Tristan sees Yugi and Joey, on their knees, hugging each other in the corridor. Wait, are they... laughing?

'Umm, guys, are you okay?' the short haired lad scratches his head.

Without standing up or letting go of each other, Joey and Yugi turn to him.

'Never been better, Tris,' Joey cries cheerfully.

Normally, Tristan would get mad at Joey for calling him Tris (because he considers it a feminine nickname) and they would initiate one of their friendly fist fights. But now he's freaking out. Should he worry?

'Yugi... Joey... is there... is there something I can do for you?' he asks with uncertainty.

'Sure, Tristan,' Yugi raises one arm, continuing to hug his blond friend only with the other, and waves to him. 'Come here and join us. We're having a blast!'

'Guys, please, stop!' Tristan cries as he's kneeling next to them. 'You're freaking me out!'

'Why are we freaking you out, Tris?' Joey chuckles, struggling to hold back his tears, which are about to begin rolling out of his eyes anew.

'Joey is right, Tristan,' Yugi adds. 'You have no reason to freak out. We're just two friends having a good time!' He laughs out loud, as if to make his point, only to unwillingly burst into sobs the next moment!

Equally unwillingly, Joey follows his friend's lead.

The two disqualified duelists bury their respective faces in each other's arms, rivers or tears rolling down their cheeks.

Tristan sighs and hugs both of them. 'Everything will be fine in the end, dudes,' he whispers. He so wishes he believed that!


And so, after so many exciting battles, the final match of the Duelist Kingdom tournament begins. Mai Valentine versus Bandit Keith. Bandit Keith versus Mai Valentine.

Pegasus looks indifferently down below at the two duelists. He knows everything about both of them. They both are professional, highly experienced players. They both have made a lot of money out of this game, though in different ways.

For years, Bandit Keith has collected monetary prizes awarded to the winners of big events such as this one.

As for Mai, having taken several jobs at cruise ships' casinos, she has made a considerable amount of cash by placing bets and defeating rich men in duel monsters, thanks to her indisputable gaming skills, her aroma tactics as well as her opponents usually being distracted by her good looks and... err, revealing outfits!

Pegasus chuckles. Neither of those two stands a ghost of a chance against him!

As the two opponents are drawing their respective 5 card starting hands, they are lost, each of them in their own thoughts.

'Darn, perhaps I shouldn't have slept through the first semi final,' Keith thinks. 'Maybe I should have watched it. If I had done so, now I would have some idea of what that chick's strategy is.' Oh, whatever. How good can a blonde bimbo be anyway? Keith bets that she made it that far only because her opponents were drooling over her. But that won't work on him! He can always rape a good looking woman at his leisure later, but, during a duel, he's always focused. During a duel, he's not a male; during a duel, he's just a duelist!

Meanwhile, Mai is thinking about Joey's sister. Tea told her the story, that night in the tent. It's sad that that thickhead's sister will remain blind forever after all. But that's life. It is neither Mai's fault nor her problem. Sure she's sad. She's not insensitive or a bad person. But no sane person would ever give three million yen to help someone they don't know. No one will blame her. Right? When she has won this tournament, she can just take the prize money and enjoy the good life with no remorse.

'Then why do I feel so fucking bad?' she whispers.

Croquet interrupts her thoughts: 'And now, a coin will be tossed to decide which of you two will go first.'

Pegasuses bodyguard produces a coin. He looks at Keith first.

'I call heads,' the USA champion declares. And, turning to Mai, he adds, 'Because I'm gonna have your head in this duel.'

Mai rolls her eyes. 'I guess it's tails for me then,' she sighs.

Croquet tosses the coin, which, after several flips, ends up on the floor. The grey haired man crouches and looks at it. 'Heads,' he informs the two competitors. 'Therefore, Mister Howard shall make the first move in this duel.'

Since Keith gets to make the first move, he will skip his draw phase on the first turn. So, without further ado, he checks the 5 cards he has already drawn. A smile forms on his face.

'Perfect!' he thinks. 'I have already drawn the Slot Machine. When it's time to attack, I'll start equipping it with the 7 Completed spell cards hidden in my wristbands. This duel will be over before that chick can say Jack Robinson! Not that there is any chance that that Japanese chick knows who Jack Robinson is.'

The USA champion inwardly chuckles at his own joke before looking forward and declaring his move.

'First, I set 1 card.'

One of the squares on Keith's field starts emitting a flickering light, a sign that a face down card has been placed.

'Next, I summon the Slot Machine (2000/2300) in defense mode.'

The monster appears on the field; a golem who is entirely golden colored, barring its purple, faceless head. Its torso looks like a slot machine. The monster slightly leans over in order to take a defensive position.

'My turn,' Mai cries and draws. She looks at her cards. Darn! There is not a Harpy in her starting hand. Well, she guesses she can't expect to always draw the cards she wants right off the bat now that she has abandoned her 'aroma tactics'. Thankfully, she has in her deck plenty of cards that can bring that monster to her!

'I play the Harpy's Brother (1800/600) in defense mode.'

A greenish skinned, human formed monsters appears. He has black hair, in an extreme hairstyle like Yugi's, and large, red wings. He's wearing a red eye mask, a black vest and jeans. The monster kneels down into a defensive position.

'As his name indicates, this charming guy is the brother of the Harpy,' Mai explains. 'And he cannot do without his baby sis. He loves her so much!'

The Harpy's Brother raises his hands to the level of his mouth, forms a makeshift loudspeaker with them and lets out an eerie cry. As a result, small masses of green smoke come out of Mai's deck. The masses eventually begin to take shape, until they coalesce into the well known Harpy Lady! Pale skin, a long, red mane, green wings, purple feathered legs and sharp, yellow talons in place of hands and feet. The female monster opens her winged arms and feathery legs and lets out her usual eerie yet somewhat feminine howl, as if to greet her master, Mai, before landing on a square and settling down into a more proper, elegant position.

'See? Whenever he arrives at the party, he always calls her too! Such a loving, caring bro!' Mai adds a smiling wink for emphasis.

'Just finish your fucking move,' Keith rolls his eyes behind his dark glasses.

'Fine,' Mai snaps, taking a more determined expression. 'I play the spell card Harpy's Wardrobe.' (ORIGINAL CARD OF MINE!)

She places on the board a spell card depicting a greenish wardrobe made of rough wood, with horns on its top. 'It allows me to take up to 2 equip spell cards from my deck and equip them to a Harpy monster on the field.'

Mai equips the Harpy with the Cyber Shield and Rose Whip spell cards. Her torso is covered by armor while a whip appears in her hand. As a result, her ATK points increase from 1300 to 2100.

'Unfortunately, it's still not enough to penetrate the Slot Machine's defense,' Mai contemplates before setting 1 card and ending her turn.

Meanwhile, back at the stands, Bakura seems to have grown bored of the duel. An evil smile forms on his lips for a moment.

Tea caught a glimpse of it. Was it just her? Is she... is she seeing things?

'Umm,' the white haired teenager scratches his head, his face back to the expression of the polite, timid, British mannered boy she and her friends have always known. 'I think I'll go to see what is taking Tristan and the others so long.'

'Huh?' Tea turns her head. 'Oh, okay.'

Bakura runs away. As if he's in a hurry. Tea does not give this much more thought, for her attention is soon back at the duel.

'My turn,' Keith declares and draws a card, which he surreptitiously swaps for one of the 7 Completed cards in his wristbands. In fact, he could take out all three of his 7 Completed cards right now in the same manner and equip them to the Slot Machine, thus increasing its ATK points to 4100! But playing all three of them at once would be too suspicious.

'And now, I play the spell card 7 Completed and equip it to the Slot Machine.'

One of the reels in the monster's torso starts spinning rapidly and stops when it reaches a red design of the number 7. The monster's ATK points jump from 2000 to 2700.

Mai seems a little worried.

'I switch the Slot Machine into attack mode,' Keith carries on as he turns his monster card on the board from a horizontal into a vertical position.

On the field, the Slot Machine fully straightens its body.

'Slot Machine, attack the Harpy. Plasma Laser Canon!'

The Slot Machine extends one arm (the one that looks like a canon) forward and begins charging a blast.

'I activate my set card,' Mai suddenly cries. 'Mirror Wall. I can activate it when a female monster is on my field. Because women like being pretty! But, mind you, them looking at their reflection when combing their hair is far from this mirror's only use, honey!'

A glass wall appears. It extends across Mai's field, protecting her monsters. The Slot Machine's reflection can be seen in the glass.

Keith raises an eyebrow.

'Your Slot Machine is going to hit its own reflection,' Mai smiles as Keith's machine monster keeps charging its attack. 'As a result, its ATK power will be reduced by half, whereas my monsters are completely safe! And it's too late to cancel your attack!'

Keith smiles. 'I activate my own set card. Solemn Judgement!'

The male duelist's trap card depicts an old, eyeless (!), white bearded sage. He's wearing a white robe and his arm is raised in a prohibitive manner.

'I have to pay half my life points to activate it, but it's worth it,' Keith explains as his life points decrease to 1000. 'Because now the permanent trap card you intended to gutlessly hide behind for the rest of the duel goes bye bye!'

Mai lets out a girlie gasp. The Mirror Wall shatters.

'Mhahaha, without your glass shield to protect them, your monsters are worthless,' Keith cries provocatively. 'SLOT MACHINE, CARRY OUT THE ATTACK!'

The machine monster's laser ray hits the Harpy, piercing her heart! The holographic stream of blood spurting out of her chest seems so real that it causes Mai to feel that she has just lost a loved one! The female monster lets out a holler of pain before its body shatters into one million tiny pieces.

With a lost expression, the blonde duelist is staring at the square where her monster used to be, as her life points decrease to 1400.

'Mai, pull yourself together,' Tea calls out, leaning against the railing.

'I lost my Harpy,' Mai whispers to herself, her hand on her huge, sexy breasts. She can almost feel the pain her Harpy Lady felt when she was struck in the chest.

The female duelist lowers her eyes, places her hands on the board and grips its edge in desperation, her gritted teeth visible.

That was the only monster she should never have let die. She can't even begin to count how many duels she has won in the past just because Harpy, her trustworthy servant, was on the field. How is she supposed to fight now?

Amused at Mai's expression, Keith crosses his arms, tosses his head back and bursts into a booming laugh. 'MHAHAHAHA, have you at last realized that you can't win, babe? Give it up, already.'


Bakura is roaming the castle's dungeons, with an expression totally different from before, the Millenium Ring hanging down from his neck glowing ominously.

He likes the ambience of this place. Hmm, is this skeleton over there real? The current Bakura sure hopes so!

Now that everybody up in the castle is busy with trivial things such as children's card games and protecting loved ones, he has got the perfect chance to find Pegasuses prisoners, or should he say their empty shells, for their souls are somewhere where no mortal can go!

He has to find at least one of them. He needs one of those bodies. Not of course because he aspires to live as a multi billionaire, but because he needs a new host. That Bakura kid he's currently possessing, for all his cowardice, is growing harder and harder to handle. To make matters worse, his failed attempt to get the Millenium Puzzle two days ago, when he trapped the souls of Normal Yugi, Normal Bakura and their friends into cards, exposed him.

At the end of that sadistic duel, Yugi and his friends thought they had destroyed him. What they don't know is that he cannot be destroyed. Fools! How can one destroy darkness? Darkness is something timeless. It already existed before anything else, even the Gods, were created.

Still, though, Yami Bakura can sense it, they're still suspicious. It never hurts to be safe. So, until the time is right to make his next move, he'd better hide in a new host, someone no one would ever suspect.

'Hey, you,' a heavy, male voice is heard.

Bakura turns his eyes slightly, just enough to see some dressed in black security guards running towards him.

'Annoying pests,' he mumbles and keeps walking, as if nothing is happening.

'HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU,' a guard yells, having lost his patience.

Bakura stops walking and turns his head. The security guards stop, waiting to see whether they can resolve this in a peaceful manner.

'Fuck off, pathetic mortals,' Bakura laughs, turns his head back to its original position and resumes walking.

'Don't move,' one of the guards shouts, angry. They pull their guns.

Bakura sighs. He turns around. He takes out his dueling deck.

'You're gonna fight us with cards?' one of the guards laughs. 'This isn't a duel monsters arena, kid. Just go back upstairs before you get hurt.'

'Everywhere is a duel monsters arena when you fight with real monsters,' Bakura laughs like a madman, draws a card and raises it in the air. 'MAN EATER BUG, I SUMMON YOU!'

A white, shapeless spirit comes out of the card. The shocked men are watching it as it gradually grows in size, becomes darker and takes shape. Finally, the monster lands on its feet, causing the floor to vibrate. It's a dark colored insect, over three meters tall, with horns on the head, with red, expressionless eyes and sharp teeth, which it bares right now with a terrifying growl.

'What... what is that thing?' one of the men cries, freaked out.

Panicked, the guards start shooting it all together. The place is drowned in the sounds of a barrage. However, the bullets ricochet off the giant insect's hard exoskeleton.

The Man Eater Bug leans over and grabs one of the men with its huge claws. The aforementioned man screams, flailing arms and legs in vain, as the bug wide opens its mouth. Then it straightens its body and tosses its head back, chewing that man to death. Crunching sounds are heard. Blood and parts of that man's internal organs splatter everywhere.

The other men scream in horror. They try to run away, but none of them shall escape.

'Send them all to the graveyard, Man Eater Bug,' Bakura laughs triumphantly.