On one of the tallest skyscrapers in Domino City, unbeknownst to anyone else, four duelists are right now engaging in a two versus two duel. So far, it seems that the Lumis/Umbra team has got this in the bag.

Thanks to the multiple continuous mask cards the duo has on the field, Umbra's Shining Abyss has become absurdly powerful (3600 ATK points). How are Yugi and Mai supposed to summon a monster strong enough to fight that thing? And, even in the highly unlikely case they manage to summon something strong enough, it won't be able to attack, due to the Gravity Bind continuous trap card Lumis has played.

'I set 1 card and end my turn,' Umbra declares happily.

With a grim sigh, Yugi looks at his hand. It includes the Kuriboh, one of the very few monsters in his deck that this Gravity Bind shit does not affect. He shakes his head in desperation. True, theoretically, the Kuriboh can attack even with the Gravity Bind on the field. But what good will the attack of a monster with only 300 ATK points do?

Yugi can't help laughing, for all his sorrow, when he recalls those Winged Kuriboh cards he saw on the Internet once. Those cards depicting a Kuriboh wearing cool armor and having effects that allow it to somehow reach 5000-6000 ATK points. Or that Kuribabylon card. Lol. Unfortunately, all those cards are just fan made. In real life, there is only one Kuriboh card and its only effect is that it can be discarded to save you from a direct attack.

Not that there are not any spell cards that can be combined with the lovely Kuriboh and make it more powerful, mind you. In fact, Yugi does have one of those in his deck. However, under these circumstances, even if he draws that card, it still won't be enough.

Anyway, now it's Mai's turn. All Yugi can do right now is believe in her.

Mai draws. After mumbling some curses, she conducts her turn. 'I set 1 card. Then I play the Amazoness Fighter (1500/1300) in defense mode.'

The aforementioned female monster appears on Mai's field and kneels down into a defensive position.

'My turn,' Lumis declares and draws, giggling in joy.

He sure can't wait to take the corpses of those two duelists, along with their God Cards, to Master Marik. Umbra's Shining Abyss will wipe the floor with the likes of them. Unfortunately, as strong as the Shining Abyss is, it is on Umbra's field, so Lumis cannot attack with it; the two Rare Hunters have to wait until it's Umbra's turn again to deliver the final blow. Anyway...

'I play Nuvia the Wicked (2000/800) in attack mode.'

A grotesque, seemingly female, monster appears. It is oval shaped and serpent like. Its body is green and its head is purple. Also, it has long, purple hair, which is gracefully waving.

'Nuvia, Attack the Amazoness Fighter,' Lumis commands.

Nuvia charges an energy ball between her long arms and fires it. The Amazoness Fighter is destroyed.

'Turn end,' Lumis declares, having done all he could this turn.

'My turn,' Yugi draws. His new card is the Sonic Duck. It's a monster card depicting a cute, green duckling running at hypersonic speed. It has 1700 ATK points and 700 DEF points. And, best of all, it's a level 3 monster! One of the most powerful level 3 monsters in the game!

Good thing Yugi put this card in his deck, just in case he ever had to deal with the Gravity Bind. However, as things stand, it is not enough. Mai has to do something to help him. And Yugi has a feeling that she will. That face down card she played... maybe... just maybe...

Clinging to that hope, Yugi summons his newly drawn monster. 'I play the Sonic Duck in attack mode.'

The duckling appears on the field. Since it's a winged beast monster, thanks to Mai's 'Harpys' Hunting Ground' field spell card, which is currently on the field, its ATK points increase to 1900.

Lumis raises an eyebrow. 'True, this monster is not affected by the Gravity Bind,' he admits. And, laughing, he continues, 'So what?'

'Your duckling is not just ugly. It's also weak,' Umbra adds. 'Too bad it will never grow into a swain.'

'We will see about that,' Yugi smiles and continues his turn. 'I equip the Mystical Elf with the Magic Formula.'

Yugi places on the board the aforementioned spell card, which depicts a dark brown tome. A tome that the Mystical Elf starts reading. 'A spellcaster monster equipped with this card gains 500 ATK points,' Yugi explains as the elf's ATK points jump to 1300.

'I ask again: So what?' Lumis taps his foot impatiently.

'So this,' Mai suddenly cries haughtily, activating her face down card. 'Female Energy!' (ORIGINAL CARD)

That trap card depicts a white cloud the shape of the figure of an attractive woman. 'I can activate it when a female monster on the field gets a power boost,' Mai explains. 'That boost is doubled!'

And so, the Mystical Elf's ATK points further increase, to 1800.

And, before Lumis or Umbra can ask again, 'So what?' Yugi activates the Mystical Elf's effect, 'Now I transfer her ATK power to another monster, of my choice. And I choose the Sonic Duck!'

Umbra's and Lumises eyes widen at the sight of the Sonic Duck's ATK points skyrocketing to 3700! Now it is even stronger than their overpowered Shining Abyss!

'H-how did they do that?' Lumis stammers. 'How did they manage to collaborate so well without any prior preparation?'

'Sonic Duck, attack the Shining Abyss,' Yugi points forward. 'Supersonic Dash!'

Suddenly, Umbra's expression changes. 'Nice teamwork, fellows,' the tall duelist remarks with a smile. 'Too bad I'm one step ahead of you! I activate my face down card. Mask of Level Up!' (ORIGINAL CARD)

The smiles on Mai's and Yugi's faces are replaced with shock.

'This mask is a continuous trap card. And as long as it is on the field, all monsters on the field go up by one level!'

Therefore, the Sonic Duck becomes a level 4 monster, which means that it is now affected by the Gravity Bind! The unwelcome (from Yugi's and Mai's perspective) green net falls on the duckling and immobilizes it, before it can perform its hypersonic attack.

'Oh, and guess what,' Umbra chuckles. 'Now that we have one more mask card on the field, our Shining Abyss gains 500 more ATK points, thus becoming stronger than your stupid duck!'

The ATK points of the Shining Abyss increase to 4100.

Yugi gasps. He hates to admit it, but those scumbags were right. They were indeed one step ahead of him and Mai. Their supposed trump card combo has utterly been defeated!

Umbra begins his turn, drawing one card. It's a well known ritual spell card, the Curse of the Masked Beast. Not bad.

Now Umbra can get to summon one more super powerful creature. The thing is, he doesn't have enough monsters to tribute. No problem. He will sacrifice the ones on Lumises field.

'Now I play the Curse of the Masked Beast and tribute the two monster on my partner's field: Melchid and Nuvia. And I ritual summon the Masked Beast (3200/1800) in attack mode.'

Lumis gasps and turns to Umbra. It seems that the fact that his partner tributed his monsters without asking him first has irritated him!

Oblivious to that, Umbra prepares to attack. 'Shining Abyss, roast that feathery creature.'

The Shining Abyss fires at the Sonic Duck, which quacks in agony before it is annihilated. Yugi's life points drop to 2700.

'Next, with the Masked Beast, I attack the Mystical Elf.'

The ritual monster card annihilates the last monster on the opponents' field. Now neither Yugi nor Mai have any monsters to protect them.

'UMBRA!' Lumis suddenly yells.

'Huh?' the taller duelist turns to him.

'Couldn't you have the courtesy to ask me first before tributing my monsters?'

'Oh, come on, Lumis,' Umbra chuckles with a dismissive gesture. 'We're winning and that's all that matters.'

'No, it's not, blockhead.'

'Hey, watch your tongue.'

'Blockhead, blockhead, BLOCKHEAD!'

As the two Rare Hunters are fighting, Yugi looks at the two cards left in his hand: Slifer the Sky Dragon (which is useless right now) and Kuriboh. His last hope is the Painful Memories. (ORIGINAL CARD) He has to draw that spell card this turn. However, even that is not enough itself. Mai has to help him. And, to help him, she has to take a huge risk. She must risk losing the duel so that Yugi can win. She must risk losing the duel so that Yugi can get Tea back.

But, in this duel, loss means death. In other words, Mai might have to die for Yugi to see Tea again. Would she ever... No, Yugi would never ask her to do that!

Mai smiles. She has seen the cards in Yugi's hand. She knows about the Painful Memories. She can tell that this is what Yugi wants to go for. And, surprisingly, she has no problem! She, too, is surprised. There was a time she would have huge objections. But not anymore! She's just glad she got to meet Yugi and his friends in her life, a life which is probably about to end.

'Yugi!' Mai's voice interrupts his thoughts.

'Huh?' the boy turns his head to her.

Mai smiles carefeely. 'Don't sweat it, boy. Tell Tea I'm sorry.'

'Mai...' Yugi says weakly. 'You can't mean that...'

'YUGI!' Mai yells determinedly, drawing the attention of the two Rare Hunters too, who had been arguing so far. 'It's my turn. No matter what happens, don't use your Kuriboh's effect to save me. You hear me? You need that monster to win, so don't discard it for my sake. Keep it for yourself and crush those assholes on my behalf!'

'But, Mai...'

'MY TURN! I summon the Amazoness Trainee (1500/1300) in attack mode. Turn end!'

Lumis and Umbra take WTF expressions. Why did she play that weak monster in attack mode and no face down cards? Does she have a death wish?

Mai sighs with a sad smile. That was the last monster left in her hand. She kinda wishes she had a somewhat stronger monster to play. This way, perhaps she could come out of this alive, albeit with 200 or 100 life points left, and Yugi would still be able to win. But, as it stands, she will most likely lose the duel and die. So be it!

The blonde woman raises her eyes to the sky. 'Cecelia. Soon, we will meet in person, dear,' she thinks. 'And tell each other a lot of funny stories about our honey, Max.'

It's Lumises turn. He looks at the card he drew and grins. Not bad at all! Well, Mai would die anyway, but this card will expedite her death!

'I play the Masquerade. With this spell card, I can command a masked monster my partner controls to attack. SHINING ABYSS, DESTROY THE AMAZONESS TRAINEE AND KILL MAI!'

Yugi considers discarding the Kuriboh to save her, but Mai gives him a 'don't you dare' glare.

Predictably, the Amazoness Trainee is destroyed and Mai's life points drop to zero.

Mai steps back due to the shockwave. Before she can get away from the glass, the explosive device is activated and destroys the glass under her feet.

'MAI, NO!' Yugi screams as the woman plummets.

Umbra and Lumis burst into laughter, with Yugi looking at them, with his eyes full of hatred.

'One down...' Umbra begins.

'... one to go!' Lumis finishes his partner's remark.

Yugi is breathing heavily. 'I swear I'm gonna send both of you to meet her, you scums of the universe!' he growls.

'Your move, Yugi,' Lumis laughs, not scared at all.

Yugi draws, knowing full well which his next card is. The Painful Memories. An equip spell card depicting a slave (probably from Ancient Egypt), dressed in a ragged garment, walking in the desert, dragging his chains along.

'First, I summon the Kuriboh (300/200), in attack mode.'

The cute hairball appears on the field and squeals while trying to intimidate his opponents by taking a fighting stance. Due to the Mask of Level Up, its level increases from 1 to 2, but it's still low level enough to be unaffected by the Gravity Bind.

'This shit in attack mode?' Umbra chuckles, arms crossed. 'Do you want to follow your friend's lead and suicide, Yugi?'

Ignoring him, Yugi equips his monster with his spell card. 'Painful Memories! This card can be equipped only to a monster with 500 ATK points or less. The equipped monster gains ATK points equal to the damage I have taken so far.'

'Big deal,' Lumis tosses his head back and laughs. 'So far, you have lost 1300 life points.'

On cue, the Kuriboh's ATK points increase to 1600.

'It's far from enough for you to make a comeback, Yugi,' Umbra comments.

Yugi smiles. 'Have you forgotten that Mai was my ally in this duel? That means that the Kuriboh can absorb all 4000 points of damage she took as well!'

'WHAT?' both Rare Hunters shriek, eyes bulging in terror.

The Kuriboh takes a menacing expression, as if it shares its master's desire for vengeance, with its ATK points soaring to 5600!

'KURIBOH, ATTACK THE MASKED BEAST!'

With another squeal, the Kuriboh floats towards the Masked Beast, strikes it with its cute paw and destroys it. Umbra's life points are reduced to zero.

'NOOO!' the man screams in vain as the explosive device shatters the glass under his feet. The unscrupulous duelist plummets.

'It's your turn again, Lumis,' Yugi points at him. 'And I won't give you any chance to escape this by surrendering. You will play to the bitter end! Make your move!'

The short duelist is trembling. Now what? With Umbra gone, all Umbra's cards (including the Shining Abyss) are gone from the field too. Lumis has no monsters to defend himself with. And it is unlikely that he will draw a monster now, since his deck consists mainly of spell and trap cards (Umbra's deck was the one that held most of their monsters).

Lumis draws. Not good! There is nothing he can do. 'I... I...'

'You end your turn? Good,' Yugi says with no mercy. 'Kuriboh, direct attack.'

The Kuriboh strikes Lumis, who soon finds himself plummeting too.

And so, Yugi has won. But at what cost! The boy falls on his knees and lets out an inarticulate scream.

Author note: Don't worry, fellows. Our beloved Duel Queen isn't dead. Not by a long shot! However, I regret to inform you that this fic goes on another hiatus. There is stuff going on in my life these days which I need to sort out. So, at least for a few weeks, I won't update.