Playing with a Parasite

The next day, Max, Mai, Yugi, Joey, and Emily all met up at the square of town. "Still in the tournament, Wheeler?" Mai asked as she and Joey high-fived each other.

"You bet," Joey answered. "I'm already a proud owner of two locator cards."

Mai and Max held out their hands. "Read 'em and weep," they said, showing four locator cards.

"Awesome job, guys," said Yugi. "I've already got three."

"Aw, man," groaned Joey. "I got the least! How am I ever gonna make it to the Battle City finals?"

"There's still plenty of time," said Emily. "Remember, you need six locator cards to enter the finals."

"Well, none of us are going to get to the finals standing around here."

"Max's right," said Joey. "Watch out, 'cause I'm about to do some serious catching up."

"Good luck and miss me," Mai said and blew a kiss. Max decided to head to another part of town and Yugi and Emily headed out together. They knew that Marik's Rare Hunters were after them, but they would be ready.

Once again, Téa was late to meet up with her friends. Apparently Tristan held her up by checking on Serenity again. Yugi's grandfather decided to help Téa and Tristan find Yugi.

Meanwhile, Joey was walking through the city looking for another competitor until a boy came up to him. He presented Joey with a marker and a piece of paper asking for an autograph for his sister. As Joey was thinking about what to write, the boy asked him if he could try on his duel disk. Joey figured there would be no harm in letting him look at it, so he removed it from his wrist and handed it to the boy. That was actually a mistake. The kid began running away with the duel disk. Joey started chasing after him.

Téa, Tristan, and Solomon saw Joey chasing after the kid. Tristan jumped in front of him and caught him. The boy apologized to Joey for taking his duel disk and gave it back. His reason for doing it was because another kid stole a deck he worked so hard to build and he really wanted to be in the tournament. He described the thief as having big spectacles like bug eyes and blue hair. Based on his description, Joey, Téa, and Tristan assumed that it was Weevil and he was up to his dirty tricks again. The boy told the group that the last time he saw Weevil was at the fountain near the park.

But it was all just a scam to lure Joey into a duel. The boy met up with Weevil and said he did everything he was told to do, but couldn't find his girlfriend. Weevil was disappointed to hear that he couldn't find Emily, but luring Joey into his trap was enough satisfaction. So for his trouble, Weevil presented the boy with a card. He hoped it would be a rare and powerful card like Weevil promised, but was disappointed to see it was just a common insect card. Seeing that his partner is ungrateful, Weevil sprays the poor boy with spider silk and heads to the fountain to meet Joey.

At the city hospital, Serenity was minding her own business in her room until she heard her door open. One of the nurses came in and asked her if she heard anyone come in her room. She did, but she answered differently. The nurse left and decided to continue her search. Hearing the sound of her footsteps fading, Serenity tells the runaway that the coast is clear. It was a young boy named Kenta. When he asked Serenity why she protected him, she admitted that she was pretty scared of the tests too, but found that they weren't as bad as she feared. Kenta didn't know how to thank Serenity, so she asked him to look up the Battle City website and search for Joey so she could get the play-by-play.

Joey and the others came to the fountain looking for Weevil until he finally showed up. He didn't like being accused of stealing and told them so. Joey knew what Weevil wanted though. So he decided to settle things in a duel. Weevil accepted and wanted to make it an all-out match by wagering two locator cards. Joey agreed. If Yugi could beat Weevil, then there was no reason why he couldn't. But he had to be careful. Weevil still had ways of getting what he wanted and was still a sneaky cheat.

Joey made the first move by summoning his Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode and a card face down on the field. Weevil summoned Flying Kamakiri #1, an insect with 1400 attack points. He declared an attack, but Joey activated his face down card, Shield and Sword, to swap the attack and defense points of their monsters. Now Joey's Swordsman had 1200 attack points and Weevil's insect had 900. Weevil lost 300 life points, but played Flying Kamakiri #2 to take his fallen monster's place. This monster had 1500 attack points, but Joey knew how to defeat this bug. He sacrificed his Swordsman and summoned Jinzo to crush Weevil's insect and deal 900 points of damage.

Weevil played a monster in defense mode, but as Jinzo attacked, it came out and began feeding on Jinzo's blood like a leech. It was called Kisetai and had 300 attack points. It also had the power to increase Weevil's life points by 1200 with each passing turn. Weevil ended his turn by playing a monster in defense mode and gaining 1200 life points, bringing him back to 4000. Jinzo was still able to attack, but the monster it attacked was Skull Marked Ladybug, giving Weevil 500 extra life points. Weevil played another monster in defense mode and gained 1200 more life points thanks to his Kisetai.

Joey decided to get rid of Weevil's leech by summoning Panther Warrior. Since his armored feline needed a sacrifice in order to attack, Joey offered up his Jinzo and destroyed the leech with it. Seeing Joey's monster attack his last defense, Weevil decided not to play any more games and get serious. So he summoned Larvae Moth. Joey remembered this monster and knew what his opponent was up to. Weevil also played Cocoon of Evolution. He wasn't finished yet. Next, Weevil played Reckless Parasite to draw out any insect cards in Joey's deck. Joey was shocked to see a monster called Parasite Paracide emerge from his deck on to the field. Now he understood why the boy from before took his duel disk and realized that he put the card in his deck. But it was too late. Now that the Parasite was in play, all of Joey's monsters would become infected and turn into insects.

Weevil finally ended his turn by placing a card face down on the field. Joey was in trouble. Since any monster he would summon would become infected by the Parasite, he could no longer make any sacrifices. But looking closely, he saw that Weevil's Cocoon of Evolution was in attack mode and had no attack points. Joey summoned Little-Winguard and used it to attack. Weevil's fear of defeat and loss of strategy was an act as he revealed his face down card Insect Barrier. Now all of Joey's monsters were prevented from attacking.

Weevil's insects could pass through the Barrier and attack Joey, so he summoned another insect called Leghul. It had the ability to bypass Joey's monsters and attack Joey directly, taking 300 life points. There was nothing Joey could do now but put his monsters in defense mode. To pass the time, Weevil continued to attack Joey directly. Joey spent his last turn waiting by summoning Alligator's Sword in defense mode and playing a card face down. Now the time had come. Five turns passed and the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth emerged from the Cocoon of Evolution with 3500 attack points.

Back at the hospital, Kenta was telling Serenity what was going on. "It doesn't look good for Joey. That Great Moth is just too powerful. Maybe he should just give up."

"No way, Kenta," said Serenity. "Joey's going to win and we're not giving up on him."

Kenta was still in doubt. "But his life points keep getting lower and he hasn't been able to attack. It's probably best for him to run away and hide."

"You mean like you did today?"

Kenta sighed in response. But it couldn't be helped for him to be scared of his tests even though he was promised he had nothing to be afraid of. What actually scared him was the fact that he didn't have any friends in the ward and had to go through the processes alone. That was why he ran and decided to stay hidden. But he decided to keep informing Serenity on the status of Joey's duel.

The Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth attacked Alligator's Sword. But Joey believed in his deck and drew a card that would help him. He played two cards face down and switched his monsters in attack mode. Weevil doubted that Joey had a plan, but he didn't want to take his chances, so he played a monster in defense mode and landed another direct attack on Joey. After that, he decided to attack the Parasite on Joey's side of the field. This was what he wanted. Joey revealed his hidden trap Skull Dice and used it to cut the Great Moth's attack points in half. Next, he played Graceful Dice to raise his Parasite's attack points. The die rolled into a four, multiplying its attack points to 2000. And since it was too late for Weevil to call off his attack, the Great Moth was crushed by the Parasite and Weevil lost 250 life points, bringing him down to 5450.

But the truth was the Great Moth was a common housefly compared to Weevil's real weapon and he was about to summon it to the field. First, he summoned Insect Soldier of the Sky in attack mode. Next, he played Eradicating Aerosol to destroy the monster he played in defense mode last turn. It was called Pinchhopper and once it was sent to the graveyard, Weevil would be able to summon a powerful insect from his hand without needing to make a sacrifice. The monster Weevil chose to summon was Insect Queen. She received 200 attack points for every insect on the field, and since Joey's monsters were still infected by the Parasite, she had a total of 3200 attack points.

Kenta was amazed to see Joey turn things around by crushing Weevil's Great Moth, but was scared to see the Insect Queen in play. It made Kenta feel like Joey was in his place and having to face his troubles all alone. But Serenity reminded Kenta that Joey wasn't alone because he had her support and the help of his friends and they always help one another even in spirit. Hearing Serenity's words, Kenta asks her to be his friend so he doesn't have to feel alone when he's scared. Serenity offers Kenta her friendship, but reminds him that right now, her brother needs their support.

Weevil continued to raise Insect Queen's power by sacrificing Leghul. After that, he attacked and destroyed Joey's Little-Winguard. And because it was in attack mode, Joey lost 1800 life points and was down to his last 1000. Also, to keep the extra attack points, the Insect Queen laid an egg. This was bad for Joey. In the next few turns, for every monster the Insect Queen destroyed and every egg she laid, the eggs would hatch and come after his life points like a deadly swarm. He drew his card and ended his turn by placing it face down on the field. Weevil noticed that Joey didn't switch his monsters back into defense mode. First he played Cockroach Knight to raise his Insect Queen's strength and attack Joey. This last attack would ensure his victory. But Joey left his monsters in attack mode on purpose. He activated his trap Magical Arm Shield to capture Weevil's Insect Soldier of the Sky and deal the damage to his own life points instead. Now Weevil had 3250 life points remaining, but Joey still had a long way to go before he could defeat him. This time, he really switched his monsters back into defense mode.

The Cockroach Knight Weevil sacrificed before had the ability to return to the top of the cardholder's deck every time it was destroyed, so Weevil could keep feeding it to his Insect Queen. After that, the Queen destroyed Joey's Panther Warrior and laid another egg. Joey felt like he was running out of options, but his friends reminded him that they were all right behind him. He even heard them mention his sister and remembered that she believed in him too. That was enough encouragement for him to keep going and never give up. He drew his card and finally found a way to break through the Insect Barrier. Joey played a card face down and summoned a warrior called Gearfried the Iron Knight. It had 1800 attack points and a powerful armor made of iron and the Parasite wasn't able to feed off of metal. So the Iron Knight could break through the Insect Barrier and attack Weevil's pests, starting with the Insect Queen's eggs.

Weevil sure didn't see that coming, but he wasn't going to allow Joey to weaken his Queen and damage his life points. To strengthen his Queen, Weevil summoned an ant colony to the field by combining Soldier Ant with the magic card Ant Reproduction. Now Insect Queen was even stronger after absorbing the power of ten more insects. But Joey was ready. He activated his trap Graverobber and used the Eradicating Aerosol in Weevil's graveyard to exterminate the Insect Queen. After that, Gearfried attacked the last egg and destroyed the rest of Weevil's life points.

"All right, Weevil, cough 'em up," Joey said, walking up to the insect duelist. "Your Insect Queen and your two locator cards."

"Have mercy," Weevil begged.

But Joey wouldn't. "You should have thought of that before you decided to cheat. And just like in Duelist Kingdom, you're out of the tournament!"

Even Kenta cheered as he saw Joey's victory. A new feeling even came over him. He decided not to run away from his fears anymore because all of his friends would be there to support him. He even dreamed of one day becoming a great duelist like Joey. But Serenity promised Kenta she would cheer the loudest as she would support him.

Joey's victory caught the attention of many of the other duelists. Once again, Yugi and Emily were proud of their friend. "He's almost made it to the finals," said Emily. "And he's been doing so well even without his Red-Eyes."

Yugi agreed. "But now Joey's Red-Eyes will be helping us. It won't be easy with Marik's Rare Hunters looking for us, but we'll be ready." And they went back on their way.

Joey really has been coming a long way in the tournament. He outwitted two top ranked duelists who turned out to be cheaters. But it was good because it helped Joey to prepare for anything; including the finals.