Tristan is running like crazy. What happened to him a few minutes ago was so bizarre. Yugi spoke directly to his mind!

However, Tristan has no time to feel awed or anything. His friend from Ancient Egypt has asked for help. He, Mai and Joey are in danger. And if Tristan doesn't do something, in less than one hour, both Joey and Mai will sink to the bottom of the ocean!

Tristan is still running like crazy when he suddenly collides with someone who was coming out of an alley.

The two people fall on the pavement, with cries and thuds.

Tristan moans in pain as he's slowly standing up, without bothering looking at the other person. Under different circumstances, he would have yelled at that careless asshole and, perhaps, picked a fight with him. But not this time! Right now, his friends need his help.

The other person, on the other hand, looks at Tristan and realizes that he knows him. 'Hey, you're that guy that was hanging out with Joey at my shop's grand opening.'

Tristan gasps with realization. 'Yeah, come to think of it, I remember you too,' he says, giving his hand to the other lad to help him stand up. 'You're that Duke Devlin guy. Right?'

'Right,' Duke winks with a smile as he takes Tristan's hand and stands up. 'How is Joey doing lately?'

'Dunno,' Tristan shrugs. 'I haven't seen him in a while.'

'Myself, I have,' Duke winks again. 'We spent last night together and...'

The next moment, the creator of dungeon dice monsters gasps and places his palm on his mouth, with his eyes widening, having just realized that, perhaps, he shouldn't have said this! 'Umm, of course, when I say we spent last night together, I obviously mean that we just hanged out as two straight men... doing... you know... stuff that straight men do and...'

'I don't care, dude!' Tristan snaps. 'Joey is in danger right now and I have no time to waste with the likes of you. I need to go.'

'What?' Duke cries. 'Joey is in danger? I'm coming along!'

'Fine,' Tristan sighs. 'But hurry.'

The two teenage boys start running side by side.

'So, what happened to Joey?' Duke asks.

Tristan sighs, still running. 'Would you believe me if I told you he's been brainwashed by a madman who has magic powers and wants to conquer the world?' he rhetorically asks.

'I would,' Duke nods with a smile, without interrupting his run either. 'When it comes to Joey Wheeler, nothing surprises me anymore!'


'My turn,' Mai says and draws a card, determined not to give up. She looks at the card she drew.

'I play the Amazoness Chainmaster (1500/1300) in attack mode.'

The aforementioned Amazoness appears on the field, playing with her chains.

Joey snickers. 'It doesn't matter how many monsters you play, sweetheart,' he says. 'You cannot break through my Marauding Captain combo. As long as I have two of them on the field, you cannot attack. And when I draw an Ookazi or another burn card, you're dead.'

'Next,' Mai carries on, 'I play Block Attack.'

She places on the field a spell card depicting a knight about to strike with his sword. The aforementioned image is crossed out.

'This card will force one of your monsters to switch to defense mode.'

On cue, one of the Marauding Captains kneels down into a defensive position.

'And what will you gain by that?' Joey nonchalantly raises an eyebrow. 'You cannot attack either of my Marauding Captains, either they are in attack or in defense mode.'

'I know,' Mai smiles. 'But now that one of them is in defense mode and I have a Harpy monster on the field (Harpy Queen), I can play this continuous spell card. Shadow of Eyes!'

Mai places the well known permanent spell card on the field. The Harpy Queen's eyes begin glowing. The Marauding Captain who is in defense position switches back to an attack position and attacks the Harpy Queen.

'Darn,' Joey inwardly curses, gritting his teeth. 'Now she will destroy one of the two Marauding Captains.'

Mai knows what her brainwashed opponent is thinking. But he is wrong!

Before she can explain to him that there is more to that combo, Yugi does so, 'You fool! Mai aims to destroy not just one but both your monsters!'

'WHAT?'

'I'm afraid that Yugi is right, honey,' Mai confirms with a smile. 'You see, the Marauding Captain's attack triggers my trap card. Feminine Charm!' (ORIGINAL CARD, FIRST APPEARED IN CHAPTER 8)

'Son of a...' Joey cries, without finishing this sentence.

'When you attack a female monster on my field with a male monster, this trap card is activated and causes all male monsters on your field to fall in love with the attack target.'

The Harpy Queen starts seductively dancing around clouds of steam. When Mai played that card against Pegasus at the Duelist Kingdom, his toon monsters fell in love with the Harpy in a gag manner. Now, on the other hand, the expression in the eyes of the Marauding Captains becomes serious, lustful. The expression of a soldier that has spent years on the battlefield, sexually deprived, and now has just laid eyes on an attractive woman. An attractive woman whom he must have his way with at all costs!

The two soldiers raise their respective swords against each other. Whoever kills the other will get to rape that attractive lady. Unfortunately, since both of them have the same number of ATK points, they end up killing each other.

Joey's eyes bulge. His defenses are gone!

'It seems you are now wide open, sweetie,' Mai places her index finger on her chin with a sarcastically innocent expression. Next, taking a more determined expression, she yells, 'Harpy Queen and Amazoness Chainmaster, direct attack!'

The Harpy monster strikes Joey with her claws, causing him to step back. Next, the Amazoness Chainmaster strikes him with her chains, causing him to fall on his butt. His life points drop from 4000 all the way to 600.

'Yes!' Yugi cries triumphantly. Let us hope that those direct attacks were enough to bring Joey to his senses.

Unfortunately, though, Joey stands up and keeps dueling! The indication of the time counter is 35 minutes and a few seconds!

'Joey, as I said, I don't want to kill you,' Mai sighs, with a worried expression. 'Please, snap out of it soon, so that we can then find a way for both of us to be saved.'

'Nonsense,' Joey chuckles. 'You are the only one who is going to die. As I said earlier, it doesn't matter how many strong monsters you summon when you play against someone whose deck is filled with illegal player killing cards. Raigeki!'

Joey plays a spell card depicting a lightning bolt. A lightning bolt that strikes Mai's field, instantly reducing all her monsters to ashes!

Mai's eyes bulge. Now she... (gulp)... she doesn't have any monsters or face down cards on her field. And she has only 800 points left!

'Oh no,' Yugi thinks, with his eyes bulging too. 'I knew this duel was too much for her. She's... she's going to lose.'

Joey laughs triumphantly. 'Game over, Mai,' he cries. 'It's still my turn. All I need to do now is normal summon a monster and attack directly.'

Mai is trembling with fear as Joey is sadistically humming, pretending to have a hard time deciding which monster to play.


Tristan and Duke are still running. Occasionally, they collide with passers by, who subsequently yell at them. Duke will apologize. Tristan, on the other hand, is not that polite.

'Darn, we're not gonna make it in time,' Tristan cries, worried.


Mai is gazing at her empty field, with a dead fish expression. So is this the end? Did she miraculously escape death earlier today only to be killed now by her brainwashed fr... Hey, wait a minute!

A sudden realization ignites hope in her eyes. 'I activate the effect of my Amazoness Chainmaster,' she declares, before Joey can summon a monster.

'Huh?' the blond duelist raises his eyes from his cards to his opponent, confused.

'Ahh, I see,' Yugi dares to smile. There is still hope, albeit only a slim one!

'The Amazoness Chainmaster is one of my monsters that you just destroyed with the Raigeki,' Mai explains to her brainwashed opponent. 'And when she is destroyed by a card effect, her effect can be activated, allowing me to take a monster from your deck.'

Joey growls, frustrated. The chain of the Amazoness Chainmaster emerges from the square its wielder was standing on and gets hooked on Joey's deck. 'And what do you hope to accomplish this way, woman?' the male duelist asks.

Without answering, Mai walks over to Joey and begins searching his deck. If he has in there a monster that can block direct attacks, she's still in the game. Otherwise, it's all over. Come on, come on...

Yes! The Swift Scarecrow! 'I'll take this one,' Mai declares with a smile and shows her opponent a card depicting an android that looks like a scarecrow. 'Now go on and perform your direct attack.'

Mumbling curses, Joey finally normal summons a monster. 'Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600).'

A black, metal humanoid appears on the field. It highlights its entrance with a robotic growl.

'Direct attack!' Joey cries, not as excitedly as before, knowing that Mai is going to block this.

Gearfried charges at Mai.

'I activate the effect of the Swift Scarecrow,' Mai declares and discards the card she took from Joey's deck a few moments ago in order to negate the attack and end the battle phase.

The aforementioned scarecrow appears on the field for a moment. Gearfried cuts it into pieces.

Joey gasps, having just felt a pain in his chest, which he clutches.

'The destruction of your own monster by your hand pained you?' Mai smiles. 'I'm glad. This means that you haven't lost your duelist heart, Wheeler. This means that your real self is still somewhere in that stupid head of yours. And I'm gonna get him back.'

'SHUT UP!' Marik makes Joey scream.


'Darn,' Marik wiggles his Millennium Rod in frustration. 'That woman has a strange effect on my mind slave. My control over him is... fading!'

Yami Mokuba rolls his eyes. 'Wow, another plan of yours will fail. What a surprise,' he says sarcastically.

'I have to hurry up and win fast,' Marik says to himself.


Joey has set 1 card and ended his turn. The time counter's indication is 23 minutes.

'My turn,' Mai cries and draws a card. 'I play the Card of Demise. It allows me to draw cards until I have five. Five turns later, I have to discard my hand.'

'Whatever, I don't care,' Marik makes Joey say, merely to fill the pause as Mai draws.

The woman smiles at her new hand. 'I summon the Cyber Harpy (1800/1300) in attack mode.'

Her trustworthy servant appears on the field and greets her master with a flap of her wings and a howl.

'Next, I play the Elegant Egotist, which causes my Harpy to produce two duplicates of herself.'

As two more Harpies appear on the field, Joey activates his face down card. 'Trap card activate. Scapegoat Magic Mirror! (ORIGINAL CARD) I can activate it when you summon one or more token monsters. It allows me to summon as many scapegoat tokens as the token monsters you just summoned. And since you summoned two token monsters (two Harpies), I summon two scapegoat tokens.'

Two cute, fluffy, multicolored hairballs with goat horns appear on Joey's field. Mai would feel like cuddling them if the situation was not so dire.

'Whatever,' the female duelist sighs. 'Since I have played the Elegant Egotist, I cannot attack this turn. I set 2 cards and end my turn.'

'I bet that one of those face down cards is the Mirror Wall,' Yugi inwardly guesses, with his arms crossed.

And indeed, he's right. If Joey summons a powerful monster and attacks, Mai will be able to activate that super powerful continuous trap card, since she has female monsters on her field.

Joey grins as he draws a card. You see, as opposed to the scapegoat tokens summoned with the effect of the well known Scapegoat quick play spell card, the ones summoned with the effect of the Scapegoat Magic Mirror can be tributed for a tribute summon!

'I tribute Gearfried as well as my two tokens!' he declares.

'WHAT?' Mai shrieks, with her eyes bulging.

'Three sacrifices?' Yugi gasps.