Chapter 20: Wrath of the Witch King (Part 1)

Troy and the others led Misha to a hotel they were all staying at, Misha plunged onto one of the beds and said, "You guys…this is almost too much."

"Then you're going to hit the roof when we give you these." Said Zach as they handed him six locator cards. "Gee thanks guys…but I didn't earn these, I really should consider earning these on my own." Misha said with a bit of guilt in his voice, Brandon W. put his arm on Misha's shoulder, "Hey…just consider this a little gift from your friends, the way I see it either we all go to the finals or not at all."

Misha smiled a bit when he suddenly felt as if part of him had been ripped out, before his eyes he saw an image of Brandon W., he had an insane look on his face…Misha then saw something shimmering on Brandon W's face, it was the Millennium Eye. "HA-HA-HA-HAA, RIP HIM APART!!!" Brandon shrieked.

Misha suddenly snapped back to reality…had he just seen the future, and if so was there anyway to keep it from happening? Troy looked at Misha, "Hey buddy you alright…you look as if you've seen a ghost?" Misha looked at Brandon W., "It was nothing…I'm just tired, that's all." responded Misha.

Zach took a laptop out of his suitcase and said, "Okay…I've found Erich's file on the Battle City web page, now all we have to do is wait for him to find his target."

Brandon W. then asked, "Did Erich go out in that outfit of his again?"

"You mean the scarlet jacket and silver circlet…yeah." replied Troy, Brandon shook his head in disbelief and said, "I tell you that guy is going to get himself sent to the 'nut barn' one of these days."

Meanwhile Erich was searching the streets for Joey Wheeler, he searched for about an hour and a half…until he came to a park, he sat down on a bench and hung his head, "Geez…and I thought looking for friends at the mall was difficult…but looking for this guy is a lot more difficult, I mean it's not like he's just going to appear right before me!"

"Joey wait up." Erich heard a voice call; Erich looked in the direction of the voice…he saw three people, one of them looked familiar. Then he looked down at the picture, then at one of the three of them, then back at the picture, then back at the one…and smiled, "Though I've been looking for him, he just found me…and that was a mistake!" Erich thought as he got off the bench and tailed them from behind.

He suddenly saw Joey look behind him, Erich quickly took cover. "What's wrong Joey?" one of the others asked, "I don't know, I just feel like I'm being followed." Joey replied. Erich peeked from behind the tree and kept on pursuit, about 10 minutes later they were out of the park and in the business area of Battle City when Joey looked behind himself again…this time Erich had grabbed a newspaper and pretended to read it, "Joey…what is it?" the other person asked this time. Joey pointed to Erich and said, "I swear that guy in the scarlet jacket is following us." When the two tried to tell Joey he was just imagining things they continued on, "Won't be long now…Mr. Wheeler." Erich thought to himself.

When they reached the main downtown area Joey looked behind himself again, Erich didn't hide this time…instead he just faintly smiled and watched as Joey and friends started heading towards him. "Hey you…what are you following me around for?" Joey asked, Erich prepared his Duel Disk for battle. Tristen grabbed Joey's shoulder and said, "Come on Joey…you already have your six locator cards, you don't have to prove anything to this guy."

"Are you going to let your friends fight your wars for you Joey Wheeler?" Erich asked with mock sweetness.

"What are you saying?" Joey asked.

"I'm saying this!" Erich shouted, he then started flapping his elbows and clucking like a chicken. "You better not be calling me what I think you're calling me?!" Joey said, starting to get angry. "Then prove it, duel me for one locator card…I already have five, winner gets the right to be in the finals…think about it, if I win I get one of the cards in your deck and the locator card, but if you win you get the rarest card in my deck."

"Okay pal…but you're going to regret taking on Joey Wheeler." Joey said to Erich.

"On the contrary…you're going to regret taking me on." Erich thought to himself.

"Okay…I'll go first, I play two cards face down…and summon Alligator Sword [1500/1200] in attack mode, your move you tiara wearin' creep." said Joey.

Erich drew a card and said, "I play three cards face down and play Amazon Archer [1400/1000] in attack mode, oh but I won't stop there…reveal face down card number one, Ultimate Offering…now for a cost of 500 Life Points we can normal summon more than one creature to the field, and I'm going to give up 500 Life Points to summon Amazoness Blowpiper [800/1500] in defense mode, oh-oh but it gets even better…reveal face down card number two, Graceful Charity…I draw three cards, and discard two, and now for my finish…reveal face down card number three, it's Question, and the question is what monster went to my Graveyard first?"

Joey looked puzzled for a few moments and said, "You didn't I watched you this whole time, and you never sent any monster to your Graveyard."

Erich shook his head, "That's where you're wrong…you see when I played Graceful Charity I discarded two cards, one of them was a monster…and since you don't know what it is, as a result of Question I can put it on the field…say hello to Amazoness Paladin [1700/300] in attack mode, now Amazoness Paladin has a special effect…for every 'Amazoness' or 'Amazon Archer' on the field Amazoness Paladin gets a 100 ATK boost, so she's now at 1900…more than enough to rid the field of that meddlesome Alligator of yours…Amazoness Paladin attack Alligator Sword!"

Joey watched as Amazoness Paladin took up her sword and destroyed Alligator Sword with one swipe. Erich laughed and said, "Oh but that's not all…I'll also have Amazon Archer attack…Amazon Archer, attack his Life Points directly!" The Amazon Archer took an arrow from his quiver, loaded it onto his bow, pulled back and fired.

Joey looked at Erich who seemed to be enjoying himself, "You know there's no shame in surrendering now…just say you give up and give me what is mine." Erich said sounding rather bored. "Keep yapping tiara man!" Joey shouted at him, "Okay that's it, this is not a tiara…it's a circlet, a circlet is more masculine than a tiara would ever be!" Erich snapped back.

Joey drew his next card and said, "Okay circlet kid…a place one card face down, and play Swordsman of Landstar [500/1200] in attack mode. But that's not all…reveal face down card Graceful Dice! Now my Swordsman's ATK power will be multiplied by whatever number the dice lands on, Go Graceful Dice!" Both Joey and Erich watched as the dice clacked across the ground, finally coming to rest on four, "OH YEAH…now my swordsman's ATK strength is at 2000, and I'm going to have him attack your Archer." Erich watched as Swordsman of Landstar destroyed his Archer with one swipe of its sword, Erich looked at his Life Points counter. He was down to 2900, but that was better than being Joey with only 2200 Life Points.

"Not so tough now are you?" Joey asked, a smile on his face.

"Keep talking Wheeler…and you'll find out why they call me 'The Witch King'!" Erich yelled.