CHAPTER 3

PRELIMINARY MATCHES

At Yugis home, Yugi packs up his things in his room, preparing to leave for the tournament

"Yugi? May I ask why." Asks a familiar voice

"Of course Yami," Yugi recognizes the voice instantly

Yami appears as a see-through illusion on Yugis bed

"Why are you helping your own mother, that you have never known your whole entire life?"

"Because, she's the one who gave birth to me, and found that millennium puzzle and decided to give it to me. Without it, I would've never made friends with Joey or Tristan, or even you."

"But why else?"

"She gave me life, I want to return the favor and help her by saving her life, I wouldn't even live with myself if I didn't even try to save her, or yet even failed"

"Very well, I shall help you with your quest, as well as your friends. If I'm not mistaken, Joey's sister Serenity has been kidnapped, and Tristan and Tea needed the money just as much as you do. Am I correct?"

"Of course," Yugi turns towards Yami with a smile on his face

"I shall help both you and our friends. Lets not forget it is they who helped me defeat Pegasus after you died from his attack in the shadow realm."

"Yeah, that really was scary," Yugi went, remembering back when he finally faced Pegasus, from beginning, to the Mind-Shuffle trick, and even in the shadow realm where he died.

"Luckily I was still alive, so even though you died, you still had your soul."

"Right."

"Do you think we'll be running into any of our enemies young Yugi?"

"Only our past rivals. Only duelists that I know of so far are Rex, Weevil and both the Kaiba brothers."

"Then I shall help you defeat them all."

"I know you will, and together, we shall conquer anything."



"HELP ME!" Bakura runs from a small group of four thugs, chasing after him through the alley

"Hey come back here, I promise it wont take that long," yells out one of the thugs

Rayou Bakura kept on running, not stopping for anything, until he reaches a fork, splitting in two directions

Trusting his guts, he chosen right, and follows it

After turning a corner, he runs into a dead end

"Oh no."

"There he is"

Bakura turns around, seeing those thugs turning the corner, trapping him

Bakura looks up at the wall, it's too high for him to jump, and there's nothing for him to climb on to, or at least have enough time to make one

"Now you're going to get a beating of a life time"

"We would've taken it easier on you if you hadn't run"

"Now we'll beat you to near death"

Bakura holds his arms up, hoping this was all nothing but a nightmare

Then something shinny flies above the thugs heads, as an object lands next to Bakura

"What the heck is that?"

Bakura looks through the darkness, seeing it glowed a little, Bakura recognizes it and hopes that he truly is having a nightmare

"NO, STAY BACK.STAY BACK"

The four thugs watches, as the white haired Bakura cowardly hides in a corner, away from both the thugs, and the strange object

"Lets just get him," suggests one of the thugs

The four thugs charges at Bakura

Then suddenly the object glows, blinding the thugs

When the light dies down finally, the thugs looks up, to see Bakura getting up, and walks towards the item, picking it up

"Back into this body, like I had a choice," said Bakura, but in a different accent

"Hey, what is this?"

"You mortals better stay back, and leave me be, or you all will regret it"

"Is that twarp threatening us?"

"Lets just get him"

The four thugs charges

Bakura takes out his dueling deck, searches it, and takes out a magic card

"Chain of Energy"

The card flashes, and suddenly all four thugs get chained all of the sudden

"Hey.what is this?"

"Now you pathetic fools, I shall send your souls to the graveyard."

Bakura draws out another card, and again it flashes, and then suddenly a giant bug appears, humanoid

"Man-Eater Bug with devour you all, and send each of you all to the graveyard where the Reaper of the Cards awaits"

The Man-Eater Bug attacks and the four thugs scream in terror, as they get devoured

After the Man-Eater Bug and the four thugs vanishes, Bakura walks up, and picks up a chain necklace that one of the thugs dropped, ties it around both the millennium ring and around his neck

"Soon, Yugi Mouto, and soon Yami-yugi my prince, I shall take possession of your millennium puzzle, and then I shall have my revenge"

Bakura walks away, back to his home, as the Yami-Bakura has return, and retaken his hosts body once again



Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea all arrived at a building where all kinds of duelist has also arrived

"Wow, there are a lot of people here?" Joey went

"Are they all dueling?" Tristan sounds worried

"Don't worry, with the new cards that Yugis grandpa gave to us, we can't loose," Tea went. An I hope I'm right

Then a man in a suit walks up to the stage

"Attention all duelist, if you all sit at a table, then I shall tell you the rules of the tournament"

Everyone sits at a table, and Yugi and the others sits at their own table

"Now, there are some house rules for each type and attribute of each monster card, but not all. What kind of rules, well, you have to figure them out by yourself, and they do not effect with the official rules that much, especially the tribute rule unless you play the right cards. Now, there are eight entrances and exits, we're next to one of them, so after this meeting, I'll dismiss each table, one at a time every ten minutes. But first, we'll have some preliminary matches, by drawing names from his box. Which ever two duelist that I draw, may compete, and if they want to wager their star chips, then they can if they want. But if any of you forfeit before the duel actually begin, then you will loose your star chips to the officials, not to the winner."

"I wonder who'll be dueling who?" Tea went

"Why, isn't it Yugi and his cheerleaders"

"Huh?" Everyone turns around to see Mai Valentine

"Oh, hey Mai" Yugi said

"Hey, we're not his cheerleaders, we're all competing" Joey went

"Yeah, but once you've all been eliminated, then you'll become his cheerleaders," Mai went

"You still get on my nerves," Tristan went

The announcer calls out the first duelist, "the first duelist is Joey Wheeler"

"Hey, that's me"

Joey quickly leaves his seat, and rushes up to the stage

"Yeah, I'm Joey Wheeler, the second best duelist of Japan"

Then the announcer draws out a second name

"And his opponent shall be.Seto Kaiba"

"What?!?"

Kaiba walks up onto the stage

"Second best duelist of this country huh? Well then, to me you're nothing more then the second worse duelist of this country. Much worse then a dueling monkey, or even yet, a dog like you can never beat the likes of me"

Joey growls, "don't you dare call me a dog."

"Uh oh," Tristan went

"Oh Joey, I hope you wont wager any star chips," Yugi went

"Alright, since I am better then the last time we've dueled, and not to mention I also got some better cards, I'll wager one star chip, to give you a better chance to stay in the tournament"

"NO JOEY STOP," Yugi yells out

"Too late Yugi, I accept"

Both duelist walks up to the middle, and places their one star chip on the table in the middle

"Both Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba has decided to wager one star chip," said the announcer

"Joey is screwed." Tristan went.

"What an idiot," Tea covers her sight as if she's embarrassed to even look

"Seto Kaiba shall go first," said the announcer

KAIBA: 8000

JOEY: 8000

Kaiba looks at his starting hand, and gives a big snicker

That doesn't look good, looks like he's already drawn some good cards already, Joey thinks to himself

"I play my Hitotsu-Me Giant in attack mode."

Kaiba takes the card from his hand, scans it on his arm piece, and discards it through the slot

The green one-eyed monster appears, and Joey looks through his scouter, reading it to be a 1200/1000, and Earth/Beast-Warrior

"This thing is amazing. Alright, I will then play a card face down."

A card appears right in front of Joey, facing down

"Then I play my Kojikocy in attack mode and send him on the attack"

Kojikocy appears, taking out its swords, and charges in, slicing its way through the Hitotsu-Me Giant, destroying it."

"Alright"

KAIBA: 7700

JOEY: 8000

"That's seems too easy," Yugi thinks aloud

"What do you mean?" Tristan ask, watching the duel, with both duelist life points appearing up top for everyone else to watch and keep track

"Kaiba must've drawn Joey into attacking for something, he must've have another card at his disposal"

"Well that can't be good," Tea worriedly went

"You're a fool if you think you've won already," Kaiba said to Joey

"Say what?"

"Loosing my Hitotsu-Me Giant isn't a lost, it's a sacrifice."

"Sacrifice? For what?

"For this magic card, Soul Exchange."

"Soul Exchange? What's that?"

"Soul Exchange is a magic card, that allows me to use any one of your monsters as a tribute for me."

"Oh no."

Soul Exchange card appears on the field, and sucks the Kojikocy in, and out comes the Judge Man (2200/1500)

"Judge Man, attack." Kaiba orders

The Judge Man charges in, smashes Joeys life points directly

KAIBA: 7700

JOEY: 5800

Kaiba announces that he's done with his battle phase and is about to end his turn

"Hold it Kaiba," Joey went

"What?"

"I like to activate my trap card: Graverobber, and I'll take your Soul Exchange"

Kaiba gotten a little worried

The graverobber appears, and casts a spell on Kaiba, stealing his card, then disappears. Joeys scouter reads that it now has it in his file

"Now it's my turn," Joey went. "and I'll use your Soul Exchange card and use it on your Judge Man and use it as an offering for my Flame Swordsman."

The Judge Man gets sucked into the Soul Exchange card after it appears, and out pops the Flame Swordsman (1800/1600)

"Flaming Sword of Battle," Joey orders, sending his Flame Swordsman out to attack Kaibas life points directly

KAIBA: 5900

JOEY: 5800

"Yeah, now I got you on the ropes," Joey cheers

"For now, but too bad you wont damage me any further." Kaiba went

"We'll just see Seto Kaiba."

To Be Continued.



Who will win: Seto Kaiba or Joey Wheeler?

Can Joey hold Kaiba down before he could play his BEWD?

Has Yami-Bakura has truly return, and what is his plan of revenge for Yugi?

What other dangers awaits Yugi and the others in the tournament?



Next Chapter: Preliminary Matches Part II

The duel between Kaiba and Joey continues, and Joey doesn't look like he's doing good that much as he starts to learn some of the house rules that Kaiba already knows.