Test your Skills Part 1

Yugi was psyched. All day long, there wasn't anything he could think of, except for the new tournament. He liked Duel Monsters. It made him happy.

"After school, we've GOT to go to one of those game shops!" he cried.

"Yeah, I'm gonna beat some serious butt, Joey Wheeler style!" said Joey, while jumping in the air.

"Honestly, I don't know HOW you can be so psyched for a card game tournament!" said Tea, her chin up.

The schoolday just wouldn't end, the lessons passed 3 times as slow as normal, and during breaks, all Yugi could talk about was the tournament.

"Yami? Why aren't you happy? You want to participate, right?" asked Yugi when he walked to another classroom.

"Ofcourse Yugi! I'm very happy. We're going to win this!" Yami tried to sound anthusiastic.

"Well, ok then, but why are you so off today? You look worried. If there's anyth-"

"I am fine Yugi! I am sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but let's talk about this later, you're going to be late for your lessons." apologized Yami.

The schoolbell rang.

Yugi jumped up, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the classroom, he met up with all his friends and they walked towards the shop, talking excitedly about the tournament.

After a while, they could see the shop in the distance.

It was a big square building, and a huge "Relinquished" monster was painted above the automatic door. A huge mass of people stood before the door. Apparently, Yugi and friends weren't the only ones who saw the posters.

"Why are they walking away from the building?" asked Ryou.

"Huh? What are you, hey you're right!" replied Joey.

Yugi walked towards one of the sad-looking boys walking out of the huge building.

"Hey, why are you walking away? Don't you want to join the tournament?" asked Yugi.

"Heh, ofcourse I want to join! I just have to beat this unstoppable duelist first, don't I?!" replied the boy, sounding very fierce for a small boy, he looked 14-ish.

"We have to duel?" asked Joey excited.

"Yeah, and he's really strong!" the boy observed Joey "I wouldn't even bother if I was you! If I had a hard time, YOU wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Ok, now you've done it!" yelled Joey, his fist rose.

"Hey! Stop it! He's not worth it!" cried Tea, holding Joey's hand, as to stop the assault.

Joey looked at Tea and the others, sighed, and dropped his fist, muttering something like "Top rank duelist, huh, finalist in Duelist Kingdom AND Battle City..."

They went to stand in the queue, and after a long wait, they could see the duelist which they would have to defeat to participate in the tournament.

He had long, light-blue hair, and two large pointy hairs about 10 inches long coming out of his headband, he was wearing a green sweater, and a black T-Shirt stuck out of it, he was wearing jeans, and black shoes.

"And now I activate, the heart and soul of my deck!" he yelled at the man he was dueling.

"Say hello to Heart of the Underdog!" yelled the blue-haired duelist. He was wearing two bracelets on his left hand, one green, and the other pink. He had an annoying voice, he seemed to scream out every word. His eyes were a deep purple, his small nose looked rather funny in comparison to his enormous mouth through which the words:

"From now on, every turn I draw a card and it's a monster, I have to show it to you and I can draw a new one, ande one after that and one after that, for each monster I draw!" flowed out.

Ryou ticked a young man on his shoulder, he turned around.

"Who is that duelist in the green sweater?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh that! That's Darvin! He's a very powerful duelist! His deck consists of mostly monsters and the spellcard he just activated, it's a perfect strategy!" replied the young man.

"A strategy with one major flaw." said Yami.

"Can we defeat him, Yami?" asked Yugi, sounding almost scared to hear the answer.

"We can, there's a card in our deck that can defeat this duelist, no matter how strong he is!"

"And now I attack your life point directly with my "Blazing Inpachi" causing you to lose 1850 points! And I believe that means, you lost!" yelled Darvin.

"No! This guy is unbeatable!" the man screamed.

Darvin turned to the crowd.

"Anyone else dare to challenge me? Is anyone else so stupid as to think they can join this tournament that easily?"

Yugi looked at Yami. Yami nodded.

"I will challenge you!" yelled Yugi, to the surprise of the whole crowd, including his friends.

"What are you doing, Yugi? Didn't you just see how Darvin defeated that man with so much ease?" asked Ryou, clearly flabbergasted.

"Come on guys! I have to try at the very least! I really want to win this duel so I can participate in the tournament!"

"Well, alright then Yuug! We believe in you!" said Joey

The rest all agreed. Nodding to his friends, he touched the Millenium Puzzle around his neck with both hands. Suddenly he transformed into Yami again.

"So you're my next challenger?" cried Darvin. "I hope you give me more of a challenge than those other fools!"

"Hear me now Darvin!" yelled Yami "I WILL defeat you! Just you watch" continued Yami in his sexy deep voice.

Yami stepped onto the stage in the middle of the shop, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, all wanting yo see a good duel. This was his only chance, he had to win this duel, or he wouldn't be able to participate in the tournament.

Knowing this, he walked to his designated spot and activated his Duel Disk.

"Let's Duel!" cried Yami and Darvin.

"I begin!" yelled Darvin. "I summon my "Dark Blade" in attack mode (1800/1500). Then I activate my "Pot of Greed", allowing me to draw two more cards!"

This was a good start, Darvin already had a powerful monster on his side of the field, and he just activated a card that could change his chances enormously.

"And I drew this!" he yelled "My heart and soul! My Heart of the Underdog!"

Yami was shocked, Darvin had already drawn his best card in his first turn.

"And I activate it now!" Darvin continued, pushing the card into his Duel Disk. "You know what it does, right? You saw it earlier, when I demolished my last victim!" laughed Darvin.

Yami wasn't happy, Darvin had his favourite card on his side of the field, and a strong monster.

His hand wasn't much help either, all he had was the "Dark Magician", the "Dark Magician Girl" a "Trap Hole", a "Black Luster Ritual" and a "Waboku", these were powerful cards, but he had no monster he could summon. He had to draw the right card, or he would never make it to the tournament. This was it! He placed his hand upon his deck, and drew a card.

"Come on, Heart of the Cards" he whispered.