Driveshipping (Marik x Mai) - Requested to go early, by KaylaKissesKangaroos.

'Driveshipping is so named because both of these characters are shown to love driving during Battle City. Plus both their personal drives for success and fulfillment was the main thing that kept them going.' Kinda makes sense, I guess. I wouldn't say that they love driving, but they're certainly shown driving around, and of course Marik does have this dream as a kid that someday, he's going to hop on a motorbike. And then he does, and then of course everything goes wrong for him… Yeah, I'm sure he'll just love riding it after that.

Flaws of the pairing: Wow, and I thought Marik X Anzu was weird.

This has pretty much all the flaws of that ship, but with a few more added in. Mai does not like 'Marik' (Rishid) during Battle City – she's absolutely set on beating him. She's extremely strong–willed and stubborn to boot, and Actual Marik's attitude of treating everyone as being far below him is unlikely to impress.

You could use the Millennium Rod if you really wanted to, but given that Joey was able to break its control through sheer force of will, I doubt that Mai would stay under its control for very long – she's probably one of the few characters who may actually be stronger than Joey. Marik trying to control her with the Rod would be more likely to just make her even angrier!

Alright, I had better explain why I feel that Mai is so strong willed: Mai is to my knowledge the only person not somehow linked to the Millennium Items (ie Kaiba, Pegasus, Yami),who has been able to continue playing during a Shadow Game of Duel Monsters right through to the end of said an indication of how strong she'd have to have been to have accomplished that, consider that Yugi collapsed in Duelist Kingdom during the Pegasus duel, whilst Joey was unable to play a single card by the end of his Yami Marik duel. Had she not been foiled by the whole 'whoever recites the hieroglyphs on Ra gets to control it' thing, Mai likely would have taken down Yami Freaking Marik.

In conclusion – Mai was able to hold her own to an extent when faced with Yami Marik, something which Marik himself could not do. She doesn't like Marik after seeing what he's done, she definitely wouldn't like him if she could see how arrogant he was, she's mentally stronger than the Egyptian (to the point where she likely would break free if he did try to control her), and she's a very strong–willed, independent character who's more than happy to break a guy's heart (it was somewhat implied in the Duelist Kingdom manga that she did exactly that while working in a casino). At most, Marik might admire her strength, especially if she's angry.

…For a few seconds, before he's absolutely pummeled.

Warnings:A fair bit of sexism on Marik's part, a little violence that's more silly than serious.
Time Period: Shortly after Battle City.
Names: Malik Ishtar/Marik Ishtar = Marik Ishtar
Mai Kujaku/Mai Valentine = Mai Kujaku.

It would be an understatement to say that the evening after the Battle City Duel Monsters tournament was a fairly warm one. The temperature may have been only twenty – nine degrees, but the air was humid and clammy, the wind still. The moisture seemed to clog the very air itself, turning what should have been a fairly warm evening into a downright uncomfortable experience for the residents of Domino City. Thunderclouds gathered on the edge of the horizon, brief flashes of lighting illuminating their interiors as they rumbled towards the city.

In short, this was Marik Ishtar's idea of a pleasantly warm evening. The tanned young man was well acclimatized to warmer temperatures, having spent most of his life in Egypt. Rather than spend most of his day bemoaning his loss of the card game tournament, he had immediately taken an opportunity to get outside, and had driven his motorbike to the majority of the other contestant's houses, in order to say sorry for the things he – or in some cases, 'other him' – had done to them during the match. He'd apologized for just about everything now – the murder attempts, the torture, tearing people apart through the use of his mind–controlling Millennium Rod – but for some unexplainable reason had left the most awkward apology for last. Staring up at the trendy downtown manor, Marik couldn't help but think that maybe attempting to say sorry to this person was a Very Bad Idea.

Especially since he'd lost his 'I'm really sorry' present for them.

LINE BREAK

DING DONG!

The doorbell chimed – but before the blonde lady could even get out of her chair, it had chimed again. With a growl, she stalked towards the entrance, the tune playing at least another six times before she could reach the handle, by which point she was absolutely fuming. Mai Kujaku was not a particularly tolerant person, even at the best of times – the doorframe banged against the scratched and chipped spot on the wall, knocking a few more flakes of paint to the floor as she snarled a challenge at the young man before her.

"Alright, what do you want?"

The Egyptian forced a smile, showing her the collection of beautiful flowers he'd been holding behind his back. "I'm Marik, from that Battle City tournament. I wanted to say sorry for other me's behavior."

Mai Kujaku scowled, noticing the large amount of dirt at the base of the flowers. "You uprooted my landlord's flowers. He's going to have a fit."

"Erm – I could rebury them."

"Please do. I want nothing to do with you." The door began to shut, but Marik shoved his foot into the entrance, preventing it from closing.

"Look, it wasn't your fault you lost that duel." He coughed, pulling a hefty document from his jacket. "I prepared a speech for this. Is it okay if I just say the first bit?" The blonde rolled her eyes, but gestured for Marik to continue – and he did, with great gusto. "Anyway, losing that duel wasn't your fault. It's no wonder you lost – it was a Shadow Game, and you're a girl. You had no chance, to be honest. Oh yeah, and don't worry about that whole Winged Dragon of Ra thing – even if you happened to be able to read those hieroglyphics, you wouldn't have been able to control it. That's because the card was created with the upper class in mind." He looked up from his script and smiled winningly. "You know, the guys."

Mai stared at him, her face a mixture of disbelief and horror, and Marik blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. Shouldn't have mentioned the Winged Dragon of Ra – girls are so much more sensitive, should have said something like–"

TWHACK!

"Auuugh!" The Egyptian went flying backwards down the steps, sheets of paper went everywhere, and the door slammed. For several minutes, the young man wailed and clutched his nose – then he remembered to get angry. Sniffling, he pointed the Millennium Rod at the house. "Get out here, right now!"

LINEBREAK

Hours passed, and Marik began to worry. What if Mai was somehow resisting the pull of his Rod – or worse still, what if his Millennium Rod happened to be operated by Millennium Batteries? Did it require regular charging with the Millennium Plug Pack, which would only work with the Millennium Power Socket? Battle City had showed him that there were many things he did not yet know about the Millennium Items – what evidence was there to show that they weren't battery operated or similar?

Somehow, the Egyptian's determination held out – and so eventually the door creaked back open, and Mai Kujaku stood before him, blonde hair sparkling in the twin lights of setting sun and lightning flash. A fabulous choir sang a Hallelujah chorus in Marik's head – at last, his perseverance had yielded a wild success! Standing there on the topmost step, the lady looked absolutely stunning – such a dazzling figure, what a wonderfully strong will. He didn't really understand why he knelt right there on the third step down, but he did know one thing:

This was the woman he wanted to marry.

LINE BREAK

Mai had ignored the constant crying outside, figuring that he'd go away sooner or later. She'd ignored the angry curses and shouting, figuring that he'd either go away, or someone would call the police. She didn't need to hear that sort of sexism from anyone, and she especially disliked Marik. How dare he waltz into her garden, tear up her landlord's flowers, then make that sort of speech!

It was the little voice in her head whining and begging at her to open the door that made her come back outside in the end – not that she was actually being controlled by Marik, more that his voice was so irritating that eventually she was willing to do anything to shut him up.

Gritting her teeth, she opened the door.

LINEBREAK

It happened so fast – one minute he was standing there with his mouth agape, the next he was kneeling before her, drooling slightly. Mai sighed, looking down at him. "Any reason for this behaviour?"

He blinked, and the voices in the lady's head rose to a clamour. "Marry me! Marry me!"

"Aha!", crowed the young man, as Mai began to walk down the steps towards him. "I knew you'd come round! You're going to marry me, right? The ladies are so weak, they could never resist the pull of the– urk!"

Eyes flashing murder, the lady snatched his collar in one hand, his Rod in the other, pulled the young man to his feet – then proceeded to deck him one right between the eyes, sending him rolling down the stairs. "How… howdare you! Coming here like this, and now trying to embarrass me by forcing a marriage?! Jerk!"

Marik grunted, getting to his feet with a cheeky smile that he was certain would win her heart. "For a girl, you hit kinda hard…" The grin froze when he saw what the blonde was doing. "Ah. I wouldn't recommend you touch that – you might spontaneously combust or something. Can't think why you haven't done that yet." He paused, considering a moment. "Oh! Maybe the Rod goes easier on females or something."

Mai ignored his babbling as she calmly ripped the two halves of the Rod apart – but at this final comment, she sent the blade section whistling right past the Egyptian's head, where it lodged in a nearby tree. Irritated, the young man went to try and pull it out; "You really do throw like a girl!"

"Oh, that does it!" Swinging the Rod's sheath as a mugger might a baseball bat, Mai Kujaku made an intimidating sight as she charged down the steps with a very unladylike war cry to repeatedly beat the Egyptian over the head with the hard case. The two of them raced in circles through the garden several times, before Marik finally had the good sense to jump the white picket fence around the house and go tearing down the street, clutching the dagger half of his Rod.

"Owowow!"

TWHACK!

The case hit the Egyptian in the back of the head so hard that he staggered.

"And don't come back!"

Needless to say, he didn't.

LINE BREAK

With a slight smile, Mai Kujaku opened the garden gate and went out to inspect the spoils of war – Marik's motorcycle, forgotten in his rush to get away from her. She made enough from breaking men's hearts at the casino; all those extra tips were tax–free, after all… but she could always use a little extra money. A new vehicle like this would bring in a fair price, more if she was modeling it. Revving up the engine, the lady's smile only widened – this was top–of–the–line, designer quality even. Somehow managing to cram her mass of blonde locks into the helmet, Mai took off down the street. She knew someone at the casino who would pay very well for a good motorbike like this…

She couldn't believe how stupid men were, sometimes.