As soon as Rex, Mako, Joey and Ryan entered the door, Yugi had hoped for
Joey's victory.
'You can win Joey,' Yugi thought. 'I know you can.'
"As you may or may not know," Croquet told the remaining duelists. "These preliminary duels shall all take place during the same time."
"Now for the four duelists to be dueling behind Door II," the suit holding the clipboard said. "Mai Kujaku..."
Mai smiled and walked towards the door marked with the Roman numeral II.
"Colette Thibodeaux..."
The refined female duelist let out a slight smile as she walked towards the door. She had long blonde hair that shined in the light; her eyes were a deep sea blue most men could get lost in. She Mai's smile, however was even bigger knowing she was dueling the duelist she so detested.
"Yugi Muto..."
Yugi took a deep breath in readiness.
'I may not have Yami with me,' Yugi thought as he walked to the door while holding a bag with the shattered Millennium Puzzle. 'But I know I can hold my own.'
"...and Kurt Schneider."
Mai's smile had faded to a worried expression. Kurt however was grinning ear to ear from this. Kurt was fairly tall standing about six feet tall, his black hair had several bangs hang in front, and he had dark brown eyes so dark they looked black. He was wearing a brown t-shirt covering a white long-sleeved shirt and black short pants.
'Oh no,' Mai thought to herself. 'How am I supposed to take on two duelists at once?'
As Kurt walked towards the door, he passed by a suit who slipped him something and whispered in his ear.
'What was that?' Yugi thought, watching what happened.
As the four duelists approached the door, Kurt opened the door for the other three duelists. Colette smiled to Kurt as she entered in first, Mai scowled at Kurt and he smirked at her. But as Yugi passed by Kurt, Kurt let out a chuckle. As Yugi entered, Kurt walked in and shut the door. As soon as it closed, it locked automatically.
The room was pure white and shaped in a perfect cube. It looked very odd.
"This is going to be an excellent duel," the German champion duelist said walking to a far corner off to the right.
"Yes I hope for a fun duel," Colette said walking to the corner across from Kurt.
Mai, still annoyed by Colette took the remaining far corner, leaving Yugi with the last corner.
"By the way Muto," Kurt said to Yugi. "If you lose this duel, you'll have to give up your Egyptian God Card."
"How do you know about Egyptian God Cards?!" Yugi gasped.
"If you must know, I was given a one-of-a-kind card," Kurt told him. 'If I defeat you, it's mine to keep.'
"I can't believe you'd stoop as low as to work for Salazar," Mai said.
"Quiet you," the German duelist told her. "You're lucky that I'm going to focus on Muto because I could crush you and your pathetic harpies."
"You really think one card will beat me?" Yugi asked Kurt.
"I'm sure I won't even need to use it against you. But beating you has its rewards. I may have placed third in the World Championships, but I would be considered the best if I beat you."
"You're awfully sure of yourself. Very well, I'll put my Egyptian God Card up but you have to put up your rare card as well."
Kurt scoffed, "Fine. But you have no chance at beating my cards."
"Let's duel!" the four duelists said activating their Duel Disks as their life points rose to 8000.
"Ladies first," Colette said drawing an additional card. "I play Mystical Elf (800/2000) in defense mode ending my turn.
As the blue-skinned elf appeared, she began chanting something.
"I'll go next," Mai said drawing a card. "I play Cyber Harpie (1800/1300) in attack mode and I'll play two magic or trap cards face down, ending my turn."
The armored Harpie materialized on the field and behind appeared two face down cards.
"Now I'll go," Kurt said drawing a sixth card. "I'll play one card face down and summon X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) in attack mode, ending my turn."
'X-Head Cannon?' Yugi thought. 'He must be trying to bring out the XYZ Dragon Cannon. I've taken it on before so I'm sure I can beat this one.'
Yugi's turn-
"Okay now it's my turn," Yugi said drawing his first card. "I'll play Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts (1500/1200) in attack mode and end my turn playing two magic or trap cards face down."
The swift moving beast appeared roaring at its opposing duelists and two cards appeared behind him.
Colette's turn-
"My what an atrocious female monster you have," Colette said to Mai while drawing her card.
"You're lucky it's not my turn," Mai said. "Otherwise I would've crushed that sissy defender of a card."
"Crush this," the French duelist said playing her cards. "I'll play Rod of Silence giving my Mystical Elf 2500 defense and I'll play one card face down in defense mode ending my turn."
A blue rod appeared in the chanting elf's hands as well as a card placed sideways right beside her.
"Beat that," Colette shot at Mai.
Mai's turn-
Mai looked on at Colette's cards unimpressed.
"That's a good defender you've got there," Mai began, drawing her card. "It's a shame your other card doesn't follow up."
"What do you mean?" the French duelist asked.
"I've noticed that duelists always put their weakest monsters face down," Mai said. "But yours is going to come out of hiding with my trap card, Shadow of Eyes."
Colette gave out a gasp of fear as her face down card revealed her Unhappy Maiden (0/100).
"Ooh, that's too bad," Mai said looking on at one of the weakest cards in the game. "It's going to hurt to play this. I play Elegant Egotist multiplying my Cyber Harpie into the Harpie Lady Sisters (1950/2100)!"
The armored harpie had illuminated white and suddenly, two more harpie counterparts appeared on each side of the original harpie.
"Now my Harpie Lady Sisters, attack Colette's Unhappy Maiden, Tri-Attack!" Mai shouted as her three Harpies formed triangle of pure energy then unleashing it at Colette's incredibly weak card.
The attack atomized the spellcaster card and took 1950 life points from Colette.
"That ends my turn," Mai announced to the other duelists.
Colette: 6050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 8000
Yugi: 8000
Kurt's turn-
"Well it's time I dealt some damage as well," Kurt said, drawing his card. "I'll flip my face down card, Ultimate Offering. By paying 500 life points, I can normal summon another monster. First I'll summon Y-Dragon Head (1600/1500) in attack mode and with Ultimate Offering; I'll pay 500 life points to summon Z-Metal Tank (1500/1300) in attack mode!"
'Oh, no!' Yugi thought. 'He's already assembled the three pieces of the XYZ- Dragon Cannon. I just needed one more turn to take it out. However that card can't be the one-of-a-kind card he was talking about.'
"And now I'll fuse them together to create the almighty XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" the German duelist proclaimed as if he had already won the duel.
His three machine monsters began their fusion. X-Head Cannon took a great leap into the air. Y-Dragon Head took flight increasing its altitude to be several feet underneath X-Head Cannon. Z-Metal Tank increased its speed to accommodate the speed of its faster-moving counterparts. Then, X-Head Cannon folded its legs in and landed on top of Y-Dragon Head and they magnetically connected. After that, Y-Dragon Head folded its wings in and dropped onto Z-Metal Tank and they were all magnetically connected and became one.
"Behold, one of my greatest cards, the card that got me through almost all of my duels and even got me the title of the number three duelist in the world," Kurt said in pride. "The XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800/2600) in defense mode!"
The dragon portion of the Dragon Cannon roared at Yugi's Gazelle as if boasting its power.
"Now I'll discard one card from my hand: Sinister Serpent, to the graveyard," Kurt said discarding the weak reptile card. "To activate my Dragon Cannon's special effect. I'll destroy the face down card on your right."
XYZ-Dragon Cannon obeyed its master and the machineguns on the Z-Metal Tank portion fired many bullets towards the facedown card, creating a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the face down card was destroyed.
"No, Mirror Force!" Yugi shouted as he sent one of his best trap cards to the graveyard.
"Looks like my guess was right on," Kurt said to Yugi smugly, but then his face turned seriously. "Since I placed my Dragon Cannon is placed in defense mode, I can't have it attack this turn. So I'll play one card face down ending my turn."
Colette: 6050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 8000
Yugi's turn-
'Kurt's no amateur,' Yugi thought. 'He was sure that my other face down card would destroy his Dragon Cannon, so he placed it in defense mode. Well just bought me some time.'
As soon as Yugi drew his card, he smiled.
"All right, I summon Giant Soldier of Stone (1300/2000) in defense mode and switch Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to defense mode as well," Yugi said as the big stone soldier appeared with its solid defense.
Gazelle got down on its knees and crossed its arms to cover its face.
"And that ends my turn," Yugi told Kurt.
Colette's turn-
"You'll pay for my Unhappy Maiden," Colette said to Mai while drawing her card. "I play two cards face down and I'll play one card face down in defense mode ending my turn."
Mai's turn-
"So you're still hiding from me?" Mai asked. "How very sad. I can't possibly see how you could be France's best duelist.
When Mai drew her card she looked at it and let out a little laugh.
"Colette hun," Mai began. "This duel will end much sooner than you think. I begin by playing Harpies Brother (1800/600) in attack mode and have him attack your face down card."
As the red and brown winged beast appeared, it quickly took flight and drove its long triple-bladed claw into the face down card wiping it out.
"Thank you Mai," Colette said to her. "That was my cute little Nimble Momonga (1000/100) you just destroyed. When it's destroyed as a result of battle, I gain 1000 life points and get to summon its too cute, two counterparts face down in defense mode."
"Alright, you made it this turn," Mai told her. "I'll end my turn."
Colette: 7050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 8000
Kurt's turn-
"Well they seem to be kicking it off well," Kurt said to Yugi. "But let's separate our life points, shall we?"
Yugi remained silent trying to keep as serious as he could towards Kurt.
"Not talking? Fine by me," Kurt said drawing his card and as he did, the only card in his graveyard returned to his hand. "During each of my standby phases, if Sinister Serpent is in my graveyard, it returns to my hand."
'Then that means he can continue using his Dragon Cannon's special effect and destroy my cards.' Yugi thought. 'Even if I destroyed his hand, it would still keep coming back. This is not good.'
"So now I play one card face down in defense mode..." he began. "And I'll discard my Sinister Serpent to the graveyard and activate my Dragon Cannon's special ability again and I'll destroy your Giant Soldier of Stone."
As the German duelist sent his reptile to the graveyard, his merged machine monster initiated its effect. This time, the Y-Dragon Head fired a blast of energy towards Yugi's stone soldier, reducing it to tiny pieces of gravel.
"And I'll switch my XYZ-Dragon Cannon to attack mode and now Dragon Cannon, attack Gazelle. Total Annihilation!" Kurt shouted.
Suddenly, all five of the weapons on the three combined machines began to charge up. After ten seconds of charging, they unleashed their devastating attack. From its twin shoulder artilleries, X-Head Cannon fired two high- powered missiles straight towards the weaker beast monster. That wasn't the only attack. Y-Dragon Head fired another blast of energy directly at Gazelle. But the first attack that was to hit was Z-Metal Tank's barrage of bullets from its two side machineguns.
"I don't think so," Yugi said activating a card. "I activate my trap card, Magic Cylinder to save Gazelle and send 2800 direct damage to your life points."
As the cylinder appeared in midair to absorb the Dragon Cannon's attack, it was Kurt's turn to turn the tables.
"Sorry, but I activate Barrel Behind the Door," Kurt said activating the trap card. "It negates any direct damage to me and sends it right back at you."
It was done. As the attacks of XYZ-Dragon Cannon were sent back to Kurt, a large golden revolver ensnared by chains appeared. All the attacks were sent into the barrel of the revolver and into a chamber. The cylinder spun around really fast then quickly stopped when the loaded chamber stopped in front of the barrel again. The chains tied around the trigger of the large revolver tightened and fired the attack directly at Yugi. The explosion of the three combined attacks hit Yugi for 2800 direct damage.
"I'll end my turn," Kurt said smirking.
Colette: 7050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 5200
Yugi's turn-
'Okay this guy isn't pulling anything,' Yugi thought while drawing his card. 'He's ready to take anything coming at him for his advantage and the only card that can help me right now I hope he can't counter it.'
"Alright, I'll sacrifice Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to summon the Summoned Skull (2500/1200) in attack mode," Yugi said playing his strongest fiend card. "And I'll pay 500 life points from Ultimate Offering to summon another monster face down in defense mode ending my turn..."
Colette: 7050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 4700
Yugi waited patiently for his opponent, Kurt Schneider to make his move, knowing if these cards were destroyed, he'd be done for...
'You can win Joey,' Yugi thought. 'I know you can.'
"As you may or may not know," Croquet told the remaining duelists. "These preliminary duels shall all take place during the same time."
"Now for the four duelists to be dueling behind Door II," the suit holding the clipboard said. "Mai Kujaku..."
Mai smiled and walked towards the door marked with the Roman numeral II.
"Colette Thibodeaux..."
The refined female duelist let out a slight smile as she walked towards the door. She had long blonde hair that shined in the light; her eyes were a deep sea blue most men could get lost in. She Mai's smile, however was even bigger knowing she was dueling the duelist she so detested.
"Yugi Muto..."
Yugi took a deep breath in readiness.
'I may not have Yami with me,' Yugi thought as he walked to the door while holding a bag with the shattered Millennium Puzzle. 'But I know I can hold my own.'
"...and Kurt Schneider."
Mai's smile had faded to a worried expression. Kurt however was grinning ear to ear from this. Kurt was fairly tall standing about six feet tall, his black hair had several bangs hang in front, and he had dark brown eyes so dark they looked black. He was wearing a brown t-shirt covering a white long-sleeved shirt and black short pants.
'Oh no,' Mai thought to herself. 'How am I supposed to take on two duelists at once?'
As Kurt walked towards the door, he passed by a suit who slipped him something and whispered in his ear.
'What was that?' Yugi thought, watching what happened.
As the four duelists approached the door, Kurt opened the door for the other three duelists. Colette smiled to Kurt as she entered in first, Mai scowled at Kurt and he smirked at her. But as Yugi passed by Kurt, Kurt let out a chuckle. As Yugi entered, Kurt walked in and shut the door. As soon as it closed, it locked automatically.
The room was pure white and shaped in a perfect cube. It looked very odd.
"This is going to be an excellent duel," the German champion duelist said walking to a far corner off to the right.
"Yes I hope for a fun duel," Colette said walking to the corner across from Kurt.
Mai, still annoyed by Colette took the remaining far corner, leaving Yugi with the last corner.
"By the way Muto," Kurt said to Yugi. "If you lose this duel, you'll have to give up your Egyptian God Card."
"How do you know about Egyptian God Cards?!" Yugi gasped.
"If you must know, I was given a one-of-a-kind card," Kurt told him. 'If I defeat you, it's mine to keep.'
"I can't believe you'd stoop as low as to work for Salazar," Mai said.
"Quiet you," the German duelist told her. "You're lucky that I'm going to focus on Muto because I could crush you and your pathetic harpies."
"You really think one card will beat me?" Yugi asked Kurt.
"I'm sure I won't even need to use it against you. But beating you has its rewards. I may have placed third in the World Championships, but I would be considered the best if I beat you."
"You're awfully sure of yourself. Very well, I'll put my Egyptian God Card up but you have to put up your rare card as well."
Kurt scoffed, "Fine. But you have no chance at beating my cards."
"Let's duel!" the four duelists said activating their Duel Disks as their life points rose to 8000.
"Ladies first," Colette said drawing an additional card. "I play Mystical Elf (800/2000) in defense mode ending my turn.
As the blue-skinned elf appeared, she began chanting something.
"I'll go next," Mai said drawing a card. "I play Cyber Harpie (1800/1300) in attack mode and I'll play two magic or trap cards face down, ending my turn."
The armored Harpie materialized on the field and behind appeared two face down cards.
"Now I'll go," Kurt said drawing a sixth card. "I'll play one card face down and summon X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) in attack mode, ending my turn."
'X-Head Cannon?' Yugi thought. 'He must be trying to bring out the XYZ Dragon Cannon. I've taken it on before so I'm sure I can beat this one.'
Yugi's turn-
"Okay now it's my turn," Yugi said drawing his first card. "I'll play Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts (1500/1200) in attack mode and end my turn playing two magic or trap cards face down."
The swift moving beast appeared roaring at its opposing duelists and two cards appeared behind him.
Colette's turn-
"My what an atrocious female monster you have," Colette said to Mai while drawing her card.
"You're lucky it's not my turn," Mai said. "Otherwise I would've crushed that sissy defender of a card."
"Crush this," the French duelist said playing her cards. "I'll play Rod of Silence giving my Mystical Elf 2500 defense and I'll play one card face down in defense mode ending my turn."
A blue rod appeared in the chanting elf's hands as well as a card placed sideways right beside her.
"Beat that," Colette shot at Mai.
Mai's turn-
Mai looked on at Colette's cards unimpressed.
"That's a good defender you've got there," Mai began, drawing her card. "It's a shame your other card doesn't follow up."
"What do you mean?" the French duelist asked.
"I've noticed that duelists always put their weakest monsters face down," Mai said. "But yours is going to come out of hiding with my trap card, Shadow of Eyes."
Colette gave out a gasp of fear as her face down card revealed her Unhappy Maiden (0/100).
"Ooh, that's too bad," Mai said looking on at one of the weakest cards in the game. "It's going to hurt to play this. I play Elegant Egotist multiplying my Cyber Harpie into the Harpie Lady Sisters (1950/2100)!"
The armored harpie had illuminated white and suddenly, two more harpie counterparts appeared on each side of the original harpie.
"Now my Harpie Lady Sisters, attack Colette's Unhappy Maiden, Tri-Attack!" Mai shouted as her three Harpies formed triangle of pure energy then unleashing it at Colette's incredibly weak card.
The attack atomized the spellcaster card and took 1950 life points from Colette.
"That ends my turn," Mai announced to the other duelists.
Colette: 6050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 8000
Yugi: 8000
Kurt's turn-
"Well it's time I dealt some damage as well," Kurt said, drawing his card. "I'll flip my face down card, Ultimate Offering. By paying 500 life points, I can normal summon another monster. First I'll summon Y-Dragon Head (1600/1500) in attack mode and with Ultimate Offering; I'll pay 500 life points to summon Z-Metal Tank (1500/1300) in attack mode!"
'Oh, no!' Yugi thought. 'He's already assembled the three pieces of the XYZ- Dragon Cannon. I just needed one more turn to take it out. However that card can't be the one-of-a-kind card he was talking about.'
"And now I'll fuse them together to create the almighty XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" the German duelist proclaimed as if he had already won the duel.
His three machine monsters began their fusion. X-Head Cannon took a great leap into the air. Y-Dragon Head took flight increasing its altitude to be several feet underneath X-Head Cannon. Z-Metal Tank increased its speed to accommodate the speed of its faster-moving counterparts. Then, X-Head Cannon folded its legs in and landed on top of Y-Dragon Head and they magnetically connected. After that, Y-Dragon Head folded its wings in and dropped onto Z-Metal Tank and they were all magnetically connected and became one.
"Behold, one of my greatest cards, the card that got me through almost all of my duels and even got me the title of the number three duelist in the world," Kurt said in pride. "The XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800/2600) in defense mode!"
The dragon portion of the Dragon Cannon roared at Yugi's Gazelle as if boasting its power.
"Now I'll discard one card from my hand: Sinister Serpent, to the graveyard," Kurt said discarding the weak reptile card. "To activate my Dragon Cannon's special effect. I'll destroy the face down card on your right."
XYZ-Dragon Cannon obeyed its master and the machineguns on the Z-Metal Tank portion fired many bullets towards the facedown card, creating a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the face down card was destroyed.
"No, Mirror Force!" Yugi shouted as he sent one of his best trap cards to the graveyard.
"Looks like my guess was right on," Kurt said to Yugi smugly, but then his face turned seriously. "Since I placed my Dragon Cannon is placed in defense mode, I can't have it attack this turn. So I'll play one card face down ending my turn."
Colette: 6050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 8000
Yugi's turn-
'Kurt's no amateur,' Yugi thought. 'He was sure that my other face down card would destroy his Dragon Cannon, so he placed it in defense mode. Well just bought me some time.'
As soon as Yugi drew his card, he smiled.
"All right, I summon Giant Soldier of Stone (1300/2000) in defense mode and switch Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to defense mode as well," Yugi said as the big stone soldier appeared with its solid defense.
Gazelle got down on its knees and crossed its arms to cover its face.
"And that ends my turn," Yugi told Kurt.
Colette's turn-
"You'll pay for my Unhappy Maiden," Colette said to Mai while drawing her card. "I play two cards face down and I'll play one card face down in defense mode ending my turn."
Mai's turn-
"So you're still hiding from me?" Mai asked. "How very sad. I can't possibly see how you could be France's best duelist.
When Mai drew her card she looked at it and let out a little laugh.
"Colette hun," Mai began. "This duel will end much sooner than you think. I begin by playing Harpies Brother (1800/600) in attack mode and have him attack your face down card."
As the red and brown winged beast appeared, it quickly took flight and drove its long triple-bladed claw into the face down card wiping it out.
"Thank you Mai," Colette said to her. "That was my cute little Nimble Momonga (1000/100) you just destroyed. When it's destroyed as a result of battle, I gain 1000 life points and get to summon its too cute, two counterparts face down in defense mode."
"Alright, you made it this turn," Mai told her. "I'll end my turn."
Colette: 7050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 8000
Kurt's turn-
"Well they seem to be kicking it off well," Kurt said to Yugi. "But let's separate our life points, shall we?"
Yugi remained silent trying to keep as serious as he could towards Kurt.
"Not talking? Fine by me," Kurt said drawing his card and as he did, the only card in his graveyard returned to his hand. "During each of my standby phases, if Sinister Serpent is in my graveyard, it returns to my hand."
'Then that means he can continue using his Dragon Cannon's special effect and destroy my cards.' Yugi thought. 'Even if I destroyed his hand, it would still keep coming back. This is not good.'
"So now I play one card face down in defense mode..." he began. "And I'll discard my Sinister Serpent to the graveyard and activate my Dragon Cannon's special ability again and I'll destroy your Giant Soldier of Stone."
As the German duelist sent his reptile to the graveyard, his merged machine monster initiated its effect. This time, the Y-Dragon Head fired a blast of energy towards Yugi's stone soldier, reducing it to tiny pieces of gravel.
"And I'll switch my XYZ-Dragon Cannon to attack mode and now Dragon Cannon, attack Gazelle. Total Annihilation!" Kurt shouted.
Suddenly, all five of the weapons on the three combined machines began to charge up. After ten seconds of charging, they unleashed their devastating attack. From its twin shoulder artilleries, X-Head Cannon fired two high- powered missiles straight towards the weaker beast monster. That wasn't the only attack. Y-Dragon Head fired another blast of energy directly at Gazelle. But the first attack that was to hit was Z-Metal Tank's barrage of bullets from its two side machineguns.
"I don't think so," Yugi said activating a card. "I activate my trap card, Magic Cylinder to save Gazelle and send 2800 direct damage to your life points."
As the cylinder appeared in midair to absorb the Dragon Cannon's attack, it was Kurt's turn to turn the tables.
"Sorry, but I activate Barrel Behind the Door," Kurt said activating the trap card. "It negates any direct damage to me and sends it right back at you."
It was done. As the attacks of XYZ-Dragon Cannon were sent back to Kurt, a large golden revolver ensnared by chains appeared. All the attacks were sent into the barrel of the revolver and into a chamber. The cylinder spun around really fast then quickly stopped when the loaded chamber stopped in front of the barrel again. The chains tied around the trigger of the large revolver tightened and fired the attack directly at Yugi. The explosion of the three combined attacks hit Yugi for 2800 direct damage.
"I'll end my turn," Kurt said smirking.
Colette: 7050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 5200
Yugi's turn-
'Okay this guy isn't pulling anything,' Yugi thought while drawing his card. 'He's ready to take anything coming at him for his advantage and the only card that can help me right now I hope he can't counter it.'
"Alright, I'll sacrifice Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to summon the Summoned Skull (2500/1200) in attack mode," Yugi said playing his strongest fiend card. "And I'll pay 500 life points from Ultimate Offering to summon another monster face down in defense mode ending my turn..."
Colette: 7050
Mai: 8000
Kurt: 7500
Yugi: 4700
Yugi waited patiently for his opponent, Kurt Schneider to make his move, knowing if these cards were destroyed, he'd be done for...