Flash Duel

by Mega Ghost

When the particle accelerator exploded, lonely Yu-Gi-Oh player Jack Harper is suddenly in possession of a real Millennium Item. But when he discovers he has the power to summon flesh and blood duel monsters with their own minds and personalities, he decides he's in for more fun than he's ever had in his life. That is, until Yami Bakura appears, as real and alive as anyone else.

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It was the next day after Yugi and his gang showed up in Jack's dimension, and things couldn't have already been more different, for everyone involved. Breakfast at Jack's apartment had been a massive far cry from what it typically was. Instead of a cozy and intimate affair between Jack and Mana, it had been an uproarious, laughter inducing, side splitting commotion.

It started when Joey, Yugi, and Tristan had come in from the living room where they'd slept, yawning like dinosaurs. It had elevated when Téa had come in, dressed in one of Mana's more conservative nighties, and the guy's had all had a shocked reaction to her bedhead. It had culminated as they'd all ate a breakfast of bacon and cereal and talking about different dueling strategies. Téa had made a good-natured crack on Joey's skills, and Mana had echoed a variation of it aimed at Jack. Joey and Jack had each thrown a little bit of cereal at the girls. Mana and Téa had reciprocated the action, and the whole thing had nearly elevated into a full fledged food fight. The six friends had all laughed heartily when it was all over.

"So, what are we all doing today?" Tristan asked. "We're in a new world, don't really know our way around."

"Téa and I are meeting Caitlin for coffee and shopping in a few hours. That should take up a big part of the day for us." Mana said.

"No kidding. You guys might want to consider doing that too. We did kind of leave all our clothes back in our own dimension." Téa said.

"Eh, shopping, shmopping! We could do that anytime. Wit you girls gone, us guys got the day to ourselves to do whatever we want!" Joey said.

"Hey, Jack, maybe you could show us around the city. If we're going to be looking for, and fighting Bakura here, we're gonna need the lay of the land. We ought to be able to make some fun out of it too." Yugi suggested.

"Guys day out. I love it!" Jack enthused. "It'll be the first one of my life."

"I bet there are some primo duelin' spots around the city we could take advantage of." Joey said.

"I see your challenge, Wheeler. You're on!"

"And maybe we could also do some stuff the non-duelist here can be a part of." Tristan said.

"Yeah, of course Tristan. There's a ton of stuff in the city I've always wanted to do, but never could cause it requires a semi large group of people." Jack said. "I hear there's this new laser tag place that's supposed to be amazing."

"Alright! Tristan likey!"

"Oh, I just remembered something." Téa said. "Mana, Jack, I've been wondering since last night, those guys at the S.T.A.R Labs building, why did they call us 'characters' and refer to some TV show when they were talking about us?"

"Actually, I've been thinking about that too. And Jack, how is it you knew all of us when we'd never met before last night?" Yugi asked.

Jack and Mana looked across the table at each other.

"Should we show 'em?" Jack asked her.

"Probably. They'll find out sooner or later. Can't say how they'll react, but sooner is probably better." Mana said.

"Uh, guys, we're right here." Joey said.

"Sorry about that. Come into the living room and we'll explain it to you." Jack said.

They all got up from the table and walked the short distance to the living room. Tristan, Joey, Mana, Yugi, and Téa all sat down on and in front of the couch while Jack worked to put a DVD from his complete series collection into the player and turned on the TV.

"Okay guys, this is how I and the others at the lab knew you. See, you guys and your adventures actually exist in this world, but here, it's in the form of an animated TV show." Jack said.

He worked the remote to go through the main menu and to a specific episode. He'd selected the one which was Joey's second duel against Kaiba. The duel for third place at the Battle City tournament. Jack sat down on the floor between Yugi and Mana's legs as they all watched. There was a staunch silence for more than ten minutes before anyone spoke.

"Dis... dis is really creepy." Joey said.

"Yeah. It's exactly right. It's everything that happened." Yugi said.

"Well, it's not really exactly right. Look at what they did to my hair. It's not nearly that pointy." Tristan said.

"Yeah. And when have I ever made a face like that in my life?" Joey asked.

"But, it is still everything that happened to us, right down to what we said." Yugi said.

"In a weird way, I'm kinda happy about it." Téa said. "They got my hair right, my face is the same, and thank God, they didn't make my butt look big. What I'd like to know, how is it that our voices are the same?"

"The guys at S.T.A.R Labs claim there's an alternate version of every person in every dimension. The people who did your voices could be your doppelgangers." Mana said.

"But, how is this even possible? I mean, this is our lives." Tristan said.

A glow emanated from the Millennium Puzzle, and the Pharaoh was then sitting there instead of Yugi.

"It must be that whoever created this story in this world was somehow able to see across dimensions and peer into our lives. He must have mistaken these visions for miraculous creativity as he wrote." The Pharaoh said.

"Hey Jack, you got this whole show right? So, dat means we could actually watch what was gonna happen to us before we came here to help you, doesn't it?" Joey asked.

"I would advise against that, Joey. Knowledge of the future can be helpful at times, but as we've seen, it can also be dangerous. We can never truly know what is to come." The Pharaoh said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Just forget about it, everybody."

The Pharaoh nodded and he and Yugi switched back again.

"Hey, that makes me think of something." Jack said. He shifted his body so that he was looking at all four of his house guests at once. "This is something I've always wanted an answer to. Back before you guys really knew about the Pharaoh, how is it you never noticed the difference in height between him and Yugi? Or the fact that whenever the Pharaoh took over, Yugi became spontaneously a little older and gain a deeper voice?"

Téa, Joey, Tristan, and Yugi all stared at him for a few long moments.

"Uh, come to think of it, that's kinda a good question." Joey said.

"I think what happened is, their faces are so similar and there was so much going on at the time, what with Pegasus, Yugi's grandpa, and even Joey's sister, it just kind of slipped past us." Tristan said.

"It's funny, I never even thought about this, but you're right, we probably should have been able to see it." Yugi said.

"Actually, I did notice it." Téa said.

They all looked at her.

"Really, you did, Téa?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, it was kind of hard to miss. I mean, Yugi, you're close to a head shorter than me and the Pharaoh is an inch taller than me."

"How come you never said anything?"

"Well, before we knew about the Pharaoh, I really didn't know how to bring it up without somehow coming across as rude or insulting to you, Yugi. And after we learned about him, and he started to become as much our friend as you, then it just seemed kind of unnecessary."

"Hey, speaking of da Pharaoh, Jack, I just now noticed you got the same kind of hair as him and Yuge." Joey said. "You got that whole combo blonde and dark hair thing goin' on. How is that?"

"Heh." Jack chuckled. "Not really sure why, but this hair came with the Millennium Ring. That's just how it grows now. But, I like it."

"So do I. I think it makes him look very handsome." Mana said, reaching her hand down and playfully tousling his hair.

Jack let her do it for a second and then pushed her hand away with a smile.

"Ya know, looking closely, not just the hair, but you actually kind of look like the Pharaoh. There's kind of a similarity in your faces." Tristan said.

"I take that as a compliment." Jack said. "So, do you guys want to keep watching, or is this too weird for you?"

"I wouldn't mind turning it off. May have turned out well, but that wasn't so long ago for us and there's some bad memories from around that time." Téa said.

"And I really don't want to watch Kaiba gloat over beating me at the end of this." Joey said.

"Alright." Jack said. He turned the TV off. "Guess we'll all just hang out until we split up for the day."

OOO

Barry was waking up alone with a tremendous feeling that was almost like imbalance hanging over him. He couldn't pin it down. It was almost like his brain wasn't functioning as fast as it usually did. Barry dragged himself out of bed a lot more slowly then he usually got up in the morning.

"What's wrong with me?" Barry thought. "It's like I've got no energy. Speedster metabolism must be acting up. I must need some food."

He super-sped through his apartment to the kitchen and made a breakfast which would normally take a quarter of an hour to prepare in less than two minutes. As he finished and set his plate on the table, Barry suddenly stopped. He sat down in the chair at the place setting, a slight pant tinging his breathing. His vision swam and clouded in front of his eyes, not much, but enough to turn everything marginally blurry for several seconds.

It cleared nearly as quickly as it came on. Barry shook his head to clear it.

"Maybe I should try to take a break from being the Flash for a while. I think it's starting to get to me." He thought.

Barry turned in his chair to the table and began to eat his extra large breakfast.

OOO

Three hours later at S.T.A.R Labs, Cisco was finishing up giving a tour of the facility to the Kaiba brothers, Seto and Mokuba. He had convinced the interdimensional travelers to come based on the fact that they at the lab were the best chance the two had to get back to their own world.

The Kaibas had arrived an hour earlier, and in that time, Cisco had shown them the pipeline, the meta-human containment cells, and a number of the devices the team had used to subdue their various adversaries in the past. They were concluding the tour in the primary control room. Upon request, Cisco had granted Kaiba access to their computers so that he could peruse the code and system specs. Harry was in the room as well, going over something on a tablet in his hands.

Cisco said, "So, as you can see Mr. Kaiba, our computers-"

"Are an outdated joke." Interrupted Kaiba. "KaibaCorp stopped using computers with this kind of processing power ten years ago."

"I've been saying they need an upgrade since I got here, but no one listens to me." Harry commented, more to himself than the others.

"Are you guys really so far ahead in your world? Our computers are state of the art here." Cisco said.

"Maybe we can give 'em a hand, Seto." Mokuba said. "The laptop in your briefcase has KaibaCorp's latest operating system software. Might take of bit a reprogramming in the code to get their computer to accept it, but it shouldn't be a problem."

"Good thinking, Mokuba. Then we'd be able to bring them a bit out of the 1980's and put our chances of getting home in slightly more competent hands."

"You're really gonna give us some of your tech?! I can't wait to use it, Mr. Kaiba! Thank you!" Cisco said eagerly.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and continue to watch Ramon grovel, I have to meet Allen to work on imploding the rest of the breaches in the city." Harry said.

Harry started to walk out, but before he left, Kaiba shot an inquisitive look at him.

"Hold on, there!" Kaiba shouted at him.

Harry turned back as Kaiba stepped up to him.

"What do you mean, 'implode the rest of the breaches?'" Kaiba asked.

"It's simple. In order to limit Zoom's movement and force him into a trap, we're using a device I created to destabilize and destroy the breaches around the city. The portals, like the one you came through."

"You can't do that!" Kaiba yelled in his most commanding voice. "If the portals are all destroyed, how are Mokuba and I supposed to get back to our lives?!"

"Mr. Kaiba, Zoom is a threat to everyone, you and your brother included. He is holding my daughter hostage, so I am going to do whatever it takes to get her back. We don't know how you came to be on this Earth, because at the moment, all the breaches in the city lead only to my home of Earth-2. We will be leaving the breach down on sub-level eight in tact for the use of the trap. I'm sure we can figure out a way afterwards to recalibrate the breach to go to your dimension." Harry explained.

Kaiba glared at Harry for several moments. "Alright. That'll do for now. But, you should know that I will be personally going over every calculation you produce that relates to me and my brother. I'll also be starting designs on some technology of my own to aid in the situation."

Harry actually gave a small smile. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

"You should be." Mokuba said. "My big brother is the best tech inventor of any universe. He can make anything."

"I'm sure he can." Harry said in a friendly, but patronizing sort of way to Mokuba.

Harry then turned away and walked out of the room without another word. Kaiba smirked.

"I might be able to tolerate him." He said.

"Mr. Kaiba." Cisco called. "I don't want to rush you, sir, but if we could possibly get started on that OS update, that would be great. I need to input some orbital adjustment protocols for our satellites and then I need to go check out Jack's Duel Runner, make sure she hasn't had any breakdowns from her first real drive."

"Jack's the guy from last night? The one in the blue suit of armor, right?" Mokuba asked.

"Yeah, that's him." Cisco said.

"Why is it such an obvious dweeb as that merits hands on attention?" Kaiba asked.

"Well, one, he's my friend. Two, in my mind, no matter what, he's part of our team here. I'd also like to see if the visor program I wrote to link with his duel-disk worked."

"Is he actually a duelist? It'd be weird for him to have a duel-disk otherwise." Mokuba asked.

"Yeah, he's a duelist!" Cisco said with a wide smile. "He's the best duelist! Jack's the world champion duelist of our world."

"He's the champion of this world?" Kaiba asked with legitimate surprise. "He doesn't even look worthy to pick up a deck."

"Yeah, he is. He has been for eight years."

"Eight years?! That's four times longer than Seto was the world champ back home." Mokuba said.

The look on Kaiba's face took on an aspect of consideration. He looked as though he were turning something over in his mind, like he was coming to a decision.

"Cisco, just how good is Harper? Really?" Kaiba asked.

"He's awesome. I've watched a number of his duels online and seen how he can combine his cards with his powers. He's like a chess grand master at dueling."

"Really? How interesting." Kaiba said.

A small smile of anticipation appeared on his face.

OOO

Across town, Téa and Mana were walking along the street, heading to meet Caitlin for their girl's day out.

"Thanks again for letting me borrow your clothes, Mana." Téa said. "The guys may not care if they wear the same thing everyday, but personally, I can't stand it."

"It's no problem, Téa." Mana said.

Mana had loaned her a dark blue, sleeveless, one piece dress that ended halfway to Téa's knees and a pair of matching heels to go with it. For her part, Mana was wearing an Avril Lavigne t-shirt, her favorite singer, her leather jacket which Jack had given her, tennis shoes, and a pair of black jeans. The jeans were a special pair which she wore whenever she wanted to playfully tease Jack a little. The jeans made her butt look spectacular and never failed to elicit instant arousal in Jack whenever he saw her in them. Mana hadn't intended on igniting Jack's engine in that way on that day before she left, but it was close to her laundry day and the black jeans were her only clean pair.

"So, Mana, listen. I know you and Jack said it's no problem for me and the others to get some clothes on you guys, but I at least plan to pay you back. I'll do the cooking and cleaning at the apartment, or maybe run errands for you two. Whatever you might want." Téa said.

"Téa, you're our guests, you're here to help us, and you're already our friends. We're happy to get you something as necessary and simple as clothes." Mana said.

"Yeah, okay. If you're sure it's not a problem."

"None at all. Jack has plenty of money and the museum pays me well."

"The museum?"

"Oh, yeah, you don't know about that yet. I work in the Central City Museum of Natural History. I translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, inspect artifacts, help design and arrange the displays, and occasionally give tours." Mana said, the pride in her job evident in her voice.

"Wow, that's actually pretty cool!" Téa said. "How did you get that job?"

"It's a bit of a funny story. Jack and I had been together eight months at that point. We were there, taking the tour of the museum. When we got to the ancient Egypt exhibit, the tour guide told us a translation on a particular stone tablet, and I couldn't stop laughing as she told it to us. It was completely wrong. I re-translated the text into the correct phrasing, at which point she became greatly annoyed. Stuff like this continued throughout the Egypt exhibit. I corrected her on the use of certain vases, weapons, ceremonial jewels. By the time we left that exhibit, I'm pretty sure she wanted to strangle me." Mana giggled at that. "Afterwards, a little before Jack and I left, we separated to use the restrooms. Before I went in, Dr. Lawrence, who's my boss, approached me. He told me he saw the whole thing in the exhibit wing, and after checking several different textbooks, realized my translation of the tablet was right. He offered me a part time job helping with the exhibit right on the spot."

"And you took it." Téa said as a statement, not a question.

"Actually, no. Not right then. Taking a job was a big step. At that point, I still thought of myself as sort of a frequent visitor in that world. Jack and I talked about it that night, and he really supported me taking it. That really meant a lot to me, and so I called Dr. Lawrence and told him I'd take the job and I've been working there ever since."

"That's such a cool story, Mana. You must really like it if you've been there for, uh... how long?"

"About eighteen months. And I do. I love it. It makes me feel connected to my former life in ancient Egypt, in my current life here. I also found I actually really enjoy history, and it makes me feel like I'm adding something to the scientific and academic communities. But, that's enough about me. What about you, Téa? What do you want to do?"

"Uh, don't you already know?" Téa asked back. "I mean, from that show. Don't you and Jack already know basically everything about us?"

Mana's face took on an expression which combined awkwardness, understanding, and patience. "Well, to be honest, yes, but I still want to hear it from you. It wouldn't be very nice to talk about your goals and aspirations without you actually telling them to me."

"I guess you're right, and thanks." Téa said. "Well, what I really want to do after I finish high school is to study dance in New York. I want to be a professional dancer one day."

"That sounds like a great dream. Why do you want to do that?"

"Well, when I was a little girl, my mom used to take me to the ballet. They all looked so beautiful and graceful up on stage, I wanted to be just like them. As I got older, I found I enjoyed doing more pop dancing than ballet, but I never lost that dream."

"That's awesome, Téa! And you can do it too, considering how you showed up Johnny Steps that time." Mana said.

"Johnny Steps?" Téa asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"Oops. I just broke my own rule, didn't I?"

"It's alright, Mana. It's a little weird for me, but why don't we make an agreement? When we talk about past events, we'll just do it as if we were both there with each other the whole time. That way, it won't have to be awkward."

"It's a deal." Mana said.

At that point, the two girls turned a corner and came to CC Jitters. They saw Caitlin waiting outside for them and gave a wave to her.

OOO

At the same time, Iris and Joe West were inside of their longtime home in the suburbs outside of the city. They'd met to discuss what to do about their respective son and brother, Wally.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Tar Pit had shown up at the races last night. A meta fight would have turned it into a crime scene and the street races would have been shut down and this thing with Wally would be over." Iris said.

"Yeah, well, that didn't happen, so what are we going to do? You were right, we can't let him keep racing. If a crash doesn't kill him, than the guys in charge of it might sooner or later." Joe said.

"The problem is that he thinks racing is the only thing he can do to feel alive, I think. Somehow, we have to show him that that's not all there has to be to his life."

"Baby, with our track record on this so far, I doubt an intervention is gonna do anything helpful."

"I'm not suggesting an intervention, Dad. He likes to do things that are exciting. If we could figure out something for him to do without a lot of danger, we might be able to convince him to give up the racing." Iris said.

"Like what?" Joe asked.

"I'm thinking about that, but in the meantime, I have an idea I think might help."

OOO

A little while later, Joe arrived at Wally's apartment building. The neighborhood and the building at the address Wally had given was fairly decent, but not particularly upscale. It was just on the cusp of being poor, without showing it in any special way. Joe walked up the stoop and rang the buzzer for Wally's apartment.

"Yeah?" Wally's voice came through the intercom.

"It's..." Joe paused a second. He wasn't sure whether he should refer to himself by his first name or as "dad." He decided to keep it simple. "It's me."

"Sure. Come on up." Wally said.

The door buzzer sounded and Joe walked in and up to Wally's door. He knocked on the door and listened to his son's approaching footsteps. The door opened, Wally waved him in, and Joe stepped through the doorway. Inside, the layout was small without being cramped and was nicely, if sparsely and cheaply decorated.

"Hey, Joe. What's up?" Wally asked.

"Wally, I came to talk to you. Can we sit?"

Wally nodded and the two men sat down in chairs at Wally's small dining table.

"Wal, Iris and I are worried about you." Joe said. "We're not trying to tell you how to live your life, we'd just like to help you find something to do with it that's less illegal and life threatening."

Wally didn't reply for a few seconds. "Joe, I know you're trying to look out for me, and I appreciate it, but as long as the races are going on, I'm gonna enter them."

"Look Wally, I remember when I was your age. On your own for the first time, figuring out what you want to do, you don't really want to listen to anyone else, especially if they try to tell you you're doing something wrong. I get it. All I'm asking is that you come with me today and give me a chance to show you a different way." Joe said.

Wally considered this for a long moment and then nodded his head.

"Alright. For Mom's sake."

Joe nodded back.

OOO

An hour later and sixty-five city blocks to the northwest, Tristan and Joey were watching a duel unfold between Jack and the Pharaoh Atem. The guys had set off about two hours beforehand. They'd just gone on a bit of a walking, sightseeing tour, looking around at the city. Their true goal had been to find a location suitable to holding the mini-tournament between themselves they'd talked about.

Joey had initially wanted to have it in the west end park they'd walked through, but Jack had pointed out that there were a lot of people around and their dueling would draw a considerable amount of attention. When the other three had failed to understand, Jack had elaborated that if someone recognized any of them from the show, there would be a lot of difficult explaining to do. Conceding his point, the four had moved on.

They had eventually found the arcade with the laser tag Jack had mentioned. They'd made a reservation for a game of it, but as the next time available was two hours away, they'd snuck up to the roof of the building to have their tournament. Over the course of the past hour and fifty minutes, they'd dueled. Jack and Yugi had dueled, and they'd tied, each losing all their lifepoints at the same time. During his match against Joey, Jack had won by using Buster Blader against Joey's Red-Eyes. He was right then dueling against the Pharaoh. It had been a fierce duel. They'd been at it for more than forty minutes and were just starting to get each other down to their last lifepoints.

Pharaoh: 900LP Jack: 500LP

Dark Magician Red-Eyes Black Dragon

2500ATK/2100DEF 400ATK/2000DEF

Slifer the Sky Dragon

5000ATK/5000DEF

Spells/Traps: 2 Spells/Traps: 0

"You've fought a great duel, Jack, but I'm afraid it's over. You'll never be able to survive my next onslaught. Your Red-Eyes is weakened to only four-hundred attack points by Slifer's special ability and you have nothing else to protect you." The Pharaoh said.

"I'm not out of this yet. You should know better than anyone, a duel's never over until the last lifepoint's lost." Jack replied.

Pharaoh Atem chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I should."

"Give it to 'im, Jack! Don't give up!" Joey shouted from the sidelines. "Take him to the cleaners, Pharaoh!"

"You can beat him, Pharaoh! Keep at it, Jack!" Tristan cried.

It had been that way throughout all three duels. Since the duels were friendly matches, the guys on the side cheered for both parties involved.

"Well, let's see what I can do. I draw!" Jack said and drew his card.

Jack looked at the four cards in his hand and weighed his options, but there was really no need. The best strategy available was obvious.

"I place three cards face down, switch Red-eyes into defense mode, and end my turn."

The holographic projections of Jack's cards appeared, floating several inches above the ground.

"Hmm. Jack placed three cards face down and didn't summon any new monsters to defend himself. He probably wants me to attack so he can activate a trap card and turn things around. However, my Slifer the Sky Dragon can't be affected by trap cards, and spell cards only work for one turn, so it should be safe enough. Plus, if he does have something that could destroy my monsters, I can use my 'Time Travel' spell card to save Slifer and bring him back next turn. And then there's my other spell also. I think it's safe enough. " The Pharaoh thought.

He drew his next card from his deck. It was the monster card "Old Vindictive Magician."

"Awesome! With this monster, even if he has something to save himself this turn, next turn I can flip this monster over and destroy any one of his cards on the field, leaving him wide open for a direct attack." The Pharaoh then spoke out loud. "I summon one monster in face down defense mode, and now, Dark Magician and Slifer the Sky Dragon, destroy his Red-Eyes and wipe out his lifepoints!"

The holographic Dark Magician then flew across the playing field to Jack's side, struck Red-Eyes in the head, and Jack's monster was sent to the card graveyard. Slifer then uttered a frightening growl, opened its immense mouth, and fired a massive blast of energy which encompassed Jack's entire form.

"It was a good fight, my friend, but it's over." The Pharaoh said.

"Yeah, you're right, it is." Jack said.

As the smoke cleared from Slifer's attack, everyone saw that Jack was still standing and had not yet lost the duel.

"What?! But how? You took a direct attack from Slifer!"

"Yes, but by doing so, you triggered my trap cards!" Jack shouted happily.

Two of his three face-down cards then rose to reveal themselves.

"I knew you'd assume my face-downs would somehow get rid of your monsters, so I decided to go right for the win instead. First, my 'Rainbow Life' trap allowed me to convert all the damage I would have taken into gained lifepoints for the price of just one card discarded from my hand. Then, there's my 'Red-Eyes Burn' trap card. By destroying my dragon, you activated this, hitting both of us with damage equal to Red-Eyes' total original attack points." Jack explained.

"A fine attempt, Jack, but I have another face down as well." The Pharaoh said. "Reveal 'Dark Magic Attack!'"

Jack's face fell as he saw the card, knowing exactly what it meant.

"With this spell, since I have Dark Magician on the field, all of your spell and trap cards are destroyed, meaning their effects are negated. Perhaps you shouldn't have let me go through your card collection after all."

Jack shook his head a little and smiled a bit ruefully

Pharaoh: 900LP Jack: 0LP

Jack walked over to the Pharaoh and held out his hand to shake.

"Good duel, man."

The Pharaoh shook hands.

"You as well, Jack."

"That's the first duel I've lost in ten years. I guess it would take the King of Games to defeat me." Jack said.

"You certainly fought to hold onto that streak. I thought you nearly had me more than once."

"In a way, I'm almost glad I lost. Not sure how it would have felt, defeating my childhood hero."

Joey and Tristan walked up to them.

"Dang guys! Heck of a game!" Tristan said.

"No kiddin'! That was better than when da Pharaoh here wiped the floor wit Marik." Joey said. "Oh, here's you duel-disk back, Jack."

He took it from Joey and returned Joey's own to him. They'd all traded duel-disks back and forth between each other over the course of the games so that Jack could play and Mana's card could remain active on his at the same time.

"I must say, I'm quite impressed with your control of your powers. To be able to split your focus like that, to use the magic to keep Mana here in this world while also not bringing forth the cards you played during the duels." The Pharaoh said to him.

Jack smiled, but then he happened to see something out of the corner of his eye, and his mouth descended into a frown.

"Jack?" Tristan asked.

"Everybody keep smiling." He said as he plastered one on his own face. "Make it look like we're still talking."

The three other guys each followed his lead and smiled widely, making it look natural enough.

"What's goin' on?" Joey asked.

"Not sure. I got an idea though, and if I'm right, I just solved a minor mystery." Jack said.

He then shifted his position so that he was standing more directly in front of the Pharaoh.

"Pharaoh, as discreetly as you can, pull out your 'Dark Magician' card and be ready to summon him."

"I assume it'll be through your magic." The Pharaoh said.

Jack nodded.

"Okay, everybody walk back towards the stairwell. Look real natural. Act like we've finished this up and now we're going down to the laser tag without a care in the world."

"Got it." Joey said.

"On board." Tristan agreed.

The four guys all started to walk slowly back to the staircase entrance/exit to the roof. When they were just at the door, Jack stopped the group and made like he was about to make some kind of big point in the conversation when he suddenly spun on his heels and shot his arms out at the wall. To the surprise of the other three, Jack's arms plunged into the shadow on the wall and were enveloped. He pulled his arms back out and his hands were gripping a huge, grotesque, green skinned monster with massive claws and nine red eyes on it's elongated head. The monster was thrashing and screeching, trying to slash at Jack and free itself from his grasp.

"Pharaoh!" Jack shouted.

"I summon Dark Magician!"

Dark Magician then appeared, and seeing what was happening, instantly reacted. He fired a black orb of magic that found its target just as Jack dove out of the way of the blast. There was a small explosion of magical energy, and then it was all over. The other monster was gone. Jack stood up again and the four friends converged to discuss.

"What just happened?" Tristan asked.

"Wasn't that the Wall Shadow monster?" Joey asked. "I remember it from our duel with those weirdo brothers back at Duelist Kingdom."

"It was. Was it watching you?" Dark Magician asked.

"Whoa! He just talked!" Joey declared.

"Of course I can speak, Joey. I'm not the mindless hologram you know."

"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, pal."

Jack nodded to Joey. "It's been watching me and Mana for months. Ever since shortly after Bakura first got here. That's my guess, anyway. That's how Bakura was keeping such a close eye on us. Wall Shadow must have been tailing me and Mana constantly and relaying everything back to its master."

"Sounds like something that evil jerk would do." Tristan said.

"Quite. But Jack, how did you know it was there?" The Pharaoh asked.

"I saw the shadow behind the door twitch and got the distinct impression of a claw shape in it. I got this instinct and my mind made the connection. Even with the patience of an immortal duel spirit, the thing must have been getting restless, watching us on a never-ending shift for five months." Jack said.

"Well, I for one couldn't be happier about it. We just got here last night, and we already put a dent in that evil psycho's plan!" Joey said happily.

"That is true, but I would advise all of you to be more cautious than ever before." Dark Magician said. "Jack, you know very well what Bakura is and that this will only make him redouble his efforts. You all must remain vigilant and look out for each other. And do not forget, Jack, I will hold you responsible if anything should befall Dark Magician Girl."

"You know she's my first priority." Jack said.

Dark Magician then turned and knelt before the Pharaoh. "My king, it has been so very long since I have set eyes upon you. It brings great joy to my heart to see you again."

"Thank you, Dark Magician. You have never failed me in any situation. I cherish your allegiance and support of me."

"Oh course, my Pharaoh. Whenever you need me, you have but to call."

The Pharaoh nodded and then pulled the magician's card from his duel-disk, causing him to vanish.

"Ha. Things seem to move about as quickly here as they do back home. It isn't even lunch yet and we've already been in a fight." Tristan said.

"Well, why don't we go down for this laser tag thing and then we can all go get some grub." Joey suggested.

"Works for me." Jack said.

"Yugi will take over again for this activity, if nobody minds." The Pharaoh said.

The Millennium Puzzle glowed and the switch happened.

"Let's go, guys!" Yugi said enthusiastically. "We can flip to see who's on who's team."

"And loser buys lunch." Joey said.

"Then you'd better hope it's Jack's team, Joey, since our money might not be any good in this world and in this country." Tristan said.

The four all continued to go back and forth like that as they walked downstairs and began their new game. Their laser tag game lasted for about fifty-five minutes and was Tristan and Yugi against Jack and Joey. In the end, each team of the guys had won one of the two games. They'd walked off afterwards to find a place for lunch, basking in a happy glow of friendship.

OOO

Thirty-seven blocks to the east at roughly the same time, Harry and Barry were on the bank underneath one of the city's bridges over the river. They were there to collapse their twelfth breach that day. Their progress was greatly slowed by how scattered and distant from each other the breaches were.

Barry super-sped towards the breach, threw the implosion reactor into it, and flashed back to Harry beside the S.T.A.R Labs van. Barry was breathing hard and leaned heavily against the side of the van.

"Alright, that's twelve. Let's get the next one." Harry said and moved to immediately set off.

"Yeah... just... just give me a minute." Barry said through panted breaths.

Harry closed the driver's door and looked at Barry. "What's wrong with you, Allen? You've been languid all day. It's driving me crazy."

"I... I don't know. I've felt sluggish ever since I woke up. It's like I've got no energy at all. I ate three times more than even I usually do, and it didn't help. I'm not even sure how much longer I can keep using my speed today." Barry said.

Harry looked at him for a long time. He knew exactly what was causing this. Barry's body was having an unexpected, adverse reaction to the theft of a portion of his powers. Harry decided right then he couldn't go on with Zoom's plan. He couldn't continue to steal Barry's powers. He knew he had to make things right, to restore Barry to perfect health. The thing now was to do it in such a way so as to not reveal his participation in the current situation. It would only waste time to tell the truth to all of them and then deal with the emotional roller coaster he knew would ensure in them after. If he knew anything about Team Flash, he knew they had a remarkable capacity to allow their feelings about something to get in the way of just getting the job done.

"That's no good." Harry said. "We should get you back to the lab, run some tests, make sure you're alright."

"Yeah... yeah, I think you're right. Thanks, Harry." Barry said.

Barry walked lethargically around to the other side of the van and practically fell into the passenger seat. Harry started the van and drove off, steering them back in the direction of S.T.A.R Labs.

OOO

Outside a small, street cafe, Mana, Téa and Caitlin were taking a break from their shopping for coffee and and a small lunch of pastries.

"So, Téa, it looks like you've found some good stuff so far." Caitlin said.

"Yeah!" Téa declared. "I love the styles in this dimension. I've gotten plenty of great skirts, pants, and a couple of tops so far. Don't think we're finished quite yet. I'd like to have at least a few weeks worth of outfits so I don't have to wear anything too much."

"I don't think that's out of the question." Mana said. "I have about a month and a half's worth of outfits, and get new clothes semi-regularly."

Caitlin laughed a little. "You're making me feel like a stereotypical woman scientist. This is my first real shopping trip in months."

"I doubt that's any fault on your part. From what I've seen, S.T.A.R Labs must take up so much time that doing something like this would normally be close to impossible." Mana said.

"You may have a point there."

"So, what all did you get so far, Mana?" Téa asked.

"Basically the same as you. Some skirts, some pants, a couple of full dresses. Oh, I got a present for Jack's birthday."

"Jack's birthday is coming up?" Téa asked.

"When is it?" Caitlin asked.

"It's Friday, three weeks from now." Mana said.

"Now I really wish I had some money of my own." Téa said. "I'd like to get him something."

"That's really not necessary, Téa. I mean, you guys literally just got here, you barely know us. You don't need to get Jack anything. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Jack considers your simply being here present enough."

"Still, I'd like to do something for him. I can't explain it, but even though we've just met, I feel like you and Jack are really part of the gang, that you're one of us. I think the guys feel that way too, especially after what I can only imagine is the bromance of the century going on."

Mana giggled at Téa's joke.

"Maybe you guys could throw him a surprise party or something." Caitlin suggested.

The other girls each looked at her.

"A surprise party? That's a great idea!" Téa said.

"It actually could be. I guarantee, it'd be the first one of Jack's life, so he'd really never expect it." Mana said.

"You could maybe have it at S.T.A.R Labs. He'd never expect something fun and good to happen there." Caitlin said.

Mana laughed again, but more heartily this time. "That is true!"

"Okay, it's settled then. We'll plan a surprise birthday party for Jack." Téa said.

Caitlin then said, "Hey, maybe after we're done shopping, we could meet up with your guys and-"

She was cut off by an outburst of shattering glass. Looking up, the girls saw hundreds of shards of broken glass falling towards them from overhead from a nearby office building. Caitlin, Téa and the rest of the customers quickly covered their heads, but Mana summoned her magical staff and used it to project an invisible force-field over their heads. The glass disintegrated further against the shield and slid harmlessly to the ground all around them. The perilous shower over, Mana retracted the force-field and turned to Téa and Caitlin.

"Stay down here and get everyone to safety. I'll check it out."

Mana then cast a general spell on all people and electronic devices for a thousand foot radius so that they wouldn't be able to see her, transformed into her Dark Magician Girl outfit and flew for the window above.

She floated in through one of the broken windows and saw the crime unfolding in front of her. The office appeared to be that of a high society loan shark. It had a look that somehow combined expensive furniture and a feel of low-class crime. At the far end of the room were what Mana assumed to be the loan shark and one of his boys, unconscious on the floor. Handguns with spent shell casings were scattered around the knocked out men, which Mana guessed accounted for the broken windows. Standing above them were two people she recognized, one simply from TV news, and one from a long passed encounter. They were Leonard Snart and his partner, Mick Rory, aka, Captain Cold and Heatwave, as Cisco had named them based on their weapons.

Snart was using his cold gun, a freezing ray, to break open a hidden wall safe. The hinges of the safe busted and the door fell off, revealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash inside.

"Easy pickings." Snart said.

Mana pointed her magic staff at the safe, and with a thought and a wave, she made all of the money disappear.

"What the?!" Rory yelled.

The both of them turned to face the rest of the room and saw Mana. They each pointed their guns at her.

"You don't have any chance. Come along quietly, and I won't humiliate you." Mana said.

"I don't know who you think you are, little girl, but you put that money back before I get mad!" Rory demanded.

Snart then lowered his gun. "Wait a second, don't I know you?"

He looked closely at her.

"That's it. Two and a half years ago, outside that bank. The couple with the freaky powers. I remember your face. You're that same blonde girl."

"Then you should remember how useless it'll be for you to resist." Mana said.

Snart and Rory then raised their guns and each fired their streams of fire and ice at her. Mana smiled confidently and didn't budge an inch from her spot. The enemy blasts a few inches away from her face, Mana used her staff to make the streams veer off and strike harmlessly into the floor beside her. She looked the two men in the eye.

"Last chance for you guys to walk out of here with some dignity. Otherwise, I'll teleport you to Iron Heights in two prom dresses." She said.

"I admit, you make things interestingly difficult, but not impossible." Snart said ominously. "Mick."

The two men then pointed their guns upwards and fired their streams at the ceiling above the unconscious loan shark and his goon. Heavy chunks of burning ceiling fell towards the men. Mana flew forward and used her staff to grab and pull the endangered men out of the way. When she looked up, Snart and Rory were gone. Mana gave a slight groan and started back to her friends.

OOO

At the CCPD headquarters, Joe arrived with Wally. They walked through the building into the captain's office.

"Hey, cap." Joe said.

"Joe. This him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he is." Joe said with a smile. "This is my son, Wally. Wally, this is Captain Singh."

"Nice to meet you, Captain." Wally said, holding out his hand to shake.

Captain Singh shook hands. "You too, Wally. You look just like your, dad."

"Yeah, um, thanks."

"So, cap, I'm bringing the kid on a ride-along today. Wondering if you got anything kinda sexy so I can show off for him. My whole caseload is cleared at the moment." Joe said.

"Think I can help you out." The Captain said. "Got a call from the red-light district. Possible homicide. Unclear at the moment, the caller was apparently very incoherent. Go check it out."

Joe took a thin file folder from the captain. "Sure thing, cap."

"Wally, you watch your dad closely. You can learn a lot from this guy." Captain Singh said.

"I'll try." Wally said.

The West men then turned and walked out of the office to handle the assignment.

OOO

Inside of S.T.A.R Labs, Harry was giving Barry a thorough examination, partly to figure out how Barry's body had been adversely affected, and partly to continue the deception that he didn't know why Barry was ill. As Harry analyzed a sample of his blood, Barry was running on the speedster treadmill for the computers to ascertain where his top speed was at.

Harry spoke through the intercom to the treadmill room. "Alright, Allen. Come in here."

Barry slowed down to a normal, human pace and climbed off the machines, wheezing and panting like an asthmatic person. He slowly shuffled along to Caitlin's medical lab on the other side of the door.

"Well?" Barry asked, nearly collapsing onto the medical bed.

"Your top speed maxed at thirteen-hundred and sixty-five miles an hour." Harry said.

"What?! That's... that's fifty miles... slower than I was... two days ago."

"Yes, it is. I made a comprehensive analysis of your blood, and the amount of Speed Force within you is definitely dropping. I can't explain why."

Of that, Harry was telling the truth. He had no idea why Barry's speed was continuing to decrease. Harry hadn't stolen anymore of Barry's speed since the day before yesterday. The only thing he could think of, and it was a very general observation, was that some unique property of Barry's internal body chemistry was causing the continued declination of his speed. Considering this was already causing Barry to experience such mildly extreme symptoms, Harry knew this had to be taken care of quickly, for both Barry's sake and his daughter's.

"What can we... do about it?" Barry asked.

"The only cure I can see is to replenish your amount of Speed Force as fast as possible. I have an idea on how to do that, but before I tell you, I need to make a confession, something I didn't want to tell any of you about."

Barry looked at Harry with marked concentration. Before Harry could begin though, Cisco walked into the medical lab.

"Ramon, what are you doing here?" Harry asked with some irritation.

"Uh, well, Mr. Kaiba, Mokuba and I just finished updating the computers so they're working with the KaibaCorp operating system. I saw the van was back in the garage, so I thought you might want to check out the new features. What's going on?" Cisco said.

"Harry's helping figuring out what's wrong with me." Barry said. "He was just going to confess to something before saying an idea to help me."

Cisco then turned his full attention on Harry as well. His audience doubled, Harry began.

"This morning, before I got here, I was confronted by Zoom. He made me an offer: if I would help him steal Barry's speed, I would get my daughter back, alive and unharmed."

"And what did you say?" Cisco asked.

"I told him 'yes,' of course, just so I'd get out of there alive, but I have no intention of going through with it."

"So, how are you thinking we can use this to our advantage?" Barry asked.

"I can probably construct a phony syringe gun which will let Zoom think I'm playing along with him, but really it'll steal some his Speed Force and transfer it to Barry. It'll both cure Barry, and weaken Zoom." Harry said.

"Could work." Cisco mused. "We'd have to have Barry standing by to grab the syringe as soon as Zoom injects himself. We won't have much time between him thinking his plan is working and realizing the truth."

"Exactly. We'll have to work together to pull it off." Harry said.

"What do you think, Barry?" Cisco asked.

"I think it'll work if we plan it right. Besides, it's the only thing we can do." Barry said normally, having finally caught his breath.

"Alright, let's get to work." Harry said.

"Ooh! I've got an idea. I'll go see if Mr. Kaiba will give us a hand. Then, it'll work for sure." Cisco said before running out.

OOO

Yugi, Tristan, Joey, and Jack were all having their own lunch at a small, street-side burger stand, enjoying it thoroughly. The four guys were standing around on the sidewalk, moaning happily as they each ate their double cheeseburgers.

"Mmm!" Yugi groaned. "This is so good!"

"I know! We ain't got burgers like this back in Domino." Joey said.

"I told you guys. Best in the city." Jack said.

"So, what are we all doing next?" Yugi asked. "We've done duels for today, we've done the laser tag, and it's only about mid-afternoon."

"We could just do some more exploring through the city." Joey suggested. "Still plenty to see, I'm sure."

"Actually, I've got an idea of something we could do. But Jack, it'll require you to use some of those shadow powers of yours." Tristan said.

"Yeah? What do you have in mind?" Jack asked.

OOO

The four of them tumbled down as Red-Eyes dive-bombed towards the ground. They were high up in the sky, too high for anything short of radar to detect them with the cloud cover that day. Red-Eyes pulled out of the dive, turning in a huge, over and over spin. Jack and the others hooted and hollered as the adrenaline of the ride surged through their bodies.

Red-Eyes then rose higher into the air, flapping his huge, leathery wings hard. The dragon then flattened his wings and turned his body to an angle so that they all turned in a fast, wide circle. He then took them all through several loops, and, after a few more daring turns, flattened his wings again and went into a smooth, slow, glide.

"Yee-hee! Dang, that was a blast! Tristan, this was the best idea you've ever had." Joey said.

"I know." Tristan said. "I've always wanted to do something like this. Have a really scary ride, but I never had the money to do it in a plane."

"What a ride. I've never felt anything like that in my whole life." Yugi said as he tried to straighten his hair back into it's normal shape.

"Good thing we've all got strong stomachs. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure Red-Eyes would throw us all off, regardless of liking us." Jack said.

The other's all laughed at that.

"I'm sure he would." Joey said.

"So, are we done with this now, or what? Cause frankly, I could keep going." Tristan said.

"I'm up for another run." Joey said.

"Me too." Yugi said.

"I could definitely go aga-"

Jack's words trailed off as his eyes suddenly glazed over, and a golden Millennium symbol appeared on his forehead. A vision passed in front of Jack's eyes. It began with a replay of the dream he had had before. The dream of him running through the ancient, subterranean halls. He saw the same three people huddled over the cradle, arguing in their native language. The woman lifted up the baby and held him close, it's combination blonde and brown hair visible.

The vision then suddenly shifted. The images of the dream seemed to melt away, as if drenched in acid. Everything from the dream seemed to dissolve away except for the baby. It somehow seemed to float in the air. Before he could actually interpret anything of which he was seeing, Jack saw a huge pair of glowing, angry eyes blink open in front of the baby. The stared at the baby for a moment, then a giant, fang laden mouth opened up beneath the eyes, snapped at the baby, and swallowed it whole.

Jack's eyes regained focus in the real world, and he awoke with a small shriek. This upset cause him to lose his balance and he fell off of Red-Eyes.

"Jack!" Tristan, Joey, and Yugi yelled together.

None of them were able to grab hold of Jack before he slipped out of arm's reach. Jack was falling back to Earth at terminal velocity.

"Red-Eyes, go get him!" Yugi shouted.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon lowered his head and went into a brand new nosedive. He flew as fast as he could, straightening himself into a streamlined missile. Yugi, Tristan and Joey held onto his upraised scales for dear life as the g-force winds swept over them. Seventeen seconds later, and only four-thousand feet up in the air, well within the view of anyone within Central City, Red-Eyes reached out his large, clawed hand and caught Jack out of the sky. He then opened his wings, pulling out of the dive and shooting vertically again quickly.

Having a good idea where to go, Red-Eyes turned east and flew them all to the industrial park outside of the city. The dragon landed softly and released Jack from his grasp. Jack tumbled out of the giant hand, rolling for several feet before coming to a halt on his stomach. The others all dismounted the dragon and ran to his side.

"Jack! You okay, man?" Joey asked.

The three of them helped Jack up to his feet.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

"What happened? One second, everything's great, the next, you're passin' out." Tristan said.

"The... the Millennium Ring showed me a vision. Or, maybe a dream. I really don't know. But, it affected me for a split-second, like I could really feel what was happening in the images." Jack said.

"Does that happen a lot?" Yugi asked.

"More and more frequently. It's almost like the item's trying to tell me something."

"Sounds right up their alley. Dem items are always being a nuisance to somebody." Joey said.

"Hey, I just got an idea." Tristan said. "Maybe the Pharaoh could help you out with it. He may not remember his past, but he might be able to still, I don't know, do a magic systems check on you or something like that."

"That's not a bad idea, Tristan. The Pharaoh and I could possibly help Jack explore the inner working of his item, just as we've done with the puzzle." Yugi said.

"Well, whatever we do, let's go home to do it. I'd kinda like to be in familiar surroundings before we go messing around in my head." Jack said.

He then turned to Red-Eyes. "I think we'll walk back. I could use the cool down time. You really saved me this time. I owe you big time, pal."

Red-Eyes growled something, Jack smiled at him, and then removed his card from the disc.

"Hey Jack, what'd he say just then?" Joey asked.

"He said that if I didn't start being more careful, he was gonna burn me to cinders and eat my ashes for being so stupid."

In response to that, the three guys all stared at Jack with a look shock and fear.

"Relax, guys. Red-Eyes was actually making a joke. He's said stuff like that before. He's got a dark sense of humor." Jack said.

"Huh. Go figure." Tristan said.

"Yeah. I would have pegged him for such a lighthearted monster." Yugi said with a nervous laugh.

"Eh. I wouldn't have expected anything different from my boy." Joey said.

The four guys then started on the long walk back into town.

OOO

Téa, Caitlin, and Mana walked into the S.T.A.R Labs control room. Caitlin immediately moved to the computer, control station and began to work it.

"I'll bring up our satellite footage for the city. See if we can maybe pick up the getaway vehicle Snart and Rory used." Caitlin said.

"Guess that's an official end to our girl's day out." Téa said.

"Sorry about this, Téa." Mana said. "But, once we find where these guys are, it'll be child's play to subdue them."

"I don't mean any offense by this, Mana, but if it'll be so easy, how come you couldn't do it before, back there?"

"My magic is powerful, but it doesn't make me omnipotent. I couldn't just detect them out of the millions of others in the city. I can do a lot, but not everything." Mana said.

"Okay, I get that." Téa said.

"I'm sorry to say, our satellites don't seem to have detected anything." Caitlin said. "Our satellites couldn't pick up their vehicle. They must have driven out slowly and carefully to blend in. I wish I could do more, but this isn't exactly my specialty. Plus, the computer setup looks different for some reason."

"Well, I may be able to find them through magical means, but it'll take some time to set up the needed ritual. My powers aren't always as easy to use as Jack's." Mana said.

"Hey." The girls heard from behind.

They turned and saw both Cisco, Kaiba, and Mokuba walking into the control room from the outer hall, each with a piece of equipment in their hands.

"Thought you three were having a girl's day. What are you doing here?" Cisco asked.

"We were enjoying our day until some kind of robbery happened in a building beside us." Téa said.

"It was Snart and Rory." Caitlin said.

"I tried to get them, but they pulled a trick to get away. Stopped the robbery though." Mana said.

"I tried to pull up surveillance footage from the area myself, but the computer is different somehow." Caitlin said.

"Of course you couldn't." Kaiba said, pushing past them to the keyboards. "You computers have been dramatically upgraded with KaibaCorp software. Accessing some functions will now be a bit more complicated, but overall, everything will be simpler to use. By combining my software with some admittedly impressive hacking algorithms by someone called Felicity Smoak, all you have to do to access ATM and security footage from any source is to enter the street name in this search box. You'll have it all within two minutes, more than fifty times faster what it was before and completely untraceable."

The search box appeared on the main screen and Kaiba backed away from the controls. He picked the computer control board he had been carrying back up and began to walk away.

"You're welcome." Kaiba said as he left the room.

"Hey, Mokuba." Téa said.

"Yeah? What's up, Téa?"

"If it's even possible, maybe try to get your brother to act a little nicer than he usually does to, well, everyone. These guys are nice, and kind of our ride home."

"Yeah, I've had that thought myself. I'm gonna try to bring it up later, after he's been alone for a couple hours, when he's in a better mood." Mokuba said. He then whispered, "To be honest though, with how Cisco's fawning all over us, I think Seto could set him on fire and he'd still give an arm to help us."

Téa succeeded in suppressing the laugh that rose in her.

"Alright. Just keep it in mind. I like this world so far, but I don't want to live here."

Mokuba nodded and went to catch up to his brother. The computer then beeped and came up with stills and videos from cameras all along the street the crime had happened on.

"There it is! I just love working with Mr. Kaiba. With him here, I'm gonna advance us by decades in less than a tenth of the time." Cisco said.

"What are you working on with them, anyway?" Caitlin asked.

"Harry's building something he came up with to steal Speed Force from Zoom and cure Barry's decreasing speed, and Mr. Kaiba and I are constructing a weapon to help deal with him."

Caitlin's face tightened as the seriousness of her friend's situation sunk in.

"Do you need my help? That doesn't sound anything like a simple operation." She said.

"I think we've got it. Harry seems to know exactly what he's doing, and with Mr. Kaiba's input, we're making great time. I'll call if we need you." Cisco said and walked out, heading to his own lab.

"Okay, let's see what we've got here." Mana said, looking at the screen. "It looks like Snart and Rory walked out of the building through a loading dock in the back. They got picked up by an ATM on the other side of the street."

Téa pointed to another segment of the screen. "And look there. It looks like they got into a black sedan of some kind."

"And it picked up the license plate. Even if the car or the plates were stolen, we can program the computer to track the plate back to wherever they went through traffic cameras." Caitlin said.

She input the commands, and the computer started into a process of identifying the car's plate through cameras at various intersections and stop-lights until the sedan pulled into a garage in the low-rent district.

"There they are!" Téa shouted happily.

"At least, that's where they were forty minutes ago. No way to know if they're still there now." Mana said.

"So, Mana, you'll be going?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes, but I'll be checking out the scene before I go in. One thing I've learned from Jack, you always have to have a plan." Mana said.

With that, she drew out her staff, morphed into her magician's outfit again, and disappeared in a burst of light.

OOO

Joe and Wally West got out of the police cruiser onto the sidewalk in the red-light district. Wally was used to being in seamier sides of cities, between his apartment location and the street races, but even this was new to him. Despite it still being early-mid afternoon, the street somehow seemed to be very dimly lit. Up and down the whole streets were bars and strip clubs, in varying degrees of apparent legitimacy and legal obedience.

Joe and Wally approached a dirty looking, four-story apartment building. Joe pressed the buzzer button for the apartment listed in the files he'd received.

"Yes?" A meek sounding voice asked through the intercom half a minute later.

"CCPD. We're responding to your call." Joe said.

"I'm afraid I made a mistake. Nothing's happened. You can leave." The voice said. It was a woman's voice and sounded small and afraid more than anything else.

"Ma'am, you called in a possible homicide. We're required by law to come take your statement, whether something has actually happened or not. Now, you can refuse to let me up now, but all that's gonna do is make me have to come back with a warrant and team of officers to back me up. So, do you want to do this now or later?" Joe said.

No further words came from the intercom. For a long time, nothing happened. Joe and Wally stood there for nearly two minutes, looking at the intercom, the door, each other. Seconds before they would have given up and walked away for the moment, the door buzzer blared loudly. Joe caught the unlocking mechanism in time, pulled the door open, and he and his son entered the building.

They walked up the creaking stairs, passing the grimy levels and somber faces of some of the tenets until they came to correct apartment on the third floor. Before knocking on the door, Joe looked Wally in the eye.

"Alright. We don't know the situation in there. Could be a murder's happened, could be not. I'm breaking the rules a little to have you here instead of waiting in the car, but I think it's important you see something like this. Still, for your own safety, you stay behind me and you don't speak, whatever happens. Understood?"

Wally looked at his father for a moment and then nodded his head. Joe nodded back, clicked the catch open on his gun holster, and knocked on the door. What seemed like a very long time later, they could hear the sound of many locks unlatching on the inside of the door. The door slowly opened to reveal a short, Asian woman with fear filled eyes.

"Come in." She said meekly.

They entered the apartment. It was small and had wallpaper pealing at the edges of the floors and ceilings, dirty windows, but on the whole, it looked somewhat nice, like the woman had put a real, dedicated effort into it.

"Ma'am, you called police headquarters and said there'd been some kind of altercation. The officer who took the call said you were very inarticulate on the call. She thought you may have mentioned a dead body, but said you were so erratic and saying so many things, she couldn't tell for sure."

"I, I made a mistake. I took drugs and was high. I was having a waking nightmare and called the police in the middle of it. I am sorry, there is no need for you to be here.' The woman said in slow, careful English.

As she spoke, Wally was looking around the main room, taking everything in. On a floorboard, he spotted what looked to him like a speck of blood at the base of a coat closet.

"Joe." He said, pointing to the spot.

Joe looked and saw the blood and stepped over to the closet.

"No, please. I told you. I made a mistake. You can leave." The woman pleaded.

Joe opened the closet door and a body tumbled out on its side. It was a man, covered in blood, with an obvious stab wound in its heart. As he looked down at it, both Joe and Wally recognized the body as that of Clark Brownen, the organizer of Wally's street races. Joe pulled his pistol and pointed it at the woman.

"Get on the ground!" He ordered.

The woman held up her hands in the typical way.

"I did not do this!" She said.

"Get on your knees, and put you hands on the back of your head." Joe told her.

The woman complied.

"Please. I did not do this!" She professed.

She then looked them in the eyes, and darted her eyes to the left, three times, over and over. Joe and Wally each looked where she indicated, towards the bedroom. Joe took several steps closer to the closed door.

As he reached out to grip the knob, the door suddenly burst open and another man ran out. He knocked Joe down and made a beeline for the front door. He'd almost made it when Wally tackled him in the side, forcing him to the floor. The two rolled over twice, the guy ending up on top of Wally. He held a still bloody butcher's knife up in a way that looked like he might be about to use it. He never got the chance, one way or the other. From where he'd been knocked down, Joe had a decent angle to the two of them and shot the guy through the side of his head before he could do anything. The man fell dead on top of Wally and the knife safely clattered to the floor at his side. Joe got up and rushed to his son's aid.

"Wally, are you alright?!" He asked as he rolled the body off of him.

"Yeah. Yeah. I, I think I am." Wally said through adrenaline induced panting.

Wally looked at the dead body he'd just been underneath.

"I, I know that guy. He's a racer."

"Come on. Let's get you out of here." Joe said.

He pulled Wally to his feet and helped him to walk out.

OOO

Jack, Tristan, Joey, and Yugi arrived back at the penthouse.

"Jeez, what a hike!" Joey said as they walked in.

"At least we managed to get back in under an hour and a half." Tristan said.

"I need some water." Tristan said as he went into the kitchen.

"Sorry about that guys, but I didn't have any cards on me that could have gotten us back sooner." Jack said.

"That's alright, Jack. We understand." Yugi said.

Tristan then came back into the hall and tossed a bottle of water to each of them. They all took a swig of the drink.

"So Jack, how do ya think this item exploration thing can work?" Joey asked.

"I'm not sure, exactly. I've only done this kind of thing once before and it was with Mana helping, and we we're trying to do one specific thing. This is gonna be more broad."

"We should probably begin by sitting down." Yugi said.

They went into the living room and sat down on the floor between the couch and the TV. Tristan and Joey sat down on the couch to watch and give their support. The Millennium Puzzle glowed and the Pharaoh emerged.

"Here's how I think we can begin." The Pharaoh said. "If you touch your ring to the Puzzle and we both focus intensely, I think we can connect our spirits and explore the inner recesses of your item."

Jack nodded. He extended his right arm, clenched his fist, and touched the Egyptian eye symbol of his item to the Puzzle's. The items glowed and the Millennium symbol appeared on both their foreheads. To Joey and Tristan, nothing appeared to happen. For the Pharaoh and Jack, they could feel their minds slipping away and converging in their items.

Pharaoh Atem, Yugi, and Jack all materialized in astral form in the hall representing the separation of Yugi and the Pharaoh's minds.

"Wow! It actually looks like this." Jack said.

The other two smiled at him.

"Of course. Everything else we saw from that show about us was, well, mostly accurate." Yugi said good-naturedly.

"I'm happy you approve, Jack. Now, let's get started."

The three of them turned and looked down at the new, third door leading to Jack's mind and item. They approached the door and hesitated for a moment.

"Who should open it?" Jack asked.

"You should. It is your mind, after all." The Pharaoh said.

Jack looked at the door handle. He started to lift his hand closer to it, but then lowered it again.

"Jack, what is it?" Yugi asked.

Jack looked at them. "Is it weird that I'm worried about this somehow making me more powerful?"

"What do you mean?" The Pharaoh asked.

"Even since I first figured out the powers of the Ring, I've been kind of terrified of finding out just what all it could do. I mean, the base powers it came with I could use without thinking, and they could destroy the Earth or enslave humanity. That's why I just focused on mastering those and not exploring it any further. You know that old saying about power corrupting. I'm just worried it might turn into something dark. Something like, well, Mairk's evil side, example."

The Pharaoh smiled again. "I don't think you need to worry too much about that."

Jack's face filled with surprise.

"That is a real danger, but the fact you know about it and are on the lookout for it means you're already ahead of the curve to deal with it, if it ever even happens." Yugi said.

"And if this does reveal anything to change you, rest assured you'll have us to bring you back if things go wrong." The Pharaoh said.

"Exactly. We may have just met, but I think I can say we all feel that you're one of the gang, and you know that we never abandon our friends." Yugi said.

Jack's face was filled with awe. He then smirked, lifted a sleeve to his face and rubbed his eyes.

"So, this is what it feels like to really have you guys in my corner. It's better then I expected." Jack said.

He then turned and, brimming with confidence, turned the handle and opened the door to his mind.

OOO

Wally was sitting out of the side of Joe's police car. It was only about twenty minutes since the clash in the apartment. He was leaning forward, his hands on his knees, just absently watching as the police, CSI officers, and paramedics constantly flooded in and out of the building. He saw Joe come out of the building and approach him.

"Hey. How you doing?" Joe asked.

"I'm not paralyzed, so I guess that's a good sign." Wally said in a small attempt at a joke. He then somberly said, "I knew that guy up there. Well, I knew both of 'em, I mean the one who was alive when we got here. He was a racer. I smoked him just last week."

"Thought you might like to know, I got the full story from the woman up there. Apparently, she was Brownen's girlfriend. The racer guy showed up to talk to Brownen, and they had an argument, something about money. The argument turned into a fight, and she somehow got hit in the process. She crawled into the distant, bedroom closet and called the cops, but she was dazed, and that's why it was so jumbled. The racer guy got a knife and killed Brownen. Woman doesn't know if he really meant to do it, or if it was some kind of accident, she didn't see it. The guy found her and made her help him hide the body and clean up, then told her to get rid of the cops who showed up, and, you know the rest." Joe explained.

Wally said nothing. He just looked down between his legs at his shoes. Joe knelt down to Wally's eye level.

"Wal, listen. I am so sorry I brought you here. This was supposed to help you and instead I probably scared you for life. I promise, I will never try to interfere in your life again."

Wally lifted his head. "No, Joe, it isn't your fault. This whole thing with me, I've just been thinking, that guy I raced, the one you shot, it could have been me. I could be the one in that body bag for something so stupid. I just, I'm done. I'm done with the races. You and Iris were right."

It was then Joe's turn to remain silent for a beat.

"Well, it's far from the best way for you to come to that decision, but, I guess it's better than you not making it." Joe said.

"Can we get out of here?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, course. My part here's all done."

Joe then walked around to the driver's side while Wally closed his door and they drove off.

OOO

The door into Jack's mind opened, the room seemed to engulf them, and Yugi, the Pharaoh, and Jack found themselves standing in a huge chamber. The space was filled with all manner of staircases and passageways twisting and snaking in diagonal lines, at right angles, and every other strange dimension conceivable. At the same time though, many of the walls were crumbling and falling apart

"Whoa! This is not what I was expecting." Yugi said.

"I know. It's exactly like the inside of the Pharaoh's mind." Jack said.

"This is surprising." The Pharaoh said. "Jack, this must mean that whatever this vision you've been having is, your mind is trying to keep the information from you."

"Look at the walls. It's like they're decaying. That must represent how whatever the secret is, it's slowly leaking into Jack's conscious mind." Yugi said.

"But, why does it look just like the inside of the Pharaoh's mind?" Jack asked. "Shouldn't it look different?"

"I'm no psychologist, but I think that you're enthusiasm for duel monsters and the world we came from, coupled with the magic of the Millennium Ring could explain the similarities. Although, there is also the possibility that you could have some kind of connection to the ancient past." The Pharaoh said to Jack.

"Either way, do we want to spend some time exploring in here for the secret?" Jack asked.

"I'm up for it." Yugi said.

"We can give it a couple of hours." The Pharaoh said.

"Alright. Let's look."

The three of them began to proceed through the corridors, opening doors where they found them. The first ten rooms they entered were nothing but empty stone cells.

"Well Jack, it seems your mind is far less hostile than mine. We haven't encountered a single trap yet." Pharaoh said as he was opening the eleventh door.

He put his foot in the door half a step, and a guillotine then began to come crashing down in front of his face. Yugi grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him back. Pharaoh Atem fell back on his butt, staring down at the blade that nearly severed his metaphysical head.

"Of course, I could be wrong about that." He said.

Jack then came up and extended his hand down, the Pharaoh took it, and Jack pulled him to his feet.

"Thank you, Yugi. I really don't know what would have happened if that had connected."

"No problem, pal." Yugi said.

"Apparently, Jack, you shouldn't take anything I say in here too seriously. After all, I haven't even been able to solve the labyrinth of my own mind." The Pharaoh said with a small chuckle.

"Maybe we should get you a mental landscape bloodhound to help." Yugi said.

"Or a mental landscape GPS." Jack joked.

"At the very least, a mental piece of chalk so I can mark the doors I've already been through." The Pharaoh added, ribbing himself.

The three of them burst out laughing at their combined jokes.

"I'm starting to think that just walking around randomly opening doors is as bad an idea for us now as it has been for just you guys in the past." Jack said.

"Yes, I believe you're right." The Pharaoh said.

"Let's get out of here and we can relax with Tristan and Joey." Yugi said.

Jack nodded, and they all adjusted their mindsets and vanished. Jack and Yugi opened their eyes to the same sight they'd seen before; themselves sitting in front of each other. Looking around, they were surprised to find that they were alone in the room.

"Wha? Hey, Tristan! They're back." They heard Joey's voice cry.

They looked to see that he was coming in from the kitchen.

"What do you mean we're back, Joey? We just went in a few minutes ago." Yugi said.

"Few minutes? You guys have been at dat for an hour." Joey said.

"Really?" Jack asked. "Must be that whole mindscape thing. Made it seem like a shorter amount of time for us."

"I guess." Yugi said.

OOO

Mana had been jumping from one two-bit hideout to another for the past hour. Snart and Rory had not been in the garage, and so, using a combination of Mana's low-grade magic extrasensory perception and the new KaibaCorp program, she and the other girls had tracked the criminals all over the lesser parts of the city. The men had evidently leapfrogged all over to try and throw them off. The girls had finally followed them to a parking garage in the west end of town that was scheduled to be demolished. After confirming that the two were still there, she'd taken a full ten minutes to make sure they hadn't somehow set up any booby traps and come up with a plan for taking them down. She admitted to herself that she wasn't quite the strategist that Jack was and thought that he could have come up with a plan in an even shorter amount of time.

Inside the garage, Leonard Snart walked from their stolen car over to their prearranged escape car. He opened and looked through a duffel bag on the backseat. It contained fake ID, cash, and he added his cold gun to it. He then went around to Mick Rory at the hood of the car. Rory was making an adjustment on his own gun before they left.

"Move it, Mick. We're leaving now, before magic girly finds us." Snart said. "Can't imagine anything more humiliating than getting nabbed by a blonde in a pink tutu."

Just then, Mana flashed onto the level twenty feet away from them in a burst of light. For effect, she allowed them to spot her before she handled them. As they went for their guns, Mana magically whipped them away from the car and into the wall beside the descending ramp. She then ripped the roof off of the car, threw it over top of them, and made the concrete melt and re-harden at the edges to hold them in place. She walked over and smiled down at them gloatingly.

"It's a skirt, not a tutu, not that I'd want to damage your male ego by correcting you." She said.

OOO

At five o'clock PM, thirty minutes after Mana's success with Snart and Rory, Harry, Barry, and Cisco were at the docks. Harry was standing at the end of a partially obscured pier, waiting. Cisco and Barry were hidden out of sight, ankle deep in water, crouched over to waist level underneath the far end of the pier. Cisco had his smartphone at the ready to receive a signal from a button hidden within Harry's coat to tell them when Zoom showed up. Having no powers or real ability to help beyond the technological aid they'd already contributed, the Kaiba brothers had elected not to come.

For his part, Harry wasn't sure if this plan was going to work. Unlike their last setup, they really did have the element of surprise going for them this time. That said, Zoom was no fool. If he detected even a hint of the trap, he'd kill Harry and the others before they could blink. Still, Harry had to go through with it. He had to make what he'd done to Barry right.

The members of Team Flash had been waiting in their positions for more than ten minutes, but their wait wouldn't last much longer. A breach opened at the end of the pier and Zoom came leaping out of it.

"Wellllllssssssss." Zoom rasped creepily. "You have it?"

Harry said nothing. He opened his coat, reached in, and pressed the button as he pulled out the rigged syringe gun.

"Pig out." Harry said and tossed it.

Zoom caught it and held it without using it for a moment.

"Shouldn't be much longer. You'll have your daughter back." Zoom said in a tone that was simultaneously hollow, and had an almost laughing tone.

Zoom then took the gun and super-speed inserted the needle into his vein and pulled the trigger. Instead of the shaking and vibrating that accompanied the infusion of new Speed Force that occurred the last time, Zoom screamed as the source of his own powers was drawn from his body into the syringe. A split-second before the drawing was finished, Barry ran in, grabbed the gun out of Zoom's hand and injected it into himself. The effect Zoom had been after occurred within Barry and he was suddenly back to full power.

He started to grab Harry to get them all out of there, but Zoom blocked their path, howling with rage.

"Hey!" Cisco shouted from the other end of the pier.

Harry, Zoom, and Barry all looked at him. Cisco lifted Harry's laser rifle which he had temporarily modified to fire a specially constructed grenade. The grenade blasted forward at sixteen-hundred feet-per-second. Zoom began to super-speed to catch and crush the grenade, but before he could grab it, it's function activated, exploding in a pulse of kinetic energy that blasted Zoom off of the pier and more than four-hundred feet out into the ocean. Cisco ran to join the other two.

"Barry, are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, man. I feel great! Hundred and fifty percent!"

"Great. Now, I suggest we get out of here before Zoom swims back to shore." Harry said.

"Yeah, good idea. Despite how things turned out, I need a rest." Barry said.

OOO

Tristan, Joey, Yugi, and Jack arrived at S.T.A.R Labs at five-twenty PM. They'd arrived at Mana's invitation. She'd had the idea for her, Caitlin, Téa, and the guys to all go to a movie together. It was her way of trying to salvage the remainder of the day. The guys had agreed for the same purpose.

They walked into the primary control room to find the girls waiting for them. Jack and Mana stepped right up to each other and gave each other a quick kiss hello and hugged each other.

"Those damn jeans of yours. I forgot you were wearing them until now." Jack whispered through a strained voice.

"Sorry about that. Save it for later, tiger." She whispered back.

They separated and the group of eight stood together.

"So, what movie are we going to?" Tristan asked.

"I hear there's a new Jackie Chan movie playing right now." Caitlin said.

"You like Jackie Chan?" Jack asked with surprise.

"Yeah. Just because I'm a doctor doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good kung-fu fight." She said.

"Uh, who's Jackie Chan?" Yugi asked.

"Oh, well now we definitely have to go to that one. We cannot let something so wrong go unanswered." Mana said with an exaggerated face of shock.

Téa giggled at her display. "Mana, you're a riot."

"Yeah? Well, our boy Jack here's one of da best lives of da party I've ever seen. You should see him duel!" Joey said.

"So, I guess your guys day was good?" Téa asked.

"Nothing to brag about. Just a bunch of guys hanging really." Tristan said demurely.

"How about you girls?" Yugi asked.

"Pretty much the same." Caitlin said. "So, last time I looked, the cineplex has a show of the movie at six and seven o'clock. If we leave now, we can just make the six."

"Let's do it." Jack said.

"Just hold on there!" Rang the voice of Kaiba.

He and Mokuba entered from Caitlin's medical lab on the other side of the room.

"No one's going anywhere just yet." He said.

"What da heck do you want, Kaiba? We've had a real good day so far and we don't need you spoilin' it." Joey said.

"What do I want? I'll tell you." Kaiba said. "Jack Harper, I challenge you to a duel for your champion title of this world!"

"You want to duel me?" Jack asked.

"Harper, I frankly find it astounding to think you could be the world champion duelist of this dimension, and if I'm going to be stuck here for a while, I might as well make things slightly more livable. I can't think of a better place to start than by asserting my sovereignty as the greatest duelist of all time."

"You might want to think a little more before you do this, Kaiba. We watched Jack duel today. He beat Joey and tied Yugi." Tristan said.

"While tying Yugi is impressive, beating Wheeler in a duel is no credential. A blind dog could defeat him." Kaiba said.

"Why don't we just go, guys? Jack, you don't have anything to prove to him." Téa said.

"What? Is he too scared to duel my bro?" Mokuba asked.

"Are you kiddin'?! Jack, go ahead and put rich boy in his place. Show him how good you really are!" Joey said.

"We could go to the seven o'clock movie, and this could be fun to watch." Caitlin said.

"You know what? I'd love to! I brought just the deck for the job with me." Jack said. "Let's go, right now!"

Kaiba smirked and everyone moved to give them some space.

"Yugi, can I borrow your duel-disk again?" Jack asked.

"Sure."

The two of them took off their respective duel-disks and exchanged them.

"Kaiba's tough, but he's not impossible to beat. Just keep focused on your cards and don't let his taunts get to you." Advised Yugi.

Jack nodded as he clamped Yugi's duel-disk on his left arm. He and Kaiba took their positions across from each other on opposite sides of the control room. The others all stood to the sides, giving them decent space to play.

"Let's duel!" Jack and Kaiba yelled together.

Their duel-disks activated, switching from their standby modes to their play modes and Kaiba and Jack inserted their decks.

Jack: 4000LP Kaiba: 4000LP

"I'll start things off!" Kaiba declared as he drew his first card. "I may have lost my title back in my world, but once I'm done here and then reclaim my former glory from Yugi, I'll be the undeniable greatest duelist of both worlds! And this will be an easy win. Whatever duelists this kid's faced before couldn't possibly prepare him for me."

Kaiba looked at his hand and assessed his options.

"Not bad." He thought. "I summon 'Blade Knight' in attack mode."

Blade Knight

1600ATK/1000DEF

"I'll then set three cards face down and end my turn. Let's see what you can come up with." Kaiba said.

The holograms for Kaiba's face down cards appeared and Jack drew his first card.

"Bring it to him, Jack!" Tristan shouted.

"You can do it!" Téa cried.

"Show him why you're the best, baby!" Mana said.

"Give it your best!" Yugi shouted.

Just then, Harry, Barry, and Cisco all came back to find the scene.

"What's going on?" Barry asked.

Cisco stepped through the others and took in the whole scene.

"Oh man! Jack's dueling Mr. Kaiba. Ughll! I don't know who to root for!" He said.

"I'll begin by summoning my 'Blizzard Warrior' in attack mode." Jack said.

Blizzard Warrior

1400ATK/400DEF

"Then I'll increase his power with the equip spell 'Great Sword,' raising his attack points by three-hundred."

"Not so fast! I activate my Spell Absorption card. This lets me take the added attack points from your monster and add them to mine." Kaiba declared.

The new sword from Jack's spell transferred from Blizzard Warrior to Blade Knight.

Blizzard Warrior Blade Knight

1400ATK/400DEF 1900ATK/1000DEF

"Ugh. I lay two cards face down and end my turn." Jack said.

Kaiba smirked and drew his next card and looked at it.

"I activate 'Graceful Charity.' This lets me draw three cards from my deck as long as I discard two."

Kaiba drew the extra cards from his deck. "Next, I summon 'Kaiser Seahorse.'"

Kaiser Seahorse

1700ATK/1650DEF

The monster appeared on the field in attack mode.

"Now, Blade Knight, wipe out his monster with your Diamond Blade Slash!"

Blade Knight dashed across the playing field to destroy Jack's monster.

"Sorry, Kaiba, but I've got a trap card to stop you!" Jack said.

One of his face-downs rose to reveal itself.

"My 'Battleguard Rage' trap adds one-thousand points to my monster before your attack can go through." Jack said.

Blizzard Warrior Blade Knight

2400ATK/400DEF 1900ATK/1000DEF

The two monsters locked swords for a second, and then Blizzard Warrior pushed Blade Knight back and slashed through its torso, destroying it.

Jack: 4000LP Kaiba: 3500LP

Kaiba scowled.

"Nice one!" Joey shouted.

"Way to to take the lead!" Yugi said.

"Good job." Mana said.

"Don't even worry about it, bro. It's just an early lead." Mokuba said.

"Yeah, you can do it, Mr. Kaiba." Cisco said.

"I end my turn." Kaiba said.

"Good, then it's my move!" Jack said as he drew his card with a flourish.

"You're not the only one who can get extra cards from the deck. I play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two more times."

He drew and looked at his cards.

Jack said, "Now, I'll summon my 'Queen's Knight."

Queen's Knight

1500ATK/1600DEF

"Hey Yugi, that's one of your favorite cards." Téa said.

"Next, I'll equip Queen's Knight with the 'Laser Laser' spell card. As long as this card's equipped, any monster that battles with my Queen's Knight is removed from play after damage calculation." Jack explained. "And now, I think I'll clear the field. Blizzard Warrior, attack and destroy Kaiba's Kaiser Seahorse!"

Jack's monster went in to attack.

"It won't be that easy! Go, 'Attack Guidance Armor'!" Kaiba said.

His trap card rose into view.

"Alright! Now, Jack's Blizzard Warrior's attack will be redirected to his other monster." Cisco cheered.

"Exactly." Kaiba said snidely.

The mask like shield of the Attack Guidance Armor trap attached to Queen's Knight and Blizzard Warrior destroyed her a second later.

"And don't forget, not only do you take battle damage since Queen's Knight is your monster, but your Blizzard Warrior is also removed from play thanks to your Light Laser spell." Elaborated Kaiba.

Blizzard Warrior then exploded and vanished from the game.

Jack: 3100LP Kaiba: 3500LP

"I set one card face down. Your move, Kaiba." Jack said.

"About time."

Kaiba drew a card. As he looked at it, he gave one small chuckle.

"Well, it seems this duel will be over sooner than even I anticipated. You know that my Kaiser Seahorse's special ability means he counts for two sacrifices when its for a light attribute monster, so prepare to meet my great beast! I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba yelled and began to laugh victoriously.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon

3000ATK/2500DEF

"Now my dragon, attack Harper directly and wipe out most of the rest of his lifepoints with your White Lightning!"

Blue-Eyes White Dragon opened its mouth, roared, and fired off a huge stream of energy.

"I don't think so! You've triggered my trap card!" Jack responded.

His card showed itself and Blue-Eyes' attack was dispersed and a new monster appeared in front of Jack. Jack smiled in a way that was partly smug, but mostly good-natured enjoyment.

He said, "Confused? Allow me to explain. When you attacked me, my 'Back Attack Ambush' card ended the battle phase, negating your attack. It then created an Ambush Token monster for every monster on your field. And here's the best part: I can now sacrifice the token on my field to deal five-hundred damage to your lifepoints."

Everyone except Mokuba, Cisco, and Harry since he hadn't stuck around, then cheered for Jack.

Jack: 3100LP Kaiba: 3000LP

"Hmm. That wasn't a bad move. Maybe this kid's not really the amateur I assumed him to be. Still, he'll need more than a couple of good tactics to defeat me." Kaiba thought. "I set one card and end my turn." He said out loud.

Jack nodded and drew his card.

"I play 'Reinforcement of the Army.' This lets me move one level four or lower warrior monster from my deck to my hand. I summon it in face-down defense position and end my turn." Jack said.

"That's it? Just one measly face-down monster to protect you? I was expecting a better challenge from this world's best!" Kaiba said as he drew his card. "Now, Blue-Eyes, eliminate his defenses."

The dragon flew forward and opened its mouth to clamp down on its opponent, but it was then stopped as Jack's monster flipped up and held a sword between Blue-Eyes' mouth, stopping its attack.

"Sorry, Kaiba, but you know that Obnoxious Celtic Guardian can't be destroyed in battle by any monster with more than nineteen-hundred attack." Jack said.

"Hey! That's another one of your cards, Yuge." Tristan said.

"Yeah, it seems Jack took some inspiration from us for this particular deck." Yugi said.

"Actually, it's a custom made warrior monster deck." Mana clarified. "All of Jack's decks are custom built. He simply uses the cards he deems the best possible."

"Well, however he did it, he's starting to make Kaiba sweat, and I love it." Joey said.

Caitlin then looked back at Barry, who was a step behind her.

"This is exciting, isn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's not bad." Barry said with a smile.

"Ughl. Your move, Harper." Kaiba said.

Jack went, looking at his newly drawn card and going over his options.

"To start, I'm gonna switch Obnoxious Celtic Guardian from defense to attack mode. Then, I'll summon my Different Dimension Warrior to the field in attack mode as well."

Obnoxious Celtic Guardian

1400ATK/1200DEF

Different Dimension Warrior

1200ATK/1000DEF

"What is he scheming? Neither of his weak monsters even come close to my Blue-Eyes." Kaiba thought.

"And now, I'm activating my face-down spell card 'Lightning Blade,' increasing my dimension warrior by eight-hundred." Jack said.

Different Dimension Warrior

2000ATK/1000DEF

"Now, Different Dimension Warrior, attack Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Jack's human looking monster dashed to Kaiba's side of the field and slashed at the dragon with his sword, but to no avail.

"What was that about?" Joey asked from the sidelines.

"Just watch Joey. Jack has a great strategy going." Yugi said.

"Since Different Dimension Warrior's attacked, I might lose a thousand lifepoints, but thanks to his special ability, both of our monsters are now removed from play!" Jack said happily.

The monsters of both players exploded and were lost from use for the rest of the game.

Jack: 2100LP Kaiba: 3000LP

"And now your lifepoints are wide open!" Jack said. "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, attack him directly!"

His remaining monster went in for the attack.

"If you think I'm letting you attack me directly, you're crazy! Activate 'Ring of Destruction' and 'Ring of Defense!'" Kaiba said.

His face-down cards were revealed, and one ring appeared on the neck of Jack's monster with another spinning in front of Kaiba. Obnoxious Celtic Guardian then detonated in a huge burst of fire.

"Oh no! With that combo, Jack just lost his monster and even more lifepoints while Kaiba's come out of it unscathed." Téa said.

"Yeah! Way to go Seto!" Mokuba cried.

"Good job, Mr. Kaiba!" Cisco said. "But don't quit, Jack!"

Jack: 700LP Kaiba: 3000LP

"It'll soon be all over, Harper. You're down to your last seven-hundred lifepoints already while I still have most of mine. I knew you wouldn't be able to compare to me." Kaiba said.

"Don't listen to him, honey." Mana said.

"That's right! You've given it to him good through this duel so far." Tristan said.

"Remember, it's not over yet!" Yugi called.

"You can take him!" Joey said.

"Yeah! Come on." Barry said.

From his position in the room, Jack then suddenly threw his head back and began to laugh with abandon.

"What the?" Kaiba muttered.

"Oh man, this is just great!" Jack said after his laughing stopped. "This duel is everything I thought it'd be. I'm getting pushed to my limit right here. This is some of the best fun I've ever had in my life!" Jack said.

Everyone else's faces lightened as they saw the smile on Jack's.

"Fun? He thinks this is just some good time?! When will these dorks ever learn?! Duel Monsters isn't about fun! It's about power and crushing your enemies!" Kaiba yelled in his mind.

"Let's get back to it, now. I end my turn." Jack said.

"Fine, then I can get on with my victory. You'll pay for what you did to my Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba said.

He drew his card and looked at the situation as it stood.

"Harper has no monsters protecting him and only one card in his hand. Now could be the perfect opportunity to strike and end it all, but he still has that one face-down from his first turn. No, it has to be a bluff. He's not that good." Kaiba thought.

He looked at his new card, and then played it.

"I use 'Card of Demise!' This lets me draw five new cards from my deck, but if I haven't used them all in five turns, I lose my entire hand. And now, I summon my 'Cave Dragon!"

Cave Dragon

2000ATK/100DEF

"But that's not all, I now use the effect of my 'Clone Dragon' to special summon it to the field. Thanks to its special ability, it takes on the duplicate form and attack and defense points of my Cave Dragon." Kaiba said.

Clone Dragon

2000ATK/100DEF

"Now, Cave Dragon, attack Harper and end this!"

The dragon monster ran over to Jack's side and prepared to hit him with a tail whack.

"It's not over yet, Kaiba, because I activate Warrior's Devotion!" Jack said.

His trap card rose and presented itself to everyone.

"Here's how it works. Since you called a direct attack, I can send one warrior monster from my hand to the graveyard to reduce the power of all your monsters by the same number of attack points to the one I discard for one turn. I'm discarding my Fiend Megacyber, with an attack strength of twenty-two-hundred. That brings your dragons all the way down to zero."

Kaiba's assault went through, but with no attack points behind it, Jack was just fine.

"Ah, yeah! Way to go Jack!" Joey called to echoing cheers from the others.

"He managed to block my attack, and his card weakened my Clone Dragon as well. There's nothing more I can do for now." Kaiba thought. "I'll place this face-down and end my turn."

One new spell/trap card appeared on the floor in front of him.

"Then it's my move!" Jack shouted happily. "Alright, this could give me what I need to turn things around again." He thought as he saw the card he'd drawn.

"I activate 'Card of Sanctity.' Now we each have to draw until we have six cards." Jack said.

He drew six new cards from his deck and Kaiba drew five. Jack got exactly the cards he needed.

"To start, I'm playing the spell cards 'Cost Down' and 'Double Summon.' Now I can not only normal summon two monsters this turn, but the levels of all monsters in my hand are reduced by two. I summon both 'Swamp Battleguard' and 'Lava Battleguard' to the field."

The two club wielding, caveman looking monsters materialized.

"Hey, that's my monster!" Tristan called excitedly.

"Mine too!" Joey said. "But it doesn't end there. Since those two are on da field together, they each get a five-hundred attack point bonus."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Jack said.

Swamp Battleguard

2300ATK/1500DEF

Lava Battleguard

2050ATK/1800DEF

"Swamp and Lava Battleguard, attack Cave and Clone Dragon!" Jack yelled.

The two warrior monsters charged forward, clubbed the opposing dragons in the head and destroyed them.

Jack: 700LP Kaiba: 2650LP

"Now, I can use my trap card." Kaiba said. "'Flat Level 4' makes us both summon one level four monster from our decks. I choose 'Z-Metal Tank.'"

"Then I'll bring out my 'Liberated Rear Warrior' in attack mode for now, put a card face-down, and end my turn." Jack said.

Liberated Rear Warrior Z-Metal Tank

0ATK/1200DEF 1500ATK/1300DEF

"It's my turn, and I summon my X-Head Cannon, and you should know what these monsters can do. They combine! Meet XZ-Cannon Tank!" Kaiba said.

The machines reconfigured themselves and fitted into slots inside each other, becoming one monster.

XZ-Cannon Tank

2400ATK/2100DEF

"XZ-Cannon Tank, destroy his Lava Battleguard!" Kaiba shouted.

"I activate my trap card, 'The Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil.' It adds three-hundred attack points to my Battleguard. It won't save him, but it'll mitigate my damage." Jack said.

The laser blast from Kaiba's machine struck and obliterated the warrior.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 2650LP

"I place a card face-down, and that's it for now." Kaiba said.

"My move." Jack drew his card and looked at it. "Oh, the heart of the cards truly loves me. I just drew one of the heavy hitters of this deck. With this monster's special ability, all I have to do is just remove my Light Laser equip spell in the graveyard from play, and I can special summon it right to the field. Say 'hello' to 'Immortal Phoenix Geafried!'"

His newest warrior took the field. It was clad in armor that was both gleaming white metal, and writhing flames.

"Before I attack, I'll switch 'Liberated Rear Warrior' into defense mode and then activate a little field spell. The Seal of Orichalcos!" Jack yelled.

"What?!" Rang from the mouths of Yugi, Téa, Tristan, and Joey.

The green, glowing circle of the seal quickly drew itself on the floor underneath their feet.

"You know what this does, Kaiba. All my monsters now each gain five-hundred attack points from the seal." Jack said.

Swamp Battleguard

2300ATK/1500DEF

Immortal Phoenix Gearfried

3500ATK/2200DEF

Liberated Rear Warrior

500ATK/1200DEF

"Jack, no! That card is evil!" Téa yelled.

"That's right, it's no good! You don't know what you just did!" Tristan yelled.

Yugi then switched with the Pharaoh. "Jack, before it's too late, combine your item's magic with mine to break the seal!"

From beside them, Mana couldn't help but giggle at their display.

"Mana, this ain't no laughin' matter! Jack just put his soul on the line!" Joey shouted.

"No guys, he didn't." She replied.

"Jack isn't using his powers in this duel, remember?" Cisco asked them. "Without that, it's just the same as the other cards. It doesn't have magic within itself like in your world."

"Are you absolutely sure of that?" The Pharaoh asked.

"Completely. It's okay guys, really. I actually had the same reaction the first time I saw that card here." Mana said.

The others all accepted it and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Man, that nearly gave me heart pains." Joey said.

"If the drama club wouldn't mind keeping it down, I'm still in the middle of winning a duel here!" Kaiba yelled at them. "Harper, continue your turn right now!"

"If you say so. Gearfried, you know what to do. Attack!"

Immortal Phoenix Gearfried crossed to Kaiba's field and cut through his monster with its bladed arm.

"Ha ha ha! Thank you Harper, now I can execute my plan!"

"I knew my bro had a plan!" Mokuba said with pride.

"First, I use 'Negate Attack' to end the battle phase so that you cannot attack again. Next, I play the trap card 'Wish of Final Effort!' This card lets me gain lifepoints equal to the attack of the monster you just destroyed before I take damage." Kaiba said with a gloating tone.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 3950LP

"I end my turn." Jack said with a slight frustration.

"Good, now the slaughter can really begin!" Enthused Kaiba.

On the side, Téa asked, "Hey Mana, Jack can win this can't he? I wouldn't want him to lose his title just because of us."

"Don't you worry, Téa. I don't have a single doubt that he'll win."

Kaiba said, "I'll start my turn by using the spell card 'Soul Release.' This lets me remove up to five monsters in either graveyard from play. I choose my X-Head Cannon, Z-Metal Tank, and Kaiser Sea Horse.

"Hey Cisco, I don't understand. Why would he get rid of his own monsters?" Barry asked.

"Because he's got a way to get them back instantly." Cisco said.

Kaiba continued his turn. "And now I give up two-thousand lifepoints to activate 'Dimension Fusion.' With this card, we both can summon as many of our removed from play monsters as we want."

They each summoned their reclaimed monsters.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 1950LP

Swamp Battleguard Blue-Eyes White Dragon

2300ATK/1500DEF 3000ATK/2500DEF

Immortal Phoenix Gearfried Kaiser Seahorse

3500ATK/2200DEF 1700ATK/1650DEF

Liberated Rear Warrior Z-Metal Tank

500ATK/1200DEF 1500ATK/1300DEF

Different Dimension Warrior X-Head Cannon

1700ATK/1000DEF 1800ATK/1500DEF

Blizzard Warrior

1900ATK/400DEF

"I now summon my 'Y-Dragon Head' and combine it with its other union monsters to create 'XYZ-Dragon Cannon'!"

XYZ-Dragon Cannon

2800ATK/2600DEF

"And now Blue-Eyes, destroy his Swamp Battleguard and end this duel!"

Blue-Eyes White Dragon opened it's mouth, blasted its White Lightning and decimated Jack's monster.

"It's over, Harper!" Kaiba sneered.

"You sure about that?" Jack asked through the holographic smoke surrounding him.

It cleared to reveal what had happened. Jack's monster was gone, but his lifepoints were completely in tact.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 1950LP

"How did you not lose any lifepoints?! My dragon should have done seven-hundred damage and finished you!" Cried Kaiba.

"Obviously you don't know the special effect of my Liberated Rear Warrior." Jack said. "Since I switched him to defense mode after he was summoned in attack mode, for the rest of the time he's on the field, I don't take any damage from battles involving my warrior monsters."

"Alright! Way to surprise him, Jack!" Joey shouted.

"You've got this, Jack. Do not give up." The Pharaoh said.

"You got us in your corner too, Jack." Caitlin called.

"My turn's not over yet. My Kaiser Seahorse will now take out your Rear Warrior while my Dragon Cannon destroys your Blizzard Warrior." Kaiba said.

The monsters went in to attack, but Kaiba's Kaiser Seahorse stopped just before making contact.

"Sorry, Kaiba. One of the effects of the Orichalcos is that since I have two attack position monsters, you can't go after the weakest monster on my field." Jack explained.

"Your Blizzard Warrior is still done for!"

Jack's monster was indeed destroyed a second later.

"I set one card and end my turn." Kaiba said.

"And I go!" Jack said, drawing his card.

As it was the only card in his hand now, Jack knew his options without much thought.

"I'll place this card face-down, and then my Immortal Phoenix Gearfried will destroy your Blue-Eyes and my Different Dimension Warrior will remove your XYZ-Dragon Cannon from play." Jack shouted.

The monsters clashed, and Jack's were triumphant without difficulty.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 1450LP

"My turn's done." Jack said.

Kaiba drew his next card without a word.

"This kid is going to pay for disgracing the power of my Blue-Eyes by destroying it twice, and this card is the first step towards that." He thought. "I start with Pot of Greed, letting me draw two new cards."

Kaiba drew.

"I use Monster Reborn to bring back-"

"Your Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Big surprise." Joey interrupted from the side.

"Zip it, Wheeler!" Kaiba yelled back. "And now that my Blue-Eyes is back again, I use Kaiser Seahorse's effect to summon a second Blue-Eyes from my hand!"

The two identical dragons appeared in front of Jack and gave their customary entrance roars.

"Finally, I'll use my 'Shrink' card to cut your Gearfried down to size!"

Immortal Phoenix Gearfried Blue-Eyes White Dragon

1750ATK/2200DEF 3000ATK/2500DEF

"Now my dragons, attack and destroy both of his monsters!"

The two dragons each fired off an attack equal in both power and intensity which, if the real thing were ever unleashed on the world, could undoubtedly wipe out potentially everything. In this case, however, what happened was that only Jack's Immortal Phoenix Gearfried was destroyed.

"Why wasn't your Liberated Rear Warrior sent to the graveyard?!" Kaiba asked.

"Because I activated the quickplay spell 'Unity!"

The smoke cleared to reveal a spell card which sported the image of Yugi and his three friends all holding their hands together.

"Hey, that's us! Cool!" Tristan said.

"This spell made my warrior's defense points become the total collective defense of every monster on my field, making it thirty-four-hundred. Four hundred points more than your dragon for this one turn." Jack said.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 1050LP

"Alright! I love that effect and it made Jack and Kaiba close to even in lifepoints." Téa said.

"I play a card face down and end my turn." Kaiba said. "And next turn, I'll finish him once and for all." He thought.

Jack took his card and began his turn.

"Hmm. With this, I should be able to stay in the game another turn and start another comeback." Jack thought. He then spoke, "I set a face-down and end my turn."

"Come on, Jack!" Mana cheered.

"Don't give up." Caitlin said.

"You can do it." The Pharaoh said.

"Please, this will be over soon enough." Kaiba said and drew his card. "I'll begin by using the 'Spell Reproduction' card to copy the effect of the 'Pot of Greed' in my graveyard, letting me draw two cards."

He drew again.

"There it is. My 'Polymerization' card. Now all I need is my third Blue-Eyes and then I can summon my ultimate monster. Harper's done better than I expected. I haven't had a duel this challenging since Yugi. I can't simply attack and expect to win. I'll at least give him the honor of losing to the most supreme dragon in the game." He thought. "And now my two dragons, take out his warrior and wipe him out!"

Blue-Eyes obeyed their master and Jack's monster was swiftly vaporized.

"Ha! You just triggered my traps, Kaiba! First, my 'Phantom Knight of Shadow Veil' trap returns to the field as a monster in defense mode."

Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil

0ATK/300DEF

"Then, my 'Rope of Life' lets me bring back the monster you just destroyed, but with eight-hundred more attack points." Jack said.

Liberated Rear Warrior 1300ATK/1200DEF

"I'll end my turn now." Kaiba said.

"You're doing great, bro! Don't stop now!" Mokuba called.

The faces of several of the onlookers became either confused or concerned.

"Hey Cisco, I don't get it. What's going on? Why did the Mokuba kid cheer like that?" Barry asked.

"See, Mr. Kaiba's playing at some kind of strategy, and he made Jack use up two of his cards to keep himself in the game so he wouldn't have them in a bit." Cisco explained.

"But it won't work. Jack's been in worse situations than this for his title just since I've known him, and he's pulled through. He will win." Mana said.

"Mana, I get you're supporting your boyfriend, but come on. He'll have to pull off a miracle." Mokuba said.

"Then that's just what I'll do." Jack said. "I don't mind losing for fun, but I've worked hard for my title, and I don't plan on losing it today. I draw!"

Jack looked at his card.

"And look at that. Just what I needed. I summon 'Blue Flame Swordsman' in defense mode."

Jack's warrior appeared, a man in thick armor with a sword wreathed in dancing blue fire.

"Ah yes! And with him on the field, Jack can transfer its attack points to his other monster!" Joey said.

"Exactly. I'm transferring the whole twenty-three-hundred he gets from the seal, too!" Jack said.

Blue Flame Swordsman

0ATK/1600DEF

Liberated Rear Warrior 3600ATK/1200DEF

"Now my Liberated Rear Warrior is the strongest monster on the field!" Jack shouted.

"Great dueling, man!" Tristan said.

"Way to go!" Téa said.

Jack called his attack. "Liberated Rear Warrior, destroy his Blue-Eyes!"

His monster then leaped across the field, swinging its spear over its head and decapitated Kaiba's dragon.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 450LP

"That'll do it for me this turn." Jack said.

Kaiba's face twisted into a mask of sheer rage.

"I will not lose to you!" He roared.

Kaiba drew his card.

"Man, you really don't know how to enjoy yourself, do you?" Jack asked. "We're playing the game we both love and pushing each other to the absolute pinnacle of our skills. Just relax man, seriously."

"This is no game to me! When will all you dorks finally get it through your heads that Duel Monsters is a serious business?! I don't play for fun, and I can't abide anyone who doesn't take it as seriously as its meant to be!"

Jack groaned and shook his head a bit. "You really are one miserable schmuck. Well, your choice I guess."

Kaiba growled as he looked at his card.

"There it is!" He thought. He said out loud, "I summon 'Versago the Destroyer! His ability allows me to substitute him for one material for a fusion monster. I activate 'Polymerization' to fuse Versago with my Blue-Eyes on the field and the one in my hand to summon my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

The hyper realism creating technology of the duel-disks then made a very real feeling wind kick up and whip throughout the whole room as the dreaded, three-headed figure of Kaiba's strongest monster rose up out of the floor. Kaiba gave a hearty, superior laugh as his dragon roared deafeningly.

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon

4500ATK/3800DEF

"Go my Ultimate Dragon and terminate his warrior for the last time with your Neutron Blast!"

The heads opened their mouths and the three eminently cataclysmic streams of energy fired and combined into one shot before obliterating Jack's Liberated Rear Warrior. Kaiba laughed with abandon.

"Only two monsters to go until this duel is over." Kaiba said. "You can go now."

"Well, this took another turn for the worse." Jack thought as he drew his newest card. "Huh. My 'Black Luster Sacred Soldier.' This monster could win it for me, but I'm gonna need a few more cards to get him out and power him up. Problem is, I don't have enough turns before my lifepoints are wide open to draw the cards I need."

"I pass this turn." He spoke.

"What else could you do?" Kaiba asked condescendingly. "Blue-Eyes, destroy his second monster!"

Jack's Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil disappeared from the field moments later.

"Your move, Harper. If you can even do anything."

Jack drew his next card.

"'Monster Reborn.' There's another I need for this plan to work." He thought. "I pass again."

"Of course you do. Blue-Eyes, take out his last line of defense!"

Blue Flame Swordsman was then blown away from the dragon's attack.

"Last chance. If I don't draw the right card now, I'm done." Jack thought.

He drew his card and looked at it.

"There it is." Jack then said, "I summon a monster in face-down defense mode."

"Is that really the best you can do?" Kaiba asked. "Stalling won't do you any good. I knew I'd defeat you! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, blast that pathetic barrier!"

His dragon fired its attack and destroyed Jack's monster. It flipped up, showing the image of itself before going to the graveyard.

"Kaiba, you just destroyed my 'Magician of Faith.' Her flip effect lets me take one spell card from my graveyard and add it back to my hand." Jack said.

The graveyard mechanism then ejected a card back out for him.

"Now it's my move, Kaiba, and I'm afraid its over for you." Jack said.

"You lie!" Kaiba shouted.

"'Fraid not. I'm about to pull off the final turn around of this duel, and it starts now. I use 'Monster Reborn' to bring back my Queen's Knight from the graveyard."

Queen's Knight reappeared in the central monster zone on the field.

Queen's Knight

1500ATK/1600DEF

"Then, I use the 'Cost Down' I recovered to lower the levels of the monsters in my hand. I now sacrifice Queen's Knight to summon my 'Black Luster Sacred Soldier!'"

Queen's Knight vanished again and in her place was a man clad in glowing, white-gold armor with a sword and shield and metal wings attached to his back.

Black Luster Sacred Soldier

3000ATK/2500DEF

"Ha! Harper, you might want to check your vision. Your monster is sixteen-hundred attack points shy of being able to destroy my dragon." Kaiba said.

"You know very well that attack points are not everything, Kaiba. I'm sure this monster must have a special ability." The Pharaoh said.

"The man's right. It's a very special ability. Thanks to my soldier, I can target my banished Different Dimension Warrior and your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The first gets added back to my graveyard, and the second is then removed from play!"

"What?!" Kaiba shouted.

Black Luster Sacred Soldier fired a beam of light from the tip of its sword to Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The beam penetrated the dragon and made it explode from the inside out.

"No! I'm wide open!" Kaiba said.

"Exactly! Go, Black Luster Sacred Soldier, attack him directly and wipe him out with Sacred Luster Slash!"

Black Luster Sacred Soldier ran across the field and used his sword to deliver the final blow of the duel.

Jack: 650LP Kaiba: 0LP

"YEAH!" The Pharaoh and everyone cried together.

They stepped over quickly and surrounded Jack.

"You did it!" Tristan said.

"That was so cool!" Téa said.

"You totally stomped him!" Joey said.

"Good job, baby." Mana said.

"That was excellent dueling, Jack." The Pharaoh said.

"That was the most exciting thirty minutes I've ever seen." Caitlin told him.

Barry then stepped up to Jack and everyone quieted.

"Cool game, Jack."

"Thanks." Jack replied with a small smile.

"Come on, why don't all get going for the movie now?" Caitlin said.

"Just a second." Jack said.

He then walked over to Kaiba.

"That was a great duel, Kaiba. I've rarely ever had a game that intense. I had a fantastic time." Jack said, holding out his hand to shake.

Kaiba did not shake.

"So maybe this world does have one decent duelist in it, but this game doesn't change anything. I'm not a part of your little gang, and I still plan to crush you and Yugi to gain back my title as the greatest duelist ever!" Kaiba spat out.

"Jeez! Can't you be gracious for once?! The guy's bein' a helluva good sport here!" Joey said.

"Kaiba, when will you ever learn that this compulsive need of yours to enact dominance on those around you is what keeps you from your greatest potential?! Until you overcome those issues, you will never be able to defeat any of us!" The Pharaoh said.

"Let's go, Mokuba! I have no intention of listening to any more of their nonsense!" Kaiba yelled and made straight for the outer hall.

"Great working with you today, Mr. Kaiba! See you soon!" Cisco called after him.

"Sorry about that. See you later, guys!" Mokuba said as he chased after his brother.

"Same old Kaiba. Some things never change." Téa said.

"Ah, forget him. We've had a great day, and we're gonna finish it up by going to a cool movie." Tristan said.

"I agree. Let's get going." Mana said.

They all started on their way out, but then Jack saw Barry and Cisco hanging back.

"Hey, uh, you two wanna join us as well?" He asked.

"Uh, thanks, really, but I've kinda had a long day. I plan to just go home, eat, and sleep." Barry said. "Maybe some other time."

"And I'm expecting a call from Kendra in a little, so I can't make it." Cisco said.

"Alright. Well then, later guys." Jack said and walked out.

OOO

Back at the docks, Zoom was just trudging himself back onto the shore from the ocean. The combination of his Speed Force being stolen and the pulse blast had been enough of a congruent effect to render him unconscious for a while. After he'd woken up, he'd found himself much farther from the shore than he thought he originally had been. The undertow had dragged him miles out, and it was only his powers that had allowed him to get back.

Zoom ran back through the city to the apartment he'd taken as Jay Garrick, the friction from the super-speed making him bone dry before he arrived. He phased through the walls into the apartment, too frustrated to even deal with making an appearance as his fake, hero, persona. Going into the bedroom, he found Bakura waiting for him.

"Well, it seems you've had a bit of a harrowing day." Bakura said.

"What do you want, Bakura?" Hunter Zoloman asked as he removed his mask.

He then stepped into the adjoining bathroom and began to change clothes.

"If you remember, we were supposed to meet after your latest rendezvous with Wells to discuss our next move. Although, my sources tell me that your plan to have Wells steal Allen's powers for you has gone the way of the dinosaurs." Bakura said.

"And what sources would those be, exactly? Are you having me followed?"

"I've made a certain investment in you by telling you of myself and what you face from Harper and the others. My only interest is to protect that investment."

"So what do you think is our next move now?" Zoloman asked, coming out of the bathroom.

"Wells knows perfectly what you'll do to his daughter now that he's no longer cooperating. He'll enlist all those fools to try and mount a search and rescue for her. All we have to do is set the trap, and let them come to us." Bakura said.

"That easy, huh?"

"With your speed and my magic, why shouldn't it be? What could happen? Don't you trust me?" Bakura asked with a small, evil smile.

Zoloman than smiled as well. "Of course. Every little bit that you trust me."

OOO

Four hours after the duel at S.T.A.R Labs had ended, the group had been to see the movie, Caitlin had gone home to her own place afterwards, and the six others had gone back to the apartment. They'd all had a big dinner together where they'd discussed their various activities during the course of the day. Both the guys and the girls had elected to leave out some of the more action orientated events.

Jack and Mana were in their bedroom, discussing those very events after a bout of passionate, tender, and intense, yet very muted lovemaking. They were lying naked in each other's arms underneath the bed sheets. As he always did in bed, Jack was delighting in the feeling of her large C-cups pressed against his chest.

"So then there's some kind of secret in your head connected with that dream." Mana said.

"Apparently. It could either be connected to something in the past, or possibly the dream's some kind of mental interpretation of something I'd need a shrink to unravel." Jack said.

"Well, I think we can not worry on whether you need a therapist or not for a little while yet. About Bakura, do you think he'll send the Wall Shadow out to watch us again?"

"Not sure. It'd be hard to spot, but we're on the lookout for that specific possibility now. It's likely he'll come up with some other way to try to spy on us, but I can't say for sure. Anyway, sounded like you had an eventful day yourself. A run in with our old pal, Snart."

"Yep. He says 'hello' by the way. And a chorus of other, very sarcastic and inventive phrases I couldn't repeat and be able to retain my ladylike air." Mana said.

Jack chuckled at that. "Maybe I should send him a cake in the slammer. Without running into him that night, who knows if things between us would be how they are now. I know for sure we wouldn't have had our first kiss that night. I wouldn't have had the guts. Not back then."

Mana giggled. "If we ever get married, we'll send him an invitation to the wedding." She then changed the subject. "Seems we've already gotten used to our new house guests. Personally, I love having Téa here. We hit it off well today and I think we're going to be great friends."

"Me and the guys had a blast. Hell, even those two times I nearly died were kind of fun."

Mana made a show of cocking her eyebrows in a suspicious way.

"I'm going to be keeping my eye on you." She said.

They both laughed together at the joke.

"Mana, can I ask you something?"

"You know you can ask me anything."

"It's just, how come you never told me before that Yugi, Tristan and all of them were real?" Jack asked. "I mean, from how you spoke to the Pharaoh last night, I know you knew about them. I'm just wondering why you never mentioned it."

Mana looked away for a few seconds before answering.

"I'm going to sound so selfish, but, it's because I liked having you all to myself."

"Huh?" Jack grunted.

"Jack, when we first met, you were so amazed by what was happening with your powers, and I could tell how infatuated you were with me, and part of me thought that if I told you about them and that their world is real you'd use a card to go there and join them, and maybe lose interest in me. Also, after we started dating and watching the show, all of the times you said something like 'I just love Téa," brought out my competitive side a little, I admit. Back then, I just liked being somewhere and having a life a little different from what I'd known. Are you mad?"

"No, of course not. Maybe I'm a little disappointed I didn't know sooner, but who knows? Maybe you did the right thing. It could have happened that way. Back then, I was so desperate for companionship I might have just jumped ship and done it. But, I can promise you never have to worry about me every loving anyone but you. I mean, I somehow managed to land the most powerful, most wonderful, most achingly gorgeous girl in any dimension. Trust me, I'll be certifiable before I even look at another girl." Jack said.

"I know that now, and I love you, Jack."

"I love you, Mana."

They two of them then shared a long, loving kiss. They stayed up doing normal things together for a couple more hours before going to sleep together. Their day of rest and fun was over, and despite how good everyone felt, they had a feeling that things were just starting to really heat up.