Author's Note: [From Sam] Okay, there's one thing that I'm getting the feeling people are a little confused about. Just so you know, "Sam" is short for "Samantha", not "Samuel". I'm a girl. ^_^

[From Shaun] Later on in this duel, the card Garuda the Wind Spirit is played and its effect comes much sooner than it should - but this is for story purposes. Don't pay it any mind. We're just doing what they do in the TV show all the time.

Chapter 16

"The Sixth Duel: Winds of Fate"

As soon as lunch was over, Bakura told the others that he was going back to the hotel, to rest. Joey tried to comfort Yugi, who thought that this was entirely his fault, "C'mon Yug, cheer up!" Joey patted his friend on the back as he watched the white-haired boy walk away, "Bakura wanted to duel, remember? And we still gotta get the rest of our Items! So, let's let Bakura sleep it off. Then he'll be back to his old self, cheering you an' me right on to the finals!"

Yugi nodded, though he couldn't force anything more than a weak smile. "Yeah, okay," he said. As they walked away, he mused, "It's too bad Kaiba didn't stick around. I would've liked to duel him."

"Yeah," Joey agreed, "It's too bad somebody scared him off," he added, jerking his thumb in Mai's direction.

"Hey!" she snapped, "I didn't see you standing up for Yugi, Wheeler!"

"I was just about to!" he said.

"Sure…"

"I was!"

"Whatever…"

* * *

Bakura wandered the streets of Al Karnak alone. He was a little afraid to go home and rest. Because if he went to sleep, the Spirit was sure to take control again. And he wasn't strong enough to prevent it.

He was so lost in his own thoughts, that he almost didn't notice the flash of color that whooshed past above him. Startled, he turned his gaze to the rooftops, trying to make sure he hadn't been seeing things that weren't really there. And sure enough, a figure in a blue cloak was leaping from one roof to the next, quickly disappearing from site.

He shook his head, not sure what to make of it, and not knowing if he should even concern himself with it. He certainly had enough on his plate already. He turned and kept heading in the direction of the hotel.

* * *

The gang continued along their way, with Tea, Mai and Tsuki each stopping their progress through the city once for window shopping and browsing, which really got on the guys' nerves. Not only were they bored, but it was hot out and they had the option of cooking to death or… going in with the girls. By a vote of 3 to none, they opted to cook.

While trying to find any small portion of shade along one of the store walls, Joey noticed a shadow hanging overhead. He looked up, expecting to see a flag or banner but instead, a figure jumped down from the roof and landed inches away from him.

It was a young woman with white-blonde hair and ice-blue eyes that matched her cloak. She looked Joey up and down. "Hmph," she said, "You cannot be who I seek. She took a step back, "Which one of you is Yugi Moto?"

Yugi raised a hand slightly, "That would be me…"

"Well then," the woman said, tossing her head so her hair flew back around her, "It is you who I've been looking for. Are you up to a duel?"

"Sure!" Yugi said, but Joey put a hand out in front of him.

"Not so fast, Yug," he said, and Yugi noticed for the first time that the woman's robe had the Millennium Shield emblem on it. Joey addressed the woman, "If you wanna duel Yugi, you're gonna hafta go through me!"

The woman cocked an eyebrow at him, "Noble, yet stupid. You must be the one they call Wheeler." Joey flushed angrily and she continued, "Very well. I Howa, the Wind Duelist, will accept your challenge."

"I don't care what you are or what ya call yerself! I've seen one of your kind duel today, and if you're anything like him, then you're gonna regret ever accepting a duel with Joey Wheeler!" The brash teen furiously activated his Duel Disk. The man that Bakura had dueled had called himself the Fire Duelist. It must have been a theme or something.

Howa activated her Duel Disk 2 as well. If this boy was a good as his boasting, she'd get a decent duel out of him. But men were often all talk, and lacking skills to back up their claims.

"Let's Duel!" they cried in unison.

Yugi sighed. At this rate, he'd never make it to the finals! He'd only been in one duel so far! Silently, he vowed that once this duel was over, he'd go looking for Kaiba again.

Howa drew her first five cards (Skull Red Bird, Takahee, Peacock, Fusion Gate, and Dust Tornado). "Since I pity you, I'll let you make the first move, boy," she told Joey.

"Fine," Joey scowled, "The beginning of the end for you!" Joey grabbed six cards from his Duel Disk (Tiger Axe, Panther Warrior, Headless Knight, Block Attack, Giant Trunade, and Red Eyes Black Dragon) Awesome! I could win this thing pretty quick with cards like these! "I'm gonna play one monster face-down in Defense mode (Headless Knight (1450/1700)) and I'll end my turn there." He folded his arms across his chest, his card fanned out in his hand.

"That's all?" she said, "Ah well. My turn." She drew her next card (Follow Wind). "First, I'll set down the field card, Fusion Gate!"

"Eh?" Joey said, watching as a giant gate materialized high above the field, "What's that do?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Howa said, "Next, I'll play Takahee (1450/1000) in attack mode." A brown bird that looked like a cross between a hawk and an eagle appeared on her side of the field.

Great! Joey thought to himself, When she attacks, she's gonna take her own life points! "Go ahead, Howa!" he said, "Go ahead and bring on you're attack!"

"I shall," she said, "But not before equipping my bird with the Magic Card Follow Wind, bringing it's stats up to 1750/1300!" A red scarf wrapped itself around Takahee's neck and it cawed loudly. "Now go! Attack his face down monster!"

The great bird swooped in low, striking the face down card. The Headless Knight appeared for a second, before disintegrating into a million pieces!

Joey shielded himself with his hands as a rush of wind covered his side of the field, "NO! My knight!" Joey drew his card (Armored Lizard), "Alright! I summon Armored Lizard (1500/1200) in attack mode!" Seeing her confused look, he selected a magic card and played it, "And I'll use the magic card Block Attack! It switches your monster from attack to defense position. Annnnnd, since your monster has a weaker defense than my attack, my Armored Lizard will destroy your birdie!" The armored, blue lizard rushed forward and slashed twice at the brown bird, which was trying to shield itself with its wings. It, like the knight, shattered into a thousand pieces and disappeared from the field.

Joey grinned, "How about that, huh? I really outplayed ya there!" Joey wiped his nose cockily, feeling very good about himself.

Howa was silent a moment. It had been a good move, no questions there. But it could've been luck. She drew her next card (Spirit of the Books) and considered her options. She smiled. There was a simple step she could take next. "Nice move," she said, "But let's see how your Alligator fairs against my Skull Red Bird (1550/1200)!" She played the card and a large red bird, with sharp beak and talons appeared. "Attack now!"

The bird struck the reptile hard and it vanished. The score was now, Joey: 3950, Howa: 4000.

Howa smiled, "And before I end my turn, I'm going to place one card face-down (Dust Tornado)." A large, brown-backed card appeared in front of the cloaked Egyptian.

"Uh oh…" Tristan said.

"It's alright," Yugi assured him, "Joey has plenty of monsters left that are stronger than that Skull Red Bird. He just has to trust in the heart of the cards!"

Awww… man! I'm already behind! C'mon deck, Joey needs yer help here! Joey pulled his next card from the top of his deck (Scapegoat), "Alright! I'm gonna summon Panther Warrior (2000/1600) in attack mode!" The armored, purple cat materialized out of its card, growling angrily at the red bird facing across from it. "Next, I activate the Magic card Scapegoat!" Four furry little sheep-like animals of various colors appeared on the field, floating in front of Joey, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the battlefield. Joey pointed a finger at the flying creature, "Go, Panther Warrior, attack the Skull Red Bird!"

The wind duelist pushed a button on her Duel Disk 2, "Not so fast, boy! My Dust Tornado Trap card will destroy your Scape Goats!" A mighty gust of wind surrounded the four tiny creatures and blew them away before one could be absorbed into Panther Warrior. The feline soldier broke off his assault, and went back to stand in front of Joey. The Japanese teen was frantic, "No way! Now my Panther Warrior has to wait until next turn to attack!"

Howa laughed, "Tough luck, boy! Surely you've heard of Trap Cards!" She drew her next card (Bladefly), "It's my turn now. And I'll play Bladefly (1100/700) in attack mode." An over-sized bumblebee with sharp front claws appeared on the field.

Joey cocked an eyebrow, "What's that puny bug gonna do?"

"Hmph," she frowned, "This 'puny bug' raises all Wind types attack points by 500 – AND lowers the attack of all Earth types by 400!"

"Uh oh…" Joey muttered.

"So my Skull Red Bird is up to 2050, and your Panther Warrior is down at 1600!" she said, "And you know what that means! Skull Red Bird, Bladefly! Attack!!"

The giant bird swooped in for the kill once more and Panther Warrior was torn to pieces. The large bug then followed suit by swooping in and bashing Joey in the head, knocking him to the ground. Joey: 2800 – Howa: 4000

"Owww…." Joey groaned before standing up again, rubbing his head, "Just you wait! Joey Wheeler still has a few tricks up his sleeve!" he slid the next card off of the Duel Disk 2, and it readjusted itself to hold his slightly smaller deck securely (Graceful Dice), "I'll summon Tiger Axe (1300/1100), in attack mode!" The tiger warrior appeared on the field, but lost 500 attack points as Bladefly buzzed high above, "And I'll play one card face-down. I'd advise you not to attack my Tiger Axe, because I've got a trap all ready and waiting for you!" He folded his arms cockily. She would probably think he was bluffing from this bout of bad acting, which was fine with him. A 2 or better from the Graceful Dice would beat out Bladefly, and a 3 or better would make Skull Red Bird kill itself.

"Please," she scoffed, "I suggest you take some acting classes, boy." She drew her next card (Faith Bird) and her face lit up. "Perfect!! I'll play Faith Bird (2000/1100) in attack mode. And by doing this, both Skull Red Bird and Faith Bird can leap into the Fusion Gate!" And both birds did so. "The Fusion Gate acts as a permanent Polymerization! Now a new monster is born – the Crimson Sunbird (2800/1800)! HA HA HA HA HA!!"

Out of the Fusion Gate came a large red and orange bird. It spread its wings out and flapped them aimlessly, stirring up the dust on the streets. Its cry echoes over the rooftops.

Joey, Yugi and Tristan all stared up at it in awe. At that moment, Mai, Tea and Tsuki emerged from the store they'd been in, looking very confused.

"Why didn't you guys tell us Joey was dueling?" Mai asked Yugi.

"Sorry," he said, "It happened kinda fast – we didn't think of it."

"Besides that," Tristan said, "shopping is against all our moral beliefs."

"Very funny," Tea said.

"So who's winning?" Tsuki asked, stepping up next to Yugi.

"Well…right now, Joey's pretty far behind," he admitted, "But he's not out of it yet!"

Joey, for his part, was staring up at the Crimson Sunbird, a sweatdrop forming on his head. "That's it?" he asked incredulously, "It's…eh…stupid…to put it mildly…"

And it was – the bird's face hinted at anything but intelligence. However, Howa didn't seem to think so. Her eyes blazed with blue fire and she cried, "How dare you!! You won't think it's so stupid when it eliminates your Tiger Axe!! Go, Sunbird!! Attack!!" The large, winged beast swooped down towards Tiger Axe, intent on using its large beak to wipe almost all of Joey's remaining life points…

"I may be a bad actor, but you just fell for it, so what does that say about you? I even warned you that I had a trap waiting!" Joey clicked a button, and his card flipped face-up. A little, well-dressed fairy holding a blue dice came out and tossed it, "My Graceful Dice card will multiply my Tiger Axe's attack points by whatever number is rolled! I need a four or higher for my Tiger to have a good chicken dinner!" The die hopped around on the sandy street, changing values with each roll, before stopping on a 4! "Alright! Time for turkey!" Tiger Axe (3600/1100) leaped up and chopped the bird in half, destroying the fused monster and changing the score in Joey's favor: Joey: 2800 – Howa: 3200.

Not wanting to let up on the momentum that he had, Joey grabbed his card (Swordsman of Landstar), "I summon the Swordsman of Landstar (100/1200) in attack mode! Go Tiger Axe, destroy that oversized bug!" Tiger Axe leapt into the air again and decimated the insect card. Joey: 2400 – Howa: 700

Joey thrust a finger forward at Howa, "And now that your bug is gone, my monsters both reclaim some lost points! C'mon Swordsman, attack!" Swordsman of Landstar raised its broadsword in triumph as its stats returned to normal (500/1200), and Tiger Axe merely grunted (4000/1100), as a 400 point increase was no longer a big difference to the pumped up monster. The little monster rushed forward and swiped its sword at Howa, not touching her but bombarding her with wind from the stroke. Joey: 2400 – Howa: 200.

Howa picked herself up off the ground, where she'd fallen as a result of the Swordsman's attack. This couldn't be! There was no way this cocky boy could be getting the better of her! She said nothing, just drew her next card (Garuda the Wind Spirit). She smiled slightly. It wasn't over yet. "Don't start counting on victory yet," she said, "By removing the destroyed Bladefly from play, I'm able to summon Garuda the Wind Spirit (1600/1200) in attack mode! When I play him, he allows me to change the position of any monster on my opponent's side of the field! Your Tiger Axe is now permanently in Defense Mode!"

On the field, a tall, humanoid figure with bird head and wings appeared, and waved a hand at the Tiger Axe, forcing it to kneel down. "Then," Howa said, "Garuda will destroy the Swordsman of Landstar! Attack!"

Garuda flapped its wings and lifted off into the air, sweeping low across the field and smashing into the Swordsman! It crumbled and vanished. Garuda flew back and touched down on Howa's side of the field. She brushed her hair out of her face and smiled. The score was now: Joey: 1300, Howa: 200.

Joey could feel sweat trickle slowly down his cheek. He didn't have such a great lead anymore and next turn that Garuda would destroy his only defense. It was all up to the heart of the cards now! He drew his card, keeping it face-down for a moment then, with a deep breath, flipped it up and looked at it (Swamp Battleguard). He let out a cheer of joy, "This is it! I sacrifice my Tiger Axe for Swamp Battleguard (1800/1500)!" the large, green ogre replaced the Tiger Axe that was shielding itself with its axe, brandished its club menacingly, "Swamp Battleguard, attack Garuda the Wind Spirit, and knock out the rest of Howa's life points!" The big oaf of a creature threw its club forward, and it smashed into Garuda, destroying it. There were several beeps and clicks from Howa's Duel Disk 2, then her life points dropped to zero and the holographic image of the Swap Battleguard disappeared.

The ecstatic adolescent pumped his fists into the air, "YESSS!!! I WON! I'M GOIN' TA THE FINALS!" He rushed over to his friends, hoping for some happy words.

"You did it! You did it!!" Yugi cheered, hugging his best friend around the middle.

"That was awesome!" Tea said, clapping her hands together.

"Way to go, man," Tristan said, giving a curt nod, trying not to lose his composure.

Joey pried off Yugi's too-tight grip and smiled at the group of them. "Thanks guys," he said. Then his gaze fell on Mai and their eyes locked for the second time after he'd won a duel. This time she didn't wink, but just gave him a small smile. As innocent as this seemed, he felt himself blush just the same. What was it about her that made him so uneasy? When she wasn't acting like her usual stuck-up self, she was actually kind of…nice. He returned her smile, and then turned back towards the field.

Howa was standing in shock, her eyes staring off into space. She'd failed…just like Fuego had. It didn't seem possible, and yet there it was. She lowered her eyes to her DD2. It had shut itself off after her LP had dropped to zero. Angry at herself, she reached in her cloak, gripped the tiny gold chain and pulled hard. The chain yanked free and hung loose in her hand.

"Wheeler!" she cried, "Three items – just like we agreed. Take them!!" She flung the chain towards him! He jumped up to catch them and missed as she made her exit, leaping up onto an overhang of the nearest store and then climbing up to the roof. "But be warned," she called out at she climbed, and her voice echoed through the streets, "My Master will avenge my defeat!"

"Well, that was weird…" Joey muttered.

"Yeah… people who work for psychos' usually are," Tristan said, now standing next to Joey.

Yugi picked up the gold chain with the three items, "Here Joey, you won these! And thanks…for sticking up for me. But next time, let me duel, please!? I need to get my last two items to be with you in the finals!"

Joey put a hand behind his head, embarrassedly, "Yeah, alright! It'll be good to just kick back and relax. Watch the master work, ya know?"

Yugi grinned, the color rising in his cheeks, but he recovered quickly, "Ok! Let's go find my next duel!" With that, the younger boy took off without waiting for the others. His friends began to run after him, with Joey still finding time to brag to Mai about getting all of his items before she did.

Meanwhile, up on the roof, Howa watched as they left, disgusted with herself and them. They had just defeated an eliminator of the almighty Lord Jetsu (one of the most feared Duelists of the Middle East) and thought so little of it. And she had lost to the second best, not the best, duelist of their group. She shook her head angrily and turned to leave. But she ran smack into someone who had been standing right behind her, and she fell down.

"What the-?" she said, picking herself up. Shielding her eyes from the bright afternoon sun, she gazed up at the figure she had run into. He was dressed in a golden cloak, which bore the symbol of the Millennium Shield emblem. His hair was long and golden-blonde, tied back with a black ribbon. His skin was tan, and his narrowed eyes were the same color as the sandstone that made up the buildings of the city. "Blitz!" she cried, "What are you doing here?"

He glared down at her, "I was watching you and Fuego. You failed, sister. You always bragged about your superiority to us, but you failed. Just lie Fuego, you failed, and have now left your fate on others shoulders." He folded his arms over his chest, not lending his hand to help her up. Both of his siblings were now sentenced to death unless he succeeded where they had not! It was up to him to save the entire trio! The youngest of the three trained Eliminators now had to save his older two siblings. Not much pressure, especially after seeing the last two duels. Yeah right.

Howa got to her feet, frowning. "If Fuego and I couldn't defeat them, what makes you think you can?" she demanded, "These children aren't playing games, Blitz! They've defeated everyone who's come across them – even Ambrosius. What makes you so much better than the rest of us?"

"I'm not blinded by pride! I don't intend to work alone," He turned and began to walk off, the bottom of his cloak flowing in the winds, "I'm going to the master. With his help, I will defeat the boy with the Puzzle…"

Howa followed after him, sulking. Would the master really agree to aid Blitz in his task?? If he did it would certainly be a duel worth seeing.