In a vast expanse of desert, G.O.T. Nick struggles to reach salvation…the computer. After crawling for five desperate minutes across scorching sands at a snail's pace due to his exhaustion, the valiant author finally is able to reach the keyboard. Then…disaster strikes.

"C'mon, Nick, you've got to practice driving!"

"No…so close…" and the author is pulled away to practice for two hours a day. But that is not the end of it. He is also forced to research…COLLEGE MAJORS!

Yep, that's pretty much it. I wrote this chapter over a period of three days, though I could've finished it on Wednesday if not for the interference of my parents. Sometimes I hate it when they make me do what's best for me... So, I issue a very sincere apology to those who I told this story would be up by yesterday, but sometimes such matters are out of my control. I wish to apologize more so to my fellow author Seeker of the Soul, whom I am issuing this story to as a late birthday present. Happy birthday, ya old coot! And now, without further ado, I present to you all…chapter thirty…

May the force be with you…always…

Tokyo Tournament

Chapter Thirty-Struggle to the End

Also Entitled: Trial by Fire

Tristan Taylor clenched his eyes shut for a long time after the explosion from the tactical nuclear shell had ceased rocking the room. He was crouched low to the ground against a wall, his arms crossed over his head. His mouth was set in a grimace in anticipation of the arrival of a short, intense amount of pain, followed by death. But after the violent tremors had ceased, his right eyelid slowly began to uncover his eye, he caught a glimpse of the others who were hunched about him in similar positions, and Tristan came to a conclusion that brought forth a sigh of relief 'I'm not dead…' That in mind, Tristan opened his eyes fully and came to his feet before calmly stating something that he was completely unashamed of after the previous incident, "I'd like to go home now."

-…The Tokyo Tournament Finals…-

Joey Wheeler was not completely aware of his friend's feelings at the moment, but was relatively certain that they were not of happiness. And right now, neither were Joey's feelings. He now stared down Nick, whose dueling strategy he had only received a brief glimpse of as he had dueled Lin. From that small amount he had seen, he could only assume his opponent used at least a good amount of Fire monsters. While the strategy had proved effective, Joey had also noticed it seemed to lack something to make it extremely powerful. Still, Nick had yet to reveal more than a handful of the cards in his deck, and, until then, Joey could not make assumptions.

Nick was also pondering his opponent, although in a slightly different sense. Joey's dueling strategy was well known by now to most of the dueling community, so Nick had no need to wonder about that. Instead, he tried to observe Joey's mood in a way that would allow him to predict how he would act throughout the duel. In his previous bout, Joey had been blinded by anger, and his actions had nearly cost him the duel. In the end, Joey had only claimed victory because he had been able to summon his Red Eyes Black Dragon. Currently, Joey still seemed enraged. However, he was also keeping that anger in check, meaning it would not be a negative factor in this duel.

The stare-down between the two blonde-haired duelists continued for several moments before Youkai interrupted it with and impatient comment, "Will you two pathetic mortals stop glaring at each other and GET ON WITH IT ALREADY?"

In response, Joey smirked and activated his Duel Disk, "With pleasure. I hope you're ready Nick, because I'm about ta beat your face in!"

Nick also smirked, happy to see that Joey was back to his old competitive self. This meant he would be in his dueling prime, which would be necessary. No matter the victor of this duel, Nick only wanted to ensure that the strongest of them faced Yugi. It was the best way to ensure the pharaoh would not lose the power of the Millennium Puzzle to Youkai. He wordlessly activated his own Duel Disk, and both drew their opening hands.

Nick: 4000 Joey: 4000

Joey drew a sixth card and examined his hand. After briefly looking over the cards, he grinned before selecting several and placing them in his Duel Disk. "I begin by setting one monster facedown on the field, along with two more cards facedown. That's all." The three mentioned cards appeared floating in front of him, and Joey crossed his arms across his chest, that cocky grin still on his lips.

Nick drew a card from his deck before glancing over his hand. He was glad the cloths around his face hid his facial expressions, because his frown would have given away his disappointment. Nothing in his hand would allow him to gain the upper hand, and it would be simple for Joey to counter any of his actions. His best chance was to hope he could destroy Joey's monster and put the pressure on him to counter the action.

"I summon Blazing Inpachi in attack mode (1850/0)," he stated as the monster appeared. It appeared to be some sort of large wooden machine, and upon its chest was the number eighteen in white digits. The one method by which it was assumed that the machine was made of wood was the fact that it was one fire. "Blazing Inpachi, attack his monster!" The large burning machine lurched forward, and brought its arm down upon the facedown monster.

"I'm not gonna let some tree-bot that a pyromaniac lit up do squat!" yelled Joey as one of his set cards flipped up, "I activate Fairy Box!" A large wack-a-mole game emerged around his facedown monster, and small, white, spherical heads began to rapidly emerge from and retract into the holes in its top. "This card's pretty simple," stated Joey as the Blazing Inpachi's club-like arm continued its descent, "there's a fifty-fifty chance that your Inpachi will get stuck in the Fairy Box, and its attack will be reduced to 0 for the duration of the turn. So let's see if your tree has any experience at arcade games." The Blazing Inpachi finished its attack, and its fist had been caught in one of the various holes in the Fairy Box, having missed the many heads. Joey smirked at the result as the burning wooden robot's power was nullified (0/0), "And now the battle continues." The front of the Fairy Box slid down, allowing the monster within to emerge.

"Baby Dragon (1200/800)?" questioned Nick with a quirked eyebrow. Sure enough, the small, orange dragon had appeared, and it immediately used one of its small fists to punch the Blazing Inpachi in the head, jarring its fist from the Fairy Box and rocking it backwards.

Nick: 3200 Joey: 4000

"Because Baby Dragon was in defense mode, your monster wasn't destroyed," stated Joey, "but I still managed to protect my dragon and deal you a good batch of damage."

"Indeed you did," agreed Nick, and he placed a card in his Duel Disk, "for now all I can do is set one card facedown." His frown deepened. Joey had easily managed to gain the advantage with a single card, but Nick couldn't help but wonder why Joey had gone to the effort of protecting Baby Dragon. Fairy Box was a permanent Trap, but slightly costly to maintain. More significantly, the Trap would have dealt Nick more damage had Joey used it when a stronger monster had been attacked. So why use it to protect a weak monster like Baby Dragon? Unless…

Joey drew, momentarily ignoring the card from the top of his deck. "Instead of paying 500 Life Points to maintain my Fairy Box, I'll just send it to the graveyard," he stated as the large box faded away. "Next I summon this monster: Time Wizard (500/400)!" The blue, clock-like spellcaster appeared in a puff of smoke, its red staff in hand.

"You're going to activate the Time Wizard's effect?" queried Nick, "It hardly seems worth the risk."

"It is a bit of a risk," acknowledged Joey, "but there's a good chance I can finish this duel here and now! Activate Time Roulette!" The arrow on the Time Wizard's staff began to spin as he spoke, and it whirled about rapidly. Nick had known the effect of Time Wizard for some time now, and it was a mystery to him as to why Joey would bother activating it at such an inopportune moment. The maximum amount of damage he could cause if he succeeded in destroying Nick's monsters was 1700, and choosing to deal that damage would leave two weak monsters vulnerable to attack.

As these thoughts drifted through Nick's mind, the arrow on the Time Wizard's staff had begun to slow. After a few more moments, it finally came to a stop, pointing towards one of the skull images on the roulette. "Your attempt failed," stated Nick, "and now Time Wizard will destroy your own monsters."

But Joey simply smirked and pointed to his remaining facedown card, which flipped up, "The effect of Time Wizard is actually determined by the flip of a coin, the graphics of the Duel Disk system simply portray a roulette. So my Trap card, Second Coin Toss, allows me to negate my Time Wizard's effect and re-activate it! Once more, go Time Roulette!"

"You're going through this much effort just to destroy my Blazing Inpachi?" asked Nick, "There are no doubt more reliable and conventional means of doing so."

Joey simply shrugged as the Time Wizard's roulette wheels began to slow again, "You gotta use what life gives ya." This time, the arrow on the Time Wizard's staff was pointing straight upward at the red symbol that somewhat resembled a building. As soon as this happened, the Time Wizard thrust out its staff and caused a vortex to appear on Nick's field. Time sped forward on Nick's field, a century transpiring each second, and as it did so the Blazing Inpachi was consumed in its own flame, leaving ashes that scattered themselves across the ground.

"Now that I've destroyed your monster," stated Joey, "I'll go on the assault. But first, I'm gonna bring out the big guns. To do so, I play Polymerizations!" A vortex materialized in front of him, sucking in the Baby Dragon and Time Wizard. "The rules of this tournament aren't the same as the ones in Pegasus's," he stated as a large shape began to emerge from the vortex, "so my Time Wizard's effect didn't age my Baby Dragon. However, by playing Polymerization, I can still summon Thousand Dragon (2400/2000)!" The dragon that appeared from the vortex looked very much like and aged form of the Baby Dragon, which it essentially was. It was much larger than its infant form, and its scales were a dim brown rather than orange. "Now, Thousand Dragon, attack! Noxious Nostril Blast!" At Joey's command, the aged wyrm released a blast of poisonous fumes from its snout, sending them hurtling towards Nick.

-…Youkai's prison…-

"So, who wants to go into the dark, creepy tunnel first?" WHAP! "Owww…"

"Stop quoting movies, Lin," said Term as he lowered his arm, "and thank you for volunteering."

"What? But I didn't-" WHAP! "Owww…okay…"

Rubbing his head, Lin lowered himself down into a sitting position so that his legs dangled over the edge of a hole that had been blown in the floor. Nothing was visible in the space below them, however. "Why do I have to go down?" complained Lin.

"Just shut up and go," Term told him as he finished tying Yamato's arm cable around Lin's waist, "We'll pull you up after a few minutes if you don't stop falling."

"But what if I fall onto something?" asked Lin, "There could be spikes or fire or acid or snakes or-AAAAHHHHHH!" Term had shoved Lin into the hole with his foot.

Kirbin rolled his eyes at watching the two. Why did this always happen…?

WHAM! "I'm…Okay…"

"How far's the drop?" called down Term.

"Judging by the pain in my face…about twenty feet…" murmured Lin.

"Ah, that's good," commented Term, "what do you see down there?"

"Stars…pretty butterflies…the Easter bunny…"

"FOCUS!"

"Um…darkness…"

"Well, get some light!"

"Okay, okay, I'll light a match…" the faint sounds of Lin clambering to his feet and digging around for said matches could be dimly heard.

"Yeah, that'll do, at least for-" Term stopped, "hey, since when do you carry matches everywhere?"

A pause, "Um…"

"Yes?"

"Uh…"

"LIN!"

"I CAN STOP WHENEVER I WANT!"

"Holy crap!" yelled Term, "Lin, are you on DRUGS?"

"What?" Lin sounded confused, "Drugs? No, I just like setting fireworks off a lot. What makes you think I'm on drugs?"

Term sighed and placed his head in one hand, "Never mind, Lin, just light a match." Then, under his breath, he added, "Typical Lin…"

There was a spark, and below them they saw a dim flame. Then Lin spoke up again with three simple words, "Oh…um…uh-oh…"

-…The Tokyo Tournament Finals…-

"You have committed a very foolish mistake in thinking me defenseless, Joey," Nick declared as he depressed a button on his Duel Disk, "I activate Sakuretsu Armor, which instantly destroys one attacking monster!" Immediately he became enveloped in a strange suit of blue, bladed armor. As the fumes from the Thousand Dragon's attack came close to him, the armor surged with power, thrusting the gas away from his body. Then the air about him was pushed away from his body, sending a wave of energy directly towards the Thousand Dragon, which began to roar in pain.

Joey grimaced at seeing his attempts foiled, but did not fail to take action. He took one of the two remaining cards in his hand and placed it into his Duel Disk, and immediately the Thousand Dragon split into the Time Wizard and Baby Dragon. "I activated De-Fusion from my hand, splitting Thousand Dragon into its original Fusion components. I had been hoping to use it after Thousand Dragon had attacked you in order to have my monsters attack you directly and finish the duel. However for now I'll just keep them in defense mode, since they're both weak in terms of attack strength." He then took a moment to finally look at the remaining card in his hand, the one he had drawn that turn. Seeing it was currently useless, he simply lowered it and nodded to Nick.

In response to this motion, Nick drew. Still nothing groundbreaking…but this next move would still put Joey on the defensive. "I play the Field card Molten Destruction, which will raise the attack of all Fire monsters by 500 points at a cost of 400 defense points. Next I Normal summon Great Angus (1800/600), and remove my Blazing Inpachi from play to Special summon the Spirit of Flames (1700/1000)." One by one, the three cards emerged on the field. The first was Molten Destruction, which caused several small volcanoes to sprout from the ground about them, lava dripping from their maws. Next was a large, muscular, red-skinned beast. It lifted its fists high and roared into the air in inexplicable rage. Finally, fire erupted from the graveyard slot of Nick's Duel Disk, and manifested in the form of a demonic, orange-skinned humanoid. Because both the Angus and Flame Spirit were Fire monsters, their stats changed accordingly due to Molten Destruction (Great Angus: 2300/200, Spirit of Flames: 2200/600).

"Now my monsters shall clear the field," stated Nick, "Spirit of Flames, Great Angus, attack!" At his command, the Spirit of Flames launched a stream of fire from its arms at the Baby Dragon, while the immense Angus rumbled towards the Time Wizards and slammed one meaty fist into the clock mage's face, crushing its fragile plating and spilling multiple gears onto the ground. With Joey's monsters dealt with, Nick ended his turn.

Joey drew his card and frowned slightly. While he should easily be able to keep himself safe in the next turn, he would need a way to shift the tide of the duel. Luckily, he had one such method already in his hand. "I set one monster in defense mode," he announced, "along with another card facedown on the field." The two cards shimmered into view in front of him, his plan in place.

Nick drew a card to begin his turn. Once again, nothing substantial, but if things didn't work out this turn he'd have something to fall back on, "I set one card facedown," he stated as he placed the card in his Duel Disk. Then he paused to look at the remainder of his hand, one card in particular. He contemplated playing it…but now was not the time. He would use it later, when its power could be used to the fullest. For now… "Spirit of Flames gains 300 attack power during my Battle phase, meaning there are only a few possible monsters that you could have set that would be able to withstand my monster's attack (2500/600). So now Spirit of Flames will clear away your defenses! Attack!" The burning spirit thrust out its large arms, and flames once again shot forth to consume Joey's monster.

But the result was slightly different this time, as Joey said with a cocky grin, "Now who's the one committin' foolish mistakes? I activate my Trap card, Magic Arm Shield!" The strange mechanism materialized on his arm, and mechanical prongs shot out of it, gripping the Great Angus. "Now I can redirect your attack to your own monster! Not only that, but you'll take damage from them battling and you'll have no monsters left to attack my facedown monster." With that said, he grunted and twisted his arm around the front of his body, thrusting the Great Angus in the approaching blast of flames. With a final roar of fury, the Angus was burned alive, and the Magic Arm Shield faded.

Nick: 3000 Joey: 4000

With no options left, Nick was forced to simply end his turn. With an enthusiastic grin on his face despite their predicament, Joey drew a card. Finding it to be of no use, Joey was left with one final option. "Because my monster wasn't involved in battle, it was never flipped on your turn," stated Joey as he placed his hand on the card, "now, because I get to flip it and activate its effect on my own turn, I'm going to get a pretty big advantage in this duel. So, without further ado, I flip up my Fiber Jar (500/500)!" The monster that emerged from Joey's card was rather simplistic-looking. It was a yellow urn, and growing from it was a miniature tree. From the tree came a brilliant burst of light, and when the light faded, the field was completely clear, bare even of the volcanoes spawned by the Molten Destruction Field card. "When Fiber Jar is flipped, the duel is basically reset," explained Joey as he shuffled his cards together, "all cards on our fields and in our hands and graveyards are immediately shuffled into our decks, and we then draw five cards.

Seeing the implications of such an effect, Nick quickly pressed a button on his Duel Disk, "Before your monster's effect can sweep away my field, I activate Waboku, which will protect me from Battle damage this turn." After stating this, he too proceeded to shuffle his cards together.

Joey cursed under his breath. With Waboku in effect, he would be unable to take advantage of Nick's clear field by attacking him directly with a low-level monster. While the move would most likely not have won the duel, it would certainly have set him on that path. For now he'd just have to do what he could with the hand his Fiber Jar's effect gave him. Both he and Nick slammed their decks into their Duel Disks and drew five-card hands. After looking his hand over, Joey selected one card and played it, "Pot of Greed lets me draw two cards." He snapped the said cards off his deck and looked them over, giving him a six-card hand. It was as if he and Nick were just starting a new duel, although he already had a 1000 Life Point lead.

"Now I summon my Alligator Sword (1500/1200)," Joey declared as the ever-familiar humanoid lizard stepped onto the field, its shield and scimitar held ready. "I follow that up with two cards facedown, and that's all."

Nick drew and examined his new hand. Better than the previous one…but he would have to bide his time and hope his next action brought him the cards he needed. "I set a monster in defense mode," he announced, "and a single card facedown as well."

Joey drew in response, and grinned slightly, "Alright, let's see if I can end it here and now… I play Black Dragon Ritual!" Two tall torches appeared in front of him, glowing with purple flame. Between them was a larger flame, this one black. "This card requires me to sacrifice monsters totaling level 4 or greater from my hand and field. So I sacrifice the Little Winguard from my hand." As he spoke, he slid the said monster from his hand into his graveyard. Then he selected one of the two cards remaining in his hand and placed it next to the Alligator Sword already in place. "Now I can summon my Knight of Black Dragon (1900/1200)!" The monster that appeared Joey's field was a man who wore blue and black armor. In his right hand he bore a black-bladed sword. "My Knight has the ability to destroy any facedown defense monster without going to the Damage step. That means I'm about to destroy your monster no matter what it is! Knight of Black Dragon, attack!" The armored warrior leapt forth, and brought it sword down on Nick's monster in a mighty strike.

Or, rather, it almost did. At the last instant, the card simply moved away from the Knight's strike, and the warrior's sword clanged against the ground. "I activated my Trap card, A Feint Plan," explained Nick, "this card prevents any facedown monsters from being attacked this turn."

Joey nodded and let out a small growl of frustration. "I sacrifice my Knight to activate its special ability," he stated as the Knight erupted into black flame. "Now I can immediately Special Summon my Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) from my deck!" The black flame grew rapidly in size, then solidified into the mighty black-scaled dragon. The Red Eyes let out a roar of challenge to Nick, even though it was forbidden from attacking for this turn. "Even though it won't finish you off," said Joey as he placed the final card in his hand into his Duel Disk, "I play Dark Flare Burst, which will deal you 2400 damage."

As the card took effect, the large black dragon opened its maw and released a ball of red flame straight at Nick. Having witnessed Mike being scorched from simply a glancing blow by the card's effect, Nick knew he had to take immediate evasive action. He took several quick steps to his right…and then suddenly stopped, unable to lift his legs from the ground. Looking down in confusion, he saw his feet were being held to the ground by black tendrils.

From where he stood, Youkai let out a laugh, "That's enough of your pathetic attempts to flee from damage. You're going to bear the full brunt of this assault!"

With no other option, Nick could only cross his arms over his head, and hope the impending ball of fire did not immediately consume him in its blaze. And then…something unexpected occurred. In a flash of light, a white humanoid form emerged from his deck, taking the blow from the Dark Flare Burst and shielding him from harm.

Nick: 600 Joey: 4000

"What in the nine burning circles of Hell?" yelled an outraged Youkai.

With no moves left for Joey to make, Nick drew the top card of his deck, and realized what had happened. 'Well, that was lucky. It seems you may have just saved my life, my friend. And it seems you are ready to do battle. Very well, I shall grant your request…' "I begin my turn by flipping my Cyber Jar (900/900), triggering its effect!" The horizontal card in front of him revealed itself as the infamous ball of wires an instant before exploding in a blast that consumed Joey's Alligator Sword and Red Eyes Black Dragon. Then both Joey and Nick snapped five cards off their respective decks. Joey then summoned Panther Warrior (2000/1500), followed by Gearfried the Iron Knight, while Nick set a monster in defense mode.

"Now I shall reveal a monster that will determine the outcome of this entire duel," stated Nick as he held up one of the nine cards in his hand. "This is both my favorite monster, as well as my most powerful. And now you shall face its full power." His monster shimmered out of view, and Nick slammed the card onto his Duel Disk, "I sacrifice my facedown monster to summon the Magical Marionette (2000/1000)!" The monster that appeared was shrouded almost completely in a red cloak, leaving only a purple mask visible beneath its hood. The mask was simple in design, being circular with a circular opening for the left eye and two slits over the right. "While my monster has a low attack strength, its effect will allow me to destroy each of your monsters. To begin this process, I play Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw three cards before discarding two." He quickly snapped three cards off the top of his deck and added each of them to his hand, then selected two other cards to discard.

"And now the end has come," Nick stated, "I have all the cards I need to win this duel in my hand. But first, allow me to reveal my Marionette's effect. For every Spell card that is played, my monster will gain a Spell counter. For every counter on my monster it gains 200 attack points (Magical Marionette: 2200/1000), but that's not all. I can also remove two of these counters from my monster to destroy one of your monsters. And I have quite a few Spells in my hand."

"Oh crud…" Joey murmured as he listened to Nick's explanation. But as he looked over his hand, he relaxed. Nick only had eight cards left in his hand, meaning at maximum his Marionette could reach 3000 attack points after destroying both of Joey's monsters. Even if it came to that, Joey's facedown cards would protect him. Joey even had a method in his hand of defeating the Magical Marionette in the next turn.

"You probably think I'm incapable of defeating you right now," Nick correctly inferred, "but that will shortly change right now. I play Double Spell, allowing me to discard one other Spell card from my hand to activate one Spell card in your graveyard. So I'll play your Pot of Greed." He drew two cards from the card's effect, while he still continued to speak, "What's more important about my action is that both Double Spell and the card it activates are considered Spell activations, so my Magical Marionette gains two Spell counters (Magical Marionette: 2600/1000). Now I'll play one of the cards I just drew: Monster Reborn, which will revive your own Red Eyes Black Dragon." The immense black dragon appeared once more over the field, this time on Nick's side of the field. Meanwhile, the Marionette had gained another Spell counter (2800/1000).

"And now, this duel ends," Nick declared, "I remove all four of Magical Marionette's counters to trigger its effect! Magical Marionette, Mystic Puppet Slayer!" The Magical Marionette's arms burst from beneath its cloak, revealing purple-gauntleted claws. On the elbows of these gauntlets were gems of a deeper purple, and upon them were strange triangular symbols. From each claw sprouted two sets of yellow strings of energy, each traveling in sync with a set from the other hand. Where the sets met, a white marionette bearing a knife in each hand appeared. The white puppets were much like the white figure that had defended Nick earlier, and each had a purple jewel, identical to those on their controller's elbow, set in their torsos. The two puppets immediately flew towards Joey's monsters with a flick of the magic puppeteer's hands, and their blades easily slew the warriors.

"Finally, to assure that nothing will impede my attack," said Nick as he placed a card on his Duel Disk, "I play Giant Trunade."

"Oh, crap," Joey murmured as a gust of wind began to blow his two set cards back into his hand. However, he was able to activate one, "I activate Scapegoat, which will summon four Scapegoats to block your attacks!" The four circular goats immediately appeared in front of him, seeming calm and at peace amidst the struggle between the two duelists about them.

"I thought you might have that ready," said Nick, "but note that now my Magical Marionette has two counters once again (2400/1000), one from my Giant Trunade, the other from your activating Scapegoat. So I'll remove two of those counters to destroy one Scapegoat. Mystic Puppet Slayer!" Once again, the Magical Marionette conjured up a blade-wielding puppet, and this one almost casually cut through one of the goats.

"I still have three goats left," remarked Joey with a slight smirk, "and you have only two monsters to attack."

"Don't act so confident," Nick replied, "I'll now remove the two Fire monsters I discarded for Graceful Charity's effect." Fire erupted from his graveyard again, this time into two forms instead of one. "I summon both Infernos (1100/1900 x2) in my hand!" The flames that came from his graveyard did little to manifest this time, merely maintaining their flame forms and developing bright blue eyes.

Seeing the appearance of the two monsters, Joey fell to his knees, knowing what was to come. The two beings of flame would destroy two of his remaining Scapegoats, and their effects would deal him 1500 points of damage each. Then the Magical Marionette and his own Red Eyes Black Dragon would destroy his remaining Scapegoat and finish him off. He had failed his sister…he would be unable to duel Youkai…

"Joey," said Nick softly, "something tells me you would be better fitted in combating the pharaoh. If not for a few cards at key moments and the power of my Marionette, I would have lost this duel three times already. But now, I must end this duel. Even as I speak, I believe those whose souls have been claimed by Youkai are attempting to escape his grasp. Know that even though you will not be able to combat Youkai directly, you may play a pivotal role against him. So when I finish this duel, do all that you can. Help your sister."

Joey nodded. While he didn't know Nick, and certainly didn't trust him, he knew the two were on the same side, at least for now. "You don't need to tell me that, Nick. Now quit delayin' and bein' a wuss." He stood up, and motioned Nick, "Bring on your monsters. Unless you're too chicken."

Under his face-garb, Nick grinned. He nodded, and then motioned his monsters forward, "Infernos, Red Eyes Black Dragon, destroy his remaining Scapegoats!" The dragon released a stream of fire, and the Infernos surged forth. The three goats were consumed in a torrent of flame almost immediately, and Joey was dealt damage from the effects of the Infernos.

Nick: 600 Joey: 1000

"Magical Marionette," Nick continued, "end it." The puppeteer released its strings of energy from its hands, gripping Joey in their grip. Then a small, brief surge of energy flowed through the strings, delivering a small electric shock to Joey, who was knocked unconscious.

Nick: 600 Joey: 0

With the duel's end, Nick's monsters faded away. Without the support of the Marionette's strings, Joey collapsed to the floor. Yami and Nick approached his prone form, and picked him up by his arms and legs to remove him from the dueling arena. As they did so, Youkai stood by impatiently, eager for them to compete. He hoped that their duel brought more bloodshed than the previous few. More than that, he hoped it would be a short duel, so that he would be able to shed blood himself…

-…Youkai's prison…-

"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Lin's yell could be heard loud and clear as he ran about below them. However, the cause of his despair was unknown, as he did not pause to inform them of it, and the match he had lit had been dropped as he ran about below them.

"Shouldn't we help him?" asked Tea, as nobody had taken any actions to jump through the hole.

"Nah," answered Kirbin, his head resting on his hand, "Lin can run for HOURS when he's screaming. He's kind of weird that way. I mean, you'd think with less oxygen-"

"Lin's weird in a LOT of ways," Term interrupted, "right, Giyan?"

"Ungh…?" Giyan was currently still recovering from his efforts several minutes ago.

"See?"

Kirbin glared at Term for a moment, and was about to say something when a body fell from above, straight through the hole in the floor. "Joey?" asked Serenity in surprise.

Lin continued screaming and running below them, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" WHAM, "…AAAAAAA-huh?" The sounds of running stopped soon after he ceased yelling. "Oh, that goodness," Lin said, without the slightest hint of stressed breathing.

"What just happened, you idiot?" yelled Kaiba.

"Well, that was close, it nearly got me, but luckily Joey crushed it. Jeez, I hate those things…"

"LIN!" this time, everyone said it.

"What?" came Lin's voice, "Oh, well, this thing was chasing me all over the place. Apparently it was standing guard. So after it chased me around for a while (without anyone HELPING me, I might add) Joey fell on it and killed it. Hey! I think I found a light-switch…"

At his last words, torches around the room below them suddenly were lit ablaze, allowing the group to see the room below. Lin had just pulled a lever, which had triggered the lighting. Joey was lying crumpled on top of something, which appeared to be-.

Further observations were stopped as Lin suddenly ran fifty feet and leapt straight up into their midst, yelling the whole way, in 0.2 seconds flat.

"Lin?" asked Term in a deathly calm voice, "What are you doing wrapped around my head?"

"DON'T LET THEM GET ME!" was Lin's only response.

"What's his problem?" Mai asked the question nearly everyone present was pondering.

"Oh, I see it," said Kirbin as he peered down into the room below. The others leaned forward to see, and saw that the form Joey was lying on resembled a skeleton…with rotting skin covering its bones.

After the usual clichéd responses to seeing such a creature, Yamato spoke up, "Ah, yes, Lin is afraid of zombies…"

"I HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE, ALRIGHT?" Lin shouted.

"A bad experience with zombies?" murmured Tristan to himself.

"DON'T LET THEM WRAP AROUND MY FACE!"

"Hm…" said Kirbin, "well, I know why Lin freaked out the second time." Once more everyone crowded forward to peer into the room below. The room beneath them was almost empty except for the torches…and multiple sarcophagi. And every one of them was slowly opening…

So concludes the thirtieth chapter of Tokyo Tournament. In the next chapter, Yami takes on Nick for the right to face Youkai, while their friends and fellow duelists battle against an army of zombies to escape Youkai's prison. Who will triumph? Good or evil? TARZAN!

…Whoa…that was odd…random action figure commercials from my childhood are resurfacing…Anyways, expect a great burst of updates, as I am currently scrambling to finish this story before its two-year anniversary, which takes place next Saturday. Until next time, this is G.O.T. Nick, signing off.