Chapter 39 - A Feminine Face-Off

"Where are those two already?" Rebecca asked impatiently as her, Duke and Mokuba waited next to the caravan. They were sure that Yami and Seto were finished inside Kaiba Corp, so they didn't know why the men were taking so long.

"There they are!" Mokuba called out, spotting his brother and Yami walking towards them. "We were worried about you two for a second there," he said, running up to Kaiba with his usual bright smile.

"We're fine," Seto said, "and now that we know who we're after, its time to crash their little party."

"Well we better act fast cause Joey ran off to find these Paradius guys," Rebecca pointed out.

Yami looked between the three of them, "Wait, then where's Rose?" he asked, looking around.

"She went after him," Duke answered.

Yami sighed, "Let's just hope she can talk some sense into him then," he said. "But we still need to get there before he does."

"He better not screw this up for me," Kaiba grunted, crossing his arms.

They then heard Tea called out from behidn them, and saw her running towards them, "We've got bigger problems guys," she said, stopping to catch her breath, "Those same monsters we saw in the desert are roaming the city!"

...

Rose skidded to a stop, facing towards the person she had hoped wouldn't be here. Rose had been looking for Joey, but instead, she had found one of her least favourite people.
"Mai," she said with distaste, taking her helmet off. "What do you want?" Although she had met Mai before all of this Oricalcose business, she hadn't known her that well. But what Rose did know, was that Mai meant a lot to Joey, but she turned her back on him and may as well have slapped him in the face at the same time. Rose also wasn't in favour of Mai's endeavour to take out Joey, and she would be willing to do whatever it took to stop that from happening.

"You know what I want," Mai said coldly, "I'm looking for Wheeler, so tell me where he is, because we have some unfinished business."

"If you want Joey," Rose said, getting off of the bike and standing between Mai and the road. "You'll have to go through me first." She stood her ground, narrowing her eyes at the woman.

Mai thought for a moment, before getting off of her bike as well. "Alright kid," she smirked, activating her duel disk, "You're on."

...

After losing Joey and Rose, Tristan had managed to find Yami and Tea, who had split off from the rest of the group.

"Tristan," Tea said in surprise as he approached them, "I thought you were with Joey and Rose."

Tristan huffed, "Yeah well I was, but that was until it turned into a motorbike chase."

"What do you mean?" Yami asked him.

"That creep Valon showed up," Tristan said, "So Joey and Rose chased after him on bikes and I lost them."

"Well we've got to find them before it's too late," Yami said, balling a hand into a fist. "Tristan, do you know where they were heading?"

"No clue," he said with a shake of his head.

Tea let out an exasperated sigh, "Well how do we know where to find them?" she asked.

"Rose told me to look for the Orichalcos symbol," he said, knowing that sooner or later one would definitely show up.

"Well I'm not going to wait for that to happen, let's go," Yami said, before running off in the direction Tristan had come. Him and Tea followed, hoping that they would be able to find Joey and Rose before it was too late. Tristan then silently hoped that Mai wasn't roaming around the city as well, or they'd have more trouble.

...

"Alright," Mai said with a confident grin as she drew her cards, "I'll go first, this duel should be over in no time anyway."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Rose said confidently, looking at her hand. Not a bad start, she thought.

Mai ignored her comment, "To start things off I think I'll summon my Harpie Lady in attack mode!" [ATK 1300/DEF 1400] "And I'll place this face down," she said, smiling as she put the card in her duel disk. "Your move, hun."

Rose narrowed her eyes at the woman, "Alright," she said, drawing her first card. "I'll summon my Ancient Elf in attack mode." [ATK 1450/DEF 1200] She has a card face down, Rose thought, It's probably a trap, but I can't just wait around for her to attack me, I guess I'll just have to find out what it is. "Ancient Elf, attack her Harpie Lady!"

Mai let out a high pitched laugh, "What a rookie mistake. I activate my Arrow Nail magic card! This gives my Harpie an extra 300 attack points."

"Uh oh," Rose said, Well, it was worth a shot.

"Now Harpie Lady, destroy her Elf!" Mai declared, pointing at Rose's monster. Rose's attack had backfired, and her Elf was sent packing.

"Oh well," Rose said nonchalantly, placing the card in her grave yard, "I guess it's back to your turn."

"Like I said kid, this duel will be over in no time," Mai said, drawing from her deck. "Well look what I drew," she said sweetly, holding up the card to show Rose.

"The Seal of Orichalcos!" Rose said, bracing herself. I should have known, she thought.

"That's right hun," Mai smirked, "Your fate is sealed!" She activated the card and Rose looked up as the Seal descended from the sky onto the field, trapping them both inside it's walls.

"Now we're both locked in the Seal," Mai said, sounding angrier than she did before, "and only one of us will escape..."

"And that person is going to be me!" Rose said with determination, "I'm not going to let you hurt Joey," she balled her hand into a fist.

"Oh come on," Mai said with boredom, "Why do you care about that loser so much?" she then turned angry, "he's just a stupid brat who I need to eliminate!"

Rose noted how Mai's mood changed so quickly, probably an added effect of the Seal. "I beg to differ," she said. "That's why I have to win this duel, I'm not going to let you get the chance."

"Oh really now," Mai said with a smirk. "You're duelling to save some worthless dummy."

"He's my friend, Mai," Rose seethed. "And friends look out for each other. Once upon a time I know he was yours as well, but after all you've been through how do you repay him? By trying to take his soul away!" Rose pointed a determined finger at the woman, "So I'm here to stop you!"

Or lose my soul trying.

...

Yami, Tristan and Tea were still searching for Joey and Rose, when they stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh man, Joey!" Tristan said, sounding worried. They all looked up into the sky where a familiar green light was illuminating from, and sure enough, the Seal of Orichalcos was descending from the sky.

"It's the Seal," Yami said with wide eyes, staring upwards. The sky had grown dark since they had left Kaiba Corp, so the large green circle lit up the darkness with his green tinted illumination.

"Just like Rose said," Tea added, turning to look at the two men.

"We all know what that means," Yami said, lowering his eyes as the Seal disappeared behind the tall buildings.

"Yeah, either Joey or Valon is gonna lose their soul," Tristan pointed out with a solum nod of his head.

"Then let's go, Joey needs us!" Tea said, the two men nodded, before they started running ahead, towards where they saw the Seal appear.

Hang in there, Joey, Yami thought as they ran. He just hoped that Rose's support would be enough until they got there.

...

Meanwhile, Rose was nowhere near Joey, and she was completely clueless to the fact that he was in the same situation as her. Trapped inside the Seal of Orichalcos, facing off against another duelist in order to save someone they cared about.

The duel between Rose and Mai was a painfully close one, both of them now had less than 1000 life points left, and this battle had been neck and neck from the beginning.

Rose painfully lifted herself up off the ground with a grunt after an attack from Mai, but she wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. "You may have destroyed my Dark Magician Girl, but I still have my Chaos Command Magician, who has enough attack points to destroy Harpie's pet dragon next turn," Rose said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Then go ahead and try," Mai said with a smirk.

"Very well," Rose drew her card. "This duel is almost done," she said. And she was glad for that, too. Mai's attacks had started to take their toll on her, she was feeling weak and dizzy, and she already had a few grazes on her arms from hitting the hard bitumen a few too many times. But, thanks to her duelling experience she knew she had the strength to overcome the pain she was feeling.

She looked up at Mai, raising her voice to sound strong and confident once more. "Alright, one of us is going to lose in the next few turns, and it sure as hell isn't going to be me," she smirked at the other girl. "I'll start by activating card of sanctity, so we each draw until we have 6 cards."

"Yes, I know how the card works," Mai spat, drawing her cards. An evil grin appeared on her face, "Oh you are going to regret that now after what I've drawn," she laughed.

"Oh no," Rose said, thinking back to the duel she had with Joey. "You didn't draw phoenix or sparrow formation did you?"

Mai just smirked, "Next turn you're done for, honey."

Rose looked at the cards she had drawn, and a grin appeared on her face, "Not if I can help it, I activate Lightforce Sword!" Mai looked shocked as the sword slashed through one of the cards in her hand, eliminating it from the game for the next four turns. "Not Phoenix formation!" she screeched, staring at the card with a look of shock. She turned back to Rose, glaring at her, "No matter, I'll get it back."

"Not soon enough," Rose said with a grin. "Now I'll summon my Dancing Elf in attack mode." [ATK 300/DEF 200].

Mai laughed, "Cute monster you got there, are you not thinking straight from all the butt whooping you've suffered from in this duel?"

"Actually, quite the opposite," Rose said, still sporting a wide grin. "Because now I'm going to sacrifice her to summon Magician's Valkeria!" Rose grinned as her most treasured monster appeared on the field. "And I'll give her a power boost with my Mage Power magic card." Mai seemed awfully confident about me attacking her dragon, Rose thought, so that face down she has must be a trap, and if I know Mai's deck like I think I do...

"Go on and attack if you dare," Mai smirked.

"Oh I will," Rose pulled another card out of her hand, "But first I'll get rid of your trap, with Mystical Space Typhoon!" A great wind blew across the field, revealing Mai's Mirror Wall trap. "I knew it," Rose said with a grin. "Even though I haven't seen you duel too many times, I've heard about your deck, so I was able to predict your face down easily." Mai just glared at her.

Rose used Valkeria and Chaos Command Magician to destroy Harpie's Pet Dragon and one of Mai's Cyber Harpies, so that only one Cyber Harpie was left on Mai's side of the field, she finished her turn and Mai drew her card, before smiling sweetly but deadly.

"Sorry but Harpie's pet dragon just doesn't want to say goodbye just yet," Mai said, before using Monster Reborn to bring him back. "And now I'll activate Elegant Egotist! Which gives me an extra 2 Harpies." Mai now had 4 monsters. No matter how many times I knock her down, she just keeps coming back, Rose thought with annoyance, I only have one more chance to defeat her, and I'll need to draw the right card next turn or I'm done for.

"Now I'll just place one card face down and that will do for this turn," Mai said with a smirk.

Rose narrowed her eyes, none of her monsters are strong enough to withstand an attack, but she left them in attack mode. If I can summon a strong enough monster, I can do enough damage to her life points for me to win the duel. I'm pretty lucky actually, if Mai had summoned a strong enough monster to defeat my Chaos Command Magician, I could have already lost. But seems I haven't yet, I have to take my chance now, I need to draw the right card, and now! Rose drew, and she didn't even need to look at the card to know what she had drawn.

"Yes!" She jumped up and down in excitement, before regaining her composure. "Sorry Mai, but this duel is over!" Rose grinned, "Prepare to meet the ultimate spell caster! By sacrificing my two magicians I can now summon the Sorcerer of Dark Magic!" [ATK 3200/DEF 2800] Rose was beaming from ear to ear as the incredible magician appeared on the field, brandishing his staff with a smug smirk on his face.

Mai stepped back in horror, her eyes wide as she stared at the monster, "The sorcerer of what?!"

"You heard me," Rose smirked triumphantly. "One attack from him and this duel will be over! And your face down card is useless, because he can negate the activation of all trap cards!" Rose was filled with energy as the adrenaline she felt from duelling coursed through her, and her eyes were gleaming with the shine of victory. "Now my sorcerer, end this duel!" Rose announced, and her monster launched it's attack on Mai's Harpie.

Mai suddenly smirked, "Sorry hun, but my face down wasn't a trap, and it's going to be the face of your demise!" she laughed.

"Huh?" Rose said, dropping her arm that she had pointed at Mai's monster.

"I activate Harpie lady Sparrow formation!" Mai announced, a large grin plastered on her face.

"What?!" Rose stepped back, shock clear on her face, "But-I used my Lightforce Sword to get rid of that card!" she protested.

"Wrong! You did that to Phoenix formation, and I happened to draw both at the same time, so now my Harpie's can join forces and destroy up to four of your monsters!" Mai's smirk didn't falter as her eyes gleamed with a tinge of crimson, and it made Rose's skin crawl.

"No!" Rose panicked, as she tried to think of how she could stop the attack. That means my Sorcerers attack points will be taken from my life points and I'll lose the duel! I have to think fast or I'll be the one who needs saving!

I don't know why, but I really like this part in the story (from a writers perspective anyway) because we have the whole gang completely split up, and nobody knows where anybody else is! It's like a wild goose chase, which is why I was looking forward to writing these few chapters :D

So we have Joey pursuing Valon, who by this point is in the middle of dueling him with the Armour deck, in order to save Mai.

Then we have Rose, in the middle of dueling Mai in order to save Joey.

Then there's Yami, Tea and Tristan who are trying to find Joey and Rose, unaware that they have been split up, thinking that Rose is on the sidelines cheering for Joey.

At the same time, Seto and Mokuba are on their own mission, and then there's also Rebecca, Duke and Professor Hawkins waiting back at the caravan for everyone to return. But the thing is, who's going to return?

Please let me know what you think!

PharaohsThrone :)