"Alright, ladies first," Bakura (8000) said, drawing five cards. Beryl (8000) did the same, nodded and drew a sixth. This should be interesting… I haven't seen what she built yet, Bakura thought.

"I'll start by playing…" Beryl's eyes shifted through her cards. She was still new to this game, and did not want to make a foolish mistake against Bakura. "Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen! With it on the field, since I have no monsters, I can put a Fairy onto the field as a Special Summon! Dark Asmodeus, in Attack Mode (3000/2500)!" She declared. And angel sporting black and blue wings and a long robe rose to the field. "I'll set two cards, play a monster in Defense Mode and end my turn," She added.

"Impressive…" Bakura said as he drew. "I myself will play the Spell card Dark World Dealings! We will each draw and discard one card." He drew his card and viewed his hand. "I discard Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. And when he is discarded, I draw another card by his effect," He added as he drew again. Beryl drew and quickly discarded, which concerned Bakura slightly.

"Alright, then. If that didn't faze you, let's see you deal with this! I take you before the Gates of Dark World!" He exclaimed, sliding the Field Spell into his Disk. The apartment walls disappeared, replaced instead by the aptly named gates to the Dark World. Beryl looked around, steeling herself against the intimidation creeping up on her. From her spot in the "stands", Neflite smirked at her queen's expression.

"I now Banish my Broww via the Gates' effect, in order to-"

"I'll activate my Mystical Space Typhoon Spell to destroy your Gates!" Beryl interrupted. Bakura growled as he was forced to put the card into the Graveyard. Beryl grinned at the dark look that crossed his face.

"I think it's time for another Dark World Dealings," He said. "And this time I will discard Grapha, Dragon Lord of the Underworld! With his effect activated by discard, I will destroy your Darklord Asmodeus!" He said. A blast of dark energy shot from Bakura's Graveyard and destroyed Beryl's monster. "Now that the coast is c- what?"

"My Darklord won't be so easily rid of. When he is destroyed, he simply splits into his Asmo and Deus halves," Beryl told him. Indeed, the beam had cut the angel in two where the torso met the white robe. The robe extended out, revealing itself to not be a robe at all but rather the wings of a smaller angel. The two angels set themselves next to each other (Asmo 1800/1200) (Deus 1200/1300).

"Alright then… I'll place this monster face-down, one other face-down, and your move," Bakura said. Let the games begin, he thought.

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"OK. Did everyone put together what they wanted?" Serena asked. Solomon had taken the girls into the card storage area, where a vast selection of cards in multiple quantities had been available. Kaiba, whether too busy to go himself or simply not wanting to make the visit personally, had sent Mokuba over with several of the latest-model Duel Disks. Mokuba had added that there was a spare one for Joey as well before taking off, so that one had been tucked away in the shop.

"I believe I saw everyone ready to go," Luna confirmed. Serena nodded her head, then turned to Atem and Yugi.

"D'ya that we should maybe, y'know, practice or something before we get into this whole tournament thing?" She asked. Atem nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea. Let me go get my deck," Atem turned away and made to go grab his cards from his room, smiling the moment his back was turned. Everyone else looked at Serena, grinning and waiting for her to freak at the thought of going toe to toe with Atem. What happened next shocked everyone.

"Alright. Let's see what you've got," She said. Atem about faceplanted, and everyone else just stared. Atem had NOT been expecting anything other than "Whoa, I said practice, not slaughter."

"Alright then," He said, recovering quickly with a smile growing on his face. Five minutes later, the seasoned vet and Sailor Moon were standing across from each other outside the warehouse, Disks activated and Life Point readouts online.

"Hot dogs, come get your hot dogs," Serena turned, looked to her left and sweat dropped. Everyone had gotten lawn chairs from who knows where and were currently grabbing hot dogs off of the plate Mina had.

"Alright, ladies first," Atem motioned for Serena to begin. She nodded and drew.

"I'll start this off by playing Gladiator Beast Equeste!" She declared as an armored horse appeared (1600/1200). "And I'll Special Summon Test Tiger!" She added. Atem was surprised; this was only her first duel and she already seemed to be playing like a pro.

"Very good. I see you picked this game up quickly, quite the natural," Solomon complimented from the sidelines.. Serena smiled and nodded a "thanks" his way.

"Yeah, go figure. She can't grasp basic geometry or tell ya who the first president was, but by God you give her a Duel Monsters deck and she'll be beating the world champs before you know it," Lita said dryly. Serena stuck her tongue out.

"Test Tiger can be Special Summoned if there's a Gladiator Beast on my side," She explained. "Just like the Sailor Scouts all work together, so do the Gladiator Beasts. And incidentally, they both use cats to help 'em out at times," She grinned at Luna, who cocked an eyebrow at the tiger. "Now, with Test Tiger on the field I can return my Gladiator Beast Equeste to my hand at the cost of Tributing my Tiger," She said, placing Test Tiger in the Graveyard.

"So… You're going to take your own monster out of the battle? Monsters are vital to protecting your Life Points, Serena. Yugi went over that," Mina asked from the sidelines. A voice from behind her made her fall out of her chair.

"Nah. I've seen deese guys before, dat card's got a whole 'nother effect," He said. Mina looked up to see a man about her age with blond hair, a green jacket and a smile on his face. "Name's Joey, didn't mean to scare ya," He apologized as he helped the girl up. "Sweet, looks like this one just started. Yugi told me there were some new duelists in town," He added.

"Hello, Joey," Atem smiled at the sight of his close friend. "And you, Tea, Tristan," He added as his other friends followed in tow. "I believe you were resolving your card, Serena?" He said.

"Right. Since I returned Equeste, I get to Special Summon a different Gladiator Beast from my Deck! I Summon Gladiator Beast Secutor!" A small lizard rose to the field, bearing cannons on its shoulders (400/300). "I place three cards down, ending my turn."

"So… she replaced a bigger monster with a smaller one? Logic," Rei commented. Joey grinned. He knew about these cards; he'd considered using them and had actually played around with Kaiba's online duel simulator with them. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what was up.

"I draw. Ah, good! I activate the Dark Magic Curtain card! By paying half of my Life Points (8000 / 2 = 4000) while this card is on the field, I may play my Dark Magician straight from the Deck (2500/2100)!" Atem said. "Next, I'll activate the Spell card Dark Magic Attack! It's only playable while the Dark Magician is on my side, but it will destroy all of your Spell and Trap cards," He told Serena. The Dark Magician's staff began to glow before firing off a blast. "Without any cards to prote- huh?" Atem had a good reason to be confused; an enormous, shining white beam had erupted before Serena. The light washed away, revealing a white dragon who took the Dark Magic Attack with no problems before flying to Secutor's side.

"You tried to destroy multiple cards on my field, which triggered the Trap known as Starlight Road!" Serena explained. Solomon's eyes widened slightly as he realized he'd made a mistake.

"Er… Serena, that card technically isn't supposed to be released yet. I really should have put that new stuff away… Oh well, it will be legal for the new tournament, so I suppose it's not a big deal," He said with a sheepish chuckle. Serena sweat-dropped and Atem cocked his head. It was a Trap card, yet she had a new monster? And one that felt he'd seen before, but couldn't quite place. Where…?

"Oh. Sorry… anyway, Starlight Road negates that destruction ability and then allows me to Special Summon a Stardust Dragon from my, uhm… Oh, yeah! Extra Deck (2500/2000!)" She remembered. Atem's eyes shot open as memories rushed in.

"Stardust Dragon, attack now!"

"I activate Neos Spiral Force!"

"And I'll play Dark Spiral Force!"

Yusei… that's right! So, Synchro Monsters are part of the game now? Interesting… Atem thought to himself. "Alright then! I'll attack your Secutor now and deal with the Dragon later! Dark Magic Attack!" He declared. The magician struck again, but this time was stopped by three women in blue robes chanting a spell. THAT card he knew. "The Waboku card?" He wondered why she would protect such a weak monster.

"Yep! And I think you know what it does," She said. The other Scouts looked to Yugi.

"It basically protects her and her monsters from other monsters," He said.

"Alright then, I'll place one card face-down and end my turn," Atem said.

"Hold your horses, Atem. Your Dark Magician, successful or not, did battle with my Secutor. That means his effect activates! I get to Summon two more Gladiators from my Deck! I'll bring out Gladiator Beasts Murmillo (800/400) and Bestiari (1500/800)! And since they were brought out by a Gladiator Beast, they activate their effects! Gladiator Beast Murmillo destroys one monster on the field," She said. Murmillo, an odd-looking seahorse creature bearing a cannon on its left shoulder, opened fire on the Dark Magician, who was vanquished.

"Now, since you couldn't have Set that card until after Bestiari had come out, I can't destroy it, but usually he would destroy a Spell or Trap that you control," She added. The winged warrior, who appeared to be bearing wrist-mounted guns, was still ready for battle.

"Jeez! It wasn't even her turn and she has three new monsters out!" Tristan said.

"In that, I will also Set a monster and one other card before I end my turn," Atem amended.

Serena nodded and drew. "Alright, Atem, hold on to your bangs 'cause here I come!"