Darren drew his card. "I play my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Shine Castle, weakening your toons. I end my turn". The castle was blown to pieces and replaced with the cemetery.

Walter drew his card. "I play my magic card, Morale Booster. This will power us both up by 500 life points. Then I sacrifice both of my mermaids to summon my king monster, the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon (A3000, D2500). But since he can't attack this turn, I'll end it".

Darren 3900LP

Walter 1900LP

'Oh mother fucker', Darren shouted in his head. 'How in the fuck am I suppose to beat that thing?' The response echoed in his head.

'Have faith in your deck and you can't lose', Arcturas told him. 'You only need one card to defeat him. Think fight fire with fire' Darren nodded.

He slid a card from the top of his deck. "I'm pretty sure this card isn't what I need", he said. "I set one monster face down in defense mode and end my turn". The hologram of a face down card spread out in front of Darren.

Walter picked up his card and placed it in his hand. "I don't need to play anymore cards this duel. I have this thing won. I pay 500 life points so my Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon can attack you directly", he said. The little dragon inhaled until it looked like a balloon. It opened its mouth and blasted a wave of pink energy passed Darren's monster and into him. Darren grabbed his chest where he was hit. "I end my turn".

Darren 900LP

Walter 1400LP

Darren placed two fingers on his next card. 'Please give me a good card. There's no way I can lose in the first round, especially not to this guy'. Darren raced the card from the slot and looked at it.

"This is it. I'm sorry to say this, but you're not making it passed the first round of the tournament. I activate my Monster Reborn card. I reborn your Toon Summoned Skull. Because he was special summoned, he can attack this turn. So I sacrifice 500 life points. Now attack his life points directly with Lightning Strike". The skull flashed bright blue lightning through its body and fired it from its enormous claws. The bolts of electricity crashed into Walter, his life point meter rushing down to zero.

Walter knelt for a second before standing up. "That was a good duel Darren". He moved his blue hair out of his eyes. "I think that you have a good chance of winning the tournament". He walked over with a card in his hand. "This card is extremely rare, only two of them exist in the world. I was fortunate to come across this. But according to the rules of the tournament, you get what I bet. So here, take my Toon World". Darren took the card and shook Walter's hand. The too of them stood smiling at each other.

'Greeeat, what in the fuck am I supposed to do with this. It's useless without those toon monsters', he thought. He let go of Walter's hand and let the strange boy leave the tournament.

Darren sat in a chair against the wall. He was flipping through his binder of spare cards. He found an open space and put Toon World in it. "I guess all I do is wait". He put his binder into his backpack and put it under his seat. He closed his eyes and rested his face into his hand and leaned against the arm of the chair.

'Arcturas, thanks for the help', he thought. He opened his eyes and he was standing in an empty black room with the spirit of the Millenium Medallion.

"I didn't do anything. You defeated Walter on your own. I had nothing to do with it", Arcturas said. He ran his hand through his wild black hair. "So do you know who you face next?" Darren shook his head.

"No, I'm actually waiting to find out. I think I have to wait for all of the slow duelists to finish up. But I don't mind the break. Dueling Walter really took it out of me". Arcturas laughed a little bit.

"It's just the pressure of dueling in the tournament. Just so you know, the further into it you go, the pressure builds up. You're gonna want to find a stress reliever of some kind". Darren shrugged his shoulders.

"Attention duelists, now that all of the duels are over, we are starting the second round. This will be the last round for today. Tonight, we will load up the planes and fly everyone out to the site of the second dueling city", announced a voice over the P.A.

Darren stood up and stretched his legs before bending over to grab his bag. As full as the room seemed to be, he noticed that half of the duelists were gone or leaving. "Well let's see", he said as he looked for his name on the monitor. His eyes searched over the screen several times before finally finding it. "Naveen, who is that", he asked.

"That would be me". Darren spun around to see who was talking. A man with very short black hair and eyes behind glasses was standing a few feet away. He dropped his backpack and activated his duel disk. "I hope you are ready" he said.

Darren grinned as he pulled out his duel disk and shuffled his deck. "Oh yeah, I'm ready. Ready to win this game", he said. He slipped his deck into his duel disk and activated it. "I'll let you go first", he said. Naveen pulled six cards from his deck.

"Okay, I'll start by playing a card face down. Then I end my turn, go", he said. He inserted only one card into his magic and trap card zone.

Darren pulled the sixth card for his hand. "My start is two cards face down. Then I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (A1600, D1000) in attack mode". A warrior in red magical armor appeared on the field, brandishing a sword with a red aura around it. However, Darren was surprised to see a whole form on the ground beneath the swordsman. The warrior fell into the hole, which closed up afterward. Darren looked over at Naveen's field and saw that he had revealed his face down card.

"Too bad for you, your monster was above 1500 attack points, otherwise my Bottomless Trap Hole wouldn't have worked", the man said. Darren had annoyed look on his face. "My turn?' Darren nodded his head unhappily. "Alright, I play my Heavy Storm magic card. This destroys every magic and trap card on the field". A giant tornado smashed through Darren's face down cards. Darren was glaring a hole through Naveen. "Next I summon my Azura Priest (A1700, D1200) in attack mode. Then I'll have him attack your life points directly. The gray skinned, blue-haired monster with four arms that Naveen had played formed swords in its hands. It threw the swords at Darren, piercing him all over his body. Then the priest disappeared. "I end my turn, and because my monster is a spirit monster, it returns to my hand at the end of my turn. Go".

Naveen- 8000 LP

Darren- 6300 LP

Darren was knocked off balance by the attack and fell on his butt. He jumped to his feet and pulled a card from his duel disk. "Alright, let's try again. I set one card face down. Then I summon my Neo the Magic Swordsman (A1700, D1000) in attack mode". He paused and waited for Naveen to reveal his card. Out of the projectors leapt a man in dark blue armor and a long cape. He held in one hand a long sword and the other held a ball of blue magic. He threw his head back, moving the blonde hair from his face. "Now my monster, attack his life points directly with Mystic Blade Force". The warrior surrounded his sword with blue energy and aimed at Naveen. Naveen covered his face with his arms and the swordsman fired the aura at Darren's opponent. "I end my turn".

Naveen- 6300 LP

Darren- 6300 LP

Naveen drew his top card. "I summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (A1800, D1600)". A bald man with a string of beads in one hand materialized from data particles. "Next I'll set another card face down. Now Kycoo attacks your Magic Swordsman". The man jumped into the air and karate chopped the warrior on Darren's field, shattering him. I end my turn, go".

Naveen- 6300 LP

Darren- 6200 LP

Darren drew the next card from his deck. "My next monster is going to be the Skilled Dark Magician (A1900, D1700). Now attack his monster with Dark Magic Attack", Darren commanded. The magician dressed in dark gray robes raised his staff in the air and a pulse of dark magic (like when Yugi's Dark Magician would do at Duelist Kingdom) flew at the bald man. But before the attack landed, a giant kaleidoscope looking cylinder appeared in front of the attack and sucked it up. Then another formed and the attack flew out of it and hit Darren. Darren was knocked off his feet and landed on his butt again. He slowly stood up. "I end my turn".

Naveen- 6300 LP

Darren- 4300 LP

Naveen's emotionless face didn't change, not even after he saw what he drew. "I play Graceful Charity. I get to draw three cards and then discard two". He drew three more cards and stared at the ones in his hand. Darren stood there as Naveen looked over every card in his hand.

"Naveen, if you can't decide which cards to discard, then don't play Graceful Charity", Darren said after about a minute. Naveen finally pulled out two cards and set them in the graveyard.

"Now I summon Inaba White Rabbit (A700, D500) in attack mode. Next I'll use it to attack your life points directly". The white rabbit grabbed a hold of a rocket/pogo stick looking device and launched itself into the air. The rabbit came flying down and kicked Darren in the head then jumped back to Naveen. "Next I activate my Creature Swap magic card. I switch my rabbit with your magician". The two monsters traded places on the field. "I end my turn. And because Inaba is also a spirit it returns to my hand. Go". The rabbit jumped into Naveen's hand.

Naveen- 6300 LP

Darren- 3600 LP

Darren drew a new card from his deck. 'This sucks. How am I losing so badly? I've walked into every trap he's laid', he thought.

Concentrate and think before you attack. Don't attack if he has a face down card unless you know it is okay to attack,' Arcturas said. Darren looked at his cards.

"Alright, I activate my Dark Magic Ritual. I send Invader of Darkness from my hand to the graveyard to summon my favorite card which also happens to be my bet. I summon Magician of Black Chaos (A2800, D2600) in attack mode". The blue skinned magician wearing black armor rose out of the ground. His long black hair blew in the virtual wind. He pulled out a staff and stared at Naveen's monster. Darren closed his eyes for a few seconds.

'I have a good feeling about attacking. His card can't save him, otherwise he would have activated when I attacked earlier', Darren thought. He opened his eyes. "Magician of Black Chaos, attack his ghost destroyer with Chaos Scepter Blast", he shouted. The magician swung the staff around like a baton before slamming it into the ground. A black ball of electricity formed and flew along the ground at the monsters, but they moved out of the way. Darren stared confused.

"Reveal face down card, Stand Down", Naveen declared. "This moves my monsters out of the way so I take the hit directly. Then on my next turn, I can attack you directly", he explained. The attack hit him and pushed him back a bit.

Darren grinned as he watched Naveen's life point meter go down. "I end my turn".

Naveen- 3500 LP

Darren- 3600 LP

Naveen drew his next card. "First I activate my Spiritual Energy Settling Machine. This will let me keep my spirit monsters on the field, as long as I discard a card every turn. Next I sacrifice both of the monsters on my field to summon the card I bet, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi (A2800, 2900) in attack mode". A muscular man with flaming fists and hair appeared on the field. "Attack his life points directly", Navee ordered. The man opened his hand and blasted Darren with a stream of fire. "I set one card face down and end my turn, go".

Naveen- 3500 LP

Darren- 800 LP

Darren watched Naveen discard a card from his hand. Darren went to draw his card. "Wait, before you draw, my monsters effect kicks in. When he does damage to your life points you must discard your entire hand before drawing again". Darren shoved his cards into the graveyard slot and drew a card.

"I activate my Card of Sanctity. This lets us both draw until we have six cards". Both of the duelists drew their cards. "This duel is over. You can't stop the strategy I have for you. First, I activate my brand new card, Shadow Magic Ritual. I must discard the Dark Magician and Man-Eater Bug to summon my strongest monster, the Shadow Sorcerer (A3100, D2700)". The monster was the dark magician with black hair and no helmet. He wore a long black robe and only one hand extended to hold a staff with a scythe blade at the end. "Next I'll have him att…", Darren looked at the face down card behind Hino-Kagu. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon. This will destroy your face down card". A bolt of lightning struck down through the card. "Now I'll attack your monster with Shadow Magic Attack". The Dark Magician extended its arm and blasted the monster with its scythe. "Next I'll attack you directly with Chaos Scepter Strike". The Magician of Black Chaos blasted Naveen with another ball of lightning. "I end my turn".

Naveen- 400 LP

Darren- 800 LP

Naveen drew his card and concentrated hard on it.

What card did Naveen draw? Could it possibly win the duel for him and knock Darren out of the tournament. Will anyone ever read this fic?