Disclaimer: see chapter one
Chapter 7: To the Kame Game Shop: Joey vs. Keiko
Kari opened her eyes and moaned, as she eyed the window that looked like a mountain passing by as the train that she was in was moving. Kari looked down to see that Yusuke was sleeping on her right shoulder, while Keiko was sleeping on her chest and smiled warmly. Kari then kissed both Yusuke and Keiko's foreheads. Just then the train blew its horn, 'The incoming stop is Domino City, I repeat the next stop is Domino City.' The speaker of the train said
"Hey guys, wake up we're here," Kari said, nudging the two younger teens up from their slumber
"What's goin' on?" Yusuke asked, rubbing his eyes
"We're at Domino, now, that's what!" Kari said
A moment later, the teens got their things and left the train. The three teens walked out of the station and in the streets of Domino. Later they arrived at a small shop that read 'Kame Game Shop'
"Wow, the place hasn't changed since, we last been here," Yusuke said
"Yeah, no kidding," Kari added
Yusuke opened the door, as a juggle noise occurred and he and the two brunettes walked in, "Hey Grandpa!" Yusuke called out, "We're here!"
Just then, a short, stocky, elderly man in overalls, and white shirt and a black headband had come out of the back and looked at the three teens, "Yusuke! Hikari! Keiko, we were expecting you three!" he called out, with joy, "How are you youngsters been doing!"
"We've been great, Mr. Muto!" Keiko replied
"Yusuke, over here, is trying out for Duel Academy and needs training for the exams," Kari said
"Is that a fact?" Grandpa said, "Well then, I'm sure that Yugi and I would be available to help you, Yusuke."
"Thanks Gramps," Yusuke said, "Is Yugi around?"
"He should be here, right about now," Grandpa said, "I had him go to the store to buy a few things with Joey Wheeler not to long ago."
Just then the door opened in came two young men, one had blonde hair and brown eyes and the other had multicolored hair with purple eyes, "Yugi! Joey!" Yusuke called out
The two noticed the youngsters, "Yusuke! Kari! Keiko!" Joey greeted, with a smile, "Haven't seen you three for a while!"
"How've you guys been?" Yugi asked
"We've been great, Yugi," Kari said, "So how are the others?"
"Well Bakura, Duke and Serenity are all outta town, expect fer Mai, Tea, Tristan, Kaiba and Mokuba," Joey replied
"That's great!"
"The reason why I'm here is for training to try out for Duel Academy," Yusuke said
"Wait a sec," Joey started, "Isn't dat Kaiba's school?"
"That's right," Keiko said
"Why a sudden interest in dueling, Yusuke?" Yugi asked
Yusuke haven't thought about why he had an interest in dueling, but one thing for sure is that he didn't want to tell Yugi or Joey about his life as a spirit detective or he's a Ma-zoku, until one thing came to his mind, "Well, to keep the King of Games title in family, of course," Yusuke said, with a sheepish grin, "With the Heart of the Card philosophy."
"Well, let's see your deck, first," Yugi said, as Yusuke got from his deck holder by his side and gave it to his cousin. Yugi looked though Yusuke's deck and couldn't believe what he saw, "No one can win with these!" Yugi exclaimed
"What do ya mean?" Yusuke asked, "Those are the most powerful monsters, I've ever gotten!"
"That's the problem, Yusuke," Yugi said, "There's so many powerful cards here that you can't summon any without making a sacrifice, because there aren't enough weaker monsters, plus there aren't enough spell or trap cards in this deck."
"And without enough spell or trap cards, your monsters will get creamed everytime again and again," Keiko said
"Have ya dueled anyone wit' dis deck and won?" Joey asked
"Yeah, Kuwabara, but anyone could beat him," Yusuke said, then started to get what his cousin and friends were saying and found out why he's so horrible in duel monsters.
"But, don't worry, Yusuke," Kari said, "We'll help you construct your deck, well, for the dueling part of the exam."
"Yeah, probably the written part might not be so bad," Yusuke said
"Yeah, but first," Kari got into her bag and dug in it
"Hey Kari, what are you looking for?" Keiko asked
Kari pulled out some containers of food, "I made these this morning and I want to know what your opinions are," she said, which a gleeful expression
Just then, Yugi, Grandpa, Joey and Keiko's faces turned green with disgust, "Yeah, it's actually great!" Yusuke said, knowing how his grandfather, cousin and friends are feeling
"You ate some!" Keiko asked, looking at Yusuke weirdly
"Yeah!"
Later Yusuke's deck was modified and had a good balance of monsters, spell and trap cards.
"Hey Joey, how about a duel?" Keiko asked, holding up her duel disk
"Sure!" Joey replied
The two duelists faced each other outside the store, while Grandpa, Yugi, Yusuke and Kari were watching in the sidelines
"Ya ready!" Joey asked, with determination, "Just because, I'm one of da best duelists in the world don't mean I'll go easy on ya!"
"Yeah, I'm ready," Keiko said, "As Yugi would put it, 'It's time to duel!'." (JLP: 8000/KLP: 8000), "Boku no time!" Keiko pulls a card from her deck, "I'll activate the spell card, Meteor of Destruction!" She placed the card in the spell/trap slot, "To inflict 1000 points of damage to your life points!" Just then a flaming meteor had came hurling at Joey and the blonde braced himself for the meteor as it hit him and screamed as his life points decreased (JLP: 8000)-(JLP: 7000)
"Wow, that's gotta hurt," Yusuke said
"Next, I'll summon onto the field, Blazing Inpachi in attack mode!" a blazing tree monster with the number 18 on his chest appears on the field (ATK: 1850/DEF: 0), "Then I'll end my turn with four face-downs!" Four large cards had materialized behind Blazing Inpachi
Joey stumbles on his feet, "Ore no time, draw!" Joey draws his first card, "I'm gonna summon Alligator Sword in defense mode and end wit' place two face-downs!" A reptilian warrior appeared on the field, resting on his knees (ATK: 1200/DEF: 1500), and two large cards materialized behind it.
"Boku no time, draw!" Keiko declared, pulling a card from her deck, "Molten Zombie, rise!" From the ground, fire and lava appears, rising up to take form of a zombie made of lava (ATK: 1600/DEF: 400) standing next to Blazing Inpachi, "Now Molten Zombie, make quick work of Alligator Sword with Molt Charge!" the lava monster charges towards Alligator Sword and punches it, which destroys it and Joey's Life Points didn't affect considering that the croc was put in defense mode, "Now Blazing Inpachi attack Joey's Life Points directly, Hurl Comet!" the flame monster charges towards Joey.
Joey chuckled and Keiko noticed it, "Danks for dat, you allowed me to play this trap, go Fairy Box!"
"Again with the luck!" Keiko yelled, in annoyance
"I guess this answers your question if Joey still replies on luck to win his duels." Yusuke said
"It's not luck, it's skill!" Joey retorted, "All I have to do is to flip one coin and if I call it right then my damage hits zero!" Joey pulled a quarter from his pocket. "I call heads!" He flipped the coin high into the air. Everyone watched nervously as the coin spun around and around and dropped down into Joey's palm. He immediately flipped his hand over and slapped it onto the top of his other hand. The blonde then took his hand off and looked at it, "It's Heads, meaning I don't loose any life points!"
Keiko growled in annoyance, "All right, then I have nothing else to do but to end my turn!"
"Ore no time, draw!" Joey drew his card and smiled, "Danks to Fairy Box's effect, I cough up 500 of my life points to keep it on the field!" (JLP: 7000)-(JLP: 6500) "I hope dat ya ready, Keiko, 'cause now I play the spell card, Foolish Burial!" Joey said, "Dis spell card allows me to take any monster from my deck and put it in your graveyard, and the monster I choose is Gilford the Lightning."
"Why would you want to put your monster in my graveyard?" Keiko asked
"'Cause I can play Monster Reborn and summon Gilford to the field." Joey slapped the card onto his Duel Disk and a mighty warrior stepped onto the field. His white armor gleamed and his red cape flapped in the wind. There was a sense of dazzling power about the monster, and his sword crackled as he drew it and prepared for battle (ATK: 2800/DEF: 1400).
Keiko froze at the site of Gilford and chuckled, "Go Face-Down cards!" she pressed the button on her duel disk and two cards had stood up, "First up is my Ring of Destruction trap card!" A metal ring with grenades fastened to it, flew away from its virtual card and was attached to Gilford's neck, "Whenever Ring of Destruction is activated, it destroys one monster on the field and both players take damage equal to the attack of the monster that was destroyed by this effect. This brings my other card, Ring of Defense, into effect, now it can block any damage to my life points!"
Then Keiko's auto-kill ring destroys Gilford and Joey shields himself from the blast (JLP: 6500)-(JLP: 3700)
"Wow Keiko hasn't lost one point, since the duel started!" Yugi exclaimed
"Yeah, maybe Joey's a bit rusty," Yusuke added
"Not bad, Keiko," Joey commended; "Now I'll summon Rocket Warrior in attack mode!" a green rocket with arms and legs appeared (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1300), "Rocket Warrior activate Invincible Mode!" Joey's rocket monster transforms into a rocket and was hurled towards Blazing Inpachi and hits it hard in the chest (ATK: 1850/DEF: 0)-(ATK: 1350/DEF: 0), "Yeah! Now your Inpachi is weakea den my Rocket Warrior!"
Keiko grimaced at this, "Now, Rocket Warrior! Final Attack!" Joey declared as his monster was back in standard mode and raised his sword to slice and dice the flaming wooden monster, but only to hit sword to a some kind of mirror, "What de……." Joey was stunned about what happened, "What's going on?"
"I've activated my Mirror Wall trap card, meaning that the attack points of your Rocket Warrior are cut in half making him weaker than my Inpachi!" Keiko explained (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1300)-(ATK: 750/DEF: 1300)
"I think that Keiko might actually beat Joey this time," Yusuke said
"That may be the case, Yusuke, but I won't count Joey out just yet," Yugi said
Joey grimaced at this, 'Damn it,' he thought, 'Mai just had to give dat card to Keiko.' "For my last move," the blonde declared, "I'll play the spell card, Mirage of Nightmare. This little number let's me draw cards during your standby phases, so that I have four cards in my hand."
"Yeah, but you have to discard the number of cards that you drew because of this effect in your standby phases," Keiko said, "Boku no time, draw!" the brunette drew her next card and Joey draws four cards from his hand and smiled as he knew that this duel will turn around, "Thanks to Mirror Wall's effect, I have to pay 2000 of my life points to keep it on the field (KLP: 8000)-(KLP: 6000) and my Blazing Inpachi gets back 500 attack points from your Rocket Warrior's effect, now I'll summon Tenkabito Shien in attack mode!" a warrior dressed in a Chinese general uniform, holding a long katana and riding on a black horse appears next to Molten Zombie (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1000), "Now Tenkabito, attack Rocket Warrior with Silent Slash!" the Chinese general got his horse to charge towards Rocket Warrior.
"Hold it!" Joey declared, "You remembea Fairy Box, right?"
"Yeah, I know, but my monster has a special effect of his own, see, it is unaffected by trap cards!"
"What!"
The Chinese general slashes Rocket Warrior into four pieces (JLP: 3700)-(JLP: 2950), "Now Blazing Inpachi and Molten Zombie, finish him off!"
"I know for a fact that both of those monster are affected by my Fairy Box, so I'll flip this coin and I'll call tails!" He flipped the coin high into the air.
"Gees again with the luck," Keiko watched nervously as the coin spun around and around and dropped down into Joey's palm, immediately flipped his hand over and slapped it onto the top of his other hand. The blonde then took his hand off and looked at it, "It's tails!"
"Okay then, I'll choose my Inpachi to attack you, Hurl Comet!" Inpachi charges towards Joey. The blonde grins and pressed a button on his duel disk, "I activate the trap card, Graverobber! Now for the cost of 2000 life points, I get to steal one spell card from your graveyard and use it against ya!" (JLP: 2950)-(JLP: 950)
A purple gremlin in green clothing with digging equipment on its back appeared with a card in its hands. 'What card did he grab?' Keiko thought in wonder. With a cackle, the gremlin turned the card around to unveil…Ring of Defense.
"Oh no! Now he'll block the damage!" Keiko watched as her monster was being pushed back towards her side of the field thanks to her own spell card, "I'll end my turn with a face-down!"
"Ore no time, draw!" Joey said, drawing a card from his deck (JLP: 950)-(JLP: 450)
"Hey Joey, don't forget about your spell card there," Keiko said, pointing at Mirage of Nightmare, which was on Joey's side, "You have to discard your entire hand."
"I don't dink that gonna happen, Kei," Joey said, with a smug look on his face, "Now, I'll activate the spell card, Emergency Provisions to sacrifice my spell card, along with Fairy Box and gain 1000 life points in the process for each!" (JLP: 450)-(JLP: 2450), "Now, I'm gonna summon onto the field Red Eyes Black Chick in attack mode!" a red dinosaur egg appears on the field and hatched out a baby black dragon with red eyes (ATK: 800/DEF: 500)
Keiko sweat dropped at this, "Uh! Joey, that monster is weak compared to my monsters," she told him
"I know dat. This monster has a handy special ability, Keiko."
"What kind of a special ability?"
"Simple, I'll sacrifice my baby dragon to summon his daddy the Red Eyes Black Dragon!" the baby growled and grown to a big black dragon, roaring, with its crimson eyes glaring at the fire monsters (ATK: 2400/DEF: 2000).
"No way!" Keiko exclaimed as the site of the black dragon was glaring at her monsters
"I'm not done yet," Joey said, "Next, I'll activate the spell card, Inferno Fire Blast!"
"Okay, what does it do?"
"What it does is, when I have a Red Eyes Black Dragon on the field, Red Eyes gets to attack you directly!"
"WHAT!"
"No way!" Kari exclaimed
"This is gonna hurt!" Yusuke added
Joey slid the spell card in the slot and Red Eyes blasts its attack at Keiko, "I'll activate a trap, go Magic Jammer!" the brunette announced
"What!" Joey exclaims in surprise
"Now, by discarding one card to the grave," Keiko puts a card in the graveyard slot, "I can negate the effect of your spell card!" Red Eyes's attack withered away.
Joey grimaced, "I'll place this face-down and end!"
"Boku no time, draw!" Keiko drew her card, "Thanks to Mirror Wall, I have to pay 2000 life points (KLP: 6000)-(KLP: 4000) and I'll activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards from my deck," The brunette draws two cards, "Then, I'll play Molten Destruction!" Keiko puts the card onto the field slot and then the scene change to a surface of active volcanoes to Joey's surprise, "Now my monsters get an attack power bonus of 500 points and detracts 400 from their defense points!" Just then, all of Keiko's monsters started glowing. Tenkabito Shien (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1000)-(ATK: 2000/DEF: 600), Molten Zombie (ATK: 1600/DEF: 400)-(ATK: 2100/DEF: 0) and Blazing Inpachi (ATK: 1850/DEF: 0)-(ATK: 2250/DEF: 0)
"Hate to tell ya dis, but your monsters are all still weaker dan my dragon," Joey said, as his Red Eyes roared with agreement
"I know that, that's because I'll summon onto the field Hand of Nephthyts in attack mode!" an Egyptian lady with flame wings appears next to Tenkabito Shien (ATK: 600/DEF: 600)
"Okay Keiko, that monster is even weaker than your monsters," Joey said, while clueless
"Yeah, but my monster's special ability is like your Red Eyes Black Chick."
Yugi realized what Keiko was going to do, "Joey, that monster is the key element of summoning Sacred Phoenix of Nephthyts!"
"That's right," Keiko said, "Now, by sacrifice both Hand of Nephthyts and Molten Zombie to summon onto the field, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthyts!"
"Hold on! You already normal summoned dis turn!" Joey exclaimed in outrage
"This isn't a normal summon, Joey," Keiko replied, "It's a special summon!"
Both Hand of Nephthyts and Molten Zombie glowed and disappeared and to take their places a beautiful Egyptian phoenix. The phoenix roared as it stretched its fiery wings (ATK: 2300/DEF: 1600), "I know that my phoenix may be 100 points weaker than your dragon, but thanks to Molten Destruction it gains 500 attack points!" Keiko said (ATK: 2300/DEF: 1600)-(ATK: 2800/DEF: 1200), "Now Phoenix, attack Red Eyes with Burst Flames of Destruction!" the phoenix blasts stream of fire at Red Eyes
"I don't dink so!" Joey exclaimed, "Go Skull Dice!" A little gremlin appeared from Joey's Trap card.
"Again with the luck!" Keiko exclaims with outrage and slaps her forehead
"It's not luck, it's skill! Now your monster is going to get weaker depending the number of the roll!" the gremlin appeared and threw its red die onto the field. The die rolled along the ground until it slowed to a stop, revealing five dots on its top face(ATK: 2800/DEF: 1200)-(ATK: 466/DEF: 1200), "Oh yeah!" Joey exclaimed with happiness, "Your phoenix has now 466 attack points! Red Eyes, ole buddy it's time for a counterattack! Inferno Fire Blast!" Red Eyes blasts its attack at Keiko's phoenix.
"It looks like Keiko's monster is going to be destroyed at the first time it's summoned!" Kari exclaims
Red Eyes's attack approached the Sacred Phoenix, withering in the blast. Smoke erupted when the two met, temporarily clouding the arena.
"Oh yeah! That's what I'm……." Joey's celebration was cut short when a stream of fire was coming towards him and hits the blonde hard as he shields himself with his duel disk (JLP: 2450/KLP: 4000)-(JLP: 1950/KLP: 3534)
Joey winced and realized something, "What's goin' on? How did I lose 500 life points?" he asked
As the smoke gradually drifted away, shapes could be seen. One of them was Keiko, but standing next to her was a trap card with fire. Joey could recognize the card, "It's Backfire!"
"That's right," Keiko said, with a smirk, "When you destroyed my fire monster, you activated this trap card, meaning as long as it stays on the field, Joey, you'll take 500 points of damage for each of my fire monsters that are destroyed."
Joey grimaced at this.
"I'll switch both of my monsters to defense mode and end my turn, now."
"Ore no time, draw!" Joey pulls out a card from his deck, "First of, I'll play two copies of the spell card, Dragon Nails to increase the attack of my Red Eyes by 600 points!" Just then, Red Eyes's claws were trans-metaled and the black dragon roared (ATK: 2400/DEF: 2000)-(ATK: 3600/DEF: 2000)
"Aren't you forgetting something, Wheeler?" Keiko asked, "My Mirror Wall is still in effect meaning, when you attack your Red Eyes loses half its attack points!"
"Yeah I know that," Joey said, "That's because I'm gonna activating the spell card, Remove Trap, to destroy it!" Keiko's mirror wall was shattered, the second after Joey slid his spell card in the slot. The brunette grimaced at the thought of her trap card getting destroyed, "Don't think that I'm not done destroying more traps, yet, 'cause now, I'm going to activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy that Backfire trap card!" Just then, a whirlwind appeared and shredded the Backfire trap card leaving its owner grimacing, "Now Red Eyes, attack Inferno Fire Blast!" Red Eyes fires its attack towards Blazing Inpachi, destroying it and Keiko shields herself from the Red Eyes's attack.
"Boku no time, draw!" Keiko declared as she drew a card, "I'll summon Fox Fire in defensive mode and end my turn!" a fox with a flame at the tip of its tail appeared sitting on its hide (ATK: 300/DEF: 200)
"Ore no time, draw!" Joey pulled a card from his deck and grinned, "Well Keiko, you almost had me there, a few times but it's time to end this duel!" Joey announced, "I play the spell card Reinforcements of the Army, which allows me to bring a warrior monster from my deck and place it in my hand." He pulled his deck from his Duel Disk and searched through it, "I'll choose Marauding Captain and summon it to the field!" a blonde soldier, with medieval armor appears on the field (ATK: 1200/DEF: 400), "I'm not done, yet, when this monster is summoned I get to summon another warrior type monster and I'll summon another Marauding Captain!" another captain appears on the field (ATK: 1200/DEF: 400), "Next, I'll activate Lightning Blade to increase my warrior's strength by 800 points!" the captain in the middle gains an electric blade (ATK: 1200/DEF: 400)-(ATK: 2000/DEF: 400)
'Oh no!' Keiko thought in horror
"Now then, Marauding Captains charge!" Joey commanded as both captains charge towards the fire monsters and sled them, leaving Keiko wide open for Red Eyes's attack, "Red Eyes Inferno Fire Blast!" The Red Eyes shoots its attack at Keiko, hitting the brown haired duelist hard. The brunette screams as her life points hit zero and falls on her knees, as the fireball disappears.
Just then, applauses of the duel occurred in the sidelines, "That was the best duel, I've ever witnessed!" Grandpa commented
"I agree, Gramps!" Yusuke added
"The same goes for us"
Just then, two young ladies along with a young man with brown hair styled to one spike approached the gang, "Hey Mai! Tea! Tristan!" Yusuke greeted
"Hey Yusuke!" Tristan went over and greeted the black haired teen a noogies on the head. Yusuke actually enjoyed the noogie as he griped Tristan's arm that was wrapped around his neck.
Mai walked away to Keiko, who was on her knees, "You know, honey," she pulled the brunette off her knees and on her feet, "A strong duelist doesn't get on his or her knees after being defeated in a duel." She finished winking at Keiko
Keiko smiled at the blonde, "Right!" she replied, in a firm voice
"Whoa!" Yusuke exclaimed, seeing Tea kissing his cousin, Yugi, "Since when did both Yugi and Tea, become an item!"
"Since last week," Joey answered, "Tea blabbed first den Yuge!"
Yugi lifted his lips from Tea's, "It was the best thing that ever happened," he said, smirking at his younger cousin.
"Oh is that so," Yusuke said, "I knew that Tea would be the first, because she made it painfully obvious."
"Oh how true!" Joey added
Joey's Cards Used
Alligator Sword (M), Dragon Nails(S), Emergency Provisions(S), Fairy Box (T), Foolish Burial (S), Gilford the Lightning (M), Graverobber (T), Inferno Fire Blast (S), Marauding Captain (M), Mirage of Nightmare (S), Monster Reborn (S), Mystical Space Typhoon (S), Red Eyes Black Chick (M), Red Eyes Black Dragon (M), Reinforcements of the Army (S), Remove Trap (S), Rocket Warrior (M)
Keiko's Cards Used
Backfire (T), Blazing Inpachi (M), Hand of Nephthyts(M), Magic Jammer (T), Meteor of Destruction (S), Mirror Wall (T), Molten Destruction (S), Molten Zombie (M), Ring of Defense (S), Ring of Destruction (T), Sacred Phoenix of Nephthyts (M), Tenkabito Shien (M)