When the blast from the Hyper-Death Ray struck Jaden's Stratos a huge cloud of smoke covered the entire field.

"JADEN!"

Billy was laughing his head off, but then he noticed something was out of place.

"Wait a minute… Where's the splash? Where's the sound of chomping teeth? Where are the screams of pain and mortal agony?"

When the smoke cleared Jaden still stood in his cage, and his life points were untouched.

"WHAT!?!"

"Sorry Bill, but when you destroyed Stratos I activated my face down card, Hero Spirit. When an Elemental Hero is destroyed, I can activate this card to negate all battle damage inflicted by one of your monsters."

"Ugh… You only delay the inevitable slacker… Why prolong Alexis' suffering?"

"She wouldn't be suffering if you hadn't threatened to kill our child in the first place!"

"The choice isn't mine to make, she belongs to me, and I will do what must be done to prove it, even if I have to rip it out with my bare hands!"

"Billy, will you please SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" said Blair "YOU'RE DRIVING ALEXIS CRAZY!!!"

For some reason Dr. Death was balled up in a corner after Blair's little outburst.

"What are doing?" asked Bill.

"She's terrifying!"

"We're sick and tired of you Billy!" said Chazz "You've been trying to kill us ever since the start of this damn episode!"

(Remember the episode where Syrus says, "Jaden, I've been carrying that water around for three episodes!")

"Whatever. Don't worry Alexis it's almost over, and just to show Jaden how hopeless it is I'll activate this trap card, Non-Fusion Area!"

"No, not that!"

"Yes, that. Now your precious fusion monsters can't come to the rescue."

"Jaden can't use his fusion monsters? But that's just about everything but the kitchen sink!" exclaimed Jesse.

"Well Jaden, I guess I should salute you as a worthy adversary or something, but to tell the truth, I always did hate your guts. Tell you what, if you surrender now I'll put a bullet through your head, that way you won't feel that crocs rip you to pieces."

Jaden could see that Alexis couldn't take much more of this, and with that Hyper-Death Ray attached to Bill's Perfect Machine King it was the moment of truth, he had to pull a winner out of his deck here and now, but if he couldn't use his fusion monsters, what could he do?

"Don't listen to him Jay! Remember that time you fought Bastion Misawa?" said Syrus.

"Yeah, Megalon was on the right and Gigan was on the left, but then Jet Jaguar came to your rescue and…"

"Hassleberry you idiot, that was a Godzilla movie, you weren't even a student at duel academy yet!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Bastion used Cursed Seal of the Forbidden spell to keep you from using Polymerization, but you still found a way to win the duel without using your fusion monsters!"

Syrus was right, but Jaden knew that using a combo of Cyclone Boomerang and Elemental Hero Wildheart wouldn't get him out of this one, but there had to be something else.

All around the world people who had been watching the duel started chanting Jaden's name as he prepared to draw his next card. Jaden knew no matter how hopeless it looked he had to do this, for Alexis, for his baby.

"Hello God, this is Jaden Yuki. If you really love me, you'll save me now." he thought.

Jaden drew his card, if anyone could see behind the supreme king's mask, they would have seen Jaden's smile.

"Thank you God." he thought.

"Well… What is it?" asked Aster.

"Alright Bill… Say hello to my little friend… I summon Winged Kuriboh!"

(ATK: 300 DEF: 200)

For a few moments Billy was silent, then he fell back laughing.

"That's your secret weapon?! Oh my God, it's a hairball with wings!"

Everyone could see that Winged Kuriboh looked angry.

"Oh I'm a wee little Kuriboh, and I'm going to take on a frickin big Perfect Machine King with a giant laser gun, I'm going to scratch his metal hull until I bore him to death!"

"He may be small, but sometimes small things pack big wallops." said Jaden. "Make your move."

Billy knew due to Winged Kuriboh's effect Jaden's life points would survive to see the next round, but that would be it.

"If I'd known how long this duel was going to take I would have brought some snacks… Oh well, on my next turn I'll be victorious. Perfect Machine King, attack!"

"Not so fast Bill, I discard two cards from my hand to activate Transcendent Wings, now my Winged Kuriboh evolves to level 10!"

(ATK: 300 DEF: 200)

"So you summoned a monster that has exactly the same attack and defense points, big deal!"

"Oh it's a very big deal, during my opponent's battle phase I can activate his special effect, and destroy all the monsters you have in attack mode, namely your Perfect Machine King, and your life points will receive damage equal to his attack points, 11700."

"WHAT!?! THIS CAN'T BE!!!"

"I'm sorry, but you brought this on yourself! Winged Kuriboh LV 10, finish him!"

Winged Kuriboh LV 10 vanished in a blinding flash of light, which passed through Billy's Perfect Machine King causing it to explode, then it struck Billy.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

When the light faded Billy fell to the ground.

(Billy: 0)

"And that's game."

All over the world people burst into applause, but Dr. Death was not amused.

"NO! I WAS PROMISED AN ABORTION, AND I'LL HAVE IT!"

He started to charge at Alexis and the others, when suddenly…

BAM!

Chazz had pulled out the gun he was carrying and shot a bullet right in-between the insane doctor's eyes, he was dead before he hit the ground.

"Whoa… Nice shot." said Aster.

They all looked at the fallen Billy.

"Is he dead?" asked Atticus.

"I don't think so…"

Jaden was still locked in his cage, and suddenly the eyes in Billy's helmet flared to life, and he rose back up.

"Well played Jaden… You've won the battle… but the war is still mine…"

"What are you talking about? You said if I beat you we could leave!"

"Oops, had my fingers crossed."

Billy raised his wrist; there was some kind of button on it.

"It's croc feeding time!"

Before the floor opened up beneath him Jaden jumped up and grabbed the bars at the top of the cage, down below he could see the crocodiles gathering underneath the hole in the floor.

"Oh for heaven's sake."

At that moment something came out of the shoulder on Billy's armor.

"Wait a minute, is that a bazooka?!" asked Jasmine.

As the projectile launched off of Billy's shoulder, Jaden slid down the bars to the bottom of the cage with his feet dangling out the hole beneath him. In a matter of seconds the top of the cage was blown to bits, and Jaden jumped out and charged at Billy through the smoke.

"Alright Jaden… This is it… any last words? Yeah, I wish I had a better idea than this!"

Jaden was met with a hailstorm of bullets as he charged at Billy. He didn't know if it was Yubel or the Supreme King's armor that protected him, and at the moment he didn't care. When he got close enough he jumped up, grabbed onto Billy's helmet, and tore it off. Then he slammed his fist into one of the buttons on Billy's wrist.

"NO! NOT THAT BUTTON!!!"

Jaden jumped off Billy as another projectile launched out of his shoulder and struck the floor beneath him. The floor gave out under his weight and he fell through it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

When Billy hit the water the splash was so big it shot up through the hole in the floor. Chazz shot the lock that kept him and the others in their cell, Jaden immediately ran over to Alexis and embraced her, the boys ran over to the hole in the floor to see what had become of Billy.

"Damn! He ain't gonna be in the next episode." said Atticus.

"That's not a way to get a head in life." joked Zane.

"I guess he'll never again be the head of a major corporation." laughed Jesse.

"Okay, why are we using the same joke from the first Austin Powers movie?" asked Aster.

"What joke?"

"You know Syrus." said Hassleberry "The one where the guy gets his head bitten off but the mutated sea bass."

Alexis was crying all over Jaden, there were no words to express how happy she was.

"It's okay Lexi… It's over."

"How do you do it Jaden?" asked Blair "No matter how hopeless it looks, you always manage to pull a winner out of your deck."

"Well… You know, I just couldn't let him hurt my Lexi, or my baby. My cards and have been through a lot together, and I knew they wouldn't let me down when I needed them most. All for one and one for all, through thick and thin rough and smooth, vanilla and extra double ripple. When the going gets tough the tough go shopping. Use an accordion; go to jail, that's the law. Just remember it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you look the next day in the paper. Four score and seven years ago…"

(Insert record scratch sound effect)

At that moment Alexis collapsed.

"Lexi! Are you alright?!"

She was breathing heavily.

"Jaden, I think her water just broke!"

"What does that mean?"

Blair slapped herself on the forehead; of course Jaden didn't know a thing about this.

"Jaden…" breathed Alexis "It's time…"

(To be continued)