Tommy, the Penguin Guy: Help! Murder! Police! Help! It's the penguins!
Help! Abuse! Harassment! We are doomed! They are going to destroy us
all!
Fox Demon: I really want to summon my shadow foxes. Anything to shut him up!
Moonlady: No, we need him for information.
Lady Akhana: We had your fun with the last one.
Gema J Gall: And, DC Kantel, put that piranha bunny away.
Demon Child: You are no fun.
E-100 Alpha (as he flips through Tommy's deck): Penguin Knight, Penguin Soldier, Flying Penguin, Bolt Penguin....... Yep, he's with them.
Tommy: It's the penguins!!!!!!!
Joe Marusa: OK, I am willing to let Fox Demon have him. Does he ever shut up?
Star: I don't think so.
Tommy: The penguins are coming! No!
Dark Fox: Can we compromise? I'll only use one shadow fox.
All: No!
Lady Akhana: Well, maybe when we are done with him......
Pharaoh Light: You wouldn't seriously give him to Dark Fox, Fox Demon, and DC Kantel, would you?
Pharaoh Dark: I think that qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.
Gema J Gall: For the penguins? I don't think so.
E-100 Alpha: Oh, no! Big problem!
Joe Marusa: What?
Moonlady (as she ties Tommy to a chair): What did you find?
E-100 Alpha: Multiply.
Lady Akhana: The magic card?
Gema J Gall: I don't get it.
E-100 Alpha: I think that the penguins are trying to use Multiply! If they do, we are sunk!
Pharaoh Dark: That is it! I am making mustard flame throwers, mustard mace, mustard knives.....
Pharaoh Light: We have to do something. We need more people! Any new recruits, please contact us at princess8light@yahoo.com or princessakhana@yahoo.com.
Dark Fox: Can I please send my shadow foxes on them? Please?
Fox Demon: We'll be gentle.
DC Kantel: And I'll use a vampire shadow. I won't even summon a piranha bunny.
Moonlady: What part about NO don't you get? The 'n' or the 'o'?
Lady Akhana: Don't be so hard.
Gema J Gall: We first need to question to prisoner.
Tommy: The penguins! The penguins!
Joe Marusa: You make it sound like that is an easy thing.
Lady Akhana: Gema and I will question him.
Gema J Gall: Fox Demon, Dark Fox, and Demon Child, I want you to work your demonic hordes into shape.
Fox Demon, Dark Fox, and Demon Child: Right!
E-100 Alpha: Star and I will look into the Multiply thing.
Star: Fine.
Pharaoh Dark: Weapons! We need more weapons! Pharaoh Light and I are in charge of the mustard.
Pharaoh Light: And, I'll make more lightbulbs.
Joe Marusa: What about me?
Moonlady: And me?
Lady Akhana: Watch the demon trio and make sure they don't kill the prisoner before we get him to talk.
Joe Marusa and Moonlady: Right!
Tommy: The penguins!!!!!!
**************************************************************************
Next Weekend.....
"What a day!" exclaimed Mai as she unloaded five shopping bags on the couch. Shayla kicked off her shoes and put her three shopping bags on the table. Mai had finally done it. She had taken the four of them shopping.
"I couldn't ask for a better week," said Mai. "Shopping, then no school because of a tournament, and finally, kicking duelists' butt!"
"I can....." muttered Shayla, who was nervous about the next day. She still wasn't sure if she was going to enter. Her duel disk was still packed in her backpack.
"This is going to be great. I even modified my deck, a little, so that no one will know what hit them," Mai continued to jabber. Shayla began to block her out, absent-mindedly shuffling her deck.
"Are you sure that you are willing to risk your rarest card?" asked Shayla.
"It isn't really a fair risk," replied Mai, "Because I am not going to lose."
"You are starting to sound like Joe," commented Shayla.
"Hey!" protested Mai.
"That is what I mean," insisted Shayla.
"Come here, Harpy," Mai called her cat as she picked her up and sat her on her lap.
"I wonder what this is all about....." muttered Shayla.
"What do you mean?" asked Mai.
"The whole Battle City," answered Shayla. "First, Kaiba gets invited to that Egyptian exhibit, then he holds this tournament. And I got the feeling that Yu-Gi wasn't telling us everything last time we saw him."
"I think you are getting paranoid," replied Mai. "Kaiba is probably just trying to prove that Kaiba Corp. is better than Industrial Illusions. I think you spent too much time in the Duelist Kingdom."
"It doesn't even bother you that the list of invited duelists are almost identical in these two tournaments?" asked Shayla.
"Coincidence," Mai brushed it off. "Both tournaments were looking for the best duelists, no surprise that the lists are similar."
"But I got invited to Duelist Kingdom, and I had never dueled outside of the Group Home," replied Shayla. Mai had no answer to that.
"It is getting late," finished Shayla. "I am heading to bed."
"Good-night," said Mai. "I am double checking my deck, making sure that everything is ready for tomorrow."
*Dream*
The girl followed Ishizu carefully. She walked into the temple of Isis, glancing around. She knew that she shouldn't be there, and that she would be in trouble if she got caught, but curiosity had gotten the better of her.
She suspiciously eyed the sculptures and paintings on the wall. Ishizu went straight to the back of the temple and stopped in front of a wall that was covered in writing; hieroglyphics. These hieroglyphics seemed to be different that the rest of the temple.
"What do you see?" asked Ishizu.
"Egyptian writing," the girl answered. She didn't know how to read the hieroglyphics, she could barely read her native Hebrew. Simple things like reading and writing weren't part of her education.
"It tells a story," added Ishizu. "Each picture symbolizes a word." She pointed to a bird. "This means 'bird' or 'flight.' The pictures next to it tell of the place where this bird lives. Before it the pictures tell that the bird is not what we think is a bird. The sentence reads that this strange bird exists in another reality called the Shadow Realm."
"Um, thanks, I guess," muttered the girl, politely. She was trying to be as respectful as possible while looking for a quick exit. Respect was important in this society. "But I don't believe in your gods."
"This is not about religion, but reality," said Ishizu with a smile. "But you had better leave before your family misses you." That was all the hint the girl needed. She bolted out of there.
*End Dream*
Shayla rolled over on her bed. She didn't bolt upright this time. One thing puzzled her. Her dream Ishizu had mentioned the Shadow Realm. Shayla remembered with a shudder her one time there. Then, she remembered that the real Ishizu had mentioned having artifacts that tied the modern Duel Monsters to the ancient Shadow Games. Shayla shuddered, she'd never be able to sleep, now. She stood, then remembered with dread that the Battle City starts today.
**************************************************************************
"I can't believe that Kaiba rented out the entire down town Domino district for this tournament," said Mai. "This place is huge! How are we ever going to find anyone?" She was wearing one of her new outfits. She had on tight denim shorts and a pale pink halter top. Over that she wore a tiny denim jacket.
"And who, exactly, are you trying to find?" asked Shayla. She had on a tan peasant blouse with blue and pink flowers embroidered across the middle. She also wore her favorite pair of blue jeans.
"Greetings, duelists," announced Kaiba's voice.
"Now, where is he?" asked Mai. Shayla shrugged as the mixed crowds searched for the tournament host.
"I am glad to see that so many of you made it," he continued despite the murmur of the crowds. "Most of you know the basic rules, being the elite duelists that you are, but I am going to re-explain my special rules."
"This tournament will use my special duel disks. The information from the duels is sent from the disk to satellite to the Battle City headquarter's mainframe."
"I don't know if I like Kaiba spying on my duels," muttered Mai.
"In each box you found a transparent locator card," continued Kaiba. There was shuffling as each duelist tried to find his or her locator card. "In each duel the winner will receive one locator card and his or her opponent's rarest card. When six locator cards are stacked on top of each other they activate a program that will create a map that will lead to the secret location of the final round. This location will only be open for a short amount of time, so I recommend that everyone doesn't waist there time dueling."
"Other special rules include sacrificing a low level monster to summon a monster with a higher level. This tournament is not for the weak. If you are not willing to risk your rarest card then you'd better withdraw. I will also be competing....."
"I think that I may just do that," thought Shayla.
"Look!" exclaimed Mai as she pointed to a huge blimp that just float in view. Hanging from it was a giant screen with Kaiba's face.
"What is going on?" asked Shayla as the people began to walk, in some cases run, towards the blimp. Shayla got pushed and she fell to her knees.
**************************************************************************
Not so far away......
"Will he ever get to the point?" asked Drake.
"Quiet," shushed Lara.
"I'd love to duel him," Drake continued. "Then, we'd see who was the true lord of dragons."
"You may get your wish," replied Lara. "He is competing. But, remember he has only ever lost to Yu-Gi and your dad, and the latter wasn't exactly on fair terms."
"Then I'll beat him, honorably," stated Drake.
"I think he is getting a big head," continued Lara. "Someone does need to trim his ego."
"A big head? You don't think," said Drake as he gestured to the large blimp with the fifty foot TV screen with Kaiba's face that was floating around."
**************************************************************************
In scattered locations.......
Espa Roba, Mako Tsunami, Rex Raptor, and Weevil Underwood all watched the announcement, and all plotted how they would win.
**************************************************************************
"What is happening? Mai?" asked Shayla, but she got no response. They had been separated by the crowd.
Shayla groped in her backpack and pulled out her walking stick. She had missed the end of Kaiba's announcement in the chaos. Shayla stood, brushing bits of gravel off of her new blouse. She began walking, trying her best not to attract attention. She had tried calling Mai's name, but that had failed.
WHAM! Someone, who had been running, plowed into her and sent both of them into the brushes.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the person has he picked himself up. He sounded like he was in a hurry.
"What? Yu-Gi?" asked Shayla.
"Oh, hi Shayla," greeted Yu-Gi as he helped her to her feet and handed her her walking stick.
"What is the rush?" asked Shayla.
"I have to get to Joe, I think he is getting himself into trouble," answered Yu-Gi as he began to jog away.
"No surprise," muttered Shayla. "Hey, wait!" She followed close behind Yu- Gi. Soon, they had found Joe, who was currently yelling at another duelist.
"Come on!" yelled Joe. "Are you going to duel me or not? I demand the right to at least duel you for my Red-Eyes, Black Dragon that you stole!"
"Wait! What happened?" asked Shayla.
Yu-Gi explained it to her quickly. "When Joe was going to the hospital to see his sister, Serenity, he got challenged to a duel and the guy took his Red-Eyes."
"What?!" demanded Shayla as she felt her Millennial Scales begin to react. She tried to calm herself down and mental prayed for the scales to calm down too.
"I have no need to duel you," said the guy. "My hunt with you is over." He closed his laptop and began to walk away.
"You can't do that!" protested Joe. "I demand that you let me duel you for my Red-Eyes!" The guy blew him off again.
"I recognize that voice!" exclaimed Shayla. "He was the cashier in the card shop!" It suddenly clicked why he had let Joe enter this tournament.
"Hmmm, Yu-Gi Motuo," he said, turning to Yu-Gi. "I am willing to duel you for your Dark Magician."
"What?! You can't do that!" continued Joe, who was close to bursting a few blood veins. "I already want to cream you! Enough with these games!"
"Joe, calm down," said Yu-Gi. "Alright, I will duel you. But If I win, you have to give back Joe's Red-Eyes."
"Fair enough. Let the hunt begin!" said the rare hunter. They spaced themselves out, activated their duel disks, and began the duel. A crowd quickly gathered. Most were curious duelists, but a few were business people who wanted to know what fad had invaded their workplace.
Shayla hardly noticed. She could feel her Millennial Scales tugging towards Yu-Gi's opponent. She had a feeling the pit of her stomach that he was cheating, and she knew how her scales reacted towards cheaters. She tightened her grip on her backpack, hoping to somehow control them. But, her scales had a mind of their own, she was convinced. Shayla had no real idea how to control them.
The duel progressed rapidly. Yu-Gi had a fusion monster and the rare hunter had two high defense monsters in defense mode. It was his turn.
"I use the magic card Graceful Charity to draw three cards, but I have to discard two," said the rare hunter. Yu-Gi nodded.
"This is the same thing he did to me!" cried Joe. "Listen, Yug, I know what he is trying to do."
"You'd better not tell," snapped the rare hunter. "Or I will tear up your Red-Eyes."
"Grrrrr," growled Joe.
"It is OK," said Yu-Gi, "I can handle him." Shayla began to wish she felt that way about her Millennial Scales. She had to focus on them so much to keep them in line that she wasn't focusing on the duel very well.
The duel was pretty much a stale mate. Yu-Gi couldn't penetrate the defenses, and the rare hunter wasn't attacking. But, Joe was the one getting the most frustrated.
"Yug, I am not going to let you lose your Dark Magician to this creep!" exclaimed Joe.
"Don't tell me anything," insisted Yu-Gi, taking on the deeper tone that he had when he dueled. "I am not willing to risk your Red-Eyes. You have always been there for me, like when you diving off the boat to save my Exodia cards when Weevil threw them into the ocean." Yu-Gi's eyes went wide. "So, that is your plan, rare hunter? You are trying to summon Exodia on me!"
"Grrrrr," growled the rare hunter. "But it is too late now. I already have four parts of Exodia, and I have a feeling that the next card I draw will be the final piece!"
Shayla could feel her Millennial Scaled begin to vibrate. They wanted to stop him. Shayla did too, but she couldn't just announce he was cheating without proof. She missed both of their stall techniques. Yu-Gi used Light Force Sword to stop the rare hunter from using one of Exodia's hands. But then the rare hunter trapped Yu-Gi in the Swords of Revealing Light. Yu-Gi had already eliminated the rare hunter's defenses, so he had no monsters in play.
"So you took away his right hand for five turns," said the rare hunter. "It doesn't matter, I can always draw another. And, I have three turns to do that, because you can't attack!" Yu-Gi didn't reply.
"You can't draw another Right Hand of the Forbidden One!" exclaimed Shayla. "That is one of the first rules of Duel Monsters! Only one set of Exodia per deck!"
"And what are you going to do about it?" asked the rare hunter. Shayla could feel the crowd watching her. She hated being the center of attention. To top it off, her Millennial Scales kept wanting to equalize the duel. She slipped further into the crowd as the duel continued.
"Your problem," said Yu-Gi, "is that you filled your deck with so many Exodia pieces that you don't have room for the basic monster and magic cards you need to defend yourself. In one turn I can attack, and then it is over."
"That is what you think!" countered the rare hunter. "You forgot that all of the individual parts of Exodia are also monster cards. I play my spare Exodia's head in defense mode. Now I have a monster guarding my life points."
"I had a feeling that you'd do that," said Yu-Gi with a sly smile. "In fact, I hoped you would, because you fell right into my trap. Reveal, Chain Destruction!"
"No!" cried the rare hunter.
"Yes," countered Yu-Gi. "Chain Destruction destroys one card on the field. Then it destroys all identical cards in your hand and deck!"
"NO!" the rare hunter continued to cry. Shayla could feel her Millennial Scales charge up.
"No, please don't," she whispered, trying to control them.
"And with the Swords of Revealing Light gone, I am free to attack! Beta the Magnet Warrior, finish him!" countered Yu-Gi.
"NO! This can't be! I won't allow it! My Exodia deck is invincible!" cried the rare hunter.
"No!" cried Shayla as her Millennial Scales reacted. A bright beam shot out, nailing the rare hunter in the chest and knocking him to the pavement.
Shayla panicked. She grabbed her backpack in one hand and her walking stick in another and ran. She silently prayed that she wouldn't collide with anyone or anything. Behind her she could hear the lingering chaos of the duel.
"No! Marik! I am sorry! No!" the rare hunter cried. Shayla plunged blindly on.
Eventually she came to a stop. She had only bumped into a few people. As she paused to catch her breath she realized one thing. She had no idea where she was at. And besides a few scattered duelists, she was completely alone.
Fox Demon: I really want to summon my shadow foxes. Anything to shut him up!
Moonlady: No, we need him for information.
Lady Akhana: We had your fun with the last one.
Gema J Gall: And, DC Kantel, put that piranha bunny away.
Demon Child: You are no fun.
E-100 Alpha (as he flips through Tommy's deck): Penguin Knight, Penguin Soldier, Flying Penguin, Bolt Penguin....... Yep, he's with them.
Tommy: It's the penguins!!!!!!!
Joe Marusa: OK, I am willing to let Fox Demon have him. Does he ever shut up?
Star: I don't think so.
Tommy: The penguins are coming! No!
Dark Fox: Can we compromise? I'll only use one shadow fox.
All: No!
Lady Akhana: Well, maybe when we are done with him......
Pharaoh Light: You wouldn't seriously give him to Dark Fox, Fox Demon, and DC Kantel, would you?
Pharaoh Dark: I think that qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.
Gema J Gall: For the penguins? I don't think so.
E-100 Alpha: Oh, no! Big problem!
Joe Marusa: What?
Moonlady (as she ties Tommy to a chair): What did you find?
E-100 Alpha: Multiply.
Lady Akhana: The magic card?
Gema J Gall: I don't get it.
E-100 Alpha: I think that the penguins are trying to use Multiply! If they do, we are sunk!
Pharaoh Dark: That is it! I am making mustard flame throwers, mustard mace, mustard knives.....
Pharaoh Light: We have to do something. We need more people! Any new recruits, please contact us at princess8light@yahoo.com or princessakhana@yahoo.com.
Dark Fox: Can I please send my shadow foxes on them? Please?
Fox Demon: We'll be gentle.
DC Kantel: And I'll use a vampire shadow. I won't even summon a piranha bunny.
Moonlady: What part about NO don't you get? The 'n' or the 'o'?
Lady Akhana: Don't be so hard.
Gema J Gall: We first need to question to prisoner.
Tommy: The penguins! The penguins!
Joe Marusa: You make it sound like that is an easy thing.
Lady Akhana: Gema and I will question him.
Gema J Gall: Fox Demon, Dark Fox, and Demon Child, I want you to work your demonic hordes into shape.
Fox Demon, Dark Fox, and Demon Child: Right!
E-100 Alpha: Star and I will look into the Multiply thing.
Star: Fine.
Pharaoh Dark: Weapons! We need more weapons! Pharaoh Light and I are in charge of the mustard.
Pharaoh Light: And, I'll make more lightbulbs.
Joe Marusa: What about me?
Moonlady: And me?
Lady Akhana: Watch the demon trio and make sure they don't kill the prisoner before we get him to talk.
Joe Marusa and Moonlady: Right!
Tommy: The penguins!!!!!!
**************************************************************************
Next Weekend.....
"What a day!" exclaimed Mai as she unloaded five shopping bags on the couch. Shayla kicked off her shoes and put her three shopping bags on the table. Mai had finally done it. She had taken the four of them shopping.
"I couldn't ask for a better week," said Mai. "Shopping, then no school because of a tournament, and finally, kicking duelists' butt!"
"I can....." muttered Shayla, who was nervous about the next day. She still wasn't sure if she was going to enter. Her duel disk was still packed in her backpack.
"This is going to be great. I even modified my deck, a little, so that no one will know what hit them," Mai continued to jabber. Shayla began to block her out, absent-mindedly shuffling her deck.
"Are you sure that you are willing to risk your rarest card?" asked Shayla.
"It isn't really a fair risk," replied Mai, "Because I am not going to lose."
"You are starting to sound like Joe," commented Shayla.
"Hey!" protested Mai.
"That is what I mean," insisted Shayla.
"Come here, Harpy," Mai called her cat as she picked her up and sat her on her lap.
"I wonder what this is all about....." muttered Shayla.
"What do you mean?" asked Mai.
"The whole Battle City," answered Shayla. "First, Kaiba gets invited to that Egyptian exhibit, then he holds this tournament. And I got the feeling that Yu-Gi wasn't telling us everything last time we saw him."
"I think you are getting paranoid," replied Mai. "Kaiba is probably just trying to prove that Kaiba Corp. is better than Industrial Illusions. I think you spent too much time in the Duelist Kingdom."
"It doesn't even bother you that the list of invited duelists are almost identical in these two tournaments?" asked Shayla.
"Coincidence," Mai brushed it off. "Both tournaments were looking for the best duelists, no surprise that the lists are similar."
"But I got invited to Duelist Kingdom, and I had never dueled outside of the Group Home," replied Shayla. Mai had no answer to that.
"It is getting late," finished Shayla. "I am heading to bed."
"Good-night," said Mai. "I am double checking my deck, making sure that everything is ready for tomorrow."
*Dream*
The girl followed Ishizu carefully. She walked into the temple of Isis, glancing around. She knew that she shouldn't be there, and that she would be in trouble if she got caught, but curiosity had gotten the better of her.
She suspiciously eyed the sculptures and paintings on the wall. Ishizu went straight to the back of the temple and stopped in front of a wall that was covered in writing; hieroglyphics. These hieroglyphics seemed to be different that the rest of the temple.
"What do you see?" asked Ishizu.
"Egyptian writing," the girl answered. She didn't know how to read the hieroglyphics, she could barely read her native Hebrew. Simple things like reading and writing weren't part of her education.
"It tells a story," added Ishizu. "Each picture symbolizes a word." She pointed to a bird. "This means 'bird' or 'flight.' The pictures next to it tell of the place where this bird lives. Before it the pictures tell that the bird is not what we think is a bird. The sentence reads that this strange bird exists in another reality called the Shadow Realm."
"Um, thanks, I guess," muttered the girl, politely. She was trying to be as respectful as possible while looking for a quick exit. Respect was important in this society. "But I don't believe in your gods."
"This is not about religion, but reality," said Ishizu with a smile. "But you had better leave before your family misses you." That was all the hint the girl needed. She bolted out of there.
*End Dream*
Shayla rolled over on her bed. She didn't bolt upright this time. One thing puzzled her. Her dream Ishizu had mentioned the Shadow Realm. Shayla remembered with a shudder her one time there. Then, she remembered that the real Ishizu had mentioned having artifacts that tied the modern Duel Monsters to the ancient Shadow Games. Shayla shuddered, she'd never be able to sleep, now. She stood, then remembered with dread that the Battle City starts today.
**************************************************************************
"I can't believe that Kaiba rented out the entire down town Domino district for this tournament," said Mai. "This place is huge! How are we ever going to find anyone?" She was wearing one of her new outfits. She had on tight denim shorts and a pale pink halter top. Over that she wore a tiny denim jacket.
"And who, exactly, are you trying to find?" asked Shayla. She had on a tan peasant blouse with blue and pink flowers embroidered across the middle. She also wore her favorite pair of blue jeans.
"Greetings, duelists," announced Kaiba's voice.
"Now, where is he?" asked Mai. Shayla shrugged as the mixed crowds searched for the tournament host.
"I am glad to see that so many of you made it," he continued despite the murmur of the crowds. "Most of you know the basic rules, being the elite duelists that you are, but I am going to re-explain my special rules."
"This tournament will use my special duel disks. The information from the duels is sent from the disk to satellite to the Battle City headquarter's mainframe."
"I don't know if I like Kaiba spying on my duels," muttered Mai.
"In each box you found a transparent locator card," continued Kaiba. There was shuffling as each duelist tried to find his or her locator card. "In each duel the winner will receive one locator card and his or her opponent's rarest card. When six locator cards are stacked on top of each other they activate a program that will create a map that will lead to the secret location of the final round. This location will only be open for a short amount of time, so I recommend that everyone doesn't waist there time dueling."
"Other special rules include sacrificing a low level monster to summon a monster with a higher level. This tournament is not for the weak. If you are not willing to risk your rarest card then you'd better withdraw. I will also be competing....."
"I think that I may just do that," thought Shayla.
"Look!" exclaimed Mai as she pointed to a huge blimp that just float in view. Hanging from it was a giant screen with Kaiba's face.
"What is going on?" asked Shayla as the people began to walk, in some cases run, towards the blimp. Shayla got pushed and she fell to her knees.
**************************************************************************
Not so far away......
"Will he ever get to the point?" asked Drake.
"Quiet," shushed Lara.
"I'd love to duel him," Drake continued. "Then, we'd see who was the true lord of dragons."
"You may get your wish," replied Lara. "He is competing. But, remember he has only ever lost to Yu-Gi and your dad, and the latter wasn't exactly on fair terms."
"Then I'll beat him, honorably," stated Drake.
"I think he is getting a big head," continued Lara. "Someone does need to trim his ego."
"A big head? You don't think," said Drake as he gestured to the large blimp with the fifty foot TV screen with Kaiba's face that was floating around."
**************************************************************************
In scattered locations.......
Espa Roba, Mako Tsunami, Rex Raptor, and Weevil Underwood all watched the announcement, and all plotted how they would win.
**************************************************************************
"What is happening? Mai?" asked Shayla, but she got no response. They had been separated by the crowd.
Shayla groped in her backpack and pulled out her walking stick. She had missed the end of Kaiba's announcement in the chaos. Shayla stood, brushing bits of gravel off of her new blouse. She began walking, trying her best not to attract attention. She had tried calling Mai's name, but that had failed.
WHAM! Someone, who had been running, plowed into her and sent both of them into the brushes.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the person has he picked himself up. He sounded like he was in a hurry.
"What? Yu-Gi?" asked Shayla.
"Oh, hi Shayla," greeted Yu-Gi as he helped her to her feet and handed her her walking stick.
"What is the rush?" asked Shayla.
"I have to get to Joe, I think he is getting himself into trouble," answered Yu-Gi as he began to jog away.
"No surprise," muttered Shayla. "Hey, wait!" She followed close behind Yu- Gi. Soon, they had found Joe, who was currently yelling at another duelist.
"Come on!" yelled Joe. "Are you going to duel me or not? I demand the right to at least duel you for my Red-Eyes, Black Dragon that you stole!"
"Wait! What happened?" asked Shayla.
Yu-Gi explained it to her quickly. "When Joe was going to the hospital to see his sister, Serenity, he got challenged to a duel and the guy took his Red-Eyes."
"What?!" demanded Shayla as she felt her Millennial Scales begin to react. She tried to calm herself down and mental prayed for the scales to calm down too.
"I have no need to duel you," said the guy. "My hunt with you is over." He closed his laptop and began to walk away.
"You can't do that!" protested Joe. "I demand that you let me duel you for my Red-Eyes!" The guy blew him off again.
"I recognize that voice!" exclaimed Shayla. "He was the cashier in the card shop!" It suddenly clicked why he had let Joe enter this tournament.
"Hmmm, Yu-Gi Motuo," he said, turning to Yu-Gi. "I am willing to duel you for your Dark Magician."
"What?! You can't do that!" continued Joe, who was close to bursting a few blood veins. "I already want to cream you! Enough with these games!"
"Joe, calm down," said Yu-Gi. "Alright, I will duel you. But If I win, you have to give back Joe's Red-Eyes."
"Fair enough. Let the hunt begin!" said the rare hunter. They spaced themselves out, activated their duel disks, and began the duel. A crowd quickly gathered. Most were curious duelists, but a few were business people who wanted to know what fad had invaded their workplace.
Shayla hardly noticed. She could feel her Millennial Scales tugging towards Yu-Gi's opponent. She had a feeling the pit of her stomach that he was cheating, and she knew how her scales reacted towards cheaters. She tightened her grip on her backpack, hoping to somehow control them. But, her scales had a mind of their own, she was convinced. Shayla had no real idea how to control them.
The duel progressed rapidly. Yu-Gi had a fusion monster and the rare hunter had two high defense monsters in defense mode. It was his turn.
"I use the magic card Graceful Charity to draw three cards, but I have to discard two," said the rare hunter. Yu-Gi nodded.
"This is the same thing he did to me!" cried Joe. "Listen, Yug, I know what he is trying to do."
"You'd better not tell," snapped the rare hunter. "Or I will tear up your Red-Eyes."
"Grrrrr," growled Joe.
"It is OK," said Yu-Gi, "I can handle him." Shayla began to wish she felt that way about her Millennial Scales. She had to focus on them so much to keep them in line that she wasn't focusing on the duel very well.
The duel was pretty much a stale mate. Yu-Gi couldn't penetrate the defenses, and the rare hunter wasn't attacking. But, Joe was the one getting the most frustrated.
"Yug, I am not going to let you lose your Dark Magician to this creep!" exclaimed Joe.
"Don't tell me anything," insisted Yu-Gi, taking on the deeper tone that he had when he dueled. "I am not willing to risk your Red-Eyes. You have always been there for me, like when you diving off the boat to save my Exodia cards when Weevil threw them into the ocean." Yu-Gi's eyes went wide. "So, that is your plan, rare hunter? You are trying to summon Exodia on me!"
"Grrrrr," growled the rare hunter. "But it is too late now. I already have four parts of Exodia, and I have a feeling that the next card I draw will be the final piece!"
Shayla could feel her Millennial Scaled begin to vibrate. They wanted to stop him. Shayla did too, but she couldn't just announce he was cheating without proof. She missed both of their stall techniques. Yu-Gi used Light Force Sword to stop the rare hunter from using one of Exodia's hands. But then the rare hunter trapped Yu-Gi in the Swords of Revealing Light. Yu-Gi had already eliminated the rare hunter's defenses, so he had no monsters in play.
"So you took away his right hand for five turns," said the rare hunter. "It doesn't matter, I can always draw another. And, I have three turns to do that, because you can't attack!" Yu-Gi didn't reply.
"You can't draw another Right Hand of the Forbidden One!" exclaimed Shayla. "That is one of the first rules of Duel Monsters! Only one set of Exodia per deck!"
"And what are you going to do about it?" asked the rare hunter. Shayla could feel the crowd watching her. She hated being the center of attention. To top it off, her Millennial Scales kept wanting to equalize the duel. She slipped further into the crowd as the duel continued.
"Your problem," said Yu-Gi, "is that you filled your deck with so many Exodia pieces that you don't have room for the basic monster and magic cards you need to defend yourself. In one turn I can attack, and then it is over."
"That is what you think!" countered the rare hunter. "You forgot that all of the individual parts of Exodia are also monster cards. I play my spare Exodia's head in defense mode. Now I have a monster guarding my life points."
"I had a feeling that you'd do that," said Yu-Gi with a sly smile. "In fact, I hoped you would, because you fell right into my trap. Reveal, Chain Destruction!"
"No!" cried the rare hunter.
"Yes," countered Yu-Gi. "Chain Destruction destroys one card on the field. Then it destroys all identical cards in your hand and deck!"
"NO!" the rare hunter continued to cry. Shayla could feel her Millennial Scales charge up.
"No, please don't," she whispered, trying to control them.
"And with the Swords of Revealing Light gone, I am free to attack! Beta the Magnet Warrior, finish him!" countered Yu-Gi.
"NO! This can't be! I won't allow it! My Exodia deck is invincible!" cried the rare hunter.
"No!" cried Shayla as her Millennial Scales reacted. A bright beam shot out, nailing the rare hunter in the chest and knocking him to the pavement.
Shayla panicked. She grabbed her backpack in one hand and her walking stick in another and ran. She silently prayed that she wouldn't collide with anyone or anything. Behind her she could hear the lingering chaos of the duel.
"No! Marik! I am sorry! No!" the rare hunter cried. Shayla plunged blindly on.
Eventually she came to a stop. She had only bumped into a few people. As she paused to catch her breath she realized one thing. She had no idea where she was at. And besides a few scattered duelists, she was completely alone.