Down in Flames

Leon was sent to the House of Horror where he would be facing Ethan, Emily was going to face Abe in one of the Ferris Wheel carts, Joey was going to face Zigfried in the Volcanic Pit, and the last duel would be held in the theatre.

The Volcanic Pit seemed like Joey's kind of place and he knew he would enjoy dueling here. As promised, the rest of his friends came to watch and cheer for him. As the duelists were shuffling their decks, Zigfried saw another camera and wondered if Kaiba was onto him yet. It was hard to know what was really making Joey's blood boil; the heat in the pit or his lack of patience with Zigfried. Whatever the reason, he would have a hard time keeping his cool. As for Zigfried, he wouldn't break a sweat.

Joey was already at a bad start. The monsters in his hand were too strong and couldn't be summoned without a sacrifice. All he could do was play a card face down and end his turn. Everyone was afraid Zigfried would land a one-turn kill on Joey like he did Weevil and Rex, but he played Graceful Charity to draw three cards and discard two from his hand. To end his turn, Zigfried played a card face down. While everyone else was laughing and commenting on the matter, Zigfried decided to change the time on his watch, unleashing a dangerous technological virus.

Everything in the theme park was going haywire. The heat had gone up and lava was violently splashing around, the curtains were opening and closing at the theatre, the Ferris Wheel was going too fast, and it seemed like the House of Horror was haunted for real.

Kaiba was struggling to find out what was causing this mayhem so he could stop it and get things back under control. When he saw that there was a dangerous virus affecting the mainframe, he knew that this was something almost beyond his understanding. But I secured the entire network after the last attack. There's no way someone could break in again; not even a computer genius. Then he saw Mokuba holding Rebecca in a protective way. Based on her frightened expression, he knew that his brother's girlfriend wouldn't have the capabilities to unleash a virus of this magnitude. The only person Kaiba knew who could accomplish such a brilliant scheme was himself.

Then Kaiba began to remember something from his childhood. At a party held at his stepfather's estate, Kaiba remembered meeting a child prodigy like himself. He was the son of the president of a foreign company run by the Kaibas' rivals, the Schroeder family. And this young Schroeder dabbled in technology and was a brilliant intellect like Seto. Kaiba wondered, could Zigfried be that same prodigy he met as a kid? He told his associates to run another background check on Zigfried and find out if he had any connection to the Schroeder family.

Finally, Joey was able to summon a good monster. It was Brigadier of Landstar and it was good because his hidden card was Landstar Shot, giving his Brigadier 600 extra attack points, for a total of 1500 attack points. Before Joey's monster could attack, Zigfried revealed his face down card. It was a trap called Wodon's Judgement. Not only would it stop Joey's monster from attacking, but it would allow Zigfried to switch one magic card from his hand for the top card in his deck. After reshuffling his deck, Zigfried could make his move. He plays Pot of Greed to draw two cards from his deck. Next, he plays another magic card called Irda's Guidance, giving him the power of the goddess of knowledge and letting him send one card from his hand to the graveyard in exchange for the trap card in his graveyard.

No one could understand Zigfried's battle methods. It was now the second time that he left himself wide open. But Joey knew how to get past his trap. He sacrificed his Brigadier so he could summon Jinzo. And now that Zigfried's trap was useless, he was wide open to a direct attack.

Now Zigfried was the one getting steamed. "You were much better off when I was ignoring you, but that's over because now you've gotten my attention! Not only will I defeat you, but I'll send you down in flames. It all begins now." The card he draws is the one he used to devastate Weevil and Rex: Ride of the Valkyries. Zigfried plays his magic card and summons four Valkyries all with 1600 attack points. The first was named Zwyte and her special ability allowed her to automatically destroy any one of Joey's monsters and remove it from the game. Three of her were in play, but Joey only had Jinzo on the field. The last Valkyrie was named Irster and she had the power to steal the attack points of any monster that was destroyed. Now her power was equal to Jinzo's.

Joey wouldn't be able to withstand all of their Galloping Gashes. But had he not played a card called Hyper Refresh to double his life points, he would have lost the duel. Now he had 800 life points remaining. To end his turn, Zigfried plays a card face down. Now that his turn was over, so was the effect of his magic card, so his Valkyries had to return to his deck. But everyone had a bad feeling that they hadn't seen the last of those dangerous maidens.

The virus was isolated and the hard drive had now been restored, so Kaiba was ready to initiate the backup system. At the same time, one of his associates came back with some files. "As you requested, Mr. Kaiba, I conducted another in-depth investigation on Mr. Zigfried Lloyd."

"This better be good."

"Our studies show that so far, Zigfried has participated in over fifty tournaments in the last three years, each time ranking in the top five. But our research revealed almost nothing of personal background or family history. Also, there's no record of any connection to the Schroeder family you mentioned earlier."

Kaiba couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So this Zigfried's been winning tournaments around the world and no one knows anything about him?"

"Apparently, he gains entry into these tournaments by receiving letters of recommendation from local politicians."

Kaiba turns around. "Yeah, like who?"

"I've compiled a list of dozens of names, but none were available for comment."

"They just need some incentive." Kaiba asked to take a look at the list his associate conducted. One name in the list stood out to him. "Question that man again and if he still refuses to make a comment, I want you to make him an offer he can't refuse." With that, Kaiba's associate left the main computer and went back to find the man. The brunette turns his attention back to the screen displaying Zigfried's duel. I've got you by the tail, you rat.

Now that the systems were restored and things were starting to get back to normal, Joey could take his turn. He summons Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode. To protect himself from a direct attack, Zigfried activates a trap called Flicker's Mediation. By taking a card from his graveyard and removing it from play, he was able to stop Joey's attack. To end his turn, Joey plays a card face down.

Zigfried plays a rare magic card called Nebulon's Treasure, allowing him to play Nebulon's Ring on Joey's side of the field. Now as long as Joey's Swordsman would be wearing the Ring, it couldn't attack. Zigfried would also be allowed to draw five cards from his deck this turn. But he decided to explain more about the Ring later. For now, Zigfried played three magic cards, calling upon the three Goddesses of Time: Ird, Virdanda, and Scauld. The eldest sister, Scauld, used her Scepter of Revelation to show Zigfried the top three cards in Joey's deck and rearrange them to his choosing. As Joey showed him his cards, Zigfried told him to place the second card on top, the last in the center, and the first on the bottom. Now it was time to invoke Virdanda's power. Her Scepter of Guidance allowed Zigfried to guess which card was on the top of Joey's deck. If he guessed correctly, Joey would be force to play it face down on the field. Not very impressive that Zigfried guessed correctly that Joey's first card was a monster considering he put it on top of his deck. The last sister, Ird, allowed Zigfried to guess the identity of what card Joey had face down and if he guessed correctly, the card would be removed from the game. Sadly for Joey, that card was Panther Warrior. Now another one of his best monsters was removed from play.

Before Joey could take his turn, Zigfried activated the power of Nebulon's Ring. Now Joey would be permitted to draw two cards every turn. Plus, if any of the two cards he draws are monsters, then Joey is forced to send them to the graveyard. One of them was Knight of Dark Dragon and Joey was forced to discard it. This was Zigfried's true strategy all along; to devastate Joey and dismantle his deck. Finally, Joey was able to make his move. He played a magic card called Dangerous Machine Type 6. Whatever number would show up on the Machine would decide the event that would happen. Once again, Zigfried invoked the power of the three Goddesses to see the top three cards from Joey's deck. He had them arranged the same way he did before and this time, the card Joey lost was Goblin Attack Force. To end his turn, Zigfried plays a card face down.

Because both of the cards Joey drew were monsters, he had to give them up. But he could still activate his Dangerous Machine. The number landed on a three, letting Joey draw an extra card. After that, he summons Sasuke Samurai, a small warrior with 500 attack points. Zigfried activates a trap called Lotus Flame, preventing monsters with less than 2000 attack points from attacking. It was a good thing Joey's face down card was Graceful Dice. All he needed was a five or a six so he could attack, but the roll of the die resulted in a three. He couldn't attack, but he could still play a card face down. And now that his turn was over, his Samurai had 500 attack points again. Once again, Zigfried rearranged Joey's three cards in his favor and the monster the blonde lost was Gearfried the Iron Knight. After that, he plays a magic card called Swan Maiden, allowing him to summon one of his Valkyries to the field. It was Irster and she was too strong. But Joey was able to protect his monster by playing his Silver Dollar trap card. It had the power to protect any monster with 1000 attack points or less.

The cards Joey got were both spells and he didn't have to discard them. He activates his Dangerous Machine once again. The number lands on three again and Joey can draw an extra card. It was Roll of Fate and Joey was ready to play it. The die landed on a six and Joey got to draw six cards. One card was Giant Trunade and Joey used it to send all magic and trap cards back to the players' hands. This activated Zigfried's trap Apple of Enlightenment. It can only activate when it's removed from the field and it allows Zigfried to draw a card from his deck. And once his Lotus Flame is removed as well, he can summon Valkyrie Brunhilde. She was stronger than the other Valkyries and had 1800 attack points. She also gained 300 attack and defense points for every warrior or dragon in play. Now she was 600 points stronger.

Now that Nebulon's Ring was gone, Joey could use his Swordsman of Landstar and sacrifice it to summon Maximum Six. Using this monster had a dice roll requirement. Whatever number the die would land on would multiply by two and become an additional power boost for the duration of the turn. The roll of the die resulted in a six and now Maximum Six had 3100 attack points. Joey felt like he was having good luck, so he played Star Blaster. Now he has to sacrifice his Sasuke Samurai and its level added with the resulting roll would determine the level of the monster Joey would be able to summon. The roll resulted in a five and added with two for the Samurai's level, Joey could summon a level seven monster; Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Maximum Six tried to attack Brunhilde with his Lightning Fist, but the Valkyrie gave up 1000 defense points to avoid destruction. But because she was in attack mode, Zigfried still lost 700 life points. Red-Eyes attacked the second Valkyrie, causing Zigfried to lose 600 life points and leaving him with his last 100 points. Joey activates his Dangerous Machine Type 6 again, but can't use it until next turn. So he plays one card face down and ends his turn.

Zigfried equips Brunhilde with the Enchanted Sword Northom, giving her 400 attack points. The legend behind the Sword was that it was used as a weapon to slay dragons, so Red-Eyes was removed from the field and from the game. Brunhilde lost 300 attack points for removing Red-Eyes and now had 2500 attack points. Zigfried plays another magic card called Rainbow Bridge Bythrost. Now Brunhilde would gain 500 attack points for every monster that had been removed from the game. And since Joey lost five monsters, she became 2500 attack points stronger for a total of 5000 points.

Joey decided to give his luck another shot by playing Compensation Mediation. Now Zigfried had to choose two cards from his graveyard and place them on the field with Joey's trap card. If the blonde guesses correctly, then Zigfried is forced to stop his attack. But if he guesses incorrectly, then his opponent can proceed. Joey picked the card in the middle. Sadly, it was the magic card Swan Maiden. Now Brunhilde could carry out her attack and bring Zigfried to victory and send Joey down in flames.

"This can't be," gasped Yugi. "He lost!"

"Herr Joseph, some things in life just never change," Zigfried tells him as he sees him on his knees. "A rose is a rose and a loser is a loser." He turns around and leaves the pit, tossing Joey a rose.

All of Joey's friends approached him. "Big deal," Tristan scoffed. "So you blew the entire tournament on a lousy game of chance."

"I guess you must've just run out of luck," said Duke.

"Nah, Joey wins his duels with talent, not luck," said Téa.

"Oh, so Joey didn't lose because he has no luck. He lost because he has no talent," Tristan said and began laughing.

Joey was sobbing, but his sadness quickly turned to fury. "So that's how you cheer me up? Then it's time for me to spread a little cheer of my own!" And he began chasing his friends around the lava pit. "I tell you, I get no respect at all!"

In the surveillance room where Kaiba was monitoring the duels, the brunette chuckled as he was watching his friends. He was sad that Joey lost, but glad to see his friends going about with their ways. Even Mokuba and Rebecca watched in amusement.

"Joey played a great match," said Rebecca.

Her boyfriend agreed. "And soon, he's going to learn to control that temper of his."

"Probably later," said his brother.

Just then, his associate came back with a new report. "We've conducted our investigation on Mr. Zigfried Lloyd, Mr. Kaiba, and it appears your assumption was correct."

Kaiba takes the report and puts his eyes back on the screen. "Zigfried, your little game's over."