Hello, again, everyone. Because I was bored, I have decided to write a sequel for Island of Nightmares. You could read this without reading my first fic, but then you won't know what's going on, so I'd suggest reading the first one first. Well, enjoy!

Episode 1: Duel of Arrogance - Defeat the Champion!

It was a hot summer day, but a cool breeze blew through the open window, bringing with it relief from the heat. Jason sat at the desk in front of the window and went through his dueling deck. A month had passed since the whole Victory Island incident. Using some of the prize money from the Tournament, Jason put his ailing mother in rehab, and moved in with his Aunt Cecilia, who lived in Domino City. Due to his financial windfall, she makes Jason pay rent, so some of his money goes to that as well. He used the rest of the money on clothes and cards for his deck.

"That should make for a winning deck if I do say so myself," Jason said after he finished. "This deck would even give Yugi a run for his money." He started to daydream about winning tournaments all across the country and becoming the best duelist in the world. A sharp ring broke Jason's thoughts. He walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey Jason. It's me, Akira," came the laidback voice from the other end of the receiver.

Jason brightened up after hearing the voice of his long time friend on the other end of the phone. "Oh, hey Akira. What's up?"

"I just heard that they have a new shipment of cards at the Duel Station in town. Do you want to go? They might have that Mirror Force that you were looking for."

"Sure. I'll meet you there."

"Okay. See you there."

There was a click at the other end and Jason placed the headset back in its resting place. He grabbed his deck and walked over to the mirror, where he combed his short blonde hair back. Then, he slipped on a red shirt and started to walk out the door when something hanging from the mirror caught his eye.

"Hmm. Should I wear this? I could always pass it off as a piece of normal jewelry if any questions should happen to be asked. So I guess I will wear it."

Jason picked up the object and looked at it. A large gold triangle rested inside a gold ring. Hanging from the ring were five smaller triangles that were also gold. A decorative eye stared back at Jason from inside the pyramid.

"I still can't believe that I have a Millennium Item. Oh well. It looks better on me than it did on that Bakura kid, anyway."

Jason slipped the Item over his head and looked in the mirror. Suddenly, he whirled around and looked out the window. The only thing that greeted him was a view of the neighbors' houses.

"I must be losing my mind. I could've sworn that I saw…that Bakura kid outside my window."

Jason stared at the window for a second before shrugging and going out the door to his room. He went down the steps and saw his aunt sitting on the couch, watching her soaps as usual. "Hey, Aunt C.C., I'm going out to meet my friend," Jason said as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Just be back by eight," she responded in a somewhat distracted tone.

Jason walked out of the door and headed for the city. The Duel Station was the hottest place for duelists to go in Domino, especially since they just installed the new Kaiba Corp. Duel Fields. Their card sales shot through the roof and ever since then, the company expanded. Jason went there all the time, but he never dueled there because the crowds were far too big.

'I wonder if Akira will be looking for cards, too. If so, I hope I can afford them. I don't like to take a lot of money to these places considering the shady individuals who lurk around.'

Jason finally reached the Duel Station, and he spotted Akira outside. He wore a plain white shirt with long baggy jeans and white sneakers, the usual summer fashion. His hair was a slicked back mane of black, and a faint mustache lined his upper lip. He waved at Jason.

"So, I guess you need to go card hunting, too, huh?" Jason said when he got to Akira.

"Sort of. I need a few more Monsters to complete my deck. Then, it'll be ready for anything or anyone who comes for a challenge."

Akira ran a standard Beast deck for the most part, but there were a few cards of his own in it that made him stand out. He never liked going along with what everyone else did. The two walked into the bustling store and the sound of a crowd echoed throughout the area. Occasional cash register rings cut through the noise, almost as a reminder of the money the place was taking in. Jason looked down at the glass case full of rare cards.

"There it is," he said, pointing to the Mirror Force. "75 dollars, huh? When I last came in here, it was only 40 dollars." Jason looked at the other cards and spotted the Dark Magician. "115 dollars! How did that happen?"

Akira walked up behind Jason after hearing his sudden outburst and leaned in to look at the Dark Magician. "Do you remember that huge Battle City Tournament that Kaiba threw a little while back?" he asked.

Jason looked at Akira with a puzzled look. At that time, you couldn't be called a duelist if you never heard of Battle City. "Yeah, I do. What about it?"

"Well, ever since Yugi Moto won it, everyone has been clamoring for the cards that he uses in his deck. Since demand skyrocketed, so have the prices," Akira explained calmly.

"Oh. That makes sense. And it explains Mirror Force's rise," Jason said as he looked at a few of the other cards he remembered Yugi using. 'I wonder what Yugi and the Pharaoh are doing now.'

Jason went back to the Mirror Force he had his eye on. He motioned to a saleswoman. "Excuse me, miss. I'll take the Mirror Force over there," Jason said proudly.

The woman walked over to the card, bent over and reached out, only to be grabbed another salesperson's hand. She looked up to see a man who worked at the store going for the same card.

"What's going on here?" a boy asked. The boy was about Jason's age. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He wore dark sunglasses over his face, a sleeveless black shirt under a dark blue jacket draped over his shoulders, and leather pants that came down to his black boots. He looked over at Jason with a look of disgust mixed with pity. "I see. Boy, stand aside. This card is mine."

"Who the hell are you calling 'boy'?" Jason retorted, looking the strange person up and down.

"Why, you, of course. You stand in the presence of Malachi Jackson," the boy said, as if he were speaking the name of God himself.

The other people around the store froze and murmured among themselves about the situation starting to develop. Jason crossed his arms and snorted. "And that is supposed to impress and/or frighten me because?" Jason said.

"I am this store's champion, and have been for nine months running." Malachi turned his back on Jason. "Never mind him," Malachi said to the store clerk. "His ignorance knows no bounds. I'll take that Mirror Force now."

"Excuse me! I'll take that Mirror Force. And I'll pay you 20 dollarsmore than the original price," Jason exclaimed, pulling out his cash.

"I'll pay 30dollarsmore," Malachi answered, pulling out his own wad of cash.

"How about 50 dollarsmore?" Jason replied.

"80 dollars more," Malachi responded calmly.

Jason clenched his fists and shouted out, "100 dollars more than the original price!"

Akira quickly pulled Jason to the side. "Yugi Moto's Mirror Force isn't worth 140 dollars!" he whispered harshly.

"It's the principle of the matter," Jason replied. "I don't let wimps step on me or my transactions."

Malachi looked at the roll of cash he pulled out of his pocket earlier. "Oh well, 100 is a lot, but I suppose it's not more than 200 dollars," Malachi said triumphantly.

"Damn! I only brought 200 dollars," Jason said defeatedly.

"Aw too bad. Looks like I win," Malachi said as he took the Mirror Force from the store clerk's hand.

He walked up to the front counter and paid the money. Jason walked up to him with his fists clenched. "You know that Mirror Force belongs to me. My salesperson had her hand on it first," he hissed.

"Yes, but who has their hands on it now?" Malachi said, tauntingly waving the card in Jason's face.

Jason's rage boiled over. "That is IT! You and I are going to duel for that Mirror Force!"

The whole store stopped on the word 'duel'. Malachi looked at Jason, then, laughed in an insolent, haughty tone. Some of the people in the store laughed with him.

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I'm the store champ and have been for…"

"I heard you the first time, jackass," Jason said, cutting him off. "Now you hear me. Neither you nor your little title intimidates me, because you're not the only one who has a title under his belt."

Malachi raised an eyebrow in feigned interest. "Oh my. And who are you to be so high and mighty, not that I care who you are."

"I am Jason Garnet, co-winner of the Victory Island Tournament."

Some of the people in the crowd gasped and murmured his name. "So what? I don't care if you're Seto Kaiba. I'm still going to beat you."

"Then let's dance, punk," Jason said harshly.

The two walked back to the duel area, followed by about thirty people chanting 'duel, duel, duel' over and over. When they reached the area, Jason immediately spotted an empty Duel Field. "Over there," he said to Malachi, pointing at the area.

The two walked over to the field and got on the opposite platforms. The two platforms rose and extended until they were touching each other.

"This duel will be played by Battle City rules. Got that?" Malachi said as he handed his deck to Jason.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever satisfies your penchant for humiliation," Jason replied as he handed his deck to Malachi.

The two shuffled and cut each other's decks. Jason handed Malachi his deck back. Malachi reached out with Jason's deck, but before Jason could take it, Malachi spit on the back of the top card, resulting in a few laughs and some of those 'ooh's that you heard on day time talk shows.

"Oops. I hope it wasn't a rare card," Malachi said, dripping with sarcasm.

He laughed as the duel platforms retracted, taking away Jason's only chance to beat Malachi half to death. "If it was a rare card, I'll knock your teeth so far down your throat, you'll be chewing with your ass!" Jason bellowed. He turned the card over. 'It's only a Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/800). I can duel without it,' Jason thought.

He wiped the card off with his shirt and placed it in his pants pocket.

"Now let's duel!" the two shouted.

(Jason: 4000) (Malachi: 4000)

"We'll decide who goes first by flipping a coin," Malachi said, pulling a coin out of his pocket. "I call tails," he added quickly.

He flipped the coin. Jason looked at it as it rotated through the air.

'Hmm. So that's your game, huh? It looks like some Millennium magic is needed here.'

Jason tapped into the power of the Ring and caused the coin to land on heads. Malachi looked surprised, but nonetheless allowed Jason to go first. He drew his six cards.

"I'll set four cards face down and summon Berserk Gorilla (2000/1000) in attack mode." Four of the back five spaces on the field were covered by face down holograms and a large, red gorilla appeared on the field. It roared and breathed fire up toward the ceiling. "Your go, punk."

Malachi pulled the top card from his deck as if though he were taking a stroll through the park. "Fine. I'll activate Heavy storm, to destroy your face down cards."

A giant twister rampaged towards the brown backed holograms on Jason's side of the field. "That's not going to happen. Activate Magic Jammer! I think you know what this card does, but let me remind you. I discard a card and negate your spell card," Jason said. "And I'll get rid of my Pot of Greed."

The twister died before it reached Jason's set cards. "Alright. I'll set a card face down and activate Dian Keto the Cure Master to boost my life points by 1000.

(Jason: 4000) (Malachi: 5000)

"Next, I'll summon Gilasaurus (1400/400) in attack mode." A small, brown dinosaur appeared on the field and let out a meek roar. "I'll also activate Last Will and sacrifice Gilasaurus to summon Catapult Turtle (1000/2000) in attack mode."

The dinosaur disappeared and a large turtle with a long track on its back appeared in its place.

"I'm guessing you chose to use Gilasaurus' effect and special summon him," Jason said.

"Of course. In exchange, you get to revive one monster from your graveyard. But you have no monsters in your graveyard, now do you?" Malachi laughed, then, continued. "Now, I'll use the effect of my Last Will card, which allows me to get a monster from my deck and summon it when a monster on my side of the field is sent to the graveyard."

"A monster with an attack of 1500 or less," Jason said.

"I know that! But it doesn't matter because this is where I end you. I'll summon the Magical Scientist (300/300) in defense mode!"

A small man with fading purple hair in a lab coat appeared on the field. A transparent laptop materialized at his fingertips. The monster pressed a few keys and several large vials rose out of the field. There were monsters inside the vials.

"My scientist allows me to pay 1000 life points and special summon a monster from my fusion deck with six level stars or less. Then I can launch it with Catapult Turtle and do direct damage to your life points."

"What's your point?" Jason asked, obviously unimpressed and somewhat disgusted by Malachi's choice of strategy.

"You idiot. It means if I can summon four monsters whose attack strength is over 2000 and launch them, you'll lose all your life points, and the duel!"

The crowd 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed at Malachi's move, certain that he was the victor. Jason simply laughed. "What do you take me for, some kind of an idiot? Activate trap card, Stealth Assault! This card allows me to attack one of your monsters even if it's your turn."

"Oh well. My Scientist is in defense mode, so you won't get any life point damage." 'Plus, I have something to bring him back.'

"Who said I was going for your Scientist? My target is the Catapult Turtle you foolishly left in attack mode. Berserk Gorilla, attack the Catapult Turtle!"

The ape blasted Malachi's monster with an intense flame, incinerating it on contact.

(Jason: 4000) (Malachi: 4000)

"That's the dumbest thing I've seen all week. I can still summon monsters with my Scientist. So here it goes. I give up 2000 of my life points to summon Dark Balter the Terrible (2000/1200) and Dark Flare Knight (2200/800)!"

Two of the vials of the field shattered and out of them stepped a possessed demon warrior and a knight in black armor wielding a long red sword.

(Jason: 4000) (Malachi: 2000)

"Now, Dark Flare Knight, attack the Berserk Gorilla!"

The knight rushed at Jason's monster and raised its blade. Jason responded with another well-placed face down card.

"I'll activate the magic card Shrink. It automatically reduces one monster's attack points by half," Jason said as he turned the card over. "But I'll use it on my Gorilla instead of your monster," he added.

The ape's size reduced by half, along with its attack points. Some of the people in the crowd laughed and exchanged remarks, while a few duelists looked at Jason in deep thought, trying to discover his strategy. The Dark Flare Knight swung its sword, slashing through the weakened Berserk Gorilla (1000/1000) and putting a nice dent in Jason's life points.

(Jason: 2800) (Malachi: 2000)

Malachi laughed harder than ever. After wiping the tears out of his eyes he spoke up. "I take back what I said earlier. That was the dumbest thing I've seen all week! You are the biggest idiot that I have ever…"

Malachi cut his sentence short when Jason's final face down card flipped up and stared him in the face like the barrel of a smoking gun. His mouth dropped and words completely failed him as Jason spoke those two words that Malachi hadn't heard anyone say to him in ages.

"I win."

(Jason: 2800) (Malachi: 0)

A girl looked at the card hologram and didn't recognize it at first. She tugged on her brother's shirt. "Hey bro. What happened? What card did that guy activate?"

"He activated Sacrificial Payback. It's a very rare trap card that activates when a monster with 1500 attack or less is sent to the graveyard as a result of battle. He can do direct damage to his opponent equal to the attack power of the destroyed monster."

"But didn't he use Shrink on that monster? Shouldn't he have only done 1000 points of damage?"

"Sacrificial Payback goes by the original attack power, not the current attack power. So even though his Berserk Gorilla only had 1000 attack points, its original attack of 2000 was deducted from Malachi's life points. An ingenious strategy coming from an unorthodox duelist. I'd like to face him one day."

The two walked out of the room as the two duel platforms came together again. Jason relished the look on Malachi's face. He began sniffing the air.

"What's that? Do you smell that? It…it smells like…the stench of defeat. And, damn, do you ever reek of it!"

"Just take the Mirror Force and leave me alone," Malachi said darkly as he handed Jason the Mirror Force.

"Oh I'm rubbing this in, because it's your fault that you lost."

Malachi looked at Jason with confusion in his eyes. Jason sighed and drew out every word of his speech as if he were reciting scripture.

"If you hadn't spit on my Kycoo, I would've drawn it and not Stealth Assault. You would've won were it not for your ignorance. Oh, and I'm not just taking the Mirror Force. This was a Battle City style duel, which means I get your rarest card, too."

"Oh, fine! Here, take your pick," Malachi said as he handed Jason his deck.

Jason went through the cards, then, stopped. "You run a one-turn-kill Magical Scientist deck. It's pretty easy to get the Scientist out first turn, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever! Just pick a card!" Malachi said harshly.

"I'm not done. Scientist decks are fairly easy to counter, especially in this environment. So how did you stay on top for so long with the same deck? I'll tell you how: you're a cheater!"

The crowd gasped at Jason's accusation. Malachi looked at him with a new fire in his eyes. "Look, you already beat me! Why are you trying to destroy my reputation with these lies?"

"They're not lies. I noticed it when you flipped the coin. It flipped a little lop-sided. That's when I realized what was going on. You were using a weighted coin. I've used these a few times." Jason picked up the coin and examined it closely. "Yeah, just as I thought. I thought that it was weird that you called tails so quickly. If you look closely, you'll see that this coin is thicker than usual. That's because there is a small weight on one side on the inside. So no matter how you flip it, the coin lands on tails. That way, you always go first and get your Scientist combo out before anyone can counter." Jason flipped the coin and, just as he predicted, it landed on tails. "Tails, you lose."

The store manager, who happened to watch the duel from the back, spoke up. "Since you used this illegal coin more than once, I'm afraid I have to strip you of your title as store champion and banish you from this store indefinitely. Jason, since you beat him, I declare you the new store champion."

The crowd cheered as Malachi slumped down in defeat. He looked up at Jason weakly. "Can I have my deck back, now?" he asked timidly, as if someone had ripped out his very soul.

"I haven't chosen yet. I think I'll take your precious Magical Scientist. As trade bait, of course. Now you can have your deck back…if you can find it!"

With that Jason threw the cards into the crowd. They rained down like confetti and the people grabbed them up quickly. "No! It took me six months to complete that deck!" he shrieked.

The two duel platforms separated and Jason jumped down. Akira walked up to him. "You had to break him in every way possible, didn't you?" he asked.

"First of all, he shouldn't have used that trick coin. Second, he shouldn't been a jackass. And, third, and above all else, the bastard shouldn't have spit on my card."

Jason looked out into the crowd and jumped back.

"Jason, what's the matter with you?" Akira asked as he placed a hand on Jason's shoulder.

"It's nothing. Let's go." Jason walked through the crowd, who was still clamoring for what was left of Malachi's deck. 'Now I know I'm losing my mind. I definitely saw that Bakura kid.'
-

Well, that's the first chapter. It was more of a practice chapter, to get my writing skills back, and had no real relevance to the coming story. But next chapter will be better.