go with that and be prepared to be wrong.”  He smiles at her, and she smiles back even as she thinks, he’s gotten better at pretending.
              Before they can stew any more, the car drives up, and she lets out a sigh of relief.  For whatever reason, that makes her feel better.  At least it wasn’t late, and it doesn’t look like anyone possessed is driving it.  Yet, anyway.  There’s always time for a last minute possession.  Since when am I so cynical?
              “Is this everyone that’s going?” she asks the driver, giving a friendly smile.  It’s a suited man in sunglasses (of course it is, it always is, but she doesn’t recognize this one in particular).
              “Everyone from Domino, yes.  There are others taking different transport from other towns.  Only Seto Kaiba is traveling on his own, and the instructions to the site are being sent to his car.”  Well, at least he’s friendly enough.
              “Of course, mista high-and-mighty’s too good ta travel with us commoners,” Joey gripes.
              “There’s a lot of mystery about this tournament,” Yugi comments as he settles between Téa and Joey, looking with appreciation at the car.
              “Well, it’s so hard to throw a tournament to top the last.  After the excitement of Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, it takes a lot to impress duelists.  Our sponsor thought that the mystery would intrigue more than any released details, and also give more leeway for experimental elements—if we can’t pull them off, there’s no disappointment,” the driver answers as he pulls away from the curb.
              “That makes sense,” Yugi responds cautiously.  So Téa’s not the only one with reservations about what ‘experimental element’ might entail.
              If the driver notices their lack of full enthusiasm, though, he gives no sign.  “As some of the top-name guests, you’re to make yourselves at home.  I can turn on the radio, and there is a bar in the back, should you so choose.  Nothing alcoholic, as I’m told Miss Valentine’s the only one at the legal age.”
              “Dere’s food?” Joey perks up, completely distracted.
              “You’re not hogging that all to yourself,” Tristan warns.
              “You just ate!”
              The blond turns to Téa, mouth already full from a roll he’d stuffed in.  “Yeah, but I’m still hungry!”
              “Maybe you can divide it up after you know what’s there?” Yugi suggests meekly, but his voice is at least a bit louder than it would’ve been years ago.
              “An’ dat’s why Yuge’s da brains of dis organization,” Joey states proudly, wrapping an arm around his friend.
              “Yeah, and why you aren’t,” Tristan answers, snatching up another roll while his friend’s distracted.
              “Hey!” Joey yells in protest, spraying crumbs everywhere.  He practically dives for the storage.
              “Am I glad I’m not sitting across from him,” Téa mutters, and Yugi gifts her a smile.  He starts telling her about the newest type of game they’re carrying, a ‘deck building game’, quietly but with the same cheery eagerness that never fails to make her smile.  She admits she finds it interesting; finds games in general interesting, is even (depending on the game) good at them, but then, before now she’d always been comparing her skill to Yugi, who, really, was the King of Games, for goodness’ sake.  In the city, she hasn’t had much chance, but she’s found that a woman who takes any interest in games is rare, and she’s actually pretty good.  It’s a confidence booster, but not something she’d tell her—boyfriend, right, that’ll take some getting used to.  It’s silly.
              And an idea occurs to her.  “You know, I still have bad memories of being trapped in virtual worlds, but aren’t there games that we could play on the computer?  You know, once this tournament is over and I have to go back to the city.”
              Yugi blinks, looking briefly unhappy, before smiling at her.  “You know, that’s a really good idea.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”
              “Sounds like fun,” Joey responds, and, well.  It had been meant for just the two of them, but she misses them all, really, and Tristan and Mai joining in with excitement means that this probably is happening.
              It’s not as if they can’t schedule meet-ups separately, anyway.
              Mai goes back to talking to the driver, and Téa wonders for a second whether she's actually trying to flirt information out of him.  Joey's sulking slightly, and by the time he and Tristan finish off the provided food between the two of them, he's frowning.  He and Tristan have an argument about which music channel they should listen to, which never gets resolved, so they spend the entire time without.  Still, she's having fun just talking to Yugi, and realizes that it's been altogether too long since they've had the time to just hang out and talk.