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Fanfic Chapter 5: Harpie's Siren
Episode Basis: First Duel
Previously, on Yu-Gi-Oh!: The duel between Yugi and Weevil was heating up in more ways than one. Tea was ready to slap Mai around the island for putting down the friendship that they all shared. But as it turned out, they were able to help Yugi in more ways than one. Joey gave him the idea of burning the forest region on Weevil's side of the field eliminating the field power bonus. But when Weevil brought out his strongest monster, the Great Moth, Yugi along with his fusion dragon-knight monster found himself backed into a corner. But thanks to a magical mist card as well as his ultra-powerful Summoned Skull, Yugi grilled Weevil's mouth. Yugi took Weevil's star chips, Joey took Weevil's glove, Harold took the Duelist Kingdom rulebook that Weevil stole, and Weevil took a ride back to the mainland as the first elimination of the Duelist Kingdom.
From the comfort of his palace, Maxamillian Pegasus enjoyed watching the duels commence on his private viewing system. He watched, and schemed. All over the island, my unwilling pawns are in place. The duels have begun and right now, the slow process of elimination is well under way. Only the strongest Duel Monster players will survive and those of insufficient skill will fall by the wayside. This will be a sight to behold...
Yugi and his friends approached a clifftop in high spirits. Joey's spirit was especially high.
"Okay, it's my turn now. I'm taking on the next duelist I see," Joey decided.
The others weren't so sure. "You know, I'm not so sure Joey is up to this," Tea said.
"Yeah, there are tournament level players here. But you'd think that Joey would realize that by now?"
"Good point, Tristan," Harold said, deep in the Duelist Kingdom rulebook that he took from Weevil's backpack. "There are some outrageous rules here that could make things tough even for Yugi."
"Like what?" Yugi asked.
"Well..."
Harold was interrupted by Joey. "Here I stand, the next Duel Monsters Champion!" Joey declared.
The others face-faulted. "You know, I like Joey and all, but... I'd say he's about twelve doughnuts short of a dozen," Harold commented.
"No argument here," Tristan agreed.
Joey stared out at the ocean. I better be the champion, for Serenity's sake. She's always counted on me, even when we were kids...
She was around 6 at the time and he was 10. Their parents were going through tough times and it looked like they were on their ways towards a divorce. Joey brought Serenity to the beach because A, she always loved it there and B, it would make her forget all the trouble at home, at least for a little while.
Joey and Serenity spent all day at the beach, frolicking in the cold water, building sand castles, and just having a good time, not a care in the world.
"I really loved today, Big Brother," Serenity said as the sun began its descent.
"Me too, we should come back here again sometime."
Serenity frowned. "But what about..."
"Don't worry, even if Mom and Dad did get a divorce, I'll still take you back here."
"Promise?"
Joey linked his pinky with Serenity's. "Promise."
Joey took a deep breath. He was her brother; he was supposed to take care of her. She always counted on him and now, in her hour of need, he promised again that he would do everything in his power to save his sister's eyesight and fulfill their promise to take her to the ocean again. Yugi and the others stepped up behind him. They could tell what Joey was thinking (from his calm and serious expression) and that was enough to forgive him for any past acts of stupidity.
Suddenly they could hear cheering. They looked down to see a valley with lots of Duel Monster stadiums like the one Weevil and Yugi dueled with.
"Wow, look at them all," Tristan said.
"Yup, sure are a lot of them."
"Okay, I'm going in," Joey said.
"You sure you want to do this? If you do, you could risk giving up your only star chip." From Joey's face-fault, Tristan could tell that the idea didn't occur to Joey.
"Don't panic, Joey. You can do this, you know that, right?"
"I hope you're right, Yug, this will be my first official match and I can't afford to be knocked out at the start."
"I'm sure that not everyone here is as pro as Weevil, Joey," Harold said. "There's probably someone here on your level."
Joey took out his deck. "I should try to figure out what field my monsters are most suited for. They're mostly beasts and warrior-types..." Joey looked around at the field they were in. "I guess that makes this meadow region my kind of turf."
"That's right, Joey," Harold confirmed. "Warriors and Beast-Warriors are better suited for meadows and field."
"See, I know you could do it," Yugi said.
"You lost, cry baby, now give me your star chips!" An annoying voice shouted making everyone cringe.
"A voice that annoying can only belong to..." Tea glanced nearby where it looked like a duel was just ending. One of the players was complaining about how his opponent couldn't have been psychic and that she cheated. The Watcher who was observing the duel had already left, apparently not caring about the player's complaint. And his opponent, the one who called him a cry baby and was laughing at how pathetic he was, the owner of the voice that Tea hated so much, "Mai!"
Mai noticed them. "Well, if it ain't the Flubbing Five." She eyed Yugi and Joey's gloves hungrily and walked up to them. "So, Yugi, are your duels going well?" Mai asked conversely.
"I'm making progress," Yugi said neutrally. Tristan and Harold stepped up behind Tea just in case she decided to start mauling Mai. Judging from the look on Tea's face, there was a 95 chance of that happening.
"So you already won three star chips. I just might be up for a duel myself."
Who's she kidding? Harold asked. She was there when it happened, she wants something.
"Take her," Tea whispered harshly to Yugi. Yugi was actually more nervous at Tea's instruction than Mai suddenly acting chummy towards another Duelist. "Knock her out of this tournament and off of the island."
Mai was apparently relishing in Tea's hostility towards her. "You know, I'm definitely up for a duel. And the person I want to duel is..." She paused, most likely for dramatic effect before leveling her finger...
At Joey.
"You."
"Huh? Who, me?" Joey asked looking around to make sure that her finger was aimed at him and not Yugi or a duelist who was walking by.
"What, you didn't hear me? It's you I want to challenge, Joey."
Joey's smug look returned. "I guess you must've heard about my supreme dueling skills."
"Don't flatter yourself; I heard you and Yugi talking on the boat ride here. Yugi needed to give you one of his star chips so that you could compete in the tournament. My strategy is to take out the weakest players first."
"So why don't you take yourself out," Harold muttered.
If Mai heard him, she chose to ignore his comment. "Considering how you wouldn't even be here if Yugi hadn't given you one of his star chips; that must make you the weakest duelist on the island."
Now it was Joey who was losing his cool. "Do you have to be so insulting?"
Tea and Tristan tried to convince Joey not to take Mai on, pointing out that she's an expert duelist and how Joey only has one star chip and can't afford to give it up, especially to someone like her.
Tea made a plea to Yugi. "Stand up for Joey, volunteer to duel in his place." Yugi looked from Joey to Mai and back again.
"This is his decision to make," Yugi concluded. "Show Mai what you're made of, Joey!"
Joey nodded. "Right. She thinks I'm a pushover, well I'll just show her."
"Yugi!" Tea protested. Tristan echoed the tone in Tea's voice in his protest to Joey.
But Joey just replied, "Don't you see, this is my chance to prove myself, to show everybody that I'm not scared. Don't forget, Gramps trained me. Granted he never finished my training and granted I wished I could've practiced a little more before being thrust into a tournament this huge with so many heavy hitters, but honest, I think I can take her."
Everyone could see that Joey's mind was made up so Harold blew on his whistle and the ground split open producing a dueling arena.
"Since you have only one measly star chip, I only have to bet one of mine against you."
Joey wasn't too worried, counting on the field advantage. But he became really worried when he saw that in addition to the meadow part there were also mountains and even a piece of the forest. "Oh no! What are all those mountains doing on my field?"
"The field we're battling on is 40 forest, 40 mountain, and 20 meadow," Mai informed him. "So either suck it up or surrender."
"Joey, don't worry," Harold said stepping up to his own podium. "Your monsters will still get a field power bonus on the meadow part of the field."
Joey filed that to memory. "Hey Mai, let me ask you something... why are you here? What I mean is... why do you duel?" Mai rattled off a list of amenities she would want to buy and/or experience such as travel, fancy clothes, fine cuisine, a house in France. Basically, she wanted the money so she wouldn't have to work for a living like every other poor slob.
"I guess that means she wants the prize money like Joey," Harold guessed.
"Well you have to admit, she's honest," Yugi said.
"Yeah, honest, not sincere," Tea retorted harshly.
Joey smiled cockily. "So that's why you want the prize money, how selfish of you."
"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO JUDGE ME, YOU LITTLE SNOT?! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
"Me thinks he hit a sore spot," Harold cracked.
"You only duel for things, but for some of us, we duel for the people we love."
"You'll show her, Joey!" Yugi encouraged. "Show her what it's like to duel from the heart!"
"This Duel Monsters match puts Joey Wheeler versus Mai Valentine with two star chips on the line."
"Let's duel!" Joey and Mai shouted.
(J: 2000)
(M: 2000)
Joey studied his hand for a while before taking a card. "To start off, Masaki, the Legendary Swordsman (1)!" A stereotypical samurai in silver armor appeared and received a field power bonus.
(MLS: 1100---1430)
"Hey, I made my first move!" Joey said proudly. Then he noticed something odd about Mai. She was chanting to herself and had her hand on the table but not in a position to summon or set. "Um... what are you doing?"
"Divining my cards. I have to mystically choose which one of them is the best," Mai explained. Her sly smile showed that she knew something the others didn't.
"What are you, some sort of psychic?" Yugi grew concerned about Joey's question. Pegasus was also psychic but that was because he had a Millennium Item. Did Mai have one too? Or was it something else?
"Huh?" Harold said suddenly.
"Harold, is something wrong?" Yugi asked.
"No... I don't think so. Something around here stinks and it's not me.
"And the card I choose is... Harpie Lady (2) in attack mode!" From the ground came a half-bird, half-human creature with light blue skin, dark-blue wings, fiery red hair and a blue leotard. Like Masaki, it received a field power bonus but because its original ATK was higher than Masaki's, its power boost was much higher.
(HL: 1300---1690, 1400---1820)
"I'll still take it on, attack!" Masaki drew his sword and charged the Harpy Lady.
"Joey, don't!" Harold protested forgetting his neutrality, but it was too late. Masaki swung his sword but the Harpie Lady just flew out of the way. Harpie Lady countered with her talon and turned Masaki into sushi.
(J: 1410)
(M: 2000)
"I was afraid of this," Harold muttered. The smell was still bothering him and was even giving him a headache. "This is what I was saying earlier. Each attribute gains a further advantage over another. In this case, wind monsters get an advantage over land monsters. It's another one of Pegasus' special rules he made for the tournament."
"So Joey blew it already?" Tea asked.
"Not exactly, he just attacked too quickly," Yugi explained. "He did it without realizing what Mai's Harpie Lady was capable of."
"Oh cards, speak to me!" Mai called out as she began her chanting again. "Show me the card that will show these rodents who the true mistress of the dueling arena is!" She laid a card face-down. "Now, I'll choose again. There's no way you can stand up to me or my Harpie Lady!"
"How did she do that?" Joey wondered then turned to Harold. "Hey Harold, something's whacked. I think she's cheating somehow. You have to stop the match!"
"Believe me, Joey, I'd love to, but without any proof, there's no way I can stop the match now." Harold's head was swimming. Between Joey's mistakes, Mai's psychic chanting and that awful smell, it was almost too much.
"There's no proof because it's eau natural," Mai said. "My psychic powers are so powerful that I could run circles around muscle-heads like you."
Joey's arm shook almost making him drop his cards.
"He's losing it!" Tea gasped.
"Guess that mophead wasn't ready for this after all," Tristan guessed.
Yugi stepped forward. "Joey, think about what you're doing before you move again!"
But Joey didn't hear Yugi's coaching. How can she know her cards when they're laying face-down?
Mai relished in Joey's fear. My special strategy made this loser forget everything he's ever learned about Duel Monsters. All I have to do is keep pushing his buttons.
"Joey, it's your move," Harold informed him.
"Huh? Oh, uh... yeah... um... maybe this one: Tiger Axe (3)!" A humanoid tiger carrying a rather large axe appeared. "My field power bonus will bring up its attack power so it can take on the Harpie Lady head-to-head."
(TA: 1300---1690, 1100---1430)
Harold smacked his palm against his forehead. "Did Joey hear me at all last time? I told him that wind monsters like Harpie Lady are stronger than land monsters, even when they're attack points are the same."
"Your doofus friend is right," Mai agreed.
"Doofus?!"
"Tiger Axe is another wimpy earth monster." And with two slashes, Harpie Lady destroyed Tiger Axe.
(J: 1020)
(M: 2000)
"It'll take stronger monsters than your land-based wimps to beat my Harpie Lady!" She slid a face-down card onto the scanner. "Now I'll play this card without even looking. I'll give you a hint: it's an equipment magic card that'll help me defeat your next monster in one turn."
"Again with all that psychic stuff?" Can she see my cards too? Since I don't know what she has planned next, I have to get defensive. He laid a monster in defense mode.
"Running scared, are we? Fine then, I'll show you: Cyber Shield to juice up my Harpie Lady!"
(HL: 1690---2190, 1820---2320)
The Harpy Lady pounded Joey's Kojikocy (4).
"This is so much fun!" Mai said gleefully. "In case you're wondering, the next card you're thinking of won't be of any help either."
"Mai has ESP, it's has to be it! I'm going to lose this duel and any chance I have to save my sister!" It seemed like Joey had given in.
"Settle down," Yugi said. "Joey, remember what my Grandfather taught you about how to play Duel Monsters."
"Don't let her rattle you! She's just trying to psyche you out!" Tea called from the sidelines.
"Stay out of this!" Mai snapped at Tea. "Your brainless cheerleading isn't going to help him against the superior strength of my Harpie Lady!"
"Hey Mai, concentrate on the duel, not on the sidelines," Harold ordered.
But Mai ignored him. "Don't you get it? Friendship doesn't win duels and it never will. It hasn't helped him any. He's defeated and he knows it. You're all just a bunch of worthless tag-a-longs."
"Not true," Tea came back.
"I beg to differ."
Harold looked to Joey. "Joey, can you continue?" But Joey didn't answer him. He looked scared out of his wits.
"There can only be one champion. On this island, in this tournament, someone can be your best friend one minute and be your worst enemy next. Once the competition forces you to face each other in a duel, where's your friendship then?"
"Is this a duel or a philosophy debate?" Harold said trying to bring things back to the dueling field. "Just shut up and duel!"
"That's why the only person a duelist can rely on is himself. I hope that your defeat today teaches you that lesson," Mai concluded.
"That's enough!" Harold snapped. "Mai, you can either quit this cat fight and duel Joey or this match becomes invalid and nobody gets anything!" If there was one thing Harold hated more than anything else, it's uptight self-centered egotistical blowhards like Mai.
But Mai's little speech had already got to Joey and he was on the verge of losing his cool.
Yugi decided to take action. He summoned the power of his Millennium Puzzle. "Don't listen to her, Joey; we're here to help you just like you're always there for us!" Yugi's voice was confident but not to the point of snootiness that Mai exhibited. It seemed to immediately draw everyone's sights on him. "Trust me on this; she's just trying to divide and conquer; a strategy that has been used for centuries. Believe me, I know." A golden eye briefly appeared on his forehead.
"When you get that look in your eye, I believe everything you say," Joey said.
Mai laughed. "Do you really think Yugi wants you to be the champion? He's a duelist too, you know. Eventually, you're going to have to take him on."
Mai has a point there, Harold thought looking from Yugi to Joey. If neither of them loses, they'll eventually face each other at the finals. From the look on Joey's face, he was thinking the same thing. Joey thought back to the conversation they had on the boat. He remembered the words said just before Weevil appeared.
"We have to look out for one another."
That's right; we have to look out for one another. We're a team, but I also have to win this contest for Serenity. Joey replayed Serenity's message in his mind. Maybe Yugi's right about this thing, Joey decided. I have to stop listening to Mai's nonsense and start using my head. He closed his eyes, deep in thought. There's gotta be a way to defeat Mai... if I can just figure out how she knows what her cards are... if she's not psychic, then it must be something else that she's doing. An aroma crossed his nose. What's that smell? I never noticed it when my eyes were open. He smelled many different aromas, they were coming from... Mai's cards! That was it; that was how she was doing it!
"Let's go, kid, it's your turn!" Mai's voice brought him back to reality. Joey opened his eyes and stared directly at Mai.
"I see through your card trick!" Joey announced catching everyone by surprise, especially Mai. "You sprayed each of your cards with different perfumes! And by smelling each card, you can tell which one it is even when they're faced-down! So you don't need to look to play your cards. That way, you can psyche the other player out!"
Mai gasped. "No way, how can an amateur like you see through my aroma strategy?"
Harold tried to sniff. If Joey could smell it, then so could he. "So that's what that awful smell was, perfume. Joey's right! I smell a lot of scents coming from her side of the field. Mai covered her cards with so much perfume that it's being carried over here!" Harold figured that he was relying too much on his eyes and not enough on his other senses, particularly his sense of smell. Either that or he was just naturally dense.
"I have to admit, you had me buying into the whole psychic power shtick. I was too freaked out to think things through because of that. But you're not a psychic at all; you're just a big fake!" His friends cheered. "Yugi, thanks, bud, you were right!"
Now it was Mai who was losing her cool. "Just because you saw through my little psychic act doesn't mean you're going to defeat me in a duel!"
"I think you're wrong," Joey said. "Before, you were winning by confusing me and trying to turn me against my friends. But now my mind is clear and I know who I can trust. All you got is your cheap tricks and I won't fall for them any more!" Tea and Tristan cheered.
"Well, I'm not sure what to do; I don't know what it says in the rulebook about cheating through smells. Joey, if you like, I can declare the duel invalid."
"No need," Joey said taking a card from his hand. "I'm going to teach her the same lesson that Yugi taught Weevil, that cheaters never win, by kicking her butt the old fashion way! By finishing this duel legit. And my strategy starts with this! I summon Baby Dragon, in defense mode!" A little orange dragon popped up.
A good start, Yugi thought. Because Baby Dragon is a wind monster, it won't be at a disadvantage against Harpy Lady.
(BD: 1200---1590, 700---1050)
Mai laughed. "That wimpy card is your ultimate strategy? I only wish it was in attack mode so I could wipe out the rest of your life points. My card will be Elegant Egotist!"
"What does that card do?" Joey asked.
"It's simple; it's magic let's me make duplicates of my Harpy Lady!" Mai's single Harpie Lady became three. One was the original, another had spiky blue hair and the third had short orange hair.
"Now what?" Tea asked. "He was struggling with just one of them."
"Don't give in, Joey!" Tristan shouted. "You still have all kinds of moves you can make!"
"Like what?" Tea asked.
"How should I know, ask an expert. Yugi?"
"It's Joey's duel, he has to figure it out," Yugi simply said.
Joey looked through his hand. "I don't have anything that can stand up to three Harpie Ladies."
Mai let out a laugh of triumph. "And I will keep using the magic of Elegant Egotist to double my Harpies again and again each turn! But while my Harpies' multiply, I can't attack so it's your move. Of course it won't do you any good because you'll soon be up against an army!"
"An army of Harpies, how do I fight a whole army?"
"Don't give up, Joey!" Yugi called out. "Think about her strategy. She's been using only one monster card and strengthening it with many magic cards. But there's a serious flaw in her dueling strategy..."
Joey began to catch on. "She's just been juicing up the Harpie Lady every turn. But if she's has mostly magic cards, maybe the Harpies are her only monster cards. I bet if I can defeat those three Harpies, she won't have any monsters left to defend herself with.
"Right," Yugi confirmed. "Now, think carefully, what card in your deck can help you win?"
"What card in my deck? You tell me..." Joey gasped as he remembered the card Yugi gave him on the boat, the Time Wizard card. "This must've been the tight spot that Yugi was talking about. Now... if I can just remember what Gramps told me about how to play magical monster cards... it's my only chance, but do I have it in my hand?"
"If I knew it would take this long to play a card, I would've brought a magazine," Mai said sarcastically. "Hey, while I'm still young!"
Joey drowned out Mai's nagging and looked through his hand. Oh no, the Time Wizard isn't in my hand, I'll have to draw for it... but what if I don't get it? What if...
Yugi recognized the look in Joey's face, it was the same look he got while trying to draw the final piece of Exodia. Trust in your cards, Joey, trust in yourself!
Here I go, it's all or nothing. Joey held his breath and drew the top card.
He cheered happily. "All right, it's the Time Wizard!" A mechanical clock with a literal face and holding a scepter with a dial on it appeared. The dial contained four skulls and two different pictures.
"What good is that thing?"
"Don't you know? The Time Wizard can make time go faster causing my Baby Dragon to grow into a Thousand Dragon (4)." As he spoke, the needle on the Time Wizard's scepter started to turn.
"That's right, and it's not the only effect the Time Wizard has," Yugi said cryptically.
"Baby Dragon, transform into... Thousand Dragon!" The Time Wizard disappeared and the Baby Dragon became a large orange-brown dragon. It had wings though it didn't look like it could fly.
"So now you have a bigger dragon, big deal," Mai said dismissively. "My Harpies still have greater attack strength. Attack it, my Harpies!" But the Harpies couldn't move. They were now withered and weak, and their ATK dropped down to the original number, unaffected by even the field power bonus.
(TD: 2400---3150)
(3HL: 2190---1300)
"I told you, a millennium has passed on the playing field causing your Harpies to grow old and decrepit. Face it, Mai; time is running out for you and your ladies." There was a slight chuckle in Yugi's voice.
Mai cringed.
Joey still couldn't believe that his gambit paid off. "I believed! I believed and the cards came through for me! Yes! Go, Thousand Dragon! Attack with Thousand Flame Breath!"
Thousand Dragon breathed fire on the Harpies and all three of them disappeared. Normally, Mai would only lose 1850 life points taking her down to 150, but because Joey was correct in assuming that the Harpie Lady was her only card, she lost the duel.
"The winner is... Joey Wheeler!" Harold called out.
"He did it!" Tea cried.
"Joey won!" Tristan threw in. "I knew he could do it."
"But didn't you say earlier..." Tea began.
"Aww stuff it, the point is he won," Tristan interrupted.
"Thanks, guys," Joey said. "I couldn't have done it without your support, especially yours, Yugi."
Yugi gave his best friend a thumb up before returning to his normal self.
"How... how could I lose to such an amateur?" Mai wept.
"Hey, Mai, it's like I was trying to tell you, Duel Monsters is about more than just kicking the other guy's butt. If you're ever going to be a real champion, you gotta learn to start caring about someone other than yourself. Isn't that right, Yugi?"
Yugi nodded, in his mind, he was thinking, I'm proud of you, Joey. Your training really paid off. You went from someone who had nothing but eagerness and attitude to a winning Duelist who duels with his head... and his heart. Joey received his star chip and the group left, leaving Mai on the platform.
Monster Glossary
(1)
Name: Masaki, the Legendary Swordsman
Level: 3
Type: Warrior
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1100
DEF: 1100
(2)
Name: Harpie Lady
Level: 4
Type: Winged-Beast
Attribute: Wind
ATK: 1300
DEF: 1400
(3)
Name: Tiger Axe
Level: 4
Type: Beast-Warrior
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1300
DEF: 1100
(4)
Name: Thousand Dragon
Level: 7
Type: Dragon/Fusion
Attribute: Wind
ATK: 2400
DEF: 2000
