Lu: Hey y'all, and welcome to the next chapter of Mind Game! Today's chapter: Noa vs. Yami and Joey. I figured I better put at least one duel in this fic. Otherwise it's kind of a poor excuse for an Action/Adventure fic if there isn't a duel.
Yami Lu: It is a poor excuse for an Action/Adventure fic anyway, so why even try to make it better?
Lu: Because some people think it's good. Some very loyal reviewers actually read the story. And these are they:
DayDreamerz: Nup, but I will now! I love JoeyxMai fics, as you might have noticed. Shut up, I know you know!
Nessie Cat: Stupid constructive critism. But I will do in future. But there's only one more chapter to go, so I'll just do it in The New Tournament.
Mai Wheeler: I swear, it's scary. I never thought that there was such thing as ESP, but I swear, either you or me must have it.
Moon Comix: Noa is Kaiba's step-brother and Gozubaro's son. Go to Absolute Anime, the Yu-Gi-Oh!, then Noa Kaiba. That gives you a fairly simple yet comprehensive character analysis.
Everyone Else: Thanks for the reviews, I love y'all!
Lu: Well, that's it for today. I'm sorrry it took me so long to update, but I had a huge science project. And I've got half-yearlies coming up soon too. Mum's threatening to take away Foxtel if I don't get good marks. And since the new series of Yu-Gi-Oh! is on now, I figure I better try real hard.
Mai and Joey soon woke up Yami and Tea, who were ecstatic at the fact that Mai was awake, but no one was as cheerful as Joey was that morning. He was so overwhelmingly cheerful that he could even listen to one of Tea's friendship speeches, as she lectured them on the fact that they had to stay together while they were in there.
They sat down to a breakfast of cooked candy bars, made by Joey. "Umm... Joey? Where did the candy bars come from?" asked Mai suspiciously.
"I always carry some kind of candy in my pocket, along with a picture of Serenity, a picture of you and my duellin' deck," claimed Joey.
"A picture of me? Let me see," demanded Mai, moving closer. Joey dug through his pockets, emptying them as he went. The photo of Serenity, duelling deck, several chocolate wrappers, and several non-opened bars of chocolate were dumped onto the ground.
Finally, Joey found the photo. It wasn't crumpled, despite being stuffed in a pocket. It was of Mai, dressed in her Duellist Kingdom outfit, that Joey had obviously taken when she wasn't looking. She looked stunning. She was smiling gently, her eyes sparkling and her hair shimmering under the light from the moon.
"When did you take this?" asked Mai, eyeing the picture. Joey grinned guiltily.
"I took it when Yami had just won back your star chips, after I had stolen dem and den given dem back. You were smilin' after Yugi, and I hung back a sec and took de picture," he explained.
"You've liked me that long?" asked Mai, now starting to smile. Joey nodded.
"Anyway, Yami, how do we get out of de Shadow Realm?" questioned Joey, turning his attention to Yami. Yami had previously been deep in conversation with Tea, leaving Joey to catch up with Mai. After all, they had had barely five minutes after they had gotten together before Mai had been taken away. But now they needed to escape from the Shadow Realm.
"I do not know, Joey. I think we can only get out if Noa lets us get out," replied Yami. Mai grabbed Joey's hand and squeezed it very tight.
"Joey, does this mean that we're going to be stuck in here for longer?" she asked faintly. Joey took her hand and enclosed it with his two. She simply stared at his hands, looking lost and confused.
"Mai, are you OK?" asked Joey in a concerned voice. Mai shook her head slightly. Joey raised his hand to touch her cheek. She was cold and trembling. Suddenly, she collapsed into Joey's arms.
"Mai!" he yelled, shaking her gently. She didn't wake. A small cackle came from behind Yami and Tea. They all looked in the direction of the laugh, where they saw a green-haired someone. Noa stood before them again.
"Why, hello, I wasn't aware you were here," he said in a mock-cheerful voice. Joey was shaking with rage, and wouldn't look at Noa. He instead stared straight at Mai, before clenching his eyes tightly shut to stop the tears from pouring down his face.
"What do you want with us now, Noa?" demanded Yami, standing up so he was taller than Noa. Tea stood up next to him. But they were both pushed aside by Joey, who was taller than them both and towered over Noa. His head was bowed slightly so his eyes were shadowed by his hair, and his mouth was set in a straight, hard line.
"Ah, Joey. How have you and Mai been?" taunted Noa. Joey's head shot up, revealing eyes that were seething with anger and revenge.
"What did you do to her, Noa?" he spat, taking another couple of steps forward. Tea and Yami stood back - they realised that this was between Joey and Noa. Noa's grin faded to a smirk.
"I just made her wake up. Isn't that what you wanted me to do?" he asked in feigned innocence. Joey's anger was replaced instantly by curiousity.
"You made her wake up? You mean she is currently wakin' up on de blimp?" he inquired distrustfully. Noa shrugged.
"Not quite. She is in the Virtual World with the rest of your friends. If you succeed in beating the game, she will wake up on the blimp, the same as the rest of you," he answered. A half smile flickered across Joey's face, before being replaced by another scowl.
"What about us? Are you gonna to let us out of here?" asked Joey. Noa considered it for a moment and then shook his head.
"What fun would that be?" he asked, grinning.
"So what do you want us to do to get outta here?" asked Joey, fists clenched.
"How about a duel?" requested Noa, withdrawing his deck from his pocket. Joey nodded, but Yami stepped forward.
"Joey, let me duel. You've been through enough today," suggested Yami, gesturing for Joey to step back. Joey shook his head, and began to speak, but was interrupted by Noa.
"I will duel you both," he smiled. Joey and Yami glanced at each other, then looked back at Noa, nodding. The duel disks activated, shooting the hologram projectors out to either side. They all inserted their decks.
"As my deck master, I shall choose Kuriboh," said Yami, taking the card out of his deck. The furball appeared beside him, bouncing and hopping.
"For Mai's sake, I choose Harpies Brother as my deck master," announced Joey, playing the card. Harpies Brother materialized next to Joey, clutching a whip in his hand.
"And for my deck master, Swordstalker will do," said Noa boredly. Swordstalker appeared, its blade glinting in what little light there was.
"I'll go first," claimed Yami. "I'll place one card face down and summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in attack mode." A holographic card appeared face down on the field and Gazelle appeared, snorting and growling.
"I draw," announced Noa. "I also play a card face down, and now I summon Gryffor in defence mode. With that, I end my turn." [A/N: Sorry, I don't know any of Noa's monsters. We haven't quite got up to him duelling yet, and I don't have time to look them up on the net.]
"My turn now," said Joey, drawing a card. "I summon Baby Dragon in attack mode! I den play one card face down, and end my turn. Over to you, Yami."
'What is Joey doing summoning such a weak monster in attack mode?' thought Yami, examining Joey's monsters and face down card. 'Is his mind elsewhere, or has he got a strategy?'
"I summon Berformet and activate my face down card, Polymerization, to create Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast!" shouted Yami, playing Berformet and pressing a button to activate Polymerization. "The Battle City rules state that I must wait one turn before attacking with my fusion monster, so I end my turn."
"Foolish move, Yami," smirked Noa. "I active my face down card De-Fusion. This will break down your Chimera into its two fusion material monsters. I also summon Ryu-Ran." Yami's monster was transformed into Gazelle and Berformet. Ryu-Ran also appeared on the field. "Ryu-Ran, attack Berformet!" shouted Noa. The egg-like creature shot forward and destroyed Berformet. Yami's life points were brought down to 3500. [A/N: Sorry, I don't know what Ryu-Ran's attack and defence strengths are.]
"Yami!" squealed Tea. Yami winced slightly, but turned around and gave Tea a thumbs up, at which she sighed with relief.
"I'm gonna summon Alligator Sword, and use my own Polymerization to fuse my two monsters together to create Alligator Sword Dragon! As Yami said before, I can't attack with a fusion monster, so I'll play one card face down to keep you guessin'," announced Joey, playing the cards.
"OK, it's my turn now. I switch my Gazelle to defence mode, and place one card face down," sighed Yami.
"Being forced to run and hide, are we Yami? I summon 7 Coloured Fish in attack mode, and take out your Gazelle. Then I play this magic card, Horn of the Unicorn, to raise my Ryu-Ran's attack points by 500. He will now take out your Alligator Sword Dragon!" shouted Noa.
"Activate trap!" yelled Joey. "My trap is Gravity Bind, which prevents all monsters Level 4 and under on your side of the field from attacking. So that means both of your attacks are cancelled!" Both of the monsters' attacks were blocked by a huge sonic blast heading towards Noa's side of the field.
"No!" groaned Noa in frustration. "I almost had you there. I almost got rid of all your monsters!"
"Not quite," retorted Joey. "My turn." He drew a card.
'Hmm...' he thought. 'Dis card could be helpful. But it's not strong enough to destroy his Ryu-Ran, although it could take out his 7 Coloured Fish. But so could my Alligator Sword Dragon.'
"Play the card," advised a voice from behind him. Joey turned to see Harpies Brother nodding. Joey took his deck masters advice, and played the card he had drawn.
"Dis is for Mai!" he shouted. "I summon Cyber Harpy to de field." He turned to Harpies Brother, who smiled.
"One of my deck master abilities is that I automatically raise the attack points of any non-fusion Winged Beast monster on your side of the field by 500," said Harpies Brother.
"Cool," exclaimed Joey. "Dat means dat my Cyber Harpy's attack points go up to 2300! Cyber Harpy, attack his Ryu-Ran, and Alligator Sword Dragon, attack his 7 Coloured Fish!" Noa's monsters were destroyed, and his life points were lowered to 3700. "Dat leaves you wide open for a direct attack, Noa. Over to you, Yami."
"Thank you," said Yami, and drew a card. "I switch my Gazelle to attack mode, and summon Dark Magician Girl. Gazelle and Dark Magician Girl, attack Noa's life point directly!" The Dark Magician Girl attacked with a flourish of her staff, and Gazelle leapt forward his its claws bared. Noa's life points were down to 100 within seconds.
"Yes! Go Yami! Go Joey!" cheered Tea happily. Yami and Joey both turned and gave her the thumbs up, and Yami even winked.
"My turn now," said Noa, scowling. He drew a card, and placed it face down. "I play these two cards face down, and summon a monster face-down in defence.That will end my turn."
"My turn, Noa, and it seems like you're all washed up. Attack, Alligator Sword Dragon!" commanded Joey. The dragon shot forward to attack, but Noa's smug scowl had suddenly been replaced by a grin.
"You've activated my trap card, Wheeler. This destroys the offending monster and leaves my monster unscathed. It also delivers 1000 points of direct damage to your life points," he announced. Joey's life point were brought down to 3000.
"Hmm... I'll end my turn here," said Joey doubtfully.
"My turn then," claimed Yami. "And I play this Harpies Feather Duster card to get rid of your face down card. I then attack your face down defence monster with Dark Magician Girl!" The Dark Magician Girl attacked the monster, which was destroyed.
"No!" growled Noa. "I can't lose! I just can't!" Then he regained composure. "I suppose this was just a duel to try and gain an advantage that I never expected to have in the first place."
"Yes, you have lost, haven't you Noa? Gazelle, attack his life points directly!" yelled Yami, and it was all over. Yami and Joey had won.
"You did it!" shouted Tea, and she ran into Yami's arms, who hugged her tightly. But Joey was not easily sidetracked.
"Noa, de deal was dat if we won de duel, you would release us from de Shadow Realm. I'm sure you can remember dat. Now, it's time to hold up your end of de deal. Release us," demanded Joey. Noa shrugged, and clicked his fingers. All three of them felt a strange, unpleasant feeling, as they were pulled from the Shadow Realm.
Lu: Yay! Joey and Yugi won! I know that was a very short duel, and they won very easily, but Noa wasn't really trying his hardest. I reckon Noa's a bit like Artemis Fowl, if anyone's read that book. I've got all three! I love those books! Anyway, the next chapter is the epilogue. Not much longer to go. :( This will be my first finished chapter story, so y'all better review!
Yami Lu: Nobody wants to review you. Just get used to the fact that no one likes you.
Lu: Hey, people like me! Like my invisible friends here!
Yami Lu: They don't count.
Lu: Don't let them hear you say that. Anyway, review please!