OMG, over 100 reviews! That's more than even Digisword had, and I'm barely half-way done! Cool! Thank you all for your reviews. It feels great to have so many people who like my story! ^_^

Oh, and for those of you who want a Davis/Meilin…well, keep reading.

So, at last, without further ado, let's begin Chapter 11 of 'King of Games'!

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King of Games

Chapter 11

The city of Domino was peaceful as the sun set over the horizon. Many people were retiring to their residences for a well-deserved rest. However, there was one such place that people weren't about to close their eyes in. Kaiba Land was still wide-awake, awaiting the duelist who would come out on top in this small tournament…

Sakura Avalon stood at the blue end of the dueling field, facing off against the dangerous, but beautiful, Pyra Vulcan. Red hair fell down to her shoulders, and her eyes were of an unearthly green. She wore a simple crimson top with darker crimson jeans.

Setting her Clow Deck in the correct spot, Sakura glanced at her adversary. She had watched her defeat Mako before, and she wasn't about to let the same thing happen to her.

"Are you ready, Pyra?" asked Sakura.

"Ready whenever you are, Avalon. Let's Duel!"

Sakura: 4000

Pyra: 4000

"For my first monster, I'll summon Spirit of the Harp, in Defense Mode!" said Sakura. "And I'll lay a card face-down to end my turn!"

Pyra drew her next card. "Hmm…I'll begin by playing the field magic card, Molten Destruction!" The playing field switched from normal to a volcanic wasteland. Rivers of magma flowed between the cracks of black rock. Sakura was taken aback at the realism of the hologram. She could feel its heat and smell the molten rock. And boy, it wasn't a really good smell to put up with.

'I hope I beat her quickly so I won't have to tolerate this anymore!' she thought.

"I'll lay another card face-down, and I'll play Darkfire Soldier #1, in Attack Mode!" On the first slot on Pyra's side of the field, a soldier covered in flames appeared, holding a large curved blade.

DarkFire Soldier #1 – ATK: 1700/DEF: 1150

"And with the magic of Molten Destruction, all Fire Attribute monsters increase their attack power by 500 points!"

"What?!" asked Sakura. "No way!"

Darkfire Soldier #1 – ATK: 2200/DEF: 750

"Now, my Soldier, attack Spirit of the Harp with Blazing Slash!" (A/N: For monsters not on the show, I'm just making up some names for their attacks.)

The flaming Soldier leaped forward and annihilated the Defense monster, shattering it into many pieces.

"That'll finish my turn," said Pyra. "Your move."

Sakura nervously drew her next card. In just one move, her opponent would be able to destroy any monster she lays on the field, attack or defense. Sakura's only hope would be to play strategically, rather than with power, because between the two decks, Pyra's was the one with the superior power.

However, Sakura knew from experience that strength didn't always win. She drew her next card.

"I'll set a monster in facedown defense mode," said Sakura. "And lay another card facedown to end my turn."

"I'll summon Flame Manipulator in Attack Mode!" shouted Pyra. "With Molten Destruction on the Field, it gains 500 Attack Points!"

Flame Manipulator – ATK: 1400/DEF: 600

"And I'll lay another card face-down on the field," said the redheaded teenager. "Darkfire Soldier #1, attack her monster with Blazing Slash!"

"And I'll activate my trap, Negate Attack!" said Sakura. "So the attack phase is skipped. Now, I think it's my move." She drew. "I'll sacrifice my face-down monster to set another monster in defense mode. I'll end my turn with another face-down card."

Pyra drew her next card. "Hmm, not bad. I'll play Masaki, the Legendary Swordsman in Attack Mode!"

Masaki the Legendary Swordsman – ATK: 1100/DEF: 1100

"Why did you play such a weak monster?" asked Sakura. "I don't think Masaki has any special abilities or anything, and he isn't even a Fire attribute monster!"

"Don't worry, dear Sakura," smirked Pyra. "You will know soon enough. Go Darkfire Soldier #1! Attack her face-down monster now!" Sakura flipped it over revealing it to be…

"Millenium Shield!"

Millennium Shield – ATK: 0/DEF: 3000

"No!" cried Pyra. "That shield's defense points are more than my monster's attack points!"

"Exactly," smiled Sakura. "So you lose life points equal to the difference of the two."

Pyra: 3200

Sakura: 4000

"My move," said Sakura. "I'll set another monster in defense mode!"

'She's putting all of her defenses up,' thought Pyra. 'She must be scared. No matter. My deck bases itself off of the power of fire, and it will only take a small spark to burn the forest.'

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"Hmph, I can't believe TK made me stay up here with you!" grumbled Patamon. He and the mythical guardian of the Clow Cards were sitting in the dark of the attic, bored out of their minds.

"Shut up, hamster!" shouted Kero. "At least I'm trying to think of something to do!"

"You're looking at old stuff that no one wants anymore," muttered Patamon. "What fun is that? There is a reason that Yugi and his Grandpa stuck it all up here!"

"Well, excuse me, my pig-hamster friend, but I'm very into antiques," Kero said indignantly.

"Considering you are one," chuckled Patamon.

"Hey!" shouted Kero. "Before you make any more criticisms, come look at some of this stuff!" Patamon flew down to look at the trunk that Kero was digging through. Kero emerged with an old photo album, blowing away some of the dust on it. "Let's see what's in here!"

Patamon shrugged and looked with Kero. "Hey, there's Yugi's grandfather and some other old geezer," said Kero.

"They look like they're into Archaeology," said Patamon. "Hey! I think that's Egypt!"

"Which was your first clue? The sphinx, the sand, or the pyramids?"

"That brochure in his pocket right there!" smiled Patamon, pointing to the picture of Grandpa. "See?" Kero rolled his eyes, and turned to another picture.

"Huh, this must be the inside of one of those tombs," Kero told Patamon. "Look, there are some hieroglyphs right there!" Patamon stared at one of the pictures carefully. Kero noticed this. "Hey, pig, what's going on?"

"Shh," hissed Patamon. "I've seen that picture before, somewhere." Kero raised an eyebrow. Patamon smiled suddenly. "I know! I know! That picture of a blonde guy with the sword! He's got a cape and armor and everything."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Kero. Patamon pointed to the pictures.

"Weird," Kero thought. "Some of this kind of stuff never existed back in Ancient Egypt."

"But look at that! That guy is on one of TK's Duel Monster Cards! He's Neo the Magic Swordsman!"

"What?!" Kero took a better look. He had to admit, the two were similar. In fact, many of these drawings he had seen in this card shop. But something was always bothering him as he looked at the hieroglyphs some more. He felt he had seen some of them before now, like many years ago. Kero turned the page and gasped.

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"It's my move!"  shouted Pyra, drawing her next card. "I will now take the liberty to play a monster in defense mode as well. I will also use Polymerization to fuse together Masaki and Flame Manipulator to form the mighty Flame Swordsman!"

Flame Swordsman – ATK: 2300/DEF: 1200

"Since Fusion Monsters take one turn to attack, I'll leave it at that. Your move, Sakura."

Sakura drew her next card. 'My Millenium Shield should be enough defense for now. I'll have to take an offensive some time. Here goes.'

"Woodland Sprite, in Attack Mode!" shouted Sakura.

Woodland Sprite – ATK: 900/DEF: 400

"What's that thing gonna do to me?" laughed Pyra.

"You'll see," smiled Sakura. "I'll lay two cards face-down and end my turn."

"You've got another thing coming if you think that little leaf is going to beat me," smirked Pyra as she drew her next card. "I'll summon Skull Red Bird in Attack Mode!"

Skull Red Bird – ATK: 1550/DEF: 1200

"And I will now flip over my face-down monster, Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu!"

Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu – ATK: 1000/DEF: 100

"Now, thanks to his flip ability, I can add an Equipment Magic Card from my Deck to my Hand. I'll take this one. Now, I'll equip Flame Swordsman with the powerful Axe of Despair!"

"Oh no!" whispered Sakura. "I know that card! It'll raise flame Swordsman's attack by 1000!"

A flaming Axe replaced Flame Swordsman's sword, as his attack points gained another boost.

Flame Swordsman – ATK: 3300/DEF: 1200

"Go Flame Swordsman! Attack Millennium Shield with Flaming Axe of Despair!"

"Activate trap, Mirror Force!" shouted Sakura. "It'll destroy all of your monsters!"

"Not so fast, Sakura," smiled Pyra. "I've got a trap card as well, Seven Tools of the Bandit! At a cost of 1000 of my Life points, I can negate the effects of your trap card! Millennium Shield is gone!"

The mighty Axe broke through the powerful Shield, and it shattered.

"Now, Darkfire Soldier #1, destroy her second defense monster with Blazing Slash!"

"I'll activate my second trap, Magic Arm Shield! This trap allows me to redirect your attack to another monster, even one on your side! How about attacking that Iron Blacksmith?"

A hatch opened on the large shield and an arm stretched out, grabbing Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu, and Blazing Slash was directed to it!

Sakura: 4000 Pyra: 2000

"You are now down to half your life points, Vulcan," smiled Sakura. "Still think nothing can stand against fire?"

"Just you wait, Avalon, I'll come back," growled Pyra. "Your move."

Sakura drew her next card. "Perfect. I'll play Horn of the Unicorn and equip it to my Woodland Sprite!"

Woodland Sprite – ATK: 1600/DEF: 1100

"And now, using my Sprite's Special Ability, I can offer the Equip card as a tribute to deal 500 points of direct damage to your life points!"

Sakura: 4000 Pyra: 1500

"How's that for power, miss Vulcan?" asked Sakura. "I'll lay one card face-down and end my turn."

'This girl's good,' thought Pyra as she drew her next card. 'Not many have been able to get me down this much without losing any life points. I'll have to try harder than this to defeat her.' She looked at the card she just drew.

"I'll play Pot of Greed!" she told her. "This magic card allows me to draw two cards from my deck." Pyra looked at the two cards she drew and laughed. "Now, Sakura Avalon, feel the true force of Fire! I'll play Dark Hole, to destroy all monsters on the field!"

"No!" cried Sakura. "This is not good."

"I'll now use my trap card Ultimate Offering. By paying 500 Life Points, I can perform another summon on the same turn. I'll Start by Playing Faith Bird from my hand, then paying 500 Life Points to summon the mighty Twin Headed Fire Dragon!"

Twin Headed Fire Dragon – ATK: 2200/DEF: 1700

"With the power of Molten Destruction, my Dragon gains 500 Attack Points!"

Twin Headed Fire Dragon – ATK: 2700/DEF: 1300

"Go, Twin Headed Fired Dragon! Attack her Life points directly!" The mighty two-headed dragon flew in on Sakura, and both Heads fired orbs of fire at the girl.

Sakura: 1300

Pyra: 1000

"And now, to end my turn, I'll play the magic card Ookazi, to deal you 800 points of direct damage!"

Sakura: 500

Pyra: 1000

"In just one turn, she reduced my life points to an eighth of what they were originally," muttered Sakura. "There has to be a way to come back. If the card I get isn't a good one, then I'm done for." She drew and revealed her card to be a Graceful Charity. "This will come in handy for now. I'll play Graceful Charity, to draw 3 cards, and discard 2." Sakura looked at her hand and thought for a few seconds.

'Fire Princess…this card was supposed to represent the Firey card. She'll gain attack points by Pyra's Molten Destruction card, but it won't be enough to beat that dragon of hers…wait a minute! I have another card in my hand that can work well! I hope Windy and Firey can work together to pull us through right now. I just need a way to stall for a bit of time.'

"I'll set two cards face down on the field, and summon Spirit of the Breeze in Attack mode!" shouted Sakura. A blue-haired fairy in a flowing white robe appeared on the field.

Spirit of the Breeze – ATK: 0/DEF: 1800

"That ends my turn," said Sakura.

"An amateur tactic," laughed Pyra. "You probably left some trap card there for me to step on, huh? It would probably destroy my dragon." Pyra drew her next card. "Well, it appears that your traps will live for now. I'll just take this opportunity to summon UFO Turtle to the field, in Attack Mode!"

UFO Turtle – ATK: 1900/DEF: 800

"And I'll lay two cards face-down on the field as well. Your move, Sakura."

"At the end of your turn, I'll activate my trap card, Solemn Wishes! I gain 500 Life points every time I draw a card, like so." Sakura drew, and gained 500 life Points.

Sakura: 1000 Pyra: 1000

"And now, during my Standby Phase, since my Spirit of the Breeze is in face-up Attack Position, I gain 1000 Life Points."

Sakura: 2000 Pyra: 1000

"Shit," muttered Pyra. "No matter. I can still deal you enough direct damage to wipe out all of your life points."

"I'll now summon Fire Princess, in Attack Mode!"

Fire Princess – ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500

"And thanks to your molten destruction card, she gains 500 attack points, am I right?"

Fire Princess – ATK: 1800/DEF: 1100

"That would end my turn, miss Vulcan," said Sakura. "Your move."

Pyra growled at Sakura. "This isn't over! I'll play monster Reborn to return Flame Swordsman from the Graveyard. I'll now use Polymerization to fuse the Faith Bird and Skull Red Bird in my hand to summon Crimson Sunbird!"

Crimson Sunbird – ATK: 2800/DEF: 1400

"That's three of my most powerful Monsters, Sakura. You're not going to be dealing me any damage, since your monster's attack points are way too low. Also, I'll play Dian Keto the Cure master, to raise my Life Points by 1000, just to be on the safe side. Your move."

Sakura: 2000

Pyra: 2000

"That was your last move, Pyra," smiled Sakura after she drew her last card.

"What do you mean?" demanded Pyra.

"My Fire Princess isn't the type of monster who attacks, Miss Vulcan. She has a much more useful ability than that. You lose 500 Life points every time I gain Life Points!"

"WHAT?!"

"So, by drawing, I activate Solemn Wishes, so I gain 500 Life Points. Now, Fire Princess Deals you 500 damage!" The beautiful maiden of Fire stood and threw fireballs at Pyra's Life points.

Sakura: 2500 Pyra: 1500

"Now, it's my standby Phase, and Spirit of the Breeze lets me gain 1000 Life Points, so you lose another 500!" Fire Princess threw another fireball at Pyra.

Sakura: 3500 Pyra: 1000

"And now, to finish the game! It ends when I play the magic card, Pot of Greed! I get to draw 2 cards, meaning Solemn Wishes activates twice, and Fire Princess uses her ability twice! Your Life points are gone, Pyra Vulcan!"

"NO!" cried the red-haired teenager. "How could this be? My monsters are supposed to be unstoppable!"

"As the saying goes, Pyra, fight fire with fire," smiled Sakura.

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A few minutes later, Sakura was with TK and Yugi. Both boys were congratulating her on her third win at Duel Mosnters.

"You're very impressive, Sakura," laughed Yugi. "You picked up the game only a couple days ago and are now beating professional duelists."

"Well, I'm a fast learner," Sakura blushed. "Anyway, it's the final duel next, TK. We both made it."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Good Luck, Sakura." He extended a hand for her. Sakura smiled and took it gladly. Yugi smiled at the two. There was going to be one heck of a duel coming up, and no matter what, one of them would prevail.

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Davis Motomiya lay down on his bed, wide-awake. It was now an hour past midnight, and he still couldn't sleep. Meilin and the other had gone home, and they were going to meet up in the morning to hang out.

"Meilin…" the boy muttered. He was still thinking about what Jun had said earlier.

"Looks like we found you a girlfriend, little bro…"

'Girlfriend?' wondered Davis. He had liked Kari for so long now. He had dreams of the day he and Kari would finally get together and live happily ever after. Even though he had given up fighting with TK for her, he still had feelings for her. What scared him was the fact that he had almost completely forgotten about her after meeting Yugi Moto and his friends, and now, he felt like he was developing feelings for the Chinese girl, Meilin. The two of them could compare so easily, unlike him and Kari.

"Why does it have to be so complicated?" he muttered. "WHY?!"

"Maybe you can sleep on it," muttered DemiVeemon. "Some of the rest of us are. Good night."

Davis sighed. It was going to be a long night.

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Ok that was a kinda pointless ending, but if anyone was wondering about the inner struggle of our season two goggle-boy, here it is. Poor guy. Anyways, this duel was shorter than the last one, but my weeks have been loaded with a whole ton of crap! I barely found time to write in the past 4-5 weeks. So, sorry about the lamer duel.

Next Chapter: The duel between TK and Sakura. Davis tries to sort out all of his emotions. What exactly did Kero find in those photos? (Even though some of you probably guessed already.) All this coming up in the next chapter of King of Games!