Chapter 3: Road to the Semi-finals!

            Joey steps into the dueling arena platform and shuffles his deck, keeping his eyes on his opponent, the famed duelist "Skull".

Skull: "Are you sure you wanna duel me kid…?"

Joey: "Just keep your mouth shut, shuffle your deck and let's get this over with."

            Their Life points both are set to 8000 as they trade hateful gazes at one another as they both wait for the signal to begin their duel.

Announcer:  "Duelers, BEGIN!!!"

Joey: "Right!! I'll go first!!" (He draws his hand and takes a look at his cards as a sly grin forms on his face.)  "I'll lay this card face-down, and summon the "Starlight Swordsman" in attack mode!!" (He summons the swordsman, with an ATK force of 500, and lays one card face down on the field as the holograms appear inside the steel arena.) "I end my turn!"

Skull:  "Is that the best you can do with that pathetic deck of yours little man?! HA!!! You know you can get stronger cards than that in boxes of cereal you dimwit!! Now, I'll draw for my turn!!" (He draws a card into his hand as he looks through his cards for a strategy.)  "I'll summon the "Headless Knight" to destroy your--!! What?!!"

Joey:  "Activate trap card!! "Trap Hole!" (He activates his trap card, which instantly destroys a normal summon of 1000 ATK force or higher, destroying the Headless Knight.)

Skull:  "I can't believe that twit set a trap for me! That punk…and my hand has nothing to protect my Life points, since my hand is full of monsters, so I'll end my turn boy!"

Joey:  "Thank you, so I'll draw a card!"  (He draws a card and instantly plays the card he drew, which was the Goblin Attack Force.)  I'll summon the Goblin Attack Force, with a destructive attacking power of 2300…but not for long!! I'll also add this magic card, "Gaia Power" which powers all my "Earth" monsters by 500 points!" (He plays his field magic card, "Gaia Power" as his Earth monsters increasing their attacking strength by 500.) "I'll also add one of my personal favorites, the "Graceful Dice" card!" (He activates his magic card as an angel with a huge dice appears.) "Now, my angel will roll her dice and increase all of my monsters attack strength by the number she rolls!" (The dice is rolled as it lands on a five.) "Great! Now, all my monsters will increase another 500 points!"

Yami:  "Great opening play Joey!!!" (He shouts from his view of the action to support his friend.)

Joey:  "Now, My Starlight Swordsman is at 1500 attacking power, and my Goblins are at 3300 attacking power! Now, my monsters will attack you directly you creep!!" (The cute, little swordsman and the goblins strike Skull's Life Points directly for 4800 LP.)

Skull:  "AA-A-A-A-A-G-G-H-H-!!!!!!"

Joey:  "How'd you like that?! I'll teach you some respect for me and my deck! I'll play one more card face-down and end my turn!" (He plays another card face-down as its hologram appears in the arena.)

Skull:  (Panting heavily from the electric surge.)  "Damn you kid…you'll pay for that.  I'll draw a card…" (He draws a card from his deck, as he draws yet another monster to his hand.) "This won't do me any good in this situation…so I'll set a monster in defense mode, and-!! Huh?!"

Joey:  "Activate trap card! "Acid Trap Hole!!" (He activates the trap card, "Acid Trap Hole", which destroys a face-down monster with a DEF force of 2000 or less, destroying Skull's "Stone Soldier", sending it to the graveyard.)  "How do you like that?!"

Skull:  "No!! Now, my Life Points are open again…! I'll…end my turn!! DAMNIT!!! (He bangs his fist on his metal platform in pure anger.)

Joey:  "Good, now I'll draw a card from my deck." (He draws a card and adds it to his hand, as he looks at his rather small hand now and decides on the best move at his present situation.) "I'll summon my "Armored Lizard" in attack mode, and he gets the power bonus of my "Gaia Power" card!" (He summons his monster, the Armored Lizard with a new attack force of 2000.) "The defense effect of Goblin Attack Force is still in effect, so he must remain in defense mode this turn, so my Starlight Swordsman and Armored Lizard will attack you directly, so prepare for another beating!! ATTACK!!!!" (Both of Joey's monsters attack for 3000 Life Points damage.) "So, you're down to a measly 200 Life Points, and I'll set one card, face down and end my turn!" (He sets a card face-down and ends his turn.)

Skull: "Huff….puff…I won't be defeated by a mere boy!" (His body in pure pain from the electric shock he received from his reduction in Life Points.) "I'll…defeat you…with this…draw…" (He struggles in pain as he draws a magic card, the "Pot of Greed".) "I'll play this card, the "Pot of Greed", which allows me to draw 2 more cards from my deck." (He draws two more cards as he smiles slightly.)  "I'll use the magic card "Soul Exchange", which allows me to use one of your monsters as a sacrifice for one of my stronger monsters!" (He plays his Soul Exchange card and decides to tribute Joey's "Goblin Attack Force".) "I'll use your Goblin Attack Force as a sacrifice for my "Summoned Skull", my favorite card!!!

Joey:  "Damnit…! I've lost my attack advantage for my Goblins next turn…but…yeah, my trap card!  I'll activate my trap card, "Michizure"!!"(He activates "Michizure", which allows him to destroy one of his opponent's monsters when one of his monsters is destroyed.)  "Now, I choose to destroy your Summoned Skull!! You've made your final mistake against me you greedy sleazeball!! Now, you've really made me mad and now you're gonna pay for it!!" (The trap card destroys the Summoned Skull, sending it to the graveyard.)

Skull: "No…you little bitch! I can't believe this…I…end my turn."

Joey:  "Okay…now I'll draw a card…huh?" (A strong feeling worms its way into Joey's mind, as if he can hear his deck's heartbeat.) "The heart of the cards…will not fail me! I'm coming Skull, and it isn't going to be pretty you bastard!!" (He draws a card and holds it up in air facing Skull.) "Now, I'll sacrifice my Armored Lizard and Starlight Swordsman, to bring forth, my almighty Red-Eyes Black Dragon!!!" (His two monsters are sent to the graveyard as his Red-Eyes appears on the field in attack position.)

Skull:  "Red-Eyes…Black…Dragon….!" (He stares in awe that this powerful beast chose such a lowly kid to be its master.)

Joey:  "Now Red-Eyes! Let's finish this here duel!  INFERNO FIRE BLAST!!!" (The Red-Eyes attacks Skull directly, depleting all of his Life Points, as a huge amount of electricity surges through Skull's body, nearly rendering him unconscious.)

Skull: "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Joey:  "…This is…too much.  These duels down here are too dangerous…" (He begins to feel sorrow in his heart for the pain that Skull is suffering.)

Announcer:  "Joey Wheeler!!! You are the winner!!!!!!!!!!!"

Skull: "Defeated…by…a…damn kid…"

Yami:  "Excellent duel, my friend! Your deck served you well Joey!"

Joey:  "Right!" (He walks over to Skull.)  "Are you alright, my man?"

Skull:  "Beat it shrimp…this isn't over, mark my words!!" (He staggers up and storms out of the arena.)

Announcer:  "My my!! A sore loser!!!! Now, onto the next match!! Yugi Mutuo versus Marienne Gilford!!"

Lee:  "Good luck you two…this will be an excellent match…"

Marienne:  "I'll give it my all honey!"

Yami: "I'm up… let's get this over with."

            They both step into the steel-cage arena and shuffle their decks as they set their Life Points to 8000.

Announcer:  "Let this duel commence!!"

Marienne: "I'll go first Yugi!"  (She smiles warmly as she draws her cards for her opening hand.) "I'll set a card of the field, and summon my "Sonic Bird" in attack mode!" (The set card appears behind her 1400 attack power Sonic Bird.)  "This monster allows me to go through my deck to get a ritual magic card and add it to my hand!" (She searches her deck and gets her card, and adds it to her hand.) "I end my turn now."

Yami:  "It's my move!" (He draws a card into his hand as he eyes widen to the combination in his opening hand.) "I'll activate my "Curtain of Black Magic" magic card! It allows me to pay half of my Life Points to instantly summon a Dark Magician to the field, in attack mode!" (His life value instantly drops to 4000 as a huge amount of electricity surges through his body, as his Dark Magician appears casually on the battlefield.) "Arggghhhhhhh….!!! Ahh…."

Marienne: "Are you okay Yugi…?"

Yami:  "I'll…be fine." (He staggers up slightly as he holds onto another card.) "Now…I'll activate another magic card, the "Thousand Knife Rain" card! This card can only be activated when I have a Dark Magician on the field! It allows me to instantly destroy one monster on the field, so I'll use it to destroy your Sonic Bird, leaving your Life value open for a direct assault!" (He activates his card as a thousand knives slice the Sonic Bird into pieces, destroying it.) "Now my Dark Magician, attack her directly with your Dark magic!!"

Marienne:  "I'll activate my trap card, "Shadow Spell" which decreases your Magician's attack power by 700, and he can't change its position!" (Her trap card activates a huge black chain wraps around the Dark Magician, paralyzing it.)

Yami:  "Oh no! I…I walked right into that one and now my Dark Magician is weakened! I'll also set one card on the field and end my turn!" (He sets one card on the field as it appears.) "It's your move Marienne…"

Marienne:  "Okay! Now, I'll draw my card!" (She draws from her deck as she instantly plays her "Pot of Greed" card.) "I'll use Pot of Greed and draw 2 more cards." (She draws 2 more cards, and then plays another magic card, the "Graceful Charity" card.) "I'll activate my Graceful Charity card, which lets me draw 3 cards from the deck, then discard 2 out of my total hand size!" (She draws 3 more cards into her hand and smiles widely at one of the cards she drew.)  "Now, I'll discard one of my favorite monsters, my "Vampire Lord", and when he is sent to the graveyard by a magic card, trap card, or monster effect, I can summon him out of my graveyard during the next turn of play! I'll also discard my "Spellbinding Circle" trap card into the graveyard." (He discards the cards into the graveyard.) "Now, I'll summon my good ol' Gemini Elf in attack mode!" (She summons the Gemini Elf, with an attack power of 1900.) Now, I'll destroy your weakened Dark Magician with my Gemini Elf!" (The Gemini Elf destroys the Dark Magician and Yugi loses 100 Life Points.)

Yami:  "My Dark magician!! Aahh!!"  (A small surge of volts electrifies Yami.)

Marienne: "I'll set one card face down on the field and end my turn Yugi."  (She sets her card down on the field and ends her turn.)

Yami:  "Hmm…she is rather skilled indeed, just like Lee. I must win this duel quickly, but my opening gambit weakened me greatly…"

Marienne:  "You're a good duelist Yugi...I'm really having fun."

Yami:  "As are you Marienne, and now I'll draw a card."  (He draws from his deck as something forms on Marienne's side of the field.)

Marienne:  "Ah, my Vampire Lord has revived now!" (The Vampire Lord descends on the field with an Attack power of 2000.)

Yami:  "Damn!"  (He looks through his hand to find a strategy to fight back against her monsters.)  "Hmm…her monsters have decent attacking strength. I don't have a card that can help me right now…wait, I do!  I'll set a monster in face-down defense mode, and-!! Huh?!" (He sets his monster in defense mode as it appears face-down.)

Marienne: "I'll activate my trap card, "Ultimate Offering" and pay 500 Life Points for an extra summon from my hand!  I'll use the extra summon to summon my little "Senju of the Thousand Hands" card." (She activates the trap and summons Senju, with an attack power of 1400, and her life value decreases to 7500.) "Owww!!" (She receives a slight shock from her trap card.) "My "Senju of Thousand Hands" card allows me to search my deck for a ritual monster card and add it to my hand!" (She searches her deck for a ritual monster card and adds it to her hand.) "Okay, I'm done."

Yami:  "Hmm…she's preparing her ritual a step early…smart move. I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn…so it's your move Marienne." (He sets his two cards on the field.)

Marienne:  "Okay, now I'll draw!"  (She draws a card into her hand.) "Okay, now it's fun time! I'll activate my "Dark Magic Ritual" card, to ritual summon my "Magician of Black Chaos"!

Yami:  "Magician of Black Chaos?!?!"

Marienne:  "Yeah! I must sacrifice monsters, so I'll sacrifice my Senju and my good ol' Vampire Lord, but he will revive next turn by his effect!" (She activates the ritual card and sacrifices her two monsters to the graveyard as the Magician of Black Chaos descends onto the field in attack position with 2800 attack points.) "It's all over for you Yugi, with this magic card, "Raigeki"!" (She activates her magic card to destroy all of his monsters on the field.)

Yami:  "Not so fast. I'm activating a trap card, my "Magic Jammer" card. By discarding one card from my hand, I can stop any magic card activation so I'll discard my "Buster Blader" to the graveyard to stop your Raigeki card!" (He throws his Buster Blader to the graveyard and stops Raigeki with Magic Jammer as they all go to the graveyard.)

Marienne:  "Good counter, Yugi. I don't have any other monsters in my hand, so I'll attack first with my Magician of Black Chaos!!"

Yami: "Wait…I'll activate my trap card, Magic Cylinders, which will reflect your mage's attack directly at your Life Points!!" (He activates his Magic Cylinders card as Marienne loses 2800 Life Points, as she receives her pain from the shock.)

Marienne: "Ahhhh!! Man, that stuff hurts…(Her Life points drop to 4700.) "O-Okay…now, my Gemini Elf will attack you direc-!! Hey!!"

Yami:  "Now is the right time to strike!! I'll activate my first card, "Mirror Force", destroying all your monsters in attack position!" (He activates his Mirror Force card, destroying all of her monsters on the field.)

Marienne: "Aww man!! Why you…!! Tch…! I'll end my turn Yugi!"

Yami:  "Hehe…you are an excellent duelist Marienne, but I'll bet my victory or defeat on this next draw to win this duel for me…what?!" (The Vampire Lord revives on Marienne's field in attack mode.)  "Oh no, I forget about that pesky monster! I need to draw something to fight against that creature!"

Marienne:  "Not many level 4 creatures have an attack stronger than 2000 which can get past my Vampire Lord, so I suppose he's gonna stay, unless you wanna use a magic card and destroy him, so he can revive once again on my turn Yugi."

Yami:  "One turn…is all I have left…to fight in this duel…I must draw the card…to fulfill my planned strategy, but…will I draw the correct card…so soon in this duel?"

Joey:  "Hey Yug'!  Don't go giving up on me now!!! Show us what a real duelist is all about once again my man!!!"

Kaiba:  "Let me witness your dueling prowess once again Yugi Mutuo…let me see you stare defeat in the eyes and take the victory with your power…"

Yami:  "They are right…I won't accept defeat in this duel! I'll turn the tides in this duel and clinch victory!! I'll bet all my dueling skills on this draw Marienne, so prepare yourself!"

Marienne:  "Yeah, that's the spirit Yugi! Never give up! Now, show me your famed skills that everyone has heard about!!" (She smiles warmly to him.)

Yami: "Right, now I'll draw my card!!" (He draws his card into his hand as his eyes widen.) "My faith has rewarded me with my "Monster Reborn" card, which was the exact card I need to begin my combination to take this duel Marienne! Watch closely my friend!" (He activates his monster reborn card and revives his Buster Blader from the graveyard, with an attack power of 2600.) "My "Buster Blader" shall descend upon the field from the graveyard!"

Marienne: "Oh no…now he can kill my Vampire Lord through battle, negating his revival effect!"

Yami: "I'm not through! Next, I'll flip up my face-down card, which was the "Magician of Faith", which will allow me to get a magic card from my graveyard, so Monster Reborn will return to my hand!" (His magic card returns to his hand, as he activates it once again.) "This time, I'll revive my Dark Magician with Monster Reborn!" (The Dark Magician returns to the field in attack position.)

Marienne: "Aww…shoot!! This is bad, and I have nothing to defend myself or my monster!!"

Yami:  "Notice that I haven't normally summoned a monster yet…these two monsters were revived, so I can still summon a monster, so I'll use the last card in my hand as the trump card, to finish my combo and take this duel!! I'll use my Magician of Faith as a Tribute, for my "Dark Magician Girl"!" (He sacrifices his Magician of Faith to summon his Dark Magician Girl, with an attack power of 2000.) "Now Marienne, I'll have my Dark Magician Girl attack your Vampire Lord, as they both will destroy each other!" (The monsters attack each other with equal attack strength and are both destroyed and sent to the graveyard.)

Marienne:  "My Vampire Lord is destroyed in a stalemate against your monster, and since it was through battle, he won't revive anymore!!"

Yami:  "The stage is set perfectly!! Now, "Buster Blader" and "Dark Magician" will both attack your Life Points directly, granting me victory in this duel!" (The Buster Blader and Dark Magician attack Marienne's Life Points for a total of 5100 Life points, depleting all of her life value.)

Marienne: "AHHHH!!!!!!!"  (She receives her surge of electricity from her depletion of Life points as she staggers to the floor weakly.)

Yami:  "Marienne!"

Lee:  "Honey! Are you alright?!"  (He rushes to her aid as he helps her up slowly.)

Marienne:  "I-I'm okay hun…I lost though."

Lee:  "You were great babe…we all lose sometimes…" (His gaze goes toward Yami and looks him in the eyes.)  "I'll defeat him for you hun…I promise."

            They all step out of the arena and over to the side area of the arena as Lee sits Marienne down in a chair.

Yami:  "I must apologize Marienne…I didn't mean--!"

Marienne:  "T-that's enough…you won fair and square and I'm honored to be defeated by a top-notch duelist like you…" (She works a warm smile on her face.)

Yami:  "Thank you…you were very challenging yourself…"

Announcer:  "The winner of our duel is Yugi Mutou!!! Now, the Semi-Finals are set!! Lee Gilford has received the "Bye" this round so the duels have been made!! The next round will consist of Yugi Mutuo versus Joey Wheeler, and Seto Kaiba versus our undisputed champion, Lee Gilford!!"

Joey:  "Undisputed…?! You mean…you've never lost a duel Lee?!"

Lee:  "That's right my friend, and I don't plan on losing now…so you all better prepare yourself, because you all will feel my true potential in the next round, and the first to witness my strength is you…Seto Kaiba."

Kaiba:  "Hmph…we'll see soon enough."

Lee:  "Yes, we will…yes, we will indeed…you will all fall to the power of my "Egyptian Pharaoh's Deck"…you'll see…soon enough…!!!"

Yami: "…"

That concludes Chapter 3. Sorry for the delay. Stay tuned for the next update.