Drowning into his deep pessimistic thoughts, he jumped up when he suddenly felt someone poking him. When the pretty looking woman that was across him asked if he had trouble from seasickness, he shook his head."N-no, Miss, it's n-not seasickness. O-or maybe it is and I-I don't know? O-or maybe I-I'm sick of my own? O-or maybe-" He shook his head, trying to get himself out of the worst-case-scenario-cycle. "I-I'm sorry. It's-s just that I'm a-a bit... you know, with a-all those p-people around..." He definitely had trouble with the 'people' part. He looked at his lap. "I-I mean, you a-are all such t-talented D-Duelists. I-I feel like I d-don't even belong h-here." A small undertone of despair could be heard in his voice, and some small tears started forming.

He could feel a familiar feeling coming up, one that he usually had during difficult duels. It was a feeling of confidence, but it was somehow trying to suppress itself. Was the voice willingly trying to not help him? Why would it do that? Why would leave him in the time he needed them the most? But then he realised: So far most of his victories were thanks to his opponent underestimating him. If it wasn't for his sudden confidence boost, which usually overwhelmed the opponent by surprise, he would've not gotten so far. If the voice helped him now, the voice knew they would give that advantage away. Even though it wanted to help him, it was holding itself back to make sure coming to this tournament wasn't in vain. It didn't change the fact he felt horrible though.

@Ryougu

After wandering about the catering area for a while Eric had found no one he recognized.

"Jeez I really expected one othet guy from the North American League to be here. I know they're not near as good as me but still. Guess they only invited top teir guys afterall."

He wanders over to the bar to see if they were serving anything he could actually drink only to his surprise find someone he actually recognized.

"Hey Elise!" He yells running over to talk with her.

"Wow I wasn't expecting to see you here Elise. I knew they were inviting strong Duelists but I had no idea they checked past the professional Duel leagues"
@Ryougu

Hades stood over his desk, and stared long and hard at the briefcase in front of him. It had a simple black sheen with the words "Bela Corp." pressed into the metal handle of the briefcase. Hades flicked the two locks on the front of it and opened the briefcase. It was furnished with cloth on the inside, and a small inlet was cut into the base of the briefcase where a deck of cards was placed. He gingerly picked up the deck from the briefcase's cutout and fanned the cards out in front of him. The cards had been passed down from generations and generations of Bela, for as long as Duel Monsters had been around at least. Now, this deck, and all the responsibilities that came with it, belonged to him. Of course, Hades had made a few adjustments and added a few cards here and there to keep up with the times, something his father would have greatly disapproved of. His father was dead set on keeping traditions and so forth, but Hades was never one to feel strongly connected to his family heritage.

As he looked through his cards, his eyes rested upon one in particular. The Dark Necrofear. It was unsettling to look at, especially when he knew the connotation of this card and the real evil behind it. He shuddered. However, on some level, some part of him did enjoy the idea of using a card imbued with such power. It made him feel powerful, and that was what was important. It was his utmost duty to remain powerful, perfect, and upkeep the family crest.

He heard a knock on his office door, and he quickly put back the cards into the briefcase. "Mr. Bela?" called his most trusted associate, James. James was Head of the Technological Advancement Department, however, what that department did was far from anything to do with technological advancements.

"Yes, I'll be right there James, one moment please," called out Hades. He grabbed his coat, which had been slung over the antique chair which sat behind his desk, and then picked up the briefcase with emphatic confidence. He took a look out of his penthouse offices window and gazed at the ever expansive metropolis for the most split of seconds, and then he continued to exit his office.

"Ah, Mr. Bela, there you are," James said jovially, his face lighting up when he saw him. Hades was not impressed by his fake bid for friendship, but he respected the man's loyalty to the job. "There is a helicopter waiting for you on the roof, it will take you to the port. The tournament organizers wanted to send a car, but I knew you wouldn't be having any of that," he continued.

"Very astute of you James," Hades said, beginning to make his way down the hallway to the elevator.

"Uh, Mr. Bela? Sir?" James said, rather nervously, just as Hades had begun to turn his back to him.

"Yes, James?" Hades replied, turning around to look at him.

"The uh... the matters, you asked me to uh... to attend to? I will be proceeding as normal, correct?"

Hades looked at James without responding for what seemed like the longest time, letting a silence hang over the two of them, before replying curtly, "That is correct James." Hades continued down the hallway solemnly, stopped in front of the elevator, and pressed the up button. The elevator arrived, and a soft ding sounded in the hallway. The doors slid open, and Hades stepped in side, confidently.

***

The boat's eating hall had been rather crowded, and Hades stood in a corner of the room looking smug. He had seen the sidelong glances that people had offered him, clearly recognizing him, and recognizing the rumors about him along with it. People had their own opinion about whether they were true or not, some believed it outright, others claimed it was ridiculous, although Hades believed some of them truly did believe it but just wouldn't admit it at risk of sounding like a crackpot conspiracy theorist. He would have much rather been able to come to the island by boat on his own private yacht in comfort and luxury, however the tournament organizers wouldn't allow it. They had been lenient enough on him coming to the boat by his own means, but they would not budge on the matter of the boat. He imagined it was because they wanted to keep the location of the boat secret.

He had decided he wasn't going to eat any thing, as he wasn't willing to eat anything that his personal health trainer hadn't already given the OK on. Besides, he wasn't hungry anyways. In the mean time, he surveyed all the common rabble he was placed on this boat with. It was quite the freak show. There was a crazy woman looping around all over the place, a small runt looking character of which who's gender could not be discerned, a musician decked in an all leather get-up, and god knows how many children. Looked like his competition was going to be easy game, although he didn't dismiss the idea of some child genius running amok. He was arrogant, but he knew the type of Duelists the world could offer.

That's when his eye caught a man sitting at a table with mountains of food and a dog in his lap. He recognized the man, and if he wasn't mistaken it was Masuo Itaki. On some level, Hades related to the man as he was only a few years older than he, and also had inherited his family's multimillion dollar company at a young age. Hades smirked, knowing that his company was worth a good sum more than Itaki's. Itaki was a man far kinder than he, evidentially.

@Raddum

Yo furrowed his eyebrows suspiciously when a red haired babe started walking towards him. Usually, something like that would make him wanna leap for joy, but by the expression on her face he could tell that she wasn’t about to tell him anything he wanted to hear. Shame, too, he thought she looked kind of cute. That didn’t matter much when she seemed on the verge on body slamming him onto the table at any second.

“What, did you think I was gawking at you? Don’t flatter yourself, lady.” Yo snapped back at her just as rudely. It was impressive, really, not a minute after she started talking she had already managed to piss him off. That had to be a new record or something. “Buzz off, will ya? I’d rather eat than waste my time with some random third rate duelist.”

“Heh… Truly a gentleman.”

Yo looked behind him for the source of that strange voice to no avail. He turned to the girl again with an accusatory glare. Was she the one messing with him?

Daniel grinned as the dog came at him wagging his tail, jumping around occasionally, and pointing itself at his plate. “I used to have a dog named Danny.” Daniel laughed a little and started pulling out one of the pork pieces for him, but the dog apparently couldn’t hold itself down as it jumped at the pork piece in front of him. Dan wasn’t prepared and dropped his plate on the floor nearby and the food spilled out on to him and the floor, the piece of meat Dan was holding was snatched up into Shugo’s mouth. “I wanted to eat the rest of that you little jerk.” Daniel mumbled angrily under his breath as he began wrestling with the dog, for a minute it looked like it might get violent but it never got that far, to the keen eye it was clear that they were just playing rough with each other.

As he continued playing with Shugo Dan began to remember his own time with Danny in detail, and every second he spent with Shugo pulled at those memories. The scene settled with the Shugo licking at the sauce that spilled on Dan’s clothes, a grin still painted itself on Dan’s face the entire time. “My older brother said Danny ran away, but sometimes I wonder if he really did.” Dan picked up Shugo in his arms as the dog continued to wag his tail. “Yeah I’m here for the tournament too, I imagine everyone here is.” Daniel continued listening to Itaki and responded with equal enthusiasm. “For sure, I’ve never even been on a boat, let alone an island, so this is all new territory for me. What about you, do you travel around a lot on boat?”

though, despite close scrutiny. Answering their question, Megumi nodded her head in affirmation and said in her usual quiet voice, "Yes, I'm a Duelist." She smiled slightly as she patted the kid's head, still not getting over how cute the kid was. Frankly, she really wanted to hug them, but figured that would be rude without their permission.

kid and asked, "Where are your parents? Is your mom or dad here for the tournament?" Megumi figured that their parents must be pretty irresponsible to leave their child alone in a place like this without any supervision. She did not even contemplate the idea that perhaps the kid might be a Duelist as well, thinking that perhaps the kid was only along for the ride. After all, a dog was around, so why not a kid?

Having her fill of the sweets table, Lucille decided to walk around the room some more, looking at the various people. She didn't waste any opportunity to pull any pranks that presented themselves before her however, including unscrewing a vast majority of the bottle or salt n pepper shakers she came across, ketchup bottles, or whatever looked like it'd make for a funny gag later down the line. She didn't have much in the way of gag items on herself though, her outfit only had a couple pockets and she had to carry her toons in one of them. And the other was for more... serious... gags.

It was then, after a bit of a scuffle and some yelping, Lucille noticed someone with a dog! How she didn't notice this before was weird, but then there were all sorts of exotic free food. But what really got her interested was an argument brewing between a couple duelists nearby. apparently a red headed lady was making someone extremely uncomfortable and they were snapping back at her. Lucille decided that poking the metaphorical bear might be a good laugh.

Making her way over to the two, she watched as the two argued. When a good moment came, she said. "Are you going to take that from him? hehe" Toon Red Eyes meanwhile was having a grand old time dancing on the tables breathing fire until he saw some lady with glasses talking to a kid not even it could decern a gender from. It didn't matter to Red Eyes though, as playing sherades over the kids head was the goal anyway.

@Alder

An insulted expression crossed the young woman's face, the idea of her not being good enough to be gawked at was unbelievable! Well, yeah, she didn't WANT anyone gawking at her; But that didn't mean she wasn't hot enough to not be gawked at. Who did this punk think he was, looking her way like that and then playing it like she was some desperate floozy? He was a douche, that's all she knew! "Flatter myself?! The hell do you mean by that--"

She was cut off as she was told to simply buzz off; With the addition of being a third rate duelist. She heard her teeth grind as she gritted them, biting the inside of her cheek. She was about to call him an asshole, but ended up more confused than anything as he looked back as if someone just called him, and raised an eyebrow as he glared back at her like she was the cause of some sort of mystery that was bothering him.

Arms still crossed, her body shifted to one foot going in front of the other, shifting to the side somewhat as she leaned against the table, glaring down at him with an expression that displayed equal, if not even more, annoyance. This was only driven further as another girl threw herself into the mix, her words fueling the redhead's metaphorical flaming rage.

"Uh, no! I don't take crap like that from any guy!" She stated to the fellow female, obviously more eager than before to show that this guy was nothing but a barking dog. Like the one over in the distance! "If I'm a third-rate duelist then surely you won't have any trouble facing me in the tournament! If you can win enough matches to even get a chance of us being matched against each-other, anyway!" She kept her voice high enough to express she wasn't bothered by his words and to instead return fire, before finally bringing up that look on his face.

"What's that look for though, huh? You waitin' on someone?" She questioned, one arm extending down to the table to rest her palm down, and the other going up to her chin as she thought about a remark. "Doubt it's a girl. With that attitude!"

---

@Alternax

"Oh?" Itaki responded, listening to the boy as he mentioned he had at one point had a dog. It was always good to meet another individual who appreciated dogs; They were such loyal friends. Cute ones, too. He watched the interaction between Shugo and the well-built young man, blinking as things started getting out of hand. The man's eyes widened as he watched the two struggle, food all over the young man at this point. "Shugo!" Itaki called, but soon he stopped as he saw a hint of happiness despite the situation: The two were getting along great, once Itaki actually observed them. He was glad, as for a moment he was worried he'd get kicked off the ship at the rate things were going if the boy made a complaint.

Fine with the boy holding Shugo, Itaki wasn't expecting his return question; But was eager to answer. "Me? Boats? I'm afraid I've only been on a few ships before this one!" He answered, explaining why soon afterwards: "I prefer the sky, myself. Helicopters are usually much faster than boats, but a ship like this..." He glanced about for a moment, seeming to still be in awe about it. "Well, it's simply beyond my expectations for a ship. A voyage that would take a normal boat a week takes but twelve or so hours in this ship!"

Itaki nodded sagely, seeming pleased by this information. He'd have to look into purchasing one of these ships himself. Though, that was for later; The million dollar prize would be a good start towards buying a boat like this one! That was assuming he won, of course...

---

@Scarifar

The child got pat on the head, and in response they closed their eyes momentarily, not expecting it. After a moment their eyes opened back up, a few blinks following. This was certainly embarrassing; The child wasn't certain of why she had done that, but decided it was just some sort of elder to child thing, and smiled since it wasn't exactly bothersome in any way, just unexpected.

As the question reached the kid's ears about their parents, they grabbed their hat and yanked it down, hiding their face somewhat. "Mom? Dad?" The child repeated, before adding some head shaking as an answer. "No, I-It's just me." They answered, realizing this might be alarming: Quickly, they worked to remove any possible distress their elder might have. "Don't worry, I-- I got invited to the tournament! I'm a duelist too!"

Despite what the child said, it was still odd for them to be alone. Why wasn't a guardian here, or a caretaker? A little kid shouldn't have been boarding this ship alone. As if to block off this problematic questioning, the child brought it up before it had a chance to be questioned. Almost seeming to have a defense already prepared. "I'm being watched over by the tournament staff! Though they said rooming would be complicated; Because they couldn't leave a kid alone!" The child looked downwards, seeming a little upset. "I'm not a kid; I can take care of myself, like I do at home while my parents are working... But they really want to put one of those big suited guards in my room with me..."

The child seemed concerned about that fact, obviously not wanting to share a room with one of them. But there wasn't much choice in it from the kid's perspective, so it seemed hopeless. Most would understand why a young child wouldn't want to share a room with a big, muscle-covered man in a suit with shades and a constant straight expression. For a kid that stuff was kind of unnerving.

@Raddum @Archmage MC

Yo rolled his eyes when the other girl decided to aggravate the situation even worse, if that were even possible. In fact, it was the exact same crazy who started cackling like a witch out of nowhere. Crazy, stupid, and annoying, all split between two women. Somehow, someway, the witch had managed to bug him even faster than the annoying red head babe, truly impressive, he had to admit. Was this the start of a new dynamic duo?

For the love of God, he hoped not.

Yo yawned intentionally to bug her, pretending as if she wasn't the least bit worth his time. He was boiling up just as bad as she was, but if he wanted to win this battle he would have to pretend he was calm.

"You some sorta masochist or something? If you hate me so bad why're you still sticking around? You got a thing for me or something, babe?" Yo smirked at the girl to push her buttons even harder. If there were anything that people had to give him credit for, it'd be that he was very good at being a professional pest. "Who knows? Maybe I can teach you a thing or two and get you past the first round."

"Your conduct is truly shameful. Yosuke would be ashamed of you."

Yo slammed his hands onto the table and stood up in the blink of an eye. His chair was pushed back and fell onto the floor. Conversations died out left and right, many stopping to see what all the hubbub was about. He was clawing into the table's cloth furiously, as if someone had just hit his berserk button.

"Is it you?! Are you the one messing with me? Answer me, dammit!" He was practically screaming at the witch girl. Pain and anger had merged to form a piercing glare towards her; his cool facade had disappeared into the night. He was making a fool out of himself. He knew he was. But for someone to bring him up of all people--disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

@NightmareInd@Killfang96@Alder

"Ah, it's the people. Yeah, I get that." Elise said in a tone reflecting her questionable mood. Turning slightly as someone yelled her name, she was relieved to see it was Eric and not some angry guard coming to complain about her double-parked D-Wheel."Eric!? Long time no see! And was that sarcasm? No need to be in any professional leagues to be a strong duelist." She turned to Andrew and smiled. "Goes for you too, kid. Surely, if you're here you're good at what you do, so let's duel sometime."

She was getting annoyed by the shouting kids somewhere behind her, but tried her best to ignore it and continue the conversation. "Anyway, this is Eric, he's an acquaintance of mine. As you might've heard him say, my name's Elise. Mind telling us yours?"

It was then that she ran out of patience. She forced herself to wait for the kid to finish his response, but then turned and yelled at Yoshi. "Could you quiet down!? Some of us are trying to have a conversation without the background noise of some punk, measuring dong!" With that load of her chest, she turned back to her conversation and mumbled to herself "Jeez, what clinic did these maniacs escape from?"

Remembering she was no longer alone at the table, Elise's face turned slightly red and she apologized for shouting so suddenly. This annoyance convinced her she needed one thing at least; booze. Elise excused herself again as she went off and fetched some liquor. Returning to the table, she bluntly put down 4 bottles before moving all but one of them into her bag. She was going to need a reserve if she wanted to endure this crew.

@Ryougu @Killfang96

He wiped off his tears, looking hopefully at the woman in front of her, now accompanied by another man. "You really think so?" When she introduced the duo to him, he nodded. "M-my name is Andrew. Nice to meet you both." he said. He was a bit shocked when the woman suddenly turned around and shouted at the other person shouting. It took him off guard, so he jumped up a bit, but he got his act together again short after because she has been so nice to him.

"Y-You know, I'm not e-even sure wh-what to expect. I m-mean, this is m-my first t-tournament after a-all." It wasn't a lie. Most of his duels were against people from his school, and occasionally he got a random show-off who heard about his school reputation and challenged him, but he never played competetive. Because of this he was very surprised when he got the invitation for a tournament, especially such a big one.

However, something the woman said raised a new feeling he didn't know yet. It was very familiar to the feeling of confidence he was used to, but this one was different. It wasn't like his voice caused this feeling. Did this feeling originate from himself? Or maybe the woman triggered it somehow? He didn't know the cause, but he was happy this feeling raised in his body.

@NightmareInd@Ryougu
"Nice to meet you Andrew. And no Elise that wasn't sarcasm. Most tournaments only invite pro Duelists from recognized circuits. I'm well aware of how good you are after all our match did end in a draw"

He looks at Andrew.
"So what's your story? You look like high school or first year collage age. How did you get the free time to participate in a tournament like this?"

He turns to the noisy people Elise was yelling at. "Hey ya mind shutting up?!" He turns back to the pair he was talking with. "Talk about rude. Some people just don't seem to get they aren't the only people in the room."