Once again, I am terribly sorry for the long wait, I was really tied up in things, check the overview. You'll see towards the end where my writer's block kicked in, or maybe you won't, I dunno, anyways, I was generally pleased with the outcome of this chapter, even though I had a little bit of trouble getting it done. Plus it's finally here! Yay! I hope you enjoy it.

Finally, let's get Chapter 4 going!

Disclaimer – I disclaim any and all Themes/Characters from "Yu-Gi-Oh!"

-----!

- Rex had not stopped talking about the duel to Luther, who had since acquired his own body back. He was having a grand old time recounting the excellent moves he made, barely mentioning the swell ones Blake played (Luther had to keep calling up those times in efforts to keep Rex's ego in check). Rex though, hadn't left out any details concerning his hand and his thoughts at certain points. Luther sighed, this behavior was typical of his friend, and he couldn't help but laugh on the inside at the stereotype he was making.

- "I don't know how many times I have to say this for you to believe me but I am impressed with you, Rex, you can trust me on this one." Luther said taking a gander at the two valuable-looking Locator Cards slung around Rex's neck. He longed to collect another one of his own after seeing last battle's spectacular display. Although he was wary about battling at first, his confidence had risen after Rex's victory and he was now itching to battle. Domar, on the other hand, stayed on the cautious side of the situation and tried to talk Luther into taking a "more sensible" approach to the tournament.

- ((Now Luther, let's not jump into things too quickly, maybe we should do some more observing.)) Domar suggested. ((Aw, I've done enough observing. Rex's battle was study enough for anyone to know what's going on.)) Luther protested. ((Luther, are you here to win? Or to loose it in the first battle?)) Domar asked rhetorically. Seeing as the spirit had more than a plethora of wisdom, Luther could do nothing but oblige. ((Fine, we'll watch one more battle, but as soon as that's over I'm battling alright?)) Luther said to his counter-personality. ((Well, it seems that I cannot persuade you out of that, so be it.)) Domar agreed to finally.

- "So is it your turn yet?" Rex asked Luther, his voice growing excited.

- Luther shrugged, taking Domar's advice he said, "Well, I think I could use a little more watching before I get started, I don't think I've really found the feel for things yet." He looked away, noticing a couple duel disks amongst the crowds of people.

- Rex wasn't too keen of this idea. "Aw, come on Luth, duel watching is for people who can't duel themselves. What you need to do is get into some action." There was a noise coming from around the corner. Judging the other-worldliness of the sound, it was presumably a noise of a Duel Monsters confrontation. Rex's ears perked up, "And it looks like there's some action you can get!" he said and grabbed Luther's arm. Luther could barely get out a "Hey!" before they were already around the corner and peering through the throngs of people that were crowded around a duel that was taking place. The holographic displays above the combatants showed the progress of the match.

Life Points

Jerome Kearny – 2100

Noah Bostlovitz – 800

- Jerome was a heavy-set kid looking to be 15-16 years old, just around the same age as Luther. He seemed to be in command of the duel; he had the most life points as well as the stronger monster. Jerome had on the field a Dark Magician, a well known monster with 2500 attack points. Contrastingly, his opponent, Noah, who was generally skinny and seemed to be around 18 years old,had a whole 5 monsters on the field plus a face-down card. It was apparent, though, that Jerome was about to win, because none of Noah's monsters could stand a chance against the might of Dark Magician.

- It was Jerome's turn who started out by taunting Noah. "Can't you see you're done for? You should have quit while you had the chance. Once my Dark Magician destroys your Overdrive, you're finished." Noah said nothing. "Alright then, I'll send my Dark Magician to destroy Overdrive! Attack with Dark Magic Annihilation!" He yelled out to his monster, which immediately sprang to action, lunging forward at the Recon Unit, staff extended.

- "I'm sorry, but that's impossible, you cannot attack my monster." Noah said, expressionless. Before Jerome could interject with any phrases of disbelief, Noah held up a hand and his face down card was activated. "Because my face down trap card is Amorphous Barrier, which, if I have three or more monsters on my side of the field, negates your attack. Nifty eh?"

- Jerome wasn't too happy about this, but nevertheless he was content. "No matter," He said, "I'll just crush you on my next turn." He smirked and crossed his arms.

- "You think so eh?" Said Noah, drawing a useless card. "First, I will sacrifice my face-down monster to keep my Amazon Warrior out on the field." The card disappeared in a small explosion. "Now I go onward to my battle phase and attack your Dark Magician with one of my Slate Warriors." Immediately, the combatant sprung into action.

- Jerome laughed heartily, "What do you plan on accomplishing with that? Your Slate Warrior is toast; my Dark Magician has more than enough attack points to trounce your puny monster." And sure enough, Dark Magician put a new meaning to the phrase "A good defense is a good offense" and destroyed Slate Warrior. Noah took resulting damage.

Life Points

Jerome Kearny – 2100

Noah Bostlovitz – 200

- "Going suicidal on me are you now?" Asked Jerome, "You know you could always just surrender instead of beating yourself to no life points."

- Noah didn't look fazed at all. On the contrary, he looked quite pleased with himself. "That's not what I'm doing." He said, "Watch and you'll see." A display popped up, showing Dark Magician's attack power, it dropped to 2000.

- Jerome stepped back in shock, "What happened to my monster's attack?" He asked, just like any other person would.

- "Allow me to introduce to you Slate Warrior's special ability. Whenever a monster destroys him in battle, that same monster looses 500 attack points for the rest of the time it's on the field." He fiddled around with the cards in his hand. "But that's not all; I will do the same thing with my other Slate Warrior." It happened and there were the same results. Dark Magician's attack was decreased to 1500 and Noah took damage.

Life Points

Jerome Kearny – 2100

Noah Bostlovitz – 100

- "Well then, I think you can figure out the next chain of events, but unless your feeble mind can't handle it, I'll spell it out for you." He pointed at the purple-clad sage on Jerome's side of the field, "Overdrive take Dark Magician out!" and without missing a beat, the armed jeep took off, ramming into its opponent, which disintegrated instantly.

Life Points

Jerome Kearny – 2000

Noah Bostlovitz – 100

- "And for the coup de grace, Amazon Warrior, with 2000 attack points, finish him off!" The Amazon took off and slashed at Jerome, who was so shocked he didn't even flinch as the holographic spear sliced through him and knocked away the rest of his life points. He dropped to his knees and sulked. Applause boomed around the street as Noah Bostlovitz, who won by a hair, raised his hands in triumph. The crowd then casually died away and went about their usual business while Noah and Jerome exchanged dialogue and Locator Cards. Jerome, now knocked out of the Tournament and without his rarest card, sulked off down the people-filled sidewalk.

- Luther stole the moment Noah took, absorbing the scene, to approach him. Rex followed close behind. Luther caught up to his future opponent just as he started to turn away. Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Luther said, "Hey wait up, that was a great battle, congratulations by the way."

- Noah turned around and smiled at the compliment. "Why, thank you, it wasn't that big of a win though." He shrugged and started on his way again.

- "Wait up!" Luther said and walked in front of him. He cursed himself for being a bit rude. "I'm Luther Jacobs and I'm part of the tournament as well." He extended a hand.

- "So?" Noah said and brushed past Luther coldly as if he were just an insignificant person on the street. Luther no longer felt sorry for seeming rude before.

- "So, I was just about to challenge you, I like your battle style and I want to know how I stand up against you." Luther called, narrowing his eyes at the pompous duelist. "Do we have a problem?" He said, his voice hinting some anger.

- "If you're looking for a duel against me, then yes there's a problem." Answered Noah, not turning back, leaving Luther to catch up with him. "I haven't the time to waste battling you right now." Luther started to protest but couldn't formulate a comeback, Noah continued. "Show me that you are worthy of giving me a challenge, and I'll consider your offer."

- "Worthy?" Luther said incredulously. The nerve of this guy! "I must show myself 'worthy' before I battle you?"

- "That's the way I see it." Said Noah coolly.

- "Well, what am I supposed to do to gain this 'worthiness'?" Luther said now apparently angry.

- Noah still refrained from turning and simply said, "You're the one who wants to battle me, you figure that out." And he continued his way through the crowded streets, eventually becoming invisible amongst the passersby.

- Luther stopped in his tracks, his fist clenching and his brow frowning. "I'll show him 'worthy'" Luther said to no one in particular.

- Rex who had amazingly failed to butt in to Luther and Noah's conversation tried to get Luther to forget the whole thing. "Don't worry about it Luth, there's plenty of other duelists out there. Besides, that guy's probably going to loose it soon anyways, I'll bet he gets knocked out his next battle."

- "No," Said Luther, "He'll stay in, and I'm going to battle him." Rex questioned Luther's reason for this. "I just need to battle him alright?" Luther replied, "Come on, you're right, there are other duelists, and it's about time I dueled."

- "That's the spirit," Rex said happily, "Now let's go find you an opponent." He clasped a hand around Luther's shoulder and escorted him down the street.

- Domar's voice rang through Luther's head, though it seemed to be emanating from Hamingja, the ancient Norse Puzzle that was slung around Luther's neck. ((Maybe it was for the better, Luther. That Noah character did seem rather tough, perhaps you would have lost right there.)) He predicted. ((Domar,)) Luther said shaking his head. ((What is it Luther?)) Domar asked. Luther grinned, ((Shut up.))

-----!

- Rex Raptor Senior sat in his expensive head-executive swiveling chair looking out the large window of his office, polishing Mjolnir. Down the street, a battle was finishing up. It was nothing special, just a couple of weaklings displaying how weak each other were. Raptor hated this part of tournaments; the only action that was taking place was the same boring softies pointlessly battling it out.

- Just then his office door opened. It was the same advisory executive as the countless times before. Also, his own assistant followed behind, insignificantly standing there as if waiting to be given an order by his boss. "Mr. Raptor," said the executive, "You called me here?" He said with an inquiring tone.

- Raptor spun around in his chair, carefully placing Mjolnir into the stand he had fabricated for it. "Yes, I did." He said, reclining into his chair and brining his hands together. "I want you to deploy the Rare Hunters now. I can no longer bear this excruciatingly annoying wait, and I wish for the more interesting rounds to start." He sighed and placed a hand to his temple, as if thinking hard about something. "I want you to tell the Hunters not to bother collecting their opponent's rarest cards until I order them to; we have no use for those weakling cards." He didn't really want to send the dueling units out so early, but outside forces were causing him to think differently now. "Because, of course, we wouldn't want a large group of suspiciously strong duelists to be the topics of conversation amongst the city folk. Letting the grunts keep their cards would quell hard feelings against our special units."

- The advisory executive routinely replied to this by saying, "I agree one hundred percent. That is a smart move you're making Mr. Raptor. I'll see it through that the team is deployed." He gave a slight bow and started out the door, his assistant following him.

- "Riley," The Head of RexCorps called out. The advisory executive turned around. "Yes sir?" He replied. Raptor rubbed his temples some more. "Once you're done with that, can you get me a coffee please?" He said with an exasperated sigh. Riley nodded and continued out the door.

- A voice resonated from Mjolnir into Raptor's mind. It was a dark voice and somewhat raspy as if the owner was attempting an impersonation of a snake and failing. :Don't fret, Rex. No one will suspect you at all, or your company. You can trust me Rex.: Said the voice. Rex tilted his head back and closed his eyes. He thought back at the Pewter hammer, I do trust you, it's just… He hesitated a moment, It's just I feel a little bit weird right now, plus I didn't want to send out the hunters so early in the first place so I'm just a bit disoriented that's all. Mjolnir then replied :Just relax and enjoy the show, isn't that what this whole tournament is about? Enjoyment? Just relax.: A smile tugged at Rex's mouth, he said aloud, "Yeah, relax and enjoy…"