'So. You couldn't even beat ONE MAN in a fight?! How pathetic have you two become in my absence?!" Beryl roared. Both Neflite and Jaedite gazed every which way except for at their queen. "Ugh. I'm beginning to think putting you two back under my service was a mistake," She spat. Bakura snorted.

"Warriors are only as good as their leaders, and so far as I can tell you've no better succeeded in destroying your enemies and accomplishing your goals than they have," He said with an infuriating smirk on his face. Beryl wanted so very badly to stride across the room and knock that look off his face, but she knew that without him their plans were lost.

"Here," Bakura said, holding out his hands. "I've retooled your decks to make maximum use of the Wicked God's powers. Do NOT lose these cards; in the hands of the inexperienced, things can go horribly wrong," He warned as the two underlings slid the decks into their Duel Disks. They both nodded. "Now go out and find someone a little more in your league to duel. Get locator cards, forget the rare cards unless it's something good," He instructed. Neflite and Jaedite nodded, turning around and leaving the room.

"And what of you and I?" Beryl asked. Bakura grinned.

"The same thing," He answered shortly before following the others out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Serena yawned as she walked into the game store to meet with her friends. They'd agreed to meet every morning just to plan out who was going where as to not be caught alone by the Negaverse's inhabitants. She waved to Yugi, Atem and Mina as she walked by, sitting on the lounge couch. "Whatcha doin there?" She asked. Atem had just set his deck on the table.

"Just a friendly, non-tournament match with Yugi to warm up," He said with a smile. Serena grinned.

"Mind if Mina and I join in while we wait for the others? It can be you two against us," She asked eagerly. Yugi shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" He said, walking around to Atem's side of the table. The duel was fiercely fought, and Atem was forced to pull some of his best moves to take it. The duel had no sooner ended than the bell on the door rang to announce the arrival of the remaining Scouts with Joey hot on their tail.

"Hello," Atem greeted them with a wave, moving to the side so that everyone could find a comfortable seat. They wasted little time in splitting into three groups: Joey, Mina and Lita would cover the business district, Atem, Serena, Luna and Rei would head out around the waterfront and the rest would stick relatively close to KaibaCorp. "Alright then. Let's go," Atem said. He began to leave, then turned around. "Serena, reach me my deck if you please," He asked. She nodded and gave him the cards, which he slid into his Disk.

"Over there is where I first dueled against Slifer," Atem reminisced as he passed the area where his duel with Strings had taken place. His head turned as he heard a gasp.

"Atem!" He turned around completely and smiled at the familiar face of Rebecca Hawkins. "How are you? I see you've got a girlfriend now," she added with a slight pout at the sight of Rei. Serena burst out laughing at the blush on Atem's face.

"She's, uhm, not my girlfriend. Just a friend," Atem said, giving a sideways glance to Rei, who was giving Rebecca a serious fisheye. "Anyway, I see you're part of the tournament," Atem changed the subject, indicating Rebecca's duel disk. She nodded, then looked at the Disk on Rei's arm.

"How about we have a match, eh?" She challenged the Scout. Rei's eyes narrowed and she nodded as they two raised their Duel Disks. Serena turned to Atem.

"Stay on the sidelines for her, I'm gonna go grab something to drink," She said. He nodded and called after her to be careful as she rushed off. She was almost to one of the local restaurants when a voice stopped her.

"Hello, Serena," Serena stopped cold as Neflite casually walked toward her, dressed in street wear rather than her usual outfit. "How about you and I have a little duel for Battle City, eh?" She said. Serena balled her hands into fists, ready to fight. "Oh, relax. If I'd wanted to attack you I'd have done it by now. When have you known me to be subtle?" She added. Serena considered. She was right; Neflite was always straightforward in fights.

"So, just a regular duel, huh? Alright then. But no tricks outside the Duel! No cheating, no going to different dimensions, nothing of the sort," She said firmly. Neflite nodded and raised her disk, Serena following suite.

"You actually trust her word?" Luna wondered as she hopped off of Serena's shoulder. Serena frowned, shrugged and drew her hand.

"I'll take the…first…huh?" Serena blinked at the cards in her hand. What the… She thought. These cards weren't her Gladiator Beasts. It clicked as he eyes came across Gamma, the Magnet Warrior.

"Serena, reach me my deck please"

"Oh, crap," Serena said as the realization hit her. She'd handed Atem the wrong deck. This wasn't her deck; it was Atem's! Neflite grinned at her from across the field.

"What's the matter? Bad hand?" She asked. Serena shook her head and realized that she would have to play this duel with Atem's cards. "Well then, make a move already!"

"Alright, fine! Uh… Gamma, the Magnet Warrior in Defense Mode!" A red, metallic creature with a magnet around its neck and "S" markings on its chest and "wings" rose to the field in a defense pose (1500/1800). Neflite was taken aback.

Everything we got from our intel told us that she was using the Gladiator Beast archtype! What the hell? She thought as Serena laid two cards down and announced the passing of turns.

"Alright then… I draw. I will Set a monster, set another card, and pass it back," She said. Serena nodded.

"I now play Beta The Magnet Warrior!" She announced as she drew. Another machine-like monster, this time colored gold with "horns" made of a magnet and clutching two other magnets rose (1700/1600). "I attack with Beta!"

"Spirit Reaper cannot be destroyed by battle," Neflite smirked as her facedown Spirit Reaper flipped (300/200) and survived the assault. Serena frowned and passed.

"You won't be getting to my Life Points for a while, so you might as well just sit back and enjoy my moves," Neflite said as she drew. Serena cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "You'll see what I mean. I place another monster facedown and pass," She said. Soon, I will be able to unleash darkness upon her and then she'll be helpless! Although… she seems to be on the ropes already. Her plays have been relatively weak… Neflite shook her head, trying to shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

"What did she mean by that remark?" Serena wondered partially to Luna, partially to herself. Luna shrugged best as a cat could. "Why are you even here? You obviously won't be able to get into Kaiba's satellite controls; we stopped you once, we'll do it again. So why are you still here? And why are you dueling of all things?" She asked aloud.

"…It was part of a bargain," Neflite said after a moment. Though he'd essentially revived the Negaverse task force and given them another chance at best the Sailor Scouts, Neflite honestly didn't mind throwing Bakura under the bus a bit here. "Bakura, the ancient Thief King used an old Egyptian ritual to revive Queen Beryl after you destroyed her in your final battle," She said.

"What the hell did he have to gain from reviving a force whose power rivaled that of his own?" Serena asked.

"It was actually quite simple. His repayment, his demand for reviving Beryl was that she assist him in destroying the Pharaoh, Atem. Initially, Bakura had been after the Millenium Puzzle to control the Pharaoh's power. When it was destroyed and Atem because his own person, the failure of an enemy went searching for another way to get Atem's energies," Neflite said.

"The Negaverse's work with energy draining for Metalia," Serena realized. Neflite nodded.

"He revived Beryl essentially to use her to his own ends. Information on his grand scheme is on a need-to-know basis, but he wants us to be in the finals of this stupid tournament," she spat. Serena arched an eyebrow.

"Sounds like you guys don't exactly like your new boss,' She noted. Neflite snarled.

"He is no boss of mine, and quite frankly the only reason I'm telling you this is so you have extra reason to beat his ass when the time comes. But for now, we need him to destroy you," Neflite finished with a smirk.

"Hm… well, you'll have to get past me to get your locator cards, so you can just give up on that," Serena said as Neflite drew. Neflite looked at her drawn card and grinned.

"We'll see. I set another monster, another card and pass," She said.

"Alright. Here we go! I summon Alpha, The Magnet Warrior!" Serena said as she drew. Neflite laughed as another metal warrior with magnets on it hit the field (1400/1700).

"What's next? Refrigerator Warrior followed by Child's Drawing?" She taunted. Serena simply smiled and looked at Neflite.

"Nah. What's next is a combination! You see, when all three of these Magnet Warriors are on the field, I can reconfigure them into the ultimate Magnet Warrior. Valkyrion, that is! In attack mode!" She said as the transformation began. Beta's wings broke away while the ball joints that made up Gamma's shoulders met with Alpha's left arm and Beta's right arm.. Gamma's face changed into a more fierce-looking head and locked on to Alpha's torso, which then locked into Beta's right leg and Alpha's left. Beta's wings attached to the back as it floated to the ground (3500/3850).

"What is this, Voltron?" Neflite wondered. Serena laughed out loud.

"Nah. This is Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior! I'll set a card and…" Hm, Serena thought. I could attack her facedown monster, but if she was telling the truth it's probably some other invincible card. Plus, she could use one of her facedown cards as well. "I won't attack. Your turn," She said.

"Very good. But if you won't come to me, I'll bring the fight to you. I Flip Summon Scab Scar-Knight!" An ugly looking monster that looked as if it was hewn from rough rocks came to the field, it's pupil-less white eyes fixated on Valkyrion (0/0). "I'll activate Spirit Barrier, which brings all damage dealt to me by battle to 0 while I have monsters, then attack!" Neflite said. Scab Scar-Knight charged at the metallic mega-warrior, but Serena was ready.

"O…k…" Serena arched an eyebrow as the attack resulted in nothing but a scratch in Valkyrion's armor.

"You really are still clueless to the subtleties of this game, aren't you? No wonder they call you Meatball Head," Neflite smirked.

"Hey! Take that back!" Serena demanded. "And what're you talking about?" She added.

"When Scar-Knight battles, he leaves his mark regardless of the outcome. And yes, he can't be killed in battle. But the cool thing about him is… well, see for yourself," Neflite gestured. Scab Scar-Knight's suddenly turned red, as did the mark on Valkryion. Serena cried out as the hypnotized monster walked to Neflite's field, ready to serve its new master.

"Now that I have the monsters…" Neflite raised a card to the sky. "I sacrifice Spirit Reaper, Valkyrion and Scab Scar-Knight to summon The Wicked Dreadroot!" She yelled. She literally threw Valkyrion back to Serena, who slid it into the Grave and watched as an enormous, demonic creature with spiked armor and curved horns surrounding its green, muscular body flew onto the field (4000/4000).

"That's right, Serena! Meet the face of evil and tremble!" Neflite crowed at the terror on Serena's face. "It's all over for you!"