Whilst Caitlin's duel against the leader of the scout party was well underway Marie was hard at work in the arena, but more importantly was winning all of her matches leaving only the champion left to face her.

"How did a little tyke like you last this long?!" The champion scoffed as he stood across the arena from Marie, Marie's deck master was Blackland Fire Dragon (4/1500/800) which she had used consistently throughout the tournament and the only monster on her side of the field was Red-Eyes Wyvern (4/1800/1600) as well as a facedown card. "I'll soon prove to you that might makes right in this arena and you'll regret ever entering the arena."

"Try saying something I didn't hear from all of my other opponents." Marie responded with a bored expression on her face, the champion's deck master was King of Yamimakai (5/2000/1530) as he had gotten the first choice due to being the defending champion and on his side of the field was Virgil, Rockstar of the Burning Abyss (6/2500/1000) as he was running a burning abyss deck and a facedown card of his own. "Besides, I've beaten all the other monsters in the Burning Abyss archetype up to this point what makes you think that this Rockstar will make any difference?"

"I'll show you, Virgil, attack her Wyvern!" The champion commanded and Virgil struck a chord on his guitar sending a shockwave towards Red-Eyes Wyvern destroying it and bringing Marie's life-points down to 800 compared to his 1100. "One attack is all I need!"

"If you get that far, I activate Damage Condenser! Since I just took damage, all I need to do is discard one card from my hand." Marie announced as she discarded a card. "And this lets me Special Summon a monster from my deck with attack less than or equal to the damage I just took! Granted three hundred points of damage doesn't leave me with many options but the Black Stone of Legend will do just fine!" Marie added as she played the card and the small black stone appeared on the field (1/0/0). "Don't get to excited, it's in defense mode."

"Won't matter if that's all you have to offer." The champion scoffed and Marie grinned.

"That's where your wrong! I activate Black Stone of Legend's effect! I tribute this monster to summon a Level Seven or lower Red-Eyes Monster from my deck that isn't Red-Eyes Black Chick!" Marie announced as the stone vanished from the field and a familiar roar echoed throughout the village. "So why not go with the classic?" Marie asked as the Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared on the field with a roar (7/2400/2100).

"I end my turn, but your overgrown lizard doesn't scare me, besides, my deck master's effect will destroy any Dark Type Monster on your side of the field that was Special Summoned as soon as it's attack resolves" The champion announced and Marie said nothing as she drew her card.

"Perfect!" Marie thought before retrieving a card from her graveyard. "I activate the second effect of Black Stone of Legend from my graveyard, with it I can shuffle a Red-Eyes monster from my graveyard back into my deck and add it to my hand." Marie added as she put the dragon back in her deck and let it auto-shuffle before adding the other card to her hand. "Next I activate Summoner's Art! I used this earlier in the duel but for a reminder, this allows me to add one Level Five or higher Normal Type Monster to my hand." Marie added as she started inputting commands into her duel disk.

"How many times has she shuffled her deck since the champion's last attack?" Yugi wondered outloud as a large sweat-drop rolled down his head and Theresa shook her head.

"She was my opponent in the semi-finals of the World Championship Qualifiers in New York a few weeks ago." Theresa responded as she turned to the legendary duelist. "This has actually been fairly tame for her deck."

"And now for the Grand Finale! First, I activate my Deck Master's ability! This allows me to reduce the level of one Dark Type Dragon Monster in hand by one in exchange for reducing his level by the same number." Marie announced as Blackland Fire Dragon's level dropped to three. "Now I activate Red-Eyes Fusion! I fuse the Red-Eyes on my field with the level six red-eyes in my hand to fusion summon Meteor Black Comet Dragon!" Marie announced as the two dragons appeared on the field only to subsequently fuse together to form a much larger dragon that was seemingly engulfed by flame (8/3500/2000).

"That dragon doesn't scare me!" The champion said defiantly as he folded his arms. "As soon as she attacks, my Mirror Force will destroy her dragon and leave her open to my finishing blow!"

"He should because I can finish you off without an attack." Marie responded and the champion blinked in confusion. "When Meteor Black Comet Dragon is fusion summoned his effect activates, allowing me to send one Red-Eyes monster from my deck or hand to the graveyard and inflict half of it's attack as life-point damage to you, so I'll just send my third and final Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the graveyard from my deck and….." Marie trailed off as her dragon breathed fire on the champion destroying Virgil, the King and his facedown card in the process and reducing his life-points to zero.

"The winner of the match is Marie! She is the new champion!" The announcer called out and the crowd cheered as the now former champion sulked off.

"Not bad." A new female voice rang out from the stands and Marie looked up seeing a mixed race woman with short black hair and blue eyes dressed in standard fighter gear. "I was hoping to get a chance to duel him until you came along." She added as the young woman stepped out from the stands.

"Latoya Conley?" Tyler asked once he recognized the woman and Latoya grinned. "Last I heard from you was when you and Louella got married the other year."

"Yeah, first gay couple to graduate from Duel Academy and get married, honestly me and Louella were expecting Chelsea and Beth to beat us to the punch." Latoya responded with a grin before getting her guide out. "My quest is to help a party of adventurers on the run from a mob boss they stole a destiny orb from, guessing that's you guys?" Latoya asked and they nodded in response as Theresa and Yugi approached her. "And I'm in the same party as Yugi Moto, I would say Louella's going to be so jealous, but I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up in the same parry as Kaiba."

"Save the autographs for later." Yugi chuckled before nodding towards the guide. "We're happy to have you abord Latoya but I don't suppose you know what the next stop on our quest is, do you?"

"One way to find out." Latoya nodded before getting the guide out and checking it.

*back at the HUD*

Sophia was watching the exchange from the HUD area and was happy with how things were going, as the party discussed their next move she turned to Rachel.

"Just out of curiosity, what is Louella's assigned party?" Sophia asked and Rachel checked the database before laughing out loud. "Don't tell me she's actually joining Chelsea's party?"

"Yep, she is." Rachel nodded and Sophia shook her head with a laugh. "Just to recap, three straight men, two lesbians and a bisexual woman are in the same party."

"Don't know what's more fitting, a "walk into a bar" joke or "sounds like the set-up for a porn or sitcom" joke." Sophia chuckled as she shook her head. "Any other updates?"

"Three more eliminations, South Carolina's Regional Champ got eliminated after a duel against Beautiful Headhuntress, we saved her the indignity of having her last memory of the tournament being her head getting chopped off." Rachel responded as the woman's picture showed up on screen. "The other elimination was another tag team one, you remember the headlines last year where North Dakota decided to do it's regionals as a tag team tournament?"

"Hard to miss the controversy, the reigning champ was worried that he'd have to vacate the title until it was made clear that he could still defend it." Sophia nodded as she ran a hand down her face. "And then he ended up dropping the title to twin brothers who pledged to hold it simultaneously, I remember being called upon to make a decision because the local judges were so damn clueless as to what to do in that situation."

"It was an unprecedented situation to be fair." Rachel shrugged her shoulders before sighing. "In any case, the co-North Dakota champion were eliminated after a tag team duel against Jinzo and Machine King."

"Ah yes, one of the only original Deck Master abilities I changed in preparation for the tournament." Sophia nodded as she remembered the abilities. "The other one being the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's ability, which I changed due to the fact that Fusion Monsters have been able to attack the same turn that they were summoned for years and Jinzo's was changed because the original ability was far to close to Jinzo's effect for my liking."

"It was the changed effects that did them in actually, they had taken out all their Trap Cards because they thought they wouldn't need them." Rachel explained and Sophia shook her head in response. "Usual offer to stay on the island?"

"Off course." Sophia nodded before frowning. "Speaking of eliminations, has Jenny McQuaid been more troublesome since her elimination?"

"She's calmed down significantly so she shouldn't be a problem going forward." Rachel responded as she shook her heads and Sophia nodded in approval. "I'll keep you updated as the day progresses."

"See that you do, my party will be at its next destination in a few hours and I'll be surprised if there aren't more developments in that timeframe." Sophia nodded before walking off. "Can't help but wonder how father would've dealt with a tournament like this when he was still in charge of I2, even without that demon messing with my plans." Sophia thought with a sigh as she walk4ed off.

*elsewhere in the world*

Now that Kylie had been freed from the bandit camp under the control of the Dark Scorpions Chelsea's group was well on their way to their next destination.

"Okay, according to the guide we should be near the next Barbarian tribe." Chelsea commented as she read her guide before glancing over at the other party members. "And by near, I mean that it's a day's trip from here, and yes that's taking into account the fact that days in the virtual world are half as long as days in the real world."

"It's the mid afternoon so our best bet will be to stop for the night at some point and finish our journey in the morning." Kaiba nodded as he glanced up at the sky. "And that's if we don't encounter any more of the king's mercenaries."

"If they are as tough as the Dark Scorpions, they shouldn't be much trouble." Ray shrugged his shoulders in response before frowning. "But if I'm right we'll probably level up as soon as we get our next destiny orb which means tougher enemies."

"I don't care, I've been itching for a duel since the session started." Kylie responded with a slight grin on her face before the party heard the signs of a battle from a nearby clearing. "That doesn't sound like a regular duel."

"Unless we're not talking about an old fashioned duel to the death rather than a game of duel monsters, I agree." Chelsea nodded in agreement before she motioned for the party to follow her into the wooded area surrounding the clearing, just as Kylie and Chelsea had predicted there was a battle going on between two Barbarian tribes. "My quest says to reunite the tribes, I don't think these tribes are going to get along."

"We could always try to broker peace between them." Kylie suggested as they watched the battle though they couldn't tell which side was winning, or which side was which for that matter. "That would probably be a good start."

"If you ladies start singing "give peace a chance" I'll personally hand your decapitated heads over to the king." Kaiba responded as he ran a hand down his face. "Besides that, I can't even tell which side is which."

"I'm glad someone said it." Ray commented as he scratched his chin in thought, Chelsea moved closer to the edge of the clearing that get a better look and saw what appeared to be the commanders in the heat of combat with each other. "I would suggest trying to break up this battle but it's five adventurers against two armies of Barbarians, both sides have taken losses but even so, I don't like our chances in this encounter."

"I think our best bet will be to sit back and see what happens." Chelsea responded with a nod as she turned to the others. "See who wins and hope that they are cooperative." Chelsea added before turning her attention back to the battle. "To think, teenage me would've been the first to jump into battle rather than wait it out, can't tell if that's because I've gotten more mature or boring with age." Chelsea thought with a small grin as she watched the battle.

*two hours later*

As it turned out, the party had stumbled upon the battle right as it was winding down and whilst it was another two hours before the battle ended (in game time) one side emerged as the victor as the remaining members of the other side were either captured or killed.

"Another fine victory for me!" The leader of the victorious tribe, an absolute mountain of a man who towered over the male members of Chelsea's party and made Kylie and Chelsea look like small children by comparison, gloated as he stood before the defeated commander, a young human woman with blonde hair. "Now, what to do with you?"

"You could always let her, and the remaining tribesman go." Chelsea offered as she stepped into the clearing alongside the others, the victorious commander's men went for their swords, but the commander ordered them to stop. "Because what your doing is playing right into the king's hands!" Chelsea added and the commander scoffed.

"You're the one who's supposed to unite the tribes? I more muscle un my little finger than you do in your entire body." The commander responded and Chelsea's eyes narrowed, in real life Chelsea had taken to working out in between her duels and computer work which had left her arms quite toned, but nothing compared to the commander's. "Stand aside little girl! This is a real man's job!"

"Right, because it takes a real man to kill his enemies when they are down." Chelsea scoffed and the commander's eyes narrowed. "By the way? That wasn't a suggestion, either you stop this pointless war or…..."

"Or what?!" The leader asked before pulling out an absolutely massive greatsword and holding it to Chelsea's head. "Do you know how easy it would be to send your decapitated head flying over the horizon?"

"I would make a compensating for something joke but I think that would result in me rolling up a new character." Chelsea thought as she glanced down at the sword, it was then that she noticed the duel disk on the commander's wrist and got an idea. "How's this for an idea, you duel one of my companions, they win, and I'll see to it that you broker a peace treaty with the other tribe, if you win…" Chelsea's sentence got cut off by leader exclaiming.

"WHEN I win, I will decapitate all four of you personally, one by one!" The leader boastfully exclaimed, and Chelsea frowned. "Now, who's going to be the first lamb to the slaughter?"

"I am." Kylie responded as she stepped forward. "But first, lower your blade from my girlfriend's neck before I cut it off and beat you to death with it." Kylie warned the commander and he backed off.

"Wait, what?!" Chelsea thought as she processed what Kylie had said before she turned to her ex. "Kylie?!"

"We'll talk about it after the duel." Kylie assured her ex after seeing the look on her face before she turned her attention to the commander. "I'm ready when you are big guy!"

"Very well!" The commander responded as they activated their duel disks and drew their opening hands, seconds later the Deck Master Selection Screen showed up in front of both players and they went through it. "My deck master is Vorse Raiser!" The commander announced as the hideous halberd wielding Beast Warrior appeared next to him (4/1900/1200),

"Level four or lower, how generous of him." Kylie thought as she went through her selection before making her choice. "My deck master is Barron of the Fiend Sword!" Kylie announced as a portly fiend in a three piece suit appeared on the field wielding a red sword (4/1550/800). "He doesn't look like much but then again, neither do you!"

"You'll pay for that comment! I'm going first!" The commander snarled as he went over his hand before picking up three cards. "I set two cards facedown and I summon Berserker Warrior – Bear!" The commander announced as he played the cards and a male barbarian wearing the skin of a brown bear appeared on the field with an animalistic roar (4/2000/1200). "When he is normal summoned, he can't attack the same turn."

"A moot point since it's your first turn." Kylie pointed out with an unimpressed look on her face. "Is there a point to this?"

"I was getting to his second effect! if I control no other monsters when I summon him, I can Special Summon Berserker Warrior – Wolf to the field from my deck or hand!" The commander added as another Berserker, this time in wolf pelt, appeared on the field (4/1800/1200). "He can't attack either but good luck getting past that! It's your move!"

"I draw!" Kylie responded as she drew her card and added it to her hand. "Two monsters with high attack power for Level Four Monsters and two facedown cards, if this isn't an obvious trap then I'm a nun!" Kylie thought before playing a card. "I activate Allure of Darkness! I draw two cards, but I have to banish one Dark Type Monster from my hand in exchange, otherwise I'll lose my entire hand." Kylie announced as she played the card before drawing two cards and pocketing a third. "I set two cards facedown and end my turn!"

"That's it?" The commander asked and Kylie shook her head.

"Not quite." Kylie responded as a small, circular space craft appeared on the field (3/800/1200). "Meet D.D. Scout Plane! If I banish this monster, he gets Special Summoned during my end phase!"

"Is she copying Brandon's deck? Because I can't count the number of times, he's used that combo over the years." Chelsea thought before shaking her head. "Brandon's hardly the only duelist who uses Allure of Darkness, especially not in combination with D.D. Scout Plane, it just means that she's using a dark type deck."

"Does it bother you?" Wattchimera asked as he appeared next to Chelsea. "That your ex uses a dark type deck whilst you use a light type deck?"

"No, if anything Kylie calling me her girlfriend when we haven't dated since we were fifteen and sixteen respectively bothers me more." Chelsea admitted with a shrug. "But I'm sure that was just a spur of the moment thing."

"Is that all you've got? Too bad!" The commander responded as he drew his card. "I attack your puny plane with Bear!" The commander commanded and the bear warrior charged into battle…...

"I activate my trap card Dark Spirit Art – Greed!" Kylie announced as her facedown card flipped up and D.D. Scout Plane disappeared from the field. "Unless you have a spell card in your hand to show me, I'm about to draw two cards."

"Draw your cards." The commander sneered and Kylie drew her cards. "It won't help you because now your wide open! Bear, Wolf, attack her directly!" The commander commanded and the two warriors charged into battle…...

"Nice try but Battle Fader has something to say about that!" Kylie announced as the small clock like fiend appeared on the field blocking their paths (1/0/0). "Since you declared a direct attack, I can Special Summon Battle Fader straight to the field to negate it!"

"That won't save you for long! I activate my trap card Forrest Ambush!" The commander announced as the trap card flipped up depicting the famous "battle" of Teutoburg Forrest albeit with several warrior type monsters in the place of the Roman Legions. "Since my attack was negated this will destroy your Battle Fader and let me conduct another Battle Phase!"

"I'm going to feel this in the morning." Kylie thought with a wince as Battle Fader vanished from the field.

"Bear, Wolf, finish what you started!" The Commander commanded and the two warriors charged into battle before slashing Kylie with their swords twice and bringing her life-points down to 4800. "This won't take long! And when my Berserkers attack directly, they get a boost of five hundred attack points from my deck master's Special Ability." The commander added as the two warriors' attack points went up to 2500 and 2300 respectively.

"In other words, you could finish me off next turn if I don't draw another monster." Kylie nodded before her other facedown card flipped up. "But it's not all bad news, because the damage you just inflicted allowed me to use Shock Draw giving me one draw for each thousand points of damage taken." Kylie added as she drew three cards.

"I end my turn." The commander announced and Kylie drew her card. "But face it, it's over and you've lost."

"Your wrong, whilst it is over, you are on the losing side." Kylie responded as her facedown card flipped up. "First I use Call of the Haunted to bring back D.D. Scout Plane." Kylie announced as the plane returned to the field and she drew her card. "Now I activate my Barron's Deck Master ability, I sacrifice D.D. Scout Plane to add three level one Normal Type Monsters to my hand from my deck."

"More cards for your hand?!" The commander scoffed as the plane disappeared from the field and Kylie added the cards to her hand. "How could that help you?"

"On their own, they can't." Kylie nodded before grinning broadly. "But by gathering all five pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One in my hand, I've won the duel."

"WHAT?!" The commander demanded as Kylie lay down the five pieces of Exodia. "This cannot be!"

"It is!" Kylie responded as the pentagram appeared on the field and Exodia pushed his way through. "Exodia, obliterate!" Kylie commanded and Exodia launched an energy beam at the commander destroying his monsters, his deck master and winning her the duel. "I think you have an end of the bargain to keep."

"You bitch, no one humiliates me like…." The commander never finished his sentence as more barbarians poured into the clearing. "Reinforcements! We have to go!" The commander commanded and he fled with his men.

"Thank you for the help but I knew help was on the way." The female commander thanked the party as she was helped to her feet. "You will find me more wiling to listen to your plans, winged one, follow me."

"Yeah, sure." Chelsea nodded before the party followed the female leader. "But I still have a lot to talk to Kylie about, like since when was she using an Exodia deck? And the fact that she called me her girlfriend before the duel." Chelsea thought before sighing. "So much for this tournament being stress free!"