A thunderstorm has broken out. Although it's just a virtual image coming from the duel disk, it's pretty realistic. And scary!

Mai and Yugi are watching, with their eyes bulging with fear. Why did Joey just tribute three monsters? Is it... (gulp)... is it possible that he's about to summon a God Card? Is it possible that Marik has put in Joey's deck the last but far from least God Card? The Sun Dragon of Ra?


Yami Mokuba, who happened to be drinking coffee at that moment, spits out his gulp in shock, with his eyes bulging.

'You gave him your Egyptian God Card?' he cries. 'The Winged Dragon of Ra? The most powerful card in duel monsters? Are you out of your fucking mind, Marik?'

'Chill, partner,' Marik chuckles. 'I know I'm bold sometimes, going as far as to give an Egyptian God Card to a mind slave, as I did when I gave Slifer to Strings. But even I would never be so stupid as to give the ultimate God Card to that blond buffoon.'

'Then why did he just tribute three monsters in one go?' Mokuba asks impatiently. 'What is he trying to summon?'

Marik frowns, training his eyes on his partner. 'For your information, Egyptian Gods are not the only monsters that require three tributes to be normal summoned,' he explains. 'There is a warrior type monster that normally requires two tributes. It is strong as a normal monster. However, if the player opts to tribute three monsters instead, its super powerful effect comes into play, making it an unstoppable force on the battlefield.'


'Behold!' Joey exclaims. 'The strongest monster in my deck. Gilford the Lightning (2800/1400).'

The aforementioned warrior is a tall, sturdy, imposing one. He's wearing a metal helmet that conceals his eyes. His shoulder pads and gloves seem to be made of the same material as the helmet. The above aside, his upper body is bare. Any lady would drool over that 'monster'! His lower body is covered with a cloth the same color as his cape.

Gilford highlights his entrance by bellowing like a bull.

'Well, at least it's not a God Card after all,' Yugi thinks, kinda relieved. Still, though, he bets there is more to this monster than his high ATK power. He bets Gilford has some awesome special ability. Otherwise, Joey wouldn't have sacrificed three monsters to summon him.

'When I summon Gilford by sacrificing three monsters, his effect is activated,' Joey says. 'All monsters on your field will be destroyed, Mai!'

'Oh, come on, seriously?' Mai yells in semi comical annoyance; this is the third time in this duel that all monsters on her field are destroyed by a card effect!

Gilford raises his sword. This creates a lightning bolt, which strikes Mai's field. The three Harpies are fried alive amid their screams of suffering.

And so, once more, Mai has no monsters on the field. Yugi grits his teeth, with his eyes widening. He knows that one of the two face down cards on Mai's field is the Mirror Wall. However, Mai cannot activate it without at least one female monster on her field. Let us hope that she can do something with her other face down card. In any case, the Duel Queen's expression is ambiguous.

'And now, time for my normal battle phase,' Marik makes Joey cry ecstatically. 'Gilford, attack!'

Joey's warrior raises his huge sword once more, this time in order to strike the opposing player with it, and charges.

'Trap card activate,' Mai snaps her fingers. 'Nutrient Z.'

The aforementioned face down card is flipped face up and increases Mai's life points by 4000 before Gilford can attack. And so, Mai's life points increase to 4800 and then, after Gilford's attack, decrease to 2000.

'Tenacious bitch,' an annoyed Marik growls through Joey's mouth. 'I end my turn.'

'That was close,' Yugi sighs. But Mai is still at a disadvantage.

'My turn,' the female duelist unnecessarily declares as she draws a card.

She smiles. However, the next moment, her smile disappears. True, she can end this duel now with this combo. But this will kill Joey. This is not her true objective. She's supposed to find a way to save them both.

'What's the matter, Mai?' Joey provokes her. 'You haven't drawn the card you needed?'

Mai raises her eyes to her opponent with a sigh. 'On the contrary,' she runs her fingers through her hair, which is still a little wet (because of her dive into the fountain in that building earlier today). 'I have drawn exactly what I need to finish you off!'

'Huh? You're-you're bluffing,' a kinda worried Marik stutters, speaking through Joey's body.

With another sigh, Mai summons her next monster. 'I play the Harpy's Brother (1800/600) in attack mode.'

The male Harpy monster appears on the field.

'And now,' Mai carries on, 'I equip him with the Harpy's Sword of Vengeance!' (ORIGINAL CARD, FIRST APPEARED IN CHAPTER 42)

The aforementioned dark brown sword appears in the hand of the Harpy's brother.

Mai's life points decrease to 1000, since she has to pay half her life points to activate this equip spell card. 'The low level Harpy monster equipped with this card will be destroyed at the end of my turn,' Mai explains. 'However, for the time being, his ATK power increases by the sum of the ATK points of all Harpy monsters in my graveyard!'

Mai has two Harpy monsters in her graveyard (Harpy Queen and Cyber Harpy). And so, the ATK points of the Harpy's Brother increase to 5500!

'MOTHERFUCKER!' Joey cries. If Mai attacks now, his life points will drop to zero. It's all over!

The Harpy's Brother assumes a fighting stance, waiting for his master's order to attack. However, Mai seems reluctant.

'Joey, please,' Mai tries one more time. 'I really don't want to do this.'

Marik regains his smile (both where he physically is as well as through Joey's face). 'You cannot save both yourself and your friend, Mai,' he informs her. 'It is either you or him.'

Mai growls. She can tell that, this time, it is not that blend of personalities Marik talked about earlier; this time, it is only Marik speaking!

'Also, if I were you, I would make up my mind soon,' Marik makes Joey point towards the time counter above them, the indication of which is now 15 minutes!

Slowly and unconsciously, Mai lets her mouth open. She has no idea what to do.

Yugi has to admit he has no idea what to do either!

Due to the side effect of the 'Harpy's Sword of Vengeance' equip spell card, the Harpy's Brother will be destroyed at the end of this turn. In other words, unless Mai destroys Gilford, thus dropping Joey's life points to zero, on this turn, her field will be left bare and, when Marik commands Joey to attack directly on the next turn, it will be game over for her.


Hidden behind a container, Duke and Tristan peek. Some thugs have immobilized Tea. Yugi is watching a duel between Mai and Joey. No, wait, this is not Joey. According to what Yugi told Tristan in the telepathic message he sent him earlier, Joey is currently possessed by Marik.

'What are we going to do?' Tristan whispers, pensive. 'I'm a good martial artist, but I cannot win against all of them at the same time. Perhaps if we had a way of ambushing them first. Something that we could use to strike them from a distance...'

Duke smiles meaningfully. 'How about these?' he asks, producing some dice.

Tristan rolls his eyes. 'Are you serious?' he wonders, keeping his voice down. 'You expect to beat them up with dice?'

'Oh, trust me,' the other boy chuckles, gracefully tossing the dice into the air and catching them when they fall. 'In my skillful hands, these tiny, seemingly ordinary, gaming objects can turn into lethal weapons.'

'Fine, let's try,' Tristan sighs. 'We have nothing to lose. Well, except our lives, but my remorse won't allow me to live afterward anyway if I don't help my friends now.'


'So? Will you attack me or not woman?' Joey asks with a sadistic smile. The indication of the time counter is 11 minutes. 'As much as I'd like to let you stall until both you and this blond retard sink into the ocean, I've started growing bored. If you don't make a move within a few seconds, I will consider your turn forfeited and conduct my next turn.'

'I... I can't...' Mai is trembling, with a lost expression in her beautiful eyes. 'I end my turn.'

The next moment, the Harpy's Brother is destroyed, as a side effect of the spell card he was equipped with. The male monster breaks into a million tiny pieces. And so, Mai's field is left bare.

Yugi sighs. He lowers his eyes, shaking his head in despair. So Mai couldn't attack after all. Not that he can blame her, mind you. If he was in her position, he probably wouldn't be able to attack either.

Joey grins. He's just one direct attack away from victory!

'My turn,' he cries excitedly and draws a card. The second Ookazi. Well, he doesn't need it anymore anyway. Time to attack directly and finish off that whore.

'GILFORD, BRING ME VICTORY. DIRECT AT...'

That moment, something draws Marik's attention. As a result, his mind slave, who is mentally connected to him, stops in mid sentence and turns his head.

Two dice have hit the man holding Tea like homing missiles. The man falls on the ground, clutching the back of his head and moaning in pain, barely conscious.

Before the others can realize what has happened, Tristan exploits their confusion and knocks another of them unconscious, with a karate chop in the neck. Two down already!

'Bring it on, creeps,' Duke provokes them. 'There are many more where this came from.'

'Tristan! At last, you're here,' Yugi cries happily as his tan skinned friend and... whoever this dice guy is are beating up Marik's henchmen.

With all his henchmen unconscious, the blond owner of the Millennium Rod expresses his anger through Tea's body. 'I'm the one who is going to have the last laugh,' he makes the girl growl.

Next, he makes Tea start running towards the sea, obviously intending to drown her.

Tristan manages to restrain her. The girl tries to escape, letting out eerie screams, struggling, giving her friend plenty claw marks. For all his pain, Tristan manages to hold his ground and keep her immobilized.

Meanwhile, Duke walks over to Joey. As he walks, his eyes are slowly getting wet. In a state of confusion, the possessed blond duelist scratches his head.

'Joey, please,' Duke pleads with him. 'You are better than that scumbag. You are stronger than that scumbag. Don't let him control you. Become once more the man I loved. Because I love you, Joey!'

Joey gasps. 'You... love me?' he wonders, in a low voice. Little by little, the ominous light his eyes have been glowing with is fading; his eyes are becoming normal again!

'Yes!' Duke insists, with his palm on his chest. 'I don't care how much my parents would holler that this is wrong and Jesus will send me to Hell. I love you and this is the most right thing in the world.'

And, with those words, having reached Joey, Duke wraps his hands around the blond boy's neck and sticks his lips to his!

Everybody around unconsciously drop their jaws with WTF gag expressions for a moment.

In any case, this kiss causes Joey to finally snap out of it. 'Duke!' the boy cries. 'What are you doing here? What am I doing here? Whom am I dueling?'

'Me, Wheeler,' Mai draws his attention, with her arms crossed.

'Huh?' Joey scratches his head.

The indication of the time counter is 7 minutes. By the time Yugi has explained to Joey what has happened, the indication is 5 minutes!

Oh, God, what are they going to do? Sure Joey is back to his normal self, but this is not enough. He and Mai are still chained to the anchor, which will drop in 5 minutes no matter what happens. Only one of them can escape!

Joey sighs. He cannot attack Mai. 'I would never kill you, Mai,' he says seriously. 'I will play the Ookazi on myself and drop my life points to zero.'

Mai raises an eyebrow. 'Wait, a player can target themselves with burn cards?' she wonders out loud.

'Yeah... I think so,' Joey scratches his head. (Well, in my story, they can!)

'Don't be stubborn, Wheeler,' Mai yells. 'You are the one who has to live, not me. The world needs stupid people like you. They need something to laugh at!'

Joey rolls his eyes at that last comment. Even so, he insists on playing the Ookazi card on himself.

With the two duelists bickering over who is going to die for whom (!) and the clock mercilessly ticking (4 minutes left!), Yugi is desperately trying to come up with something. Maybe... if they both lost at the same time. Then both boxes would open and both of them would be able to release themselves. Yes, that could work!

'Guys, wait a minute,' Yugi interrupts them. 'I've got an idea. Try to make this duel end in a draw.'

Both Mai and Joey gasp. Slowly, a smile forms on the woman's lips (2 minutes left!) 'You know, Yugi, I think I have a card that can make this happen.'

Her eyes to Joey. 'Quickly, end your turn, Wheeler and trust me!'

'Umm, okay,' Joey scratches his head anew. 'I end my turn.' (1 minute left!)

'My turn,' Mai declares, about to draw a card. She needs to draw this card now. Heart of the Cards, guide her!

She draws. She looks at the card. She smiles. 'I set 1 card and end my turn. (30 seconds left!) Now, Joey, use the Ookazi on yourself and leave the rest to me.'

'My turn,' Joey cries hurriedly. Without bothering conducting his draw phase, he activates the Ookazi and targets himself. The virtual flames that momentarily surround him drop his life points to zero.

'I activate my trap card,' Mai hurriedly yells. 'Resurrection of the Harpies. (ORIGINAL CARD) I can special summon from the graveyard as many Harpy monsters as possible.'

Mai flips face up the aforementioned card, which depicts claws (presumably belonging to Harpies) emerging from the ground. The Harpy Queen, the Cyber Harpy and the Harpy's Brother appear on the field.

'To activate this card, I need to pay 2000 life points,' Mai adds, raising a finger.

And so, her life points drop to zero as well.

Both boxes open. Before the anchor falls, both duelists crouch, pick up the respective keys and release themselves.

'We will meet again, pharaoh,' Marik makes Tea growl with spite. Then he lifts the Millennium Rod's effect on the teenage girl, since he no longer needs her.

'Where am I?' a shocked Tea gasps, looking around. 'Why do you have claw marks on your face, Tristan?'

The last thing she remembers is sitting with Tristan at a cafeteria.


'Congrats, Marik,' Mokuba claps, slowly and sarcastically. 'Once more, you have screwed up.'

Having already let it go, Marik stands up with a chuckle. 'You know, in a sense, maybe it's for the best after all. I mean, I have craved to kill the Pharaoh for so long. It feels more right to me to do it personally, in the Battle City finals.'