Whilst Theresa was dueling Kaiba a far friendlier duel was happening across the city as Joey and Lance where getting ready to start their turn.
"Hey Tristan, do you remember seeing that guy when the tournament started?" Duke asked as he leaned towards Tristan. "I don't remember seeing him."
"To be honest, there were so many duelists around that day that I lost track." Tristan responded with a shrug of his shoulders before he turned to Lance. "Let's hope he doesn't go after Serenity."
"Hey! Serenity has the hots for me!" Duke protested and whilst Lance couldn't help but chuckle under his breath Joey quickly span around.
"Hey! Watch what you mooks say about my sister!" Joey responded with annoyed look on his face and Lance shook his head as Joey turned to him. "As for you, I hope you don't get any ideas."
"You don't have to worry about that Joey, I'm already taken." Lance responded as he shook his head. "In fact, Chloe's in the tournament as well so if I did cheat on her, I think she'd notice." Lance added before sighing. "Besides, I understand where your coming from, I've got a sister as well."
"Oh really." Joey responded as his expression eased up a bit. "What's her name."
"Sophie, she's only twelve so I don't think I need to worry about her dating boys, at least I hope not." Lance responded before shaking his head. "Anyway, shall we get started? I'll even let you take the first move!"
"Much appreciated Lance." Joey responded before he drew a card. "Check this out for size! I set two cards facedown and I summon Axe Raider in attack mode!" Joey announced as he played the card and the axe wielding barbarian appeared on the field (4/1700/1150). "Over to you Lance!"
"Guess Kaiba decided to make it as close to the original rules as he could, probably means the same applies to ban lists." Lance thought before he drew his card. "I set two cards facedown as well." Lance announced as he set the cards. "And I summon Great Angus!" Lance announced as he placed the card down and the massive boar appeared on the field (4/1800/600). "Great Angus, attack Axe Raider!" Lance commanded, and the boar charged into battle…...
"You're not gonna get me that easy! I activate my trap card Kunai with Chain!" Joey announced as his facedown card flipped up and a metal chain wrapped around Great Angus stopping it in it's tracks and increasing Axe Raider's attack points to 2200. "This trap card forced your pig into defense mode and increases my Axe Raider's attack points! I guess we're having pork for dinner tonight!"
"We'll see about that." Lance responded before going over his hand. "Kaiba said that Joey's deck had been upgraded but so far all he's played are cards that he's well known for playing, even so it is early in the duel." Lance thought before glancing up towards Tristan and Duke. "Come to think of it, who did Serenity Wheeler end up marrying again? I know it was either Tristan or Duke, ah well I'm sure it'll come to me." Lance thought before looking at his hand. "It's your move Joey."
"All right, I draw!" Joey responded as he drew his card. "I summon Panther Warrior in attack mode!" Joey announced as he played the card and the humanoid panther in armor wielding a sword and shield appeared on the field (4/2000/1600). "I can't attack with him because he requires that I sacrifice another monster." Joey added before playing a card. "Or can't I? I activate Forbidden Chalice! This Spell Card increases Panther Warrior's attack points by 400 and negates his effect for the rest of the turn!"
"Yep, there's his first new card." Lance thought before remembering something. "Oh yeah, it was Tristan that married Serenity, I wonder what happened to Duke? I'll worry about that later." Lance thought before glancing up at Joey.
"Go Axe Raider! Carve me up some pork!" Joey commanded, and Axe Raider charged towards Great Angus before slamming his axe into the boar destroying it. "Panther Warrior, attack his life-points directly!" Joey commanded, and the beast warrior charged in before slashing Lance with his sword bringing Lance's life-points down to 5600. "That's the early lead to me Lance!" Joey added with a grin as Panther Warrior returned to his side of the field.
"Maybe, but by damaging my life-points you've allowed me to activate one of my traps!" Lance responded as his trap card flipped up. "Damage Condenser! With this I can special summon one monster from my deck with attack equal to or less than the damage I just took, I chose Flamvell Firedog!" Lance announced before, after initially going to input commands into his duel disk, searching through his deck for the monster in question and playing it as soon as he got it causing the dog made from lava to appear on the field (4/1900/200).
"I was getting hungry for hot dogs when we ran into each other, but that's ridiculous!" Joey responded, and the other men groaned at his bad pun. "Tough crowd, I end my turn!" Joey announced, and Lance drew his card as soon as Panther Warrior's attack points returned to normal.
"Neo Flamvell Origin, well, I guess it's time I tested whether or not Synchro Summons will work." Lance thought before looking over his hand. "And that's not all I can do." Lance thought before playing a card. "I activate Double Summon! Using this I can make two Normal Summons this turn!" Lance announced before picking up a card. "And here's number one, I summon Neo Flamvell Origin!" Lance announced as he played the card and a small flaming humanoid with a blue flame head appeared on the field (2/500/200). "Tell me Joey, you familiar with Synchro Summons?"
"Synchro what?" Joey asked with a confused look on his face which was shared by Duke and Tristan.
"Thought not, okay, let me give you a crash course! The combined levels of my two monsters is six meaning I can summon a Level 6 Synchro Monster using my level two tuner Neo Flamvell Origin." Lance explained only to sweat-drop when he realized that he was only causing more confusion. "You know what? Why don't I just show you! I tune Flamvell Firedog with Neo Flamvell Origin!" Lance announced as the two monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon. "I Synchro Summon Flamvell Uriquizas!" Lance announced as he played the card and once the bright flash faded Flamvell Uriquizas appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2100/400). "You understand now?"
"No, but props to you for getting a powerful monster on the field!" Joey responded with a thumbs up which Lance returned.
"I'll take it! Next, I banish Great Angus from my graveyard to Special Summon Inferno!" Lance announced as he pocketed the monster and the small flame with the angry face appeared on the field (4/1100/1900). "Here's something that should be more your speed, I tribute Inferno to summon Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch!" Lance announced as he played the card and Inferno vanished from the field only to be replaced by the fire monarch in all his glory (6/2400/1200).
"Yeah, I don't think so! I activate my Trap Card Bottomless Trap Hole!" Joey responded as his trap card flipped up and a bottomless pit opened bellow Thestalos. "Say goodbye to your monarch!"
"My monarch won't be dethroned so easily! I activate my trap card Flamvell Counter!" Lance responded as his trap card flipped up. "This negates and destroys Bottomless Trap Hole!"
"Why didn't you use that on Kunai with Chain?" Duke asked, and Lance shook his head.
"Flamvell Counter requires that I banish a Fire Type monster with 200 or less defense points from my graveyard in order to work." Lance responded as he held up Flamvell Firedog and pocketed it. "Onto business, first since I Tribute Summoned Thestalos his effect activates making you discard a card from your hand at random, if it's a monster then you lose life-points equal to its level times a hundred." Lance explained, and Joey held up his hand. "I chose the card on the far right!"
"Ugh, not my Graceful Dice!" Joey exclaimed as Thestalos threw a fireball at the card and Joey discarded it.
"You know what? I'll take it, because you don't have an answer for this! Uriquizas, attack Panther Warrior, Thestalos, attack Axe Raider!" Lance commanded and Uriquizas charged at Panther Warrior before punching it whilst Thestalos threw a fireball at Axe Raider destroying both monsters and bringing Joey's life-points down to 7700. "You still have a lead but it's a start! And when Uriquizas destroys a monster by battle he gains an extra two hundred attack points!" Lance added as Uriquizas's attack points went up to 2300. "It's your move!" Lance announced, and Joey drew his card.
"This guy's good, wonder why he didn't take part in Duelist Kingdom?" Joey thought as he looked over the field. "Well, whatever the case, I'd better get defending." Joey decided before setting a card. "I set a card facedown and end my turn."
"That's fine by me because I'll get your life-points down to zero a lot quicker this way." Lance responded before drawing his card. "I'll save this for later." Lance decided before pointing to Joey. "Uriquizas, Thestalos, attack his life-points directly!" Lance commanded, and the two monsters prepared their attacks….
"Sorry Lance but my life-points won't go that low just yet!" Joey responded as his facedown card flipped up. "I activate Scapegoat! This will summon four little sheep to protect my life-points!" Joey added as the four multicolored sheep appeared on the field (1/0/0). "So, what do you say to that?"
"Big mistake." Lance responded with a smirk and Joey gave him a confused look. "Uriquizas can inflict piercing damage! Uriquizas, show him what I mean! Attack the Scapegoat on the far right!" Lance commanded, and the warrior charged in before punching the yellow sheep destroying it and sending Joey's life-points down to 5400. "And just like that, I've taken the lead and Uriquizas gets stronger!" Lance added as Uriquizas's attack went up to 2500. "I won't attack with Thestalos so instead I set one card facedown and end my turn."
"Man, now I really need to get rid of his monsters, otherwise? He'll wipe out the rest of my life-points in just a few attacks." Joey thought before looking at his drawn card. "That's the ticket! I tribute my three remaining Scapegoat to summon Gilford the Lightning!" Joey announced as the three Scapegoats vanished and in the middle of the field emerged the tall, muscular warrior (8/2800/1400), "And since I tribute three monsters…..."
"My two monsters get destroyed." Lance responded with a nod and Joey gave him a strange look. "My girlfriend runs that card her deck is a Spellcaster/Warrior hybrid deck."
"Ahh, yeah I gotcha!" Joey nodded in response before pointing to Lance's two monsters. "Do your thing Gilford!" Joey commanded, and the warrior drew his electrified sword before slashing it at Thestalos and Uriquizas destroying them both. "And your life-points are next! Gilford the Lightning, attack his life-points directly!" Joey commanded, and the warrior charged towards Lance with his sword out ready to strike….
"I activate Defense Draw! The battle damage is negated and I draw one card!" Lance responded as his trap card flipped up and he took the hit only to survive it with his life-points in tact as he drew a card. "Your going to have to try harder than that Joey!"
"That's the plan! I set one card facedown and end my turn." Joey announced, and Lance drew his card only to be taken back a bit in surprise. "Something wrong?"
"Nah, just forgot I added this to my deck." Lance lied as he looked at his drawn card. "This confirms my earlier suspicions about the Battle City ban-list being in use here." Lance thought before grinning. "But I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth!" Lance thought before playing the card. "I activate Pot of Greed! I use it to draw two cards from my deck!"
"How do you forget about Pot of Greed being in your deck?" Duke wondered out loud and Lance sweat-dropped as he drew his two cards.
"Honestly? Me and Chloe are both kinda new at this." Lance admitted with a nervous laugh as he sent the Spell Card to the graveyard. "She's been dueling since April, I've been dueling since May, gotta start somewhere, right?" Lance asked even though he knew he was lying before he looked at his two cards. "I set a card facedown and a monster in defense mode!" Lance announced as the two cards appeared on the field. "Your move Joey!"
"Gotta say, if what this guy says is true, then he's a natural." Joey thought before drawing his card. "Gilford, attack his defense monster!" Joey commanded, and Gilford charged into battle against Lance's defense monster…...
"Sorry Joey but you just left yourself wide open again." Lance responded as his facedown card flipped up. "I activate Dimension Wall, this will remove Gilford from play!"
"Nah, as far as I'm concerned, Gilford's here to stay." Joey responded as his facedown card flipped up. "I activate Seven Tools of the Bandit! This costs me a thousand life-points, but Dimension Wall is negated."
"All that really achieved was lowering your life-points, I chain Seven Tools' activation with my own trap card!" Lance responded as his trap card flipped up. "I activate Burgeoning Whirlflame! Now that you've activated a Trap Card, I can send one Laval monster from my hand to the graveyard to negate Seven Tools of the Bandit!" Lance added, and Joey's eyes widened as his life-points dropped to 6700 and Lance discarded a card negating Joey's trap and allowing Gilford to be removed from play.
"Man, you are not making this easy for me." Joey responded before picking up two cards. "I set one card facedown and I summon Gearfried. The Iron Knight!" Joey announced as the knight in jet black armor appeared on the field (4/1800/1600).
"Yeah well, I practiced with Chloe before we applied for Battle City." Lance responded with a grin as he looked over his hand. "And if I didn't make it so hard for my girlfriend, then it wouldn't have been as pleasurable, and I really should've phrased that better!"
"I was wondering when you were going to realize what you were saying." Joey responded as a sweat-drop rolled down his head. "It's your move Lance." Joey added, and Lance drew his card.
"Okay, now I can really turn this around." Lance thought before playing a card. "First, I activate Burial from a Different Dimension, with this I return the Flamvell Firedog I banished earlier to my graveyard!" Lance explained before retrieving the card from his pocket and moving it to the graveyard. "Next I activate the Spell Card Rekindling, with this I can Special Summon as many Fire Type Monsters with 200 defense points from my graveyard, so welcome back Flamvell Firedog, Neo Flamvell Origin and Laval Magma Cannoneer!" Lance announced as he played the three cards and whilst Flamvell Firedog and Neo Flamvell Origin returned to the field alongside them was a large robot with two shoulder mounted cannons (4/1700/200). "Hope your ready for more Synchro Summons Joey because this time, I'm bringing out two!"
"Good grief, I thought that stuff was hard to follow the first time around!" Joey complained, and Lance shook his head.
"It's either this or my three monsters get removed from play during the end phase, anyway I flip summon my facedown monster Neo Flamvell Hedgehog!" Lance announced as his facedown card flipped up and a small hedgehog with quills made from fire appeared on the field (3/800/200). "Let's get this show on the road! First I tune Neo Flamvell Origin with Flamvell Firedog!" Lance announced as the two monsters leapt into the air again.
"Let me guess, Uriquizas again?" Joey asked, and Lance shook his head.
"Not quite, I Synchro Summon Lavalval Dragun!" Lance announced as he slapped the card down and a large red dragon appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2500/1200). "And now for the other one! I tune Neo Flamvell Hedgehog with Magma Cannoneer!" Lance added, and the two monsters leapt into the air for the Synchro Summon and once the bright flash faded one of Lance's best monsters was on the field "Please welcome to the stage Ancient Flamvell Deity!" Lance announced as the giant monster appeared on the field (7/2500/200). "By the way Joey, how many cards do you have in your hand?"
"Three, why do you ask?" Joey asked, and Lance's grin broadened.
"My Deity's effect, that's why! When he is Synchro Summoned, I can remove cards from your graveyard from play up to the number of cards in your hand, I chose three!" Lance explained, and Joey complied pocketing three cards. "And my deity gains 200 attack points for each one!"
"WHAT?!" Joey yelled out as Ancient Flamvell Deity's attack went up to 3100.
"Let's get down to business, Lavalval Dragun, attack Gearfried!" Lance commanded, and the dragon breathed fire at the knight destroying him and bringing Joey's life-points down to 6000. "Ancient Flamvell Deity, attack his life-points directly!" Lance commanded, and the deity charged at Joey before ramming into him bringing Joey's life-points down to 2900. "Just one more attack and I'll win! Over to you Joey!"
"Yeah well, it ain't over until the fat lady sings!" Joey responded before drawing his card. "I set a card facedown and a monster in defense mode to end my turn."
"I don't know about you guys, but I think I hear a fat lady warming up her vocal chords." Lance responded as he drew a card. "Dragun, attack his defense monster!" Lance commanded, and the dragon breathed fire at the defense monster….
"I activate my facedown card Compensation Meditation!" Joey responded as his trap card flipped up and he grinned as he looked up at Lance. "Okay Lance, chose!"
"Chose what?" Lance asked as he blinked in confusion and Joey nodded.
"Two cards from your graveyard, then I put them on the field alongside this card." Joey responded, and Lance gave him a confused look before making his choice and tossing the cards to Joey. "Then I'll reveal one of them at random and if it's Compensation Meditation the battle phase ends!" Joey responded as he shuffled the three cards around on the field. "I chose the card on the far right!"
"All this when Negate Attack would've done the same thing, only without the risk." Lance thought as the card flipped up and, much to his annoyance and Joey's relief, it was Compensation Meditation. "Okay, so you ended the battle phase and brought yourself a turn, was it worth going to all that trouble?"
"It was a long way to go just to save my own skin, but Compensation Meditation has another effect, after the Battle Phase ends those two cards get put on the top of your deck at random." Joey responded, and Lance nodded before he caught the cards and put them on top of the deck in random order. "You done?"
"I'm done." Lance nodded, and Joey drew his card.
"It's risky but this might be my best bet at staying in this duel." Joey thought before playing the card. "I tribute my facedown Swordsman of Landstar to summon Maximum Six!" Joey played the card and the facedown monster disappeared from the field only to be replaced by a large muscular creature with two sets of arms and a blonde ponytail (6/1900/1600). "When this guy is tribute summoned, I get to roll a six sided die, and his attack points will go up by that number times two hundred!"
"Again, with the chance cards, if it gets revealed that Joey struggled with gambling addiction in his adult life I honestly wouldn't be surprised." Lance thought as a giant die appeared on the field and was rolled, both men watched the die intently and when it stopped Joey was grinning broadly.
"Six! That means that Maximum Six gets a grand total off 1200 attack points!" Joey added as his monster's attack increased to 3100. "Maximum Six, attack Lavalval Dragun!" Joey commanded and the creature before hitting it with his arms bring Lance's life-points down to 5000. "Just a matter of time now, I set a card facedown and end my turn." Joey announced, and Lance drew his card.
"If I want to win, I need to get rid of that Mortal Kombat rip off." Lance thought before looking at his drawn card and then his hand before grinning. "And I have just the ticket!" Lance thought before discarding a card. "The card I just discarded was Flamvell Baby, when this monster is discarded, he gives one Fire Type Monster I control two hundred attack points until the end of turn, I don't think I really need to say which monster I'm choosing!" Lance explained as Ancient Flamvell Deity's attack points went up to 3300. "Ancient Flamvell Deity, attack Maximum Six!" Lance commanded, and the deity charged into battle…...
"From my hand, I activate my second copy of Graceful Dice!" Joey responded as he played the card and the angelic dice appeared on the field. "Anything you want to do about that?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, I activate Imperial Order! Now you can't you Spell Cards full stop." Lance explained as his facedown card flipped up. "Nice try Joey but I'm about to win!"
"Guess again, I activate my facedown card Psychic Shockwave!" Joey announced as the facedown card flipped up and Lance frowned. "When my opponent activates a Spell/Trap Card I can discard a Spell/Trap Card of my own and Special Summon one Level 6 Dark Machine Type Monster from my deck."
"I get the feeling that I know exactly what your going to summon." Lance responded and sure enough Jinzo appeared on the field ready for battle (6/2400/1500) and its effect negated Lance's Imperial Order as soon as it appeared. "I'm not out of the woods yet, for all we know you can roll a one on Graceful Die." Lance pointed out and Joey nodded as they watched the die roll, however when it stopped Lance lowered his head. "Three, that means Maximum Six gets three hundred attack points."
"That's right! Attack Ancient Flamvell Deity!" Joey commanded and Maximum Six punched the deity in the mouth destroying it and bringing Lance's life-points down to 4900. "You could still make a comeback Lance, I put those cards on top of your deck…."
"They are both Trap Cards." Lance sighed as he looked up at Joey. "Hit me with your best shot, and good luck in the Battle City Semi-Finals."
"Thanks man, Jinzo, Maximum Six, attack his life-points directly!" Joey commanded once he drew his card and the two monsters launched their attacks sending Lance onto his behind as his life-points hit zero, when Lance looked around, he realized that a picture had fallen out of his pocket and picked it up.
"Oh yeah, this is the pic I took of Chloe when we were out walking her dogs yesterday." Lance thought as he looked at the photo featuring his girlfriend standing with her hands behind her back whilst standing in front of the park fountain. "Me and Adrienne were keeping the dogs out of site to make the picture perfect but still."
"Is that your girlfriend?" Joey asked as he looked at the picture and Lance looked up before nodding, he grinned before helping Lance up and when he did he patted Lance on the shoulder. "Just by looking at her, I can tell you've done well for yourself, see you around Lance." Joey added before he walked off with Tristan and Duke.
"See you Joey." Lance said as he waved them off, after a few seconds however he realized he was waving at a dark void.
"Lance?" Theresa's voice rang out and he turned around seeing Theresa sitting on the ground. "How you'd do?"
"Winning for most of it but Joey turned it around in the end." Lance responded as he sat next to Theresa who nodded. "What about you?"
"Well, my day began with me accidentally breaking into Kaibacorp, at the end of the day I got fisted by Obelisk the Tormentor." Theresa sighed before noticing the look Lance was giving her, once she replayed the sentence in her head she face-palmed. "Jesus Christ! I'm glad the only one who can hear us is Kaiba!"
"Indeed." Kaiba responded with a slight chuckle. "You did well Lance, Chloe's duel is just wrapping up, so you should be free soon."
"We have to wait until we're all done?" Lance asked, and Theresa nodded before he got an idea. "Hey Theresa, you up for passing the time with a duel?"
"I was hoping you'd say that." Theresa responded with a grin before she stood up and walked away from Lance until there was enough space for a duel between them."