Author's Note: A big thanks to to all the reviews I've gotten so far! Appreciate them very much. ;) This my first attempt at writing a duel. Hope it wasn't too confusing… (And not too corny XD)

Drop The Act

Fan Fiction by Krafty Quill

Chapter 4

Close Call…

"Grrrrrr!"

"Getting angry is not going to help, Joey!" Tea stressed. While his flaring emotions were fair to expect, she feared they would prove to be a major liability to his game. He sat on a rickety 450 Life Points, less than four times his opponent's 2100. At this critical stage of the duel, he needed to remain calm and confident, like he usually did.

The stakes had never been more real, and all the friends that normally contributed to his confidence were absent from the sidelines. That, in addition to the unwanted association with Tristan Taylor, could account for his ruffled mindset throughout the duel.

Tea tried to look into Tristan's eyes. There was nothing but thirst, dark brown thirst. Revenge had utterly consumed him, evicting the compassionate friend that once resided within. Somewhere between the dead, baggy eyes and the sickening grin, an absurd sense of vengeance pleasured him. Tea knew her perception wouldn't change with the sheer result of this duel. He had a lifetime of making up to do before reclaiming his position in her good books.

"…And with that, I end my turn." The words seemed to move in accordance with his placid smirk. "Make your final move, Joey," he ordered. Then he crossed his arms above his chest, a gesture Tea couldn't ever recall him wearing.

"We'll see about dat!" Two fingers over his deck, Joey drew his next card in a dramatic manner. It was the Skull Dice trap card - a great way to reduce the attack and defence points of all monsters on the opponent's side of the field.

Joey sighed. It was another case of good card drawn at the wrong time. He was up against two, four-star monsters and a trap card. The only monster in his hand he could summon directly to the field was Baby Dragon. It was far too weak to do anything on its own. Three of the other four cards in his hand were traps, and the last a level 6 monster that needed a tribute to be summoned. His eyes darted amongst the cards in a troubled fashion.

"Come on, Joey!" His girlfriend cheered him on, having sensed his uncertainty. "You're not considered a world class Duellist for nothing you know!"

She's right. But how could he believe in the heart of the cards when Yugi wasn't there to guide him through it?

"Heh, don't tell me you still believe in that nonsense Yugi feeds you." It was as if Tristan could read his mind. They were once close friends so it only made sense that he knew what Joey was thinking. "If that's all you've got, you might as well give up now. I learnt a long while ago that the heart of the cards only work for Yugi. It has something against tall people."

He's right – but not about the lame short joke. Whenever Joey tried to tap into the power Yugi professed to be true, it hardly ever came through for him - and of the times it did, Yugi was always close by.

"Don't listen to him!" Tea was afraid he'd start doubting himself. "If you don't believe you can win then you probably won't!" She called out, continuing her cheers of encouragement.

It didn't seem to be working though. Joey was still taking his time making his move. She didn't know how much longer she could go on screaming over the crowd's murmurs to lift his hopes. Her throat was beginning to get dry.

That's it! Her eyes lit up as an idea graced her mind. "Joey… Joey… Joey…" she started slowly. She could only hope that the majority of onlookers were Joey fans. She continued to call his name and the crowd started to catch on, mimicking her chants, one by one, until the deafening cheers were all that could be heard.

For a split second, Tristan had a look of confusion on his face. That was washed away as quickly as it came and replaced with that sinister grin of his. "It doesn't matter what any of you think!" His shout could barely be heard over the uproar however. "You're going down, Joey! In front of all these people! Make your move already!"

The crowd backing him up was exactly what he needed. Joey found his smile again. "I set three cards face down on the field, and put Baby Dragon in defence mode. That ends my turn." The move left Joey with only one card in hand.

"About time," Tristan spat, drawing his card roughly. He chuckled at the sight of what he drew. "Say goodbye to all your trap and magic cards! I activate the spell card, Heavy Storm!"

Joey wasn't without a defence to this however. "My trap card, Magic Drain, negates the effect of your spell card unless you can forfeit another spell card from your hand right now."

Tristan had a single card in his hand. The frustration on his face told Joey it wasn't a spell card. "Well then, I active my face down card, Mystic Space Typhoon. It lets me destroy one trap or magic card on the field and I choose that one!" He pointed at the face down card on the right.

The hologram of Joey's Skull Dice trap card shattered before him. He was down to one monster, and one trap on the field. Tristan had two monsters on the field and one card in his hand, which he was about to put in play.

He sacrificed a weaker monster to summon Flame Champion, a level 5 Pyro type with 1900 attack points. The first attack in his battle phase was to rid Joey of his only monster on the field. Giant Rat's 1400 attack points were enough to obliterate Baby Dragon's defence, leaving Joey's life points practically open. His smirk grew bigger.

Assuming the trap card was a bluff, Tristan ordered his Flame Champion to attack Joey's life points directly.

"Aha! Nice try Tristan, but you're forgetting about my face down card!" Joey activated Magic Cylinder! The effect of the card redirected Tristan's 1900 attack to his own life points, which brought it down significantly to a mere 200 LP.

"I… end my turn," Tristan snarled.

Joey knew he was extremely lucky to still be in the duel. If Tristan had chosen to destroy his Magical Cylinder instead, he would've lost for sure. Even with this last-ditch save, the game was still very much in Tristan's hands. He had two strong monsters on the field and Joey had absolutely nothing. With no monsters to sacrifice on the field, the only card in Joey's hand was plain useless. The result of this duel would ultimately come down to this next draw.

A deep breath calmed his nerves a little. As if on cue, the crowd began to cheer for Joey was once again. He turned to Tea and found unwavering faith in her blue eyes. Out of the all chants flooding his ears, hers were the loudest and clearest. She believed in him. He wasn't about to make her a fool by deceiving her trust. He put his fingers upon his deck and prepared to draw when --

"Joey!"

He recognized the voice before his happy brown eyes even found her. "Serenity!"

She fought her way through to the crowd to find a spot closer to her brother. "You can do it, Joey!"

The Duellist nodded. Without any further ado, Joey drew his card.

The audience turned silence, most of them attempting to read the teen's expressionless face. It was hard to tell whether the situation was good or bad for Joey. Tea held her hands together as if in prayer while Serenity put her palms over chest.

Tristan continued to stand his ground, cool as ever. "You're only prolonging the inevitable! Now, make your move already!"

Joey slowly closed his eyes. Then they shot open instantly. Tristan staggered backwards at the intensity, almost as if he expected the burning flames to jump right out of his opponent's eyes.

"As you say!" Joey declared with flare. "I summon Slate Warrior, in attack mode!"

"Wha--?" Tristan's voice was cut off by a gasp. The summoned monster had a murderous 1900 attack points. Only a select few of level 4 monsters had so much power. Where could Joey have picked that card up? Tristan could only ponder helplessly as his opponent's assault crushed Giant Rat's 1400 attack points, inflicting 500 worth of damage to his life points, more than enough to drop them to a big, fat zero.

Knee first, Tristan crashed to the ground. He hung his head, mostly to hide his features. How could he fail Tea … again?

All the holograms on the field disappeared. Ecstatic onlookers took to the stage, cheering loudly for their winner and engaging in otherwise embarrassing dances. Joey received a peck from Tea and huge hug from Serenity. "This calls for a celebration!" He roared.

The crowd couldn't have agreed more. Their voices were on the brink of being lost from all the constant screaming. But none of them could've predicted what happened next. The celebration was shortly lived.

Gasps and screams of horror replaced the expressions of joy. "What's going on?" Fear trembled in Tea's voice. Her eyes shifted about, trying to find the source of the mass hysteria. The crowd of people decreased in size as every one seemed to be running every which way.

"Ahhhh!"

"Serenity!" Joey followed the shrill scream. He found his sister with shaky hands clamped over her lips. "Serenity, what's … wrong." By the time he finished the sentence it wasn't even a question any more.

Staring right between his eyes, from a few feet away, was the barrel of gun. Joey stepped in front of his sister, using his own body as a barricade if need be. His hands raised above his head in submission. "Don't be stupid, Tristan…"

"Stupid! Stupid! Me, stupid!?" One sleeve of his leather jacket swept passed the huge sweat working up on his brow. His grip on the pistol was far from steady but kept to its target nevertheless. This could possibly be the first occasion he'd fire a gun. "Yeah, you're right. I was stupid. Stupid for thinking you were ever my friend!"

A ball of saliva moved down Joey's throat. The erratic tone in the gunman's voice scared him. Sweating and shaking uncontrollably, Tristan appeared to be capable of shooting at any given second. A pair of arms suddenly squeezed around Joey's waist. He could feel Serenity's heartbeat racing against his back. It was his duty as her brother to protect her at all costs. He was ready to give his life if he had to.

"All that time, all that time! You were just pretending to be my friend so you could snatch her away from me when I wasn't looking!" Tristan continued.

"What are you talkin' about, man? She wasn't even with ya when --"

"Just shut up!" He jerked the gun forward in a threatening manner.

"Oh my God, Joey!" Tea came running to her boyfriend's side, despite his demanding her to get as far away as she could. She did for Joey what Joey had done for Serenity, putting herself before the pointing gun. "If you're going to shoot Joey, you'll have to shoot me first!" She stretched her arms out.

Tristan's eyes stared in shock at her act. This wasn't the Tea he knew… Joey had done something to her. "You changed her!" He barked. She was supposed to be devoted to him, and only him. But she wasn't. She wasn't Tea. Tea would've been by his side. Not anyone else's. Not Joey's!

"Do it!" Tea taunted him. "Either you do it now or stop wasting all our time!"

"Er…" Joey whispered in Tea's ear. "Aren't you supposed to be getting him not to shoot us?"

"Trust me," she whispered back, not taking her eyes off Tristan. "The sooner we call his bluff, the sooner he'll realise this game won't get him anywhere." She looked at the offender deep in his eyes. "DO IT NOW!"

"…Fine!" Tristan cocked his gun. She's not even my Tea any more...

Joey, Serenity and Tea all face-faulted. As Tristan took aim, Joey pushed Tea out of the way in the last second.

But there was no bang.

A quick chop struck Tristan at the back of his neck unexpectedly. The surprise attack dropped him at once, his pistol clattering against the floor as it stumbled out of sleeping fingers. The trio gasped in chorus.

The dark azure eyes of their saviour considered Joey. "You owe me one, Wheeler." That's all Kaiba said before turning his back towards them. He didn't seem phased at all. To him, the heroic act was nothing more extravagant than swatting an everyday house bug. "I'll see you on set tomorrow." He walked away without another word.

Tea and Serenity were utterly lost for words. Joey looked down at Tristan's unconscious body then back up to Kaiba's disappearing figure. Only one word could summon up what he thought of Kaiba now.

"…bastard."

End of Chapter