YuGiOh: The Elemental Duelists Saga

by Santoryuu

Six mysterious duelists have challenged Yugi and his friends. But what do they really want? In today's chapter: Our final chapter. Yugi and Needlez finish their duel, as Brian and Tim try to stop Needlez's plan.

11. Darkness Revealed

Disclaimer: We still do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the rights to it. Sorry folks. We do own all rights to original characters or cards unless otherwise noted.

….

Hey, not all our disclaimers can be funny ones!

A/N: Here's a treat for you all: Two duels in one chapter and a fun fact! Did you know that mummies have been found all over the world? They may not all fit the stereotype set by Egypt, but civilizations such as the Aztecs or Mayans did go through similar processes of preserving dead bodies.

Previously

The Elemental Duelists gathered back at their home base, and their leader, Needlez, gave those who failed another chance. Brian seems a touch suspicious of Needlez's intentions, and maybe rightly so. Yugi has learned that the Elemental Duelists have a connection to an ancient civilization, and the megalomaniacal mystic that led to its destruction. We now continue with our story in:

Chapter 10

Darkness Revealed

That evening, Brian was sitting on his bed in his own private chamber of the cave system. Needlez had given each of the Elemental Duelists his or her own room, furnished with a plain bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a desk with a chair at which to plan strategies and work on their decks.

Brian was looking through a few of his spare cards, trying to focus on what to add next, but his thoughts kept returning to the videos he had seen today.

"Celeste, Tim, Mako, Zeffie, Gold…Even me." He thought, "It doesn't make sense! During those duels, the minute things got bad for us; it was like someone else took over and gave us a complete personality overhaul."

Looking over two cards in particular, Brian thought for a minute and then placed them in his deck, removing another two cards as he did so.

"Interesting strategy." A voice commented in his head.

Brian looked up and saw a sphere of yellow light floating in front of him.

"Oh, hi Celeste." Brian thought as he put his deck on the nightstand.

"Your deck is pretty interesting." Celeste commented, "Almost every monster in it is a dark attribute, but other than that and the spells that favor them there's no real connection."

"What are you…" Brian started.

"You have fiends, zombies, spellcasters, and I could have sworn that card you just added was a…" Celeste explained.

"My cards are none of your business!" Brian interrupted.

Celeste went silent, and Brian sighed.

"Sorry Celeste, I'm just a touch…High strung at the moment." Brian explained, "And those two cards you saw me add are…pretty special to me. They were the first cards I ever won, and I promised I'd always keep them with me."

"They're pretty rare." Celeste commented, "So why didn't you use them before? Didn't think you'd need them against Joey?"

"I just have this feeling, gnawing at the back of my mind." Brian explained, "This feeling like dueling against Joey was wrong. Celeste, do you think what we're doing is right?"

The ball of light dimmed a bit, as though it was thinking, and then brightened back up.

"Well, I do wish that there was a better way we could do this. Yugi and his friends were so nice, letting me hangout with them like they did. They reminded me of my friends back in California!" Celeste explained, "But Needlez says there is no other way. Besides, it's not like we've taken something that's irreplaceable right? They can get their talent back through practice. And I'm sure that once Earth is a utopia, we'll be forgiven."

"But if there were some other way to make the world better?" Brian asked.

"I'd leave Needlez for that path in a heartbeat." Celeste assured him, "And I'd bet any of the others would too. Some of them may be a touch eccentric, but I doubt they like the idea of unwarranted attacks like these any more than we do."

Brian lay down on his bed, looking over to the duel disk on the desk.

"You ought to get some rest, it's almost midnight." Celeste pointed out.

"Yeah, don't worry." Brian mumbled.

The light blinked out, and Brian closed his eyes. He slowly allowed his thoughts to wander, and reach out to Tim.

A fist sized fireball appeared over head.

"Wuzzat?" Tim's groggy voice echoed.

"Sorry Tim, can we talk for a minute?" Brian asked.

"Uh…sure, what about?" Tim thought.

"It's about what we're doing…" Brian started.

-------------------

The next morning, Brian sat up with a start as a flash of blue-green light filled his room!

"Rise and shine everyone!" Needlez's voice sounded out, "We've got a busy day ahead of us, so there's no time to sleep in. I want everyone in the Throne Chamber, and in full ceremonial dress!"

Brian groaned.

"Something wrong with that?" The light asked.

"No Lord Needlez." Brian thought as he got out of bed, picked up his duel disk and deck, and vanished into a pool of darkness.

-------------

In the Throne Chamber, Needlez smiled as the six familiar columns shot up in front of him.

Brian stepped out of the column of shadow. He was now wearing a pair of black silken pants, and a similar black shirt. The sleeves reached to his elbows, and his duel disk was attached between the wrist and elbow of his left arm. On his right wrist was a black, spiked wrist band, and he was now wearing a black cape that came down to the floor, along with a hood. The whole outfit had swirls of purple and dark-blue running through it, and his necklace was hanging outside his shirt.

The light column faded, revealing Celeste in a new getup as well. She wore a gown which looked like Ishizu's only spun from silver thread. It had a large, yellow collar which came down to about her chest and went about the same distance down all around. Her duel disk was strapped to her left arm, and the right arm had a band of silver and gold wrapped around it from wrist to elbow. Her long hair had been tied back into a braid on the back of her head with a pure white ribbon, and her ring was still glistening on her right hand.

Zeffie giggled and jumped out of the wind column, not even waiting for it to disappear. She was wearing green pants rolled up so they only came down to her knees, and she had on a billowy green shirt with huge sleeves. It seemed a size to big for her since her shoulders were in the collar. The sleeve over her right hand had been pinned down by her duel disk, and her left hand was barely visible poking out of the sleeve. She had brushed her hair back again to show off her circlet, and had pinned her hair in place by a pair of what appeared to be eagle feathers.

The fire column extinguished, showing Tim. He now wore a red jacket with the kanji for "fire" written in black on the front and back. The jacket was open in the front, revealing an orange and red shirt which looked as though it was burning. His pants were like Brian's, only red with an orange flame design at the bottom of each leg. The sleeves of his jacket were rolled up, showing his manacle around his left arm and a duel disk on his right.

The column of rocks fell away, and Gold appeared. He had on a brown trench coat, with the three jagged lines from his seal on the back. It was open it front, showing Gold's bare, muscular chest. He had on a pair of worn-out grey jeans. The sleeves of the coat had been rolled back to his elbow on his left arm, on which he had his duel disk, and his right sleeve had been rolled up just enough to make his bracelet visible.

The water column collapsed, revealing Mako. He was still wearing his blue head band, vest, and his shorts. In fact, it looked as though there had been no change made at all to his wardrobe. He even still wore the anklet around his leg, its blue crystal glinting serenely.

The others all stared at Mako for a few seconds.

"What?" He asked.

"How come your costume doesn't look any different than your normal clothes?" Brian asked.

"Actually, this outfit has a higher thread count than my usual one." Mako explained, "See how it sort of shines if you look at it right?"

Zeffie tilted her head a bit and smiled.

"Cool!" She exclaimed.

"Enough with admiring each other's fashion sense." Needlez commanded, "We'll need you in those costumes after we have the talent we require."

"How come?" Celeste asked.

"Those outfits are slightly modernized versions of the ones worn by the wicked mystics who destroyed me." Needlez explained, "The ones who stopped me from creating a paradise for mankind, just so they could have some job security!"

"Oh calm down Lordy Needlez, we're here now!" Zeffie cheered.

Needlez smiled.

"Aye, thank ye lass. Those outfits just remind me so much of the mystics, and for that matter so do your master cards." Needlez sighed.

"You mean Zorc and the others?" Brian queried.

"Aye. Those monsters were the most powerful creatures the other mystics called in. It took me time after my resurrection, but I was eventually able to capture and preserve them in cards." Needles explained, "I hoped that in the hands of capable duelists, those poor creatures might be purified."

"I'd say we've been doing a good job with that." Gold stated.

"I'd be tempted to disagree." Brian said to himself, "I spoke to everybody, and they each gave me the same answer as Celeste: They don't like having to take someone's talent, but if it's the only way then it's the only way. Something just still seems wrong…"

Brian stopped thinking as Needlez glanced in his direction. The two locked eyes for a moment, and then Needlez turned toward Celeste who cleared her throat.

"Lord Needlez, what are we going to do if we can't beat Yugi and his friends this time?" Celeste asked.

"So glad you asked." Needlez grinned.

He pulled out his watch and held it up.

Brian, Celeste, Mako, and Gold gasped as their crystals began to shimmer, and then dimmed.

"What was that?" Mako exclaimed.

"Just a little precaution." Needlez explained, "You see, the mystics never meant for me to find a way to restore my power to its fullest extent. I was lucky to find a loophole in the spell they used to imprison me, but I fear the opportunity may pass us by if we take too long trying to get talent."

"So in plain English…" Gold started.

"I took away your ability to break your seals." Needlez said simply.

"WHAT!" The Elemental Duelists exclaimed.

"Now calm down everyone!" Needlez said, "It's just talent, you'll have plenty of time to get it back later. But right now time is of the essence, if we have to use your talent instead of a world champions' then…"

The duelists were looking at each other, and then Celeste nodded.

"Understood." She sighed, "We'll get you what you need."

"That's a good girl." Needlez grinned, "Now you all know the way to the Research Facility right?"

"Yes!" The duelists chorused.

"Good, now git going!" Needlez ordered.

The columns of energy shot up, but as they did Brian couldn't help but focus on one thought.

"Needlez is too desperate to get what he wants." Brian noticed.

Just before he vanished, Brian and Needlez locked eyes again. Brian gasped as the shadows swallowed him up.

"And he knows I'm suspicious!" Brian realized as he began to follow the others.

-----------------------------------

In the meantime; Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea were getting off a bus downtown at about 10 a.m. Classes had been completely cancelled for the next week or two, until the school could be repaired. That of course meant all the students would have to make up their classes over what would have been the first few days of summer break, but that was currently the least of the team's worries.

All four of the teens were wearing their usual after school outfits, and Yugi and Joey had their duel disks strapped to their arms. Yugi quickly glanced at the nearby street sign to get his bearings.

"All right guys," Yugi announced, "Kaiba's research facility should be just a few blocks east of here."

"So where's Bakura, wasn't he going to meet us at the bus stop?" Tea asked.

"He said he had to take care of something, didn't want to say what." Yugi explained.

"And Serenity?" Tea continued.

"Shopping with her mom." Yugi explained.

"She wanted to come, but I told her that this really only concerned me." Joey muttered, "So she agreed to stay with mom today."

The quartet started down the street, passing by stores, restaurants, and huge office buildings. As they were walking, Joey was nervously adjusting his disk's position on his arm, and he continued to glance nervously at small shadows.

"Joey, could you relax?" Tea sighed, "I doubt that dark duelist is going to attack you on a sidewalk while we're downtown. There are too many people who'd see him!"

"I don't feel like takin' any chances." Joey confessed.

"That's new." Tristan commented, "Normally we can't stop you from taking stupid risks."

"What's that supposed to mean!" Joey shouted.

He and Tristan were quickly trying to place one another in a headlock, and Tea actually smiled.

"Ah…Now that's my idea of a 'return to normalcy!'" She commented.

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It didn't take long for Yugi and the others to reach Kaiba Corporation Research Facility. It was pretty hard to miss. It was only the only building around that had to be at least fifty stories tall and had a very lifelike statue of a Blue Eyes White Dragon out front. The walk way leading to the door was bordered by a well manicured lawn, and each of the ground floor windows had a flower box attached to it. Each box was filled with a variety of flowers, creating a virtual rainbow beneath each window.

"I think we found the place." Yugi commented.

The others all nodded in silent agreement, and started up the path to the door. Suddenly a purple car pulled up right behind them. A familiar blond woman in a white shirt and purple jacket (both of which failed to cover her mid-riff), a short purple skirt, and purple high-heeled boots stepped out of the car. She quickly placed two coins in the nearby parking meter, turned toward Kaiba Corp…

And nearly fell over as Joey shouted to her.

"MAI!" Joey shouted happily, "Is it really you?"

Mai shuffled her feet nervously a little.

"Why did I agree to come here?" She asked herself, "I'm not ready to see these guys again…"

Mai was shaken from her thought as she realized that Joey was now standing right in front of her.

"What's wrong Mai?" Joey asked.

"Nothing." Mai sighed, "It's…good to see you guys again."

Joey smiled, and turned toward the others.

"Guys, can you believe it? It's Mai!" Joey shouted.

"We got it when you started bouncing like an overexcited puppy." Tea sighed, "Now come on."

The team continued toward the door, and Mai reluctantly followed them.

-----------------------------------------------------

Inside, Yugi and his friends discovered the building was even bigger. There was a huge directory labeled with several numbers, pointing out holographic simulators, program design rooms, even an employee gym (complete with swimming pool!)!

"The employees get their own gym!" Joey exclaimed as he stared at the map.

"Kaiba's such a workaholic." Tea sighed, "I bet he does everything he can to keep his employees working here as long as possible."

Yugi and the others walked over to the receptionist, who was busy filing her nails.

"Um…excuse me." Yugi said.

The receptionist immediately screamed and ducked beneath her desk!

"Are you okay?" Tristan asked.

The receptionist peaked out from her hiding place, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, I just had a few…difficulties with kids at my last job." She said nervously, "I worked at Mr. Kaiba's main office downtown until two days ago."

"The one that was set on fire?" Mai asked.

"I really prefer to not think about it." The receptionist explained, "Anyway, you must be Mr. Mutoh. Mr. Kaiba's office is on the top floor. You can take the elevator just around the corner."

As Yugi and the others rounded the corner, they were shocked to see a woman in a white dress standing in front of the elevator as it opened.

"Hey, hold that please!" Tristan shouted as the woman got on.

She quickly held down the 'door open' button, allowing Yugi and his friends on.

"It is good to see you all again." She said calmly.

Yugi looked up at her, and a smile of recognition lit up his features.

"Ishizu!" He exclaimed.

"This just seems to be our day to meet up with old friends again." Tea commented.

"Tell me about," Tristan agreed, "First Mai, now Ishizu. Though if I see Underwood or Raptor I may begin to question our luck."

"We thought you'd have arrived sooner." Yugi commented.

"My flight was delayed." Ishizu admitted.

"Marik and Odion?" Yugi asked.

"Are safe back in Egypt." Ishizu assured him, "Odion is helping Marik practice in hopes that he'll regain his talent naturally."

The elevator was moving swiftly upward, and the numbers on the floor indicator continued to increase. Finally, the image of a Blue Eyes lit up, and the doors opened revealing a long hallway lined with pictures of duel monsters.

"I guess this is our floor." Yugi said as they got off.

"All this time and Kaiba is still crazy about his Blue Eyes huh?" Mai asked.

"Nice to know that some things never change, isn't it?" Joey asked.

The six of them continued in silence, passing images of Vorse Raider, La Jinn, and (of course) several variations of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. At the end, they came to a door marked:

Seto Kaiba

President and CEO

They slowly opened the door, and entered a well furnished office. There were a few more Blue Eyes pictures, but there was also a potted plant in each corner, and a water cooler across the room. Right next to the cooler was an oak desk, behind which sat the young corporate giant.

"Glad to see everyone could make it." Kaiba said.

The other six stepped forward and gathered around the desk. Kaiba pressed a button on the speaker on his desk, which was also currently loaded with several cards and a laptop computer (which was turned off).

"Clara, hold all my calls." Kaiba ordered.

"Yes Mr. Kaiba." The receptionist from earlier responded.

Kaiba looked up at his guests.

"All right then, so what exactly do we know about these guys." He asked.

"What, you ain't even gonna offer us drinks?" Joey asked.

"Don't toy with me, I'm in no mood." Kaiba muttered darkly.

"There's six of them." Yugi announced, "Each one uses a different element as their deck theme. But I think I know who their leader is."

"That 'Lord Needlez' the fire one spoke of before he left." Kaiba guessed.

"Exactly," Yugi said, "And I have some info on him, but I'm not sure if you'll like it…"

----------------------------------------------------

Down in the lobby, Clara (the receptionist) was now painting her nails red, when a cool breeze blew through her chin length blond hair. Looking up, she was surprised to see loose papers, paper clips, and other debris being pulled into a small tornado that appeared on the floor!

The tornado increased in size, and a young girl with short blond hair and a strange outfit jumped out of it!

"Hello all you happy people!" She cheered, "Zeffie, the Elemental Duelist of Wind is here! That means you all have to leave."

Clara was staring at the young girl, when a column of fire shot from the ground and Tim stepped out.

"Let me show you how it's done Zeffie." He smiled.

"Not you again!" Clara shrieked.

Tim smiled as he saw the young woman.

"Oh hi! Remember me?" He mused.

Clara quickly pressed the red alarm button under her desk and then ran out the door screaming.

"I guess so." Zeffie said.

Guards began to plow into the reception area, holding up their weapons. Tim and Zeffie both smiled, then stood back-to-back.

Half the gaurds immediately felt the guns in their hands heat up. They dropped them with shouts of pain. The other half found their weapons pulled from their hands. The guns now floated in mid-air, pointing back at them!

"All clear!" Zeffie shouted.

Four more columns shot up, and the other four Elemental Duelists stepped forward.

"Remember, we each only have one shot at this." Celeste said, "So let's try not to mess this up!"

"We can keep the guards busy for you." Tim explained.

"At least you're good for something." Mako mumbled.

"Let's go!" Celeste shouted.

------------------------------

"And you expect me to believe that some 7000 year-old mummy is taking talent for some as-yet unidentified purpose?" Kaiba asked.

"Even I find this one a little far fetched." Joey stated.

"But still," Mai commented, "There has to be someone who's taking the talent these guys are stealing. Like how Dartz was collecting the souls…"

Mai stopped and cast her gaze to the ground. Joey reached over to put a hand on her shoulder, when an alarm began to blare!

"Now what?" Kaiba shouted over the din.

"Now this!" A new voice shouted.

Joey screamed as the shadow of Kaiba's desk suddenly wrapped around him. He struggled against it, but Brian jumped out and placed one hand on the blob of darkness.

"Excuse me." He said simply.

"JOEY!" Mai and Yugi shouted.

Brian and Joey suddenly vanished into the floor. Suddenly, the water cooler began to rattle. A blast of water shot out, knocking Tristan and Tea out of the way, and slammed into Mai! She was sealed in a blob of water, and Mako materialized next to her. Without a word, the two blasted out the door at breakneck speed.

A flash of light suddenly filled the room.

"Not her!" Tea shouted, "Yugi, watch out!"

The warning came too late. Celeste appeared behind Yugi and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Like Mako, she didn't say a word as she and the boy vanished in a second flash.

"This is bad." Tristan shouted, "This is very, very bad."

"But how could they know about us meeting here?" Kaiba asked.

"Celeste was with us when we planned it." Tea explained, "And she's the one that just grabbed Yugi!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and a huge hole appeared in the side of the office. Outside, blue skies were visible, but so was Gold standing on a platform of grass covered soil.

"WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE AND DESTROYING MY BUILDINGS!" Kaiba screamed.

"Send me a bill." Gold grumbled, "Now I hate to be a pest, but I need to borrow Ms. Ishtar for a bit."

Ishizu stepped forward.

"What are you doing?" Tea shouted.

"It won't do any good to try and resist his wishes." Ishizu explained, "You needn't worry, he won't defeat me."

"We'll see about that." Gold grinned as Ishizu stepped on to his platform, "And we apologize for the trouble Mr. Kaiba. Don't worry, nobodies been hurt, and all the damage can be easily repaired."

"I'm on the top floor!" Kaiba shouted.

"Okay, semi-easily then." Gold stated.

And with that he and Ishizu dropped out of sight.

"What else could possibly go wrong?" Tristan asked.

"Seto!" A voice shouted over the speaker.

"Mokuba, what's wrong?" Kabia shouted.

"I'm safe don't worry, but I've spotted that fire kid who came after you before." Mokuba explained.

Kaiba paled.

"Mokuba, stay away from him!" He ordered.

"No way, he's gonna pay for what he did." Mokuba stated.

There was a click, and Mokuba's voice cut out. Kaiba shot Tristan an ugly look.

"You just had to ask." He growled.

---------------------------------

In the reception area, Tim was sitting in a chair, watching as Zeffie pounded on the snack dispenser.

"Zeffie wants her animal crackers!" The girl shouted, "Zeffie put in money now GIMME!"

Tim chuckled as Zeffie kicked the machine, then finally walked back to him.

"Giving up?" Tim asked.

Zeffie turned back to the machine and shot a blast of wind, shattering the glass covering over the snacks. Cheering, she skipped over and pulled out the bag of sweets.

"Zeffie, did you notice how much those crackers are?" Tim asked.

"The ones at school are fifty cents, and Needlez said that would be about five-hundred yen so…" Zeffie started.

"The crackers are seven-hundred fifty yen." Tim pointed out.

"Oh." Zeffie said.

She walked over to the machine and dropped another coin into it.

"All better!" She said happily as she turned around.

"Got you!" A new voice shouted.

Tim turned around and was surprised to see Mokuba standing behind him. The black haired boy wore the same shit and jeans as he had two days ago, but now had a duel disk on his arm.

"You're the one who attacked my brother Seto!" Mokuba shouted, "He been so shaken by his loss that he just can't seem to duel right. I don't know what that seal card of yours did, but I'm gonna make you sorry!"

Tim smiled and stood up, clicking his disk into place.

"Zeffie, why don't you go find the others. See how they're doing." Tim requested.

"But Zeffie wants to play too." The girl whined.

"Sorry, but this is my match." Tim declared.

"Then let's do this." Mokuba announced

Zeffie sighed and vanished in a column of wind.

--------------------------------------------------

Joey screamed as the shadows around him vanished, and he was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. Brian appeared standing over him with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, should have warned you about the rough landings." Brian explained, "You okay?"

"All things considered, yes." Joey admitted, "But I have a feeling that won't be true for long."

Brian cast his gaze to the floor.

"I don't want to hurt you, none of us do." He confessed, "But for the sake of the world, I'll defeat you."

"Where are we anyway?" Joey asked.

"In the basement of the research facility." Brian explained.

"And what's with the new get-up?" Joey queried, pointing at Brian's costume.

"Rather not talk about it." Brian said simply, "Look, Needlez ordered me to duel you. So can we just get started?"

"If this Needlez ordered you to jump off a bridge, would you?" Joey challenged, "From the sound of things you've been letting him control you for way too long."

"That doesn't concern you." Brian announced as his duel disk activated, "Now let's get started."

Joey reluctantly turned on his disk, and both players drew.

Brian LP: 8000

Joey LP: 8000

"Seeing as I lost our last duel, I think I'll go first." Brian stated as he placed two cards into his disk, "I'll open with Newdoria (1200/800) in attack mode and one card face down."

An orange skinned demon wearing green pants, a black vest, and black straps over its eyes appeared on the field, along with the back of a card lying behind it.

"Oh, and before I forget, I'll activate a very familiar spell card." Brian continued as Joey's eyes widened in fear.

"Oh-no! You don't mean…" Joey began.

Brian placed a card in his disk's field zone and a wall of shadows surrounded the area.

"That's right." Brian said.

Black infinity tattoos appeared on his arms and his eyes turned into pools of shadows, and at the same time a similar marking appeared on the floor.

"I activate the Elemental Seal of Darkness! And now, I end my turn." Brian called out.

Newdoria (1400/800) let out a yell as black marks like Brian's etched themselves onto its body.

Joey drew and smiled as he held up one of his cards.

"All right! Time for your monster to face my Alligator Sword (1500/1200)!" Joey declared as he placed the card on his disk.

A monster that looked like a humanoid alligator wearing armor jumped out of the wall of shadows, brandishing a curved blade.

"Attack!" Joey shouted.

The reptilian monster charged at Newdoria. Just as the scaly swordsman reached it though, the orange demon grabbed hold of it and exploded in a blast of dark energy. When the smoke cleared, both monsters were gone!

"What happened?" Joey asked, staring at his opponent.

Brian smirked and pointed to where his monster once stood.

"It's easy Joey. Newdoria's special ability lets me destroy one of your monsters when he's destroyed in battle. I still take the damage though, so don't worry about that." Brian said.

Brian LP: 7900

Joey LP: 8000

Joey felt like smacking himself, but before he could Brian's face down card turned over and a long rope shot into the wall of shadows around the field.

"Now that I lost a monster in battle I can use my Rope of Life trap." Brian explained, "I just discard my entire hand to bring back the monster I just lost with an extra 800 attack points."

As he slid his cards into the discard slot, the rope pulled it self out of the shadows carrying Newdoria (2200/800) who actually seemed to be quite pleased with the results of the last battle. Brian just smirked again.

"You know the old saying Joey: Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Joey gritted his teeth.

"I lay two cards down and end my turn." He said.

The two cards appeared in front of him.

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Tim and Mokuba had moved away from the snack machine, Tim standing with his back to that area. Both duelists had activated their disks.

"I'm going first, so prepare to lose!" Mokuba snarled as he drew his cards

Mokuba LP: 8000

Tim LP: 8000

"Oh yeah, I'm reeeeeealll intimidated by the Lollipop Guild!" Tim joked as he picked up his opening hand.

Mokuba shot an ugly look at his foe as he placed a card on his disk. In a flash of light a green skinned child, about as tall as Mokuba, wearing black clothes and carrying a cross-shaped sword appeared.

"Say hello to Silent Swordsman Lv 3 (1000/1000)!" Mokuba announced, "And then I'll lay these two cards facedown and end my turn."

Two brown cards appeared behind the child as Tim drew his first card.

"Hello Oompa-Loompa number two!" Tim said as he placed a card on his disk, "Meet Flame Ruler (1500/1600)."

In a burst of fire, the tan man with blue hair materialized! Suddenly a hole opened up beneath the Flame ruler, sending him plummeting off the field!

"Flame Ruler, meet my Bottomless Trap Hole!" Mokuba announced pointing to his now face up card, "So sorry you had to go so soon."

Tim grew deathly serious as the first of Mokuba's cards faded.

"Three cards facedown. End turn." He declared.

Three cards flashed into existence in front of Tim.

Mokuba smiled as he drew, and a glow surrounded his monster!

"Time for you to learn something new about my monster!" Mokuba exclaimed, "You see, when my swordsman is face up on the field, I can sacrifice him during my standby phase to summon his next evolution!"

The light faded away, revealing a taller, older version of the previous monster, carrying a much bigger sword.

"This is my Silent Swordsman Level 5 (2300/1000)." Mokuba explained.

The monster pointed his sword at Tim, when a hole appeared in the floor and swallowed him right up!

"What the!" Mokuba shouted.

Then he saw that a Bottomless Trap Hole card was now face up on Tim's side of the field

"Monkey see, Monkey do." Tim laughed as his trap faded, "And I made a monkey out of you!"

Mokuba glared angrily at his opponent as he placed a new card on his disk. Immediately, a gray and orange baby dragon materialized in front of him.

"That wasn't funny, but a direct attack from my Armed Dragon Lv 3 (1200/600) will be!" Mokuba yelled.

The small dragon took a deep breath, and shot a blast of pressurized air right into Tim's face! Tim flinched and stumbled backward.

Mokuba LP: 8000

Tim LP: 6800

"Good thing it's just a hologram." Tim said, "I guess it's my turn now."

Mokuba nodded and Tim drew his card.

"Now I summon Great Angus (1800/600) in attack mode!" Tim called out as he slammed a card onto his disk.

A huge, red boar-like monster wielding a club jumped onto the field with a ferocious bellow! The Armed Dragon cringed at the sight of the huge beast.

"Plus, I'll use Mystical Space Typhoon on your facedown card." Tim added.

The fire duelist slid a card into his disk, and a blast of wind immediately shot away Mokuba's only facedown card.

"You ever eat beef stew Mokuba?" Tim asked, "And if you did, did you ever see the beef get even? Great Angus attacks your dragon with ferocious charge!"

Great Angus lunged forward, slamming his club into Mokuba's dragon! The little monster roared as it was knocked into the wall behind Mokuba and disappeared!

Mokuba gaze didn't waver though.

"I'll defeat him…For Seto's sake." Mokuba thought

Mokuba LP: 7400

Tim LP: 6800

-------------------------------------

Brian drew his next card and looked it over.

"Well, would you look at that, I got another monster! I summon Mystic Tomato (1600/1100) in attack mode." Brian announced as he placed his card onto the field..

A large tomato with eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth materialized on the field and blew a raspberry at Joey.

"I guess it's time to attack! Go Newdoria!" Brian ordered.

The orange fiend lunged forward, but then one of Joey's cards flipped over!

"Nice try." Joey stated, "But I activate Magic Arm Shield, which lets me take one of your monsters and use it to defend myself!"

A pair of grabber arms appeared on the field and snatched up the Mystic Tomato, which let out a gasp of horror as it was pulled in front of Newdoria. The fiend didn't stop however, and punched the tomato causing it to burst into fragments.

Brian LP: 7300

Joey LP: 8000

Brian just shrugged in a good-natured fashion as a single seed landed on his side of the field. A pool of shadow gathered around the seed, and Brian picked up his deck.

"Hey, what do you think your doing?" Joey yelled.

"Technically, my tomato was destroyed in battle." Brian explained as he placed a card on the field, "Which mean I can use its special ability to special summon a new creature of darkness with 1500 attack points or less. So I choose Witch's Apprentice (1250/500)."

A young woman with white wings, blue robes, a broom stick, and red hair appeared on the field with a fierce look in her shadowy eyes as the tattoo was placed on her body..

"Oh by the way," Brian continued, "It's technically still my battle phase, so my new monster can attack you directly. And she will."

The student Spellcaster let out a gleeful cry as she swung her broom toward Joey and launched a blast of black and purple energy at him. Joey let out a shout of pain as the bolt of magical power struck him in the chest!

Brian LP: 7300

Joey LP: 6750

"All right, it's your move." Brian declared.

Joey reached for his next card. He looked over the cards and smiled as he placed one on to the field.

"Alright, time for you to meet my Goblin Attack Force (2300/0)!" Joey declared.

Immediately, a group of green goblins in gold armor appeared in front of him.

Brian shook his head.

"That won't do you any good." He explained.

Brian pointed to Newdoria (2700/800) who had a black aura surrounded his body.

"What the heck!" Joey shouted, "How did that monster get so strong?"

Brian pointed at Witch's Apprentice, who was muttering something in a strange language.

"Didn't you know? Witch's Apprentice raises the attack of all creatures of darkness by 500 points." Brian explained.

"Well then," Joey said, "I guess that means my goblins will have to take her out for me. Go Goblin Attack Force!"

The green skinned troops lunged forward and slammed Witch's Apprentice into the ground. She screamed just before shattering to pixels.

Brian LP: 6250

Joey LP: 6750

Both Brian and Newdoria (2200/800) seemed a little drained by the attack. Joey quickly slid another card into the magic and trap zone of his duel disk.

"Now that they attacked, my goblins need to go into defense mode." Joey explained, "So I'll lay this card facedown and end my turn."

The goblins all fell to their knees, holding their weapons up in front of them.

Brian drew as a new card appeared in front of Joey, and looked at his one card hand with some disdain.

"Bad draw?" Joey taunted.

Brian frowned, and pointed at Joey's goblins

"Time for me to take care of those goblins; Newdoria attack with Binding Curse!" He ordered.

Newdoria raised its arms and orbs of black energy appeared in his hands. Just before he could fire them though, Joey's card flipped over and both monsters were sent flying into the air!

"You just never learn do you?" Joey asked, "You keep charging right into my traps, and this is a good one known as Zero Gravity. It changes the battle position of every monster on the field, which means Newdoria goes to defense mode, and my goblins go back to attack mode!"

As the monsters returned to the ground the goblins looked ready for battle again, while the demon was on its knees.

Brian had an angry look in his eyes and a scowl on his face, but he took a deep breath and waved his hand toward Joey to end his turn.

Joey drew his next card and looked it over.

"Crud!" Joey thought, "If I attack his Newdoria now it will just take out my monster, but if I don't he could find a way around them!"

Joey looked over his cards and the looked at the facedown card on the field and smiled.

"Okay!" The blond duelist shouted, "Time for me to get on the attack. I summon Marauding Captain (1200/1400) and use his special ability to special summon my Blade Knight (1600/1000)."

A blond soldier carrying two swords jumped onto the field, followed by a warrior in purple armor with a large sword. Joey pointed straight at Brian's monster.

"Marauding Captain, take out his Newdoria now!"

The warrior jumped forward and swung his blades through Newdoria, who retaliated by launching black cords at Blade Knight. The purple armored monster screamed as both he and Newdoria broke into pieces.

"Nice move Joey. Summon twice in one turn to get in an attack on me no matter what I destroy." Brian said in a congratulatory tone.

"Er…Thanks." Joey said, a confused look on his face, "But why are you being so polite now?"

Brian shrugged.

"Just how I am. I can appreciate a good move, even if I'm not the one that made it." He explained, "Like I said, I don't want to take your talent, but it's something that must be done, so I may as well enjoy this while I can."

Joey blinked, remembering the angry look from his last duel with this opponent.

"Well, okay then." He said, deciding not to bring it up, "Goblin Attack Force, attack his LP directly!"

The green monsters jumped toward Brian, when suddenly a fuzzy brown monster jumped in front of them! The Goblin immediately smashed it into a furry little pancake, which gave a feeble squeak before it disappeared. Joey gaped at the site of the monster

"Wasn't that…" He started.

"A Kuriboh? Yep, it was." Brian finished for him. "Useful little fella, I just discard him from my hand and one monster can't hurt me for one turn. Now I believe it's my turn."

The goblins once more fell to their collective knees.

"Of course, that still counts as an attack." Brian pointed out.

"Which means my monster still goes to defense mode, I know." Joey finished.

Joey pointed at his face down card and flipped it over. The image showed a split screen of a young man and a young woman.

"I was hoping to bluff you with this, but I can tell there's no point." He declared, "So I activate Roll of Faith."

A six sided die bounced out of the card and began to skip along the ground.

"Now I roll one die, and whatever number comes up is how many cards I get to draw." Joey explained, "But in return, I have to discard the same number of cards from the top of my deck afterwards."

The die bounced once more, and landed on a two. Joey pulled two cards off his deck, then slid another two from his deck to the graveyard. Joey frowned as he looked over his cards.

"That's all, your move." Joey announced.

Brian drew and smiled at the card.

"Fine by me." Brian said, "I summon the monster I just drew, Giant Orc (2400/0)!"

A grotesquely fat monster carrying a bone club materialized in front of Brian who pointed toward Joey's Marauding Captain.

"Orc, attack his monster with bone club beatdown." Brian ordered.

The orc nodded and stomped forward. He was soon standing in front of the captain, who looked up in fear. The orc swung his club down, smashing in the head of the blond warrior and sending a bone shaking shock through Joey.

Brian LP: 6250

Joey LP: 5550

"For someone who doesn't want to hurt me you're sure good at it!" Joey complained, "If you need talent so badly why don't you just use your own?"

"I can't." Brian explained, "The talent must be taken in a duel, with neither player holding back, while the seal is in play."

Brian looked up a glared angrily at the seal around him.

"I'm sorry, I hate this whole situation as much as you do." He sighed, "But I'm trying to make the world paradise, so I hope you'll forgive us."

-----------------------------------

Back in the lobby, Tim smiled as his Great Angus returned to his side of the field. Then he noticed that a huge, golden worm had appeared in front of Mokuba (huge for a worm that is, it was still about the same size as the boy).

"What in the name of all that is flammable is that thing?" Tim asked

"It's a Wicked Token (1000/1000)." Mokuba explained, "You see, that facedown card was Statue of the Wicked. When it's destroyed without being turned over, I get to special summon one of these tokens to the field to protect me!"

"That's…interesting." Tim said, "I end my turn, but why is everything you play so…short?"

Mokuba seemed to have smoke coming out of his ears as he drew his next card.

"I think you should be more concerned with the fact that, unlike Scapegoats, I can sacrifice this token for something stronger!" He yelled as he slammed a card onto his disk.

The golden worm vanished, and was replaced by a large black-and-red dragon with wicked looking spikes and blades all over its body!

Mokuba smiled.

"Meet my Armed Dragon Lv 5 (2400/1700)!" He shouted, "And now I'll have him destroy your oversized beef stew pot!"

The dragon took in a huge gulp of air, and prepared to launch it. As it attacked however, a shimmering wall of glass burst up in front of Tim! The dragon's breath struck its own reflection in the glass, and a series of cracks appeared on its body!

"Now don't go to pieces on us." Tim smiled.

Great Angus suddenly jumped forward and smashed Armed Dragon (1200/1700) into pieces!

"Oops, too late!" Tim laughed.

Mokuba LP: 6800

Tim LP: 6800

"What did you do!" Mokuba shouted.

"You've never heard of Mirror Wall?" Tim asked, pointing at his trap card.

Mokuba glared at the trap, emblazoned with a picture of a crystal barrier. He quickly placed two cards into his disk.

"Two cards facedown, your move." He announced as two more cards appeared in front of him.

Tim drew and looked at Mirror Wall.

"Seeing as I don't need this anymore, I won't pay the two-thousand life points for it." Tim stated.

The trap card immediately shattered into dust!

"Instead, I'll play my Hand of Nepthys." Tim stated as he placed a new card onto his disk.

A woman in a golden bird mask jumped onto the field, and a golden flame descended around her and Great Angus!

"Now I'll sacrifice her and Great Angus to search my deck…" Tim continued as he slid a card from his deck and placed it on the field.

A bright, golden light flared up, absorbing Great Angus and the woman, and a huge golded bird flew onto the field.

"And summon the Sacred Phoenix of Nepthys (2400/1600)!" Tim finished.

Mokuba was trembling a little as Tim slid his last card into the disk.

"Now I'll activate Meteor of Destruction!" Tim shouted.

A huge red fireball materialized above Time and swooped down. Mokuba screamed as it slammed into him, knocking him onto his back!

Mokuba LP: 5800

Tim LP: 6800

As Mokuba got back to his feet and tried to catch his breath, Tim's facedown card flipped over!

"And next, Fire Darts!" Tim continued, "I roll three dice, and you lose 100 LP times the total amount I roll! Of course, I can only activate it if I don't have any cards in my hand, but that's no problem at the moment."

Three flaming red dice bounced out of the card and on to the field. Mokuba held his breath as the numbers three, two, and four appeared on the dice. Nine tiny fireballs shot from the card, striking Mokuba all over his body and forcing him to his knees.

Mokuba LP: 4900

Tim LP: 6800

"Now I'll attack! Go Phoenix, fiery wing beat!" Tim ordered.

The bird flapped its wings, sending a wave of fire at Mokuba! Mokuba braced himself again, and the wave of heat rolled over his body.

Mokuba LP: 2500

Tim LP: 6800

"End turn." Tim stated.

Mokuba was panting as he drew his next card.

"About time I used my two facedown cards," he said as he placed a card into his disk, "but first I activate Card of Sanctity!"

A flash of golden light surrounded the field, and both duelists drew their cards. As they did Mokuba's two cards on the field turned over!

Tim gasped in shock as his cards began to glow and several cards appeared floating in front of Mokuba. At the same time, a toxic purple mist settled on Tim's side of the field.

"Explain yourself!" Tim shouted, "If this fog was any thicker it would be just like your brother's skull!"

"DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT MY BIG BROTHER!" Mokuba shouted, his face contorted in rage.

"Too late!" Tim joked.

Mokuba took a deep breath and adopted a smug smile.

"The cards you have in your hand are Solar Flare Dragon, Pot of Greed, Premature Burial, Magic Cylinder, Dark Room of Nightmare, and Raging Flame Sprite." Mokuba stated.

Tim's eyes went wide as he looked over his hand.

"Whoa, are you using duel monster or tarot cards?" Tim asked.

"Actually I'm using my trap card, The Eye of Truth!" Mokuba explained as pointed at the first of his cards, "It lets me see every card in your hand, but you gain 1000 LP for every spell you hold during your standby phase."

"I've got no problem with that." Tim smiled.

"You will in a minute. I coupled it with Bad Reaction to Simochi, so now you lose 1000 LP for each spell you hold!" Mokuba announced, pointing at his second card.

Tim shook his head.

"So young, yet so evil. Glad you're not the one with Pyrokinesis!" He sighed.

Mokuba laughed.

"You're going to regret hurting my brother. I set one monster in defense mode, and set one card face down. Your turn." He said with a smile as two more cards appeared in front of him.

Tim drew his card and his eyes widened as he saw his Seal of Fire!

"Damn! Mokuba can see this!" He realized, seeing Mokuba's interested look.

At the same time, a beeping began to sound across the room. Tim looked at his LP counter as it dropped by 4000!

Mokuba LP: 2500

Tim LP: 2800

-----------------------------------------------

Joey looked toward Brian's side of the field. The orc was on one knee in defense mode.

"Looks like your monster can't stay in attack mode after a fight." Joey stated, "So let's see what sort of damage I can do now that your only monster is in defense mode!"

The tow-headed duelist drew, and looked over his hand with a slight frown

"Drat, no monsters I can summon." He thought as he looked at his defense position goblins.

"Since I can't change the position of my goblins this turn, I guess that I'll just lay this card face down and end my turn." Joey announced.

The new card materialized right behind Joey's only remaining monster.

"Draw!" Brian shouted as he pulled the top card off of his deck. He looked at it with a grim smile.

"Well would you look at this! It seems that Lady Luck is favoring me today Joey, because I just drew my Card of Sanctity!"

A flash of golden light illuminated the basement, and both duelists quickly drew their hands up to six cards and Brian considered his options. With a nod, he held up two cards.

"First I'm going to use Premature Burial." Brian declared as he slid a card into his disk.

Brian LP: 5450

Joey LP: 5550

Two black ghost connected by their tails appeared on the field and began to spiral around each other, giggling madly, and Brian's nose began to bleed from the LP drop.

"Meet my Double Coston (1700/1650)." Brian declared, "I discarded them earlier when I used Rope of Life."

"I kinda figured." Joey said.

"Now I'll sacrifice my Giant Orc to summon Vampire Lord (2200/1500)!" Brian continued.

Giant Orc vanished and in his place a huge black coffin shot out of the ground. It slowly opened up, revealing an extremely pale man with green hair, a black tuxedo, and a cape that resembled a pair of bat's wings. The new monster grinned, showing off its blood soaked fangs as the dark tattoo was carved into his body and its eyes became empty pools of shadow.

Joey just stared at the beast in horror.

"Oh man!" He shouted, "That is one seriously unfriendly looking monster!"

"I know what you mean." Brian said, "He's looked this way for a while now."

Brian's crystal shimmered a bit and he pointed straight ahead.

"But I can't hold back now! Double Coston, destroy his Goblin Attack Force!" Brian ordered.

The conjoined ghosts giggled as they swooped forward and separated, connected only by a thing black thread. They swooped in a circle around Joey's monster, trapping all of the goblins with the black string and cutting them all in half!

"Now my Vampire Lord, attack Joey directly with children of the night!" He ordered.

Vampire Lord opened his cape, and a swarm of bats jumped out! Joey quickly tapped a button on his disk, and his facedown card lifted up and sprayed a beam of white light all over his body just before the bats hit.

Brian LP: 5450

Joey LP: 7350

Brian stared at the LP score in shock.

"What did you do?" The dark duelist shouted, "You have almost as many LP as when we started!"

Joey smiled as he pointed to his former face down card.

"Simple," he said, "I just used my Nutrient Z trap card, and it gave me 4000 LP since I was about to take more than 2000 points of damage. Your vampire actually helped me out."

Brian's crystal was beginning to shine again, and this time he took several breaths before the glow died down.

"Well he's not as helpful as you think!" He declared, "Since he did damage your life points, you have to take one type of card of my choice from your deck and send it to the graveyard. I choose spell card."

Joey slid his deck out of its slot, and looked over his cards. Finally, he took out his Legendary Sword and slid it into his graveyard. Then he shuffled and replaced his deck.

"Now I set this card face down and end my turn." Brian declared as yet another card appeared in front of him.

Joey drew and looked over his seven card hand. He quickly placed on card onto his disk and smiled.

"I summon Sasuke Samurai #4 (1200/1200) in attack mode!" Joey announced.

A small man with a round yellow head and wearing samurai armor appeared on the field. He carried a huge pike, and pointed it at Brian's monsters.

"What's he going to do?" Brian asked.

"Attack your vampire, that's what!" Joey announced, "Go samurai!"

Little warrior jumped toward Vampire Lord, his pike wavering up and down. Suddenly, a coin fell out of thin air and landed in Joey's hand.

"What's going on?" Brian asked, "Does that monster have a way to beat mine?"

"You bet he does." Joey said with a grin, "Whenever my samurai battles a monster, I can flip a coin. If I call it right, then the other monster is destroyed with out a fight. So I call heads!"

Joey tossed the coin in the air. It landed, bounced, and stopped on heads!

"NO!" Brian shouted.

The samurai's pike jammed into his opponent's chest, and Vampire Lord screamed as he shattered into pieces.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Joey cheered.

Then he noticed Brian had a look of pure rage plastered to his face. The teen's crystal was shimmering with bright purple light, and he was pointing to his facedown cards.

"I'm not going to let you get away with that Joey!" Brian roared, "I activate Michizure! Since I lost a monster, you lose one too!"

The facedown card lifted and a pair of hands shot forward, grabbing hold of the samurai. The little monster groaned before shattering apart.

"Uh-oh." Joey thought.

"I lay one card facedown and end my turn!" Joey declared.

He slid a new card into his disk, and it materialized in front of him.

Brian drew and a rumbling noise filled the area. Suddenly, a rumbling noise filled the area, and Vampire Lord burst out of the ground!

"What the heck!" Joey shouted.

"What's wrong Joey, didn't you know vampire's are very hard to kill?" Brian taunted, "My Vampire Lord can't be beat by spell, trap, or monster effects. Any time he is he just comes back on my next turn.

"Oh yeah." Joey muttered.

"I've seen Kaiba use that, I should have known that!" Joey thought, "On the other hand it was a long time ago."

Joey's thoughts were interrupted by Brian.

"Say good night Wheeler. Vampire Lord, attack his life points directly!" Brian shouted.

The undead creature lunged forward, when Joey's facedown card suddenly flipped up!

"I'm not out of tricks yet." Joey smirked, "I activate Call of the Haunted to revive Sasuke Samurai #4 (1200/1200)!"

The yellow headed samurai appeared again in a purple mist, and Joey held up a new coin.

"Since I have a monster on the field now, that means you need to attack him." Joey pointed out, "And that means I get to flip another coin. This time I call tails!"

Joey tossed the coin up, and it landed on tails!

"SON OF A…!" Brian screamed.

The last part of his statement was drowned out by his Vampire's death scream.

"You wanna try that again?" Joey asked.

"I won't risk my Double Coston." Brian declared, "I've got bigger plans for them. But your luck can't protect you forever Wheeler!"

Brian slid a card into his disk, and it appeared in front of him.

"One more card facedown, now it's your turn." Brian growled.

Joey drew a new card and smiled.

"Alright! Time for you to learn to curb that temper of yours. I activate Star Blaster!" The blond duelist announced, sliding a card into his disk.

A strange creature wearing a half-red, half-black outfit jumped onto the field. In its hands was a similarly colored die. As it rolled the die, Joey's samurai vanished into a mysterious mist along with Call of the Haunted.

"Now then!" Joey stated, "I sacrifice a monster on the field, roll one die, and add the result to the star level of the monster I sacrificed. Then, I can summon a monster with a number of stars equal to the total!"

The die skipped around, and settled on a three.

"Yes!" Joey shouted, "Since my samurai was a four star monster, I can now summon a seven star monster, and I have just the one in mind."

He placed a card onto the disk where his monster had been.

"My Red Eyes Black Dragon!" Joey exclaimed

With a loud roar, the giant dragon swooped out of the mist that had consumed the warrior!

Brian gasped in shock at the sight of the beast, his crystal flaring with purple light.

"I don't believe it!" He thought, "He actually brought out that dragon AGAIN! And what's worse is he thinks it will save him! I am the master of dark monsters!"

Brian looked at a card in his hand and smiled inwardly.

"And on my next turn I'll show him just what that means!"

"Time to take down Double Coston!" Joey shouted as his dragon charged up a fire ball, "Inferno Fire…"

Suddenly Brian's facedown card lifted, and hundreds of black chains shot out from the surrounding shadows grabbing hold of the Red Eyes! The dragon let out a roar of anger as its arms, legs, wings, and finally mouth were all tightly bound and the chains held it about a foot off the ground.

Brian's mouth twisted into a cruel grin as he saw Joey's confused expression.

"Allow me to explain Wheeler." Brian offered, "You see, your dragon's attack gave me the only reason I needed to activate my trap card: Shadow Spell! Now your monster loses 700 attack points and it can't change its battle position or attack."

The Red Eyes (1700/2000) let out a muffled growl as it struggled against the chains holding it prisoner.

Joey stared at his helpless dragon and glared at Brian.

"Just you wait." The blond duelist growled, "When my dragon gets free, you're going down! But for now, I'll have to end my turn."

Brian drew his next card with a grin.

"Your dragon isn't going to get free." The duelist laughed as a black coffin reappeared in front of him and the Vampire Lord (2200/1500) rose out looking just as unfriendly as ever.

"Oh great, he's back." Joey muttered sarcastically, "Don't you know any other tricks?"

"Actually, I do." Brian grinned, "And it involves a monster you should be familiar with."

Joey gave Brian a confused stare.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Brian smirked.

"You think that you're the only one with a Red Eyes?" He queried.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Tim was glancing from his life point counter to the cards in his hand, with one thought running through his mind.

"If I play Seal of Fire I'll feel all the damage." Tim reasoned, "Looking at my LP, I think I'd rather avoid that!"

Tim slid his Pot of Greed into his disk. The green pot materialized on the field, spat out two holographic cards, and vanished.

"You know what card I'm playing." Tim said as he drew two cards, "So I don't think I have to explain the effect."

Mokuba's eyes went wide as he saw a Blazing Inpachi and Mystical Space Typhoon appear in his opponent's hand!

"Oh no! My combo!" Mokuba thought as the Space Typhoon disappeared from Tim's hand and materialized on the field! In an instant, the Eye of Truth was gone, blasted away by a tornado.

Mokuba stared blankly at Tim, then began to laugh!

"Ha, what an idiot!" Mokuba laughed, "If you had destroyed Simochi you could have recovered all those life points!"

"Secrecy is the heart of deception." Tim mused, "And deception is the heart of warfare."

"What's that mean!" Mokuba shouted.

"If you have to ask, you don't deserve to have it explained to you." Tim explained

"You aren't telling me anything!" Mokuba complained

"Exactly!" Tim laughed

"AAARGGH!" Mokuba screamed

Tim smiled as he placed two more cards into his disk.

"I play my Dark Room of Nightmare, and lay this card facedown. Then summon Blazing Inpachi!" He said.

In a blast of flame, the huge burning statue appeared. Behind it appeared a facedown card, and the image of a dark stone room.

"Now go Sacred Phoenix, attack his facedown monster!" Tim ordered.

The phoenix shot another blast of fire. As it hit Mokuba's card, it was revealed to be a treasure chest lined with sharp teeth!

"Got you!" Mokuba laughed, "My monster was Dark Mimic Lv 1, and when he's flipped, I get to draw one card!"

Mokuba drew his card and smiled as he looked at it.

"Inpachi, your turn!" Tim shouted.

The robot charged forward, but was stopped and exploded into splinters when Mokuba's facedown card flipped over.

"Your monster just hit my Sakuretsu Armor. My turn?" Mokuba asked.

"Sure Mokuba, make your move." Tim said.

Mokuba smiled as he drew his next card.

"This is too perfect!" He shouted, "I'll start with Card of Demise!"

Mokuba placed the card into his disk, and slid five cards off of his deck.

"Now I activate, Dian Keto the Cure Master!" Mokuba continued as he placed another card into his disk.

A healing light shone down over Mokuba, and his life point counter ticked upward.

Mokuba LP: 3500

Tim LP: 2800

"Next comes my Tribute to the Doomed to destroy your Sacred Phoenix!" Mokuba yelled.

Mokuba placed another card onto his disk, and slid one into his graveyard. A series of bandages wrapped around the Phoenix, and it vanished in a blast of pixels!

"You slimy little…" Tim started, "Wait, what am I worried for, my phoenix will come back next turn."

"I'm not done yet!" Mokuba declared, "Now I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv 4 (1600/1000)!"

A silver colored monster that looked more like a chicken than a dragon (and was about the same size) jumped onto the field.

"Now I use Level Up, letting me sacrifice Horus Lv 4 to evolve him into Horus Lv 6 (2300/1600)!"

Mokuba slid a card into his disk, and then took a card from his deck. He swapped it for the monster on his disk, and the bird spread its wings, growing larger with each second until it was twice Tim's size.

"Horus Lv 6 is immune the effects of spells." Mokuba explained, "But I can still sacrifice him to use their effects! So I use my second Level Up and sacrifice him to change him into Horus Lv 8 (3000/1800)!"

Mokuba changed the cards on his disk again, and the monster grew until it was twice as big as it had been before! It now looked more like a giant hawk or falcon, and it didn't seem very pleased.

Mokuba laughed as he placed one more card into his disk.

"Time to end this!" He shouted, "I'll beat you, and do it with the card you used on my brother! I activate: EXCHANGE!"

Tim winced as he and Mokuba walked toward each other and held up their hands. Mokuba quickly plucked the Seal of Fire from Tim's grasp, and Tim just sighed and took a De-spell card.

"Mokuba, don't use the seal. It's too powerful for you." Tim warned.

"You mean it's too powerful for YOU!" Mokuba shouted as he placed the card into his field slot, "This duel is over, and with this card you'll go through whatever you put my brother through! Now go ELEMENTAL SEAL OF FIRE!"

The red circle appeared on the ground, and Mokuba screamed as the fire tattoo was etched onto his body and his hair turned flaming red and stuck straight up! At the same time, Horus (3200/1800) screeched as the markings appeared on it!

"More red there then in a ketchup factory!" Tim said to himself.

Mokuba looked up, an angry flame burning in his eyes.

"This…feels…FANTASTIC!" He shouted! "I'm gonna take you down, and make it hurt! I discard Silent Magician Lv 8 (3500/1000) from my hand to subtract 1750 from your LP!"

Tim screamed and fell on to his back as a column of flame burst up around him.

Mokuba LP: 3500

Tim LP: 1050

"Good thing he didn't take my crystal." Tim thought as he got up, "It can still protect me from the flames."

Mokuba laughed as he pointed straight ahead.

"You're finished! Horus, ATTACK!" Mokuba ordered.

The dragon unleashed a huge blast of black flames from its mouth, which were intercepted by a pair of tubes that appeared in front of Tim!

"Did you forget about Magic Cylinder? I mean, you saw that I had it. And you just saw my hand now so you must have known that I played it." Tim explained, "That seal clouds your judgment, that's why it takes self control to handle it."

"It doesn't matter." Mokuba scoffed, "Horus isn't strong enough to beat me!"

"Not alone. But with Dark Room of Nightmare, and the fact that my Cylinder changes the attack into effect damage against you so Dark Room of Nightmare adds 300 to that total. That means your going to take about…well, let me ask: Did you order original, extra crispy, Cajun, or butt-whup?" Tim pointed out

Mokuba's eyes turned as wide as dinner plates as Tim's spell card began to glow, and the returning fireball swelled up in size.

"You mean…I LOST!" Mokuba screamed.

Tim smiled.

"Survey says…" He called.

Mokuba screamed as the black flames surrounded his body! He fell to the ground, wisps of smoke rising from his prone form.

Mokuba LP: 0

Tim LP: 1050

Tim smiled, "Oh yeah…"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"You have a Red Eyes!" Joey exclaimed.

"That's right." Brian nodded, "It's not a first edition like yours is though. I got it and my Vampire Lord after I won at a card shop tournament."

Brian sighed as he turned the card toward Joey. Joey looked over the picture and realized Brian was right. While his own card showed the dragon in flight, Brian's looked like it was preparing to breathe fire on something.

"It wasn't easy to win that tournament." Brian explained, "The owner of the shop had received them as part of a promotional set, and he offered them as a prize. Everyone wanted these rare monster cards, and so they spent hours working on their decks. I was determined to get them though. It felt like they belonged with me."

"Why's that?" Joey asked.

"Because I didn't want them just because they were rare." Brian explained as his crystal dimmed, "Vampire Lord and the Red Eyes Black Dragon had been my favorite monsters ever since I'd seen them used by you and Kaiba. I've always felt that dark monsters like the ones in my deck got a bad rap, just because they were dark."

"I wonder where someone would get that idea." Joey muttered sarcastically.

Brian just glared at Joey as his crystal flared up again.

"My point is I won these cards so I could someday use them to prove darkness isn't always evil. And when I've had a hand in taking the world into a state of supreme peace, everyone will realize that darkness can be just as good as light!" Brian shouted, "Now then, I sacrifice my Double Coston to summon my own Red Eyes Black Dragon (2600/2000)!"

The two black ghosts laughed, then swirled into the air and vanished. Joey just stared as his own dragon's reflection stepped out of the shadows behind his opponent and roared as black tattoos appeared on it.

"Wait…" Joey said, "How did you summon that? It costs two sacrifices!"

Brian just laughed.

"It's easy! Double Coston counts as two sacrifices when I use it summon a creature of darkness like my Red Eyes!" Brian explained.

Joey just drew back a little.

"I've got a feeling that this is gonna hurt…" He thought.

"Now my Red Eyes (2600/2000) will destroy your pathetic excuse for a monster (1700/2000)!" Brian shouted, "INFERNO FIRE BLAST!"

Brian's Red Eyes roared and launched a huge blast of fire and dark energy at Joey's copy of the beast which let out a final whimper as it burst into scaly shards.

"Now it's Vampire Lord's turn! V-lord, dinner is served!" Brian declared, pointing at Joey.

Joey just stared in shock at the point where his dragon once stood, not making a sound until he screamed with pain as Vampire Lord (2200/1500) bit into his neck.

Brian LP: 5450

Joey LP: 4250

Joey clutched at the bite marks in his neck and batted away a few dying embers from his dragon's remains.

"I'm not out of this yet!" He said, "I still have plenty of LP left, which means that I can turn this around!"

Brian shook his head.

"Well I'll just have to cut down the odds that you'll do that with my vampire's special ability. Since he damaged your LP, I think I'll declare trap!"

Joey grumbled a little as he looked through his deck and pulled out his Compensation Mediation card, which he quickly moved to his discard pile. Joey drew his next card, looking hopefully at it. A smile spread across Joey's face as he placed a monster on to the field.

"Now you're toast if you thought Red Eyes was my only powerful monster!" Joey declared as he slammed a card onto his disk, "I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600) in attack mode!"

A warrior in shiny black armor appeared in front of Joey, pointing its sword straight at Brian's monsters.

Brian just started to laugh again.

"Hahahahahahaha! You must be joking!" He guffawed, "That creature is way too weak to take down any of my monsters!"

Joey smiled.

"You're right." He said, "That's why I'm activating my Release Restraint card. It lets me unlock Gearfried's true power!"

Joey slid a card into his disk, and a bright, white glow surrounded Gearfried, whose armor started to disappear into the light. Brian and his monsters all did their best to shield their eyes from the illumination, and soon the light began to die down, revealing a muscular man, with pointed ears and carrying a shimmering sword.

"Meet Gearfried the Sword Master (2600/2200)!" Joey announced as he slid another card, "And now I equip him with Lightning Blade, boosting his attack points by 800!"

The warrior held up a new sword, this one was a wide blade that was crackling with electricity.

"Hey Gearfried, why not show that dragon your special talent?" Joey asked.

Gearfried (3400/2200) gave his weapon a swing, slashing towards Brian's dragon and a blast of lightning shot out! The dragon roared as it was struck and shattered like a glass figurine. Joey smiled as he pointed at the Vampire Lord.

"Nice work Gearfried, now attack his bat boy!" Joey ordered.

Gearfried obliged by jumping forward, stabbing Vampire Lord (2200/1500) in the chest. The zombie let out a pathetic moan as it shattered into a bunch of pixels and disappeared for good.

"Hang on!" Brian countered, "Your monster had just attacked! He destroyed my dragon!"

Joey shook his head.

"That wasn't an attack. Gearfried lets me wipe out one monster you control whenever I equip him with a new spell card. I used that power to destroy your dragon since I knew that Vampire Lord (2200/1500) would just come back." Joey explained.

Brian LP: 4250

Joey LP: 4250

Brian's body was shaking out of anger and his crystal's glow was becoming impossibly bright.

"Hey!" Joey said, "Calm down alright? It's just a game after all."

"Just a game!" Brian spat, "Did you forget what's on the line in this duel thanks to my Seal of Darkness?"

Joey shook his head, and shot Brian a cold stare.

"No, I remember. If I lose the duel, I lose my talent. But I've been in worse positions before while dueling, and you know what? I never acted up like you did. It just takes all the fun out of the game!" Joey shouted.

Brian stared at Joey, his crystal beginning to dim a little bit, and some of his anger seemed to disappear.

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"What's this?" Needlez muttered.

He was back in his hideout, and floating in front of him were four circles of light. Each one was currently relaying the image of a duel to him, though he couldn't here what was being said.

For just a second, thought, it had looked to him like one of the matches had shifted out of focus.

"I think I almost lost my connection with one of my duelists." He muttered, "But that can't be as long as they still have their crystals. Hmmm…Better safe than sorry."

Needlez pulled out his pocket watch and the stone set in it began to shimmer. He grinned as the images from the crystals became more defined.

"This should be good." Needlez smiled, "Now if only I had a wee bit of popcorn…"

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Brian's crystal began to shimmer with increased power, and a look of rage returned to his face.

"I won't get drawn in by that!" He shouted, drawing a new card, "You destroyed my favorite monster and YOU WILL PAY!"

Joey cringed a little at his opponent's reaction.

"Geez! This guy needs some anger management courses. That, and he should lay off the polish on that jewel of his…Hey wait!" Joey's eyes widened as he stared at Brian's necklace (despite the fact that he was seeing multiple spots because of it), "That's it! Whenever he gets mad, that crystal starts to glow. But maybe it isn't glowing 'cause he's mad, maybe it's what's making him go nuts!"

Brian, in the meantime, held up another card.

"I can't afford to let you keep that swordsman on the field Wheeler, so I activate the spell Dark Core!" Brian shouted as he plugged the card into his disk.

Brian slid a card into his graveyard, and an orb of black energy burst up around Gearfried, who let out a strangled cry before disappearing into thin air.

"What!" Joey shouted, snapping out of his thoughts, "How did you do that?"

Brian laughed in response.

"You should have paid attention Wheeler. Dark Core lets me remove a monster from the game at the cost of one card from my hand! Now I'll summon the last card in my hand. Meet Chaos Necromancer (200/0)!" Brian explained.

An eerie mist spread across the field. Joey looked around nervously as an evil cackle filled the area. And then, out of the shadows, stepped a scrawny figure with snow white hair and sharp claws on its hands, wearing armor and a torn cape.

Joey stared at the monster, and then seeing its stats on the card itself let out a sigh of relief.

"You had me spooked for a moment." Joey confessed, "But your monster barely has any attack points!"

Brian just shook his head.

"How many times have you said that and been proven wrong? My monster has a powerful special ability. It gains 300 attack points for every monster in my graveyard!" Brian shouted, "There are eight monsters in my graveyard, giving him an extra 2400 attack points!

The necromancer (2600/0) began to cackle again as a dark aura surrounded his body.

"Now Chaos Necromancer, attack Wheeler directly with spiritual claw slash!" The monster lunged forward, swinging its claws right through Joey's torso.

Brian LP: 4350

Joey LP: 1650

Joey felt weakened by the attack. Even though it hadn't left any physical damage, he felt as though he had been drained by the assault. Joey drew his next card, fighting off waves of nausea, and looked at the card he held.

"Card of Sanctity!" He thought, "This would give me a hand, but it would help him out to. And if he keeps up this intense pace, I might not be able to last. Wait, he seemed to get a little less angry when I talked to him before. Maybe a part of him is fighting against that jewel!"

Joey looked at his opponent and held up his new card.

"Okay, it's my turn to play Card of Sanctity!" He announced.

Once more both duelists held six cards in their hands. Joey looked over his options, struggling to come up with a plan. Finally he looked up at Brian.

"You said you didn't like to use scare tactics, and you didn't want to hurt me." Joey said, "But you sure haven't been backing up your claims much! All you've been doing is playing out of anger."

Brian blinked in surprise, then sneered.

"You gonna make your move or preach to me about dueling ethics?" He shouted.

Joey sighed.

"That's what I'm talking about. You were actually a better opponent earlier on in the duel before that crystal started manipulatin' your emotions!" Joey shouted.

Brian's face seemed to soften a bit, and a small voice started to speak up.

"What if he's right?" The voice asked, "The same thing happened last time we dueled. And it happened to everyone else too!"

Brian suddenly shook his head.

"Your little mind games won't work Wheeler!" The dark duelist shouted.

But even as he did, the crystals glow began to fade again. Only this time it wasn't returning.

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"What in the blazes…" Needlez grumbled as the image of Brian's duel faded again. "Oh dear, it would seem that my Duelist of Darkness is starting to resist the gem."

The silver haired man held up his watch, focusing the energies from his crystal onto Brian. Blue-green light flowed from the crystal to Brian's duel, but then turned away!

"That's very interesting…" Needlez mused, gently turning the pocket watch over in his hands, "Well, I had my doubts about Brian, but if this keeps up…"

Needlez closed his eyes, projecting his thoughts.

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Tim stepped over Mokuba's prone form, and carefully took his seal card out of the disk.

As he did Mokuba stirred slightly.

"Big brother, I'm sorry." He whispered before he passed out again.

Tim looked down at the boy and frowned.

"Sorry I had to do that Mokuba, but I have an older brother to look after to." He sighed, "Just be glad Needlez let me keep my power to break the seal. We don't need any more fire talent. I just hope Brian…"

"Ah yes, about Brian." Needlez's voice echoed.

Tim looked up at the sphere of blue-green light.

"I think ye should go to the basement, yer brother's loyalties have been called into question." Needlez explained.

"Brian? No way!" Tim thought.

"See for yourself." Needlez suggested.

Tim glanced at the orb, then vanished in a column of flames.

-------------------------------------

Joey held up a card from his hand.

"I think that you've been letting the darkness control you for too long, so I'm gonna have to use an old friend of ours to help you conquer it. I summon Freed the Brave Wanderer (1700/1500)!" Joey declared as he placed the card on to his disk.

Once more, the silver armored soldier came to the field. Joey slid two cards from his graveyard, and an aura of light emanated from Freed.

"I'm sure you remember what Freed does when I remove two light monsters from play." Joey grinned.

Brian nodded.

"He destroys one monster that's stronger than he is." Brian responded numbly.

Freed lunged forward, swinging his blade straight through the Chaos Necromancer. The creature screamed, then shattered apart.

"Now attack directly!" Joey ordered.

Freed jumped forward, and swung his blade at Brian. The dark duelist lifted up his shield of shadows again, and the sword bounced off.

Brian LP: 2650

Joye LP: 1650

Brian blinked as his crystal's glow faded a little more. Rather than getting angry, he actually seemed a bit calmer (though it was hard to tell since his eyes were still shadows).

"I end my turn." Joey declared.

Brian drew his next card, looking over the seven he now held, and placed three cards of his own onto the disk.

"I set one monster in defense mode, and lay two cards face down. That's all Wheeler." He stated.

The cards materialized, and Joey drew.

"Perfect!" He exclaimed, "Hey, tell me what you think of this move. I summon Command Knight (1200/1900) in attack mode. And now she gives 400 extra attack points to every warrior on the field."

A female warrior dressed in brown and red leather armor appeared, and Freed (2100/1500) stood at attention. Command knight drew a golden sword, and Joey pointed straight ahead

"Alright! Freed attack his face down monster!"

The blond warrior jumped forward and swung his sword through the facedown card, revealing a yellow mask which shattered apart.

"That was my Mask of Darkness (1100/400)." Brian explained as he pulled a card out of his grave, "When it's flipped over, I get to take a trap back from my graveyard and add it to my hand. I'll pick my Waboku trap card, which I discarded when I played Dark Core."

"That's no problem." Joey said, "Now Command Knight (1600/1900) can attack you directly!"

The female warrior now dashed forward and swung his sword at Brian, a barrier of shadows preventing the sword from reaching his body but still leaving the duelist exhausted from the effort. Brian was gasping for breath, but a smile was penetrating his face as Joey slid another card into his disk.

"One card facedown, I end my turn." Joey announced.

Brian LP: 1050

Joey LP: 1650

Brian drew his next card as his crystal's glow became almost none existent.

"That was a good move." He thought, "I'll need something good to counter that. I can't believe that I just kept rushing in without thinking all that time! Joey's right, this crystal has been affecting the way I think, and the same is probably true of the others!"

The dark duelist looked at his hand and smiled.

"Well Joey, that was impressive. But your monsters aren't protected from spells, so I'll activate Lightning Vortex to destroy every monster you control at the cost of one card from my hand!" Brian called out.

Brian slid his Waboku trap into the graveyard…

And a huge blast of electricity filled Joey's half of the field! Both of his monsters vanished in a burst of lightning!

Brian gave his opponent a guilty smile.

"I actually feel bad about doing this, but I don't have a choice. The seal is in place so there has to be a winner, and neither of us is allowed to hold back. I use my first face down card Dust Tornado!"

Brian's facedown card lifted, and a blast of wind shot Joey's face down card from the field.

"And finally I activate my other face down card Contract with the Dark Master! I'll give up Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands and my second Giant Orc from my hand to bring in Dark Master-Zorc (2900/1500)!" Brian announced

The facedown card lifted, and the shrouded figure appeared. Brian slid two cards into his graveyard, and the figure grew and expanded into the bronze skinned demon. The black marks once more covered its body, and it turned its gaze on Joey.

"Now the duel ends with this attack!" Brian shouted, "Zorc, finish this now with symphony of shadows!"

The dark lord raised up one hand and shot a blast of shadows toward Joey. Suddenly a strange, white aura began to glow around the blond duelist.

"It ain't gonna be that easy." Joey stated as he slid a card from his graveyard and a coin appeared in front of him, "That face down card you destroyed is a trap called Spirit of Luck, and I can only activate it from the graveyard after it has been sent there while it's face down. When I do, I remove it from play and flip a coin."

The coin began to spin as Brian and his monster watched it.

"If I call the outcome right, then I only take half damage from any attacks this turn. If I call it wrong though, I'll take double damage from the battles." Joey explained.

Brian seemed shocked.

"You're going to leave this all to luck!" He shouted, completely amazed, "But you've already done that so much this duel!"

Joey nodded.

"It wouldn't be the first time I did something like this. Now we'll see just which of us is luckier. I call tails!" He announced.

The coin flipped for a few more seconds before landing on the ground.

Brian's eyes widened in shock. Joey smiled as Zorc's shadows barely penetrated the aura around him.

"Looks like I called it right." The blond duelist said.

Brian LP: 1050

Joey LP: 200

Brian smiled and started to laugh. It wasn't a maniacal laugh this time but rather a good-natured chuckle at this sudden turn of events.

"You (hahaha) have to be (ha) one of the luckiest (heehee) duelists I've ever met!" Brian continued to laugh. "I guess that all I can do now is end my turn."

Joey nodded.

"What did I tell you? Even if the stakes are high the duels a lot more fun when you lighten up a little." He smiled.

Brian nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Too bad I can't do anything about the seal at the moment. Ah well, make your move." Brian offered.

Joey drew his next card, looked at it, and then laid it on the field horizontally.

"I set this monster in defense mode and end my turn." He stated.

The card materialized in front of Joey.

Brian drew, and a grim smile crossed his features.

"Looks like our duel is almost over. Too bad, I was just starting to enjoy it." Brian sighed, "I wish things could have ended differently, but the fact is they can't. I summon Vampire Lady (1750/1550) in attack mode."

A young woman with pale skin and a purple dress rose from the ground, her features warped by the seal's markings.

"Let's get this over with." Brian sighed as he pointed at the facedown monster, "I can't risk Zorc's effect, so I'll have him attack your facedown monster."

The fiend raised his hand again, and shot another blast of shadows toward Joey's face down card. They hit and revealed a strange looking jar with a goofy smile and bulging eyes.

Joey smiled as a large white die appeared in front of him, and a black one appeared in front of Brian.

"You're right, this duel is almost over." Joey agreed, "Now I just have to hope that my luck holds out. The monster you wrecked wass called Dice Jar, and when he turns over we each roll a die. Who ever rolls the lowest number will have their LP reduced by the difference in the rolls times 500."

Brian picked up his die in both hands and looked it over.

"You realize that if I win the roll, you'll lose the duel no matter what the difference is?" He asked, "And you need to win by at least three to beat me, otherwise my Vampire Lady will finish you."

Joey nodded.

"Yep, but that's a risk that I'm willing to help stop you." He explained.

"Then best of luck to you." Brian said with a look of determination on his face.

Both duelists held up their dice and tossed them toward the center of the field. There was a clatter as the oversized cubes bounced off of each other and began to spin. Brian's was the first one to stop revealing a five. Both competitors watched with bated breath as the white die slowed down, balanced carefully on one corner, and finally tipped over onto…

------------------------------

Tim appeared in the far corner of the basement in a flash of fire. He looked around, and spotted Brian and Joey as they tossed their dice. He quickly ducked behind a nearby storage bin and watched as the dice bounced.

"Ye know what to do." Needlez whispered in his head.

"Yeah, yeah." Tim thought.

-------------------------------------------

A six.

Brian smiled.

"Well, guess you lose Joey. I only lose 500 LP because you only beat me by one."

The dark duelist pointed to Joey, when six points of light appeared on the ground in a circle around him.

"Umm…What exactly is this?" Brian asked.

Joey just grinned.

"Maybe I should have warned ya about my jar's other special ability. You see, if the winning roll is a six, then the loser drops 6000 LP." He confessed.

Brian just stared stupidly at the points of light around him.

"Six thousand LP! Are you serious?" He shouted. "That is some powerful card! Tell me, what did you have planned if I won the die roll?"

Joey shrugged.

"Accept my loss, and hope that my friends could still stop you and your master's plans without me. That's about all I could have done." He explained.

Brian nodded as the lights began to flash.

"I see. This was a great duel Joey. I'll accept my loss with quiet dignity." Brian said.

And with that Brian stood up straight and crossed his arms behind his back, just before a huge explosion surrounded him.

Brian LP: 0

Joey LP: 200

The explosion cleared away, and Brian was on his hands and knees. The shadows surrounding the duel began to surround him, and Brian closed his eyes.

"Congratulations Joey," Brian said, "Now you should get out of here. I have no doubt Needlez knows that I won't give him my talent, meaning he'll probably sic the others on me soon enough to try and take it."

"Why not just break the seal and escape?" Joey asked.

"Needlez took that power away." Brian explained as the shadows drew in closer.

Joey watched as the crystal began to glow with purple light. Before he could stop himself, Joey lunged forward, and snatched the necklace! Brian gasped as the blond teen snapped the thin chain around his neck, and then tossed the crystal to the ground.

The shadows around Brian drew back suddenly, and then fell back to the ground as the crystal began to crack. The crack spread, and deepened, until the gem split into two separate pieces!

"You…saved me?" Brian gasped.

"Yep." Joey said with a grin, "You said they'd come after you for the talent, but if there's none to take they have no business with ya."

Brian just nodded.

"Good point." He smiled, "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it." Joey said, "Now let's head back up to the others…"

"The others!" Brian shouted, "Oh shoot, the other duelists will have already gone after them!"

"What!" Joey shouted, "We gotta help them!"

"There's nothing we can do." Brian sighed, "I don't know where they went, but our best chance would be to go back to Kaiba's office and wait for them there."

Joey sneered, but ran for the stairs.

"Come on then, let's move!" He shouted.

Brian quickly followed him.

As they left, Tim stepped out from behind container, and walked over to the crystal fragments.

"Didn't see that coming." Needlez thought, "Ah well, take those lad, they could be of use to us…"

Brian's working for the heroes now! Woo-hoo! But you can celebrate later, cause up next we find that Mako will go to any length for revenge against Mai. See if the femme fatale of the dueling circuit can best the master of water monsters, in a chapter called

Deep Trouble

See ya then.

---

Original cards

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Magic Arm Shield

Trap

Image of a box with a pair of grabber arms extending from it.

You can only activate this card when your opponent declares an attack, and when they have more than one monster on their side of the field. Select one monster on their side of the field. Your opponent must attack the selected monster first.

---

Star Blaster

Spell

Image of an imp wearing a costume that's half red and half black, holding a die with a similar color scheme.

Tribute one monster on your side of the field and roll a six sided die. Special summon a monster from your hand whose star level equals the result plus the level of the sacrificed monster

The above two cards have been used multiple times on the show by Joey. All creative credit goes to the writers of the show.

---

Spirit of Luck

Trap

Image of a gambler with a little sprite sitting on his shoulder as he throws a pair of dice.

Remove this card in your graveyard from play during your opponent's battle phase. Flip a coin and call it. If you call it right, you only take half damage from all battles this turn. If you call it wrong, you take double damage from all battles this turn.