Mai, dressed as Harpie Lady, duels Joey Wheeler

Mai's last memories before entering the shadow realm were of a sudden, deep sleep, encroaching from an alert state when she intended to head to the latest duel tournament by plane. All of her friends were going to be waiting for her there: Yugi, Joey, and the rest. She couldn't let them see her with bed-head; she would need to freshen up her style and her make-up before she ran into them, reminding them she'd always be the best dressed person in the room.

When she opened her eyes to find herself not aboard a plane, but instead, in a dark arena, lit only by low torches, she was terrified. Had she been transported back to the shadow realm? Had she even ever left? Perhaps Marik still held power over her after defeating her in the Battle City Tournament? "No... That isn't it," she reminded herself, speaking out loud just to ensure she could still hear herself talk in this strange space. "This feels different... It feels... Cheaper," the blond duelist spoke aloud, unable to help herself from smirking. She had been through so much. Did some petty spirit really think they were going to cause her to suffer with just this level of power? Compared to the despair of being locked away from her friends as the sands of time drifted over her, this was going to be a cakewalk. All she had to do was find the one behind this and defeat them in a duel... That's how these things always worked.

As if in answer to her thoughts, a figure stepped out from the darkness. As she placed their appearance, she was mystified... this wasn't some evil spirit. Her friend, as she begrudgingly referred to him, Joey Wheeler, had appeared. He was dressed in his familiar green jacket, that dumpy old thing he'd worn back in Battle City, along with blue jeans. His crazy, rooster-tail like pompadour was as laughable as ever, only a shade better than his friend Tristan's.

Seeing him here was undoubtedly comforting for her. The last time she'd seen him in the shadow realm, he'd walked away; she hadn't been able to communicate with him at all. Here, at least, she found they'd locked eyes clearly. A small smile reached her lips for just a moment, before she corrected it, putting back on her haughty smirk. "Joey Wheeler. Are we both part of a shadow game this time?" the femme fatale questioned, flipping back locks of her golden hair over her bare shoulder.

"Heh heh! You ain't talkin' yourself outta this one, Mai, just cause ya got a bad track record against me! It's my time to shine! I'm gonna win a tournament for once!" Joey boasted, pressing one thumb under his nose and looking satisfied with himself.

Something seemed off... "Joey... This can't be the tournament we signed up for. This has to be some kind of... magic, doesn't it? Like the seal of Oricalchos?" she questioned, gesturing at the empty arena around the two of them.

"Listen, Mai, if ya got stage fright, I can wait as long as you want before I kick your keister," Joey laughed back, seeming like he still didn't understand.

Slowly, Mai began to understand that this either wasn't the real Joey... or maybe it was and he was somehow dreaming, thinking they were just in a standard battle. Maybe they were and she was the one that was crazy? "No... I have to trust my own eyes for now. I have to snap him out of it," she convinced herself. In the end, it always came down to dueling. "Joey... If I beat you, I want you to listen carefully to me. Okay? There's something I have to tell you."

With a slight color rising to his cheeks, Joey gulped. "Yeah, about dat... There's somethin' I probably oughta told you before too, Mai," he stumbled, wanting to get ahead of Mai's presumed confession. It would be uncool for a guy to be the recipient...

"You blockhead! I'm going to beat you extra quick if that's all you can think about right now," Mai scoffed, then looked down to her deck... only to discover that while the duel disk and deck were present, the rest of her clothes were not. It had all been replaced with the wardrobe of her signature card, the Harpie Lady. While she'd always appreciated the card, she'd never want to be seen dressed as it! The form-fitting leotard included tights on the bottom, but most of the upper body was left exposed, with what was essentially a sling bikini connecting like a halter top to the neck. Every curve of her body was left even more exposed than usual... the wing-tipped gloves were just insult to injury, really. The talons on her hands and feet were just gloves and boots... she already found herself struggling to imagine how she was supposed to hold cards while wearing them.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" Mai ranted, crossing both arms across her chest defensively and wondering why Joey hadn't asked her about the costume. "You were just going to keep quiet about this?!"

"Mai..." Joey muttered, looking confused for a moment and scratching his head. "If you're feeling self-conscious now about the way you dress ever since I met ya, well, I don't know what ta tell ya..."

"-!" the girl gasped, grasping that this must be yet another part of the reality he didn't seem to see. All things considered, she felt fortunate that he wasn't dressed as the Axe Raider or something... that would be just her luck.

"Alright, can't wait to start stalling, huh? Ya could at least wait till ya set some face-downs!" Joey snickered, holding up his duel disc. "If you ain't makin' the first move, I am! It's my turn!" he announced, producing a starting hand of six cards. He whistled; she recoiled a bit, wondering if he'd finally seen her clothes, but he clarified a moment later. "You ain't gonna like this... No ma'am!"

"Don't call me ma'am..." the unfortunate girl mumbled, always conscious of her age, while Joey began to fill the field with face downs. This was how he always started: warriors first, then Red-Eyes Black Dragon close behind. For now, she just had to weather an onslaught of run-of-the-mill, no-name warriors he'd picked just based on how tough they looked. Soon enough, however, Mai would discover that she wouldn't be playing the version of Duel Monsters she was used to...