Having proceeded through the door, I found myself falling into infinite blackness. "I'm surprised that I'm not even remotely scared," I thought. I really didn't care that I wasn't scared. Really, for my purposes, fear was a luxury I couldn't afford.

I don't remember hitting the bottom. It's kind of like when you dream of falling, but wake up on your bed. I eventually lay flat on my back, completely unscathed. The temperature gradually dropped until I was able to see my breath. Slowly, the black turned into tundra.

"You shouldn't fall asleep in this temperature." That wasn't me who spoke.

I looked to my side and saw Yugi standing there, along with Téa who was wearing his coat. "Hey, you're alright!" I said with a smile.

"What happened to you after we split up?" he asked as he helped me up.

"I faced off against a guy named Kemo, who had the same motives as the Big Five. Needless to say, he was outclassed. What have you two been up to?"

"Where do I start?" Téa asked in an exasperated tone. "I was captured by a bunch of monsters who wanted to make me their dinner. I was rescued by a penguin, who led me to a raft that brought me here. I faced off against Crump, a penguin-obsessed accountant. I nearly lost, but I used the Sage's Stone to summon a Dark Magician from Yugi's deck."

"Luckily, I arrived a few turns before she played it," said Yugi.

"Blimey," I said with a sigh. "It sounds as though you had a lot more fun than I did."

"FUN!?" Téa shrieked. "I was nearly a popsicle! What's wrong with you?"

"Various things," I casually replied. "I couldn't say an eighth of my total problems without pausing to take a breath."

"Hey!" interrupted Yugi. "It's another door!"

I turned and frowned. "I'm starting to hate those things." Nevertheless, we walked through it. We found ourselves in a courtroom, with Judgeman (2200/1500) in the judge's seat. He was dueling against Joey, whose Deck Master was Flame Swordsman (1000/1600), though I had no idea why his attack points were so low. "Hey."

He turned around. "Hey, guys!"

The Judgeman angrily pounded a nearby gavel. "Order in the court!"

Joey ignored him. "You're just in time to see me kick Johnson's keister."

"Sit down," ordered Johnson. "Don't make me eject you from the courtroom."

As Yugi, Téa and I took our seats, I assessed the situation. Johnson had a facedown card and Mystical Elf (800/2000) on the field, while Joey only had one set card.

2500/200

"Now," said Johnson, "I summon Curtain of the Dark Ones (600/500), and use my facedown Polymerization to fuse my monsters into Camion Wizard (1300/1100)! Then I play Sinister Justice, letting my fused monsters attack during the turn they're summoned. I attack directly!"

1200/1000

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why did Johnson's lifepoints increase?"

"Sinister Justice increases Johnson's lifepoints by 800 whenever he damages Joey's lifepoints with a fusion monster," explained Yugi.

"I'll set one card facedown and end my turn," declared Johnson. "I'm sealing your doom."

"Great," muttered Joey. "If it wasn't for that spell, I would've won this duel. Now whenever he attacks, he's getting stronger and stronger!"

"I have far worse in store for you, Joseph. I find you guilty of poor dueling."

"We'll see. I summon Panther Warrior (2000/1600) in attack mode, and set one card facedown. That's all for now."

"Panther Warrior is more than a match for Camion Wizard," I thought. "Too bad Joey has to sacrifice a monster whenever he wants to attack with it."

Johnson drew. "I play Leading Question, which adds 800 attack points to fusion monsters while they attack. Now, I destroy your monster!"

"Not so fast! I play Skull Dice, which will reduce Camion Wizard's attack depending on the roll of the die." After a pause as the die slowed to a stop he cheered, "Yeah, it's a six!"

"Maybe you should take a closer look."

"Huh?" Joey leaned forward. "WHAT? It's a one?" It meant Camion Wizard's points were unchanged, and it destroyed Joey's monster.

1100/1800

"You let him turn the duel around!" snapped Téa. "What are you doing, Joey?"

"Shut up," he snarled. "I summon Swordsman of Landstar (500/1200), and play Graceful Dice to increase its attack!" After a pause he shrieked, "ANOTHER one? What did I do to deserve this?"

"Poor Joey," Téa murmured. "I've never seen him have such terrible luck before."

"I know," I agreed. "It seems more than just a string of bad luck. It's really more like a curse."

"I use my Deck Master ability to clear the courtroom!" stated Johnson. "I pay 1000 lifepoints to wipe out your monsters, and inflict 500 lifepoints of damage for each monster!"

600/800

Joey groaned. "I'll set two cards and end my turn."

Johnson drew. "I'll bet you wish you drew this card. I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards, something you need to do soon."

"I plan to do just that. I use my trap card, Gamble!"

I frowned. "It's come down to this?"

"I don't get it," said Téa. "What does that card do?"

"It can only be activated if he holds no cards and his opponent holds six. He flips a coin, and if he calls it correctly, he gets to draw five cards. If he calls it wrong, he has to skip his next turn. Basically, if he gets it wrong, he's as good as dead."

A coin appeared in front of Joey and he flipped it into the air. Then he caught it in his head and slammed it into the rail. "I predict heads," he called.

"Please be right, Joey," I thought.

"ARGH, it's TAILS!"

"Damn."

"Well, I activate my Scapegoat spell, placing four monster tokens on my field."

"In that case," said Johnson, "I play Reinforcement of the Army, adding a level four warrior monster to my hand. Then I play Polymerization to fuse the Armaill and One-Eyed Shield Dragon in my hand to create Dragoness the Wicked Knight (1200/900). I destroy two of your tokens with my monsters!"

"Fine. Now, I-"

"Objection! You lost with Gamble, so you skip your turn. My monsters will wipe out your remaining tokens!"

"Damn," groaned Joey. "I lost with Skull Dice, Graceful Dice, and Gamble." He punched the railing. "I can't believe I had such bad luck!"

"You still have one more turn!" cheered Téa. "You can't give up before the end!"

"But the goddess of luck abandoned me."

I scratched my chin. "I'm not so sure about that."

Yugi leaned over. "You think Johnson's cheating too?"

"Yeah. I noticed several fluxes in his aura when Joey played Skull Dice, Graceful Dice, and Gamble."

"Right. Then let's pull the plug on-" I stopped talking the second Noah appeared in the middle of the courtroom. "NOAH!"

"This duel is null!" declared Noah.

"What?" demanded Johnson. "But I'm only a few moves away from taking this fool's body!"

"You don't deserve that prize! You've been cheating, using my technology to tamper with Joey's dice rolls and coin toss!"

"This isn't the Olympics! Why shouldn't I cheat?"

"Your excuses bore me. I brought the Big Five into my virtual world to help me defeat Seto and his friends. If you cheat, I can't prove I'm more deserving than Seto!"

"More deserving of what?" I wondered.

"Wait a minute, Noah," said Joey. "There's always cheating in gambling, but I don't want to quit in the middle of a battle."

"Are you nuts?" shouted Téa. "Cut and run!"

"No. Now that I know that he was cheating, I know the goddess of luck hasn't deserted me. And that means I can take him down fair and square!"

Noah smirked. "As you wish. I hope you know what you're doing; the stakes remain the same." With that, he vanished.

"That was a foolish thing to do," said Johnson. "I still have the advantage."

"Yeah, but with Noah monitoring the duel, you can't cheat anymore."

"Touché. I end my turn."

"Alright," he said as he drew. "My luck's turning; I play Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards. Next, I move my Deck Master to the field, and equip it with Burning Soul Sword!"

"Not bad, but Burning Soul Sword won't work unless you sacrifice another monster, and you don't have any other monsters on the field."

"I'm not done yet. I play Arduous Risk!"

"It's another gamble card," explained Yugi. "Joey chooses a monster and a spell from his deck. Johnson then has to choose one of the cards. If it's a monster, Joey can summon it to the field, but if it's a spell card, it'll go to the graveyard and Joey's turn is over."

"It's an all-or-nothing gamble with Joey's life on the line," I said. "If it wasn't so serious, I'd say it was pretty exciting."

Joey held the two cards in front of him, facing away from Johnson. "The cards are Goblin Attack Force (2300/0) and Shield & Sword. That means if you choose wrong, I'll be able to power up my Flame Swordsman enough to wipe you out."

Johnson fidgeted, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to cheat his way out. "Um…I'll choose the card in your left hand."

"Are you sure?"

"Ah…"

"Are you really sure?" insisted Joey.

Suddenly, Johnson calmed down. "Yes, I'm sure. It's an old trick, but a good one. You asked the same question twice, so you're trying to make me change my answer."

"…"

"As a lawyer, I spent years convincing people lies were truth, so you have no chance of outwitting me." He banged his gavel. "Case closed. Now, show me your card."

Joey's frown became a grin. "Heh. You guessed-"

"WAIT!" Johnson cried out. "I changed my mind! I choose the one in your right hand!"

Joey frowned. "The other card?" He showed it to Johnson. "That's gotta hurt."

"AGH!"

"You chose Goblin Attack Force, so I can summon it to the field! And I sacrifice it for Burning Soul Sword's effect, powering up my Flame Swordsman by my monster's attack points. Flame Swordsman, wipe out his Dragoness!"

600/0

"How can this be?" cried Johnson as he disappeared. "I once convinced a jury that a hydrophobic man stole a boat! How was I outwitted?"

"Nicely done, Joey," I said as I stood up. "That was an impressive bluff you made there at the end."

"Thanks, but we gotta go find the others."

"I agree," said Yugi. "The other members of the Big Five could be dueling them right now."

"Say WHAT? But Shizuka's never dueled before! We have to find her right now!"

I nodded. "You're right. Every second spent talking is a second wasted." As soon as the door appeared, we bolted through, determined to save Shizuka.

00000000

As we ran through the caverns we were transported to, we heard a scream that we instantly recognized as Shizuka's. "I've got a bad feeling," Yugi murmured.

"No kidding," I snapped. Eventually we saw a light at the end of the cave. Once we emerged, we were on the balcony of a hangar. A duel was going on against the Perfect Machine King, involving Duke and Shizuka.

"SHIZUKA!" Joey and I cried out.

"JOEY!" Shizuka called back.

"It's good that they're here," remarked Perfect Machine King. "They can watch their friends be defeated."

"But where's Tristan?" asked Téa. "Wasn't he with you?"

"Tristan lost," Duke sadly reported. "He sacrificed himself to defend Shizuka from Nesbitt's attack."

I sunk to my knees. "Not Tristan…he was innocent. All he did was support us all."

"They need help!" said Yugi. "Joey, you should take Tristan's place!"

"I won't allow it," growled Nesbitt.

"In that case," said Joey, "you're just going to have to beat him, Shizuka! Trust in the heart of the cards!"

"Right," she responded.

Let me explain the setup. Nesbitt had Clockwork Night on the field which, along with Perfect Machine King's special effect, raised his attack points to 3800. Duke had no cards on his field, Tristan had Command Angel (1400/1600) and a facedown card in play, and Shizuka's had Lady Panther (1400/1300) and Forgiving Maiden (800/2000).

2100/0/150/1100

She was silent for a time as she contemplated her strategy. With her pure glow, I was doubtless that Shizuka would triumph. "I sacrifice Lady Panther to summon Marie the Fallen One (1700/1200)! Then, I activate the Deck Master ability of Goddess with the Third Eye (1200/1000), letting me sacrifice a spell in my hand to fuse my monsters into St. Joan (2800/2000)!"

"It's still too weak," stated Nesbitt. "Huh?"

St. Joan started to glow, and her attack points went up by 500. I studied the field until I came across the answer. "Nesbitt, you may have defeated Tristan, but his Command Angel is still in play, and its effect increases all fairy-type monsters' attack points by 500."

"Even so, it's still not enough!"

"Maybe, but before Tristan went away, he left behind a present," said Duke, pointing to the facedown card. "And that's where I come in. I activate my Strike Ninja's (1700/1200) Deck Master ability, letting me discard two cards from my hand to activate one facedown card!"

Strike Ninja did a few hand motions symbolizing the kanji Rin, Hyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, and Zen. The card flipped up, and was Rare Metal Soul, raising St. Joan's power by 1000 more.

"St. Joan!" shouted Shizuka. "Attack with holy blade!"

I smiled. "It's over, Nesbitt. St. Joan's attack is equal to your Perfect Machine King's, so they're both destroyed. And since Perfect Machine King is also your Deck Master, you lose!"

As Nesbitt vanished he said, "It was a mistake to put my Deck Master on the field. But although I lost, I still got a body!"

"WHAT?" I shrieked. "Return Tristan at once, dammit!" But he was gone. "You will fail, Nesbitt." I jumped down from the balcony and ran towards the exit.

"Siege, wait!" said Yugi. "We gotta stick together, or Noah might separate us again!"

"Then you guys stick together while I save Tristan!" I didn't stick around long enough to hear his response. By some strange coincidence, when I exited the building, I nearly ran into the brothers Kaiba. "Kaiba? Mokuba?"

They turned around, surprised. "Siege?" asked Mokuba.

"No time for pleasantries. Have you seen Tristan anywhere?"

"No, we-"

"Kaiba!" We looked up and saw Tristan standing on a rooftop. But it didn't sound like Tristan. He had an evil look on his face, and carried a wooden sword.

"Hey, Tristan!" Mokuba yelled back. "Do you know where Yugi and the others are?"

"Guys, I'd suggest evasive action at this point," I advised. But it was too late, for he already jumped down with his sword above his head. I grabbed Mokuba by the collar and pulled him away before he was struck by the sword.

"Tristan!" barked Kaiba. "Are you out of your mind!?"

"You have no idea," I growled. "That's not Tristan."

"That's right," said Nesbitt. "I'm just someone looking for a little revenge!" With that, he slashed at Kaiba, who dove out of the way. Kaiba zinged a card at Nesbitt, but it was blocked by the sword. I instinctively reached for my knife, but stopped when I realized Tristan would be unhappy with me if I damaged his body.

"Tristan!" I looked around and saw the gang. "Are you alright?" asked Téa.

"You kids should be on your way," snarled Nesbitt.

"That's not Tristan," Duke realized. "That's just one of the Big Five!"

"You got it." And then he lunged at Kaiba again. Kaiba picked up a pipe to defend himself, but Nesbitt knocked it out of his hands. "Fool! I was a fifth-grade Kendo master!"

Suddenly, a little robot monkey jumped up and latched onto Tristan's – or is it Nesbitt's? – face. Nesbitt pulled the monkey off, but Joey rammed into him, sending him through a warehouse door. "Cautiously," I warned. "It won't matter if we find Tristan's mind if you break his body first!"

"Sorry!" Joey exclaimed. "I didn't mean to hit that hard!"

The good news is that apparently it wasn't too hard. Unfortunately, he was still a threat. He nearly ran us over with a motorcycle. Then he snatched Mokuba.

"Hey, get back here!" I threw my knife at the motorcycle tire, but I came short. "No, I missed!" Then I was nearly run over by a motorcycle again, as Kaiba rode past me to catch up to Nesbitt.

"If he's after the fake Tristan," said Joey, "we should go find the real one."

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off like that. I may have royally messed things up for us."

"Don't beat yourself up," said Téa. "It's not like you could've helped any more if you stuck with the group."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Téa was definitely the kind-hearted support. Then we turned to the sound of some high-pitched squeaks. "It's that robot monkey again."

"I don't trust that thing," muttered Joey.

Regardless, Shizuka leaned down to pet the little critter. "How dangerous could he be?"

"Don't touch that thing!" Duke warned. "It could be some sort of trap."

"He's right," said Joey. "I think we should just take that thing apart."

"Don't you touch him!" demanded Shizuka. "He saved Kaiba, didn't he? Besides, he's adorable!" The monkey then leaped into her arms and hugged her.

I was disturbed – and maybe a little jealous – with how close to her breasts the monkey was. Regardless, I said, "You heard her. If she wants the monkey unharmed, then we're not going to touch the monkey. If you disagree, you'll have to deal with me."

"Thanks, Siege," said Shizuka.

I winked. "Sa right." In my mind, the monkey probably wasn't any real danger anyway. Plus, winning a few points with Shizuka wasn't an unpleasant bonus. I knew I probably didn't stand a chance with her once Tristan returned, but it wouldn't stop me from trying.

End Chapter

Oh no! Can the gang save Tristan? And what'll happen to Mokuba? R&R, please!