When Bullies Collide

It's been a couple of minutes since the duel between Andrew and Clover. Shiori and Matt still couldn't believe that Andrew lost. But no one was complaining though. It was nothing more than a friendly duel, after all. Right now, the gang was taking a break.

"Phew. That was tough." Clover said while stretching her arms a bit.

"Tell me about it." Andrew replied.

"You certainly live up to your rivalry." Bastion noted.

"Yeah, no joke." Jaden said. "That was one of the sweetest duels I've ever seen! And I was the closest one to almost beating Andrew."

"But he pulled off a big one and crushed you, right?" Clover asked with a tone saying that she knew what happened.

But Andrew, who smiled sheepishly, was about to prove her wrong. "Actually, I didn't win."

His childhood friend turned to him with widened eyes. "Come again?"

"Really? I know your decks are similar, but after seeing what you both can do, I find it hard to believe you didn't beat Jaden." Xander stated.

"Trust me, you should have seen Jaden's previous duels." Alexis remarked.

"Yeah, wether his opponents had strong monsters or powerful combos, Jaden was always able to get something to turn the duel around." Jenny added.

"And his duel against Andrew was no exception." Michael said.

"It's true." Andrew replied. "Because of how much Jaden pushed me, he forced me into a draw."

Xander widened his eyes.

And so did Clover, before she snorted. "Get out of town."

"It's true." Shiori said. "We can all vouch for that."

"And let me tell you, that duel was awesome." Matt added.

And so, Clover and Xander found themselves listening to the story about the duel off between Jaden and Andrew.


Somewhere else, in a forest area

Meanwhile, someone was sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the trees. That person was an Obelisk Blue boy who had short, dark green hair and was quite well built. It was none other than Norman Johnson. The stalker who bothered Jenny and tried to get Andrew away from her. Of course, his attempts went very bad, to his annoyance. He was rearranging his deck while muttering in anger.

"That damn Andrew Wilson. He made a fool out of me. Not once, but twice! He keeps me from getting any closer to Jenny!" He then gathered his cards and stood up before held up his deck with an evil grin. "But that will change. With my improved deck, that loser won't stand a chance!"


Somewhere else, in another part of the forest.

At the same time, Another Obelisk blue boy was arranging his own deck. This one had messy brown hair and grey eyes. While he was looking over his cards, he was muttering angrily.

"To think I would be so humiliated. Not by one, but two slackers! That Slifer sludge with those annoying flip effect monsters...


Flashback

The Obelisk boy was in the forest area of the Academy island, dueling someone. And that someone... was none other than Matt. The purple-haired Slifer had Reaper of the Cards on the field, while the Obelisk boy had nothing at all.

"Now, Reaper of the Cards, attack him directly!" The reaper raised its scythe and slashed the Obelisk boy, forsing him down to his knees.

Obelisk boy: 1200-0000

Flashback end


"And that ritual monster using Ra Reject…"


Flashback

"Relinquished, end this duel with Pilfered Power Attack!" Shiori's golden eyed ritual monster (That had Armored Zombie attached to its shield) fired a beam of pink energy at the Obelisk boy, who cried out after taking the hit.

Obelisk boy: 1100-0000

Flashback end


"I was humiliated and forced to work at that stupid card shop in 4 weeks because of him and his friends!" He rambled as he slammed on the ground with his right hand. He then took a deep breath before he stood up and smirked. "But soon, I'll have the last laugh. With my improved deck, those two losers will suffer for what they did to me!" He held up his deck triumphantly.

But after about 3 seconds, he glanced around. "But first I need to test my new deck on someone."


Coincidentally, Norman glanced around with the same idea. "I better test my new deck on someone."


In another part of the forest, a black-haired, skinny boy with a Slifer red uniform walked around and explored the place.

"Wow! This island is amazing." He said to himself. He then noticed something from a distance. It was another one of Pegasus' dueling arenas. "Ah, a dueling arena." The Slifer boy walked up to it.

But... unbeknownst to him, someone was hiding behind a bush nearby and gave him a mischievous look. It was the brown-haired Obelisk boy. "Ah, the perfect victim."

On the other side of the area, someone else was hiding behind their own bush and looked at the Slifer boy. That someone was Norman. "That slacker will do nicely."

The Slifer boy stared at the dueling arena fascinated. "This is so cool. If only I could duel someone."

"Then how about a duel against me!"

The Slifer boy jumped at hearing a voice from behind him. He turned around to see the brown-haired Obelisk staring down at him with a grin.

"Huh?" THe Slifer stepped back nervously.

"You want to duel someone, Slacker? I'll show you what a skillful duelist can do."

The Slifer backed away slowly, clearly not wanting to duel this guy. But as soon as he turned around tried to run, another Obelisk boy jumped out from the corner of arena, startling him.

"You there! You are just the kind of opponent I was looking for!" Norman declared.

"AAH!" The Slifer boy stumbled back and fell on the ground.

The brown-haired Obelisk boy turned to Norman and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, back off! I saw him first!"

Norman gave him a glare. "Don't think so, buddy. That Slifer Slacker is my victim. Go find your own!"

The other Obelisk boy was about to say something in anger, before he had a look of recognition. "Wait a minute. I know you. You're that weirdo who is stalking that girl Jenny."

In a blink of an eye, Norman got right in front of him with an angry expression. "Hey! The name is Norman! And you better stay out of my business! Besides, it's not like you are any better, Mr. 'Card Thief'!'"

Now it was 'Mr. Card Thief's' turn to become angry. "My name is Victor! And you should stay out of my business! I'm the one who's going to duel that Slifer!"

"No, it's me!"

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

While the two Obelisks were arguing, the Slifer boy sneaked away quietly until he got a good distance and ran away.

"I'm the one who's going to duel here, so beat it!" Norman spat.

"Forget it, Stalker! I saw him first, and you can't stop me!" Victor retorted as he turned to the Slifer boy... only to find out he was gone. "Wait! Where did he go?"

Norman glanced around, trying to find him. "Great. He must have escaped!"

"This gets better and better." Victor said sarcastically before giving Norman a glare. "You just had to let that Slifer get away! Real smooth, you stalker!"

Norman got into his face. "Me? You're the one who let him escape, pickpocket!"

"That's it! If I can't duel a lame Slifer, then I'll just mope the floor with you instead!"

"Ha! How can you hold a candle to me, if you can't hold your own cards without taking someone else's?"

"Why don't you prove it to me? Unless of course, you're scared." Victor taunted.

"You're on, loser!" Norman replied angrily.


Back to the dynamic group

Clover and Xander were impressed by the group's description of Andrew and Jaden's duel off. Man, they wished they could see that. After that, they decided to tell other stories. And the latest one was something Clover found really amusing...

"Hahahaha! So Andrew bumped into Jaden and accidentally picked up his deck, and ended up using it against Shiori in a duel?"

"I know, right?" Jaden replied with a grin. "The old Switcheroo."

"I still find it hard to believe he actually won with it." Shiori said.

"I admit I had some trouble with it at first." Andrew said while scratching the back of his head. "But since I remembered some of Jaden's strategies, I was able to work it out."

"With the similarities between your decks, that's not surprising." Bastion commented.

"It's not like Andrew was copying Jaden, like Dimitri did." Michael added.

"And who's Dimitri?" Xander asked.

"A Ra Yellow duelist who made himself known for copying other duelists and their strategies." Matt replied.

"And he really lived up to his style by copying Yugi Moto." Jenny added.

"For real?" Clover asked. "He couldn't have made a copy of his deck, right?"

"That's just the thing." Andrew began to explain. "Dimitri didn't create a copy of his deck, he actually…"

It was then he was interrupted by the sound of rustling bushes. The group turned to see a Slifer boy running out of the forest with a scared look on his face. Just as he was passing them, he somehow tripped and fell on the ground. They rushed over to him.

"Whoa! You okay there, dude?" Michael asked.

The Slifer boy looked up and flinched when he saw the purple-haired Obelisk boy. "I… I…"

"Chill out, man. None of us is going to hurt you." Jaden said, trying to calm the poor guy down, which seemed to work.

"Why were you running?" Clover asked.

The Slifer boy hesitated at first, but then, he spoke up. "I... was exploring the forest a while ago until two Obelisks ambushed me."

Some members of the gang widened their eyes, while the rest of them scowled at this.

Including Alexis. "They just never learn."

"Can you tell us about them?" Shiori asked.

"W-well, one of them was someone named Victor and the other one was named Norman."

The whole gang, save for Clover and Xander, widened their eyes again.

"Norman?" Syrus asked.

"That Norman?" Chumley added.

Clover and Xander obviously confused. "Um, hello! Some of us don't have the details." The former pointed out.

"Yeah. Just who is this Norman you guys are talking about?" The latter asked.

"He's an Obelisk Blue student who's been quite a nuisance." Bastion replied.

"Mostly towards me." Jenny said with a disgusted look. "He's a stalker who's been trying to make me go out with him."

Clover and Xander were surprised by their words. The former's surprised look was then replaced by an angry look. "For real?"

"For real." Andrew repeated. "And if that wasn't bad enough, he's accusing me for getting in his way, all because I'm Jenny's friend. And for that, I've been forced to duel him to try to make him take the hint."

"And did it work?" Xander asked.

"I doubt it. He tried twice to force her to date him. I have a feeling he hasn't given up yet." Andrew then clenched his right hand. "The next time he'll strike again, I'll make sure to make him realize that Jenny is not interested…"

"No!" The girl in question said firmly, getting everyone's attention. "Norman has been after me. Me and no one else. If he can't take the hint after getting beat by you, then I'm the one who should deal with him."

"Really? Are you sure?" Jaden asked.

"She's actually right." Alexis replied. "Only Jenny herself can knock some sense into Norman's head, since she's the one he's fixated on."

"Yeah. Norman is my problem, so that's why I have to do it." Jenny said.

Andrew stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Okay then."

"Alright, how about we get back to the topic." Bastion suggested while pointing at the Slifer boy.

"Oh, right." Michael said before turning to him. "Where are the two Obelisks now?"

The Slifer boy pointed to the forest. "At a dueling arena in the forest."

"Then we'd better head over there." Shiori declared as everyone nodded. He then turned to the Slifer boy. "Don't worry, pal. We'll make sure they're dealt with."

"T-thanks." He nodded.

"Come on, let's go." Andrew gestured as everyone walked into the forest.


Back to Norman and Victor

The two Obelisks just took their positions on the podiums on the arena. Norman on the blue one, and Victor on the red one.

"Let's get this started. Just try not to cry about your loss, pickpocket." Norman mocked as he and his opponent drew their opening hands.

"Please, the one who's going to cry is the stalker who can't even make a single girl fall for him." Victor countered.

The fiend duelist growled at his words. "Just you wait…"

The both were so focused on each other, they didn't notice Andrew, Jaden and the rest of the gang arrive at the sidelines.

"There they are." Michael pointed out.

Jenny took a look at Norman's opponent, and widened her eyes in recognition. "Wait a minute. That's the guy who stole Shiori's card."

The ritual duelist glared at the Obelisk boy in question. "Him again?"

"He stole one of Shiori's cards?" Xander asked.

"That's right." Michael replied. "That guy was after a special rare card from a limited booster pack. And that card in particular was something Shiori managed to get, so he took it from him."

"Luckily, we managed to capture him and get it back." Jenny added.

"I see." Xander nodded.

"Yes. His name is Victor Harris." Bastion mentioned. "And it appears that he's about to duel Norman."

"But why?" Matt wondered.

"Did something happened between them?" Andrew guessed.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Jaden declared, getting everyone's attention. "Let's watch the duel!"

That of course, caused the gang to face-fault. After they all recovered, Clover got into Jaden's face and gave him an annoyed look. "And we'll do that because…?"

"Because in a duel, the truth always comes out." The Slifer replied nonchalantly.

Everyone sighed at his reply but turned their attention to the duel.

"LET'S DUEL!"

Norman: 4000

Victor: 4000

"Time to kick your butt." Norman declared as he drew his sixth card. "And I'll start with this; Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!" He placed a card on the table and unleashed a demon with white curved horns wearing purple and gold armor and a brown cape. It was also wielding a sword. (ATK: 1900 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "Then I'll end my turn with a facedown." A card appeared behind the demon.

"Hmph, amateur." Victor muttered as he drew his next card. He looked at it and smirked before placing it on the table. "I play the spell card, Change of Heart. This lets me take control of your monster for one turn. So I'll take your soldier."

"What!?" Was all Norman said before his monster disappeared and reappeared on Victor's side.

"Then I summon Melchid the Four-Face Beast in attack mode!" The creature with a rotating array of masks appeared. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "Now attack his life points directly!" The masked monster flew forward.

While it got closer, Norman glanced at his facedown card angrily. 'Dammit! Because of what that punk did, my trap card's useless!'

And then, he was tackled by Melchid.

Norman: 4000-2500

"And now I'll strike you down with your own monster!" Victor declared. "Archfiend Soldier, attack!" The fiendish soldier ran towards its former master and slashed him with its sword.

Norman: 2500-0600

Norman growled after getting attacked.

"Aww, are you upset about losing life points from your own monster?" Victor asked mockingly.

"Don't get too cocky, pickpocket!" The fiend duelist snapped. "Just give my monster back when your turn ends."

"Actually, your soldier won't stay that long." Victor stated, confusing his opponent. "Because I'm going to sacrifice him, along with Melchid the Four-Face Beast, in order to summon Masked Beast Des Gardius!" The two monsters disappeared into a veil of black smoke. Emerging from it, the giant fiend with three, blue masks rose up on the field. (ATK: 3300 DEF: 2500 LV: 8)

"Man, I hate that monster." Shiori muttered.

"Well, after hearing what you guys told us about your duel against that guy, I don't blame you." Jaden replied.

"A troublesome creature, indeed." Bastion added. "And now, Norman is the one facing it. Not to mention the duel had just begun, and he's already down to 600 life points."

"I'll end my turn with a facedown." Victor concluded as he placed a card on the table.

"Just you wait." Norman muttered angrily and drew his next card. He looked at it and smirked. "Ah, perfect!" His words made Victor blink. He then placed the card he drew on the table. "I play the spell card Polymerization. And with it, I'm gonna fuse Summoned Skull with Archfiend of Gilfer!" A fusion vortex appeared and absorbed the familiar skeleton fiend and a blue-skinned demon with red wings.

"A fusion?" Andrew mused.

"That's new, coming from him." Matt added.

"Now I summon Archfiend's Manifestation!" At that, a new monster came out of the fusion vortex. It looked just like Summoned Skull. Except that its horns and wings were purple instead of the same colors as the original. The monster growled as its body unleashed purple electricity. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200 LV: 6)

Victor stared at the monster for a moment before scoffing. "Heh. You gotta do better than that. My Des Gardius is too strong for that thing."

Norman wasn't angered by the insult. Instead, he was smirking. "Don't be so sure. My Archfiend's Manifestation is more powerful than you think. From starters, while this monster is on the field, its name becomes 'Summoned Skull', but is still treated as an Archfiend card."

That earned him a lazy glare from his opponent. "And I should care about that because…?"

"Because, my Archfiend's Manifestation has another ability. And that ability lets him increase the attack strength of all Summoned Skulls by 500 hundred points. And that includes himself." Once again, the skeletal fiend's body unleashed purple electricity. (ATK: 2500-3000)

"Still not strong enough."

"Why not let Archfiend of Gilfer be the judge of that?"

Victor gave him a confused look before he noticed the blue-skinned demon from earlier appear behind the masked beast and wrapped its arms around it, making it struggle. "Hey, what's going on!?"

"Oh? Did I forget to mention my Archfiend's special ability? When it's sent to the graveyard, I can let him equip himself to your monster as an equip spell and drain 500 of its attack points." (ATK: 3300-2800)

"Not bad." Xander commented.

"Now he's got the upper hand." Clover added.

"But that won't last long, if Norman is dumb enough to attack." Jenny replied, making the two confused.

"What do you mean?" Clover asked.

"Now, Archfiend's Manifestation, attack his Masked Beast Des Gardius! Sinister Lightning!" The skeletal fiend monster fired electricity at the masked beast. It was zapped until it exploded into pixels.

Victor: 4000-3800

"Ha! What do you say about that!?" Norman called out.

Victor stared at his table, without saying a word. Norman assumed that he was shocked. But before he could say anything, Victor chuckled and looked up. "What I have to say? Well, I'm saying you're an idiot."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Norman asked angrily.

"That you just allowed me to do this…!" In Des Gardius' place, its three masks were floating in there, to the fiend duelist's confusion. And then, the masks merged together to form one gruesome and fiendish mask.

"What is that?" Syrus asked, almost creeped out by the new mask.

"Well, for Norman, that thing is bad news." Micheal replied.

"By destroying my Masked Beast, you allowed me to bring out The Mask of Remnants from my deck. And here's the best part; The Mask of Remants lets me take control of your monster. So I'll be taking your Archfiend's Manifestation."

Norman gasped as the mask attached itself to the fiend monster's face. And then, it flew over to Victor's side of the field.

"Oooh. So that's what you meant." Xander said, turning to the group.

"Yeah. That's how he took control of one of my monsters." Shiori replied as he watched with a glare. "Not exactly a fun memory."

Norman was giving Victor a glare of his own for taking his monster. "You piece of s***!"

"Whoa, watch the language. Some kids might be nearby." Victor taunted.

"Oh, you're funny. But I'm gonna get the last laugh." Norman placed a card sideways on the table. "I play a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine by me." Victor drew a card. "I summon Rogue Doll in attack mode." A doll that appeared to be a woman's face with large purple hair appeared with two arms holding a scepter. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "Now attack his facedown monster!" The doll waved its scepter and and fired a beam of purple energy at Norman's facedown card. Before it got hit, it flipped up, allowing a monstrous mouth with sharp teeth ooze out of its image. The most disturbing part of his monster was that there a pair of eyes inside that mouth. (ATK: 200 DEF: 100 LV: 2)

Before it was destroyed, Victor looked like he recognized it. "Wait a sec! Was that Jowls of Dark Demise?"

Norman smirked. "That's right. And due to its flip effect, I'm allowed to take control of one of your monsters until the end of my turn. So I'll take back my Archfiend's Manifestation for a moment." The skeletal fiend monster glowed with a purple aura before it flew back to his owner's side of the field.

Victor clicked his tongue. "Fine, I'll just end my turn." And then, Norman's Archfiend flew over to his side of the field… again.

Norman drew a card" First I'll play Pot of Greed. This lets me draw two cards." He drew two cards and looked at them. Then he smirked "This should be fun. First I play the spell card, Soul Absorption." The spell card appeared on the field. "This continuous spell gives me 500 life points for every card that gets removed from the game."

"He's going to remove cards from play?" Chumley wondered.

"Well, why not?" Jaden shrugged. "He doesn't have many life points left, so that would be a good move."

"What are you plotting?" Victor asked suspiciously.

"Just something that I couldn't do before I had enough fiend type monsters in my graveyard."

Victor was now on alert at that statement.

"Now I remove my three fiend monsters from my graveyard…" Norman placed Summoned Skull, Archfiend of Gilfer and Jowls of Dark Demise on the side. "so I can summon Dark Necrofear!" He then placed another card on the table, making a purple specter appear in the air. It then formed into a dark blue-skinned, bald woman wearing metal chain breast plate, purple leg and arm guards and carried a broken baby doll in her hands. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 2800 LV: 8)

"N-no way." Victor muttered nervously.

The spectators had different reactions to the new monster.

"Aw man." Syrus shuddered.

"Creepy." Chumley added.

"That is one scary lady." Matt commented.

"It sure is." Jaden replied. "But how tough can it be? I mean, she must have some kind of trick. Otherwise, summoning a monster with 2200 attack points won't do much."

Andrew observed Victor's expression. "Well, Victor seems to be on alert. So I believe this Dark Necrofear is very dangerous."

Victor was still staring at the demonic woman nervously. "I can't believe you would play that monster!"

Norman gave him a smug look. "I'll take it you're aware of her powers? Then you know that you're about to get your butt kicked. But let's focus on my spell card…" The Soul Absorption card glowed. "Since I removed three cards from play, I regain 1500 life points."

Norman: 0600-2100

"Now I'll attack with Dark Necrofear. And the target I choose... is Archfiend's Manifestation!"

Some of the spectators were confused by this.

"What? Why would he attack something that's stronger than his monster?" Shiori wondered.

"Because he wants to destroy his own monster." Michael answered, getting everyone's attention.

"Destroy his own monster?" Matt repeated.

"So you're saying that monster's special ability…" Xander said.

"Is the kind of ability that can be activated when it's destroyed." Michael filled in.

"That's the only logical reason." Bastion nodded.

The blue-skinned woman's eyes started to glow red as she prepared her attack. Victor looked grim. 'There's no way I'm gonna let that happen!' He then flipped up the facedown card he placed earlier. "I activate the trap card, Shift! This lets me give you a new target for your attack. Which means you're attacking Rogue Doll instead." His two monsters disappeared for a second before reappearing in each others' places. And just before Dark Necrofear fired red laser beams from her eyes that blew up Rogue Doll.

Victor: 3800-3200

Norman shrugged. "Okay. I'll just end my turn with a facedown monster." He concluded as he placed a card on the table.

Victor growled before he drew his next card. When looked at it, he grinned. "Ha! Just what I need!"

"Huh?" Norman blinked.

"I discard Marionette Mite from my hand to activate its effect." Victor placed the card he drew on his graveyard. And then, a new creature appeared. It appeared to a tall and slim, stuffed animal. Its body was purple and had a white grotesque face. It also had six pairs of legs. The three pairs on the lower part of the body were insect like, while the other three pairs were like scythe blades. "By discarding this monster from my hand, I can take control of a zombie or fiend type monster you control until the end of my turn."

"What!?"

"Which means I can take your Dark Necrofear." The twelve legged monster jumped over to Norman's field and attached itself to the blue-skinned woman's head. She wandered over to Victor's side.

"Try to duel with your own cards!" Norman said angrily.

"But it's more fun to use others' cards. Speaking of which, I'll use your Dark Necrofear to attack your facedown monster!" Once again, the blue-skinned woman fired laser beams from her eyes. The attack made its way on the field, getting closer to Norman's facedown monster. And then, it flipped up, and was then replaced by a zombie that crawled up from the ground. (ATK: 500 DEF: 2000 LV: 4) Victor smirked. "Gotcha."

But Norman smirked back. "Guess again."

"Huh?"

"Activate trap!" His facedown card flipped up. "Bark of Dark Ruler! When one of my fiend type monsters is in battle, I can pay some of my life points and then drain that same amount from your monster's strength until the end of this turn. As much as I want to pay enough to give you damage, I think I'll play safe and just pay two hundred points to keep Earthbound Spirit safe."

Norman: 2100-1900

(ATK: 2200-2000 DEF: 2800-2600) Dark Necrofear's laser beams hit the zombie. But because of her points being weakened, the attack had no effect. Victor clicked his tongue. "Fine, I'll attack it with Archfiend's Manifestation instead. Go, Sinister Lightning!" The skeletal fiend monster fired another stream of lightning and destroyed the zombie. "I end my turn." At that, Marionette Mite disappeared, and Dark Necrofear returned to Norman's field. (ATK: 2000-2200 DEF: 2600-2800)

"Then here goes." Norman said as he drew his next card. "First I'll play the spell card Graceful Charity. This lets me draw three cards and discard two from my hand." He drew three cards and looked at them. He then smirked as he held up two of them. The one in the front was a spell card. "I'll toss these two, one of them being the spell card known as Card of Compensation." He placed it on the graveyard. "As soon as I send this card to the graveyard, I get to draw two more cards."

He drew two more cards, looked at them and then nodded. "I place one card facedown and activate Burial from a Different Dimension." A facedown card appeared on the field, along with the named spell card. "Thanks to this, I can return up to 3 monsters that were removed from the game to the graveyard. And I'll take back those that I removed to summon Dark Necrofear." He took the named cards and placed them on his graveyard. "Now let's try this again. Dark Necrofear, attack Archfiend's Manifestation!" Once again, the blue-skinned woman fired laser beams from her eyes. But the Summoned Skull lookalike unleashed purple lightning from his body that blocked the attack and zapped her until she exploded into pixels.

Norman: 1900-1100

Norman was now smirking. "And now I activate Dark Necrofear's special effect. At the end of the turn she was destroyed as a monster, she becomes an equip spell with the power to take control of one of your monsters. So if you don't mind, I'll take back my Archfiend." The spirit of Dark Necrofear appeared and entered the skeletal fiend's body. And then, it walked over to Norman's side of the field.

"Aw man. How many times are they going to take control of that Archfiend?" Syrus wondered.

"Who knows? But you gotta admit, this duel is so sweet!" Jaden said with excitement in his voice.

"Speak for yourself." Shiori muttered.

Andrew glanced at his Ra yellow friend. He understood that he was still mad for what Victor did to him.

"Enough of this!" Victor drew a card. Once the card caught his eyes, he grinned evilly.

Which Norman noticed. "What did you get?"

"Something to turn this around. But first, I summon Grand tiki Elder in attack mode." A demonic witch doctor wearing a fright mask appeared. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 800 LV: 4) "Next I activate the spell card, Silent Doom. This lets me summon a normal monster from my graveyard in defense mode. So I'll bring back Melchid the Four-Face Beast." The monster with many masks appeared again. "And then I'll do this; by removing 2 monsters from my field…" His two monsters disappeared. "along with a monster from my graveyard." He picked up Rogue Doll. "I can summon a monster known as The Atmosphere!" A whirlwind came out of nowhere. Norman watched as a monster emerged from it. It appeared to be an orange bird with armor and two pair of feathered wings. It was holding a green sphere with its talons. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 800 LV: 8)

He wasn't really impressed. "You gotta be kidding me. That's your big move? All you did was summoning a weakling by removing three monsters from play. And that just makes me stronger, thanks to Soul Absorption."

Norman: 1900-3400

But Victor smirked. "Does the term 'special ability' mean anything to you? Because you should realize that my new monster is more powerful than it looks. Hey, Atmosphere. Show him what you've got!" The sphere the bird was holding started to glow with a green light. Nothing didn't seem to happen at first.

But then, Norman noticed his Archfiend's Manifestation getting dragged to it for some reason. "What the…!?" And it was then the fiend monster was sucked into the sphere. "What did you do!?"

"That is The Atmosphere's ability. It can absorb one of your monsters and steal all of its attack and defense points."

"What!?" (ATK: 1000-3500 DEF: 800-2000)

"Let's see you get out of this! Now Atmosphere, attack him directly!" The bird flew up in there as the sphere glowed again. But this time, the sphere showed an image of Norman's monster before it unleashed purple lightning.

Norman growled. "You may have stolen my monster, but I won't let you steal my victory!" He then flipped up his facedown card. "I activate my trap! Spirit Shield!" From the trap card, a group of white ghosts appeared and merged together to form a white shield, blocking the electric attack.

"No way!" Victor exclaimed. "My attack was blocked!"

"How observant of you. And its all thanks to my trap card." Norman explained as he held up his Earthbound Spirit card. "By removing one zombie or fiend type monster from my graveyard, I can stop one of your attacks. So as long as I have monsters I can remove from play, my life points are safe."

Norman: 3400-3900

"Well, that was remarkable." Bastion commented. "Norman has Spirit Shield as defense, and Soul Absorption, that gives him life points by using its effect."

"As much as I hate that guy, he is a formidable duelist." Andrew admitted.

"Fine. Your move." Victor concluded.

"Alright then." Norman drew a card. "I play a facedown monster in defense mode." A facedown card appeared. "And that's all for now."

"Hmph." Victor drew a card. "I activate Pot of Greed. So I draw two cards from my deck." He drew his extra cards. 'As long as that trap card is in play, my attacks will be blocked. But only if that meathead has enough fiend type monsters in the graveyard.' He then smirked as he looked at his new cards. 'Fortunately, I have a way to get rid of it.' He then placed one card on the table. "All right, I'm feeling generous today. Since I've been taking your cards, you can have one of mine." The card he played disappeared into the table.

Norman was confused by Victor's words before the card in question came out on his side. He then widened his eyes upon seeing its image. "Grinder Golem?" At that, the mechanical giant with the buzz-saw blade head appeared on his field. (ATK: 3000 DEF: 300 LV: 8)

"That's right. The monster that can only be summoned on my opponent's side of the field. But doing that gives me two Grinder tokens." Two mini versions of Grinder Golem appeared on Victor's side. (ATK: 0 DEF: 0 LV: 1) x2 "Then I activate the spell card Token Sundae."

"What does that do?"

"It lets me destroy all token monsters I have on the field." The two Grinder Tokens exploded into pixels. "After that, I get to destroy cards up to the number of tokens destroyed by this effect. So for my two Grinder Tokens, I'll destroy your Spirit Shield and your facedown monster."

Norman growled as his two cards were destroyed.

"And now that Grinder Golem served its purpose, I'll destroy it with The Atmosphere!" The bird's green sphere unleashed purple lightning and zapped the mechanical giant until it exploded.

Norman: 3900-3400

"I end my turn. How do you like that?"

"Hmph. Not bad... for a common thief."

Victor scoffed at Norman's reply.

"My move." He drew a card. He then smirked. "Now let me show you how it's done. I summon Holding Arms in defense mode." A pair of golden shackles with the millennium symbol at the center appeared. (ATK: 500 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And when these shackles are summoned, they will bind your monster, preventing it from attacking. Plus, its special abilities are negated."

"No way!" Victor could only watch as the shackles held the bird creature's wings, keeping it in place. (ATK: 3500-1000 DEF: 2000-800)

"And that's a wrap. Your turn, pickpocket." Norman concluded with a smug look.

"You'll pay for that!" Victor drew. "This isn't much, but useful." He placed his card on the table. "I play Creature Swap. This spell card forces one monster from each side to switch places. And we obviously only have one monster each." Since the shackles were attached to the monster on Victor's field, they both flew over to Norman's field. "Now you won't get to me without getting through Holding Arms."

Norman narrowed his eyes. 'That will be tricky. As long as the monster affected by Holding Arms is on the field, they can't be destroyed.' He then drew a card and looked at it. 'Fortunately, luck is on my side.' He thought smugly. "I activate the spell card Dark Factory of Mass Production. This lets me take two normal monsters from my graveyard and add them to my hand." He picked up Summoned Skull and Archfiend Soldier. "Then I'll sacrifice The Atmosphere to play my Summoned Skull." The bird disappeared, causing Holding Arms to return to Victor's field. And then, the original, skeletal fiend rose up on the field. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1200 LV: 6)

Victor clicked his tongue.

"Summoned Skull, use your Lightning Strike on Holding Arms, now!" The fiend monster fired electricity at the shackles and destroyed. "That's it for now."

"Lucky punk." Victor muttered.

"Lucky? More skilled. Skilled enough to defeat you. And my cards prove that I'm skilled enough to take down Wilson."

Andrew narrowed his eyes. "Okay, I think I understand what this is about."

"When it comes to Norman, I'm not really surprised." Jenny said while shaking her head.

"You think Victor might be the same?" Matt wondered.

"I don't know. And to be frank, I don't care." Shiori muttered.

"My move." Victor drew. "I place a card facedown and end my turn." A facedown card appeared on his field.

"Is that all?" Norman asked unimpressed while drawing a card. "I summon Archfiend Soldier!" The sword wielding demon rose next to Summoned Skull. (ATK: 1900 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "Now attack his life points directly!" The demon rushed over while raising his sword.

"I reveal my facedown spell card, Scapegoat." Victor's facedown card flipped up and out of it, four sleeping sheep with different kind of colors emerged. (ATK: 0 DEF: 0 LV: 1) x4

"Huh?" Norman blinked.

"This card lets me summon 4 Sheep Tokens in defense mode."

"Fine, then I'll just destroy two of them with my Soldier and Summoned Skull." The Archfiend slashed one of the sheep with its sword while the skeleton monster zapped another one with its lightning. "Then I'll end my turn with a facedown." Norman said as he placed a card on the table.

Victor drew card. "I play Card of Demise. Now I can draw until I have 5 cards in my hand." After drawing a new hand, he looked at his cards. He then grinned. "Bingo! I activate the spell card Monster Reincarnation! By discarding one card from my hand, I can take a monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand. And I know just the one." He discarded one card and then picked up the monster card he wanted: Masked Beast Des Gardius."

Norman couldn't help but groan. "Don't tell me that you're going to summon that thing again."

"As much as I want to, I can't. But I am going to use it. As soon as I play this…" Victor placed a spell card on the table. "Final Ritual of the Ancients."

"What is that?" Norman asked suspiciously.

"A ritual spell card which lets me sacrifice monsters with a total level of 8 or higher and summon a really powerful monster. So I'll sacrifice my level 8 monster Des Gardius in order to summon Reshef the Dark Being!" The masked beast appeared for a second before disappearing. And its place, a certain stone giant, with there multi-colored light orbs appeared. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1500 LV: 8)

Seeing this made Shiori annoyed. "Great, now he's stealing one of my tactics as well."

Micheal patted his back. "Easy there dude."

"But you gotta admit, that is impressive." Clover said.

"No joke." Xander replied.

Norman stared at the new monster. "Okay, I'll bite. What can that thing do?"

Victor smirked. "I'm glad you asked. This monster lets me take control of one of your monsters for one turn, as long as I discard a spell card from my hand."

The fiend duelist cringed as his opponent discarded the last card from his hand.

"Now give me your Summoned Skull!" The three orbs floating in front of Reshef started to unleash lightwaves. And then, the skeleton monster walked slowly over to Victor's field.

"You bastard." Norman growled.

"Now it's game over for you. Summoned Skull, destroy his Archfiend Soldier." The skeleton monster started to charge up with electricity.

"Guess I have no choice." Norman muttered before he flipped up his facedown card. "I play the trap card, Hate Buster!"

"What!?" Victor exclaimed.

"This trap card activates when you attack one of my fiend type monsters. This lets me destroy both of them. And then, you take damage equal to your attacking monster's original attack points." Light erupted from the ground under the feet of both monsters before they were caught in explosions.

Victor: 3200-0700

"Aw man." Syrus gasped.

"What a bang." Chumley commented.

"No joke." Jaden added.

Victor growled. "So you stopped one attack. Big deal! You just left yourself wide open. Reshef, direct attack!" The stone giants three orbs merged together to form big orb of golden light. The orb then fired an energy beam at Norman.

Norman: 3400-0900

"And now it's your turn, loser."

"You little…" Norman drew his next card angrily.

"Just give up already, there's no way you can beat my deck." Victor said smugly. "Because it's fool proof. Not even those who made a fool out of me will stand a chance."

"What do you know?" Bastion mused. "Looks like you were right."

"Uh-huh." Matt nodded.

Shiori just glared at Victor.

Norman looked at the card he drew. And then, after about 5 seconds of silence, he started to laugh.

Victor narrowed his eyes. "What are you laughing at?"

"i'm laughing at you, pickpocket. You claim to have a foolproof deck, but I happened to draw exactly what I need to end this duel."

"You're lying."

Norman smirked. "You think so? Then let me show, by sacrificing your Reshef and one of your Sheep Tokens!"

"Say what!?" Was all Victor said before the stone giant disappeared, along with one of the sheep.

"And now, to play this bad boy…" Norman placed his card on the table, but it then disappeared into the table.

It then cameo out on Victor's side, which he noticed. "What the…?"

All of a sudden, a pool of lava rose up from the field and took form of a big, humanoid blob creature. Skeletal remains of victims could be seen from within its body. It also had a cage hanging around its neck. (ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500 LV: 8)

Saying that Victor was shocked, would be an understatement. "N-no way! Lava Golem!?"

"That's right. And if you know about it, you should know what's next. The player controlling this monster takes 1000 points of damage during each of their standby phases."

The spectators were shocked as well.

"My, that would be just what Norman needed." Bastion said. "Victor only has 700 life points left. Which means…"

"That it's game over for you." Norman stated. "So this the end of my turn, and this duel."

"THIS CAN'T BE!" Victor exclaimed in shock and fell backwards as a small part of Lava Golem's body melted.

Victor: 0700-0000

"Hahaha! You lose, I win! You lose, I win!" Norman cheered.

"It can't be…" Victor muttered as he hung his head defeated.

Norman huffed proudly. "And now with the test of my deck successful, I can take down Andrew and win Jenny's heart."

"You don't say." A voice said.

Norman and Victor snapped out of their thoughts and turned to the source of the new voice. What they didn't expect was that the voice belonged to Andrew, who was standing right in front of his friends.

Norman stared at him blankly for a moment before he jumped back in shock. "W-what!? Wilson!? Why are you here?"

Jenny stepped forward and spoke up. "We heard that you two were trying to force a Slifer to duel you. When we came, we learned that you two wanted to use your improved decks against Andrew and the others."

The two bullies turned completely white upon hearing her explanation.

"So all of you…" Norman began.

"Watched our duel?" Victor filled in.

"Got that right." Shiori replied while crossing his arms.

"Never missed anything." Matt added.

Norman slapped his head. "Dammit! All the hard work of improving my deck was for nothing!"

"Now those losers know all my strategies!" Victor added before he gave him a glare. "This is all because you let that Slifer get away!"

Norman got into his face and gave him a glare of his own. "Me? You're the one who let him escape!"

"Don't blame me, you stalker!"

"I just did! What are you gonna do about it, pickpocket?"

And just like that, the two bullies found themselves inside a dust cloud as they fought each other.

The gang watched this with awkward looks on their faces.

"Ookay?" Jaden said slowly.

"Didn't see that coming." Alexis said.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Syrus asked.

"Why? Those two are just making trouble." Shiori pointed out.

"Can't argue with that." Matt replied.

The group stared at the brawl until Michael spoke up

"So... anyone up for exploring more of the island?"

"Good call." Bastion said.

"I'm in." Xander added.

"Fine by me." Clover added.

And so, the group left area, leaving the brawling Obelisks alone."


Okay, that took me relatively long. But not as long as it took for the last chapter at least. Anyway, I hope you liked this. Until next time.