As Mai and Rex are shuffling their respective decks, their minds are flooded with thoughts. Very different thoughts.
Rex is shuffling while staring forward, with a grin he cannot repress. This is going to be the perfect revenge! He will restore his dignity, disqualify his nemesis from the tournament AND get to lose his virginity in a manner that would make porn writers jealous.
Mai cannot wait to crush that bug. She cannot even begin to describe to you how irritated she feels right now. This time, she's gonna make sure that guy learns his lesson and stays away from her forever. She's gonna humiliate him so badly that he'll probably never hold a duel monsters card ever again in his life, because even the sight of a card will remind him how badly Mai crushed him!
The blonde woman produces a coin to decide who goes first. 'Heads or tails?' she asks.
'No need for a coin, babe,' the boy shakes his head with a smile. 'Last time we dueled, I allowed you to go first, because you were a lady.' And, with his not so handsome face hardening, he continues, 'However, this time, no more chivalry. This time I WILL GO FIRST!'
Mai rolls her eyes. 'Fine, whatever,' she accepts indifferently.
Rex skips his draw phase, since this is the first turn, and begins.
'I special summon the Gilasaurus (1400/400) in attack mode.'
A greenish dinosaur appears on the field. It has small, yellow, pupilless eyes. It looks like a T-rex, except it's smaller. The creature lets out a roar.
Mai raises an eyebrow. 'Special summon?'
'Yeah,' Rex explains. 'I can opt to special summon this monster. If I do, you get to summon one monster from your graveyard. But, since there are no monsters in your graveyard, essentially, I just get one additional summon for free!'
The boy tosses his head back and laughs, as if he had just said the funniest thing in the world. Mai rolls her eyes.
Rex gets serious and carries on. 'Now I tribute the Gilasaurus to normal summon the Dark Driceratops (2400/1500) in attack mode.'
The Gilasaurus vanishes into thin air, as is the case with monsters that are tributed in a duel, and is replaced by an even larger dinosaur. It has a green body, a yellow beak and a feathery mane. The abomination raises up on its hind legs and roars.
'I end my turn.'
Mai admits this might be a little troublesome. That jerk managed to summon a high level creature on the very first turn, moreover one that can inflict piercing damage. That means that she cannot protect her life points by playing a monster in defense mode.
Then again, Valentine is rarely one to defend!
'I summon the Amazoness Fighter (1500/1300) in attack mode.'
The muscular, female warrior appears on the field and assumes an unintentionally sexy fighting stance.
Rex grits his teeth. She played a weaker monster in attack mode. Obviously, she's going to attack with a combo.
And, as Rex predicted, 'Then I play the spell card Amazoness Spellcaster.'
Mai places on her duel disk the aforementioned spell card, which switches the ATK of the two monsters on the field for this turn. Now the Amazoness Fighter has 2400 ATK points and the Dark Driceratops has only 1500 ATK points.
'Amazoness Fighter, attack,' the woman cries.
With an impressive leap, the female monster strikes the dinosaur's head with an aerial kick that causes its head to twist and its neck to break. The giant dinosaur breaks into a million tiny pieces while the Amazoness Fighter gracefully lands back on the ground.
'Why you...' Rex tries to think of a curse as his life points drop to 3100.
'I set 1 card and end my turn,' Mai declares. The Amazoness Fighter's ATK points drop back to 1500.
'Chill, boy,' Rex says in his head. 'The game has just begun. You are going to get poon in the end and that's all that matters.'
Rex draws one card and begins his turn. 'I summon the Hydrogeddon (1600/1000) in attack mode.'
An euoplocephalus appears on the field. Its main body is dark brown and its spikes are beige. The creature swings its tail a little, to make its entrance more impressive.
Mai tries to keep her expression blank. That dinosaur is stronger than her monster indeed. However, if Rex attacks, she will activate her face down card, Amazoness Pit. (ORIGINAL CARD) It's a trap card depicting a dark hole in the ground, with feminine but menacing eyes glowing in it. It can be activated when an Amazoness monster is attacked. The aforementioned hole appears on the field and the Amazonesses secret co fighters drag the attacking monster down the hole, destroying it. This will not only destroy Rexes monster but also leave him wide open for a direct attack next turn! Mai tries to repress a smile.
'And now,' the male duelist carries on, 'before I attack, I play this spell card. Dinosaur Stampede!' (ORIGINAL CARD)
The aforementioned card depicts giant dinosaurs' paws destroying the ground. 'I can play this card when I have a dinosaur monster on the field. It destroys one spell or trap card on the field,' Rex explains.
Mai gasps as a portal opens above her field, a giant reptile paw comes out and stomps on her trap card, thus destroying it.
Mai admits she's shocked. She was sure Rex would just brainlessly attack and fall for her trap. That was the skill level of the Rex she dealt with at the Duelist Kingdom. But this one seems different! Less goofy, more focused. Less of a comic relief anti hero, more of a true duelist, albeit one stepping into the villainous zone.
'Hydrogeddon,' Rex unnecessarily points a finger forward, 'attack.'
With a bellow, the dinosaur charges at the Amazoness Fighter and strikes her in her exposed belly with its tail. The girl cries with pain and breaks into a million tiny pieces.
Mai is calm; her life points remain the same, since, thanks to the Amazoness Fighter's effect, she takes no damage in battles involving that monster. Not that she would have taken any serious amount of damage had it not been for this effect, mind you.
However, the next moment, the woman gasps in trepidation when she sees another Hydrogeddon on the field.
'As you must easily have guessed,' Rex chuckles, 'when Hydrogeddon destroys a monster in battle, I get to summon another one from my deck. AND NOW, SECOND HYDROGEDDON, DIRECT ATTACK!'
The hologram strikes Mai with its tail, causing her to wince and step back as her life points decrease to 2400.
The woman tries to remain standing and pull herself together. This is not the Rex she knew! What has made him so much stronger? Is hatred really such a strong driving force?
Normal Yugi is standing in front of Strings, whom he believes to be a street mime, when he is actually one of Marik's brainwashed slaves.
'Hi, I'm Yugi Muto,' the innocent boy cheerfully introduces himself and offers the mime a handshake.
Strings ignores him.
'Umm, hello?' a baffled Yugi waves in front of the bald guy's face. 'Sir? Are you alright?'
Marik and Yami Mokuba are watching Yugi, thanks to the former's Millenium Rod.
'So, are you going to command that Strings mortal to move his butt and challenge Yugi to a duel or not?' Yami boredly asks.
'Let's not be hasty, partner,' Marik chuckles, stroking his rod. 'That duelist is holding one of my two God Cards. I'd rather save him for when the third God Card is played.'
'Are you even sure that that God Card is in this city, Marik?' Yami sighs. 'We've been waiting for ages, yet no one has played it yet.'
'Be patient, partner,' Marik insists, relaxed.
Little do those two know that Pegasus has burnt Obelisk the Tormentor to ashes!
Ishizu is gazing out of the window. She is in her luxurious room, in the five star hotel she is staying at while in Domino City; as an executive of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, she is entitled to such luxuries, which are paid with the Egyptian taxpayers' money!
However, the woman cannot just sit back and revel in luxury. There is so much on her mind right now.
What has Pegasus done with the Egyptian God Card she gave him? If she was him, she would have burnt it to ashes by now. Yes, most likely, that's what he has done.
That means that the battle that started 3000 years ago shall never be resolved, the Pharaoh shall never regain his memories and... (a tear rolls out of her eye)... her brother will never have a chance of being saved. Oh, Marik! But if that is for the greater good of the world, so be it.
However, even if this is the case, even if Maximillion has indeed destroyed Obelisk the Tormentor, Ishizu still has a bad feeling. For some reason, she feels that, even with the God Card destroyed, something really bad is going to happen soon at this tournament. She hopes she's wrong.
'I set 1 card and end my turn,' Rex declares, placing a card face down on his duel disk.
It's Mai's turn. If Rex destroys another of her monsters with a Hydrogeddon, he will get to summon a third one. Those freaky dinosaurs will swarm across the field!
The woman now has a slight doubt about her victory. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to have such a bet. Is there any possibility that, after all, she might have to... do sexual stuff... with that freak? Oh, God, even the idea makes her want to throw up!
Mai closes her eyes and shakes her head, trying to shake off those repulsive thoughts. She cannot lose. She must not lose! She is the Duel Queen, for goodness sake! Her royal deck will not forsake her so soon.
Mai draws a card. She looks at it and smiles. The Cyber Harpy. 'Yes,' she inwardly says. 'I knew I could count on you, my lady.'
Her eyes forward. 'I play the Cyber Harpy (1800/1400) in attack mode,' she says out loud.
The aforementioned monster appears on the field, letting out her usual howl.
Rex seems unimpressed.
'There's more to that,' Mai carries on. 'I play, from my hand, the spell card Elegant Egotist. Now my Harpy is split into three ones.'
The boy grins at the three Harpies hovering slightly above the ground. 'Trap card activate,' he cries. 'Hunting Instinct.'
Rexes trap card depicts the brown head of a dinosaur protruding from a rock. 'When my opponent special summons a monster, I get to special summon a dinosaur from my hand,' he explains. 'And, since splitting the Harpy into duplicates counts as special summoning monster tokens, I special summon the Black Stego (1200/2000) in defense mode.'
The boy places the last card left in his hand, horizontally on the disk. A green stegosaurus with brown plates on its back appears on the field and curls sideways into a defensive position.
'Whatever,' Mai shrugs. 'I cannot attack anyway the same turn I play the Elegant Egotist. I set 2 cards and end my turn.'
Mai places face down on the board the last two cards left in her hand. And so, now neither of the two players has any cards in their hand.
'Your turn, Rex,' the woman smiles. 'Next turn, my Harpies will perform their triple attack and destroy your monsters.'
Rexes face hardens anew. His expression is angry, in a way that makes Mai feel uneasy.
The male teenager clenches a fist and grits his teeth. He gives his opponent a deadly glare. 'You really think I will give up or get discouraged just because you said that thing, Valentine?' he asks, in a low voice.
'N-no,' Mai stutters, taken aback by this reaction.
'AM I JUST A JOKE TO YOU, VALENTINE?' Rex hollers, causing Mai to step back. 'Was it just a joke to you when you stole my dignity?'
'Dude,' Mai gasps with a sympathetic expression. 'Calm down. It's not my fault that you took a game so seriously as to...'
'IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT?' Rex interrupts her. 'You have no idea! How could someone like you have any idea? All my school memories consist of either being bullied and locked in lockers or just going unnoticed. When I got introduced to duel monsters, they became the only joy in my life, the only way for me to feel important. YET YOU WENT AND DESTROYED MY...'
'YOU THINK I HAVE NO IDEA?' Mai interrupts him. 'You think my own school years were all sugar and spice? I know what it is like to be bullied and ignored, dude. But I didn't let it define me. You did! It was your choice. So stop putting the blame on me or others and get a fucking life!'
Silence. A leaf and an empty can of coke dance in the wind.
'I had a life,' Rex chuckles. 'Being a powerful duelist was my life. And you took it away from me. And now I'll get it back. And screw you while I'm at it. When I beat you, I will screw you hard. Like the slut that you are!'
Mai growls. She can't believe she felt sorry for that person for a moment. 'Make your move, Rex,' she cries impatiently.
Rex draws. He looks at his card and grins.
'I play the spell Card of Demise,' he declares. He shows Mai a green card depicting a guillotine cutting a deck into two, with a green hooded man gasping in surprise. 'It allows me to draw cards till I have 5. Five turns later, I have to discard my entire hand, but I doubt it will take me that long to trounce you.'
Mai rolls her eyes as a giggling Rex is drawing five cards.
The boy looks at his new cards. His grin widens.
His eyes forward. 'Now I tribute my two Hydrogeddons and summon the Ultimate Tyranno (3000/2200) in attack mode.'
Mai gasps as a gargantuan, spiked, black tyrannosaurus rex appears on the field. His roar shakes the stadium.
Mai gulps, a bead of sweat on her cheek. 'Can't be! This dinosaur... is as powerful as a Blue Eyes White Dragon!'
Rex unnecessarily points forward. 'THIS MONSTER WILL DEVOUR ALL YOUR HARPY LADIES IN A SINGLE TURN, VALENTINE!'