Chance is a funny thing; in many instances, the outcome of an individual's entire life can be dependent on the whims of Lady Luck. Preparation, strategy, and even guts are a large factor as well, and determination can often overcome seemingly impossible odds.
It was this topic that Yugi Moto's mind had chosen to focus on at this particular moment as he waited for the finals of the Battle City Duel Monsters tournament to begin. He and his comrades had worked long and hard to make the top 8 finalists, and Yugi knew that his destiny was inexorably tied to the outcome of the duels ahead.
Well, not his mind, per se. Yugi was a special case; having a 3000-year old mystical puzzle around one's neck tends to make one a certain exception to most rules.
In Yugi's Millenium Puzzle was a split identity, a man who looked just like Yugi, but had no name. The man only knew that his past had once lain in the deserts of Ancient Egypt, and that he was once a Pharaoh of that land.
This Pharaoh was an expert at all sorts of games, the Duel Monsters card game being his most particularly specialized skill. When Yugi and his "Dark" self worked together, they were nearly unstoppable in the game.
Thus, they entered the Battle City tournament, hoping to find some clue to the Pharaoh's past.
Only a few minutes remained until the finals were set to begin on top of the large blimp they were on. In the meantime, the finalists were enjoying a smattering of snacks and drinks supplied by the blimp's employees. The blimp was owned by Seto Kaiba, Yugi's rival who was currently standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed.
Kaiba was a tall man with a brown bowlcut and piercing, cold blue eyes. He wore a flashy white coat with black pants, accented by the vicious expression on his sharp, angular features.
Kaiba, despite being in his late teens, was already president of the largest gaming corporation in the world, Kaiba Corp, and he was the one who had set up the tournament in the first place. Yugi hypothesized that Kaiba created the tourney solely for the purpose of collecting the three Egyptian God cards, the three most powerful monsters in the game.
Kaiba owned one of them, Obelisk the Tormentor, while Yugi owned another, Slifer the Sky Dragon. When his thoughts turned to the God cards, Yugi's purple-eyed gaze swept to the other side of the room, where Marik was standing.
Marik was far more taciturn than he expected, and a lot taller as well. The man's dark skin and hieroglyph tattoos were obscured by a deep purple robe. Marik held sinister intentions towards Yugi in particular; it seemed as though he had some sort of grudge against the King of Games.
"Hey, what's up Yugi? You look upset about somethin'." A rough Brooklyn accent called out. Yugi turned to look upon his best friend Joey Wheeler, whose hazel eyes were looking at him with a relaxed dullness.
Yugi and Joey had been friends for a long time, but it was not always that way. Once upon a time, Joey had taken the role of Yugi's personal bully, along with another of their peers named Tristan Taylor. It was only after Yugi completed the Millenium Puzzle and saved Joey and Tristan from another bully that the trio became friends.
Joey was not dealt a particularly lucky hand in life, which was ironic because his luck in the game of Duel Monsters was extraordinary. Joey's mother had died in childbirth while delivering his younger sister, Serenity, and his father was an abusive lush. Joey was able to bet by on winnings from various Duel Monsters tournaments, but only just enough.
"I'm fine, Joey. Just concentrating on my strategy." Yugi responded. "Ah, right. I don't know what you have to be worried about, though. You'll sweep anyone here, easy. Except me, of course!" Joey grinned.
"Oh, please!" A sultry voice scoffed. Yugi and Joey cocked their heads to drink in the appearance of the curvaceous and buxom Mai Valentine, a duelist whose flirty exterior hid a steely resolve on the field of battle.
"I hope you boys haven't forgotten about me! I intend to emerge from this tournament with nothing less than first place!" She declared ostentatiously.
"Well, I wish you the best of luck in the finals, Mai." Yugi replied courteously.
Who needs luck, other than Joey?" Mai jibed. Yugi shook his head; Joey and Mai's vitriolic friendship always confused him. Despite being a strategic genius, Yugi could not always claim such competency with the female mind.
"Hey, you just watch!" Joey said hotly. As they were talking, Roland, Kaiba's personal butler and assistant, had approached the microphone.
"The contestants in the first quarterfinal match will be determined in five minutes!" He announced bombastically.
"Ooh, I better go get some more food while I can, then!" Joey said, licking his lips as he made his way over to the buffet table. After loading a paper plate full of delicious foreign cheeses, he turned around only to bump into Ryo Bakura.
Bakura epitomizes that one creepy guy that everyone knows. He was albino, with long snow-white hair and porcelain skin. His dark hazel irises were innocent and friendly…too much so, in fact. He was always formally polite, and perpetually carried a small smile on his face. Combine this with the fact that he somehow made it into the Battle City finals despite being hospitalized no more than twelve hours earlier and he was a very unsettling sort indeed.
"Um…my bad, Bakura." Joey said hurriedly, trying to scamper away from the creepy kid as soon as humanly possible.
"Oh, that's quite alright. Everyone seems on edge." Bakura whispered sinuously. "Uh, yeah, must be pre-game jitters." Joey replied slowly. "By the way, how did you manage to get into the finals?"
"Well, I won all six locator cards at once!" Bakura replied as though it were obvious. Locator cards were the six pieces of the holographic map that led to the location of the finals. There were only 48 locator cards produced, so only eight duelists from the entire city of Domino could make it into the finals.
"I won them after damning Bonz to eternal suffering- I mean beating Bonz in a duel!" Bakura hastily corrected.
"Right, see ya later!" Joey practically ran away, sweating buckets.
He walked up to Tristan, Serenity, and Tea, who were each nibbling on various foods as well. "Are you OK? You look like you just saw a ghost." Tea asked with concern.
"Nah, must be the shrimp. I think it's been sitting out too long." Joey said far too quickly.
"The selection for the first round of the tournament shall begin now!" Roland called as the lights dimmed. Yugi looked around the room. Only seven finalists were present that he knew of: himself, Joey, Mai, Kaiba, Bakura, Marik, and a strange young man named Namu who had shown up seemingly out of nowhere.
"I wonder who the eighth duelist is?" Yugi thought as a strange machine ascended out of a raised dais near the center of the banquet hall.
"To guarantee fairness, each pair of duelists will be chosen to fight at complete random. Each finalist has been assigned a number, one through eight. The second pair of numbers will only be chosen after the first duel. This way, you won't have any idea of who you are facing until right before you duel." Roland explained.
"Each numbered ball is of equal size and weight, and the computer algorithim is designed to be one hundred percent random. Now then, without further adieu, the fighters for the first round will be selected!"
The yellow spheres in the glass started spinning and rotating. Yugi was watching their movements intently. Somehow he figured that he would be dueling in the first round. The room was still with tension.
Finally, a ball fell into the mouth of a toy Blue-Eyes White Dragon and rolled to the entry slot. "Number two, Joey Wheeler!" Roland announced.
"Alright! Who wants to go up against the Godfather of Games!" Joey said, flexing his bicep. Yugi facepalmed at Joey's self-given moniker.
"You're in quite a hurry to lose, Wheeler." Kaiba sniped, never giving up an opportunity to belittle his rival duelist. "Watch it, rich boy!" Joey snarled back.
"Stand by while the next duelist is chosen. After the next fighter is selected, we will proceed immediately to the Stratos dueling arena. And Mr. Wheeler's opponent is…number four, Mai Valentine!" Roland said loudly.
Joey and Mai smirked at each other, each ready to test the other's skill. Inwardly, Joey breathed a sign of relief. He had already beaten Mai before, and he was confident that he could do it again. At the very least, fighting her was a better prospect than going against some of the other monsters that were on the blimp.
"You two will take the west elevator with me, while the spectators may proceed to the viewing area via the central elevator." Roland said finally.
Joey and Mai proceeded to the west elevator, leering companionably at each other. "This time, it's gonna be different, Wheeler." She said idly. "We'll see." He replied.
A short elevator ride later, and everyone was at the top of the blimp. A large mechanical platform had unfolded where the fighters would stand, while the spectators would stand below to watch.
Joey and Mai made their way to the platform, their duel disks at the ready. Yugi and his friends stood one side of the arena, while Kaiba and his younger brother Mokuba stood standoffishly on the opposite side.
"Man, it's freezing up here!" Tea whined, crossing her arms. "That is because Kaibacraft 3 here is flying at 4000 feet above sea level. The cutting winds and freezing temperatures are meant to test your endurance and focus. If you can't take it, then you don't belong here." Kaiba said coldly. It was clear from his tone and posture that he considered this match to be a complete waste of his time.
Bakura and Namu stood too close together for Yugi's liking. Both of them were highly suspicious to him, and he vowed to keep a vigilant eye on each of them. For now though, he tried to enjoy the match, as it was most likely to be the most friendly match in the entirety of the finals.
"I hope you're not too cold, Joey." Mai snarked. Despite her skimpy clothing, she did not seem affected by the cold at all. "No way! I'm good!" Joey's tough façade was broken rather egregiously by the fact that his cards were beginning to blow away in the wind.
"Oh no!" Joey leapt after his cards, catching one of them in his mouth. Everyone else snickered at this tomfoolery, even Kaiba.
"Alright, now I'm ready to start!" Joey declared. "In that case, why don't you go first?" Mai smiled demurely.
Joey nodded before drawing his first card. "Alright, here I go! I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600) in attack mode!" A warrior clad in pitch-black armor took the field, taking a determined pose.
"Then, I set two cards face-down and end my turn!" Joey said, setting two brown-backed cards on the field.
"Not a bad move to start out with." Duke Devlin commented. "Let's see how Mai counters." Bakura commented sinisterly.
The blonde vixen drew, and was seemingly happy with what she pulled. "I summon Amazoness Swords Woman (1500/1600) in attack mode!" She called. A tan, long-haired female took the field, swinging her enormous broadsword about.
"I'll have to be careful. That monster can deal whatever damage I put out back at it." Joey strategized, looking at his hand.
"Then, I set two cards as well. Your move, Brooklyn boy." She mocked. Joey frowned as he drew.
"I activate the trap Kunai With Chain! Now, I can switch your Swordswoman to defense mode!" A silver cord wrapped around the amazoness, forcing her into a kneeling position.
"Now, my Gearfried can attack her!" "I think not, Joey! I activate Dimensional Prison!" Mai shouted.
Gearfried stubbornly rushed forward into a purple spatial vortex, becoming spaghettified within seconds.
"Yep, that'll getcha." Yugi shook his head. "Oh, for Ra's sake, this is the most boring match ever! They're not even summoning an Egyptian God!" Marik (or Namu, as he told Yugi's friends) thought with no small amount of frustration.
"I agree, these card games are really boring without the possibility of imminent death." Bakura concurred telepathically.
"Shoot! Fine, I summon Alligator's Sword (1500/1200) in attack mode to end my turn." Joey said bitterly before an anthropomorphic green gator with a sword materialized on his field.
"And this is where the emasculating begins. I switch Amazoness Swords Woman to attack mode before summoning Amazoness Paladin (1800/1700)!" Mai said. Another toned and fit warrior woman appeared on her field, holding a thin rapier as its weapons.
"Joey's facing down three amazons! Kinda like how I was last night!" Duke said, raucously laughing. No one else even chuckled. "Oh come on guys, that was funny." Duke said weakly. "There's a 14-year old girl here, dude." Tristan said, covering Serenity's virgin ears.
"Now that my paladin is on the field, all of my amazons gain 100 attack and defense points! (Paladin 1900/1800 Swords Woman 1600/1700)! Now attack him, my ladies!" Mai shouted, pointed a painted nail towards Joey's meager field.
The paladin shred Alligator's Sword to thinly sliced meat strips, while Joey took damage. (Joey 3600/Mai 4000)
"Now my Swords Woman attacks!" Mai said with glee. The Amazoness gladly sliced Joey laterally across the chest. (Joey 2100/Mai 4000)
"Man, I haven't seen Joey get whooped this bad since the last time he dueled." Tristan snarked.
"Wow, do you guys usually give him this much crap? He did make it to the finals, he must be at least a decent duelist." Marik asked with fake gentleness. Inwardly, he completely agreed with Tristan.
"Yeah, he's OK sometimes. He's just been the group's whipping boy for so long that it becomes a force of habit to insult him. Maybe he'd have better luck if Bakura hung around us more often." Yugi joked.
"I am going to kill you, you with your ridiculous multicolored hair-" Bakura thought murderously.
"Man, you're as strong as ever, Mai!" Joey complimented. "Such a gentlemen. Joey, you'll need to step it up if the duel is going to last another turn!" Mai said viciously, striking a cheesecake pose.
"I won't disappoint you!" Joey said, drawing confidently. "Nice! I summon Swordsman of Landstar (500/1200) in attack mode!" A chibi marshmallow cartoon soldier appeared, waving around his pitiful little sword in front of the Amazons with audacity.
Everyone burst into derisive laughter, with the exception of Bakura. "Oh come on, Wheeler, how do you still have that garbage in your deck? What's the matter, can't afford any decent cards!?" Kaiba mocked.
"Shut up, moneybags! In a moment, I'm about to make my swordsman here just as strong as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Joey proclaimed gregariously.
"Oh, really? And through what magic do you intend to pull that one off?" Kaiba snorted, clearly in denial.
"Through the magic of Graceful Dice!" Joey shouted, slamming the card into the disk slot.
"Ah, so if he rolls a four or higher, then he can take down one of Mai's Amazons! His Landstar's attack will be multiplied by whatever number he rolls!" Yugi said, astounded at his friend's daring.
"Come on, Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!" Joey prayed to Slifer thast he would roll what he needed. A small peach-hued cherub appeared, throwing an enormous blue die onto the field. Mai and her Amazons looked rather bemused at the proceedings.
The die spun on its edge for a few seconds before settling on a six. "Booyah! Nothing but skill, baby! Now my Swordsman's attack is multiplied by six, raising it to 3000!"
The cute warrior now seemed much more threatening to Mai than it did a moment earlier.
"Now, attack her Paladin!" The Swordsman of Landstar leapt into the air before bringing his mighty blade down upon the paladin, bisecting her cleanly. (Joey 2100/Mai 2800)
"Now I set a face-down, and that's it!" Joey smirked, as Lady Luck was forever in his corner.
Mai snarled before ripping a card off the top of her deck. "I activate Card of Sanctity, allowing us each to draw until we have six in our hands." They each drew cards, considering the results of their pulls.
Mai chuckled darkly. "I feel bad for you, Wheeler. You've just mad enemies of the biggest bitches in Battle City."
Joey gulped audibly.
"I summon Cyber Harpie Lady (1800/1300) in attack mode." A beautiful, yet vicious bird-lady descended seemingly from the heavens themselves before baring herself in front of the openly terrified Joey. She wore purple bondage armor with spiked nipples and sharp edges.
And all Joey had to defend himself with was Swordsman of Landstar.
"Elegant Egotist." Mai said coldly before three other Harpie Ladies appeared from behind the original Cyber Harpie Lady, as if they were mirrored clones (1950/2150).
"Oh, that's no good." Joey said, gritting his teeth. "Now then, I think it's time to end this. Unfortunately, you and your Swordsman are going to be little more than snacks for my ladies. Now, I attack Landstar with Cyber Harpie Lady!" Mai called as her Harpie ascended skyward.
"It's now or never! I activate my Fairy Box trap!" Joey said frantically. Suddenly, a large purple Whack-A-Mole style cube popped up on field. The Swordsman of Landstar jumped into the gambling machine all-too-readily.
"Now, whether your attack goes through is all up to a coin toss! If you win, then you destroy my last line of defense. If I call the coin right though, then your monster's attack points become 0! So whaddya say?" Joey declared brazenly.
A holographic coin appeared at the epicenter of the battlefield. "Tails never fails. An old trick I learned back in the Vegas days." Said Mai.
"In that case, I got Heads!" Joey said back, completely and utterly confident.
"The coin will flip now!" Roland said, and the hologram flipped into the air straightly with no regard for gravity or wind. On the Heads side of the coin was a Kuribon engraving, while the Eye of Wdjat was on the tails side.
"As usual, Wheeler has to rely on luck to win. How pathetic." Kaiba said acrimoniously. "You just wait, Kaiba. Joey may surprise you yet." Yugi muttered quietly.
The coin fell slowly, Joey and Mai watching with bated breath. At last, the coin fell with the Kuriboh face-up. "Damn!" Mai cursed. "Gotcha! Now, Swordsman of Landstar, destroy that bird!" Joey punched the air as the cartoony Swordsman jumped, spinning like a buzzsaw as he destroyed Mai's monster. (Joey 2100/Mai 2300)
"You won't get lucky again! Amazoness Swords Woman, press the attack!" Mai roared.
"She should just quit while she's ahead!" Tristan shrugged. "Actually, Mai will win either way here. Swords Woman's effect guarantees that Joey will take some damage from this attack." Yugi explained coolly.
"Still, he'll want to win the next coin toss just so that he can keep his Landstar on the field." Bakura commented in his best faux-innocent voice.
Yugi narrowed his amethyst eyes at Bakura. "Right." He said coldly.
The coin flipped yet again, with Joey calling tails this time. Amazingly, he won yet again. "Unbelieveable!" Mai said. "Still, you'll take all of the damage from this battle too, kid!"
Landstar emerged from the Whack-A-Mole machine again and clashed blades with the Amazon. After a brief exchange of sword strikes, Landstar at last landed a fatal slash to the warrior woman.
Joey smiled briefly, but the Amazoness, in her last action, threw her sword at the Brooklyn-based duelist. "Ouch!" He cried as the hologram passed through him. (Joey 1600/Mai 2300)
"Wow, Swordsman of Landstar is a badass!" Duke cheered. "Yeah, he's getting a lot of use out of it. Joey's the type of duelist that can take a mile if given an inch." Yugi said with admiration. "There's no way my big brother can lose! He's awesome!"
"Your luck won't last forever!" "Why don't you try it?"
"Fine! Harpie Lady Sisters, devour his pathetic little fairy now!" Mai screeched. Joey's inexplicable luck clearly had her at her wit's end. The trio of furies descended upon the fairy warrior, licking their lips in the process.
"C'mon, just one more!" Joey pleaded to Lady Luck for a successful third coin toss. The silver dollar flew into the air. "Tails!" Mai called.
The coin landed on tails, and Joey could do nothing but watch as his Swordsman was ripped apart by the Harpies. (Joey 150/Mai 2300)
"Things aren't looking good for our hero." Duke snarked. "Hmph. Once a failure, always a failure." Kaiba said bitterly.
"I set one card face-down and end my turn." Mai finished.
"Alright, we can do this." Joey said to himself as he drew. "Unfortunately, since I don't have 500 life points to pay so that I can keep it on the field, my Fairy Box is gone. Now, I activate this! Monster Reborn! Now, I can summon one monster from either of our graveyards! And I choose my boy Gearfried!" The black knight returned triumphantly.
"And what are you going to do with that?" Mai asked incredulously.
"First, I'll activate Pot of Greed, letting me draw two!" "Yeah, yeah, we all know what the card does." Mai snarked.
"Next, it's storytime!" Joey said cheekily. "What?" Nearly everyone said at the same time.
"That story being the legend of Gearfried, that is! You see, Gearfried was once a legendary warrior who was able to waste entire battlefields on his own. Fearful of his own might, he sealed himself away in a suit of restricting black armor. You should feel honored, Mai, because you're about to feel his unrestrained wrath right now! I activate Release Restraint!" Joey announced.
A bright white light seemed to emanate from Gearfried's steel chassis, an inner power awakening in him for the first time in so long. The armor burst, a cloud of dust covering the newly uncovered warrior.
When it cleared, a long-haired, tan man with tribal tunic and boots stood proudly, a stern expression on his face. "Meet Gearfried the Swordsmaster (2600/1800)!" Joey said with gumption.
The Harpie Lady Sisters quivered in fear. "I only have two cards left in my hand. But it'll be just enough to finish you off! I play Scapegoat! This lets me summon four sheep tokens, each with zero attack or defense." Joey grinned. Four adorable lambs popped up around Gearfried. The warrior sweatdropped at the cute sheep.
"What was the point of that? Those won't really help him, will they?" Serenity asked cutely. "Oh, I think they will, if the last card in Joey's hand is what I think it is." Yugi smiled knowingly.
"Now for my last card, I equip Gearfried with United We Stand! This increases his attack by 800 for each monster on my field, counting himself! Since my sheep tokens are on the field, this means that Gearfried gains 4000 attack points!" Gearfried glowed with a red aura, power rolling off him in hot waves.(Gearfried 6600/1800)
Mai chuckled. "Smart move, Wheeler."
"And that's not all! When Gearfried is given an equip spell, he can instantly destroy a monster! And your harpies look like prime targets!" Joey was giddy as Gearfried slowly drew a broadsword from a sheath on his back.
The warrior dropped into a fighting stance, and time stopped for a moment. In a flash of steel, Gearfried destroyed all three harpies in an instant, the sheep tokens watching on in horror.
"Now, I attack you directly with Gearfried!" Joey said triumphantly. "I won't go down without a fight! I activate Mirror Wall! This halves your Gearfried's attack points!" Mai declared as a crystalline wall of ice rose in Gearfried's path.
"Ok. Since he's at 3300, I still win anyways." Joey sweatdropped. "I know, but I just wanted to ruin your moment." Mai winked at him, even as her life points dropped to zero. (Joey 150/Mai 0)
"And with that, Joey Wheeler will advance to the semi-final round of the Battle City Tournament!" Roland announced. "Yeah, I did it!" Joey celebrated before walking over to Mai.
"Thanks for the match, Mai! You really had me on the ropes there." He said as they shook hands.
"You're good, Joey, and you've improved a lot. It was a fantastic duel." She said before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
He blushed furiously, dropping a few of his cards yet again. Everyone, with the obvious exceptions of Marik, Bakura, and Kaiba, laughed in a friendly way. Joey, after picking up his cards, looked at Yugi and Kaiba.
Yugi gave him a respectful thumbs-up, while Kaiba only sneered imperiously at him. "You two just watch; I'm gonna rise even higher, and I'll give you both a duel you'll never forget!" He vowed mentally.
A/N
Greetings, lovely readers, and thanks for reading the first chapter of Luck Of The Draw!
I intend for this to be my next big project after Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon, and it's an idea I've had in my head for a very long time. Frankly, I'm surprised that no one's ever wrote an AU version of the Battle City Finals before (or if they have, I've never heard of it).
I hope you guys liked the match between Joey and Mai here! Mai certainly got a better matchup here than she got in canon :) They were even all the way through, but Joey was able to pull it out with a pretty sick combo with United We Stand, Gearfried, and Scapegoat. I hope you guys don't mind that I used the dub names, they are simply what I am more familiar with.
As for the cards, there will be no fan-made ones, although I will be using a few cards from the more modern era, such as Dimensional Prison. Don't worry, there won't be any Synchros, XYZ's or Pendulums. Anyways, please give me some feedback on the chapter if you are so inclined to, and tell me your predictions for the next match! It's gonna be a good one!