Keith's Machinations
Shortly after the end of the duel between Yugi and Mai, Croquet announced that the next match, between Joey and Bandit would begin shortly. Joey was be eager to finally get payback against Keith for what he and his 'friends' did to him, Tristan, Yugi, Tea and Bakura: trapping them inside the cave after his forced duel against Bones and demanded to know where the crooked duelist was...and stared with shock that he was waking up as he had been alseep during Yugi's match against Mai! Croquet asked both Keith and Joey to show him their entry cards...only for Joey to be completely bewildered as he couldn't find his entry card (which Keith had stolen after sneaking into his quarters) and Pegasus granted him ten minutes to find it.
Shortly after Joey took off to find his prize money card, Tea had went after Mai, hoping she would be able to convince her older girlfriend to stay and witness Yugi face off against Pegasus...and hid behind a corridor after hearing Joey sobbing, blaming himself for losing his entry card and screwing up his one chance at obtaining the money his sister, Serenity needed for her eye surgery. While the blonde teenager was silently crying, Mai walked up behind Joey and after hearing how he needed to win the Duelist Kingdom tournament for his sister...she gave him her entry card, which was another grand prize card!
Joey thanked the older blonde and slowly asked if they were now friends...with Mai answering cryptically as she walked away. "I'll let you figure that out Joey." As he watched the older blonde walk away, Joey couldn't help but smile and give a loud cheer before heading back to the dueling arena...and Mai had a warm grin on her face, while softly shaking her head to his reaction after handing him her card.
The moment Joey was no longer in sight, Tea had craftily walked up behind Mai and wrapped her arms around her waist, which earned a soft smile from the older blonde after feeling the younger brunette's arms around her. Mai asked as she knew her girlfriend had witnessed her giving Joey her entry card. "You saw me give him my card Tea?"
The younger brunette would answer with a nod. "Yeah, I did. That was real nice of you Mai, giving Joey your card after he lost his."
The older blonde asked, as she was confused by how Joey had lost his own card. "But how did Joey even lose his entry card?"
Tea answered truthfully. "Joey honestly doesn't know. He swears he left his card in his jacket pocket last night and didn't even notice it was missing until Croquet asked to see it."
Mai then asked as her attention turned to Bandit Keith, as she remembered that he didn't have an entry card just like Joey last night and immediately what had happened. "Tea...before I gave Joey my card...did Bandit Keith show Croquet an entry card?"
Tea answered softly as she knew what her girlfriend was getting at. "Yeah he...he presented a grand prize card." Before she realized how Joey lost his card, making the brunette mutter softly underneath her breath. "Why that crooked son of a bitch...he stole Joey's card!"
The older blonde asked as she knew that her younger girlfriend and soon to be student had come to look for her for a different reason. "Was there something else you needed Tea?"
The younger brunette nodded softly, hoping she could convince her girlfriend and soon to be mentor to stay for the rest of the tournament. "Actually, Mai...I was hoping that you would stay here for the rest of the tournament, at least until Yugi faces off against Pegasus?"
Mai smiled softly, as she couldn't say no or pass up the opportunity to spend more quality time with her girlfriend. "How could I say no to an adorable brunette like you?" Before she captured Tea's lips in an innocent kiss, which the brunette naturally returned with equal passion before pulling away and smiling softly at each other.
They then headed on back to the upper floor and luckily were just in time for Croquet to announce the match between Joey and Bandit Keith! After seeing that Keith's entire dueling deck was made of Machine type monsters and learning they were magic proof, meaning Magic Cards and Magical Attacks were useless against them, Tea asked her girlfriend. "Mai...have you ever dueled Machine type monsters before?"
The blonde answered by shaking her head 'no'. "Sorry Tea, but no. I've never dueled against Machine type cards either. But ispf Joey has improved like Yugi and Tristan say he has, I'm sure he'll figure something out."
Keith then drew his Launcher Spider monster and it attacked Joey's Giltia the Dark Knight, dropping the blonde duelist life points down to 1650. "Man, I knew I'd get a rough match with Keith, but I wasn't prepared for these machines." Joey thought to himself.
"They're tough, yes, but no machine is without its glitch." Bakura said.
"So what's their glitch, Yugi?" Tea asked while holding hands with Mai.
"Well, I'm not sure. Machine monsters are some of the most powerful monsters in the Dueling world. Not only are they immune to magic cards and magical monsters, they have an amazingly strong offence as well. But they can only use that offence 1 way: through head on attacks. Maybe if Joey plays his cards right, he can use that to his advantage." Yugi answered while explaining how machine monsters work.
Joey drew a card while thinking of a strategy to beat the machine monsters. "Attacking those machines will just get me beat." Before placing the card face down and playing a monster card in defense mode.
"What's the matter, dweeb? Afraid to fight like a man?" Keith asked mockingly while thinking to himself. "If this dweeb keeps this up, I'll never get at his life points. I gotta draw him out and get him to attack me, then he'll be open for some real damage." Keith then placed a card face down as well before getting another card and purposely dropping it on the board, revealing that it was a flesh monster. Keith quickly grabbed the card and placed another card in defense mode.
"That monster sure did look ugly, but not metal." Mai said, having noticed that the monster wasn't made of metal while pulling Tea close to her, which no one noticed.
"Hahaha. Mai's right. That was a Shadow monster called Zoa. Something my Flame Swordsman can toast easily. And unlike machine monsters, it can be destroyed by magic" Joey thought before playing his Flame Swordsman in attack modeand adding the Salamandra magic card to increase his power by 700 points.
"The attack points of that Zoa card Keith dropped are higher than its defense." Yugi said, confusing Tea.
"So what?" She asked before Mai explained for her girlfriend.
"Since Zoa's attack is more than its defense, it makes little sense to play him in defense mode, unless Keith is trying to lure Joey into attacking him." Mai said, figuring out Keith strategy.
So Keith must've shown Zoa on purpose." Tea concluded.
"Joey, call off your attack!" Tristan called out.
But it was too late. Joey called an attack on Keith but he played his face down trap card: Magic Metal Force, which turned Zoa into a metal monster and increased his attack and defense points by 400. The metal form of Zoa also deflected the Flame Swordsman's attack right back at him, destroying him and bringing Joey's life points down to 1150! "No. My Swordsman's been outmaneuvered!" Joey said with surprise.
"Hahahaha! You should've seen the look on your loser face, you dweeb. When your Swordsman's attack toasted him, it was priceless! Hahahaha!" Keith laughed before drawing another card and grinned at what it was. "And I'm just getting started. Next on my list is that defense card of yours, but he won't be defending much longer." He said as he showed his card: a Stop Defense card before playing it, switching Joey's revealed Axe Raider to attack mode. "An Axe Raider, huh? No problem. Not for my MetalZoa, anyway."
"Oh no. Joey's life points will be all gone if that MetalZoa's attack hits." Yugi said with concern.
"Hang in there, bud." Tristan called out for his friend.
Keith then told his metal Zoa to attack the Axe Raider, but surprisingly, it fell into the floor, surprising Yugi and the others before they realized that Joey had played a trap card. "All right! You played right in my trap. Just like I planned." Joey said as he showed his Chasm of Spikes trap card.
"No way. You set a trap for me!?" Keith asked with surprise, not believing that this amateur could set a trap for him.
"Perfect! Now not only is MetalZoa destroyed, but 1 quarter of his attack points will be deducted from Keith's life points." Yugi said with a smile as Keith's life points went down to 1250.
"Not bad, huh? I only wish you could have seen your face when your MetalZoa was destroyed, Kieth. It was priceless." Joey said, saying the same thing Keith had said to him earlier.
"You tell him. It's about time someone gave Keith a taste of his own medicine." Tea said with a smile as she embraced Mai in a loving hug, which the blonde woman returned while rubbing her hair, which no one else seemed to notice.
"That's not the only way he's turning the tables on Keith. I think he may have figured out the glitch in those machine monsters: rather than take them on in a direct attack, he's letting his traps do all the work." Yugi said proudly.
"And now Keith is only ahead by 100 life points." Bakura added.
"Now I'll place this card face down. Oh, and don't bother attacking 'cause it's a trap card." Joey said as he did just that.
"You amateur! That's gotta be the biggest bluff I ever heard in my entire dueling career." Keith said, thinking that Joey was bluffing.
"And I'm switching my Axe Raider to defense mode and playing this card. Go, Garoozis and junk that scrap metal." Joey said as he played Garoozis before it destroyed Keith's Pendulum Machine, bringing his life points down to 1200.
"Now it's my turn! Launcher Spider, attack the Garoozis!" Keith said, wanting to end this duel now so he could get to Pegasus.
As the Launcher Spider fired its missiles at Garoozis, it seemed like the duel was done…
but Joey activated his face-down card: Kunai with Chain, which wrapped around the Launcher Spider and increased Garoozis' attack power by 500 points, allowing it to destroy the Launcher Spider and bring Keith's life points down to 1100, surprising everyone.
"All right. It's still close but Joey has got himself a slight lead." Bakura said with a smile.
"I knew he'd make a comeback." Tea added as she hugged Mai lovingly.
"Very impressive." Mai said as she returned the hug while playing with Tea's hair.
Keith pounded his fist on his platform in anger. "I'm not gonna let you make a fool outta me!"
"What's wrong Mr champ? Don't tell me you're losing your cool to an amateur like me." Joey said with a smirk. But Keith only began to laugh at him. " What's the big joke?"
"You're already counting the tournament's prize money, and this duel ain't even close to being over yet. You think your traps will last you forever? You're gonna run out sooner or later, and then I'll bring out my bigger machines and really give our audience a show. You're going down, you little wannabe! Nobody beats Bandit Keith! Nobody!" Keith vowed.
"Man, this has got to be the coldest match I've ever seen." Tristan sain with amazement.
"Me too. With just 50 life points separating their scores, it's anyone's game." Yugi said.
"Don't let up, Joey. it all comes down to these next few turns." Tea said while holding Mai close to her.
"Your sister's counting on you. Make her proud." Tristan said to encourage his friend.
Pegasus was becoming quite amused by this duel. "This duel is turning into quite the nail biter. I wonder what drives these splendid performances? He thought before looking into Joey and Keith's minds, seeing that Keith was fighting for revenge against him for his defeat at the tournament in New York City while Joey was fighting for his friends and his ill sister. "So while 1 is dueling for bitter revenge, the other is motivated by love and trust. It's basically a battle of good vs evil. How amusing."
"Come on, let's get on with this match, you dweeb. I got plenty of machines ready to go and steamroll your life points. Hahaha. Yeah, you ain't nothing but a speed bump on my way to duel Pegasus. And that goes double for that little friend of yours Yugi." Keith said with overconfidence.
"Yeah right, Keith. I got news for you: even if you beat me, which you won't, Yugi would cream you. Wanna know why?"
"Why's that?"
'Cause you're a selfish jerk who's only in this tournament for your own greedy reasons. People like you never learn, not until someone with good intentions comes along, like me and Yugi." Joey answered.
"Yeah? We'll just see about that. I'll place this face down and attack with this: Barrel Dragon in attack mode." Keith said as he placed a card face down and played his Barrel Dragon monster. "My Barrel Dragon is gonna blast you and your good intentions to dust. With its triple attack laser system, it has 3 attacks instead of 1. I can wipe your monsters off the field in just 1 turn." He explained. "Say goodbye to your 2 buddies on the field. Go! Proton Blast!" He said before the Barrel Dragon destroyed Joey's monsters in 1 shot, bringing his life points down to 850!
"No way! It totalled them both!" Joey said with surprise.
"That's what a 2600 attack power will do for you. Face it, this is the end of the line for you. No monster you got will be able to withstand this kind of firepower." Keith said.
"No wonder Keith was acting so confidently. Just look at that thing." Yugi said, now realizing that the Barrel Dragon was the reason Keith was acting so confidently.
"Joey sure has his work cut out for him." Mai said as she hugged Tea to her chest and rubbed her hair, with Tea doing the same thing to her girlfriend.
"Are you done yet, Keith? 'Cause I already figured out how to beat your little toy blaster." Joey said as he played his Baby Dragon monster and his Time Wizard magic card.
"All right. That could work!" Tea said with a smile.
"Yes. As long as it lands right, Keith's machine will age and be useless. But should it land on a Skull, then Joey will have 2 things to worry about." Mai said after her girlfriend, knowing that this was a win or lose gamble.
"Let's do it! Go, Time Wizard!" Joey called before the rulete began to spin, with Yugi and the others watching with hope that it would pay off. After a few seconds, the rulete began to slow down…. until it landed on a castle, making Joey and his friends cheer before the Time Wizard's magic began its effect, rusting Keith's machine and causing it to lose points while getting weaker and growing Baby Dragon into a full grown dragon, making its power and defense points increase. "Now Dragon, attack!" Joey said before the fully grown dragon destroyed Keith's rusted machine monster! "Now that machine's history." He said he said with a smile.
"But history repeats itself, especially when you're playing against a deck with different machine cards. Say hello to my Time Machine, it can go back in time for 1 turn." Keith said as he played his face down card: the Time Machine trap card, which brought back his Barrel Dragon, which was now back to its prime state.
"It's his Barrel Dragon again, and it looks brand new." Joey thought to himself, knowing that this wasn't going to be good.
"Go, Proton Blast!" Keith said before the new and improved Barrel Dragon destroyed the Evolved Dragon, making Joey life points go down to 650!
"He's gone. My dragon's gone." Joey said with surprise.
"And he's gonna stay gone, too. That is, unless you have a Time Machine trap set to bring him back. But then he'd be coming back as a Baby Dragon, wouldn't he?" Keith asked mockingly.
"I get it: the Time Machine trap brings the monster back the way it was 1 turn before." Tea concluded, knowing what Keith meant, impressing Mai.
"There's the potential duelist I see in you, my future woman, the Duelist that'll soon be brought out permanently by yours truly." Mai thought to herself with a loving smile, wishing she could kiss her right now but knew she'd have to wait until they were alone again.
"Punk. I knew were gonna use that dweeby little Time Wizard to try and rust up my dragon. You forget that I saw every card in your deck when you dueled Bonz." Keith said with a grin, reminding Joey that he'd seen every card in his deck when he dueled Bonz in the cave.
"Duels are more than just about the cards you use."
"Yeah. They're about backbone, too. And judging from the look on your face when my dragon came back through time, I'd say you don't even have 1, so make your move."
"I'll throw a monster in defense mode and that's it." Joe said as he did just that.
"That's it is right, 'Cause my machines are gonna keep on coming." Keith said as he drew a card, which was his slot machine and played it in attack mode. "Now, Dragon, blast that defense monster to bits with Proton Blast!" He said as his Dragon machine destroyed Joey's defense monster, which was Kojikocy.
Joey looked at the cards in his hand while thinking of his next move. "I could just throw a monster out and destroy Keith's Slot machine, but then it'll just get taken out by that dragon. Even my strongest card of all: Red-eyes Black Dragon wouldn't stand a chance." Before he placed hisRed-eyes Black Dragon in attack mode and placed a card face down.
"That Red-eyes may be the most powerful card in your entire deck, you dweeb, but he's still no match for this kind of blasting power. Say goodbye to your prized monster. Go! Proton Blast attack!" Keith said before the Barrel Dragon fried at the Red-eyes Black Dragon, only for Joey to use his face down card: Copycat, which could copy 1 card of the opponent. Joey chose to copy Magic Metal Force, turning his Red-eyes Black Dragon into a Red-eyes Black Metal Dragon and increasing its attack and defense points high enough to withstand the blast before the new metal Dragon fired its Flash Flare Blast, destroying the Barrel Dragon and bringing Keith's life points down to 900!
"How do you like that, Keith?"
"With Keith's Barrel Dragon gone, Joey's Red-eyes Black Dragon is the toughest 1 on the block." Tritan said with a smile.
"Yeah. But don't count Keith out just yet. There must be a reason he played that Slot Machine monster." Yugi said with concern.
"I knew you were an amateur and now I'm gonna show you why." Keith said as he prepared his next move.
"Huh? An amateur? Didn't I just destroy your best monster?"
"Keep talking, tough guy." He said before placing a card face down and switching his Slot Machine monster to defense mode.
"Boy, is Keith losing it. His monster can't defend against my Red-eyes, no matter what mode he's in." Joey thought to himself, knowing that Keith's monster could not defend against his Red-eyes Black Metal Dragon, no matter what mode it was in. "Guess he'll have to learn the hard way." He thought before placing a card face down and calling an attack on the Slot Machine.
"Man, you're as predicable as you are brainless." Keith said before he played his face down card: the 7 completed magic card, which made the middle slot switch to a 7 before the attack hit the machine, but didn't do any damage due to its defense points being brought up to 3'000.
"He's still there?" Joey asked.
"That's right, because my 7 completed card raised my Slot Machines defense points to 3'000, more than enough to withstand your dragon's strongest attack." Keith explained.
"And because my attack is lower than its defense, I lose life points." Joey concluded as his life points went down to 450.
"And you know what else I got? 2 more 7 completed cards in my deck, each able to power up my Slot Machine's defense and attack power by 700 points." Keith revealed.
"Yeah? Well just because you have them, don't mean you'll draw them, Keith." Joey countered.
"Oh I ain't too worried about that." Keith thought to himself while secretly taking out another 7 completed card from his wristband, which Pegasus noticed before the cheating Duelist played it, increasing the Slot Machines attack power by 700 points before playing the Blast Sphere. "Go, Blast Sphere and attach yourself to Joey's dragon." Keith said before the machine monster did just that.
"Blast Sphere?" Joey asked with confusion.
"That's right. And once I end my turn, it'll self-destruct, dealing out 2900 points of damage to your dragon." Keith explained before ending his turn. As Blast Sphere was about to self-destruct, Joey quickly played his face down card: the Dragon Nails card, which made his Red-eyes Black Dragon 600 points strong enough to withstand the destruction and deflect the attack to make Keith's life points drop to 400!
"Oh you're gonna pay for that. Just you wait." Keith said while secretly getting his 3rd 7 completed card out from his wristband and playing it to increase his Slot Machines attack power again, making it's attack power equal to Joey's Red-eyes Black Dragon.
"Both their monsters have the same amount of attack points now." Mai said as she rubbed Tea's back.
"And Joey and Keith have almost the same life points, too." Tea added as she continued to play with Mai's hair.
Joey looked and saw that his hand had the Armored Lizard, Rock Ogre Grotto 1, Shield & Sword and the Lava Battleguard cards. "The Shield and Sword card. Playing this would swap all monsters' defense and attack points, but that would only help Keith out." He thought before drawing a card and when he saw what it was, placed it face down and ended his turn.
"Now I think I'll go ahead and end this duel. It's all over for you." Keith said as he revealed his drawn card: the Pillager. "This card let's me look at your dueling hand and steal 1 card from it, so lay them down." He told Joey, who did just that before Keith saw Joey's cards and chose theShield and Sword card and the dueling platform moved the card to Keith's side of the platform. "Hahaha! I told you you were through. Go, Shield and Sword and swap attack and defense points." He said before the attack and defense points of both monsters switched. Keith then told his Slot Machine to attack, which it did and destroyed the Red-eyes Black Metal Dragon as Joey activated his face down trap card: the Grave robber card, which brought Keith's Time Machine card back from the graveyard, shocking Keith.
"You should have payed more attention to my last turn, Keith. Then you'd have seen the trap I set for you." Joey said with a smile as the Time Machine appeared on his side of the field.
"And since the Time Machine can bring back a monster from 1 turn before...then...that means-"
"Bingo. My dragon's back." Joey said as his Red-eyes Black Metal Dragon came out of the Time Machine, exactly the way it was 1 turn ago. "And now his attack is stronger than your defense. Good luck blocking this. Go! Flash Flare Blast!" He said before the Red-eyes Black Metal Dragon destroyed Keith's Slot machine, bringing Keith's life points down to 0 and making Joey the winner of the duel.
"No way. He beat me. He actually won." Keith said with shock.
"Remarkable. Keith's rampage for revenge was stopped by a novice dueling for a loved 1." Pegasus thought, impressed with Joey.
"Joey Wheeler, you are the Victer!" Croquet announced, making Yugi and the others cheer as Mai and Tea shared a short kiss that the others didn't notice.
But Keith wasn't going to give up just because he lost. "This duel doesn't count! The entry card Joey showed wasn't even his, therefore the duel shouldn't count and he outta be disqualified right now!"
"He's right." Joey admitted as he got out the entry card Mai gave him. "My card was missing,xso Mai gave me hers. But answer this, Keith: how'd you know that the card wasn't mine?" He asked, but Keith didn't want to answer because he already knew why.
"I know why, Joey. Because Keith stole yours." Tea called out to everyone.
"Obviously Keith didn't have an entry card of his own, so he more than likely went into Joey's room while he was sleeping and stole it in order to play this match." Mai added after her secret girlfriend.
"They're absolutely right, my friends. Which is why Keith was so certain that Joey would never be able to find his card." Pegasus said, confirming Mai and Tea's was saying.
"Then Keith outta be disqualified, not Joey." Tristan said, knowing that because Keith cheated, he was the 1 who should be disqualified.
"Keith ought to be disqualified all right, but not for cheating outside of the Dueling ring. There was quite a bit of dishonor during the match that I observed, too. Keith kept his set of 7 completed cards beneath his wristband, that way he could power up his Slot Machine whenever he chose." Pegasus told everyone while revealing that Keith had cheated while dueling as well.
"Man, that's low, Keith." Joey said with disappointment.
"Take the cheater away. Far away." Pegasus ordered his guards, who did just that before Pegasus addressed Joey. "Well done, Joseph, you should be quite proud. You dueled admirably."
But then they heard Keith coming back to the arena before he jumped up to Pegasus' balcony. "PEGASUS!" The cheating Duelist yelled out.
"You truly are a stubborn 1, aren't you?" Pegasus asked.
"Can it! You ain't taking your way outta this 1. Now hand over that prize money or else!" Keith said while pointing a gun at Pegasus' head! "I'll give you till the count of 3!"
"Fine. 1 2 3." Pegasus said before he pushed a secret button on the floor, sending the cheating Duelist through a trap door that led into the sea.
After everyone got over the shock, Croquet announced that the final duelist would receive a 10 minute break to prepare for their duel, which were Yugi and Joey against each other as they looked at each other with concern, having known that they would have to duel each other to see which 1 would duel against Pegasus.
There you go, my friends. The 3rd chapter is complete. If anyone is confused as to why Keith had a gun, it was because I used the Japanese version of the scene and not the American version. Anyway, should I just skip the Yugi vs Joey duel or no? Rate and review. See you soon, my friends.