Welcome back, anime brawl fans. Today marks the start of round two. Today's competitors hail from the animes Dinosaur King and Yu-Gi-Oh!

Also, something I wanted to get clear with you before we go on: Do you remember my note at the end of R1B3? Well, here's a lit lesson for you. Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase meaning "god from the machine." It refers to those Greek-style plays where the actor playing the god would be lowered/raised onto the stadium via a moving platform, after which he would bend the story to his will. These days, the phrase is rather negative, as it refers to any element that shows up almost unexpectedly simply to move the story forward. In the case of the last chapter, the dues ex machina was the Chaos Emerald found by Shadow. Just wanted to give you something to think about. ;)

I should probably warn you now; from here on, you may see a lot of repitition, having to go through introductions and explanations.

Disclaimer: I could claim to own these guys, but then I'd be sued for copyright violations.

And now, a word from the Master before we start today's fight.

Round 2

The Master's voice rang throughout the Crossroad of Worlds. "All teams have now faced their first opponents. Any sustained injuries will be erased and these next battles will be fought as though none were received. This will hold true for all future battles. As for the past battles, learn what you can from them: be aware of your mistakes, find how you are similar, and learn to use those similarities for the final confrontation. Take heart, warriors, and fight these next battles with bravery."

Battle 1-Power of the Cards

The D-Team and Alpha Gang continued their trek through the forest. Everyone, especially Rex, wondered about their next opponents. They had already met up with the ability to fuse with the cyberworld, so they were more than a little anxious.

"I still can't believe how ordinary humans could damage our dinosaurs, let alone beat them in battle," Rex mused.

"Well, they weren't just humans," Zoe reminded him. "They were human-computer program hybrids." She struggled to get the proper words out.

"Maybe, but that kind of power really got to me," Rex said. "Truth to tell, I've actually made a mental list of a lot of things we could be going up against."

Meanwhile, the Alpha Gang, who were trailing behind, had issues of their own. "Talk about unfair," Ed said. "All these trees an not one piece of fruit anywhere."

"Listen, Ed, we're all a little hungry, but you don't have to make it worse," Ursula said angrily. "If you're that hungry, just look all around you and maybe you'll find something."

"No need," they heard Rex say. They all ran up to the D-Team, who were in front of a banana tree. "Maybe this will help?"

Max was already climbing up trying to get a bunch, but he immediately saw something in the leaves that were even more interesting. "Hey, Max, hurry it up!" he heard Zoe call. He grabbed a bunch of bananas, as well as the things in the braches, and jumped down.

"Took you long enough," Zander said to him.

"Sorry, but I found something you might want to see." Max held up what he found in the branches: move cards! Most of them were moves for fire, water and earth dinosaurs.

"What are these doing here?" Zoe asked. But she wasn't expecting an answer. However, she heard one in the form of Master's voice.

"I was able to use your laboratory's teleportation device to bring these cards here. I realized that the Alpha Gang had so few cards to work with, so I took a few cards of their respective elements. You will also find duplicates of the attacks called Neck Crusher and Tail Smash."

"Wow," Rex said in astonishment, "there is just no limit to this guy's powers, is there?"

"If that were so," Master said sadly, "then I wouldn't have asked you to do this."

"Quick question," Ursula said. "Once we're done here, could we take these cards with us?"

"No," the Master said solemnly. "When you return to your world, these cards shall return from whence they came." Everyone could hear Ursula sighing in frustration.


"I still don't get it," Joey said, mostly to himself.

"There's a surprise," Kaiba said sarcastically.

"Funny, Kaiba," Joey said. "I'm talking about what Master said to us earlier."

"You mean about dueling without taking turns?" Jaden asked.

"Exactly," Joey confirmed. "How are we supposed to pull that off?"

"Perhaps we'll learn best by actually doing it," Yugi suggested. "Sometimes the best teacher can be experience. I assume everyone knows that somehow."

Just then, they heard something. "What's that?" Syrus asked. The noise was coming from the other side of a nearby bush. Everyone quickly found a spot to hide, behind trees, in front of the bush, as they attempted to spy on whoever it was.

One member of the group walking past them was a boy who looked like he had horns on his head. "So, Rex, what's this mental list you have that you were talking about?"

"Well, so far, I've got it down to the possibilities of creatures that don't exist, super-heroes, mystic knights…"

An adult female interrupted the one called Rex. "And what exactly is the possibility of any of those happening?"

"Would you relax, old lady?" said a young girl with sunglasses and a strange creature in a pouch. "Rex is just pointing out some possibilities."

"Will you stop calling me 'old' already?"

A small, fat male came up and said, "Ursula's got a point. What we could be facing next might be the last thing we expect, and possibly something we never would've thought of."

Jaden looked over to Yugi, who was right next to him. "Sounds like we better give them an idea of what's next."

Joey, who was behind the bush, said, "And I've got the perfect way to bring them here."


Both D-Team and Alpha Gang continued walking along the trail. Suddenly, Ursula stopped and shouted, "All right, which one of you called me that?"

Everyone turned to look at her. Max said, "Sounds like she's hearing things."

"No, this has happened too many times before," Zander informed them. "She swears she can easily tell when someone somewhere calls her the 'O' word."

Rex thought out loud, "Well, maybe it was that Chaud guy."

"No way," Ursula said venomously, "I'd be able to tell if it was Chaud and it's not Chaud. But who ever did that," she suddenly ran back from where they came, "they will pay!" Everyone ran after her.

Soon, she turned toward a bush and ran through. She immediately crashed into someone and both were on the ground in pain.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea," said the person in front of her. He was a male with blonde hair. Someone approached him.

"Since when are any of your ideas good, Wheeler?"

"Cool it, Kaiba!" he responded.

"Ursula!" Ursula heard Zander calling her. She turned to see the others coming through the bush.

"Did you have to run off like that?" Max asked her.

"Well," Ursula said as she got up, "at least it led us to the next group." The strangers approached them.

"My name is Yugi Mutou," one of them said.

Max stepped forward and said, "I'm Max Taylor." Everyone then introduced themselves.

Jaden approached Rex and said, "We couldn't help but overhear your conversation. About how you were trying to figure out what you were going up against."

"Was I close with any of those things I listed?" Rex asked.

"Sort of," Jaden answered. He pulled out his deck.

"What's that?" Zoe asked. She moved in closer for a better look.

Chazz scoffed. "Are you saying you've never seen a deck of cards before?" Zoe looked in his direction, angry at Chazz's suggestion that she was an idiot.

Jaden took a few cards out of his deck while Yugi explained. "Our fighting style centers around a trading card game. The creatures you see on these cards seemingly have the ability to come to life."

Rex turned to Ed and said, "Okay, I guess you were right. That was the last thing I expected."

Mai stepped forward and asked, "What do you mean?"

Max explained, "Believe it or not, this is very similar to what we do." Some of the duelists gave him curious looks. At that moment, Chomp ran up between the two groups.

"What is that?" Syrus asked.

"If I didn't know better," Bastion said, "I'd say it was a Triceratops."

"That's actually what it is," Max said with a chuckle.

"What? Yeah, right," Joey said. "How can you be sure?" Max and the others gave him a look. Joey immediately understood. "Oh. Right," he said in humiliation.

"So how is that similar to what we do?" Alexis asked.

"Easy," Ursula answered. She pulled out her Tyrannosaurus card. "Our dinosaurs are able to turn into cards. With them, we can summon them into their battle-ready forms."

"How is this possible?" Bastion asked. "How are you able to do this?"

Zander simply said, "It's a secret."

"Truth to tell, we don't fully trust these guys," Max whispered, so everyone but the Alpha Gang could hear. Kaiba wasn't too pleased to hear this; this was the second group of less-than-perfect people that the Master apparently allowed to come here. But he kept his feelings to himself.

"So, quick question," Ed spoke up. "How do you guys play this game of yours?"

"At this point," Bastion answered, "I believe that all you need to know is how to win."

"Right, and that would be…" Max said questioningly.

"Just knock our life points from 2000 to zero," Jaden explained. "That should be easy enough, right?"

"But how do we know if you guys are playing fair?" Ed asked accusingly.

"I understand your concern," Yugi responded. "Therefore, you have our word as duelists that we will battle honorably."

"In that case, we'd better get started," Rex said. "I mean, these battles aren't going to fight themselves."

"Well said, young one." The Master's voice rang out. "The parings for this battle will be as follows: Max and Syrus, Rex and Yugi, Zoe and Alexis, Zander and Joey, and Ursula and Seto. Battlers, take your positions."

The D-Team members returned their dinosaurs to their card form. The duelists drew their first five cards. Everyone waited for the Master's signal.

"Three…" Dinosaur cards were positioned. "Two…" Duelists prepared to place their cards. "One… start the battle!"

"Dino Slash!" Max shouted. "Go, Triceratops, roar!" Chomp reappeared and started changing in size. Syrus couldn't believe that the baby Triceratops he saw moments before was now changed into a full grown adult. Chomp roared and faced his opponent: Ambulanceroid.

"What the heck is that supposed to be?" Max asked.

"Get used to it," Syrus said. "All of my monsters look like this."

"In that case," Max whispered to himself, "he must have the ugliest things of all time in that deck."

Chomp started the battle by charging forward. Ambulanceroid tried dodging, but they were only near misses. It wouldn't be long before the dinosaur landed a hit. Syrus was desperate for an idea. Seeing nothing in his hand that would help, he decided to draw a card. If I'm supposed to be dueling on the fly, he thought, then this couldn't hurt.

He drew his card and looked at the image. He smiled to himself. "All right, I summon Decoyroid in defense mode!" A tiny car appeared on the field. Suddenly, Chomp stopped his assault on the Ambulanceroid and headed for Decoyroid.

"Chomp, what are you doing?" Max said to him. "That ambulance thing is that way!"

"I hate to tell you this, Max," Syrus said. Max looked in his direction. "But he has no choice." Chomp lowered his horns and impaled Decoyroid. The little car was destroyed on impact.

"What exactly do you mean by 'he had no choice?'" Max asked.

"Decoyroid forces all opponents to attack it," Syrus explained. "As long as it's on the field, you can't attack anyone else."

Max was a little shocked, but relief came to him when he realized something. "Then I guess it's a good thing he's not on the field, right?"

"Actually, when one of my roid monsters is destroyed by an opponent's attack, Ambulance roid allows me to summon it back to the field." True to his word, Decoyroid appeared once again.

"Well," Max said, trying to regain confidence, "I can still do damage."

"Not quite," Syrus responded. "When you destroy a monster in defense position, no actual damage is done."

This is bad, Max thought. "Chomp, don't do anything yet, not until I figure out how to work this out!"

"It won't be that easy," Syrus said. "Ambulanceroid, attack!" The ambulance's wheels started spinning and screeching before it charged at the Triceratops. It collided with Chomp and sent him backwards.

"How am I going to beat this thing if I can't attack the right one?" Max said to himself.


"Dino Slash!" Rex yelled as he ran Ace's card across his holder. "Carnotaurus, blow them away!" Ace appeared briefly before changing; his hind legs grew longer and spikes appeared along his back as well as his head. His eyes flashed in the form of small tornadoes. When it was over, Ace looked over to Yugi, who had just summoned Celtic Guardian.

Ace roared and charged at the warrior. "Celtic Guardian, counterstrike with Celtic Slash!" Celtic raised his sword and swung at Ace. Ace struck back by whipping his tail at Celtic. The sword connected, but did nothing aside from making Ace uncomfortable.

"You're not going to do much against Ace's scaly hide," Rex said.

"All right, then," Yugi said. He drew a card from his deck. "I'm going to play a trap card, and summon a monster in face down position." Two larger cards appeared on the field; one of them was placed on its side.

Oh, man, Rex thought, which one do I attack first? He looked at the cards in front of him. Well, that one next to Celtic Guardian has got to be his new monster, and I don't want to risk touching that trap card. Yeah, I'll go with the sideways one. He opened his Dino Holder and revealed his card pack. One flew out into his hand. "Cyclone!" He swiped the card and watched as whirling winds surrounded Ace. The Carnotaurus ran at the flipped card.

"I now flip summon the monster I set down earlier: Big Shield Gardna!" A hunching figure appeared, holding a large shield in front of him. The shield blocked Ace's attack and he was forced back.

Rex gasped in surprise before saying, "Try again, Ace!"

"Not so fast," Yugi said, startling Rex. "I activate my trap card: Magical Hats!" Four giant top hats with question marks on them appeared, one of which placed itself over Gardna. The hats started shuffling positions so fast, Rex couldn't tell where Gardna was by the end.

"I hate this kind of game," Rex said to himself.

"As you may have already guessed," Yugi said, "Gardna is under only one of these hats. The other three are decoys: spell cards from my deck. I doubt you can find Gardna like this."

"But I can still attack your Celtic Guardian," Rex said half-convincingly. Ace ran at Celtic with the tornado still spinning. Celtic raised his sword in defense and swung. Although he still didn't do much, the sword damaged Ace just enough to reduce the tornadoes' power.


"Dino Slash!" Zoe quickly swiped the card across her holder. "Spring up, Parasaurolo phus!" Paris appeared out of nowhere and began to grow in size. Her hind legs grew longer and her crest extended farther. Her eyes flashed and a swirl of petals seemingly came out of them. She called out and faced her opponent, Alexis' Blade Skater.

"A very beautiful entrance," Alexis said, "and believe me, I know a lot about beauty and grace; my deck is full of it." Blade Skater slid along the forest floor using the blades attached to her feet. Grace and style were not a problem for her. Zoe was mesmerized by her moves until she saw her bring one of her arm blades down on Paris.

"Paris, quick!" Zoe yelled. Paris lowered her crest and blocked the blade's collision. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief.

"How did you like Blade Skater's Accel Slicer attack?" Alexis asked rhetorically.

"Well, if Paris can block it easily," Zoe said, "it obviously needs work."

"Let's see if this makes it better," Alexis said as she pulled a card out of her hand. "I play the spell card Angel Wing and equip it to Blade Skater." Two angel-like wings appeared on Blade's back. "This card increases the amount of damage my opponent takes." Blade flew up and swooped down on Paris, her blades ready to strike.

Paris surprised both Blade and Alexis by blocking the attack once again; this time, it was almost immediate. "How is this possible?"

"It's actually very easy," Zoe said. "When you tried to attack from the sky, you forgot that Paris' crest was already up there, making it much easier to block." Zoe immediately opened her holder and brought out a card. "Stomping Hammer!" Paris knocked Blade off her crest and jumped into the air. Blade crashed on the ground and barely got a chance to look up before Paris landed on top of her. Blade was destroyed upon impact.

Alexis looked at her duel disk; the points had fallen from 2000 to 1600. "Not bad," Alexis said, "but one good thing still comes out of this: when Angel Wing is sent to my graveyard, I get to draw a card." She drew and looked at it. "Now I'll play it facedown." A giant card appeared on the field. Zoe started to worry about what the card might be.


"Alpha Slash!" Zander yelled. "Gush out, Spinosaurus!" A young Spiny appeared and began to transform. His hind legs grew and his sail became larger. His eyes flashed like they were underwater. Spiny growled as Joey looked at what was unfolding before him.

"'Spinosaurus?'" he said. "Okay, that one just sounds made up."

"Think what you want," Zander said. "But Spiny here is the real deal."

"A Spinosaurus named Spiny," Joey said to himself as he looked through his hand. "That's original." He took out a card and placed it on his disk. "Okay, let's fight reptile with reptile: Alligator's Sword!" The humanoid lizard appeared on the field holding up an impressive blade.

Spiny ran up to Alligator's Sword and brought his head to its neck. He bit into it, causing the humanoid reptile to flail. "What is this thing, a vampire?" Joey said. "Fight back!" Alligator raised its sword and brought it down toward Spiny. Spiny just barely jumped out the way, but Alligator kept moving forward and attacking.

"We've got to stop that attack," Zander said, "and I know just the thing that will help." He pulled out his move card. "Shockwave!" Spiny started glowing a bright blue before he was surrounded in waves of swirling water. The vortex was then pushed outward toward the lizard- humanoid. Alligator was forced back by the waves and was unable to continue his attack. But, to Joey's relief, he was still active.

Joey looked in his hand and picked out a card. "Okay, I'll summon the Blue Flame Swordsman in attack mode." A large warrior appeared, wielding a blue sword. "Now things will get interesting, 'cause I'm gonna sacrifice his attack power by half and add it to Alligator's Sword." The sword started glowing and a strange energy flowed out, surrounding Alligator. The reptile roared with new power.

"Now, attack!" Alligator jumped and brought its sword up.

But Zander looked confident as he said, "That new power won't do you much good if you can't use it!" He took out another card and slid it across the scanner. "Futaba Super Cannon!" The ground in front of Spiny started glowing and something could be seen coming out of it: a head attached to a long neck, connected to the ground through a field of energy that resembled water.

"Let me guess," Joey said sarcastically, "Plesiosaurus?"

"Nope," Zander said, "Futabasaurus."

"Futabasaurus!" Joey said surprised. "Okay, that one is definitely fake. I mean, it sounds like something some preschooler made up."

"Once again," Zander said, "it's a real dinosaur, and so is its attack." Futaba opened its mouth and released a stream of water at Alligator. The blast was so powerful, the reptilian warrior was knocked back. When he hit the ground, he was destroyed. Joey lost 300 life points.


"Alpha Slash!" Ursula passed the card over the Alpha Scanner. "Blaze, Tyrannosaurus!" A small dinosaur appeared, surrounded in flames. It grew larger and looked like it had power to match. Terry's eyes flared when he grew to his full size. He roared and stared down at Kaiba.

"Nice," Kaiba said, "but if you were trying to scare me with an entrance like that, then you haven't seen true fear, not like what I'm about to show." He pulled a card out of his hand. "I start this battle by summoning Saggi the Dark Clown." A large, frightening clown appeared with a flourish of movements of his lanky appendages.

"Oh, I'm so scared," Ursula said sarcastically. "If you call that fearsome, I'd hate to see 'cute and cuddly.'"

"We'll see about that," Kaiba said. "Saggi, attack with Dark Light!" Saggi lifted his hands and an energy sphere formed between them. He pushed his hands forward, forcing the sphere toward Terry. The Tyrannosaurus was hit hard; even Ursula could feel the impact.

"Not bad, but let's see how you handle a Volcano Burst!" Ursula swiped the move card across her scanner. Terry began to glow a violent red. Kaiba watched as Terry breathed fire onto Saggi. The clown lifted his arms and braced against the attack.

"I thought I was battling a dinosaur, not a dragon!" Kaiba said angrily.

"Sorry," Ursula said, without a tone of apology in her voice. "Perhaps I should have mentioned that Terry's power is related to fire. Do you feel better, now?"

Kaiba grunted. Now I know the Master is obviously losing it, inviting people like her to this place. She reminds me of Pegasus, playing me for a fool and simply joking about it later. First that Team Rocket bunch, and now this so-called Alpha Gang. I'd like to know what possessed him to do this. Kaiba drew a card from his deck. He looked up and saw that Saggi had survived his ordeal with the Volcano Burst.

"Time to bring in some backup," Kaiba said. "I now summon Lord of Dragons." An imposing figure appeared, wearing what looked like the hide of a dragon. "Then I play my Negative Energy Generator spell card, increasing its attack points threefold." Lord of Dragons started surging with electrical power "Now I'll attack!" The dark figure jumped up and held out his hands, releasing a powerful lightning attack.

"Not so fast," Ursula said. "Time to give my new cards a test run." She pulled out a card and swiped it across her scanner. "Fire Cannon!" Terry opened his mouth and loosed a fireball at the attacking Lord of Dragons. The fireball went through the lightning and successfully hit him. The spellcaster was forced to stop his attack to brush the flames off his body.

Just like Pegasus, Kaiba thought to himself.

Just when I think I have her where I want her, she pulls a new trick up her sleeve.


Ed stood on the sidelines, trying to pay attention to all the battles going on all around him. He found it hard to concentrate on any one battle, let alone all of them.

"So, what do you think so far?" Ed turned to meet Jaden's face.

"I don't know," he said, "I think some of these rules are a little crooked."

"I can understand that," Mai interjected.

"How?" Ed asked her. "I thought you were all from the same world."

"Actually," Mai answered, "five of these guys came from the future. They have cards we've never even heard of before, so even we can't be sure how they work."

"Still, I wish you'd told us the rules first."

Jaden said quietly, "He's got a point. We at least had the decency to tell the last guys how the game worked."

Suddenly, everyone heard Chazz scoff loudly. "I think it's more than the actual rules he wants to know; more like how each individual card works. Listen, fat boy, we've got maybe hundreds of cards. You really expect us to tell you what they all do?"

"Chazz, knock it off," Bastion scolded. "Nevertheless, he is right. You'll have to learn to accept things as they happen." Ed thought about this as he attempted to watch the rest of the battles.


Max stood there watching Ambulanceroid drive circles around Chomp. Max could tell Chomp was feeling frustrated, wanting to attack but unable to do so without hitting the wrong target. If only there was some way to hit them both. Max quickly looked through his cards to see if he could hit both roids. All he could find was his Lightning Spear. Just then, Max got an idea.

"Chomp, get behind Decoyroid!" Chomp charged through Ambulanceroid's circle and positioned himself behind the tiny car. Max took out his card. "Lightning Spear!" Chomp started glowing and a bolt of electricity protruded through his horns. Chomp stuck the bolt through Decoyroid.

"Nice try, Max," Syrus said, "but you won't do any damage this way, and I can still bring it back."

"Not without that 9-1-1 wannabe, you can't," Max said. Syrus gave him a curious look. He looked at Ambulanceroid. It had stopped after Chomp escaped, and was now in the path of the spear. Unfortunately, it didn't see the bolt in time and got struck. Both Decoyroid and Ambulanceroid were destroyed at the same time. Syrus' life points dropped to 1600.

Syrus looked through his hand. "Okay, I now summon Steamroid in attack mode!" An old steam train appeared on the field.

"Now that's really ugly," Max said. Chomp charged at Steamroid. The train immediately got out of the way, but Chomp wasn't ready to quit yet.

If only it wasn't 500 attack points weaker right now, Syrus thought. "I'll put down two trap cards." Two giant cards appeared on the field.

"Time to get serious," Max said. He pulled out another card. "Lightning Strike!" Chomp started glowing again and created a bolt of lightning, this time turning it into a long range attack. The bolt headed straight for Steamroid.

"Now I play my trap card, Life Force!" One of the giant cards flipped face up, revealing something that looked like a heart-shaped candy box. "It costs me four hundred life points, but it will ensure that I don't take damage this time around." Steamroid stopped and let the bolt hit him. The train was destroyed, but just like Syrus said, his life points were left untouched, save the cost of 400 to use the card. Syrus now had 1200 life points.

Syrus drew another card and said, "Now I'll play Expressroid in attack mode." Another train appeared, but this time it was an electric train. "And because I summoned him, two things happen. First, I take two roid monsters from my Graveyard into my hand." He pulled out Steamroid and Ambulanceroid. "Then I activate my trap card, Cyber Summon Blaster." A large tank sporting a satellite array appeared on the field. "For every machine type monster I summon, I can inflict damage." The tank fired a shot out of the satellite and hit Chomp. "And its effects last as long as it's out. So I'll add to it by summoning Steamroid back onto the field." The steam train reappeared as the tank fired another shot.

Chomp was hit and started suffering heavily. Max thought about the situation. Let's see, that blaster thing hits Chomp every time he summons one of those freaky machines. I don't have many move cards left, so I'll have to save them. He looked at Expressroid. It was in a straight line between Chomp and the tank. Yeah, that'll work. "Chomp, hit Expressroid!" Chomp roared and charged the electric train. He impaled it with his horns and threw it toward the tank. Both machines were destroyed by the collision.

"Okay," Syrus said with growing confidence, "now it's time to get serious."


Rex carefully examined the situation. Celtic Guardian had managed to reduce Ace's cyclone's power to barely a draft. Meanwhile, Big Shield Gardna was safely hiding within one out of the four hats in front of him. Maybe if I can attack all the hats at once, I can find Gardna without much difficulty, he thought to himself.

Rex opened his card pack and pulled out one of his moves. "Ninja Attack!" Ace started glowing and ran toward the hats. He stopped in front of them and began running around them. Yugi thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as he saw multiple Carnotauruses.

They must be moving so fast, it looks like I'm seeing a whole bunch of them. Suddenly, all the Aces ran in toward the hats and started tackling them. For a second, it looked as though the multiples themselves were striking all four hats from every direction. Yugi's heart leapt when one of the hats was knocked over. Luckily, Ace hit the wrong hat, but it wouldn't be long before his attack dislodged the right hat from Gardna.

Yugi drew a card from his deck. He almost winced before looking at the image. He looked up; Ace was down to two hats. "I now remove my Magical Hats from the field." The two remaining hats disappeared, revealing Gardna. Ace started running towards the shield. "Now I sacrifice Big Shield Gardna and Celtic Guardian." Both warriors disappeared before Ace hit Gardna.

"What was the point of that?" Rex asked.

Yugi explained. "All monster cards have a certain number of levels that indicate their strength and power. Some monsters, however, have levels that are too high for us to summon directly. They require a certain number of monsters to be tributed depending on their level in order to summon them."

Rex didn't follow exactly what Yugi was saying, but he was sure he got the general idea. "So what are you bringing out?"

"With those sacrifices, I summon the Dark Magician!" The spellcaster appeared in a flash of light. "Dark Magic Attack!" Dark Magician raised his hand toward Ace and blasted him with his magic power. Ace flew backward, spinning on his side, and crashed.

Rex realized that Ace was in big trouble. He tried to think of a way to combat Dark Magician. He looked through his card pack and something caught his eye: it was one of the cards Max found earlier, the move the Alpha Gang called Tail Smash. Rex instinctively grabbed it and slid it across his holder. "Tail Smash!" Ace roared before leaning forward. Suddenly, he started spinning at an incredible rate.

Yugi didn't know what to expect, but he didn't have time to come up with a counter strategy. Ace swung his tail into Dark Magician. The magician flew into a nearby tree, but he didn't have time to rest.

"Go, Ace!" Rex yelled. Ace roared and charged at Dark Magician. He lowered his head and struck him using his horns. Dark Magician was destroyed, leaving Yugi with 1700 life points.

"Well, it's a start," Rex said.

"Maybe," Yugi returned, "but it certainly won't require a finish."


Alexis drew a card and put it on her duel disk. "I summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode." A young female dancer appeared and spun in place before striking a prefect, battle-ready pose.

Amazing, Zoe thought, it looks so human, at least more human than Blade Skater. Still, it's my opponent so… "Let's go, Paris!" Paris started running toward Tutu with her crest lowered.

"Cyber Tutu, jump!" The young ballerina leapt into the air and seemingly flew out of harm's way.

Zoe was frustrated at first, but then she got an idea. "Try again Paris," she said. Paris turned and attempted to charge her again.

"The definition of crazy is trying the same thing again and expecting a different result," Alexis said, as Tutu once again jumped up to safety.

"Quick question," Zoe said. "How do you know it won't end differently?" She pulled out one of her move cards. "Metal Wing!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, three Pteranodons appeared and threw themselves at Tutu. The dancer was struck three times before being forced back to the ground.

"Not bad," Alexis said, "but now I activate my trap card: A Rival Appears!" But as the card flipped up, Alexis started to feel that she made a wrong move. Wait. How do I know if this card will work?

"It will work. Allow me to show you how." Alexis realized that she heard the Master's voice. As she looked at her opponents, she felt an odd sensation. She then realized that the Master had attributed a level to both Paris and the group of Pteranodons; levels she could use to carry out the actions of her trap card.

"So what does that do?" Zoe said, breaking Alexis' thoughts.

Alexis tried to push the recent happenings out of her head as she said, "This card allows me to summon a monster of a power level equal to that of an opponent's. And I select the power of your Pteranodons to summon Etoile Cyber!" Another female figure with the elegance of a dancer appeared. Zoe noticed that there were ribbons surrounding her arms.

"And just so you know, those ribbons aren't just for show," Alexis said, almost as though she had read Zoe's mind. Etoile whipped her arms toward Paris. The ribbons flew out and surrounded the Parasaurolophus, tying her up. Alexis smiled.

"You forgot something," Zoe said cautiously. She pointed up. The three Pteranodons swooped down and sliced the ribbons holding Paris. As Paris tried to shake the ribbons off her, the Pteranodons turned around for another attack. "Cyber Tutu won't last much longer," Zoe said to them. "Attack her." The Pteranodons flew towards Tutu as she braced herself for impact.

Alexis, realizing Zoe was right, drew a card. She looked at the image. She sighed as she said, "It's not Prima Light, but this should work out much better." She turned to Zoe. "I now sacrifice Cyber Tutu to summon Cyber Prima!" Tutu's form vanished just before the flying dinosaurs were upon her. In her place was another dancing female. "And I wouldn't rely too much on that so-called Metal Wing."

"Why's that?" Zoe asked.

"Normally, I tend to summon Cyber Prima through a card called Prima Light. But if I tribute summon her, like I just did, she can use a very special ability. In our world, she can remove spell cards that are in play. And because of this nagging feeling at the back of my head, I think your Pteranodons qualify." Prima jumped just as the Pteranodons were right in front of her. She kicked one of the flying reptiles and sent it crashing into its comrades. They all glowed a bright green and joined together into a small, single shape. The Metal Wing move card materialized and floated down to the ground.


Joey drew his next card. Okay, Joey, get a grip. Let's see if I got everything so far: that Zander guy has Spinosaurus and "Futaba"saurus. The long neck one took out my Alligator's Sword. Meanwhile, my Blue Flame Swordsman has half its attack points, since the rest are with Alligator. Please tell me I can make a comeback. He looked at the card he just drew. It was Graverobber. This could be a long shot, but if I play my cards right, I can play his cards too.

"I set one trap card face down," Joey announced.

"And while you're doing that," Zander said, "I'll take out the guy with the sword. Futaba, attack!" ("This guy has got to think of better names," Joey said to himself.)

Futaba opened its mouth and released a jet of water aimed at Blue Flame Swordsman. As Joey expected, Swordsman didn't last long; he was destroyed almost immediately. Joey's life points dwindled to 1000 life points.

I knew that attack loss would come back to bite me, Joey thought to himself. "Still," he said out loud, "this could work out for the better." Zander looked at Joey curiously. "I knew Blue Flame Swordsman wasn't going to last, but there is a good side to that, 'cause when he's beaten, he has a new monster take his place: the original Flame Swordsman!" A new figure appeared on the field. He looked exactly like Blue Flame Swordsman, but was red in color and a little bigger.

Zander seemed a little shocked at first, but he regained his composure and said, "No matter, I can still take that thing. Futaba!" Futaba immediately opened its mouth to launch its attack.

"I activate my trap card," Joey said. "Graverobber!" A small, impish creature appeared, holding what looked like a giant card. But this card looked familiar to Zander.

"Wait a minute!" Zander yelled as he realized what he was seeing. "That's my Shockwave card!"

Joey smiled. "Graverobber can take any card my opponent used and allow me to use it." A swirling mass of water surrounded Flame Swordsman just as Futaba released its attack. The water stream collided with the vortex. "And that's not even the best part," Joey said. "I figured that this card was used as a defensive tactic. That's why I chose this card. But thanks to the water from that Loch Ness copycat, the vortex should get bigger." True to Joey's word, with each gallon on water coming from Futaba, the vortex around Swordsman grew bigger.

"Now, Flame Swordsman, attack Futabasaurus!" Swordsman ran up to Futaba with the Shockwave still growing. The fire warrior moved closer until the vortex finally collided with Futabasaurus. The power of the water proved too great for the dinosaur to handle, and it immediately disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"All right!" Joey said. "Hit Spiny with Flaming Sword of Battle!" The warrior's sword began to glow a deep red. He brought the sword so that it faced the Spinosaurus before launching a stream of flames. Spiny started to suffer under the attack's immense power.


Kaiba looked through his hand. He pulled out one of his trap cards. "Okay, I'll put this facedown. Make your next move in fear."

Ursula smiled. "We'll see about that." Terry roared and charged toward Saggi. The clown had already suffered heavy damage from the dinosaur's Volcano Burst attack. At this point, Ursula thought, anything could defeat it.

Kaiba also realized that Saggi wouldn't last much longer. But he called into question Terry's power. So far, that dinosaur's made two moves, both of them attacks that she could put a name to, as well as moves she had to use cards for. This one looks like a standard assault. I just pray I'm right. Kaiba watched as Terry closed in on Saggi. The Tyrannosaurus opened its mouth and roared before closing it on top of the dark clown. Saggi convulsed in pain before disappearing from view.

Blast! Kaiba thought. I knew I shouldn't have hesitated. Kaiba looked down at his duel disk; he had lost 800 life points, leaving him with 1200. And that did way more than it should have. But Kaiba's frustration had another focal point; his disdain for Ursula's presence.

"Now, Terry, take out that dinosaur costume party wannabe," Ursula commanded. Terry ran for Lord of Dragons.

"Not this time," Kaiba said with determination. "I activate my Shadow Spell trap card." A field of energy poured out of the flipped card and surrounded Terry. Slowly, Terry found himself unable to move. "Shadow Spell temporarily prevents my opponent from attacking. It may not defeat you, but it might give me time to plan a new strategy."

"Strategy?" Ursula said. "Is that what you call it?" Kaiba grunted. He didn't like how Ursula said that. "Face it, ever since we started, all you've done is attack head on and power up your attacks. I don't call that strategy, I call that power-building."

Kaiba started growling. Suddenly, he yelled, "Don't patronize me! That's all you've done since we started. I'll be honest with you: I don't understand why the Master allowed the likes of you to come here. That Max character mentioned to us that he doesn't fully trust you, and I've known too many people who can't be trusted. Now I'll show you what I think of people like you." Kaiba drew a card from his deck. "And I'll do it by playing this spell card: The Flute of Summoning Dragon!" A strange instrument appeared in front of Lord of Dragons. The spell-caster blew into it, producing a deep tone. "When my Lord of Dragons is on the field, I can use this card to summon two dragon monsters from my deck. And I know just the two." Two flashes of light appeared on the ground. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Two large, silver-white dragons sprung up out of the flashes, flanking Lord of Dragons.

"What?" Ursula said in surprise at the sight of both dragons. "You mean you can have more than one thing?"

"I can have up to three of the same card per deck," Kaiba said. It didn't take Ursula long to figure out what else was in his deck. "Pray the third one doesn't show up, because if it does, things could get ugly for you."

Ursula glanced back at Terry. Terry was just beginning to move again. "Hurry, Terry," she said in a worried voice, "take one of those dragon things down, and quick!" Terry launched itself at one of the Blue-Eyes.

Kaiba chuckled a little. "Nice try. White Lightning!" Both Blue-Eyes opened their mouths and launched bolts of electricity at Terry. The dinosaur froze as the lightning overtook him. Terry was launched backwards by the attacks' combined power. Kaiba smiled.


Syrus drew another card from his deck at set it on the field. "I play Gyroid in attack mode." A small helicopter appeared above the field. "Now I'll have it attack your Triceratops." Gyroid flew towards Chomp, lowering its spinning blades on top of him. The dinosaur's scaly hide resisted as much as it could, but Chomp could still feel the pain.

Max took out one of his move cards. "Electric Charge!" Chomp roared as he started glowing. A bolt of lightning appeared between his horns and formed into a ball. Chomp raised the ball toward Gyroid and surrounded it. An explosion could be heard from inside the lightning. Chomp quickly moved back to avoid the blast. Syrus' life points dropped to 800.

Max smiled to himself. "That's one less thing we'll have to worry about."

But Syrus was also smiling. "Not quite." The smoke cleared and Max was met with an unpleasant surprise: Gyroid was still on the field.

"What?" Max yelled. "But that thing should be spare parts!"

"It would," Syrus said, "if Gyroid didn't have its ability, which prevents it from being destroyed by battle."

Syrus drew his next card. "Time to end this match," he said. "I play the spell card Polymerization!" Max didn't know what to expect, but he could tell it wouldn't end well. He saw Steamroid and Gyroid breaking apart and spiraling, like they were being mixed together "This card allows me to fuse my Steamroid and Gyroid into one, powerful monster: Steam Gyroid!" When the spiraling stopped, both monsters were indeed fused together; Steam Gyroid had the body of Steamroid and the propeller and limbs of Gyroid.

"Now, Steam Gyroid, attack with Train Twister!" The train-helicopter hybrid started spinning its blades, forming a tornado above them. It hovered along the ground at high speed and lowered the tornado onto Chomp. Max looked down at his Dino Holder: Chomp's picture was blinking red.

"We have to finish this up, quick!" Max said to himself.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Syrus said. "Because if you do, Ambulanceroid will bring it back to the field." He set a card on his duel disk and Ambulanceroid reappeared.

There's got to be a way to do enough damage in one move, Max thought. If only I knew how damage works. It's possible that a stronger move will do more damage. Thunder Bazooka's my best card, but how can I ensure that it will take him out? Just then, he started getting an idea. He couldn't explain the logic, but he figured that if he did enough minor damage, he could use Thunder Bazooka to finish off Steam Gyroid and end the battle as well.

"Chomp, hit it!" Max commanded. Chomp roared and ran to Steam Gyroid. He lowered his horns and struck the machine. Steam Gyroid retaliated, but Chomp moved out of the way just in time. Chomp jumped on top of the train where its propeller laid. The blades were crushed by the weight.

All the while, Max kept a close eye on the mutant machine. He still couldn't explain his newfound logic, but he knew when it would be time to use his move card. Until then, he remained patient. Suddenly, something sprang inside him; he knew that Steam Gyroid was weakening.

He opened his card pack and pulled out his card. "Thunder Bazooka!" Chomp glowed and jumped up. His body became surrounded in electricity. The dinosaur started spinning on his side and rammed into Steam Gyroid. The train convulsed from the high voltage before disappearing. Syrus looked at his duel disk. The life point counter dropped down to zero.

Syrus shut off his disk and walked toward Max, who was recalling Chomp back to his younger form. "Congratulations on winning," he said.

"Thanks," Max said. "You're not so bad yourself, really."

"One question," Syrus said. "How did you beat my Steam Gyroid so easily?"

Max thought for a second. "Well, I don't know, really. It just… came to me."


Yugi drew his next card and put it on the field. "I play Feral Imp in attack mode." A strange creature appeared in front of Rex and Ace. Rex thought it looked like something out of an old horror movie. Ace tried charging it, but Imp proved hard to land a hit on.

"Now watch this," Yugi said. "I play the spell card, Horn of the Unicorn, increasing my Imp's attack points by 700." The small horn on Imp's head grew longer. "Magic Lightning Attack!" Feral Imp's horn began to glow with electricity. Suddenly, the electricity Imp was producing became a concentrated lightning bolt.

"Get out of the way, Ace," Rex said. Ace tried to run away from the coming bolt, but it still managed to hit his tail. Ace was in considerable pain, but still okay.

But Rex knew that if Ace was attacked like that one more time, this battle would soon be over. Rex looked through his move cards. Then, he saw something that he thought could turn the battle in his favor. He pulled it out of his holder and activated it. "Tag Team!" There was a flash of light and another dinosaur appeared, one that Yugi thought looked like an Ankylosaurus. "In case you're wondering," Rex said, "this is a Pawpawsaurus. And this dinosaur is the ultimate defense."

"We'll see about that," Yugi said. If I try to hit Pawpawsaurus, I may end up just wasting time. "Feral Imp, attack Carnotaurus!" Imp started charging up its electrical power. But the next thing any of them knew, Pawpawsaurus jumped in front of Ace. Imp unwittingly fired the bolt at the defending dinosaur. Ace took the opportunity and ran from Imp's attack.

"What's happening?" Yugi said. "I said to attack Carnotaurus."

"When I said this dinosaur was the ultimate defense," Rex said, "I wasn't exaggerating. Pawpawsaurus will actually jump in front of its teammates and protect them from anything. And you won't believe how much punishment it can take. The only thing that can probably beat it would be a building falling on top of it."

Yugi, trying to retain his confidence, humorously said, "Then I guess it's a bad thing that I don't have any buildings in this deck." He drew a card from his deck and said, "But I do have something else." Rex looked at him curiously. "Refresh my memory; Pawpawsaurus defends its teammates by moving in front of them, right?"

"Rrright…" Rex said hesitantly.

"But suppose it couldn't move from its current spot?" Yugi said. Rex knew he was taunting him.

"Just get on with it!" Rex said impatiently.

"Very well." Yugi held up the card he just drew. "I play a spell card: The Swords of Revealing Light!" Suddenly, an assortment of swords, made of light, surrounded both Ace and Pawpawsaurus. "This card temporarily immobilizes my opponents, which should allow me just enough time to take out your Carnotaurus."

Rex seemed taken aback. He's right. If Pawpawsaurus can't move, then he can't defend Ace from Yugi's attacks.

"But just to ensure victory," Yugi said, "I sacrifice My Feral Imp to summon the Dark Magician Girl!" Feral Imp disappeared and in his place was a young female dressed like Dark Magician.

Rex looked at her and asked, "So how is she any different from the male version?"

"What you are looking at is the apprentice of the Dark Magician," Yugi answered. "And this apprentice has a deep link with her master. When Dark Magician is in the graveyard, her attack points increase by 300, which now gives me quite an advantage. Dark Magician Girl, attack with Dark Burning!" The tip of the female spellcaster's wand lit up as she pointed it toward Ace. The wand released a wave of magic fire. Ace's body was surrounded by the flames. After the fire lifted, Ace fell from exhaustion.

Yugi was surprised to see Ace's body turn into a bright, blue light, which shrunk before dissolving into a card. Pawpawsaurus also did the same thing. Rex ran into the battlefield to get the cards. Yugi shut off the power to his duel disk before joining Rex.

Rex slid Ace's card across his holder, bringing him in his younger form. "Will Ace be all right?" Yugi said.

"He should be fine," Rex said. "But that was a pretty intense battle. I guess my problem is that I don't take to surprises too well. If I did, maybe I would've found a way out of that sword trap."

"Don't take it too hard," Yugi said. "Remember, we'll all be facing things that seem unusual to us. But it's how we face them that matters in this battle."


Zoe was shocked to see her Pteranodons beaten with a single strike; Cyber Prima's attack didn't even look that powerful. But she remained defiant to the last. "You haven't won until Paris is beaten, Alexis. And so far, I don't see that happening." She clenched tight to her Dino Holder.

"That may be," Alexis said as she drew another card, "but I don't plan on making it easy. I play a spell card: The Warrior Returning Alive! Now I can summon one warrior monster back from the graveyard. And I summon Blade Skater!" There was a flash and the figure of Blade Skater appeared once more.

"No problem," Zoe said confidently. "We beat it before and we can beat it again." Paris lowered her crest.

"Sorry Zoe, but you won't have time to beat her," Alexis said. "There's a special reason I wanted Blade Skater out right now. The card I just drew is Polymerization, a spell card that allows me to fuse two of my monsters together to create a new, more powerful one. And the monsters I pick are Blade Skater and Etoile Cyber." Zoe looked at the two dancing warriors; their forms started dissolving and spiraling together. When it was over, a new warrior took their place. "Zoe, meet Cyber Blader."

Zoe was a little shaken at first, since she didn't know what to expect. But she realized that simply waiting for her opponent to make a move could be a big mistake. "Paris, go get her!" she yelled. Paris called out and ran toward the skater.

"Two can play at that game," Alexis said. "Cyber Blader, Whirlwind Rage!" Cyber Blader ran along the ground and started spinning, creating a large tornado. When the two opponents were close together, they started striking each other with everything they had. Whenever it seemed like one of them had the advantage, the other began to make a comeback.

Paris was finally able to knock Cyber Blader out of her way, and if Zoe was right, it should have finished her off. But a few seconds after she landed, Cyber Blader was able to stand up, even better than when Paris landed her last blow.

"What?" Zoe said in astonishment. "How? She should have been beaten by now."

"She was," Alexis said. She held up her duel disk. The life point counter read 1100.

"Then how come…?"

"Cyber Blader has a very unique ability; whenever there is only one opponent, she can't be destroyed by an attack." She then ordered Cyber Prima to finish off Paris.

Zoe started to panic, but then she thought of something. "Wait, so that effect only happens when there's only one?" Alexis nodded slowly. "Then it's time to level the playing field." She activated her card pack and one of her cards flew out. "Big Foot Assault!" Paris roared before a large sauropod dropped down. One of its feet landed on Prima, destroying her and leaving Alexis with 700. "Now you're vulnerable," Zoe taunted.

"Not quite," Alexis returned, causing a confused look in Zoe. "Cyber Blader, attack!" The skating warrior ran toward Seismosaurus and kicked. To Zoe's surprise, the large dinosaur was easily knocked around by Blader's attacks.

"Perhaps I forgot to mention something," Alexis said. "Since there are two opponents on the field, Cyber Blader does lose her invulnerability, but her attack points have now doubled."

Zoe started to panic and shouted, "Paris, hit her with everything you've got!" Paris lowered her crest and attempted to charge Blader. The skating figure saw Paris out of the corner of her eye. She glided toward the approaching dinosaur. When the two competitors were on top of each other, Paris thrust her head forward while Blader spun into a kick. Both attacks connected.

Both Paris and Blader flew in opposite directions immediately after impact. Paris landed in the forest behind Zoe. Suddenly, the area were Paris landed glowed a bright green. Zoe ran to see if her dinosaur was okay. But as she expected, she found a card with a picture of a Parasau rolo phus. She ran back to the battlefield to tell Alexis.

When she got back, she wasn't surprised to see Seismosaurus gone as well. But what did surprise her was that Cyber Blader was nowhere to be seen either.

"I figured that Paris was down," Alexis explained. "Once the big guy disappeared, I knew that Paris couldn't have been active."

Zoe picked up the Seismosaurus and Pteranodon cards and walked toward Alexis. "Good job on that battle," she said. "You really seemed to know how to make everything work."

Alexis blushed slightly. "I just wish I knew how I knew it."


Despite the fact that Spiny had taken plenty of damage from Flame Swordsman's attack, the dinosaur was still able to stand. Joey stood surprised at Spiny's resilience.

Meanwhile, Zander, relieved that Spiny was still okay, said, "All right, you've had your chance, now it's my turn." He took out one of his move cards. "Tail Smash!" He slid the card against his Alpha Scanner. Spiny started to glow before spinning at high speed. The Spinosaurus held out its tail and brought it to Flame Swordsman.

Swordsman brought up its sword to shield against the attack. Spiny's tail slammed against the sword and almost knocked it out of Swordsman's hands. Joey started to worry; if Spiny did that again, there was little hope that he could win.

He drew a card and looked at the image. A faint glimmer of hope sparked within him. Time to rely an my luck for this. "I now summon a new monster to the field: Battle Warrior." An impressive and powerful figure appeared next to Flame Swordsman. "Next I play the spell card Star Blaster!" A small, impish creature appeared, holding a large die. "First I sacrifice one monster…" Battle Warrior disappeared. "…then this little guy rolls the die." The creature threw the die onto the field. "The number it lands on, added to the number of the tributed monster's level, determines the level of the monster I'm allowed to summon."

Both opponents waited anxiously for the die to stop. To Joey, landing on any number could turn the tide of this battle. Zander, on the other hand, was anxious, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, the die stopped bouncing and landed on…

"Four!" Joey almost yelled. "Yes! That was just the number I needed. Because with Battle Warrior's level three and the number four giving me seven, I can now summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon." A large, black dragon appeared and roared. Zander couldn't help but feel an atmosphere of power about Red-Eyes.

"Time to put that old fossil out of its misery," Joey said with confidence. "Inferno Fire Blast!" Red-Eyes opened its mouth and unleashed a ball of fire headed straight for Spiny. Spiny braced himself as the fireball surrounded him.

Miraculously, Spiny was still standing as the flames faded away. "What?" Joey yelled in surprise. "How'd that happen? That was probably my best attack."

Zander, too, was curious as to how Spiny survived not one but two intense fire attacks. But then, something came to him. "Well," he started casually, "it could be because Spiny's power is based on water, so your fire based attacks might not be as effective as you'd like."

"You've got to be kidding me," Joey said. "Just because your attacks are water, I can't do anything?"

"Oh, I'm sure you did something," Zander said, "but it's just not enough." He turned his attention to Spiny. "Grab that sword!" Spiny ran over to Flame Swordsman and opened his mouth. When his head was next to the sword, he chomped down and removed it from Swords-man's hands. He flung his head and released it, sending it towards Red-Eyes. The blade made contact and left a huge scar where it passed.

"That helps," Zander said. He pulled out his move card. "Neck Crusher!" Spiny glowed and ran towards Red-Eyes. He lowered his head so that it was under the dragon's body. Spiny pushed his head upwards and lifted Red-Eyes into the air. When Red-Eyes came back down, Spiny quickly turned around, letting his tail connect with the dragon's neck.

Red-Eyes must have been severely weakened by the sword, because Spiny's attack managed to knock it a considerable distance away. Red-Eyes landed on top of the defenseless Flame Swordsman. The collision between the two weakened monsters destroyed them both. Worried, Joey looked at his duel disk; his life points dropped to zero.

"Oh, man," Joey said to himself, "that didn't go well." He lifted his head to Zander, who was now recalling Spiny. "Still, good job." He walked toward him as he said, "Not many people can brag that they've beaten my Red-Eyes, especially like that."

Zander put away his card and Alpha Scanner and said, "It wasn't too hard; I just figured what a dragon's one weakness is."

Joey thought about it for a second and said, "What, you mean like a sword? I guess that does beat a dragon any day."

Suddenly, they both heard a roar from not too far away. "Oh boy," Joey said nervously. "I'd know that roar anywhere." He turned to Zander. "Looks like that old lady's in big trouble."


Ursula thought she could hear someone calling her old, but the roaring of both Blue-Eyes White Dragons made it difficult to be sure.

Terry finally recovered from the lightning. He stood up and faced his opponents, but if the battle kept continuing like this, he wasn't going to last much longer.

Feeling confident, Kaiba drew another card. To his luck, it was the third Blue-Eyes. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have any cards that would allow him to summon it. He set it aside for now and watched as Terry tried another useless charge.

Terry opened his mouth, ready to bite one of the dragons. But the other dragon lowered his head and head-butted the Tyrannosaurus away. Terry stood back up, but he was still in pain.

"Ready to give up yet?" Kaiba asked.

"Not by a long shot," Ursula answered determinedly. But she realized that Terry couldn't take out either dragon without the other defending. "Terry, change of plans," she shouted. "Go after the one in the middle." Terry turned toward Lord of Dragons. He roared and charged.

Ursula pulled out her move card. "Tail Smash!" Terry glowed before spinning along the ground. The Tyrannosaurus was moving so fast, the two Blue-Eyes couldn't stop him from reaching the Lord of Dragons. Terry slammed his tail against the costumed spellcaster and destroyed him. Kaiba was left with 700 life points.

Kaiba growled in anger. "Blue-Eyes, attack him with White Lightning!" The dragons released their intense electricity. Terry tried to run away, but he became trapped by the lightning. The electricity caused Terry immense pain before throwing him back to Ursula. Ursula breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Terry get back up on his feet, but she was not as relieved to find her Alpha Scanner blinking red.

But Kaiba wasn't pleased at all. "Fall!" he shouted. "Why won't you fall?"

Ursula smiled unconvincingly and said, "Well, he is the most powerful species of dinosaur, you know."

"SHUT UP!" Kaiba yelled. ("That guy needs to switch to decaf," Ursula said to herself.)

Kaiba pulled another card out of his deck furiously. He looked at the picture. "I'm going to end this nonsense now," he said. "I play the spell card Polymerization." The two Blue-Eyes started to glow. "Remember what I said about not meeting the third Blue-Eyes?" Kaiba asked. Ursula didn't answer. "Well, I've got it right here." He turned over one of his cards to show her the dreaded dragon. "Polymerization is a card that allows me to fuse any number of monsters on the field or in my hand and create a better, stronger monster." The third Blue-Eyes appeared on the field and began glowing as well. All three dragons roared as their bodies came together, fused in a white light. When it was over, Ursula met a truly terrifying sight: a dragon with three heads! "Allow me to introduce you to my best monster: Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" All three heads roared with power.

Ursula stood frozen in fear for a few seconds. When she regained her awareness, she said nervously, "Okay, what I said before about not being scary? I take it all back!"

"As well you should," Kaiba returned. "Go, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Attack with Neutron Blast!" The three-headed dragon roared and opened its mouths. Out of each mouth came a powerful beam. The three blasts fused together into a single attack. Terry tried to run from the beam as quick as he could. The Tyrannosaurus just managed to avoid the full brunt of the attack, but still got hit.

Ursula started to panic. She knew that if Terry was even glanced by the beam once more, this battle could be over very soon. But she was too scared to do anything.

"This is it," Kaiba said triumphantly. "Looks like I win…" He paused. "Old lady."

Ursula felt a sudden pang of anger and surprise. She clenched her fist tight. "That's it," she said almost in a whisper. "You, sir, have just made one big mistake." She pulled a move card out of her Alpha Scanner. "Fire Bomb!" she yelled with a newfound confidence. Terry started to glow before jumping high. His mouth began to glow with fire. As he descended, he pointed his head toward Blue-Eyes and began to spin slowly. The triple-headed dragon looked up in curiosity.

"Time to end this," Kaiba said. "Neutron Blast!" The dragon unleashed its attack onto the falling Tyrannosaurus. As he and the beam were about to collide, Terry felt himself being moved to the side as he passed. "What?" Kaiba yelled in surprise. Terry continued his fall until he hit the body of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The flames passed from his mouth to the dragon. All three heads roared in pain. Then, to both competitors' surprise, the dragon vanished.

Kaiba check his life point counter. He simply whispered, "Zero."

Ursula was still in a stated of shock when she asked, "Does… that… mean I won?"

Kaiba didn't even look at Ursula. "Yeah," he said, "you win." Ursula breathed a sigh of relief. "But I don't see why," he suddenly said. "Someone like you shouldn't have won."

"Someone like me?" Ursula said offended.

"Someone you can't trust," Kaiba explained. "If your own teammates can't trust you completely, then why should I?"

"Oh, and of course we're all just one, big, happy family," said a voice behind him. Kaiba turned to find Joey coming to their battle site. Everyone else, duelists and dinosaur controllers, was behind him.

"What's that supposed to mean, Wheeler?" Kaiba asked indignantly.

"Let's face it," Joey said, "for some of us, we trust you about as far as we can throw you. Heck, I don't know why you're here, if we're all supposed to be buds with everyone else."

Yugi stepped up and approached Kaiba. "Listen, Kaiba, if we can't learn to trust our opponents, our future allies, we won't be able to win against the Atrocity. Perhaps this is just one of many things the Master is trying to teach us in preparation."

"Well reasoned, Yugi," the Master said, "but not my true purpose. Within everyone who is brought to the Crossroad of Worlds, I sense the heart of a true warrior. Although everyone differs in goals, methods, and personalities, they possess qualities that are befitting of a great fighter. If they were a true threat, I would not have allowed them here, even if they were affected by whatever method I used to bring you all here."

Kaiba simply grunted and walked away from Ursula. "Are we going to stand around all day with this sentimental stuff, or are we going now?"

"That guy's got a point," Jaden said. "We gotta get moving." The duelists turned and shook hands with the dinosaur controllers before walking in Kaiba's direction.

But before they left, Yugi turned to Max and his group and said, "May the heart of the cards be with you all."

Once they were out of sight, Jaden turned to Yugi. "Quick question; you didn't say that to the last guys we fought. Any reason for that?"

Yugi simply smiled and said, "I believe you already know the reason, Jaden."

One thing I love about stories, it's those hidden messages you can't define with words alone. Next week, Ash and Co. will face off against the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village.