A Song from the Divines

by TheSingingSword

The story of a boy named Yuri, who is taken from all that he knows and loves into a world where he must rule as High King and wield the God Cards to bring peace to the continent of Termnnia, torn apart by civil war and a cult of religious fanatics. But his task will not be an easy one, for he is surrounded by foes looking to take away his crown by any means necessary. [AU-Fantasy]

134. The First Semester

Cora

---

Ms. Goldwine urgently knocked on the door to her bedroom located in the fourth floor of Seto Kaiba's personal tower, perched on the top of a cliff with a brilliant view of the sea and the red rooftops of the island resort below used to house the many tourists who came to the island to enjoy the sights and marvel at Dallian Academy, which was deemed one of Termnnia's ten Wonders of the World.

Ms. Goldwine again rapped on the door and her patience grew thin. She swung the door open at once and folded her arms in disgust when she saw the state of Cora's room. Her dirty clothes were strewn all over the floor, so was her academy uniform which she didn't even press to clear it of wrinkles. Her desk was littered with cards and a black bra was hung miserably over the chair.

And there was Cora, face down on her bed, snoring loudly. Her limbs askew in different directions. She wore only a gray tank top and black panties that rolled halfway down in her sleep and revealed the crack of her butt. Her bed sheets in crumpled heaps on her mattress and her pillow was wet with drool.

"Miss Cora!" Ms. Goldwine snapped, tapping her foot impatiently on the polished wooden floor.

Cora did not even stir. Probably wasted from the previous night's festivities. She responded with a loud snore.

"Wake up this instant!" Ms. Goldwine commanded. Nothing. "CORA!" she roared loudly.

That finally got Cora to raise her head wearily and slowly as though it weighed a ton. Cora wiped the saliva from the side of her mouth and looked at Ms. Goldwine.

"Morning." The rebellious girl said upon seeing the Kaiba Corp secretary. Ms. Goldwine scoffed and crossed her arms furiously over her chest. Her snow-white blouse was reflecting the sunlight from the window beside Cora's bed brightly it almost blinded Cora's sleepy eyes. "What?" Cora asked again.

"You missed your first class that's what? Is this how you repay Mr. Kaiba for all he's done for you young lady? By partying all through the eve on a school night? Look at the state of this place. I left it tidy for you and you demolish it within a day. And look at your uniform it's all crumpled on the floor!"

"Sorry," Cora shrugged using her arms for support to keep her up.

"You'll be truly sorry when Seto finds out you slept through your first class. Now get out of bed and take a shower to clean all the negativity off your body. On the double!"

Cora narrowed her eyes and got out of bed in frustration. She stripped out of her nightwear before Ms. Goldwine who stood paralyzed with shock at the girl's lack of decency. Cora then marched into the bathroom slamming the door shut causing a few things to fall off her shelf.

"Oh that girl!" scoffed Ms. Goldwine, her blonde hair naturally tied into a boring bun and her black-rimmed glasses dropped down the bridge of her nose in her fury and she slid them back up with her finger. She picked up the clothes Cora left on the floor. She heard the toilet flush and then the pipes in the walls rumbled as Cora turned on the shower.

"What's the agenda today, Ms. Goldwine?" Cora called from the bathroom.

"Well, seeing as how you missed your Alchemy class, you have an economics class next."

"Economics? I thought this was a school for Dueling!"

"Yes, but you now belong to a family who is in charge of a trillion gold corporation. Not only must you excel in Duel Monsters but in business as well. You will have responsibilities at Kaiba Corp as well."

"He wants me to take charge of the business?"

"No, that responsibility has been given to Master Mokuba." Ms. Goldwine leaned against the bathroom door. "Do you require any assistance in there, Miss Cora?"

"I can clean myself thank you!" Cora snapped. "You creep me out sometimes Ms. Goldwine."

"Well, let me worry, it's just that this must all seem so sudden to you."

"I have adjusted rather well Ms. Goldwine. You don't have to worry about me."

"Well, do hurry yourself. You're going to be late. Lucky for you I have a spare uniform already cleaned and pressed for you. Do you have clean underwear?"

"You bought me enough to stock the entire school, woman!"

"What about socks?"

"A butt load in my drawer."

"Watch your mouth when speaking to me. I will not tolerate that!"

"Whatever," Cora groaned. "Man, the sooner I Duel the better. I'm itching for an opponent to play against. I can almost hear my Blue-Eyes roaring with a thirst for battle."

"You sound more and more like him by the day," said Ms. Goldwine. "I guess he would be proud." She still clung to Cora's tank top and gave it a long sniff.

---

When Cora was dressed into her uniform she and Ms. Goldwine took the Academy Metro rail to a school of aqua monsters taught by one Mako Tsunami. His class was located in an underwater town underneath the school. There were students everywhere enjoying the view the glass dome provided them. A pod of humpback whales swam by alongside the various sea serpents that guarded the seas around Duel Island.

They crossed a long metal bridge over a bay towards a white citadel decorated with glowing coral. There was a quaint tune coming from the speakers that helped relax Cora's nerves (The Sea Shrine Yu-Gi-Oh: Forbidden Memories).

There was a neon green light in the form of tropical trees on aquatic gardens with tables so the students could enjoy a meal or a cup of coffee next to the infinite blue outside.

"Oh, I don't see why you have me wearing a bow," Cora said, trying to remove the pink silk bow Ms. Goldwine put in her hair.

"Oh, come now Ms. Cora you're making such a fuss, as usual." Ms. Goldwine fixed it. "You look cute."

"I not supposed to look cute. I'm a Kaiba!"

"You still have much to prove if you wish to have that name, Cora. You may have the mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon in your deck but that doesn't make you a Kaiba. If you displease him in any way, you could lose everything."

"Then I'll work doubly hard to prove to him I am worthy of being a Kaiba."

"You don't have to do this, Miss Cora. I have a place of my own in Domino City. You could live with me. I can take good care of you."

"You're really starting to creep me out," Cora said scooting back awkwardly from Ms. Goldwine. "And I appreciate the offer but how in the hell are you going to pay for all this. Dallian Academy is not exactly a cheap school."

"I will find a way, but I understand if you wish to keep this up. That's what I admire about you Cora, you never back down from any challenge. Kaiba forced you to Duel all night, but you still kept playing and playing until it pleased him. I know a few 'promising' Duelists who gave up after their second Duel. You pushed on for more than seventy games."

"I aim to be the best. And I will be the best. I'd love to stay and chat, Ms. Goldwine, but I have class."

"Very well," said Ms. Goldwine. "I will pick you up after class and take you to lunch. Have a good day, dear."

"Yes." Cora muttered before marching onto the bridge and breaking into a run. She is getting really close to me. Goddesses, this is so weird.

Cora burst through the coral doors of the citadel in time to see her professor, an olive-skinned Eldori, approach the podium atop a platform of glass that gave a view of the coral reef below and schools of beautiful tropical fish swimming by.

Professor Mako Tsunami wore armored blue robes trimmed with platinum. He had spiked black hair with a dark blue hue and a blue headband. Cora found a seat all to herself in the back and sat down.

"Psst," someone said beside her. She turned to look and saw Ethan.

"You again?"

Yeah, change your mind about that date."

"Not now, Ethan. I'm not in the mood."

"All right, all right," he said. "Just let me know when you want me."

She stuck up her middle finger and ignored him for the rest of the class. When it ended, Ms. Goldwine had entered the room and bowed, wagging her finger as a gesture to tell Cora to come.

"We're going to have to put a rain check on that Duel of yours. I was nice meeting you, Ethan." Cora gathered her things and go up to meet with Ms. Goldwine.

"What's up?" Cora asked.

Ms. Goldwine gave a click with her tongue. "There's been a situation, and Kaiba needs you above ground pronto."

---

A student was pinned to the wall outside a walkway overlooking the glistening blue sea. It was such a tranquil setting hearing the waves crashing against the rocks below and the seagulls singing above, but it was hard to enjoy paradise. The student was being harassed by an angry Duelist who challenged him to Duel. The Duelist was an Eldori with spiked blond hair and he wore a purple shirt with torn sleeves and a gold spider design and black slacks and boots. He stood over the student while balling his fists and flexing his muscles. He was what the students called a Gold Digger, greedy players who traveled to Duel Island and hope to win or steal all the rare cards on the island.

"I thought you said we were playing by Battle City rules," the defeated Duelist whimpered looking up at him.

"We were, now give me your two rarest cards now!"

"But the Battle City rules say I must give you my one rarest card. And you can't play like this against me. It's against the rules for tourists to Duel students!"

"Well I make my own rules, kid. Now give me your two rarest cards or else!"

A loud whistle disrupted the dispute. It was Mokuba Kaiba dressed in academy Duel armor with a black cloth-of-gold cape. "Dueling Foul!" he shouted. "Tourists are not allowed to Duel with students!"

"Oh yeah!" shouted the tourist. "And just who are you, kid?"

"I'm the interum Commissioner of Games here in Dallian Academy. It is my job to settle Dueling disputes and you have broken enough rules to get yourself booted off the island."

"And what happens if I don't?"

"Then you deal with me." Seto Kaiba approached the punk clutching his metal briecase. Cora and Ms. Goldwine followed him.

"Se-Seto Kaiba?"

Mokuba grinned proudly. "Hey, bro. Hey Cora."

Kaiba stopped and looked at the tourist with his cold gaze. "When you disrespect my brother you disrespect my family and the academy. And I have zero tolerance for punks who defile this island for their own gain. This is a school of royalty, not a treasure trove you can raid from."

"What's your problem!?" shouted the tourist.

Kaiba smirked. He set down his metal briefcase on the ground and opened it. "It's time someone put you in your place."

The punk got on his knees and gawked at the collection of cards inside glowing like gold in a treasure chest. "Whoa, whoa, amazing! What's up with all these rare cards?"

"I challenge you to a Duel here and now. On the condition that you use these rare cards to boost the power of your pathetic deck."

The punk laughed with greed examining the cards in his hands. "You sure about this?" Kaiba waited for the punk to get his deck ready. He slapped his cards into a standard-issue Battle City Duel Disk and sneered. "With all these rare cards and my skill, there's no way you'll win. Watch out Kaiba!"

"You're not going to be facing me you fool!" Kaiba snarled with joy. "You will face against my daughter."

The punk's expression went to confusion then, in no time at all, he burst out laughing as Cora took her place in front of Seto activating Kaiba's new Duel Disk model and placed a scanner over her eyes.

"What in the hell? Is that the new Duel Disk?"

"Yes it," Kaiba said pretentiously. "And it will be all yours if you can beat her."

"Seriously? Are you sure about this? It can be mine if I win?"

"Think you're up for the challenge?" Cora asked.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Kaiba. Your little girl is going to get the spanking she deserves."

"All I need is one card and you are done for," Cora said coldly.

The Duel progressed and Cora summoned her monster. "I summon the Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon!"

"No! Nooooo!"

Shocked students had gathered over the walkway and pointed and whispered with awe and confusion. Alexis Rhodes and her friends watched the Duel and could not believe the girl below was using the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a beast thought to be wielded only by Seto Kaiba. The punk was on the ground babbling in horror at Cora's monster and the frightening realism of the phantom her Duel Disk created.

"I didn't know monsters could be that p-p-powerful."

"You have ten minutes to get your ass out of the island before security escorts you out," Kaiba threatened the punk, scared out of his mind. "Nice Dueling, Cora. We'll make a Kaiba out of you yet."

---

Yuri

---

Once his classes were over, Yuri was ready for a well-deserved lunch. Yugi was the only one traveling with him to lunch for his friends were on the other side of the island having a combat lesson with Joey Wheeler. The two boys entered a burger restaurant to have their meal before heading for their next class which was the Study of the Termnnian Bestiary with Ser Tristan Taylor as their teacher. Yuri smirked, wondering if it was probably a little weird being taught by one of his closest friends.

They found a table to sit in on the second floor of the restaurant they chose to eat. The smell of fries on the grill and burgers sizzling in the flames made their bellies ache with hunger. "Hey, Yugi," Yuri said once his little friend found a seat. "I heeded your advice and did some trading. I got some new cards today."

"Show me, show me," Yugi said eagerly.

Yuri took the cards from a special case tied around his leg and showed it to Yugi.

"Wow, Uraby Alpha, Giant Rex, Black Ankylo, Jurassic Heart and Black Giganoto."

"Aren't they cool?" said Yuri.

"Yeah, as if that deck of yours wasn't strong enough, now you've got those. Here," he opened a gold box with wdjat molded on it. "Take this, it'll come in handy."

"What's this?" Yuri asked, taking the card.

"It will boost up your Black Tyranno," said Yugi. "Promise me you'll use it right away."

"Sure, I can't wait."

"Anything to eat my dears?" asked a waitress.

"I'll have a hamburger," said Yugi. "How about you Yuri?"

"I'll have one too," said Yuri.

"Anything to drink?" the waitress asked.

"Two sodas will be great," said Yugi.

The waitress bowed and went back downstairs to see their orders to the cook. Meanwhile, Yugi began to spread his cards all over their table.

"What are you doing?" Yuri asked.

"Just getting ready to fix my deck," said Yugi. "I have a field exam in the coming months. And around here, it's best to always have your deck ready. People come after me because of my status as the number one Duelist in the world. I get challenged a lot. The same goes for you. You are going to be the High King of Termmnia. There's a lot of assholes around here who'll be after you. Many of them are from stuck-up noble families so I'd advise you to be careful."

"Thanks for the tip," said Yuri. "I'll be sure to remember that."

"Ah, Yuri," Bastion said, climbing up the stairs to join them. "I thought I'd find you here. Well, well, Yugi, too. This is a surprise."

"How's school been treating you?" Yuri asked as Bastion sat down.

"Rather well, on the contrary," said Bastion. "We had a pop quiz in my geometry class today. Passed it with flying colors."

"Aw, man," Yugi squealed. "Geometry is the worst."

"Not the mathematician I see," said Bastion.

"No, I don't like mathematics too much. And yes, I know, Duel Monsters has math in it."

"It's okay, Yugi," said Yuri. "I don't like math either."

"Are you gonna share those fries or what?" Ricky asked, poking out of Yuri's backpack.

"But I prefer math over this guy," Yuri muttered.

"Oh," said Bastion. "Isn't that the rabbit who attacked the girls in the shower the other day."

"I am not a rabbit, poindexter! I am a Fingolin. And I didn't attack them. They just saw me and ran."

"In any case," said Yugi, holding a fry in his fingers. "You've been nothing but trouble. All the girls are mad at Yuri now."

"Yeah," said Yuri. "Didn't you say you were good luck? So far all you've been is a nuisance."

"Come off it," said Ricky. "Once the Duels start, you'll be thanking me."

"Vile creature," said Bastion. He sat down and joined them discussing their classwork and exchanging notes for Dragonology with Seto Kaiba. Their food was carried up and they each paid the waitress with a gold star chip. Before the friends could exit the cafeteria, they were stopped by a group of Eldori boys from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon dorm. The boys laughed as they ran down the hall to stop them.

"Which one of you is Yuri Wallcroft?"

"Me," Yuri answered.

"Chazz wants to Duel ya, upstairs on the fifth floor."

"Sure, I guess I could."

"Ho, ho you'll regret that."

"If I'm going to regret it so much, then why did you go through all the trouble to come down here and ask me?"

"Hey, don't be a smart ass, now follow us."

"We're coming too," said Bastion.

"You, dorks stay here."

"Then I'm not going," said Yuri.

"Fine, they can come. I'm sure it'll please Chazz to know he'll humiliate you in front of your posse here."

---

Yuri and the others followed the boys up to the fifth-floor arena where Chazz waited. The arena was large enough to hold seventy thousand spectators.

"Whoa, this place is massive," said Yuri.

"Actually," said Chazz, from up in the arena. "This is the smallest arena in the school." He snickered and jumped off. "Well, well, well. So, this is the legendary Prince Yuri Wallcroft. You don't look so tough." Chazz's gang laughed at his rude remark. He took a moment to bask in their admiration. "Hope you got your deck ready because now you're going to lose."

"Dream on," said Yugi. "Hey, Yuri. This will be a good time as any to test out that new card I gave you."

"Yeah, you're right. And who better to test it on than, this jerk? You ready to Duel, Chazz was it?"

"Chazz, you're going to Duel him already?" Alexis said walking into the arena.

"Hey there Alexis," Chazz said, lowering his voice to sound mature and sexy. "You come to watch me trample this chump?"

"Actually, no. You can't Duel Yuri right now." She looked at Yuri. "Hey kid, don't you have the Study of Termnnian Beasts in thirty minutes."

"This won't take long," said Yuri. "I can take him."

"No, but the road downstairs to the forest is a long trek," said Princess Evelyn, coming into the stadium. Ezra, Dancer, Antone and even Kevin Garat was by her side.

"Kevin!" Yuri cried. "Is that you?"

"Yuri, my friend," said Ser Kevin. "It's good to see you."

"Oh," Yuri said, realizing who Evelyn was. "That must mean you're..."

"That's right, asshole," Ethan said, also approaching the stadium. "She's the girl you stood up a few months ago."

"Excuse me!" said Yuri.

"You better watch your tongue, you insolent peasant!" said Bastion. "This is Prince Yuri: Heir to the Diamond Throne."

"I know who he is!" said Ethan. "He's the one who refused our princess and brought our country into turmoil."

"Look," began Yuri. "I..."

"Save it!" said Ethan. "You think you're so hot huh? Look at you! I guy like you should be honored; grateful, even, that a princess wants to marry you."

"Looks don't make one a ruler," said Yuri.

"Neither do they make one a Duelist," sneered Chazz. "If I'm not mistaken, this is the moron who lost his princess the Emerald Marches."

"He is," said Alexis. "You'll have to excuse his behavior. He's still peeved it had to take a real Duelist to stop the Kingdom of Naralia."

"So I heard," said Yuri. "I'm no king, yet, but if there's anything I can do to help your country let me know, Evelyn."

"That's all right," Evelyn said with a loving chuckle. "I do hope we can still be friends."

"Yes," Yuri agreed. "I'd like that very much."

"You want to be friends with him?" sneered Ethan.

"That's enough, Ethan!" said Dancer. "Prince Yuri, it is an honor. But I believe you have someplace to go."

"Yeah, it was a pleasure meeting you, well most of you, anyway."

Ethan hissed like an angry cobra.

"Oh, before I go," said Yuri. "I hope there are no hard feelings between us, princess."

"Oh, none at all," said Evelyn. "I understand your decision, and I respect it."

"Great, perhaps we can all Duel sometime."

"Looking forward to it," said Ezra. "Now, run along. Professor Taylor is waiting."

"Don't think this is over, Yuri," said Chazz. "We'll have our Duel."

"You can count on it."

---

Yuri walked down a stone path surrounded by a Bamboo forest that surrounded the stone stairs. He then entered a stone amphitheater where Professor Tristan Taylor and all of the other students waited.

"So," Ricky asked coming out of Yuri's backpack. "When are ya going to start Dueling?"

"I can't answer that," Yuri said entering his class. Professor Tristan Taylor awaited him.

"Whoa, you are just in time," Tristan said. The bell suddenly rang. "Any later and you guy would be tardy, go stand over there."

Evelyn and her friends were sitting in the row in front of them, leaving Yuri flabbergasted and wondering how they got down before he did. The princess blushed as she waved hello.

Yuri shrugged his shoulders in confusion. "How?"

"The Academy Metro, My Lord," Evelyn giggled. "You should try it sometime."

"Why so late?" Ethan whispered.

Yuri ignored him and set his things on the ground before sitting down. "You're not going to give me trouble today are you?"

"He won't," said Dancer. "I'll make sure he doesn't."

"Hello everybody I'm Professor Tristan Taylor, your teacher in the world of Beasts. What we do here, is teach you all how to defend yourselves from the wild monsters of Termnnia, even tame them. Today I'm going to select a few volunteers to help demonstrate, who would like to go up?"

Yuri shrugged and stood up. Michael, also in the class, did so, too.

"Yuri, I knew you'd step up. Wait there while I get the subject from the Zoo. None of you run off now, I wouldn't like to clean up your carcasses."

The students suddenly froze.

A haunting roar echoed in the forest. Tristan walked up with a creature with snowy white fur and jet black stripes called The All-Seeing White Tiger. "Here he is guys, isn't he the most majestic thing you've ever seen?"

"Oh my gosh," said Yuri. Was Tristan expecting him to tame a mythical tiger?

"Now Yuri, our brave volunteer, will try and pet the All-Seeing White Tiger. You are going to do what many couldn't do in forever. If, however, you lose a limb that'll signify that we've still got a lot of work to do."

Ethan snickered.

"Now first The All-Seeing White Tiger is a very proud and royal monster. They all have their own hundred-acre kingdoms around the jungles of Termnnia and can have up to thirteen wives. These tigers care very much for each of their children. They will select one cub to take the place of the alpha-male when he grows old and dies. Needless to say, these guys demand a lot of respect. Okay, Yuri, take three careful steps to the tiger and take a bow."

Yuri reluctantly stepped forward. His heart was pounding in his chest. Yuri walked politely to the tiger and bowed. "Now what?" Yuri whispered.

"Wait hang on," whispered Tristan.

The tiger walked until it was but a few feet from Yuri. It stared at him and also bowed. The students were impressed. Evelyn clasped her hands and squealed with joy. Ezra clapped and Dancer chuckled at the wonderful sight.

"Good job Yuri," Antone said quietly. He was clapping his hands.

The tiger then stood up and raised its head.

"Now, Yuri."

Yuri slowly raised himself up and walked carefully to the tiger and began to pet his head.

"Way to go Yuri. Let's give a round of applause for Yuri guys."

The tiger began to growl. Yuri looked behind him and saw Ethan stomping angrily towards the tiger.

"You're not scary, you're nothing but a tabby cat."

The All-Seeing White Tiger roared so loud leaves began to blow on the ground and from the trees. Ethan ran away screeching like a girl and hid behind Phoenix. Phoenix pushed him off. She began to laugh when she saw a dark spot on Ethan's slacks.

"YOU STUPID CAT! YOU MADE ME PISS MY PANTS!"

All the students began to laugh as Ethan walked away. Yuri too felt some drops of urine drip down his leg when the tiger roared. Thankfully, it wasn't noticeable like Ethan's mess.

It was now Micheal's turn to tame a creature. His monster was a Mother Grizzly; a sixteen-foot tall, three ton, blue-furred grizzly bear. The wind blew through the forest. Phoenix covered her face with her hands, Yuri's heart was beating, and Ethan, now in clean trousers, had his fingers crossed hoping Mother Grizzly would maul him.

"Hold the fish up right there; hold it still; don't hold it up to high or she'll think you think of her as a common dog, may I add pull your hand away she grabs hold of the fish or she'll be getting your hand too."

Michael gulped. His devil lock was getting in his eyes, he wanted to brush it away but he couldn't move. Mother Grizzly walked closer and closer to Michael grunting and fiercely sniffing the air. The poor prince could feel the ground shake when she walked. Michael felt like he was shrinking as Mother Grizzly walked closer and closer to him. She lowered her head to sniff the fish in Michael's hand.

"Stay and keep the fish like that," whispered Tristan.

Mother Grizzly continued to sniff the fish than she started to lick it. Michael could feel her warm pink tongue come in contact with her fingers, her hot fishy breath burst into his face.

"Come on attack him," breathed Ethan.

Mother Grizzly grabbed the fish and Michael quickly let go as soon as he felt her fang tickle his finger. He watched as the giant bear chewed on the fish. When she swallowed it she stared at Michael for a minute. She opened her mouth and licked his face.

The students applauded. "Good job Michael. Next Phoenix will tame a Garvas."

Phoenix's heart sank as she gasped luckily the clock tower rang one o'clock. She sighed with relief. "Saved by the bell," she groaned.

"Okay guys, there is a packet on the desk outside the entrance," said Tristan. "That's your homework. It's due Friday when we meet again. And Mr. Morris, no more outbursts like that or you'll find yourself mauled. Or worse, detention."

Ethan glared at Tristan and walked off. Yuri walked up the trail slowly thinking about his ordeal with the tiger. It was a wonderful experience, despite the sudden roar that made him wet himself a bit. Yuri suddenly noticed he fell far behind his friends.

---

"Where to next?" Yuri asked the next afternoon. They had just gone out of algebra.

"We all are going to A Study of Termnnian History," said Phoenix.

"Thank the Stars," said Jon. "That was one hard combat lesson. I feel so sleepy."

"I take it you were in Professor Wheeler's classroom," said Phoenix.

"Yes. He was very strict. He made us do drills on our first day with him. His combat prowess is amazing, but give us a moment."

"He's still a pretty fun teacher," said Michael.

They traveled by train to the fifteenth floor where their class was. After wandering another maze of student-filled hallways they found the location of their class. There was a beautiful archway leading outside. Yuri could hear birds chirping outside and the chilly September wind caressed his face. His friends suddenly stopped dead in their tracks.

"What is it?" Yuri asked as he walked into the class, which was a balcony overlooking the pine forest below and the Green Mountains far off in the distance. But the view as not what made everyone stop in their tracks. Yuri saw the most beautiful Eldori woman he had ever seen. Powerful purple eyes that told Yuri the woman was a 'Don't mess with me' type of person. She had rose-red lips, and long blond hair, and like Serenity, she was one of the women who took care of Yuri as a baby. Her name was Mai Valentine.

"Wow, the ten-time regional champion," said Phoenix. "I had no idea she was teaching."

Mai was dressed in a white tank top under a navy blue denim jacket and denim jeans tucked into black high heeled boots and her Dueling deck was strapped around her leg. She was writing on a chalkboard, a textbook, in hand, displaying today's lesson.

"Oh, sweet Ana," said Ryon praising the god of beauty and erotic desire.

"What a woman," Ricky said peering out of Yuri's backpack.

"Will you all get a hold of yourselves?" said Phoenix. "And, Yuri, keep that thing in check will you?" She referred to Ricky. "I needn't remind you of the trouble he caused yesterday."

"I'll try," said Yuri. "But if he does make a ruckus, it's back to the forest so the weasels can have a go at him."

"Hey, guys," Mai said waving hello. "Just sit wherever and hang tight until the others get here."

Yuri walked towards some polished, brass-trimmed desks. He saw Yugi, Jack, Jaden, Bastion, Chumley, and Syrus looking like they were in a trance. Zane was pretending to look at something else. Chazz was peering nervously from behind his textbook.

"Would you guys get a grip?" groaned Alexis, sitting in the back row with two Eldori girls named Jasmine and Mindy, her two best friends.

"Honestly," said Phoenix, sitting between Alexis and Yuri.

"Settle down back there, Mai said copying the lesson from a book and writing it down on the chalkboard. "Open your books to page ten and let us begin. We've got a lot of ground to cover and so little time."

---

As the days passed, Dallian Academy began to prepare for the sports season. The football games, basketball, and track meets.

One Thursday morning Yuri sat in Crowler's class constantly looking at the clock over Crowler's desk and the watch around his wrist. Crowler began to explain more of the rules.

"When wanting to put a monster in attack mode the position of the card has to be vertical and the card has to be face up. If the monster is attacked by a monster with more attack points than yours it gets destroyed and you lose damage equal to the number subtracted by the two monster's attack points, if the two monsters have the same attack points they both get destroyed and neither player loses Life Points. Now, defense position monsters must be laid down horizontally and is always be played face down. If your defense position monster is attacked by a monster with more attack points than the defense points of your monster, your monster gets destroyed but you lose no damage, unless the monster has a trample ability, which means they can inflict damage even though your monster is in defense mode, but more on that later, if your monster's defense is higher than the attack of the opponents monster your opponent takes damage equal to the value subtracted by the opponent's monster's attack and your monster's defense. Now we will discuss Traps and Spells. There are different kinds of them; counter traps; permanent―"

Crowler frowned when he spotted Syrus with his head down. Yuri shook Syrus to wake him up, but to no avail.

"Syrus!" snapped Crowler.

Syrus bolted upright and stood up.

"S-s-sir?" he squeaked.

Crowler made a sinister grin. Yuri got it before, and it meant trouble. "Perhaps you can explain to the class what a Field spell card is."

"Uh, it's the thing-that effects the thing-that causes the thing and-"

"Apparently not, Mister Truesdale, sit down."

Syrus hung his head and sank into his seat. Yuri sighed and shook his head. "Syrus no offense but how dunce do you have to be to not know what a Field Spell is?" Crowler shook his head with a twisted smile on his face that made Yuri mad.

"Oh can someone answer the question? And preferably someone who didn't go to Slifer Red in grade school."

The students in the higher ranking dorms began to laugh at Syrus. Yuri was fed up. "Crowler you better stop making fun of us." Crowler turned to look at Yuri. "Remember I'm a noob and I beat you."

"He's right," said Jaden. "And let me remind you not to make fun of Slifers. I was a Slifer, too, and I defeated you. So if you make fun of us you're really making fun of yourself."

Crowler made a twisted face with strange facial expressions and began to chew on a pink handkerchief. The Souths and other lower-ranked students began to laugh at Crowler.

Yuri and Jaden gave a high five.

---

After school Crowler was angrily writing a fake love letter in his office. It was a plan that could lead to Yuri's expulsion.

How dare that Yuri and that Jaden make a mockery of me in front of my class like that? I'll deal with Yuri first and then I'll get started with that slacker Jaden.

Crowler picked up lipstick and perfume that he stole from Alexis' room. He put the lipstick on his lips and kissed the seal on the envelope then he sprayed it with Alexis' perfume.

"After this, Yuri will longer cause trouble here in my school."

Crowler laughed maniacally. Yami stepped into the room and Crowler stopped laughing at once.

"What's so funny?" Yami asked.

"Oh, um, a joke one of my students told me today."

"Are you wearing lipstick?" Yami asked while raising an eyebrow.

"No, I ate a grape Popsicle."

"I see," said Yami. "Well, I need you downstairs to help set up the Glass Pyramid for the opera tonight."

"I'll arrange things, with no problem."

"See that you do," said Yami walking away. "Freak," he muttered shutting the door.

---

The next day Crowler snuck around in the boy's locker room in the gymnasium. He was searching for Yuri's locker. He found an open one with his boots and clothes. Crowler set the letter on Yuri's boots and scurried away like a rat.

Suddenly Syrus ran into the locker room. "Damn girl's locker room, they need a bigger sign." He walked to his locker. "Yuri's boots? He's still using my locker? How lazy can you get?" Syrus picked up the note. "What's this?" he asked. The sweet aroma on the envelope smacked into Syrus's nostrils. "Whoa, it's from a girl." Syrus looked left and right to make sure no one was around. He opened the envelope eagerly and took out the letter.

I have admired you since I first saw you and may I add you're irresistible. I love the way you Duel. I love the way your eyes burn like a fire hot from a Dragon's mouth. The way your muscles tense when your draw your cards, the way your opponent shakes when he faces you. He shakes the way I do when I see you pass by the hallway. I pace around my room all night wondering what to say to you I'm afraid my only option was to send you this love letter. I 'm just too scared to talk to you in front of everyone so I want to meet you in the garden of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon girls dorm tonight at ten o'clock. Please I beg of you to come. See you there you hunk of a Duelist.

Yours Truly

Aleksis Roads

"Alexis RHODES!" Syrus cried falling backward.

"Can this be true? Does Alexis Rhodes really want to see me? Tonight? Oh boy, this is the best day of my life."

Syrus gulped and hid the letter in his pocket. He changed into his gym uniform and ran outside for gym class.

---

Later that night Syrus cleaned himself up and got ready. Pajamas weren't a good attire to wear but he knew Alexis wouldn't mind. He snuck past the others while they were playing video games in the lounge and traveled outside.

He tiptoed past the pool in the atrium where Phoenix, Jaeyoung, Michael, and other South students were swimming. As he casually made his way down the halls he saw Crowler, pacing around impatiently in the halls constantly looking at his platinum pocket watch.

"I wonder who he's waiting for," Syrus said softy. Syrus got a boat and rowed to the North Dorm dormitories. The North Dorm students lived in palaces on their own island only a mile away from the school. Crowler drove a yellow mini-sub to the girl's dorm. When he got there he jumped from bush to bush in a black jump suite looking like a black streak as he moved. He heard a group of girls coming and quickly hid in a bush.

"Hey Alexis," said Jasmine. "Wanna go wade in the hot springs?"

"I guess," she answered. "There was so much stress today. I feel like washing it away."

"Me too," said Mindy. "That damn Professor Kaiba gave the class a project on the anatomy of a dragon that's due next week."

Crowler couldn't help but giggle. When the girls left, he burst out laughing. "My plan keeps getting better and better not only will I expel Yuri as a trespasser I'll expel him as a Peeping Tom. This is so exciting."

Meanwhile, Syrus rowed into a pebbly beach and ran up the hill into the girl's palace of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Dorm, quite possibly the most forbidden place in all of Termnnia. He crawled on all fours avoiding the light from the ballroom where the girls sat in their pajamas getting ready to retire for the night. They had talks about grades, the most annoying teacher in school, their favorite monsters and Yuri's supposed engagement to Alexandra von Klause.

"Soon they'll talk about me," Syrus whispered. "Me and Alexis going out will be the talk of the school."

Crowler followed Alexis and her friends to the hot springs. He constantly looked at his pocket watch waiting for Yuri to come but Yuri was in his bed dozing off to a book he was reading. He put it on his night table and fell asleep.

"Yuri should be here anytime soon."

Alexis and her friends walked out of a dressing room wrapped in towels.

"Did you hear about that girl in our House?" Mindy asked as they walked through the woods. "The one with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?"

"That's so odd," said Jasmine. "I thought only Kaiba had those."

"Not anymore," Alexis said unimpressed. "It's been the talk of the school all day and I'm getting tired of it."

"Really?" Jasmine asked. "I think you're worried that she'll take your title away as Queen of the Academy."

"Girls, I could care less."

Crowler followed them and hid under a bush that was but an inch from the light of the pool. He watched as the girls walked into the hot spring where other Blue-Eyes White Dragon girls waded. The springs were under a rotunda with bright ceiling lamps. The rotunda was held up by four white columns and were surrounded by a moat. Crowler crawled from the bush and hid behind a rock to keep himself hidden from sight.

He turned his head to look around. He spotted Alexis taking off her towel in the middle of the spring.

His teeth chattered as her back was exposed. She reared her head up and gave an erotic sigh as her body got used to the steaming hot water. Crowler lost himself as he marveled at the Eldori girl's beauty. This was Alexis like he never saw her before. From time to time Crowler had seen her in a bikini when swimming at the beach with her friends, but not like this. She was standing before him with no clothes on at all. She looked like a Nymph from the Askar Forests bathing in the night. The water droplets on her face made her sparkle and as she sank into the water she gave a smile that would shame the Mona Lisa.

"Such an elegant frame she has..." Crowler said in awe. "ARGH! No! No! No! She's a student! She's a student. Oh, What's taking him? I got to get away from this spot. Maybe if I move—AHA!"

Crowler spotted a bush he could hide in. He slowly got on his knees and began to crawl to the bush. Suddenly from out of the moat emerged a massive serpent called Yormungarde, a copy of Kairyu-Shin except it had a spring green color on the top and its underbelly was light green.

It roared at Crowler who screamed and scurried away into another bush and just in time before Yormungarde could snatch him up and eat him well…actually it wouldn't do that. Yormungarde was meant to guard the girls and if it caught any mischievous boy fool enough to try and peek at them as they bathed it would carry them to the Dorm Supervisor who would then take them to Yami.

"What happened?" Mindy asked as she Alexis and Jasmine and the other girls peered over the wall at Yormungarde who stood over the water snarling at the land around it.

"Must have been another boy trying to look at us naked," said Jasmine.

"That's the tenth one this month. Don't they ever learn?" said Mindy. Their very bizarre guardian roared.

"Scared him off didn't you?" Alexis asked Yormungarde as it swam towards her and her friends.

"Good girl," Alexis said as if talking to a dog who obeyed its master. She petted Yormungarde's smooth and slippery head. Yormungarde growled and dove back under the moat. But that was not the end of the chaos, for now, enters Syrus from the darkness happy as an angel.

"I'm coming, Alexis." Syrus said as he walked out of the bushes.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE NOT YURI!" Crowler screamed. He screamed so loud he woke and startled all the girls in the palace. They all came running out and spotted Crowler and Syrus.

"A BOY!"

"AAH! A PEPPING TOM!"

"QUICK! CALL THE HEADMASTER! A BOY! A BOY!"

Crowler tried his best to calm the girls down. "Wait ladies I'm not a boy I'm a man! You don't know me." Crowler covered his face as he slunk away; he never noticed a ledge until he fell from it falling down into the ocean below. "CURSES!" he yelled as he dropped down into the water. Crowler got away but poor Syrus was not so lucky. The girls pounced on him like lionesses to a wildebeest.

"Wait, no, this is a big misunderstanding!" he cried. Syrus looked up and saw all the girls of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Dorm with their arms folded, staring angrily at him. Yormungarde snarling at him as she loomed from behind them.

"Eeep." went Syrus.

---

The girls tied his wrists and took him into the palace's foyer which had a beautiful view of the ocean and the academy glimmering in the distance. There they tied him up and blindfolded him, as most of the girls walked about in their underwear at night. He was watched by four girls as they waited for Alexis and her friends to get changed. The blindfold that they placed over his eyes was too pathetic to stay tight over his large head and they let him off so long as he didn't stare at anyone awkwardly.

Syrus was impressed by the beauty of the palace. He could see a marvelous painting of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in a fierce but beautiful fury as it released its Burst Stream of Destruction in the sky. The painting was hanging over a sitting area with a fireplace and a flat-screen television. There was a rectangular pond stretching over a hundred yards long with water fountains reaching high up into the ceiling which stood twelve meters tall.

Syrus spotted a statue of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon made of marble with sapphire eyes standing on a cherry pedestal which was positioned just a few feet from the door as if guarding the young ladies of its dorm. The blindfold was finally released. He saw Evelyn reading a book in front of the fire in a white tank top and pink pajama pants. Ezra was practicing her flame magic, turning the candles of a candelabra on the table off and on.

Kami and Wisteria, also part of Alexis's group stormed out of a lounge first. Jasmine and Mindy walked out of their rooms dressed in tank tops and pajama pants while Alexis was dressed in a pink nightie and she had a bow in her hair. Despite how cute they looked in their nightwear, their angry faces made them look like judges in the Termnnian Inquisition.

"Okay, Syrus, you've got some serious explaining to do," said Alexis.

Syrus was too afraid to speak. The girls waited for him to finally start talking.

"Syrus if you don't talk maybe the headmaster can make you talk," threatened Mindy

"But, Alexis, you invited me here!" Syrus finally squeaked.

"I did no such thing."

"Yes, you did." Syrus insisted. "I've got your letter here."

Syrus tried to reach into his pocket but couldn't get in so Mindy got it for him. Mindy handed the note to Alexis. Syrus watched as Alexis' eyes moved left and right. His heart sank terribly when she made a mad frown.

"Syrus my name is spelled with an X. The idiot who handed you this spelled it with K-S-I-S and, and another thing I don't use words like these. I have straight A's in English Literature; this love letter is just plain cheesy. It's beneath my skill."

"And check this out," said Wisteria. "The letter is addressed to Prince Yuri."

"Yuri?" gasped Syrus.

Alexis flipped the letter backward and showed Syrus.

"So you don't love me?"

"Not to be rude, but hell no."

"Aw man, my life sucks. I can't even get a fake love letter."

"Oh, it's okay Syrus.," Alexis said with a comforting smile.

Syrus felt safe when he saw it. Perhaps he was off the hook. Then Jasmine frowned. "I don't buy this story one bit," she said glaring at Syrus. "What if he made this as an excuse to come here?"

Alexis's trusting smile suddenly faded. She rubbed her chin. "That is a possibility." The galaxy-cut aquamarine on her ring flashed as it moved left and right on her finger.

"But you've gotta believe me!" Syrus protested.

"What's going on down there?" someone called from the second floor.

Alexis gasped. "Uh-oh, it's Helga, the Dorm Supervisor."

"Hide him!" whispered Kami.

They all sat on him and made cheerful innocent smiles as they waited for their fat Eldori Dorm Supervisor Helga to walk to the balcony. She was a portly lady with a pointed nose and a mole over the left half of her upper lip. She was in a pink robe and had her black hair tied into a bun.

"Vell girls I'm vaiting." Helga said staring down at the girls.

"Oh we're playing a game I guess we got too loud," Alexis said cheerfully.

Helga smiled. "Vell quiet down now. Lights out at eleven,"

"Yes ma'am."The girls said like little angels. When Helga walked back into her room Alexis and her friends got off of Syrus who looked like he was suffocating.

"That was either the best or worst moment of my life," he croaked.

"So what do we do now?" asked Mindy.

"I know what we can do now girls," Alexis said folding her arms. "We can use this as an opportunity to see the great Prince Yuri in a Duel and see if that win in the Duel Dome against Crowler was nothing but pure luck."

"Uh, you sure you wanna do that?" Jasmine asked nervously. "Haven't you heard? He has all three Divine Beasts in his deck. And that Black Tyranno of his is legendary."

"Please, I'll wipe him out before he can even play one. And his Black Tyranno shouldn't be too hard to beat."

"I hope you know what you're getting into princess," said Alexandra Von Klaus. Syrus gulped, for she wore black, lacy lingerie. She had a towel hung over her shoulders and her hair was damp. Alexandra could clearly see there was a man present but the princess from Dragon's Nest didn't seem to care despite her attire.

Goddesses above! Syrus screeched in his head. The back of her panties are see-through!

"Oh, princess," said Ezra in the lounge with a fire spell burning in her hands. "Enjoy your bath?"

"Careful before you light the whole dorm on fire, Bryce," Alexandra warned the mage. "Alexis, if you really are going to Duel Yuri, do use extreme caution. Black Tyranno isn't the only beast lurking in his deck."

"Don't worry about me, Von Kaluse," said Alexis. "Off to bed with you, you look as though you need your beauty sleep."

"Indeed," said Alexandra. "Good night, Syrus."

"G-g-good night." Syrus gulped watching Alexandra climb up the stairs to her room.

Alexis snapped her fingers. "Let's get this Duel underway. Mindy your PDA please."

---

Ryon shook Yuri awake. Yuri stirred and opened his eyes. Ryon was standing above him in a crimson bathrobe with an angry look on his face.

"Your PDA has been going on for five minutes," Ryon whispered.

"Huh," went Yuri.

"Can you please answer it!" Michael snapped from behind the door to Yuri's room. "And turn the volume down so it can't wake everyone up next time."

"Mail muther f' ker!" said his PDA.

Yuri opened it up to see what he got. There was a dark cybernetic voice talking to him. "We have your friend Syrus. Come down to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon girl's dorm to pick him up and bring your Duel Disk. Win this Duel to get him back."

There was a pause.

"Sounds like Syrus went to the girl's dorm," said Marcel.

"Syrus, you son of a bitch," Yuri said sleepily. "I'm gonna kill you. He sneaks off and gets caught, now they wake ME up to go get him WHY me!"

"Sounds like whoever has him wants to Duel you real bad." Jaeyoung said with a yawn. "Otherwise Syrus would be on the next boat out of here."

"I'm coming with you," said Ryon.

"Me too," said Yugi.

"That'll take a while though," said Yuri. "And I doubt the ferries are going to send us to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon dorm in the middle of the night, especially the girl's dorm."

"I know," said Yugi. He ran out of the boy's tower to the balcony in the South lounge. Down below there was a beach and in the distance, the North Dorm palaces glowed in the night.

"Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast!" he cried. Yugi summoned a monster with two lion heads One had ram's horns, their tail was a snake and they had giant white wings. The three friends got on the monster's back and flew to the island.

"I didn't know you were a Summoner!" Ryon said over the howling wind.

"Yeah, it's no big deal," Yugi said bashfully. "Well, I'm gifted. Yami taught me a thing or two about summoning. Look there he is." Yugi spotted Syrus being held captive on the docks down below. Chimera landed by them sending dust into the air. Once the got off Yugi summoned it back and he followed his friends as they walked to Syrus.

"Nice pajamas," Alexis said with a cheeky smile.

"Thank you, yours are nice too," said Ryon.

"What's going on?" Yuri asked holding his hand out in front of Yugi's face. Syrus squeaked when he saw his friends give him stern faces. They weren't happy to see him.

"We caught your friend Syrus snooping around outside our dorm." said Alexis.

"Damn," said Ryon.

"Is that true Syrus?" Yuri asked. Syrus nodded.

"Well girls, I promise this won't happen again," Yuri said scratching the back of his head.

"Hold it right there buck-a-roo," Alexis said with an evil grin. "You guys have just stepped into Blue-Eyes White Dragon turf, the girl's dorm nonetheless."

"So what?" said Ryon.

"That's against the rules," said Mindy. "You guys are to be expelled."

"That's not right," Ryon said. "You girls called us here."

"Whoa, no need to get angry," Alexis said with a smile. "We're not going to turn you in...yet. We decided to settle this in a Duel. If Yuri wins, you stay in the school and our lips are sealed. If I win we turn you in to Chancellor Sheppard, first thing tomorrow morning."

"As unfair as that sounds I guess I have to accept," said Yuri.

"Good boy," said Alexis. "Get on your boat and meet us by those rocks." Yuri nodded then led Syrus and Ryon to the rowboat. Ryon rowed by the rocks and the friends patiently waited for Alexis and her friends to come.

Crowler suddenly burst out of the water. "Oh dear that was close," he panted and spat water out. He spotted Yuri and his friends waiting by the rock. "What is going on?" he asked.

Five minutes later they heard the engine of a motorboat coming straight towards them. Just to be cool and intimidating Kami circled the motorboat around the boys three times and came to a stop about a yard in front of them. Crowler was shaken by the waves and he struggled to remain afloat.

"I hope you remember our terms?" asked Wisteria.

"Alexis kicks your ass and all three of you go packing," said Mindy.

Yuri rolled his eyes. "I heard, now, are you little cherubs going to hold your end of the bargain and let us go if I win?"

"If you win," said Alexis, jumping to the bow of the boat. She placed a glass-like lens over her eye and activated a new Duel Disk system from Kaiba Corp. (The Dark Side of Dimensions model). The lens projected holographic circles, the energy in her Mana Crystals, and various data graphs over her eye.

Crowler swam a good distance from the battlefield. "They're going to have a Duel," he breathed. "Alexis is one of the school's top students. Yuri doesn't stand a chance. Teach him a lesson, Alexis."

"Ladies first," Yuri said bowing.

"Aren't you sweet." Alexis said as she drew her card. Her smile made Yuri quiver. He knew she had a good hand. "I summon Etoile Cyber." Alexis summoned a beautiful female warrior in a red leotard. She had blue skin and long flowing brown hair and red boots.

Etoile Cyber

ATK/ 1200 DEF/ 1600

"Next I'll lay a card face down and end my turn."

Yuri drew his card without saying anything. "I'll summon Sabersaurus."

Sabersaurus

ATK/ 1900 DEF/ 500

Yuri's monster was an eight-foot-tall red triceratops-like monster with a blade growing out of its tail. On its head and shoulders were small two-meter crescent-shaped spike. Its eyes were glowing bright green.

"Sabersaurus attack!" commanded Yuri. Sabersaurus reared and charged at Etoile Cyber. Its green slimy tongue hung out as it ran spewing drool.

"Not so fast Yuri, I activate Double Passe. This will force your monster to cease its attack on my Etoile Cyber and force a direct attack on me."

Etoile Cyber jumped out of the way of Sabersaurus and watched helplessly as it rammed on Alexis sending her tumbling her hard on the windshield and knocking the wind out of her. She rubbed her stomach and slowly got up. "That's not all," she said gasping for air. "It forces my Etoile Cyber to make a direct attack on you."

Etoile Cyber jumped and raised her leg in mid-air. "And when my Etoile Cyber attacks Life Points her attack increases by five hundred."

"OH CRA ―" began Yuri. WHAM! Etoile Cyber kicked Yuri so hard in the stomach that Yugi could see the shock waves rippling out into the sea. Drool began to ooze out of Yuri's mouth as he fell backward on the boat with a thud. He coughed heavily and got up.

"Yes!" Crowler said pumping his fist.

"Are you all right?" Ryon asked.

Yuri only nodded and massaged his belly as he got up.

Yuri-2300 LP

Alexis-2100 LP

"My turn," said Alexis fiercely drawing her card from her Duel disk. "I summon Blade Skater."

Blade Skater

ATK/ 1400 DEF/ 1500

"Next I'll use Polymerization to fuse Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater together to create Cyber Blader!"

Yuri watched as the two female warriors combined to form a seven-foot-tall cybernetic woman with long blue hair, purple and red skin and two spikes coming out of her shoulders. Her attack was 2100 and her defense was 800.

"Cyber Blader, attack Yuri's Sabersaurus." Cyber Blader began to spin. She spun faster and faster until she created a small water spout that slowly snaked towards Sabersaurus. Yuri only watched as it sucked the dinosaur inside. There was a roar of agony, and then the water spout turned red.

Cyber Blader stopped spinning and held her arms out. Small pieces of Sabersaurus fell into the water.

"Excellent work Alexis," Crowler whispered. "You've almost got him."

Yuri's Life Points went to 2100. The score was tied.

"Yuri, come on!" cried Ryon. "I don't wanna get expelled by these obnoxious girls."

"I won't lose," said Yuri. "How bad can this Cyber Blader be? My turn. Nice. I use polymerization to fuse Crawling Dragon Number two and Two-Headed King Rex to make Bracchio-Raidus." Yuri summoned a thirty-foot tall baggy blue brontosaur monster with 2200 attack points. "This will get rid of Cyber Blader: ATTACK!"

Bracchio-Raidus fired a green fluorescent laser from its mouth. Cyber Blader held out her hand and blocked the attack with a cybernetic force field. There was a strong wind that blew hard on the trees and made small waves. Crowler tried his best to stay afloat.

"What the hell?" shouted Ryon, slamming his fist on the edge of the boat.

"Cyber Blader should be blown to smithereens!" said Syrus.

Alexis chuckled. "Someone hasn't been doing their homework."

"Oh-man," Ryon said slumping into his seat. "I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Yuri asked impatiently yelling over the attack of his monster who was trying its best to destroy the Cyber Blader's force field.

"Cyber Blader's abilities!" shouted Ryon. "They change depending on how many monsters are out on the field! Right now you have one monster, and as long as you have one monster out, you can't destroy her."

"Now he tells me!" Yuri shouted as Bracchio-Raidus ceased its attack. The water stood still and the trees stopped blowing. Cyber Blader put her hand down and smirked. She turned and smacked her hip taunting Yuri and the others. "Great, Einstein, thanks to you I just wasted my Battle Phase!"

"Fuck you dude!" said Ryon. "It's not my fault you jumped right into it. Don't you have a spell card or something!"

"Unfortunately I don't."

"So what the hell does it matter?" said Ryon.

"Well I'm impressed your highness," said Alexis. "I'm very surprised one of you idiots pays attention in class. Now if you don't mind, it's my turn."

Alexis drew her card. "Oh yeah, nice. I'll equip my Cyber Blader with Fusion Weapon; this will increase my Cyber Blader's attack by fifteen hundred bringing her to thirty-six hundred." Cyber Blader's right arm turned into a crossbow. She attacked Bracchio-Raidus with a green arrow. The arrow went right through Brachchio-Raidus' chest. Moments later it exploded blasting Yuri with damage, bringing his Life Points to 700. The line on his heart meter began to glow red.

"Uh-oh your Life Points don't look so good." laughed Mindy.

"One more attack and you boys go bye-bye." Wisteria laughed. Jasmine winked and stuck out her tongue giving them a V for Victory.

Yuri drew a Pot of Greed and drew two cards from his deck. Yuri drew a card he knew was his only hope. "I special summon two Gilasaurus, and because I did you can summon a monster from the Graveyard and since I summoned two Gilasaurus you get to summon two monsters."

Alexis's Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater appeared. Clouds began to roll into the sky spiraling over Yuri. The wind began to blow heavily. They listened closely and began to hear a choir singing. "And now I use Monster Reborn to bring back my Sabersaurus."

"What's he doing?" Kami asked.

"OH SHIT!" shouted Alexis. She knew what was happening.

"WHAT NOW BITCHES!" Ryon yelled over the howling wind and the loud, thundering voices of the choir.

"I sacrifice them all in order to summon; Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Alexis and her friends all gasped. Crowler's mouth fell open letting out a silent scream. Storm clouds covered the sky and the choir began to sing their song so loud it shook the earth. A whirlpool formed behind Yuri's' boat, sucking the three dinosaurs inside. Suddenly a loud roar echoed from the whirlpool. The offering was complete. Slowly a fifty-story high blue behemoth emerged covering itself with its wings. When it was completely out of the whirlpool it spread its wings open to reveal its body.

---

Alexandra Von Klaus watched from the balcony of her suite. She cooed as Obelisk the Tormentor roared into the night sky. Trees fell, the ocean rose violently with powerful tidal waves. The voices of the chorus singing for the ancient monster so loud it broke the wine glass in her hands. "Hmm, so that's a Divine Beast," she said with a beautiful smile. She stood there, not caring for all the chaos around her. "Beautiful. Such power. I warned you princess."

---

Alexis was at a loss for words. All she could do was stare at the creature.

Yuri sighed and shouted: "OBELISK! ATTACK ETOILE CYBER WITH FIST OF FAITH!"

Obelisk raised his fist up in the air, he held it up until it a fiery blue aura surrounded it. Then he punched Etoile Cyber destroying her and Alexis' life point creating an explosion so large it created a column of water that shot a mile high into the air. When it cleared Obelisk was gone, the choir died down and the clouds parted letting the stars out and the moon glow. Alexis lay on the bow of the boat groaning in agony.

"Alexis!" gasped Mindy.

"What just happened?" asked Jasmine.

They waited for Alexis to get up. She forced her mouth into a wan smile. "Well, you win. You go on free," said Alexis.

"Thanks a lot," said Yuri. "You're pretty tough."

"You are too," said Alexis. "We should Duel again sometime. It was kind of fun Dueling you Your Highness. You're not bad."

"You almost got me there Alexis," said Yuri. "If we do Duel again I better be prepared."

"You better kiddo," laughed Alexis. "Okay, guys you can go now."

"Well if you ask me I think we should turn them in," said Jasmine.

"Well nobody asked you," snapped Alexis.

"Alexis?" Jasmine said sadly.

"Are you okay Alexis?" Yuri asked. "You look a little pale."

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Yuri looked at her legs and saw them trembling. He felt guilty using Obelisk on her but what else could he do? He saluted them as Ryon rowed back to the beach.

"Man, I'm glad he won," Alexis said as she watched them struggle getting into Yugi's Dark Magic Curtain to take them back to the dorm. "Those boys look like a lot of fun."

"I hate to say this but I think you're right," said Jasmine. "That Ryon guy was kinda cute."

"Careful there Jasmine," said Mindy. "He's a prince."

"Which makes it all the better." swooned Jasmine.

---

Crystal

---

At the sea, do you hear me crying?

The waves are foaming and the wind is blowing

Empty horizon and the white gulls are flying

I await your arrival to ease my heart breaking

To feel your arms around me and heal my spirit waning

To the West, you sailed away and left me weeping

The sun set thrice and empty ships have passed me

But no sign of you my friend come back to me.

"Crystal!" Patty shouted while slowly trekking down the steep path the secret hiding spot Crystal once shared with Yuri and Ren when they were children. Patty froze when she spotted her friend standing there in a dress of white silk blowing in the wind with her champagne-hair giving her the appearance of a sorrowful specter. Crystal ignored Patty's call and remained in her position, ankles in the coming surf and continued singing her mournful song. She clutched a premonition around her neck. The shield-shaped musical locket made of gold that Yuri once wore around his. He gave the locket to her, promising he would return to her in this spot. She believed him, for the locket was an item of great value to Yuri. And for the past few months Crystal just stood in the sand staring at the horizon for hours until the sun had set. At the end of each day she would always depart for home weeping. She even braved a fierce thunderstorm at the same spot, awaiting the arrival of her two dearest friends.

"What's she doing?" Jeannie asked running down the path.

Patty shushed her. They politely waited until Crystal was done singing before approaching her.

"Crystal," Patty said softly.

At last, Crystal turned to look at her. Her eyes, green and blue, were swollen with sorrow, her nose blushing pink and tears streamed down her heart-shaped face so pale she had the look of a porcelain doll.

"What are you doing Crystal?" Jeannie asked timidly while making her sorrowful puppy eyes which caused a wan grin to appear on Crystal's face. "You promised you would take me out to duel."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Crystal said with a hoarse voice. The salt in the air and her nonstop sonnet made her throat dry.

"Crystal, you can't keep doing this." Patty sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Yuri will come back. And Ren too. I know they will."

"I know they will too," Crystal said, slowly turning her gaze back into the sea. "But I want to be the first thing Yuri sees when he comes back. He told me to wait for him here in this spot. He didn't tell me when, but I know any day I'll see him come down that path."

"What if he doesn't?" Jeannie asked timidly. "You could wait here forever!"

"I'm willing to take that risk."

"Oh, I can just see it now," Patty groaned. "A hundred years from now the kids of Aquarius will speak of the ghost of a beautiful woman haunting the coves of Arwen Beach awaiting the return of her long-lost love."

Crystal giggled. That felt good for Patty. Crystal had not smiled in months.

"It does sound like a cool ghost story." Crystal beamed at her two friends.

"Wow Crystal I haven't seen you smile like that in weeks." Jeannie said grinning. She felt a great weight being lifted from her spirit seeing Crystal show joy after being in her depression for so long. Jeannie asked again if they were going to go out to duel again and the blonde-haired muse kissed the top of Jeannie's head and nuzzled her hair before saying she would take her.

Patty wasn't so sure if they could go out tonight for the horizon was becoming black with the oncoming tropical storm Hermione fast approaching. But Patty giggled and told Crystal that Tyson, always stereotyping himself with his comedy, dubbed the approaching gale, El Negro.

Crystal couldn't help but fall to her knees with laughter. She couldn't breath and tears streamed down her cheeks again but of laughter than sorrow. Jeannie and Patty stared at each other and too broke out laughing, for only Tyson would go so far as to make a joke like that. In fact, he was doing standup comedy at one of the clubs downtown and was invited to do a show at the Laugh Factory. He was quickly becoming a huge hit in the comedic business and sold his cards away for he no longer needed them now that he was a comedian and not a duelist.

Patty picked up her friend from the sand and they proceeded to leave the beach. The wind was blowing harder and chilled them and a palm tree even fell in the forest behind them giving a sense of urgency. Crystal trailed after her friends and gave one last glimpse at her sanctuary before blowing a kiss to the horizon.

May you return home safely my friend.

She dashed up the dirt path towards Patty's truck which stood parked at the edge of the road. As they got into the truck the rain was starting to pour down hard. Patty turned on her truck and blasted heavy metal from her phone. Crystal smiled at the background she chose for it. It was a photo taken of her and the whole group the day they celebrated the end of summer at the beach.

There was Patty when she had her hair dyed molten silver with pink highlights and her bright blue contacts alongside Nick, now her fiancee, Carter, Tyson, and her beloved Yuri. Crystal couldn't believe how much her friend Crystal had changed since she last saw her. She remembered a time when she was homeless and working at the strip clubs in the underworld of Aquarius.

Now, thanks to the prize money Yuri won at the Millennium Tournament she was a multi-millionaire and getting more money thanks to Nick's contract in the World Dueling Federation. Carter was also doing well with money that he no longer desired to join the military and stayed on Aquarius in Nick's sea-side mansion.

"I wish he was here to see how well we are doing." Crystal said staring at the grey water churning violently beneath the bridge they were crossing on. Patty grew worried and had to stall the car at the side of the road, for the rain blocked her view like a misty curtain. She began to curse and mutter her options. Even she started to get scared. Jeannie yelped and hid underneath a blanket to hide from the powerful gale erupting around her. She felt relief upon feeling Patty's truck move forward and off the bridge. Palm leaves slid across the streets in front of her. Her GPS on the dashboard was flashing warnings from the National Weather Service.

"You are so stupid Crystal," Patty said, feeling better now that she drove into downtown. She could see Phobos Corp Tower through the wind and rain and patrols of police vehicles. "If we hadn't come by you'd be stuck at the beach."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"You must really care for that boy if you were going to brave a storm like this all alone," Jeannie said coming out of the blanket.

"I think she's right," Patty agreed. "I think I sense love there, Crystal."

Crystal twiddled her thumbs. "I was hoping to tell him after I found out Brett disappeared. But he left so suddenly."

"Well, maybe when he comes back you can finally tell him." Patty steered to the right and then drove forward to the parking lot of the luxury towers where Crystal lived alone to get away from her mother and the Matinettis. After getting out of the car they dashed inside and ran to Crystal's room soaking wet and cold. After they each had a warm bath Crystal took Jeannie to the sitting room to teach her how to play the game.

"No holograms?" Jeannie asked. Her hair tied into cute little pigtails with pink bows. She wore a tank top and pink pajama pants with the word Cute written in blue sequins on the back.

Crystal gave a giggle clad in only a warm white sweater. "No, sweetie. My house, as big as it is, won't be able to render the monsters."

She looked at Patty standing in front of the window in a black off the shoulder sweater and gray flannel pajama pants. She was on the phone with Nick to let her know she was staying in Crystal's suite with Jeannie to hunker down the storm that night.

"That's okay," Jeannie said, shuffling her deck. "I think the monsters are really scary. Maybe I can face them the way you do someday."

Crystal giggled again. Jeannie was so cute. "I know you will. I'll make you a champion if it kills me. You start first since you're new to the game."

"Okay," Jeannie nodded and pursed her lips while she stared at her hand. "Stand up the vanguard!"

Patty and Crystal laughed.

"What game are you playing baby?" Patty asked.

"Oh, oops. Now I remember. I place this. Dancing Elf in defense mode."

Crystal laughed again. "Sweetie, when you put a monster in defense mode you place it sideways. Like this."

Jeannie's face blushed bright pink. She seemed rather timid about her mistake. Crystal blessed her with a warm smile to calm her down. For a girl of seventeen years, she sure acted like a little child. But she knocked herself in the head remembering Jeannie had a disorder where she matured slower than usual. She had the body of a growing girl blooming into maturity but had the mind of a little child.

"Oh, I should have known better. Man, this is embarrassing. With all your experience in Duel Monsters, you must think I'm really dumb."

Crystal cooed sympathetically and patted her hand. "It's okay, baby, don't beat yourself up. "You're still just learning."

"You aren't using your dragons against her are you?" Patty asked walking towards their table.

"Were I so cruel," Crystal said laying down a Wicked Dragon with the Ersatz Head. It was 900 ATK. More than enough to destroy Jeannie's Dancing Elf.

"Oh no, does this mean I lose Life Points?"

"No, Jeannie," Patty chuckled. "The monster was in defense mode so you don't lose Life Points."

"So does that mean I'm safe?" Jeannie asked. Her face glowing with relief. Both her friends nodded. "So I did good?" Crystal nodded again and Jeannie let out a squeaky yippee! Patty didn't have the heart to tell Jeannie that her monster was no longer part of the game, but she took a deep breath and began to explain to Jeannie how the monsters worked when they battled.

"Yeah, your Life Points are safe, but your Elf is not. She has to go to the Graveyard because she was too weak to battle Crystal's dragon."

"The Graveyard! Does that mean she's dead? Oh no. I'm sorry."

"Monsters never die, sweetie," Crystal said comforting her. "Think of it as time out. Monsters who are forced out of the game sit in the Graveyard. Now it's your turn. Do you have anything that can stand up to my dragon?"

"Uh, let's see. Oh, I can play this card. Key Mace and I attack your dragon."

"Sorry, sweetheart but you just destroyed your own monster."

"Huh?"

"Your Key Mace has four hundred attack points and my dragon has nine hundred attack points."

"Oh, so the monster with the highest attack points wins the game."

"That's right."

"Okay, so that leaves me at fifteen hundred, right?"

"Yup, now it's my turn. I summon Petite Dragon."

"Aw, how cute!" Jeannie beamed.

Crystal had beaten Jeannie many times that night, but the girl had so much fun with the game that she desired to keep on playing. She was a passionate duelist, like Yuri. Crystal asked Jeannie to take her lead while she got up for a walk to stretch her legs. Jeannie still wanted to play and Patty was more than happy to oblige giving her a match. The storm still raged on, keeping the city at a standstill as Crystal walked to the window and opened the locket to hear it play its tune again. Passionate Duelist. She gave a sorrowful sigh and stared into the stormy night.

"Good night, Yuri."

---

Yuri

---

"What!" Ricky shouted. Cartoon fumes billowed out of his ears. "You went to the girl's dorm of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon Island and didn't take me?"

Yuri ignored him while sitting with Professor Dragonheart after his class was over. He invited him through a message on his PDA for a little talk. They sat in a booth with leather seats by a window with a view of the sun setting behind the sea. Street lamps twinkled in the streets and torches on the beaches in the cove glimmered like little candles. He could see students jumping in the waves below.

"Hah," laughed Professor Dragonheart. "If Yuri had taken you along he would have been expelled. I congratulate you on your victory over the princess, Yuri. That calls for a little celebration."

"You mean a glass of wine?" Yuri asked hesitantly while the Xyz Professor hobbled out of his seat and walked to his finely crafted cabinet with bronze bars to keep his wine collection safe and pulled out a rare bottle with the bronze bust of a Dark Magician Girl as the cork. He brought two glasses rimmed with gold and placed it on the black marble table. He popped off the cork and poured Yuri a glass.

"I thought I made it clear I don't drink," Yuri said, trying to be as polite as he could.

"Oh, come now!" chuckled Professor Dragonheart. "You need to be a man, Little Yuri. Wine, they say, is the drink of kings and queens. King Alan Plantegrast always had himself a cup every hour while he was in court. Ah, and not only is wine a sweet beverage it can be a valuable weapon in the game that is Termnnian politics."

"How so?"

"Well, I have had many drinks with powerful men in all my years, young prince. And I have come to learn that drunk men tell all tales. My family wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for my charm and this lovely beverage. I recall a time when I had a good drink with the Earl of Dunland. He eventually told me of an affair with the town milk maiden. My brother Antilles then threatened to tell the tale to the people of the hold and eventually spread the news to his wife on the condition that he pledged his military force and ten percent of his earning to our House."

"That's blackmail," Yuri said, raising his glass to his lips.

"Call it what you will young prince, it is a skill you yourself must master to get your way."

"But that's not being a good king."

"A good king is a weak king," Antilles said entering the room.

"Exodia's Cock!" cursed Professor Dragonheart. "Do you ever knock brother? You have a bad custom of walking in unexpected."

"I don't come alone," Antilles sneered approaching the table. Yami was behind him dressed in black leather.

"Master!" Yuri said standing up.

"As you were, Yuri," said Yami.

"What's going on?" Ricky asked. "Something big must be goin' one if you two big wigs are here."

"Keep that thing in check will you Yuri?' Antilles said sitting into the booth and scooting all the way towards the window. "I've heard many horrid things about that creature."

"I'm training him as best I can," said Yuri. Ricky hissed at Antilles. His ears quivering.

Yami sat down next to him though he was not too pleased. Yugi told him that Antilles and Yami were not on the best of terms. After all it was Yami who started the rebellion that evicted his family from power and got High King Julius, Antilles's father, killed. It was his adoptive father, Antar who stuck his sword through Julius's back and his biological father Gabriel the Black who turned his mother, Belladonna, into a pile of dust. Now the child of his parent's killers was going to take the throne, a throne he was so close to claiming the day he summoned Slifer the Sky Dragon in a Duel. Yuri was sure Antilles had not forgiven him for that. He looked down at him with his pale blue eyes so focused Yuri thought he would burn him to cinders with his gaze.

"Well, welcome gentlemen," said Professor Dragonheart. "May I ask what this is about?"

"This concerns the alliance," said Antilles sternly. "I believe my niece has told you of her candidacy as a bride for you."

"How can I forget?" Yuri answered impatiently. "She's a wonderful girl and all, but I don't love her."

"This has nothing to do with love," said Yami. "As much as I want you to find a bride on your own I fear this must be done."

"You mean I have to marry Alexandra?" Yuri said almost in a shout.

"Yes," answered Antilles, "and, you must name me the High Chancellor of Termnnia."

"I did not agree to that!" Yami barked.

"Isn't that position occupied by Pegasus?" Professor Dragonheart asked.

"Pegasus is getting old," said Antilles.

"I piss on that notion!" spat the professor. "He has thousands of more years left in his life time. And I believe one of his sons is in line for High Chancellor. You cannot just force Yuri to end this succession."

Yami nodded agreeing with the little man.

"I have five hundred thousand soldiers at the ready," said Antilles. "Three thousand horses in my Calvary, two thousand archers, and hundreds of the finest knights. And right now, you need them Yuri. Your cousin, Hector, marches against you in the coasts of the west and King Stefan gathers forces in the North backed up by the Holy Army of the Church. And the Orcs writhe in the darkest reaches of the east. You have enemies on all sides and my family needs the funds to keep this army healthy and strong. Our vaults are running dry. If we have no gold these forces just might switch over to Hector or Stefan."

"But what of the armies of my friends?"

"I have come by the numbers," said Antilles. "If you marry my niece you gain my troops for a combined force of six hundred thousand strong."

"So little?"

"Many of the Houses and Lords of their kingdoms do not approve of your rule," said Antilles. "A great deal of them have gone to Emboldor to support your cousin or traveled north with King Steffan. The numbers are against you."

"And what of Avi, my Summoner?" Yuri asked.

Antilles smirked arrogantly. "The girl may have the power to summon dragons but it would be foolish to put all your trust in her. High King Antar IV put his faith into his dragon summoner, my multi-great aunt. And despite her ability to call upon the most powerful dragons in the world, she was killed in the Battle of Flames and Tears."

"I know this is a lot to burden you with, Yuri," said Yami. "But this is an alliance that must be done to keep our land stable and united. Antilles's forces give us enough power to halt Hector's advancements and cease the Church from taking any military action with King Stefan."

"But what about my Divine Beasts?"

"The Divine Beasts are already a force to be reckoned with," Professor Dragonheart agreed. "Obelisk alone can ruin the force of a million men with one punch."

"And that means a million men less to help us face against the Orcs should they feel ready to invade us again," said Yami. "And you can't just keep summoning the Divine Beasts whenever you please Yuri. You may be half-divine but you are still mortal. Calling on the Entiri could prove fatal to you. To summon the Divines costs a piece of yourself."

"He is right," said Antilles, taking Yuri's cup of wine. "Not only will we have a weak army but a dead king. And without a king the Divines cannot be summoned. There is not time for Gatherings. Gatherings are useless nowadays seeing as how everyone wants to be the High King. If you perish you will leave us at the mercy of the Orcs."

Yuri whimpered and looked at the table.

"So you see Prince Yuri, this marriage will prove beneficial for us all. You will not find a bride more beautiful in all the land and I say that not because she is my niece. Young lords have fought to the death for my Alexandra. I say again, Yuri. We can no longer pay to maintain this brilliant fighting force. The gold in your horde will be enough to maintain this army for a thousand years. Together we can bring our world peace."

Antilles then placed a roll of parchment on the table. "So what will it be Yuri?" Antilles asked taking out a pen from a small compartment on his cape. "Shall I give the order to the army to disband?"

"No," Yuri said gloomily. "I will do it. I will marry your niece."

"Then it is settled." Antilles rolled the parchment and put it back into his cape. "And what else?"

"I will name you as High-Chancellor of Termnnia the day of my coronation." Yuri was depressed.

"Good boy." Antilles offered his hand. Yuri reluctantly shook it. Yami scooted away to let Antilles through. When he left the classroom, Yuri gave a heavy sigh.

"Why do I get the feeling I was just played like a fiddle?"

"He played the both of us," grumbled Yami. "I knew he couldn't help but take advantage of the situation."

"What do you expect," said Professor Dragonheart. "He is my brother. Ah, with this marriage taking place that means I have gained myself a new nephew."

"So it seems," Yuri moaned.

"My Lord, you are family to me now. I will be by your side. And you have Yugi and your friends looking after you in the Termnnian Table. And those three noble monsters in your deck. My brother and my niece would be fools to bring harm to you."

"Thank you, professor."

Yuri left Professor Dragonheart's classroom hoping to go outside for some fresh air. As he stepped outside he heard a soft 'ahem'. He turned and saw Alexandra leaning against the wall smiling brightly.

"My love," she said blissfully. Yuri gulped and nodded his head.

Yuri felt his body shaking at the sight of her in her skimpy school uniform. He felt his stomach tie into knot and had the urge to vomit. Ricky came out of his backpack and patted Yuri on the shoulder.

"Well, say something," he coached Yuri.

"So it's official?" Alexandra said stepping towards Yuri, waving her hips from side to side as though she were dancing. "You are my husband and I am your queen."

"So it seems," said Yuri.

"You don't look very happy, beloved."

"It was forced upon me so quickly. I didn't even have time to think about all this. But if it means that my kingdom remains united and secure…and ready for the Orcs, then so be it. It must be done."

"Oh Yuri, don't think of this marriage as a mere political tool." She got closer to Yuri, turned and leaned herself against him. Her golden hair tickled his chin and filled his nostrils with the sweet scent of cherries and her butt pressing against his loins made him quiver. "I promise I will do everything I can to make you happy, love."

"Ooooh, Yuri!" Ricky swooned. "How I envy ya."

"How's about we start our relationship with a little gift?" Alexandra turned and handed him a black velvet box with a gold ribbon. "Open it. I searched far and wide for this creature."

Creature? That must have meant the present was a card. Yuri undid the ribbon and opened the box. He saw a golden-rare card inside resting in red velvet. "Wow!" Yuri exclaimed as Alexandra clasped her hands together. "King of the Prehistoric Beasts-Neo Black Tyranno."

"From the private collection of House Delgado," said Alexandra.

"I'm surprised they didn't give this to my cousin."

"Black Tyranno is a royal card," Alexandra explained. "It has been passed down in your family for generations. The last person to use it before you was your father."

"Black Tyranno belonged to my father?"

"Come, Lord Princeton has challenged your roommate Jaden to a Duel in the tenth-floor arena. I can tell you more of these cards along the way if you'll have me."

"Sure," Yuri said taking her arm. Her skin was as soft as rose petals and smelled of cherry blossom. They walked down the halls of the academy lit up with a warm golden light from the chandeliers above the hallways. The twilight sky could be seen through the glass walls along with the pink light of the waning sun vanishing behind the dark seas.

"The Black Tyranno. There is only one of its kind here in Termnnia, my love. And it belongs to you. As I said before the Black Tyranno has been given to the kings of Feldia for centuries. Now it has found its way to you. Literally. Years after the death of your father it was decided by the family to give the card to Hector. But, it wanted nothing to do with him. Every time they put it in the little ingrate's deck it always managed to find its way back to the pedestal in the Hall of the Kings, the central hub of power in the Dinosaur Lands. Master Yugi said that he found the card in his doorstep one morning. It called to you, my love. It chose you over Hector. And it made a wise choice. Hector is not worthy of such a card."

"You have strong feelings against my cousin," Yuri commented as they set foot into a glass elevator.

"Yuri wait up!" called little Yugi.

"Yugi!" Yuri called, holding the door. He was relived to see a friendly face. He was happy with the card Alexandra gave him but he still felt awkward about the marriage. After Yugi got inside Alexandra pressed a button on the panel that took them down to the floor where Chazz and Jaden were going to Duel.

"So good of you to join us, Yugi," said Alexandra. "We were on our way down for a Duel."

"Hey, are you going to be in on any of the action tonight?" Yugi asked. "I hope you're still going to use that card I gave you."

"Don't worry, little man. I'll use it sooner than you think."

"Have you heard the news, Yugi?" Alexandra asked.

"What news?" Yugi asked looking up at her. He looked even shorter than usual standing in between them.

"Yuri and I are to be married when he's High King."

"Yuri, is she serious?"

"She is, Yugi." Yuri nodded.

"Oh man, you best keep your guard up, Alexandra," said Yugi. "There are a lot of hard-boiled princesses out there who will be out for your head for this. A lot of girls in the school were going after Yuri."

"For the wrong reasons," Alexandra said resting her cheek on Yuri's shoulder. "They want him for power. But our love with unite this broken world."

"You'd best be true to your words then, princess," said Yugi. "Yuri is a divine sent by Horakhty to aid this world of ours. And if you and your family bring any ill intent towards him it will be paid for with heavy consequences. Both to you and to Termnnia."

"I would never harm him," said Alexandra. "Perish the thought, Yugi Muto, the love I profess is real."

I hope so Alexandra for your sake. The Other Me isn't as merciful as I am.

After a long walk, the trio approached the stadium. It was filled up with thousands of students and there were many Duels taking place in the many arenas on the field. The white lights on the ceiling were blinding and washed the stadium in saturated colors. Yuri was relieved when he saw Phoenix, Michael, Jeayoung, Stas, Jon and Ryon there as well. Xifeng was sitting alone in the bleachers reading a book on common conversation Termnnain, a guide given to her by Alexandra. Zane, Ezra, and Alexis where standing by an arena watching Princess Evelyn Duel a bug Duelist from one of the low-ranking dorms name Weevil Underwood. He demolished her with a giant moth called Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth. Beating a princess boosted his confidence. He jumped up and down with joy as Evelyn sadly sulked to join her friends.

There was a catchy song playing on the intercoms.

I'm always one card short, always one day late!

For once I'd like an ending I can celebrate!

Stacked the Deck myself, so there's no one else to blame!

It was loud in there with the chatter of all the Duelists and the fierce Duels taking place. Dr. Crowler was sitting behind a registration desk.

"I'll go sign up our names." said Yugi walking to the desk to book an arena for the afternoon.

"Ah, Yuri." said Ser Kevin. He was with Antoine and Ser Dancer.

"You come to Duel. Prince Yuri?" asked Antoine. "How about you and me? I've been itching for some game and I'd be honored if you were my first opponent of the semester."

"Get in line." said Chazz, approaching the group with his two cronies. "I challenged him first, Redborne. You want to face Yuri, you're going to have to wait your turn."

"But I was here first!" said Antoine.

"Weren't you supposed to be facing Jaden, Lord Princeton?' Alexandra asked.

"The slacker was put into the Study Hall by Chancellor Sheppard because he missed a lot of homework. That's just fine. I've got the only opponent I need."

"But I challenged him first!" demanded Antoine.

"Why don't you guys Duel to see who faces Yuri?" Ser Dancer suggested. "I play the winner of the Duel with Yuri afterward. I want to see your skills for myself, Prince Yuri. The whole school is buzzing with how you beat Princess Rhodes with Obelisk a few nights ago."

"You saw that?" Yuri asked.

"How couldn't we?" asked Chazz. "You could see that blue behemoth's asshole a mile away."

"Thanks for the beautiful image, Chazz," said Yuri.

"Overkill much?" sneered Ethan. He was leaning against one of the arenas with his arms folded over his chest. "Was the pretty princess beating you so bad you had to call a Divine Beast to defeat her, Yuri?"

"Play nice or get lost." said Yugi, coming back from the registration desk. "We're not in the mood for your attitude, Ethan."

"Whatever you say, friend." said Ethan. "I play whoever loses against Yuri next."

"Don't hold your breath." said Chazz. "Once I take out this Redborne, Yuri's mine."

They went up the steps onto the arena and began their match.

"Hey, Yuri," said Yugi. "While we wait, why don't we go to the card shop nearby and get some cards to prepare for the games?"

"Sounds good to me," said Yuri. "Let's go."

"You two go ahead," said Alexandra. "I want to watch the match."

"Chthonian Solider!" called Chazz as the two friends walked to a card shop called The Cyberknight. There was a man behind the counter wearing a black cap with the Duelist Academy logo. He had glasses and a short beard and wore a black shirt and jeans under a black apron. There was a Kuriboh sitting next to him. Kuriboh was a small, furry Duel Monster with four little green legs and lamp-like eyes. Its brown fur shined brightly in the lights of the shop.

"Oh," said the man. "Green eye on the right, you must be Yuri."

"Nice to meet you sir," said Yuri.

"Luther Konrad Martin, at your service." he said with an eccentric bow. "But you can call me L.K for short. Some, here, call me Duel Master K, but that's just stupid. And this here is my Kuriboh, say hello Kuriboh."

Oooooo went the Kuriboh.

"Hey, L.K can you show us that awesome special card you were going to give Yuri?" Yugi asked.

"Sure, I'll pull out that super-special awesome, chocolaty fudge-coated super card, Yugi."

"Very funny," Yugi said frowning. "Are ya going to pull it out or not?"

"Temper, temper," said L.K. "Just give me moment."

Meanwhile, back in the arena, the Duels were heating up.

"Hey, Ethan," said Stas. "If you're so eager to Duel, why don't we have a match?"

"Let's do it."

They found an empty arena and began to play.

"Let's go," said Ethan. "My reputation will surely boost when they hear I took out the prince of Mondé."

"Were it so easy," said Stas. He turned his necklace into a shiny gem-encrusted Duel Disk. "I'm going first. I summon Gem Dragon-Ruby; attack mode!" A giant ruby fell from the sky and landed with a smash onto the field. It began to crack; light shot out from inside. Wings suddenly appeared over Stas. There was a bright flash of light and then it appeared. A black dragon with rocky-looking scales, a shiny red-glassed underbelly, and sharp, ruby spikes coming out of its body hovered over the field, giving a mighty roar. It glimmered brightly, gaining the attention of many of the Duelists.

"What is that?" said Ethan. "I've never heard of that card before."

"You'll find out what it is soon enough," said Stas. "I place one card face down, and end my turn."

Gem Dragon-Ruby

ATK/1500 DEF/1000

"Look, you guys!" cried Evelyn. "The rumors were true. Stas holds the legendary Gem Dragons."

"Ah, let's go see," said Alexis. "I've always wanted to have a look at those cards."

Zane nodded in agreement and followed them to the platform Stas and Ethan were Dueling on.

"That all you got?" said Ethan. He drew his card. "Oh yeah! I summon Kojikocy" Ethan summoned his muscular elderly warrior to the field. He danced around for a bit and swung his sword to strike fear into Stas's dragon.

Kojikocy

ATK/1500 DEF/1200

"So what?" said Jaden. He and Dancer left Chazz's Duel to watch this one, for they were interested in Stas's dragon. "Your monster pretty much has the same attack as Stas's dragon."

"What do you think you're doing, Ethan?" said Dancer.

"Just watch, and I'll show you." said Ethan. "For I equip my Kojikocy with the might of Axe of Despair."

A fiendish-looking axe tumbled from the sky and landed next to Kojikocy, blade-first into the ground. The warrior picked up his new weapon by the handle and felt the dark powers of the axe course through his body. He growled like an animal as his attack points were boosted up by 1000 making his ATK 2500.

"Now my warrior has enough power to take out your pathetic dragon. Kojikocy, make mince meat of that Gem Dragon."

"HRRRYA!" cried Kojikocy, charging towards Stas's dragon.

"I don't think so," said Stas. "I activate my dragon's effect. By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field, so say goodbye to your Axe of Despair."

"Oh-no!" said Ethan.

"But, now they'll destroy each other." said Dancer.

"No, they won't!" said Stas. "For, I discard my Gem Dragon-Sapphire to the graveyard."

"Just what good will that do?" asked Ethan.

"When I discard Gem-Dragon Sapphire to the graveyard, I can boost the attack of a Gem Dragon by 1000 for the duration of the turn!"

Gem Dragon-Ruby's ATK increased to 2500. It took flight and fired a red laser from its mouth, blasting a hole through Kojikocy's torso and blasting Ethan for 1000 damage.

"Nice moves," said Ethan. "I place one card face down, and end my turn."

"Sweet, my turn. I activate Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards. Now with my Gem Dragon-Ruby, I can discard one card from my hand to special summon Gem-Dragon Sapphire from my Graveyard!" A bright, beautiful sapphire appeared next to Stas. From it hatched, a beautiful long-necked dragon with blue scales with shiny sapphire armor. It had long silvery beard and wore a blue jeweled crown. Its wings stretched fifty feet. It's attack points were 1600. "But that's not all," said Stas.

"Hurry up!" said Ethan.

"Sure, I will be using Gem Dragon-Sapphire's effect, I discard a card from my hand to special summon Gem Dragon-Malachite from my graveyard."

A beautiful green dragon was born from a chunk of Malachite and flew over Stas. It had wings that resembled that of a swan and it had bronzed markings on its body.

Gem Dragon-Malachite

ATK/1400 DEF/2000

"Next I send my three Gem Dragons to the graveyard to fusion summon; Gem Dragon-Lapis Lazuli!"

"Don't you need Polymerization for a fusion summon?" asked Dancer.

"Oh, no," said Yugi, running to his side to watch the Duel. "Duel Monsters evolves over time, meaning new cards with different abilities come out. I've heard of some fusion monsters that can be summoned without the need of Polymerization. This card must be one of them."

Stas's dragon was born from a large blue orb that fell from the sky. There was a flash of light and a roar that rang like silver bells. The massive beast towered up in the ceiling of the stadium and its wings were as wide as a passenger jet. It sparkled with every movement and its neon-blue eyes looked down at Ethan.

Gem Dragon-Lapis Lazuli

ATK/2800 DEF/2200

"You think I'm scared of your sparkly beast!" shouted Ethan.

"Tough talk from some asshole who has nothing on the field," boasted Zane.

KABOOM! Gem-Dragon Lapis Lazuli blasted away the rest of Ethan's Life Points. He tumbled to the ground, his Life Points rapidly sinking to Zero.

"Another one bites the dust," sighed Alexis.

Ethan slowly skulked down the stairs of the arena ignoring Stas's compliments on a good game.

"You okay, Ethan?" Alexis said placing hand on his shoulder. To her shock, he shoved it away.

"I don't need your sympathies...you bloody TOON!"

The arena went quiet. Alexis gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Zane grunted in shock as well, but no one took the blow harder than Alexis. Even from where Stas stood, he could see Alexis's eyes start to twinkle with hurt.

"What the hell did you just say!" shouted Chazz.

"That's it!" said Jon, and he socked Ethan in the face with a powerful punch, knocking him to the ground.

"DON'T YOU EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN!" Alexis shouted, her eyes glimmering with tears. She sobbed, walking out of the stadium. Her friends, Jasmine and Mindy were close by and helped walk her out of the stadium.

Evelyn angrily stormed towards Ethan. Before he could say anything she slapped him hard on the face.

"Now you listen to me good, boy," she hissed. Ethan trembled. He was in trouble now. Evelyn had never spoken to him like this. "I never would have taken you for someone like this. I've tolerated much from you Ethan, but this is the last straw. I never want to see you again, am I clear?"

"Evelyn I—"

"Not another word!" Evelyn growled through her teeth. "Get out of my sight!"

"And you best find some new roommates," said Dancer. "I'm disappointed in you Ethan. Very disappointed."

"To hell with all of you then!" said Ethan, despite all this he was still rather unapologetic about what he did. His anger revealed his true feelings for the Eldori race.

"I can't believe he said that," Yugi said in shock.

"What, toon?" Yuri asked. "As in cartoon, but isn't that what you guys are?"

"No, Yuri, we're not. And because you're new to this world I'll be easy on you. There's a difference between our people, the Eldori, and cartoons from T.V. We actually exist, sure we kind of stand out with our abnormal and colorful textures but we're living, breathing things. Of course, there are some who don't think so. Calling us Toons is a nasty thing. It's like calling a Redborne a darkie for the color of their skin; or an Uzumenese citizen a slanty for their eyes."

"I never thought racism existed in a place like this," said Yuri.

"It comes with worlds who hold our poor excuse of a species," said Yugi.

"I'm going to go find Alexis," said Yuri. "Thanks for the card L.K!" Yuri called. The friendly shopkeeper waved.

"Hey, when are you going to use the card I gave you?" asked Yugi, running into the stadium with Yuri. "You promised you'd use it right away."

"I know, but I didn't need it most of the times I Dueled," said Yuri. "I'll use it soon, buddy, don't worry."

The show was over and the Duels were getting back into action. Yuri ran past explosions and roaring giants to get outside where Alexis sat on a bench that encircled a small habitat with ferns and trees where exotic birds lived with fishes and frogs in the pond.

"Are you okay?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah, thanks," said Alexis.

"You think you know a guy," said Jasmine.

"I can't believe he would say that to me," said Alexis. "All those years we've played together. Who would have known he'd turn out to be a racist."

"Well, I'm sure he was mad he lost the Duel, and said something he didn't mean," said Yuri.

"Yuri, you don't use words like that unless you mean it," scolded Jasmine.

"You big jerk," said Mindy. "How can you take his side?"

"Yeah, Especially with the way he's been treating you?" said Jasmine.

"Do you want me to report him?" said Yuri.

"No," said Alexis. "He's not worth your time or effort."

"Hey there Alexis," Yugi said slowly pacing towards her.

"Hey Yugi."

"I'm sorry for what happened in there," said Yugi. "What a major jerk."

"What do you have to be sorry for, little guy?" Alexis croaked, wiping her tears. "You didn't do anything."

"I know, but, I'm an Eldori, too, so it hurt me as much as it did you. By the way, Antoine lost the Duel against Chazz, Yuri, so it looks like you're up."

"Yuri, Duel?" said Alexis. Her face formed into a pretty smile. "Against Chazz? Aww man, This I gotta see."

"See," said Yugi. "A little Duel Monsters as all you need to cure a sour face."

Yuri took a few minutes to open his new packs and add the card L.K gave to him. When he was ready he approached the arena where Chazz was waiting.

"You ready to lose Chazz?" Yugi asked.

"As if," Chazz scoffed. "That Duel with Crowler really was dumb luck and I'm going to prove it. Yuri get your cards out and lets Duel. I've been waiting a long time for this!"

"Whatever you say pal." Yuri said, and morphed his ring into a Duel Disk.

"I'll start first." said Chazz.

Their Life Points displayed right above them looking like a heart meter. "I summon Chthonian Soldier."

Chthonian Soldier

Atk/ 1500 Def/ 1200

"Then I'll place this card face down and end my turn."

"I'll play, um, Okay-I'll summon Gagagigo." Yuri summoned a seven foot two-legged lizard.

Gagagigo

Atk/ 1850 Def/ 1000

"Gagagigo, attack Chthonian Soldier."

Gagagigo jumped from his spot and slashed Chthonian Soldier in the stomach spilling his intestines then the soldier exploded blasting Chazz with 350 points of damage dropping his Life Points to 3650. Suddenly from the smoke Chthonian Soldier's sword flew up and slashed Yuri across the chest. Yuri felt a sharp stinging sensation on the spot.

"What happened?" he asked weakly.

"My Chthonian Soldier's special ability," said Chazz. "When he gets destroyed whatever damage I receive you receive as well."

"That really hurt, man," Yuri said rubbing his chest.

"It's my turn, and I activate my trap card: Call of the Haunted. This will bring my soldier back from the Graveyard. Then I sacrifice him to summon Great Maju Garzette. Chazz summoned one of the ugliest creatures Yuri had ever seen. It had lavender armor, brass skeletons in the legs and fluorescent blue flesh. Its attack was ? And it's defense was ?.

Yuri was confused. "Why is his attack undetermined?"

"Hold on and let me explain," sneered Chazz. "The attack of my Great Maju Garzette will become the TWICE the attack of the monster I sacrificed to summon him."

"Uh-Oh, thats not good." said Alexis. "Chthonian Soldiers attack was fifteen-hundred and Great Maju Garzette's attack becomes twice the soldier's attack so that means Great Maju Garzette's attack will be three-thousand."

"But I'm not done yet, for I use the spell-card Chthonian Urn!"

"What's that?" Yuri asked.

"At the cost of just a mere 500 Life Points, I can bring back any monster with Chthonian in its name from my Graveyard. Rise again, Chthonian Soldier!"

Chazz's Life Points dropped to 3150, from the ground emerged the soldier from a raging inferno.

"Oh crap!" said Yuri.

"Now to enter my Battle Phase," said Chazz. "GREAT MAJU GARZETTE! ATTACK GAGA- what's-his-name, WITH ACID REGURGITATE!"

Great Maju Garzette began to make gurgling sounds and let out a geyser of neon green acid at Gagagigo melting him instantly. Yuri lost 1150 Life Points bringing him to 2850.

"Oh, that's gross," said Ezra said covering her face with her hands.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Phoenix said turning around and gagging. "That was barbaric."

"Ha, like it?" sneered Chazz. "Well you aint seen nothing yet. Now Chthonian Soldier, attack his Life Points!"

Chthonian Soldier sprinted across the field, raised his massive sword and cut Yuri across the chest. "AAAAHHH!" Yuri screamed as his Life Points dropped to 1350. His Heart meter life point display turned yellow and the line started to straighten out.

"Chazz doesn't take it easy does he?" asked Ezra.

"Don't give up Yuri!" cheered Phoenix. "You can do this!"

"We'll just see about that," said Chazz. "Next, I'll place one card face down, and end my turn."

"Cool," Jaden said running towards their platform. "Yuri's Dueling? Why didn't anybody tell me. I'm next!"

"You'll have your turn, friend," chuckled Dancer. "I see you're done with all your missing assignments."

"My turn," said Yuri.

Yuri, can you hear me Yuri

"Ricky?" Yuri asked

I'm in yer backpack, now shut yer trap, we can't let him know I'm here. Besides, you look weird talking to yerself so speak to me with yer mind. Now, I'm going to do all I can to help you out with this Duel and beat, pretty boy, over there. Believe me when I tell you Yuri, I'm here to help. Use Monster Reborn to get your lizard man back

"I activate the spell card Monster Reborn and bring back my Gagagigo. Then I use, Pot of Green and draw two cards." Yuri drew the cards from his deck.

Hey I drew Blizzard. said Yuri

Good, now keep him in your hand for now and give lizard man the pill.

"Now I'll give Gagagigo Ultra Evolution Pill and I'll tribute him to summon a dinosaur from my hand. You remember him don't you? Black Tyranno."

Gagagigo was engulfed in flames that spiraled high above the forest. From inside a loud roar could be heard. The flames burst and revealed Black Tyranno.

See I told you, trust me. We Fingolins are highly sought after by Duelists all over Termnnia. But I came to you. You should be honored.

"Perfect," said Chazz. "Reveal face-down card; Chthonian Chain!"

Oh, gee, didn't see that comin'

"What's that?" Yuri asked.

"Chthonian Chain let's me take control of one of your monsters, so long as I have a Chthonian Monster on the field." A chain appeared in Chthonian Soldier's hand. He spun it like a lasso and tossed it at Black Tyranno. The chain then turned into a black, spiked collar. Black Tyranno roared, trying to shake the collar off. Chthonian Soldier held on tightly. "And now," Chazz continued, "the chain lets me take control of a monster you have out on the field. Black Tyranno, come to me!"

Black Tyranno roared again and struggled to get free.

"A fighter eh," said Chazz. "Chthonian Soldier, bring him to me!"

Chthonian Soldier tugged on the chain, pulling Yuri's Black Tyranno to Chazz's side of the field. Black Tyranno's eyes turned red, and then he walked towards Chazz.

"That's more like it," said Chazz. "And now, half of Black Tyranno's attack points were get transferred to my Chthonian Soldier!"

Chthonian Soldier jumped on Black Tyranno's back, clutching the chains in his fist. His attack points rose to 2800.

"And now I'm going to finish you off with your legendary monster!" said Chazz.

"I can't do anything," said Yuri.

"Of course you can't," said Chazz. "I knew you beating Crowler was just dumb luck. Go, Chthonian Soldier and Great Maju Garzett; attack Yuri and end this Duel!"

"No you won't!" said Yuri. "I send my Ornitholestes to the Graveyard! Now, any damage I take via direct attack or battle is reduced to zero!"

Yuri's black theropod dinosaur emerged from his hand and shouted, sending a wave of sound that stopped the attack.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that card," said Chazz. "But what does it matter? I have the strongest monster in your deck and you can't use the Divine Beasts anymore."

"It's not over, Chazz, Yuri said drawing his card. "Okay, this will help out a lot."

"What the hell got you so happy?" asked Chazz.

"I drew Jurassic Pot of Greed. Now, I can draw two cards, and if they're both dinosaurs I can draw one more card, and if they aren't, I have to discard a card from my hand."

"Boy, must you be desperate." said Chazz. "Riding on faith like that."

That's what he thinks, o' spirits of the monster world, bless this kid's deck. Let him draw what he needs

"Yes, I did it," said Yuri. "Now I can draw one more card.

"I seriously doubt anything will help you. Hurry up so I can end this Duel."

"Don't celebrate just yet," said Yuri. "I special summon Gilasaurus, and then I will tribute him to summon Flamberg, Ancient Dino-Beast of Fire!"

A vortex of flames surrounded Yuri. A deafening roar came from within. The creature inside took two giant steps out of the vortex to reveal itself.

Flamberg, Ancient Dino-Beast of Fire

ATK/1400 DEF/2000

"Flamberg is a seven-star monster, but I can summon him by tributing one dinosaur on the field. I'm not done yet, for now I use the spell card, Ancient Call!"

"What's that!" said Chazz.

"It's the card L.K gave Yuri," said Yugi.

"This card lets me special summon a dinosaur type monster whose level is equal to a dinosaur I have out on the field. And I just so happen to chose this. I summon Blizzard, Ancient Dino-Beast of Ice!"

A cold vortex of ice and snow swirled around Yuri. From inside the vortex came another great roar that shook the stadium. Yuri's new monster was bright blue, with scales the sparkled from all the ice.

The areas on its back, thighs, and forearms were covered in black, thick, rocky plates. It had two long horns on its head and a short gold horn over its snout. It had a ring on its nose. Flamberg had the same look as Blizzard, save for the fact his body was a blazing lava orange and his black-armored plates had molten cracks on them. Its horns were on fire."

Blizzard, Ancient Dino-Beast of Ice

ATK/2600 DEF/2300

"Now that they're both together, the card pieces become one. Now, these two dinosaurs count as one monster!"

"Say what!" said Chazz. "How is that possible?"

"Where did Yuri get cards like those?" said Jaden. "This changes everything."

"I know," said Yugi. "If his field was covered with nothing but monsters like those he could have more than five monsters out at once."

"Isn't that an unfair advantage?" asked Alexis.

"Yuri isn't playing for fun," said Zane. "He's going to be High King of Termnnia. So he should take any advantage he can get. When you have the best cards, and there is so much on the line, fighting fair just isn't an option."

"What does it matter?" said Chazz. "My monsters are still the strongest on the field. And your dinosaurs don't even come close to their power."

"Yeah, I guess I end my turn," said Yuri with a sarcastic shrug.

"Wait, Yuri!" called Yugi. "Ancient Call's effect will destroy the monster you summoned at the end of the turn."

"You've got to be kidding me!" laughed Chazz. "You really failed to think that one through didn't you?"

Suddenly Blizzard was surrounded by a silvery aura. Flamberg gave a mighty roar. Nothing happened. Blizzard stayed on the field.

"Uh, what just happened?" asked Jaeyoung.

"It's my Flamberg," said Yuri. "During either of our turns, I can activate his effect and shield a dinosaur on the field from all card effect. Flamberg protected Blizzard, so now he's not going anywhere."

"Not now he isn't!" said Chazz. "Chthonian Soldier! Attack Flamberg!"

Chthonian Soldier yanked on Black Tyranno's chain. Black Tyranno roared and charged towards the monster who was standing helplessly. But then Blizzard roared. A magical aura shielded Flamberg and its attack increased to 3400. Black Tyranno and Flamberg roared at one another for two long minutes before they attacked one another. Flamberg then shot out a blast of fire that incinerated Black Tyranno. Chthonian Soldier jumped off as Black Tyranno shattered to pieces.

"What the hell!" shouted Chazz. His Life Points dropped to 2550. "What the hell are those things! What did you do?"

"Now it was Blizzard's turn," explained Yuri. "During either of our turns Blizzard can transfer his attack points to a dinosaur you have chosen as a target."

"Wow," said Ezra. "It's like...they're defending one another."

"Aww, they're like brothers," swooned Mindy.

"Ah, I see," said Zane. "Those two dinosaurs protect one another. Blizzard is the heavy hitter, thus making him a big target for Yuri's opponents, however, Flamberg can use his effect to shield his partner from card effects that will do him harm. Flamberg, in this case, is the little brother who doesn't have that much strength, but Blizzard won't let any harm come to him, so he gives his little brother a significant boost of strength. What a team they're almost unstoppable."

"Now to begin my turn," said Yuri. Chazz was not so cocky all of a sudden. "Time to end this. I use the spell card Earthquake, this will force all of our monsters into defense mode. Now I summon Mesozoic Shaman!"

"NO!" shouted Chazz. "That card can bring back one dinosaur from your Graveyard!"

"So, I take it I don't have to explain what he does," said Yuri.

Mesozoic Shaman waved his staff and slammed it to the ground. Magical runes appeared on the ground. Bones rose from beneath the runes and then regained flesh, forming into Yuri's Black Tyranno. Thanks to the shaman, Black Tyranno gained another 1000 attack points. Since Chazz's monsters were in defense mode, Black Tyranno charged towards the one who put him in chains. He devoured Chthonian Soldier then whipped Great Maju Garzett away with his tail, knocking him into the sky. It was now, Chazz's turn. Black Tyranno bellowed, then gave a roar, before stomping on Chazz, dropping his Life Points to zero.

"No way," said Alexis. "Chazz lost?"

And that's the power of the Fingolins, Ricky said coming out of Yuri's backpack.

"Puzzle cards," Yuri said to himself. He looked at Blizzard and Flamberg. "Thanks, Priscilla."

Yuri's friends cheered and crowded around him when he got down from the arena.

"Can we eat now?" said Ryon.

"You beat a Princeton!" said Michael. "Boys, we're gonna have steak tonight."

"Interesting," said Zane. "I better start working on my deck."

"Same here," said Alexis. "I want my rematch, but with those weird puzzle cards in his deck, I'm going to have to work extra hard if I want to beat him."

The two of them watched as Yuri and the others left the arena. Dr. Crowler was at the registration desk, his mouth agape and his eyes like dots having witnessed the defeat of his one of his dorms' best students. Chazz was pounding and cursing on the floor. He was defeated, but this rivalry was far from over.

---

Yuri

---

Yuri plopped a mint into his mouth as he went for the white sands of Kazuki Beach. He spotted Ezra and Phoenix under the shade of a palm tree. Ezra was kissing Phoenix's neck as she massaged her shoulders. Phoenix looked at Yuri, biting her lip and gave a timid wave as he passed by. Yuri hunched his shoulders and also gave a meek wave before he saw his betrothed laying on a lounge chair soaking up the light from Helios (The Sun). She had sunglasses over her eyes and wore a black floss bikini. She heard his steps disrupting the sands and sat up, taking off her sunglasses to look at him.

"Hello, my love," she said. "Did you enjoy your lunch?"

Yuri nodded rooted to his spot, hands placed shyly in his pockets. Alexandra found his timidness amusing. She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud and beckoned him to come sit with her with an enticing index finger motioning him to come closer. Yuri let out a croak and remained where he was. Alexandra was what Ryon called 'dangerously beautiful', and from all the stories Yuri heard about her, Ryon couldn't have been more right. She had killed people before and found great pleasure in it, so Peter told him. Alexandra's femininity and her bloody past mixed into a deadly cocktail that was the princess of Serania. Every day, Yuri felt he was drinking more and more of it, feeling as though he would keel over at any second because of this blonde-haired beauty.

"I won't bite, Yuri," Alexandra laughed.

Yuri still didn't move.

"Come on," she said playfully as if calling a frightened puppy. "It's okay."

Yuri gave a sigh of defeat and walked closer to her. She scooted to the side and patted the empty space for him to sit down. Yuri did, the lounge chair screeching from the added weight.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Alexandra asked, searching through an ice box beside her. "I've got some champagne in here. It's from my uncle, Antilles, as a gift for our engagement."

"I don't drink, Alexandra."

"So Uncle Peter tells me," Alexandra said pouring Yuri a glass anyway. "It's very sweet, I promise. Go on, try some."

Yuri gingerly took the glass from her hands. He put it close to his lips. He could smell the strong, but sweet aroma of the beverage. Yuri took a sip. It wasn't bad, but it was too strong for him to drink the whole thing.

"All of it," Alexandra said with a chuckle.

"I can't," said Yuri.

"Yuri if you don't finish that drink, I will take off my bikini and swim naked."

"In front of all these people?" Yuri asked, his face turning beet red.

"You wouldn't want me to embarrass myself, would you?" Alexandra teased, pulling one of the strings of her top. "What will my uncle think?"

"So you're blackmailing me?" Yuri said, getting rather annoyed.

Alexandra let out a squeaky chortle. "Just one of the charms of having me as your lover," Alexandra said, taking the glass and finishing the drink herself. "I could if you want me to."

"Don't!" Yuri said at once.

"Aww, you're no fun," Alexandra said, laying on her side. She slid her finger up his arm. "Do I intimidate you, Yuri?"

"I've never been with a girl like you before," he said.

"What kind of girl am I, Yuri?" Alexandra asked.

"I don't know," said Yuri. "I've met many beautiful girls in my life, but they've never frightened me the way you do."

"So, I'm so gorgeous it's frightening?" Alexandra cooed. "Why, Yuri, you're making me blush."

Yuri gulped. He was doing his best to try and cancel this engagement. But everything he said just seemed to excite this wild vixen even more. He didn't know what to do.

"You don't want this to happen, do you?" Alexandra said after a long silence.

"No," Yuri replied. "If the safety of my kingdom wasn't at stake, I'd have nothing to do with you. And that's the truth!"

Not even his harsh words could stave the lusty attitude Alexandra displayed. She sat up and wrapped her arms around Yuri, placing her face close to his.

"I know this is all so sudden, Your Grace," she whispered into his ear. Her breath smelled of mint and champagne. "I don't know what my Uncle Peter has said to you, but that is not the kind of girl I am anymore."

"How do I know?"

"You can trust me," the princess purred, nibbling his ear.

Yuri yanked his head away at once. "Termnnia has buried a lot of young princes who have heard you say those words."

"They are not you, Yuri," Alexandra rubbed her breasts up and down his back, making him shiver. "I know it will take some getting used to, my love, but in time, you will learn to appreciate me. I will do everything and anything I can to make you happy." She kissed his cheek. "Anything. I am your Queen. I am your slave. I am your servant, Your Grace. Anything you ask, I will do."

She took his hands and placed them on her thighs.

"Okay," Yuri finally said in a whisper.

"Give me a kiss," Alexandra playfully commanded.

Yuri kissed her cheek.

She shrugged. "That will do, I suppose. So, what do you want to do tonight? It's Saturday."

"Do you want to have dinner?" Yuri asked.

"Sound wonderful, my love. I know a restaurant in the West District of the castle that makes brilliant burgers."

Yuri's face lit up when he learned Alexandra liked to eat burgers. "Really?" he asked. "You like to eat burgers, Alexandra?"

"Well, it's a newfound cuisine I got used to while being here," she replied. "They don't make any of the foods here back in the West. We eat more traditional foods like capon, roast suckling pig, pheasant, even peacock; my father's favorite."

"You eat peacocks?"

"They're a delicacy for the Kings of the West," replied Alexandra. "Father likes his crusted with herbs, spices, and sauteed with honey sauce. And he keeps the tail feathers on for a very gallant display."

---

They continued on and had dinner on the harbor with a fair on a pier just a mile away. Alexandra and Yuri went by a card store and Alexandra bought Yuri three expensive booster packs. They sat down on a steel bench after walking for hours in what appeared to be a plaza for young adults. There were arcades, a massive mall, movie theaters and dueling arenas. Yuri opened his packs and was pleased with what he got. "Sweet, Dark Tyranno, and the Black Giganoto. These are excellent cards for my deck. He's the fusion monster I desire"

"How could you pronounce those names?" asked Alexandra.

"What names?" Yuri asked.

"You know the many evolutions of Gigabyte. All I can pronounce is Gagagigo. I remember Crowler said he'd give you extra credit if you said those names in order as fast as you could and you blew him away."

"Oh, Gagagigo, Giga Gagagigo and Gogiga Gagagigo right?"

Alexandra stared at him.

"What?" Yuri chuckled. "You try."

"Oh no," said Alexandra.

"No, come on," said Yuri.

"Gagagigo," began Alexandra. "Giga Gagagigo, Go-giga-gigo-gogig…awww man!"

They laughed getting ready to continue on with their night until the unexpected happened.

"Yuri!" cried Mai as she ran running towards them

"Professor Valentine?" gasped Alexandra. "Why is she dressed like that?"

Mai reached them and she put her arm around Yuri's neck.

"You two are looking veeeery nice," said Mai. "Babe is this a date."

"She's only my wingman Mai." Yuri croaked.

"Yuri buddy!" shouted Tristan. "It's about time you got yourself a girlfriend man."

"She's not my…" began Yuri. Yami, Joey, Serenity, and Duke approached them.

"You guys look different," said Yuri as Mai released him from her grip.

"Yeah," said Alexandra. "You look more like street punks than college teachers."

"What?" said Joey. "We have lives of our own too ya know. We don't always dress like it's time for class."

"Where are you two heading?" asked Yami who seemed to want Yuri and Alexandra to be left alone.

"The arcade," said Alexandra.

"Oh goodie," said Mai. "So are we."

Yami almost felt the disappointment in Alexandra. They walked inside and their eardrums were bombarded by loud techno music, noisy teens, and the gunshots from the shooter games.

"Not as big as the one we have at the academy," said Joey. "But what the hell, Mansion of the Mummies V here I come!"

"Wait for me Joey," shouted Tristan.

Duke ran walked off into the arcade and said: "I'm going to play a game of 'who will be the next Misses Devlin.'"

"You're growing up fast," said Téa as she Yami, Serenity, Yuri and Alexandra sat down on a table in a room with fluorescent light. "Almost yesterday I saw you sleeping in that crib back in the castle of Raasay."

"Now, he's a man," said Yami ruffling Yuri's hair. "Top Duelist in school just falling behind Zane; star of the academy and now you're going on dates."

The three of them heard a commotion coming from a group of people circling a dueling dance game.

"Let's go check it out," said Téa.

"Sure," said Yuri as he and the others got up and followed Téa to the dance arena. There was a colored punk with wacky hair and piercings all over his face. He wore a red shirt and black pants and his fingers had many different rings on them. He was beating Dr. Crowler silly. The poor old man tripped and fell on his bottom and watched sadly as he lost.

"Ah, it's like DDR back on Earth," said Yuri.

"Keep going!" shouted a voice on the speakers of the game. "Whoa, you're opponent is creaming you!"

Dr. Crowler fell as he lost and the punk did his signature pose.

"Whoa," said a spectator. "That was cool."

"I wonder where Johnny Steps got those moves," said a youngster.

"Forget the moves," said another. "I want to know where he gets the hair."

Johnny turned around. "Anyone else think they can take on Johnny Steps?" he said confidently.

He looked around and spotted Professor Gardner.

"Hey, you girl in the pink, think you've got what it takes to take me on?"

"Come on, Téa, let's get out of here," said Yuri.

Téa shook her head.

"Take my word for it and don't challenge him," said Dr. Crowler as he left, rubbing his aching back.

Téa got a twinkle in her eye. She smiled and tossed her jacket and purse in the air. The jacket landed softly on Yami's arms while the purse whacked Yuri in the face.

"What are you doing Téa?" asked Alexandra.

"What's it look like?" Téa asked as she climbed up the metal steps. "Okay, let's go," she said Johnny.

"We go when I say we go," said Johnny. "You're gonna be so embarrassed once I trounce that sweet ass of yours."

"Yuck, you're really creepy man," said Téa.

"Ha, let's get this party started," said Johnny.

The lights around the stage dimmed down. With a loud POOM! Multi-colored lights burst on, shading the stage in pinks, greens, blues, and reds.

"IT'S TIME TO MAKE SOME NOISE!" shouted the machine.

Téa and Johnny began to dance. It was a side of Téa Yuri never thought he would see. She looked beautiful.

"Whoa, you two are off the hook!" said the machine.

Téa continued to dance gracefully. The crowd below the stage stared at her and admired her.

"Check-her-out."

"Wow, that girl's got some nice moves."

"Moves that not even Johnny can pull."

Téa did not miss a single step. Johnny was losing his cool and was losing the game. He muttered curse words under his teeth.

"It's going to be a photo finish," said the machine.

"Dudes, she's phenomenal."

"Loser!" said the machine.

"Shut the fuck up!" Johnny shouted in his head. "Time to pull off some signature moves."

Johnny was no longer dancing. He was assaulting Téa. He tried to trip her and punch her and elbow her in the ribs. Yuri's eyes began to glow all white, Yami's puzzle began to act up.

"What's this?" he said.

PING! Yuri released a shockwave from his forehead and caused Johnny to trip and fall. When it was over Yuri shook his head.

"Whoa, who won?" he asked in a daze. He looked like he came back from another world and forgot where he was.

"Yuri?" said Yami. "What was that?"

Yuri groaned, rubbing circles around his temples which burned in a searing pain. "What was what?"

Téa continued to dance until she won the game. The crowd cheered for her as she turned around and taunted Johnny by smacking her buttocks and sticking her tongue at him. She turned to her friends and gave a V for victory. The three of them snapped out of their shock and gave her a thumbs up. They went back to the table and ordered food. Yuri wasn't hungry but he happily accepted and orange soda.

"That was so awesome." said Téa as she wiped sweat from her neck and chest with a handkerchief. "Hopefully that will shut Johnny up for a while."

"That was an excellent battle Téa," said Yami. "Well done."

Téa focused back at Yuri. She stared at him as he helped set a napkin on Alexandra's lap.

"What a gentleman," said Alexandra. "You, Mai and Serenity raised him well."

"What a load of bull," said Johnny as he approached them.

"Goddesses above," said Téa. "You assault me and now you're stalking me. Do I have to file a restraining order on your ass?"

"Just what do want from us you jerk?" asked Alexandra.

"A rematch!" said Johnny. "I would have beaten you if my light didn't act up and I had gum under my shoe which cause me to slow down a bit."

"Give it up," said Téa.

Yami chuckled. "You'll have your rematch," he said. "But you're going to duel a different way."

"Stay outta this porcupine head, this feud is between me and the girl."

"I'll give you your rematch but you'll have to win the duel he's challenging you to," said Téa.

"Fine I'm not afraid of you, what's the game big-head?"

"I'm not going to be your opponent," Yami said as he got up and walked to Yuri. "Your opponent will be this boy." Yami placed his hands on Yuri's shoulders. "And the game is Duel Monsters. And if my student here beats you, you are to never bother Téa again."

Johnny flashed his white teeth like a sneering lion. "Duel Monsters, eh? I happen to be a pro at that myself. Fine, but if I win the girl right there is coming home with me."

"Eww," said Alexandra. "Is he talking about me?"

"Done," said Téa.

"Good, see you at the arena, junior," Johnny said as he walked away.

"Téa, you are aware of what happens when Yuri loses," said Alexandra. "You're crazy to accept this duel."

"Crazy?" said Téa. "I'd be crazy if Yugi asked anyone else to duel for me. But he didn't ask anyone else. He's got Yuri and Yuri can't lose."

Yuri followed Johnny to a dueling arena. There was a fluorescent light above it.

"Ready to rumble?" sneered Johnny.

"Sure," said Yuri.

They both started with 4000 Life Points. Johnny decided to play with traditional rules.

"I'll go first," said Johnny. "I summon Enchanting Mermaid in attack mode."

Enchanting Mermaid

Atk/1200 Def/ 900

Because they were in a jumbo arena the monsters in the pit below them were super-sized. Yuri drew his card. "Hey, not bad," he said. "I summon Uraby in attack mode! Uraby attack his mermaid!"

Uraby

Atk/1500 Def/800

Uraby fired meteors from its mouth like a mini-gun and destroyed the mermaid. Johnny lost 300 points bringing him to 3700.

"It looks like you got lucky punk," said Johnny. "But don't let this attack get to your head. I summon Element Valkyrie."

Element Valkyrie

Atk/1500 Def/1200

Yuri was puzzled. He wondered why Johnny didn't summon something stronger.

"This guy's pathetic," said Yuri.

"What's wrong Yuri?" asked Téa.

"I don't know," Yuri answered. "Johnny's monsters seem to be all over the place."

"I see," said Yami. "If you think you can beat my student but just randomly throwing monsters out. You are sadly mistaken."

"Hey, last I checked this didn't concern you porcupine head. Now make your move kid."

"Kid? I'm eighteen years old." Yuri said as he drew his card. "I summon Crawling Dragon #2 in attack mode and I will destroy your Element Valkyrie!"

Crawling Dragon #2

Atk/1600 Def/1200

Crawling Dragon #2 looked like a black skinny t-rex with a long neck and a purple belly and had a mouth with razor-sharp incisors. It extended its neck and bit off the valkyrie's head. Crawling Dragon #2 put its neck back to its normal size as Element Valkyrie's body twirled and fell on the floor. Johnny lost 100 Life Points and was now at 3600.

"Don't get to full of yourself, four-eyes, I'm through playing around. I summon Sonic Maid and I use the spell Double Summon to bring out my Bio-Mage. And now I use polymerization and fuse Queen's Double and Hibikime together to make the beautiful and mighty Empress Judge.

"Oh no!" said Yami. "Johnny summoned three monsters,"

"Very weak monsters," said Tristan. "Of course, with 2100 ATK, that Empress Judge is something to worry about."

"Pretty impressive huh, Téa?" bragged Johnny.

Téa growled angrily.

Johnny laughed at her reaction. "Now see how cool they can really be when my mighty Empress Judge wipes away that Crawling Dragon #2!"

Empress Judge raised her golden staff and spun it around creating a crimson thundercloud. Vermillion sparks of lightning flashed out of the cloud. Empress Judge stopped spinning the staff and the lightning surged on the ruby orb on the top. She aimed her staff at Crawling Dragon and fired the lightning at Yuri's monster burning it to a crisp. Yuri lost 500 points dropping his score to 3500.

"No way," said Yuri as he scratched his head. "This guy's actually pretty good."

"Come on Yuri!" shouted Joey.

"We believe in you!" said Téa.

"I summon Super-Ancient Dinobeast!" Yuri said as he summoned a very strange blue dinosaur that seemed to be made of rock. Its attack was 2700 more than enough to blow Empress Judge away. And he did blasting 600 points out of Johnny's Life Points. Johnny was now sitting at 3000.

Téa and the others cheered as Super-Ancient Dinobeast shook its head.

"You think you're so hot huh?" snapped Johnny. "Well watch this. First I switch my Bio-Mage and Sonic Maid into defense mode and activate the spell Chorus of Sanctuary. With this spell, our monsters defenses increase by five hundred."

Sonic Maid Bio-Mage

Def/900 + 500 = 1400 Def/1000 + 500 = 1500

"I now use another polymerization to fuse together Lady of Faith and Witch of the Black Forest to make a whole new rockin' rollin' entity better known as The Musician King!" Johnny summoned a punk with blonde spiky hair held up by a red headband. He wore spiky armbands and bright red fingerless gloves and navy blue pants. He held in his hands a white and red electric guitar.

Musician King

Atk/1750 Def/1500

"How's about playing Uraby a couple of riffs," said Johnny.

Musician King began to fiercely play his guitar sending sound waves that destroyed all of Uraby's molecules.

"No Uraby!" shouted Yuri as he lost 250 Life Points. He was now at 3250.

"Well, I place these two cards face down and end my turn."

"Super-Ancient Dinobeast attack Musician King!"

"Hah! You fell for my trap, I activate the trap Metalmorph which turns Musician King into the pump rockin' Heavy Metal King!"

Musician King grew long hair, he had a spiky metal crown, black face paint on his eyes. He grew a blue denim jacket with spikes coming out of the shoulders. He had black commando boots and spiked knee and elbow pads. His electric guitar became platinum coated. His attack went up to 2050.

"He's still weaker than Yuri's dinosaur Johnny," said Alexandra.

"Oh yeah, well watch as I activate the trap Covering Fire!"

"Oh no!" went Yami.

"What does that do?" asked Téa.

"Covering Fire allows Johnny to transfer the attack points of one of his monsters to one of his."

"Now, I'll transfer my Sonic Maid's attack to my Heavy Metal King's attack. Now his attack raises to thirty-two fifty! Blast him away!"

"I don't believe this!" groaned Yuri.

"Well, guess what, because of Metalmorph my Heavy Metal King's attack increases by 300 so now his attack is thirty-five fifty!"

Heavy Metal King's music was deafening. Super-Ancient Dinobeast disintegrated into dust. Yuri was now at 2400. Now that the battle was over Heavy Metal King's attack went back to 2050.

"Oh-no Yuri!" cried Téa.

"I now summon Black Stego in defense mode."

"What are you nuts? With Metalmorph out every monster, my Heavy Metal King attacks gives him a 300 point boost. Guess you better learn the hard way aaaaannnnnd KICK IT!" he shouted holding his arms up in the air dramatically. Heavy Metal King blasted away Black Stego and his attack increased to 2350.

"I guess your Black Stego couldn't face the music. I promise the music will be much more romantic on our date tonight, Téa. And that cute blondie is welcome to join us, too."

Alexandra glared at him and snarled.

"Oh, Crap," said Yur. He summoned Little D and Tomozaurus the next two turns both getting blasted away by the loud music increasing Heavy Metal King's attack to 2950.

"And now," said Johnny. "I equip my Heavy Metal King with Malevolent Nuzzler which increases his attack by seven hundred points."

"I summon Sabersaurus in defense mode."

Johnny's raised his fist confidently. "Face it, Yuri, there is nothing you can do! Go Heavy Metal King send that dino back to the Stone Age."

"I summon Black Giganoto!" shouted Yuri.

Black Giganoto had jet black skin, burning red eyes and light-brown stripes. It had three rows of sharp teeth in its mouth which concealed a long, slimy, black tongue. Its claws were thirty inches long, and a spiked collar went around its neck with a chain dangling from it.

Black Giganoto

Atk/3500 Def/2900

"Pretty impressive monster Yuri," said Johnny. "But my Heavy Metal King's attack far exceeds the power of that overgrown lizard."

"That's what you think," said Yuri.

"What are you talking about?" asked Johnny.

"Watch!" said Yuri.

Black Giganoto roared and as it did its eyes lit up. It shook its head and charged at Heavy Metal King. It grabbed him with its mouth making a loud chomp and shook him violently then swallowed him up. Johnny lost 750 Life Points and was now at 2250. Yuri then attacked Sonic Maid and Johnny lost 1400 and his Life Points dropped to 850.

"Wha-what just happened?" asked Johnny in disbelief.

"Black Giganoto can attack two monsters every battle phase and when he attacks a monster in defense mode the difference between your monster's defense and my monster's attack is subtracted from your Life Points."

"But my Heavy Metal King's attack was higher than your monster's attack," said Johnny.

"That may be true," said Yami. "Whenever your monster attacks he gets the two hundred point boost but since Yuri's monster attacked Heavy Metal King doesn't receive the bonus. Metalmorph is a powerful card when you use it correctly. I think you should read the text on the card a little more carefully."

"I knew something about that card didn't make sense," said Yuri. "DAMN how could I not see that?"

"I think you need to pay more attention in class, babe," said Mai as she and Serenity watched from a floor above the arena.

"Aww MAN!" shouted Johnny as he threw his cards on the scanner. "Wait did you just say his name is Yuri?"

"I did," said Yami.

"No way you…you're him, but it can't be. Not the same Yuri who destroyed Anubis, and beat Dr. Crowler! It can't be you."

"I sure am," said Yuri as he held up the Divine Beasts from his special deck box.

"No way, I can't hang with you, I'm out of here man. I'm a fucking dancer, not a Duelist." Johnny got off of the dueling platform and ran out of the arcade.

"What a loser," said Joey.

Téa ran to Yuri and squeezed him constantly kissing his cheek and saying: "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You've done well tonight Yuri," said Yami. "Just pay a little more attention out there."

"Yes sir," said Yuri.

An arm sensuously wrapped around his waist, followed by the soft cushioning of Alexandra's breast on his shoulder. Yuri turned to look at her and gave him a long kiss.

"Whoa," said Duke.

Alexandra let him go and nuzzled her nose with Yuri's. "You Dueled splendidly, my love. Professors, it's been fun, but I desire to be alone with my Yuri tonight."

Serenity did not like Alexandra hogging Yuri as though he were her toy. She balled her fists to contain the rage inside of her. She felt her fluids boiling with a white-hot anger. She calmed herself to keep her face from burning pink and showing off her displeasure toward Alexandra.

The Princess of Dragon's Nest saw Serenity's cheeks tinge a cute shade of pink and smiled. Arm-in-arm, she and Yuri left them behind. Yuri turned back to say goodbye to his guardians, but Alexandra yanked his arm dominantly, silencing him.

"She's going to be the death of him, Yugi," said Joey. "Mark my words."

Yuri walked across the beach with a lantern in hand, though it was not needed thanks to the silvery light of the moon, Luthia, which bathed the world in brilliant white. The sands of the beach looked like snow and the water of the ocean resembled bluish-black ink. The cool breeze from the ocean led Yuri to his betrothed and cooled his face, chilling the beads of sweat on his brow and his cheeks.

There was a lonely tree on a dune with a swing hanging from its lowest branch. Alexandra was on it smiling as she swung back and forth, naked. Her brilliant skin was glowing bright blue in the light of the moon and her hair a curtain of silk platinum. She dug her feet into the sand and spun around on the swing. She giggled seeing her prince charming approach her.

"Your majesty," she called out mischievously.

Yuri smiled and blew out the flame of his lantern leaving them in the light of the moon. He swept her off the swing and brought her to the sands where they made love until the sun rose.

"Skip class, my love," Alexandra said, pulling a wool blanket over their naked bodies. She put an arm around his chest and kissed his neck. "Let's just stay here. The two of us. I don't want this to end."

"Crowler's going to kill me," said Yuri.

"If that man, for lack of a better word, has anything to say about it, he can deal with my father."

"Well, I guess I can trust Antilles with keeping me clear of Dr. Crowler's wrath," chuckled Yuri.

"Why do you fear him?" said Alexandra, tracing her finger over his shoulder. "You're the High King, love. You can do whatever you want. No one can tell you what not to do."

"But what about Yugi and the others?" said Yuri, petting the back of Alexandra's head. "They expect so much from me."

Alexandra sniggered. "They are too self-righteous. They always believe in honor and friendship. In fact, I think they worship it. It makes me sick sometimes, hearing them go on and on about the power of friendship. They act like brave warriors when in fact they're nothing but cheerleaders screaming: "Go Yugi!" "Go Yuri!". Kings do not rule countries with honor and friendship, my love. Termnnia needs a man of action. I see that you are one. The things you did. The battles you fought. All on your own without those corny friendship speeches. Without them."

"You really think so?" Yuri asked.

"If they relied more on their own skills than their bond, Yuri, I have no doubt your parents would still be alive."

That caused Yuri to go silent. "You're wrong."

"What?" said Alexandra.

"I said you're wrong, Alexandra!" He threw her arm off him and sat up. "Yugi and the others, sure, they're too good. Self-righteous like you said. But they did not get my mother and father killed. Even if they did rally sword and defended my parents, Anubis would have killed them anyway."

"Don't be angry," whined Alexandra. "Oh, everything was going so perfect."

"Things can't always be perfect, Alexandra. Yugi, Mai, Téa, Serenity, Tristan, Duke, Joey. They may not be all the things you think a person should be but...they love me."

"And I don't?" Alexandra asked.

"I have yet to see that. Your gifts and the sex, which I enjoyed; that's no lie, don't tell me much. I guess what I'm trying to say is, you've got a lot to prove to me before I can see your feelings for me are true. That I do have your heart, and you're not using me as a mere political pawn to move House Dragonheart back on the board. There was a lot for me to lose if I refused you."

"My feelings for you are true, Yuri!" said Alexandra. "I insist! I will prove it to you, I promise."

"Until you do, I think we need a little space," said Yuri. "We shouldn't have done this. I let my lust for you get the best of me this night."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Alexandra. I may be marrying you, but that doesn't mean I love you. I have to get to class."

Yuri got up and dressed. Then he made his way up the dunes, leaving Alexandra alone, and angered.

---

Yuri

---

October arrived this day with a cold and furious gale. Thunder shook up the school. As Yuri passed the halls he could see Jack-O-Lanterns grinning at him from every corner as he strolled to the cafeteria on the second level of the castle overlooking the bay which was where he and his friends would meet before every class. They picked a table before a grand fireplace in the shape of a bronze dragon.

The sky was so dark the chandeliers had to be lit. Waves smashed into the windows as if the sea itself was demanding to be let inside. But Yuri and his friends ate their breakfast cozy and warm by the fire. Ricky sat on the table munching on candied carrots and hashed browns. The wind howled against the windows. But as he enjoyed his meal, Yuri and his friends were pondering their field exams which were coming earlier than expected. They were scheduled for November, but Yuri learned that with the peace conference taking place in Michael's kingdom coming soon, the teachers of the academy were rushing their lesson plans so the exams were taking place today.

"This can't wait till after the semester?" Yuri asked stirring his eggs with his golden fork. "I've already had my mid-terms crammed down my throat and it's only the second month." He had a magazine in his hands reading the morning's humorous political comics.

"This is important," said Michael rearranging his deck for a duel he had this afternoon. "The King of Naralia wants us to make peace with him. I think it's a noble thing to do after the hell his father, the former king Forrest, put us through."

"But he's a Yeyunist," declared Yuri. "I thought they disagreed with our way of life."

"They do," said Jaeyoung. "But ignoring his offer for friendship will just add fuel to the fire and we can't have Termnnia divided any longer. The Orcs prepare for war, the last thing we need is our armies torn apart for petty political and religious views. King Stefan has proven the smarter party here he wants peace, but you say you want to ignore him. No offense 'prince' but that makes you the weaker figure in this mess."

"I don't trust him," said Yuri. "I can't trust someone with views such as his."

"Perhaps he wants to toss his radical ideology aside for the sake of our kingdoms," said Jon, he raised a spoon full of vegetable soup into his mouth. "We won't know until we meet him."

"I'm still ticked," said Yuri. "His urgency has cut our semester short. I hardly had a chance to duel."

"Which would you rather have," scoffed Phoenix, setting down her textbook on Fusion. She sat close to the fire. Lightning flashed behind her, "another few months of playing your silly game or a chance to unite with the North after decades of war? I'm with the latter on this one."

"She's right," said Ryon, chewing on a muffin. "I say we give the guy a chance. Besides, if he's stupid enough to start anything our forces outnumber him a hundred to one thanks to Yuri's marriage with Alexandra."

Phoenix rolled her eyes.

"Someone's pissed," teased Ricky.

"I don't like her," pouted Phoenix.

"Neither do we," said Jon. "But it had to be done. Yuri would have gambled a lot having those forces move onto someone else's turf. Especially if they went to his traitorous cousin."

"Oh man, I have to face Wisteria from the West Dorm," whined Syrus.

"Well, she's easy compared to who I have to face," said Yuri.

"Who?" Phoenix asked.

"Some kid from the Mirage Dragon Dorm," said Michael. "He uses bug monsters."

"Oh my," Phoenix gasped. "That's a match I can't miss! That sounds amazing."

"But that match ain't till later," said Ricky. 'This morning we have Jon verses that pretty boy from our dorm room, Dancer."

"He should be easy," said Michael. "His deck has no theme, save for the fact that it's all-female monsters."

"Well, that's true," said Jon. "But he knows how to make them work. I mean the guy has twenty-one wins and only six losses that's not a bad ratio."

"Well, Jon, you'd better hurry up and eat," said Phoenix. "As I recall your duel is the first one of the day."

Jon gave a loud sigh and slowly finished his pancakes. He got up and left for a meadow arena shielded by a glass dome followed by Yuri and the others. The meadow was already bustling with a crowd anxious to get started with their matches. Yuri noticed some girls crowding around Ser Dancer cheering for him and holding banners with his name on it. Jon walked to an arena which was a white two-yard long rectangle painted on the grass. Dancer waved goodbye to his fans and went to his position. Stadium lights illuminated the darkness of the stormy afternoon.

"How cute," Jaeyoung said sarcastically while shaking his head.

Crowler walked beside the stadium holding a pink umbrella to shield him from the bright lights. He wore a white polo t-shirt and khaki shorts and round black glasses over his eyes. He took a gold coin from his pocket and looked at the two men.

"Heads," called Jon.

"Tails," Dancer said with a yawn.

Crowler flipped and caught the coin. "Tails! Dancer starts first."

"Dancer, Dancer, GO! GO! Fight! Fight!" cheered Dancer's fans.

"All right," said Dancer. "Let's get started. Double J, we may be roommates and all, but it won't mean I'll go easy on you."

"Hey, Dancer, you can start anytime now," said Jon.

"All right, I'll play these two cards face down and summon the lovely Marauding Knight."

Dancer summoned a pretty golden-haired warrior maiden wearing silver armor and a large claymore the size of a full-grown man. Her breastplate had a plunging neckline and she wore an armored tasset with blue cloth and silver patterns.

Marauding Knight

ATK/1500 DEF/1600

"Wow, she's pretty," said Syrus as he gawked at the gorgeous blonde female soldier.

"Phew," whistled Jaden. "What a babe of a monster."

"And, with her special ability I can summon a monster with 1500 or fewer attack points and I choose Queen's Knight. Now I'll equip her with Divine Sword-Phoenix Blade increasing her attack by 300!'

Queen's Knight

ATK/1500 + 300 = 1800

"Your turn Double J," said Dancer.

"JACK! JACK! GO! GO! FIGHT! FIGHT!" cheered the girls.

"Okay let's see what I can do," said Jon. "Ah, since you have two monsters more than I do, I can special summon this guy from my hand, The Fiend Megacyber."

Jon summoned an eight-foot-tall warrior in gold armor that had black lightning bolts painted on them. Its attack was 2200.

"Now I'll summon Marauding Captain and with his effect, I can special summon a level four or lower monster and I choose Command Knight. Now with my knight's special ability all of my warrior monsters get a 400 attack point boost."

Command Knight + 400 = 1600

Fiend Megacyber +400 = 2600

Marauding Captain + 400 = 1600

"Ooooh," said Dancer. "Remember that combo, Ethan."

"Don't remind me," said Ethan.

Jon attacked first with his Marauding Captain aiming for his female counterpart Marauding Knight, however, Dancer activated a trap card called Kunai with Chain. The Marauding Knight was suddenly equipped with the massive weapon. The card could either switch an opposing monster into defense position or it could increase one of your monster's attack by 400 points and, of course, Dancer chose that one; increasing his knight's attack to 1900. The crowd gasped as Marauding Knight dodged Marauding Captain's attack.

She wrapped the chain around the captain's body and slit his throat with her sword. Marauding Captain rolled on the ground coughing blood as he grabbed his throat which had a massive gash spewing a waterfall of blood into his clothes and onto the ground. Marauding Knight smiled at her work and walked to Jon's monster, swaying her hips from side to side, tantalizing the crowd.

She raised up her sword and stuck it into the captain's heart. Jon's monster disappeared and his Life Points dropped to 3700. He attacked next with Fiend Megacyber targeting his Queen's Knight, but then Dancer activated a spell card called Shrink which cut Fiend Megacyber's attack in half, therefore, shrinking his attack to 1300. Queen's Knight jumped up high, dodging the Fiend Megacyber's punch. She made an elegant spin, as if doing ballet and slashed the monster in half. Broken circuits swayed in the air as gushes of purple blood sprayed into the grass. The monster vanished and Jon's Life Points dropped to 3200.

"You going to keep attacking Jon?" taunted Dancer. "Or are you thirsty for more?"

"Shit," said Jon. "I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Relax Jon this'll be over soon," Dancer said as he blew a kiss to the girls who began to cheer even louder. Things weren't looking good for Jon. Dancer drew his card.

"I'll now summon Command Princess," he said summoning a gorgeous female warrior in revealing armor and wielding a massive claymore. Her armor resembled that of Command Knight's, save that it showed more skin.

Command Princess

ATK/1200 DEF/2000

"This lovely soldier of mine will increase the attack and defense of all my Warrior monsters by 200 points." bragged Dancer. "And if I have at least one monster on the field she can't be chosen as an attack target and IF she does happen to get destroyed the damage I take will be zero; best of all she'll keep coming because if she gets sent to the Graveyard I can discard one Warrior monster from my hand to bring her back to the field."

"There's a flaw to that though," said Michael. "She losses 500 attack points every time she returns to the field."

"I don't think he cares," said Chumley. "Pretty sure Dancer has things covered so he won't need to worry about sending her to the grave."

"Can't count Jon out on this one yet," said Yuri.

"He's right." said Michael." Jon may get out of this one."

Command Princess + 200 = 1400

Queen's Knight + 200 = 2000

Marauding Knight + 200 = 2100

"Queen's Knight attack Command Knight!" Queen's Knight sprinted to Jon's monster and jumped up high to slice him in half. However, Jon activated his trap called Call of the Haunted which, could bring back a monster from the Graveyard and he chose Fiend Megacyber. Since Command Knight also had the ability to not be chosen as an attack target if the owner had at least one monster on the field Dancer ceased his attack.

"Not bad," said Dancer. "You saved yourself for now. I end my turn."

Jon drew his next card. He smirked a little, set a monster face-down in defense mode and ended his turn. Dancer shook his head, chuckled and said: "Thanks, my girls could use a little warm-up, I mean we're just getting started huh! Queen's Knight, attack his face-down monster." The knight did as she was told and attacked. Jon's monster turned out to be a Morphing Jar. When flipped its effect activated. Both players had to discard their hands to the graveyard and draw a fresh new hand. Jon could tell Dancer was not pleased with what he drew. He set a card face down and ended his turn. Jon then drew his next card. He used a spell card called Monster Reborn and brought back Marauding Captain then used him as a tribute to summon Knight of the Red Lotus and activated his effect. Once per turn, Jon could summon a level 4 or lower Normal Monster from his Graveyard and it just so happened that he had one in his hand the moment before Morphing Jar activated. Warrior Dai Grepher. And thanks to Command Knight the attacks of Knight of the Red Lotus and Warrior Dai Grepher rose by 400.

Knight of the Red Lotus

ATK/ 2100 + 400 = 2500

Warrior Dai Grepher

ATK 1700 + 400 = 2100

Jon attacked and destroyed Dancer's Marauding Knight with Knight of the Red Lotus causing him to lose 400 points dropping him to 3600 Life Points. Then Jon attacked Queen's Knight with Warrior Dai Grepher taking away one hundred of his Life Points. And finally, he ordered Fiend Megacyber to attack Command Princess but his attack was halted after Dancer activated his trap, Shadow Spell. Neon blue chains stretched from pools of darkness that appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around Fiend Megacyber dropping his attack by 700 points and making him totally useless for now he could neither switch his position or attack. Shadow Spell turned Jon's Fiend Megacyber into an easy target. "Shit." Jon cursed. He placed a card face down and he ended his turn. Dancer drew his card and smiled.

"I summon Kanan the Swordmistress and then tribute her to summon her newest form. I summon Legendary General, Kanan!"

"Whoa," said Yuri. "Must be one of those 'Only in Termnnia' kind of cards."

"What's with this guy's deck?" said Ryon. "They're nothing but scantily-clad females."

"Still, that looks like one of the strongest monsters in Dancer's deck," Jaeyoung replied.

"Not to mention one of the hottest," said Ricky as he bounced up and down Yuri's shoulder watching as Kanan the Swordmistress's green armor withered away.

She covered herself as best she could with her hands and arms when light swirled around her and formed into a massive suit of black and gold armor. Kanan's long chestnut hair formed into a long ponytail tied with a gold ribbon. Her pauldrons were curved and long with a big round blood-red gem in the middle and red banners with a gold emblem hanging from gold rings attached to a hole at the end. The chestplate she wore was decorated with gold butterflies and opened to reveal the swell of her breasts as well as her gold pendant that hung around her neck.

She had a black and gold tasset with a black cloth underneath damasked with gold fastened around her waist that revealed her long shapely legs one of which had lacy black garter which caused many of the boys' mouths to drop. Crowler began to sweat and pulled on the collar of his shirt with nervousness ("Where do they find these monsters?" he said to himself). In her right hand she carried a tower shield that matched her black and gold armor and on her right was a massive broadsword; a two-handed weapon she amazing held in one hand with ease.

Legendary General, Kanan

ATK/2800 DEF/2100

"Now, here comes my favorite part," said Dancer as he proudly folded his arms. "She gains a 300 attack point boost for every warrior-type monster I have in the Graveyard, and I have three, so that brings her attack points up by a total of nine hundred!"

2800 + 900 + 200 (Command Princess) = 3900

Jon was in complete shock. Dancer loudly ordered his beautiful warrior to attack Jon's Fiend Megacyber. She walked up to the monster puckered up her lips and slashed him in half and causing Jon to lose 1800 of his Life Points dropping his score to 1900 points. "Aw, shit," said Jon as he drew his card. "I use the spell card; Raigeki, with this I can destroy all of your monsters!" Lightning bolts fell from the sky striking all around Dancer's monsters. Command Princess shielded herself and screamed in fear. Suddenly Kanan raised her sword into the air. The lightning struck it and vanished and suddenly Kanan's attack increased to 4200. "WHAT THE HELL!" shouted Jon.

Dancer started to laugh while his fangirls cheered and cheered.

"Sorry, Jon it's one of my lovely monster's special abilities. See, I can discard one Warrior-Type monster from my hand to negate and destroy the effects of your spell cards. And since the monster I discarded was the beautiful G.B. Hunter, a Warrior-Type, she gave the 300 point boost to my general."

"YOU ASSHOLE!" shouted Jon.

"I'm sorry Double J, it's what happens to those who face me. Now make your next move! So I can finish this duel. My girls and I have some hanging out to do."

Jon held his breath as he drew his card. Turn after turn after turn Kanan walloped his best monsters and so far he used all his best Traps and Spells to keep her at bay. But now his Life Points were at an all-time low. It all rode on his next draw. He drew his card and smiled and took a deep breath. His only hope for this to succeed was if the remaining cards in Dancer's hand were not Warriors. If so his plan would be ruined and therefore it would make Kanan stronger causing him to lose the duel.

He summoned a monster called Gearfried the Iron Knight. Now came the moment of truth. So far Dancer was not impressed with Gearfried. Jon reached for the spell card he needed and activated it. Release Restraint. Dancer's look meant he had a chance and now Jon's fear was swept away and turned into confidence as he watched Dancer fumble through his hand wondering what to do. He knew what was coming when Gearfried was on the field with Release Restraint. Gearfried's armor dropped to the ground and revealed a towering warrior with messy long jet-black hair wearing a ragged brown fur surcoat and a giant leather belt around his waist and black boots. Gearfried the Swordmaster.

Gearfried the Swordmaster

ATK/ 2600 DEF/ 2200

Gearfried was a powerful monster. When Jon gave him Equip spell cards Gearfried could destroy one monster on the field. Jon had in his hand United We Stand which increased Gearfried's attack by 800 for each monster out, himself included. He plus the Command Knight and his bonus was a total of 4600 attack points. Gearfried raised his powerful muscular arms in the air and fired green lightning bolts at Command Princess disintegrating her. Her clothes and armor fell to the ground as her ashes were swept away by the wind. And then Jon equipped his mighty warrior with Fusion Sword Murasame Blade which added another 800 points to Gearfried increasing his attack to 5400. The demonic blade appeared in Gearfried's hand and with it he slashed open a vortex to the Graveyard. Kanan was sucked into it and the vortex closed.

"NO KANAN!" shouted Dancer. Jon ordered Gearfried to attack but he was so full of adrenaline he completely forgot about Dancer's face-down card. I didn't have anything to destroy it with anyway, Jon said looking back at his hand. It's now or never. Dancer quickly activated his face-down card, Ring of Destruction. A red ring attached with grenades morphed around Gearfried's neck. The pins dropped and the ring exploded. "Sorry, Jon but I activated Ring of Destruction it destroys your monster and deals damage to both of us equal to the destroyed monster's attack. So sorry, buddy it's a tie, nice duel by the...HUH!?"

Dancer looked at his Duel Disk and saw that his Life Points did not drop. The dust cleared and revealed Gearfried the Swordmaster still standing proudly on the field. "Sorry man," said Jon. "But I had a trap of my own, Destruction Jammer. I discard one card to negate the activation of an Effect monster, spell or Trap that destroys monsters on the field and destroy them, so Gearfried is just fine and so are our Life Points." He laughed. "Well, mine anyway. Gearfried, attack Dancer directly!"

And that's what Gearfried just did. Dancer roared in agony when he was slashed across the chest and knocked twelve feet on his back.

"Jon is the winner!" announced Crowler. "Results will be posted outside my office." He was rating their skills on a scale of one to five on a checklist.

Yuri, Phoenix, and Jaeyoung ran to their friend and shook his hand while Dancer's fangirls ran to him and picked him up. "Hey Jon," he said as he hung over the arms of two of his fans who got to him the quickest. "Good match, let's play again sometime. You're a tough opponent."

"You too man, take care."

"All right, girls," said Dancer. "Who wants to join me in the hot springs? The first one there gets to massage my aching back."

The fangirls screamed and followed him up the mountains. Yuri shook his head and laughed. "Oh, that son of a bitch,"

"You'd best prepare," said Phoenix. She was wiping the sweat from her neck and chest with a pink handkerchief. "You have a duel with Weevil Underwood."

"Oh, great," said Yuri. "I'm gonna have some lunch beforehand."

Someone laughed. Yuri turned and saw a magenta-haired Anime girl from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon dorm leaning against a tree to shade herself from the hot sun.

"I know her," said Phoenix. "She's my opponent, Missy. A bug duelist much like your opponent Yuri."

"That's right babe," said Missy. "And if I were you, I'd hold out on that lunch. Weevil's monsters are pretty sick. Many people start to gag and turn green every time they face him. He may be in the East Dorm, but he's their top student. I wouldn't be surprised if he beats Yuri and advances."

"He has a huge crush on you," said Phoenix.

"Bleh, he's a good duelist I'll give him that but he's not my type. See you in a few Phoenix." Missy said walking away. And not too far behind her was Yuri's opponent, a small boy with a green-domed hair-do, gold glasses, and a sneering grin. On his shoes instead of laces, he had plastic flies. He wore the academy uniform. His slacks were short to reveal his skinny legs. He squeaked a "Hello" at Missy but Missy didn't hear it and walked off. Phoenix hid behind Yuri as Weevil walked down the hill towards them.

"Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!" Weevil snickered as he made his way to Yuri. "So you must be the legendary Eradicator of Anubis. We meet at last hee, hee, hee, hee, hee."

"I take it this is him?" Yuri asked.

"Uh-Huh," Phoenix shivered disgusted by the boy's presence. "Weevil Underwood. The Master Bug Duelist."

"It's nice to know I'm so well-known with the ladies." laughed Weevil. "Especially such a lovely young butterfly such as you, Miss Lockheart."

"Eww!" screeched Phoenix.

"Shall we start?" Yuri asked.

"Of course, the East Dorms have the low quality of a five-star hotel and I'm quite bored with the accommodations. If I beat you then I'm more than sure I'll be promoted to the West Dorm. Who knows my victory over you would please Crowler so much I might just skyrocket to Blue-Eyes."

"In your dreams, Underwood," said Phoenix. "Yuri, please kick his ass."

"Speaking of ass," said Weevil. "Why don't you bring yours to my dorm room after I'm done beating Delgado here?"

"Oh, GROSS!" Phoenix shrieked. Weevil laughed and walked to a good spot under the shade of one of the towers. Yuri followed and got into position on his side of the field. There was a coin toss first. Yuri calling Tails and Weevil calling Heads.

Heads. So Weevil started first.

"To begin this duel, I use the Ritual spell card; Javelin Beetle Pact. Now I send these two monsters to the Graveyard and summon Javelin Beetle. Weevil summoned a two-legged dark-blue beetle holding a golden javelin with a ring of four spear-heads shaped like insect mandibles attached to a long blue rod.

Javelin Beetle

ATK/2450 DEF/ 2550

"And next I remove my Neo-Bug from the Graveyard to summon Aztekipede, The Worm Warrior!" The ground rumbled and from the arena emerged a giant green armored centipede with red eyes and crescent-shaped tusks. It towered above the battlefield blocking the sun.

Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior

ATK/ 1900 DEF 400

"And to end my turn I summon this monster face down. Your turn."

"Okay," said Yuri. "Not bad. Missy wasn't kidding about you."

Weevil suddenly blushed. "Missy was t-talking about me?" he asked. Yuri nodded as he drew his card and placed a card face down.

"Yeah, nagging on about how strong and powerful you were. Not to mention your opponent has to bring barf-bags to every match with you. I summon Sabersaurus and attack your face-down card." Sabersaurus charged and rammed into the creature. Weevil burst out laughing making his obnoxious Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee. "Now what?" Yuri asked.

"You attacked my Needle Worm, now you must discard five cards from the top of your deck! Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Yuri groaned as his cards magically floated off the deck and into the graveyard. Super-Conductor Tyranno, Sauropod Brachion, Ultra-Evolution Pill, Giant Rex, and Jurassic World gone. Yuri seemed kind of glad he attacked that Needle Worm if he had drawn all of those he would have had a hard time ahead.

"Well looks like I have nothing else to do. So, I place a card face down and end my turn."

"Well, time for me to begin," Weevil drew his cards and was displeased. A Petit Moth. It was the only card in his hand. Now he was in trouble BUT he did have a back-up plan. There was a side deck hidden in his left elbow with a claw that reached in and switched Weevil's moth with another card. Weevil snickered again and activated it. "I drew the spell card, Card of Sanctity, which means the both of us draw until we have six cards in our hands."

Yuri shrugged and drew two cards while Weevil happily drew all six.

"Wow, talk about luck-of-the-draw," said Phoenix.

"Impressed my sweet?" Weevil laughed. "Well, you're going to love this. I place two cards face down and summon a monster in defense mode."

It was Yuri's turn. He drew his card. "I tribute Sabersaurus to summon Dark Driceratops!"

Dark Driceratops

ATK/ 2400 DEF/ 1500

Yuri summoned a bus-sized ceratopsian dinosaur with a mane of sierra colored feathers. It had saggy emerald green skin and a beak of gold. There was a crown of three small horns on its head. Next, Yuri then used the Trap card called Fossil Excavation. He discarded a card to the Graveyard to bring a Dinosaur-Type monster to the field without its special abilities. And Yuri discarded his Black Tyranno and used the effect of Fossil Excavation to bring it back. Crowler growled for Black Tyranno was a card he hated the most.

"It's that beast that beat my beloved Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem," he breathed. "Take that lizard out Underwood!"

Yuri attacked Weevil's Aztekipede with Dark Driceratops but Weevil happily activated a trap.

"Sorry, Yuri, but I activate the trap card: HALF OR NOTHING!"

"Phoenix, can you fill me in?" Yuri asked. "I never heard of it before."

"It's a nasty trap card. You either halve the attack of all the monsters you control or end your Battle Phase completely."

"Yikes," said Yuri.

"Well, Yuri, what's it going to be?" Weevil asked.

"I'm going to go with halving their attack," said Yuri.

"So be it," said Weevil as Black Tyranno's attack fell to 1300 and Dark Driceratops to 1200. Yuri ended his turn by attacking with Black Tyranno. Black Tyranno roared as it ran to Weevil's side of the field and stomped his face-down card but the attack just caused Weevil to die laughing.

"Oh, now what did I do?" Yuri asked impatiently.

"Your brainless lizard attacked my Parasite Paracide monster,"

"What does that do?" Yuri asked.

"This parasite must go face-up into your deck and then your deck gets shuffled," Weevil said as his card flew off his Duel Disk and onto Yuri's deck. The deck shuffled itself and placed itself back on Yuri's Duel Disk. "Now what?" Yuri asked.

Weevil laughed. "Now I use the spell card: Jade Insect Whistle which means you have to place an Insect-Type monster in your deck to the top of the deck."

The jade whistle appeared in front of Weevil. He grabbed it and blew as hard as he could, making a sound like a thousand crickets chirping all at once. The card flew out of Yuri's deck and landed on the top. With the device in his elbow Weevil switched his Insect Knight with another card of Sanctity. "Well lookie here," he said laughing. "Another Card of Sanctity and I'll use it right now to draw five cards."

"That's odd," Phoenix said to herself. "He's almost out of cards and he just happens to have another card of Sanctity out? I better keep a close eye on Weevil to make sure he's not up to something."

"You should," said a cold voice behind Phoenix. It was Zane. He walked beside her to watch the duel.

"Zane, what are you doing here?'

"I've come to watch our star duelist. As I said before, keep a close eye on Underwood. He's had numerous referrals and has been suspended a lot because he was caught cheating."

"I knew it," said Phoenix. "See, every time he runs out of cards he just happens to have a Card of Sanctity handy."

"I know this trick," Zane said coldly. "Watch his arm next time he's trouble."

"Okay," Phoenix agreed.

Weevil laughed as Yuri struggled to draw. "Come on Yuri, you know you have to hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!"

Yuri gulped and drew the cards he needed to have his six-card hand.

"Now that you've drawn the parasite I've put into your deck it gets special summoned to the field." The parasite flew out of Yuri's deck. It was white as bone and covered in slime, the sun's light making its long and wriggling body to shine. It squirmed as it hovered over Yuri's two monsters.

"And now you lose 1000 of your Life Points." Weevil continued.

Yuri looked at his life point meter and watched as his points dropped to 3000. "And here comes my favorite part." Weevil said licking his lips. "The parasite infects all of your monsters turning them into Insect-Type monsters hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!"

The Parasite Paracide's tentacles reached into the backs of Dark Driceratops and Black Tyranno. The two monsters roared in agony as insect legs, tentacles, abdomens, thoraxes, and wings just randomly sprouted out of their bodies.

Crowler jumped up and down with excitement pointing at Yuri's partner screaming:

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT BLACK TYRANNO!? HUH! HUH! YOU LIKE THAT!? HUH!"

"Oh do shut up Doctor!" cried Phoenix.

"Yes!" said Weevil pumping his fists. "Now, the legendary Black Tyranno has been turned into a slimy bug, and the real fun begins. I sacrifice my Doom Dozer in order to summon the lovely Empress Mantis. But that's not all. I use the spell, Insect Rejuvenation to bring back one of the monsters I used for my Javelin Beetle, Pinch Hopper and offer him to summon my lovely Insect Princess. And wait, the fun still isn't over! When Pinch Hopper gets sent to the Graveyard I can special summon an insect monster from my hand; Insect Princess's mother INSECT QUEEN!"

Empress Mantis

ATK/ 2200 DEF/ 1400

Insect Princess

ATK/ 1900 DEF/ 1200

Insect Queen

ATK/ 2200 DEF/ 2400

Weevil's best monster stood as tall as a two-floored house. It had the face of a spider-like woman with a long neck. She had six legs had the body of a spider and beetle-like wings. Weevil made his obnoxious He, he, he, he, he. Weevil then began to explain what his two new monsters could do.

"Now, first let' start with Insect Princess, when she attacks and destroys another Insect-Type monster on the field she gains 300 points; and thanks to Parasite Paracide, all of your monsters become insects. Now for my Insect Queen, she's my rarest card and she gets a 200 point bonus for each Insect-Type monster on the field and I count six since your two dinosaurs are creepy crawlies now!"

Insect Queen roared as her attack rose to 3400. Weevil attacked first with Javelin Beetle aiming for Yuri's Dark Driceratops. However, Yuri activated a spell card called Rage Rush which increased the attack on one Dinosaur-Type monster's attack by 1000 for one turn only. Weevil began to panic as Javelin Beetle ran to his doom. "Quick give me a Hisshopper on the double." Weevil said as he switched his Cocoon of Evolution with the card he wanted.

Zane narrowed his eyes.

"It's just as I thought," he said coldly. "Phoenix, call Master Yugi on your PDA now!"

"Got it!" said Phoenix. "Should we stop the duel, Zane?" she asked. Zane paused and bit his lip. "I think Yuri can handle himself," he said.

"If you say so."

"Hold it right there Yuri," said Weevil. "I use the monster, Hisshopper. I discard a card from my hand and I get to negate the effect of a spell or trap card and destroy it!"

"Oh man," said Yuri as he watched Javelin Beetle impale Dark Driceratops with his javelin. Yuri lost 50 Life Points bring him to 2950. Insect Queen lost 200 of her attack points and dropped to 3200. Insect Queen was next but in order for her to attack she had to be offered a tribute so Weevil had no choice but to give up his Javelin Beetle which caused the queen's attack to drop another 200 points making her attack 3000. She picked up the Beetle and devoured him noisily causing Phoenix to gag.

Weevil enjoyed watching her squirm with sickness and laughed as Yuri's face turned green. When she was done eating her fill, Insect Queen spat a purple acid at Black Tyranno turning him into a purple paste which she used to feed on. Using the nutrients she laid an egg. It was her special ability. After attacking a monster Weevil had to Special Summon a type of monster called a Token. The ones Insect Queen produced were called Insect Token (ATK/100 DEF/100). And since the Tokens were Insect-Type monsters her attack increased by 200. He then attacked Yuri directly with Insect Princess dropping Yuri's score to 1050. Weevil laughed and laughed. "I don't believe this—I'M GOING TO BEAT THE LORD OF TERMNNIA!"

Yuri shook his head and drew his card. He smiled. "I summon Bone Raptor!" he said happily.

Bone Raptor

ATK/ 1800 DEF/ 1300

Yuri's newest monster was a jet-black dromeosaur with a long neck and a seven-foot whip-like tail. It wore the bones of other dinosaurs like armor and had a sickle-like claw on both feet the size of a machete. Weevil laughed as it too became infected with the Parasite Paracide.

"Laugh all you want Weevil," said Yuri. "This is over."

"I beg to differ," said Weevil. "You barely have any Life Points left and my two lovely Insects are ready to feast upon that Bone Raptor so hurry up and end your turn so I can finish you!"

"Actually," said Yuri. "I think I'll use my raptor's special ability. GO!" he ordered, and Bone Raptor burrowed underground. Weevil was confused. A moment later Bone Raptor emerged holding a card in its mouth. He walked to Yuri and handed it to him. Yuri proudly showed Weevil what Bone Raptor retrieved for him. It was the spell card, Eradicating Aerosol. Weevil discarded it to the Graveyard when he used Hisshopper.

Weevil began to cry in fear once Yuri used it. The spell could be used to annihilate all Insect-Type monsters on the field. Since Bone Raptor became an insect he too was destroyed, however, like Weevil's Pinch Hopper, Bone Raptor allowed Yuri to special summon a Dinosaur from his hand, and he chose a monster called Mesozoic Shaman; a six-foot-tall saurian humanoid wielding a gold staff and wearing armor made of obsidian and gold with cinnabar decorations. For one turn he allowed Yuri to special summon a Dinosaur-Type monster from the Graveyard and increase its attack by 1000.

At the end of the turn, the monster would be sent back, but unfortunately for Weevil there was not going to be a next turn for him, for the monster Yuri summoned was Black Tyranno. Black Tyranno's attack rose to 3600 and Mesozoic Shaman had 900; they both attacked and dealt 4500 points of damage to Weevil. Weevil sunk to his knees making strange anime-expressions as his head swayed to-and-fro.

"Impressive," said Yami as he marched down the hill. "I see that you could turn the tides against a cheater like this student here."

"Cheater?" Yuri asked.

Zane came up from behind Weevil and put him in an arm-lock. Weevil struggled to be set free as Zane lifted up his sleeve to reveal the device. "What'll they think of next?" Zane said shaking his head. He ripped the device from Weevil's arm and pushed him. Weevil fell forward on the ground. "This is the device Phoenix told you about sir," Zane said handing Yami the contraption. Yami frowned.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Weevil. We've warned you time and time again not to cheat and yet you continue on dueling dishonorably. And against Yuri, your future ruler no less. I'll let you off with one more warning. If we ever catch you cheating again I'll have no choice but to tell Chancellor Sheppard and expel you from the academy do I make myself clear?"

Weevil growled in response.

"Off you go then," said Crowler. "Professor Onyx will see you in detention from four to nine o'clock p.m. all this week. And you get no credit for this exam."

"Yes, sir," Weevil said as he embarrassingly walked off.

"Yuri," Yami said looking down at the prince. "I suggest you and your friends pack your bags. We fly to Domino in the morning."

"Domino?"

"The peace conference," said Michael. "This is going to be interesting."

---

Yuri

---

"Hey, Yuri, what gives?" Yugi asked during Fusion class. Serenity was down below giving a lecture on the discovery of fusion. A fire was lit behind her desk adding much warmth to the room. She had her back to the class as she wrote down the achievements of the great wizard who discovered Polymerization.

"What do you mean what gives?" Yuri asked.

"Come on, when are you going to use that card I gave you? You promised me, you'd use it during your field exam today, but I didn't see it."

"Not now, Yugi." Yuri groaned.

"This is kind of a bad time, bro," whispered Jaden. "Yuri is going to leave for Domino in the morning."

"Aw, no way?" said Yugi.

"Totally not licious," growled Chumley. "You make a pretty mean grilled cheese sandwich, Yuri."

"I learned from the best," Yuri said, thinking about Crystal who taught him to cook when they were eight.

"Are you writing this down, gentlemen?" Evelyn asked from the row behind them. "There's a quiz on this on Friday. Conference or no conference you boys are going to take it."

"Don't worry about us," Jaeyoung said looking back up at her and her group. Xifeng was beside him reading her tome of conversational Termnnian so she could understand her friends better. She was also looking back nervously at Alexandra who would look down at her from time to time and shoot her a loving smile. There was a chair by Antoine that was empty, once reserved with Ethan who was sitting alone, to the left of the hall.

"Poor guy," said Jaden.

"After what he said, you offer him your sympathies?" said Ezra.

"Well, no, he's a jerk, but if he's lost his closest friends in the blink of an eye."

"Anyone with a knack for using such a foul word is no friend of mine," said Evelyn.

"Good riddance," said Alexis.

"I take it you're in no mood for dueling, Yuri?" Dancer asked, leaning forward. "I thought we could have a match after school?"

"Some other time, Dancer." Yuri sadly. "I've got too much on my mind. I've never been to a peace conference before, especially one with so much on the line. I'm kind of nervous."

"I understand," said Dancer, placing a hand on Yuri's shoulder. "If you need anything, let me know."

"And me," Alexandra said, turning around to look at Yuri. "Anything you need just ask. My uncle and I will help you in any way possible. You are my husband now, remember? You can always come to me for aid."

"What did I do to deserve such good friends," said Yuri.

"Aww," said Evelyn.

"Think nothing of it, my dear prince," said Alexandra. She gave a wink and turned back around. She smiled with an evil grin as she continued writing her notes.

Phoenix and Yuri walked down a dirt path. They were bundled in their scarves and coats as it suddenly got much colder thanks to a Blizzard Dragon living in the mountains of the island.

Yami promised the little children of the elementary level houses that if they all maintained good grades and good behavior, the Blizzard Dragon would conjure them snow to enjoy the holidays which were fast approaching. Christianity also made it through the Gates and Termnnia grew to celebrate Christmas. But since it was October they were preparing for Halloween. Termnnia already had such a celebration. October was called Eotarma, which in Elvish meant, Month of the Dead.

It was once said that the spirits of soldiers killed in the Great War roamed the land and haunted the families of the ones who struck them down in battle. So to appease one another and to keep the spirits from causing a ruckus, families all across the land would travel from house to house offering their neighbors Soul Cakes, spiced cakes with raisins formed to make the name of the fallen soldier, as a sign of forgiveness so as to bring the spirits of their fallen kin peace.

After the families ate the cakes they prayed to the goddesses for the wandering souls so that they may ascend to the garden. But, as the Gates were discovered, earthly traditions came through as well, and Soul Cakes were traded for candy and costumes.

Yuri wore a black beanie on his head to shield his ears from the cold and Ricky was nice and warm in his backpack. They passed by a group of first-grade students who were carving pumpkins with their teacher, Ribbon. She waved at Yuri and the students waved to him as well. Yuri smiled and waved back at them.

"I'm glad you could join me on this walk," said Phoenix. "We don't spend too much time together, what with our classes being so far apart. I know I won't get another chance to ask this, but, why don't we have a duel?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," said Yuri. "Let's play."

"Only if you promise not to use Ricky," said Phoenix.

"It's a promise."

"Oh come on!" Ricky said coming out of the backpack. "Can I at least just watch. I don't believe I've ever seen my waifu duel before."

"And what, pray tell, is a waifu?" Phoenix asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"You don't want to know," said Yuri. "Let's just play."

"Then let's do this," said Phoenix. She sprinted a yard away. Her ruby hairpin burst into flames and shot over her wrist and morphed into a white Duel Disk with red and orange flames bursting off the edges.

"Oh…I am in love!" swooned Ricky, his eyes turning into pink hearts.

"Let's duel!" said Phoenix. "Ladies first," she drew her card. "I summon Burst Phoenix in defense mode!" Phoenix summoned a six-winged phoenix to the field. It sat down and folded its wings over its body as it was in defense position. "I now set one card face down and end my turn."

Burst Phoenix

ATK/1200 DEF/ 1500

"Here we go then," said Yuri. He drew his card. "I special summon two Gilasaurus. And now, I'll Xyz Summon."

"Oh, you know how to use them now?" said Phoenix.

"Hell yeah," said Yuri as his monsters formed into towering tyrannosaur with silver plates on its legs. It had a small beard and two flaming horns spewed from furnaces on its head. Two white orbs spun around it.

"Say hello to my newest friend: Grenosaurus."

"You did it!" said Phoenix.

"It wasn't so bad," said Yuri.

Grenosaurus

ATK/2000 ATK/1900

"Impressive monster, Yuri, my compliments."

"And she's such a lady too. I knew I chose my waifu well," Ricky said resting his cheeks on his paws.

"You haven't seen anything yet," said Yuri. "I still have my normal summon. Uraby; attack mode. But I'm not done yet, for I tribute him to summon Uraby Alpha!"

Spikes shot out of Uraby's elbows, back and head and it grew a little taller; and its tail a little longer as did its claws and teeth.

"Now I'll lay two cards face down and have Grenosaurus attack your Burst Phoenix!"

Grenosaurus ran to Burst Phoenix and stomped it flat. "Now for my Grenosaurus's special ability," said Yuri. "When he destroys a monster in battle I can detach an Xyz material (The monsters stacked to make the Xyz monster) to the Graveyard and inflict 1000 points of damage to your Life Points."

Grenosaurus headbutted Phoenix, knocking her on her butt.

"Yuri that's no way to treat a lady!" said Ricky.

"You okay, Phoenix?" Yuri asked.

"Fine, just fine," Phoenix said getting up.

"Your Life Points didn't drop by the way."

"Oh, that's reasonable," said Phoenix. "It was my phoenix's special ability,"

"Tell me, then," said Yuri.

"When my Phoenix gets destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I gain Life Points equal to half of the attacking monster's attack points. So, that means, my Life Points were at 5000 when you activated your Grenosaurus's ability."

"Nice, moves," said Yuri. "But you forgot about my Uraby Alpha's attack on your Life Points. GO!"

Uraby Alpha screeched and charged at Phoenix with great speed.

"Slow as always," said Phoenix. "Activate my face-down card, From Ashes!"

"What's that?" Yuri asked.

"This is a special card that allows me to revive a Phoenix monster from my Graveyard in defense mode. Rise back, Burst Phoenix!"

A pile of ashes appeared before Phoenix's feet and then fiery wings spread out of them. Burst Phoenix was back onto the field and shielded Phoenix's Life Points again as Uraby Alpha slashed its wings. The phoenix screeched, returning to the Graveyard.

"And you know what that means?" said Phoenix. "Since your Uraby Alpha has 2000 attack points; my Life Points will increase by 1000."

"Still you'll take damage," said Yuri.

"Why's that?" asked Phoenix.

"Uraby Alpha can deal damage to your Life Points even if your monster is in defense position."

"Ah, so I see," Phoenix said rubbing her chin. Her Life Points dropped to 4500. "I've almost forgotten I'm dealing with dinosaurs here; monsters who favor the ability of piercing. The ability to deal damage to Life Points even if the duelist's monster is defending."

"Ya don't need to be a rocket scientist ta figure dat one out," said Ricky.

"Will you shut up?" said Yuri. "It's your turn, Phoenix."

"Oh, why thank you," said Phoenix, drawing her card. Suddenly a pillar of flames blew out from the ground. Burst Phoenix was back.

"Whoa, what did you do?" said Yuri.

"It's my phoenix's ability, Yuri. Have you ever studied mythology? If you have; then you should know a phoenix never truly dies. They are reborn from the ashes to fight another day.

"Wait, so Burst Phoenix continues coming back?" said Yuri.

"Oh yes," said Phoenix. "But he won't stay for long, for I sacrifice him to summon the lovely Sunlight-Burst Phoenix."

A wall of fire rose behind Phoenix. Her hair shot upwards as a firebird with bright orange feathers and four wings with crimson feathers tipped with gold flew out from the flames. It had a long neck and its tail feathers, red with gold tips, was eight feet long. There was a gold ring hovering behind it over its back.

Sunlight-Burst Phoenix

ATK/ 2100 DEF/ 2300

"Nice monster," said Yuri. "Beautiful."

"Just like her," Ricky swooned again. He took out a phone and started snapping photos of Phoenix, who apparently captured his heart.

Phoenix began her battle phase. She raised her right arm pointing at Yuri's monster and shouted: "Now, Sunlight-Burst Phoenix, attack his Grenosaurus!"

"Sorry, Phoenix, but you've walked right into my trap: Survival of the Fittest!"

"What does that card do, Yuri?"

"I can target one dinosaur on the field and equip this card with it. Then, that dinosaur gains 1000 attack points."

"Uh oh!" said Phoenix.

Grenosaurus' ATK increased to 3000. He stopped the attack and whipped Sunlight-Burst Phoenix into the sky. Phoenix's Life Points increased to 6000.

"Did your Life Points just increase?" Yuri asked.

"Why, yes, they did," said Phoenix. "When Sunlight-Burst Phoenix battles a monster and loses; the damage I take is reduced to 0. On the other hand, like all monsters with Phoenix in their name; when they are destroyed in battle my Life Points increase by half of the attacking monster's attack points.

"Oh, what a duelist," said Ricky. "I knew I loved her fer a reason," Pink hearts popped above his head.

"Still you have my Uraby Alpha to worry about," said Yuri. The dinosaur charged but was overcome by a wall of fire. Sunlight-Burst Phoenix came back to the field, but it had 0 ATK. Phoenix explained that if she discarded a Phoenix from her hand, she could bring back her Sunlight-Burst Phoenix to the field. However now that it was destroyed again, it was banished from the game. Still, it meant bad news for Yuri.

"Oh-no!" said Yuri. Uraby Alpha destroyed the Phoenix, but then Phoenix's Life Points rose to 8000.

"If this keeps up, we'll be duelin' fer ever." said Ricky.

"My turn then," said Phoenix. "And here's a friend who hates saying goodbye." She giggled as Burst Phoenix returned to the field in defense mode.

"Now, I tribute him to summon Phoenix of the Blessed Fire!" Phoenix summoned a phoenix monster whose wingspan was that of a hang glider. "Now I play Golden Feather of the Phoenix Lord. This card lets me summon a Phoenix monster from my deck equal to the level of a Phoenix I have out on the field. So, here's another Phoenix of the Blessed Fire!"

"Aw great," Ricky moaned. "Two of them."

"Indeed," said Phoenix. "And now I will play the spell card, Flaming Boost. This will raise the level of a Phoenix Monster by 2 for the turn. So now their levels are 8. And now, I will Xyz summon a monster of my own."

"Uh-oh, here we go," said Yuri.

"That's right, Your Majesty. I summon my ace monster, Master of the Sacred Flames, Phoenix Lord, Antarix!"

Another wall of fire burst behind Phoenix. There was an elegant screech from within the flames and a rainbow shined above the Phoenix Lord. Its feathers shined in all the colors of the rainbows. It had a crown of elegant vermillion feathers with rainbow-colored orbs on the top. There was a golden circular platform behind him and his beak and claws were made of gold.

Master of the Sacred Flames Phoenix Lord, Antarix

AK/3800 DEF/ 3000

"Oh, I'm in trouble," said Yuri.

"Indeed you are," said Phoenix. "For my Phoenix has a plethora of effects at its disposal. First off, I gain 500 Life Points during each of my standby phases; second, you can't attack any Phoenix monster on the field, except for Antarix; Now for his tertiary effect: Like all Phoenix's, if he's destroyed in battle, I gain Life Points, except this time, Antarix will bless me with the full amount of attack points. And since Phoenix's can't die, he will return to my field, but with 0 attack points. And finally, I can detach an Xyz Material monster from Antarix and destroy 1 monster you have out on the field."

"Wait, what!" said Yuri.

Both orbs floating around Antarix shot into his mouth, meaning Phoenix was using both of the Xyz Material monsters. He held out his wings and bathed the field in the sacred fire. Grenosaurus and Uraby Alpha were sent to the Graveyard. Then the Phoenix Lord sent the flames at Yuri, dropping his Life Points to 200.

"No way!" said Ricky.

"Your undefeated steak isn't looking so good," said Phoenix.

"You're really good," said Yuri.

Phoenix giggled. "Thank you. As I recall, it's your move."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Yuri. He was so intrigued by Phoenix's story he forgot he was in a duel. "Time to end this," said Yuri.

"Oh?" said Phoenix. "So, you think you have a monster who can tackle with my phoenix."

"Yup, but first, I play the spell card, Card of Sanctity. Now we draw until we have six cards in our hands."

"Taking a page from Weevil's book, Yuri?' Phoenix teased.

"Har, har." Yuri drew the cards he needed. "Perfect. I use the spell card Paleo Trade-Off. Now, with this card, I can discard a dinosaur from my hand and draw two cards. Okay, time for the card, Fossil Excavation. I discard a Dinosaur from my hand and summon one to the field from my Graveyard. And I choose, Black Tyranno!"

Phoenix smiled as Yuri's ace monster appeared onto the field.

"While I'm honored to meet the legendary, Black Tyranno," said Phoenix. "I would like to point out a major flaw. Your Fossil Excavation card. Since your dinosaur has been revived after millions of years, meaning it is nothing more than an empty shell of what it once was, it doesn't have any of the effects anymore."

"Yes, but Black Tyranno has a new and powerful form, cutesy of my wife," said Yuri. "After so many years on top of the food chain, he has taken over all the animals of the ancient world. Watch as my Black Tyranno becomes..." Yuri sacrificed his Black Tyranno for his ultimate form: "King of the Prehistoric Beasts-Neo Black Tyranno!"

Black Tyranno reared up its head and gave a loud bellow into the afternoon as it was overtaken by a formation of rocks. The rocks began to glow with red runes and a shiny circle with intricate magical designs appeared over the rocks. It started to spin and shot down a beam of light onto the rocks and then BOOM!

The rocks imploded and a beast standing twenty meters tall and as long as a football field. stepped forward. Phoenix began to back away in awe as the sunlight revealed hard, iron-like scales as black as night. There was a spear on the tip of its tail, heavily armored as was all of its body. Two large sails protruded from its back; dark blue on the top of turning a shade of violet at the bottom. It had a crown of spikes on its head surrounding a purple orb, and sharp sword-like blades came out of its elbows. A white beard swirled underneath its chin and its eyes were like two gold orbs.

"Your Highness," breathed Ricky. "Alexandra gave you that card? What a woman!"

King of the Prehistoric Beasts-Neo Black Tyranno

ATK/ 3300 DEF/3000

"Yuri, what a monster," gasped Phoenix.

"And he also comes with his own surprises," said Yuri. "See, for every dinosaur I have in the Graveyard, Neo Black Tyranno gains an extra 300 attack points. So, my Grenosaurus, my two Gilasaurus, my Uraby, my Uraby Alpha, my Black Tyranno, the card I used to summon him from the Graveyard via Fossil Excavation: Dark Driceratops. That comes to a total of seven monsters for a whopping 2100 attack points."

Neo Black Tyranno

ATK/ 5400

"I'm impressed," said Phoenix. "Do keep in mind that if you attack my phoenix, my Life Points will increase by 5400."

"Who says I'm attacking your phoenix, Phoenix?" said Yuri. "My target...is you."

"But I have a monster on the field!"

"That is true, but wait till I summon this,"

"Oh right, both your Black Tyranno and Neo Black Tyranno were special summons!" said Phoenix.

"You are correct ma'am," said Yuri. "I summon forth Herrasaur!"

Yuri summoned a two-legged carnivore with a long tail, sharp claws and dagger-like teeth. It was violet on the top and vanilla on the bottom and had three long spikes on the back of its head.

Herrasaur

ATK/ 1000 DEF/ 800

"I'll bite, Yuri," said Phoenix. "What does it do?"

"By discarding a dinosaur from my hand, Herrasaur will switch all monsters on your side of the field to defense mode."

"And?" said Phoenix. "You've only shielded me from your monster's attack...unless."

"You remember what his name is right?" said Yuri. "Neo Black Tyranno, this monster is new and more powerful, but he's still my friend the Black Tyranno meaning he still has his abilities from when he was young."

"Oh no, so he can attack my Life Points directly!"

"Aww yeah!" said Ricky. "Taught the kid everything he knows."

"I may take a huge portion of Life Points," said Phoenix. "But it won't be enough to win you the duel. I'll still have plenty more to beat you for I have a card in my hand that—"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Phoenix." said Yuri. "I'd be a fool if I thought to just attack you and think I have you beat. But I'm not done yet, for this is the final turn(Ha, ha. I've always wanted to say that). I use the spell card: Jurassic Rage. This card will bring out the beast in my Neo Black Tyranno."

Neo Black Tyranno's eyes began to glow red and it was flushing its sails into a battle-ready blood red. It let out a loud roar that shook the island. He shook his head violently, his red eyes blurred.

"This will increase a Dinosaur's attack equal to its defense." said Yuri, "So now my Black Tyranno's attack increases to eighty-four hundred. ATTACK!"

Neo Black Tyranno gave a thunderous roar that disintegrated Phoenix Lord and knocked Phoenix flat on her back after flying a few feet. Her Life Points went down to 0.

"Geeze, man!" said Ricky. "Overkill much!"

"You okay, Phoenix?" Yuri said helping her up.

"Yeah," Phoenix said wiping dirt from the leg warmers she wore under her skirt. "I must say, that was a terrifying monster, Yuri."

"You had some pretty strong cards too, Phoenix," said Yuri. "Your Antarix almost got me."

"And I can assure you, it won't be the last you'll see of him," said Phoenix. "Next time...I'll be ready."

They locked hands.

"You better," said Yuri. His PDA buzzed. He got a message from Ser Rex Raptor. "So you think you're so tough," Yuri read aloud. "Meet me at the beach at three o'clock this afternoon for a duel. If you got guts don't bring your Divine Beasts, I'll be waiting."

"Will you accept his challenge?" Phoenix asked. Putting her cards into the deck box strapped to her thigh.

"Why not? There's nothing else to do around here anyway," Yuri said with a smile.

At three Yuri and Phoenix went down to the shore. From the back entrance, Yuri could hear the waves. The friends were suddenly stopped by a Weevil Underwood. "Hee, hee, hee , hee, hee, come, my friend is waiting." Weevil led the two friends down to the dunes. "They're here," said Weevil.

"So you are Yuri Delgado? Bah! You don't look so tough. I'm Rex Raptor the Knight of Teeth and the best Dino-Duelist in Termnnia.

Yuri chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"You're calling yourself best terrible duelist, Dino does mean terrible."

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Rex shouted. "DON'T BE A SMART ASS!"

"Relax, relax, I'll take your word for it." He morphed his ring into a Duel Disk. Rex smirked and did the same. "Now did you take the Divine Beasts out of your deck?" Rex asked.

Yuri opened his second deck case and showed Rex the cards, Yuri put them back in, removed his belt and threw the deck case into the sand.

"There now I won't try anything sneaky," said Yuri. "Unlike a certain friend of yours."

Weevil cackled again.

"Ya gonna need me?" Ricky asked telepathically.

"You bet," Yuri answered. "If these two are good friends, I imagine Rex might have tricks up his sleeve. Just keep your eyes off Phoenix and help we beat this guy."

"Right, and judging by that hand, you've got a good start."

"Right on, but it looks like the Knight of Teeth wants to go first."

"I'll start first," said Rex. "I summon Two-Headed King Rex in attack mode."

A twenty-foot-tall two-headed dinosaur flew from the sky and landed beside Rex. Its body color was royal purple and its eyes were red. It's horns and claws were ivory and on its back were two large purple wings that flushed magenta from the sunlight that peeked through. It gave a mighty roar as its attack display appeared. 1600 attack points.

"Next I'll lay a card face down and end my turn."

"My turn!" said Yuri, he drew and examined his hand. "I special summon Gilasaurus, next I'll sacrifice him to summon Dark Driceratops."

Gilasaurus disappeared and changed into a nineteen-foot-tall emerald green triceratops with shaggy green skin. It had two large feathery purple wings and a big beak with crooked horns on its head. Yuri placed a card face down.

"Attack Two-Headed King Rex!"

Dark Driceratops reared on its hind legs and charged at King Rex with a Force ten times stronger than a tank. It rammed Rex's monster knocking it backward and crashing into the ground with a loud that shook the ground, splashing sand everywhere. Rex shielded his face from the sand with his arm and lost 800 Life Points. His score was 3200.

"Way to go, Yuri," said Phoenix.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, that was just a lucky shot." Rex drew his card. "I summon Giant Rex!"

Rex summoned an orange-colored Spinosaurus with green stripes. The attack was two thousand.

"Now I'll use the spell card Rush Recklessly which increases the attack of my Giant Rex by seven-hundred for the duration of the turn. GIANT REX ATTACK DARK DRICERATOPS!"

Giant Rex gave a loud roar and ran towards Dark Driceratops, the dunes shook as Giant Rex ran to its target. Giant Rex snapped off Dark Driceratops's head in one bite. The body exploded making Yuri lose 300 points bringing him to 3700 Life Points.

Giant Rex stomped fiercely back to Rex's side of the field.

"Well, Yuri," Rex said, folding his arms. "It's your turn."

"I know that," Yuri said drawing his card. "I play a field spell card, Jurassic World."

The academy disappeared and turned into a Mesozoic jungle with pterodactyls flying in the sky. Volcanoes smoked in the distance. In the ocean, a pod of Ichthyosaurus jumped out of the water like dolphins.

"Now this is more like it," said Rex as he placed his hands on his hips inspecting the surroundings.

"Don't get too happy Rex, "said Yuri, "I activate the trap card Fossil Excavation, by discarding a dinosaur from my hand, I can bring back a dinosaur from the graveyard, and I choose Dark Driceratops."

Dark Driceratops flew out of the sand and landed next to Yuri. The effect of Jurassic World increased its attack by 300. Yuri then summoned a pterodactyl called Kaitoptera. Its attack was 1400, but thanks to the field it was now 1700. Yuri ordered his Dark Driceratops to attack Giant Rex. Dark Driceratops knocked Giant Rex to the ground. Giant Rex roared in pain while coughing out blood.

Dark Driceratops flew up high then fired a violet beam at Giant Rex blowing it up instantly. Rex lost four hundred Life Points. Next Kaitoptera shot a scarlet heat ray at Rex sending him flying backward his Life Points were now 1100.

"Geeze your tough," said Rex. "I guess I was wrong about you. But just because your tough doesn't mean you're going to win! No sir, I special summon two Gilasaurus, then I'll sacrifice them to summon DARK TYRANNO!"

Rex's monster appeared on the field. A ten-meter-tall tyrannosaurus with dark brown skin and peanut-butter-colored stripes. The Jurassic World increased its attack to 2900.

"DARK TYRANNO ATTACK DARK DRICERATOPS!"

Dark Tyranno ran to Dark Driceratops, ripped off its wings, bit its neck, then raised it in the air shaking it violently. Dark Driceratops roared in agony, struggling to get free. Dark Tyranno bit harder making a loud sickening crunching noise killing Dark Driceratops.

Yuri lost three hundred Life Points. Dark Tyranno swallowed Dark Driceratops's head then it walked to Yuri and roared in his face spraying him with spit, blood, and bits of flesh. Yuri stood like a statue for a minute. Finally, he opened his eyes and wiped a stringy piece of flesh from the lens of his glasses. Rex ended his turn.

"I use Card of Sanctity," said Yuri. "This lets us draw until we have six cards." Yuri coughed. The foul smell of Dark Tyranno's breath still lingered in his nose and made him gag.

"And then I use the spell Big Evolution Pill. I sacrifice Kaitoptera and I can summon dinosaurs without tribute but first I'll use the Spell-" Yuri gagged again. A white fluid from his stomach oozed out of his mouth. Phoenix knew it was the mashed potatoes he had for lunch earlier that day.

"Sorry, damn his breath was nasty, I use the spell Earthquake."

The ground shook knocking Dark Tyranno off balance. Earthquake forced all of Rex's monsters into defense mode. "Now," continued Yuri, "to clear away all of those traps of yours I use the spell Giant Trunade; this will send all of our spells and traps back to our hands. The Jurassic World was swallowed into a vortex with an ominous face and they were back on the beach on Duel Island. "Now I summon my Black Tyranno."

Black Tyranno jumped through the trees behind Yuri and landed beside him. "Now using the spell Premature Burial, and paying eight hundred of my Life Points I' summon again a good old friend of ours." Dark Driceratops again burst through the sand. "Now I'll attack your Dark Tyranno with Dark Driceratops."

Yuri's Dark Driceratops was in a berserk fury. It grew tired of losing to Rex all the time. When it charged at the Dark Tyranno, Dark Driceratops beat it to a bloody pulp. Rex lost Life Points because of Dark Driceratops's trample ability. Finally, Yuri's Black Tyranno roared, ran to Rex, grabbed him with his mouth, and shook him violently. Then he smashed Rex on the ground dropping his Life Points to zero.

"Oh man, that hurt," whined Rex.

"Have a nice afternoon," Yuri said walking away.

"Yuri, you're on a roll!" Phoenix said chasing after him.

---

As the sun set behind the ocean, Yuri and his friends sat on the beach with the princes and the rest of his friends. Ren even found the time to join them. Jaden, Alexis, and Phoenix took off their boots and socks to wet their ankles in the water. Storm clouds loomed over the ocean in the distance. The black clouds began to cover up the beautiful orange colors of the sunset like a big blanket. The storm was returning. Every second or two Yuri and the others would see flashes of lightning in the distance. The palm trees swayed violently in the wind.

Ren set up a fire to keep them warm from the howling wind. Alexis's friends Jasmine and Mindy were both standing behind Ren with their hands clasped together and their eyes formed into beating purple hearts.

"Long time no see, Yuri," said Ren. "Damn this castle is so big I hardly see you. Or do you think you're cooler than me now that you're friends with royalty and the King of Games himself."

"It's not like that, Ren," Yuri protested. "You're like a brother to me. Our schedules just have us so far apart."

Ren laughed. "I'm just yanking your chain. Crystal hated me for that, remember."

"Who's Crystal?" Yugi asked.

"A dear friend of ours," Ren answered, tossing twigs into the fire. "We left her behind when it was time for Yuri to return to Termnnia."

"Man, I'm sorry," said Yugi.

"Well, she's one of the richest and best duelists on Earth, she can fend for herself." Ren nodded and began to think of her.

Yuri shook his head. If only he knew how troubled she was. Was she even alive now after all this time? She said she couldn't live without him and Ren, and he feared she would stay true to that statement. He asked Yami to send letters to her, but he said it would prove a security risk, both to him and to Crystal. Ren cursed when the wind blew out his little flames.

Phoenix walked towards it and rubbed her hands together, casting a spell that made the flames burst causing Yuri, Ren, and Yugi to run from their seats as fast as cockroaches from a light. The sight caused their friends to laugh. Prince Marcel spilled his drink and luckily held his phone to record the moment. The fire was burning again, this time very strongly.

"Man, can we get moving before the storm gets here?" moaned Mindy.

"You're in the wrong place then, ladies," said Ryon. "We're staying until it gets here. Besides, we need some time away from that castle. And my belly aches from all that academy food."

Their evening was ruined when they heard Weevil's obnoxious "hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!" He walked down a path with lamp posts that led to the beach.

"Yuri," Weevil said, with a grin. "I thought I heard you and your friends buzzing around."

Yuri and the others stared at him as thunder boomed in the distance.

"I want to challenge you to a duel, as payback for humiliating my friend Rex earlier today."

"I don't feel like it," said Yuri. "I've had enough of you and your pal Rex for one day."

"What's the matter? You seem as scared as a cockroach running from the light."

"Ugh, I'll duel you," Prince Stas said getting up and wiping sand from his pants. He morphed his Duel Disk from a silver chain around his neck.

"Ah," Weevil said, adjusting his glasses. "Very well, I will duel you. If you win I leave, but if I win, Yuri must duel me no questions asked."

"Very well," said Stas. He placed his deck into his Duel Disk slot.

"Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee," laughed Weevil. "If I beat the both of you that lovely bug duelist girl from Blue-Eyes will surely fall for me."

"Say what?" asked Alexis. "You're trying to impress Missy?"

"Oh yes, she is one of the top insect duelists in the school and the prettiest. She has the beauty of a butterfly yet has the sting of a hornet and a scorpion. I recall the day she beat you in the field exam today, Miss Lockheart."

Phoenix glared at him and folded her arms.

Stas and Weevil began.

"I will go first," said Weevil. "I summon the Flying Kamikiri number one, in attack mode."

Weevil summoned a human-like dragonfly.

Flying Kamakiri #1

Atk/ 1400 Def/ 900

"I guess it's my turn." said Stas. "I play two cards face down and summon Rare Dragon-Aquamarine." Stas summoned a tall dragon that was made of aquamarine. Its eyes glowed yellow and so did its wings and underbelly. The tail was a yard long and its claws were made of glass.

Gem Dragon-Aquamarine

Atk/ 1500 Def/ 500

"Attack his Flying Kamakiri, Aquamarine Dragon."

Stas's dragon fired a bright blue laser and blasted away Weevil's bug and one hundred points of damage from Weevil's Life Points.

"Well," said Weevil. "You may have destroyed my monster but now his special ability activates. When my Flying Kamakiri gets destroyed I get to summon an even more powerful warrior, the dreaded Flying Kamakiri number two!"

Weevil's new monster was a yellowish-brown giant praying mantis.

Flying Kamakiri #2

Atk/ 1500 Def/ 800

"Some powerful monster," said Stas. "he and my dragon have the same attack points."

"That maybe true, but now I summon Neo Bug an insect from the deep reaches of space."

Neo Bug

Atk/ 1800 Def/ 1700

"Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee," Weevil laughed. "My Neo Bug has enough attack points to shred your aquamarine dragon to pieces, GO NEO BUG, ATTACK HIS AQUAMARINE DRAGON!"

"I activate the trap, Jeweled Barrier, this will stop your monster's attack on a Gem Dragon I control!" Neo Bug ran into a wall of jewels. "And instead of sending my trap to the graveyard I can send it to my hand."

Weevil grew impatient. "Your annoying traps are starting to bug me."

"Well now you know exactly how we felt when you came chuckling down and interrupted our break, now if you don't mind it is now my turn and I summon Rare Dragon-Garnet!"

GemDragon-Garnet

Atk/ 1600 Def/ 2000

Stas's dragon was glimmering from the light of the sunset. Lightning flashed as it emerged to the field. Its wings and underbelly were blue and its eyes were like molten gold. "And when he's summoned I can discard a card from my hand to summon another Gem Dragon to my field, and I choose Gem Dragon-Peridotl!"

Gold Dragon shot out a flare from its mouth and from the stormy black sky flew down a dragon with six lime green angel wings, a body made of a greenish opal and a neon green underbelly.

Gem Dragon-Peridot

Atk/ 1800 Def/ 900

"Now I'll use the spell Jeweled Horn of Summoning Dragon, this can only be activated so long as I have one or more Gem Dragons on the field, and by discarding a card from my hand and by paying five hundred Life Points I can summon forth my GemDragon-Ruby!"

Another dragon flew from the sky, this time it had a black rocky body with giant sparkling rubies coming out from the shoulders, elbows, knees, and back.

Gem Dragon-Ruby

Atk/ 1500 Def/ 1000

Jasmine and Mindy jeered with delight seeing the handsome prince summoning dragons made of priceless jewels. Weevil started growing nervous. "Just what are you planning to do?" he shouted.

"Hold on now, I'm almost ready to summon my great beast."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm about to summon what's my friend Yuri calls the Million Dollar Dragon."

"Ah, finally," said Ren. "I've heard so much of Prince Stas's legendary dragon."

"No!" cried Weevil. "I thought those rumors in the hall were just rumors. You can't hold that beast in your deck, you just can't."

"Well Underwood, who else do you think has a Gem Dragon deck," said Phoenix.

"Hurry up and summon it Stas," said Jaeyoung.

"Well, I don't know how this happened," chuckled Stas. "I had everything I needed on my first draw. Okay, Weevil, for my final trick, I activate the trap Jewel Excavation, with this I can bring a Gem Dragon from the graveyard. Gem Dragon-Apatite."

Stas' final dragon was made entirely of platinum. Its claws were made of silver and so were the spikes going down its back to the tail were there were six massive spikes at the tip.

Gem Dragon-Apatite

Atk/ 1800 Def/ 2000

"Oh no!" cried Weevil.

"Oh, yes," said Stas. "Now, I tribute my five dragons in order to create my favorite dragon in all Duel Monsters, Weevil, say hello to my Diamond-Burst Dragon!"

Diamond-Burst Dragon was called the Million Dollar Dragon by Yuri for a reason. Its body, which was glimmering gold with a smooth white underbelly, was covered in a million's worth of diamonds. Two massive diamond spikes stuck out of its shoulders and there were two more on the knees and growing on the elbows. Its tail was a hundred yards long with a large hexagon-shaped diamond on the tip. Its claws and even its spikes and teeth were made of diamonds.

Diamond-Burst Dragon's angel-like wings had feathers so clear it looked like they were made of glass. The wings were fifty feet long and the feathers sent gold dust into the air as it flapped them. Its head was crowned with nine horns which were also made of diamonds and on its belly was a large star-shaped diamond glowing in a bright light that cast beautiful rainbow hues.

Jasmine and Mindy hugged each other and jumped up and down with joy, marveling at the dragon's beauty.

"No fair," pouted Alexis. "I want priceless jewels in my deck. Is that so much to ask for?"

"Stas, it's so beautiful," said Phoenix in awe.

"Nice, monster, Prince," said Yuri.

Diamond-Burst Dragon

Atk/ 5000 Def/ 4800

Weevil's glasses fell off his face. He marveled at the gracefulness of Stas's dragon and its deadly attack points. Stas activated the effect; by sending two Rare Dragons from the graveyard from play Stas could destroy all monsters on Weevil's side of the field. Weevil's jaws dropped. He could not believe how fast the duel was over. Before he knew what happened next, Diamond-Burst Dragon attacked and wiped Weevil out.

"YOU'LL PAY DEARLY FOR THIS!" Weevil shouted as he ran up the path. "MY QUEST TO IMPRESS MISSY IS NOT OVER!"

After Weevil fled, the friends stayed on the beach until the sun went down. As they made their way up the path it started to rain heavily. They laughed and ran inside the castle ready to retire for the night.