Chapter 3: Tournament in the Sky

After the encounter with Matt and watching him as he sealed the God Cards into the security vault, Yugi and the others headed into the courtyard to join up with the rest of the duelists who were participating in the tournament.

"I can't believe ya gave him da God Cards after all of dat," Joey said.

"I know," Yugi remarked. "But he did bring up some good points. Hopefully we won't have to worry about anyone else, and if all goes well, I'll still have the God cards at the end of the tournament."

"I guess ya plan on winning dis tournament then," Joey grinned.

"Of course," Yugi responded.

Their fellow duelists crowded around them, Yugi and Joey waited for the announcement to come. After a couple of minutes, Matt walked out onto the balcony.

"My fellow duelists," Matt said, "it's almost time to begin the Battle of the Titans. But before we officially start the tournament, there are some rules that need to be addressed.

"For this first part of the tournament, most of it will follow Battle City rules. You all came with a Dragon Medallion as your entry ticket, and now it is the key to your victory in this first portion. Each duelist will bet at least one of their Dragon Medallions in battle, with both players wagering the same number of medallions. This is a complete free-for-all, meaning you can have tag duels, two-on-ones, all sorts. The idea is to obtain 5 by almost any means necessary. Once the signal starts, you will only have 2 hours to acquire your 5 medallions! If you are caught cheating, lose all of your medallions, or do not have 5 medallions by the end of time, you will be escorted immediately back onto the boats. Trust me, the security we have is going to be watching like hawks!

"When you have your medallions, you may return to the tower as a guarantee to your seat in the final round. There will only be 64 duelists in the finals. Of those 64 duelists, only one of them will be able to gain the chance to win our grand prize: a chance to wield the power of the Egyptian God Cards for but a single day! Let that be your incentive to win!

"And now, duelists, scatter across the island and prepare for the beginning of the tournament! The sound of three bells will signal the start!"

And with that, the crowd of duelists eagerly dispersed and scattered about the island. Yugi and Joey looked over to each other and nodded.

"Alright, I'm off to go get me some medallions!" Joey said excitedly.

"You bet," Yugi said. "I'll expect you in the finals!"

"Same to you!" Joey said. "Meet ya again in 2 hours!"

And with that, Joey ran off in the direction where many of the duelists went. Yugi turned to Tea and Tristan.

"What do you guys plan on doing?" Yugi asked curiously.

"I think I'm gonna keep track of Joey for this part," Tristan said. "You know how he gets when he's like this. I'll catch up with you guys later!"

And with that, Tristan ran off after Joey, yelling at him to wait up.

"I guess that means you'll be hanging with me then?" Yugi asked, to which Tea nodded.

Once the three bells tolled, Yugi and Joey went out and dueled against some of the many duelists of the island. It didn't take long for Yugi to acquire his medallions - with every duelist on the island trying to take a crack at him, his opponents were quicker to find him than he was to find them! Still, he didn't have too tough a time getting past them. Joey on the other hand was forced to scrounge for the scraps, finding duelists that only just managed to get by. Like them, Joey had a tough time getting what he needed, but once he did find duelists to duel against, he had an even tougher time trying to beat them! Without a couple lucky breaks, he would have likely been defeated and thrown off the island.

At the end of the two hours, Yugi and Joey returned to the tower, each brandishing their set of five medallions.

"So ya managed to get your five, eh? No surprise," Joey noted.

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy," Yugi replied with a light chuckle. "Hopefully things will run smoothly for the rest of the tournament, but I don't expect them to."

"You can count on it now."

A gruff voice drew the attention of the group over to another duelist, one dressed ready to kill. His silver coat flew behind him as he walked with the confidence worthy of the former Duel Monsters champion. Just beneath his brown hair, his fierce blue eyes gazed coldly and sternly towards them. There was no denying it now: Seto Kaiba had arrived at the tournament site.

"Kaiba!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Couldn't resist coming out here, could ya?" Joey teased, a sly grin across his face.

"I only came because I heard the Egyptian Gods were going to be up for grabs," Kaiba replied, "and of course the only one worthy of their power should be me. I'm not concerned with these dregs that are crawling around out here in the dirt. I only need to defeat you, Yugi, and then no one will be able to stand in my way."

"Yeah? Well, Kaiba, ya gotta have a medallion to enter in the first place, and even den, ya need 5 medallions to make it to da finals!" Joey taunted.

Kaiba then immediately held up his own collection of medallions. "You were saying, Wheeler?"

The group gasped. "But how'd ya get so many so fast?!" Joey asked.

"Please, you'd expect less of me? I'd have more of a challenge playing solitaire," Kaiba remarked, shaking his head. "I'd honestly expect more from an amateur before I could expect anything from you, Wheeler."

Joey fumed at Kaiba, only to have Tristan restrain him. In the meanwhile, Yugi said to Kaiba, "Well then, I wish you the best of luck in the finals, Kaiba."

"As always, Yugi, I need to remind you..." Kaiba headed towards the gate where the medallions were being collected. "...I don't need luck."

And with that, Kaiba entered the tower.

"Man, I can't wait ta beat dat smug grin off his face," Joey grimaced as he squirmed in Tristan's grip, who finally released him once Kaiba was gone.

"Come on," Yugi said, "we should probably go after him."

And so Yugi and Joey submitted their Dragon Medallions and entered the tower. From there, they were escorted to a large parlor to join in with the rest of the crowd. Strangely, there seemed to be less people than they expected.

"Didn't Matt say something about sixty-something duelists getting in?" Joey asked.

"That was the plan," Yugi answered. "Maybe some of them haven't arrived yet, or maybe they've gone off to rest up."

"Or maybe some of dem didn't make the time limit." Joey couldn't help but yawn and stretch his arms out. "Now that ya mention it, though, I'm beat after dueling some of dose guys."

"You put in a real good effort, Joey," Tristan added.

"And you can bet I'm gonna give it my all!" Joey exclaimed.

Just then, the loud speakers came on with the sound of Matt's voice:

"Attention all finalists! Be prepared for the launching of the ship! Hopefully things will go smoothly and you won't feel much, but for your safety please head into your bunks and strap yourselves in, as there may be some turbulence on the ascent."

"Wait, did he just say-?"

Joey's question never finished, as at that moment a large rumbling was felt within the parlor. Some security personnel began escorting duelists out of the parlor and into separate rooms, eventually sticking Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Tristan all into one room out of sheer haste. Eventually the rumbling stopped.

"Geez, I wonder what dat was all about," Joey said.

Yugi looked out the window to check up on things. "Guys! You're not going to believe this," he said.

The others looked out the window and found that a large chunk of the island was floating right next to them.

"You don't think there was a ship built into the island, was there?" Yugi wondered.

Once more, the speakers came on with the sound of Matt's voice:

"Thank you for your cooperation, finalists, and welcome to the beginning of the second round of the Battle of the Titans."


Once again gathered into the parlor, which now contained a small platform with accompanying podium, Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Tristan looked about at the surrounding competition.

"Nope, it ain't just me," Joey said. "Dere's definitely less dan sixty-four duelists here."

"Maybe they really did miss the time limit?" Tristan shrugged.

"Or maybe the island took off early?" Tea added.

"I have to admit, I didn't think the whole island was going to fly into the sky," Yugi remarked.

"It's not exactly the whole island."

The group turned to find Andrew walk up to them.

"Andrew!" Yugi said. "You made it into the finals as well?"

"Yeah," Andrew replied, "but I just think I got lucky and found the weaker bunch. Don't expect anything too flashy from me."

"Hey man, you got to da finals on your first try," Joey said. "Coming from an experienced duelist like myself, I have to say dat's impressive."

"I think you're just saying that cause that happened to you back in Duelist Kingdom," Tristan said offhandedly.

"Don't give me dat," Joey said, and the two began to bicker once more.

"So what did you mean by not exactly the whole island?" Yugi asked, ignoring Joey and Tristan.

"Well, if you get the chance to reach the bottom deck of the ship," Andrew replied, "you'd find there's a room with a glass floor. You'd see that the ship was just parked on a giant crater in the middle of the ocean."

"But then what's keeping us up here?" Yugi pressed.

"A lot of power, that's for sure," Andrew answered simply. "I'd say congratulations on making it to the finals too, but I think you were probably a shoe-in anyway."

"Did you happen to learn more about the finals?"

"Now that you mention it, I think there was a rumor going around that the finals are going to be matched at complete random for the next few rounds." Andrew mulled over the thought, trying to think back to what he had heard. "There's also supposed to be some kind of Deck Master system in place."

"Deck Master system?" It wasn't all that long ago when a group of CEO executives trapped in cyberspace utilized the same thing in order to try and take over Yugi and his friends' bodies.

"Yep," Andrew continued, "something about monsters and special abilities and the like. It'll only last until we get to the top eight or so. Oh, and there's going to be a Territorial Separation rule in place too."

"A what?"

"You never heard of Territorial Separation?"

Andrew reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a spell card, handing it over to Yugi, depicting a mystical barrier dividing a grassy meadow from a desolate wasteland.

"I'm not too surprised, though, it's a pretty new card," Andrew explained. "But what it does is something special: it actually bends the rules a little and allows both players to have a Field Spell in play."

"No way!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Yeah way," Andrew replied. "You can keep that one, free of charge. I've got a couple more back in my place anyway."

"But didn't you say it was a new card?" Yugi asked.

"You could say I know a guy," Andrew replied. "Well, gotta get ready for the big announcement. Things are gonna get interesting."

And with that, Andrew headed off once more into the crowd behind him. At that moment, one of the guards went up to the podium, tapped on a microphone, and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin the final rounds of the tournament, your host has an announcement to make."

With that, the guard left the platform, and Matt Zero stepped up to the podium.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he began. "As you have all proven, you are the best duelists in the world. Certainly the only thing that can stop any of you now is each other, and we are all here to see that to the end. Tonight, however, a celebration in honor of your achievements! Feel free to eat to your heart's content and rest up for tomorrow when the real battle starts."

With that, several waiters with several carts of food appear on the sides of the room. A distinct glow came from Joey and Tristan's faces as they looked hungrily towards the food. Matt gave pause until the room of duelists had gathered a variety of meals and sat down at the tables brought out by other waiters.

"While you eat, allow me to explain the rules for the next few upcoming rounds," Matt continued after everyone was seated. "The rules are going to change a little bit for the purposes of these rounds.

"For starters, your starting Life Point total will not be 4000 as before, but be doubled and start at 8000. This may extend the length of a duel to longer than normal, but this shouldn't affect you in any way during the actual duel.

"Next, we will be testing out the Deck Master system for certain duels during the rounds. Both players will be notified if the duel is to run under the Deck Master system via the PDAs given to you as you leave the room. For this, we will inform you of all Deck Master abilities, which will be sent to your computer systems built into the room you are in. In this way, you will know what Deck Master you would like to use during your upcoming match.

"Finally, we will also utilize a new rule: both players will be allowed to keep a Field Spell in play during the duel. In this case, all Field Spell abilities will be active as per usual, even in the case that two Field Spells are in play.

"Now, for the organization of the final rounds, you will not know who you're opponent is until just before your match. By then, you will be well informed of any Deck Master rules to be used in the duel, and of course you'll already know what Deck Master and Field Spell to use.

"And now, duelists, rest up, for tomorrow is a big day!"

And with that, Matt left the podium and exited the room.

"Alright!" Joey exclaimed.

"You heard the man!" Tristan echoed his tone.

"LET'S EAT!"

And the two immediately dug into their pile of food already in front of them. Yugi couldn't help but smile when suddenly-

"I hope you know what you're doing, Yugi."

Yugi twitched and turned around to find Yami right beside him. He had been transported to the realm where they could communicate mentally. Yami had his arms crossed as usual, accompanied by a persistent stare.

"Well, I..." Yugi began, but Yami cut him off.

"I'm just worried, Yugi," Yami admitted. "Those cards are the keys to unlocking my memory. I know they must be safe, but..."

"I know," Yugi said, "and that's what's bothering me a bit. I do think giving them to Matt was the right thing to do, but..."

Yami nodded. "You feel uneasy too. Even if it is just him, we can't trust just anyone with them."

Yugi looked up at Yami with a guilty look. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"It's alright," Yami reassured him. "It just means we'll have to win them back, just like Battle City."

"Yeah," Yugi murmured.

"Look at me, Yugi."

Yugi looked up at Yami as he placed his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "We'll do whatever we must to get them back," he confirmed. "Whatever the reason was that we gave them up, we know they're in secure hands. Now, we'll rest up and win this tournament for our sake."

Yugi smiled and gave a firm nod. "For our sake."


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Believe me, as much detail as I'd like to go into the actual butt-kicking during the tournament, the finals are going to be a handful as is. But then again, would you guys be any more surprised than that? This tournament's got a lot of explaining to do, and it starts with the new card:

Territorial Separation (Continuous Spell Card)
Effect: Both players are allowed to have 1 Field Spell card active on the field. When this card is removed from the field, destroy all Field Spells in play.

How will Yugi and Joey take advantage of these rules? More importantly, how will they contend with the rest of the competition? Will Yugi be able to win back the God Cards readily? Let's see what happens in the next chapter!