The Young Master of the Dragonmaids

by The Imperator 2 you

Joseph Takara is a young man who has come into the ownership of the Dragonmaid cards, a rare set of cards that seem to only appear to a single duelist and whom only 'they' call master. With dreams of becoming a professional duelist, he attends Duel Academy, and with the help of his family of girls, and the help of the rare and beautiful Dragonmaids, his dream might come true.

12. Chapter 11

"My young master, if it were within my power, I would never let any misfortune or despair fall upon your shoulders. But there are some battles that you must have, some trials you must endure, and some hurdles that must be overcome before you are ready. I believe that you will be able to endure it, I truly believe that you will overcome it, and it is my faith in you that lets me know you will recover when the time comes."

"You have surpassed my expectations so far, and all that I have wished for has come true… do not let this break you…"

= Chapter 11 Prologue=

"And your certain of this?" He asked as he finished reading the full report.

"Yes sir, we completed a thorough investigation and can confirm that he is who we think he is." Rolan said. "He recently participated in Duel Academy's annual school duel and won."

"Hmmpf, that's no surprise, any student who goes to my academy should have no difficulty winning against any other academy." Seto declared as he continued to read. "Have you confirmed the cards he used were indeed the ones I asked about?"

"Yes sir, as requested we have indeed confirmed that 'all' of the cards were played in that duel."

He narrowed his eyes as he read the report and all of the data his people have gathered on this student, this 'Joseph Takara' as he was called. He was a Slifer Red student who barely arrived before the cutoff period to take an entrance exam, entered at the bottom of the student body with over a dozen other students and joined the ranks of the lowest dorm. However, after a slow but promising start, Joseph's skills steadily improved and he quickly grew in prominence among the students in both skill and popularity. During the promotional exams he was pitted against an Obelisk Blue student named 'Chazz Princeton' where he won in front of the entire school and was offered an immediate promotion to Ra Yellow, a promotion he turned down in favor of staying in Slifer, 'for now'. After that he was pitted against a Ra Yellow student, one Bastion Misawa, to determine who would represent the academy in the duel against North Academy.

Joseph won narrowly by use of a card he had never played until that day, surprising his opponent and claiming victory. After that there was nothing else special to report besides his duel against North Academy where he won using a card given to him by…

"Heh, he would give him 'that' card." Seto Kaiba declared as he flipped the page.

The rest of the report was just the entire list of his deck that he'd used based on what was recorded in data uploaded to the Kaiba Corp network from the duel disk he'd been using.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the very first card on the list, [House Dragonmaid].

"And you've confirmed his connection to the Dragtech Corporation?"

"Yes sir, we performed an internal investigation and confirmed it, he is indeed the CEO's son."

"Hmmmpf…" He scowled as he put the report away.

"How much longer until we reach Duel Academy Island?" He asked.

"About ten more minutes sir." Rolan said.

"I'll find out the truth soon enough…" He declared as he signaled Rolan to leave him.

He looked out the window of his private helicopter and scowled. The ocean outside did little to raise his spirits or improve his mood, it had been a while since he had gone overseas, and this excursion was not helping improve his attitude about the situation.

"I don't care what he thinks he's up to, nobody threatens the Kaiba Corporation no matter how lightly and gets away with it!" He muttered to himself as he saw the academy island approaching in the distance. "I'll get to the bottom of this whole thing sooner or later, one way or another, I'll get my answers out of you Joseph Takara!"

= Chapter 11, Joseph vs Seto Kaiba =

= Breaking the Spirit, Blue Eyes White Dragon Rise =

It was a beautiful Saturday morning at Duel Academy, the first day of a nice four day long break from the monotony of schoolwork, classes, boring lectures and the drone of teachers giving out long and dull speeches about whatever it was students were being forced to endure, whether they thought it was important or not. A few students were taking time to enjoy the day by hanging out at local hotspots such as down by the pier, around the lakes or going off on whatever little adventures they wanted to have while exploring the academy grounds. Some students were having duels outside the main building, others having traditional playmat duels in the library to enjoy the quiet or more commonly, waiting outside of the café to just relax and enjoy the morning, as well as have some free 'courtesy tea and cakes' that the café offered Saturday morning.

Off in the Obelisk Blue dorms some of the girls were lounging in their private pool wearing swimsuits, chatting about 'girl stuff' like cute guys, dueling, outfits, the latest in glamor and glitz and whatever else girls their age talked about. At the Boy's dorm they were all talking about 'guy stuff', cute girls, dueling, watching competitive duels and making bets.

At the Slifer Dorm however, Joseph Takara was 'snoring' as he was enjoying his morning off of schoolwork, classwork, and especially serious studying and dueling. Since the school duel he's gone back to 'boring old schoolwork', and he was both loving it and hating it. Doctor Crowler and all of his other teachers were having him catch up with the other students on lessons and homework that he'd missed since he had to prepare for the school duel, and as such he'd had to rush through a lot of it to finally catch up. Tonight however, he was taking the morning off to 'snore' and sleep in, enjoying the morning off how he wanted to.

'Masteeeeer time to get uuuup~!' Tinkech snickered as she snuggled into his chest.

'Get up master, it's a beautiful morning outside!' Nudyarl laughed as she floated above his head.

"Idunwannaaaa…" He moaned tiredly.

'As much as I love spending more morning time with master, this is such a beautiful day to waste…' Lorpar said now as she floated next to them.

'This is his first day he's had off to himself in like two months, I say we let him sleep in and rest!' Ernus said warmly. 'After all, a healthy sleep schedule is important, and goodness knows after the last few weeks master needs to get his back on track!'

"Gladyouallagree… *snoooore*…" Joseph snored as he rolled over and fell asleep again.

All for of his Dragonmaids giggled quietly as they chose to just sidle into place, lying down on their preferred spots to enjoy more 'cuddle time' with Joseph. True they would have enjoyed the day just as much if he were out and about, but hey, how they all choose to spend their morning is their business, it's not required by law that they get up and run around like all the other students. Besides, they loved spending time with him no matter what they were doing, spending the morning with him asleep in bed was just as enjoyable as chatting it up with him outside in the sun.

Ever since the school duel, they'd needed this break from the serious studying, the grind of doing homework, schoolwork and duels that determined his grade for the quarter. Speaking of his quarterly grades, Joseph had done 'amazing' in terms of a grade average. He wasn't failing any of his classes, buuuut he was still shy in some areas compared to others. On average he was holding a solid B- across the board, with the occasional C or C+ to mar it, most notably in 'physical education'. He wasn't the most physical student, so sue him.

The Dragonmaids however kept poking fun at him, saying how they should give him a reward if he averages an A during his next quarterly grade report. A promise matched by the café staff, his adopted sisters teased and said that if he ended the year with a solid A+ average they'd wear swimsuits during summer for a week as part of their uniform.

He didn't have anything to say about that, so he just laughed and said all the 'guys' would definitely help him get that done.

Sheou however, stopped that instantly with a glare, a slap from her smacking stick, and a crude but very menacing, "A maid must 'never' wear such skimpy outfits while serving a master, regardless of the time of year!" resulting in the girls all shuddering in fear as her menacing draconic aura just shoved them into a tiny corner.

Their only response was a very squeaky, "Y-y-y-ye-es… m-m-mma-am…"

So now Joseph was spending his first free morning to himself in bed and simply 'enjoying' the peace and quiet that came with not having classes that day, not having to do his homework immediately, not having to worry about a test or some important duel for the first time in over a month. His Dragonmaid friends seemed happy with that, as they all smiled contently and cuddled as close to Joseph as they could.

Nudyarl was sighing happily as she draped herself over his neck, purring because that was her personal favorite spot. Lorpar's tail flickered, and her wings tucked themselves in as she lay on her back alongside Joseph's right side. Tinkech's tail flopped over the side of the bed to hang over while she snuggled closer on Joseph's left. Ernus, despite choosing to rest herself near his knees, was more than happy to be resting her cheek over his legs and allowing her curled up form to rest so her tail would drape over the bed's side like Tinkech's.

This was surely paradise for them, just quiet sleep with their master and enjoying their time without having to worry about any problems they may be having.

"HOW MANY ROACHES DOES THIS PLACE HAVE!?" A loud voice yelled, ruining the peace and quiet of the Slifer Dorm.

"Ughhh Chazz…" Joseph groaned as he was pulled from his beautiful dream.

It was such a beautiful dream too, he felt like he was soaring through the skies above a wonderful and vast landscape below and before him, filled with mountains and valleys that were topped with fields of green and overlooking a sparkling blue river below. It just looked so wonderful that he wished it had lasted a little longer.

'Why did he get sent to Slifer again?' Tinkech complained as Joseph slowly got up, no longer able to sleep as they could hear Chazz screaming again.

"I'VE PLUGGED EVERY CRACK AND HOLE IN THIS ROOM, HOW DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN HERE!?"

'Cause he's technically a transfer student, and all transfers get sent to Slifer…' Lorpar growled.

'Is it too late to accept that Ra Yellow promotion?' Nudyarl asked.

'This place was so much quieter when Chazz wasn't in Slifer Red.' Ernus moaned bitterly.

As Joseph got up and changed into his school uniform, he and his dragon spirit friends could hear Chazz still complaining and yelling 'nine' rooms down.

"THE CHAZZ SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LIVE IN THESE CONDITIONS! I USED TO BE IN OBELISK BLUE! I STILL HAVE LIVING STANDARDS!"

"The Chazz needs to be quiet and let others sleep in…" He muttered as he got up and walked out.

He took a deep breath as he smelled the fresh air, just as Sheou walked up the stairs with a surprised look on her face, but she quickly smiled and offered him a tray with a cup of tea and cupcakes on it. "I'm sorry Young Master, I didn't know you were getting up, I thought you intended to sleep in today?" She asked him warmly. "I just made these thinking you might like a snack if you woke up in a while."

"I thought I was going to sleep in as well, but Chazz woke me up." He complained.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Young Master, would you like me to prepare something herbal to help you get back to sleep?"

"No, it's okay, I think it's better if I get up now."

Down the walkway a door slammed open, and he turned to see 'The Chazz' snarling and growling to himself as he carried a broomstick, wore a hairnet, and a cleaning outfit instead of his usual attire. "Gyaaaah I hate this place, why does this dorm have so many roaches!?"

"Because you keep on snacking and don't close the window at night with the screen."

"Well how ELSE am I to keep my room cool at night, do you know how hot it gets in my room!?" Chazz complained to him. "There's no room for my air conditioner in here, and the frequent power outages don't help either!"

"That's cause you used all the outlets for your bed cooler, your personal computer, your tv, and your everything else…" He continued. "You blow out all of the fuses at Slifer Red when you plug everything in at once in your room 'alone' Chazz… we keep telling you this isn't Obelisk Blue, each room has to limit what they can do at any time or else…"

'We're lucky we 'get' a cool breeze in our room at night, let alone air conditioning…' Nudyarl griped.

'Living by the ocean has its ups and downs…' Tinkech agreed.

'All the flies zooming around are annoying…' Ernus said.

'Not to mention the mosquitos, annoying buzzards." Lorpar continued.

"The Chazz may be a Slifer Red but that doesn't mean he doesn't have living standards; this place needs to adapt to 'me' not the other way around!"

He sighed with his draconic friends; some things never change. He and Joseph may have made up, but he still acted like he was the best around, and he wanted everyone to treat him like he was the king.

'Oh, come on boss, why you gatta be like this.'

Behind Chazz Ojama Yellow floated out and smiled at him.

"Grrr why don't you make like a tree and 'leave'!" Chazz growled at him.

'This place aint too bad, it feels like our old place back at North Academy, only without the air conditioning and the room space… but the neighbors are way cute here. Hi ladies~!'

All four of his dragonmaids snarled and sent a blast of 'spirit flame' at Ojama Yellow, each with matching colors to the dragonmaid who sent it. Ojama Yellow screamed as he was incinerated in the multicolored flame barrage, and when it ended, he coughed out smoke from his mouth looking charred black, with only his eyes and red undies to distinguish his comical look. Not wanting to be hit again he slinked behind Chazz and hid out of sight.

'Call us 'cute' again and the next time we'll leave you a smoldering pile of ashes!' Tinkech snarled as she huffed and disappeared.

'The nerve!' Lorpar agreed as she too vanished.

'Disgusting blob…' Ernus growled as she left.

'Only 'master' gets to call 'us' cute to our faces!' Nudyarl shouted as she vanished.

"Heh, at least 'someone' can make him go away." Chazz muttered under his breath as he turned around and headed into his room again.

Joseph chuckled as he decided to go pay a visit to his friends at the café with Sheou behind him. Once they walked in through the front door, he found Syrus and Chumley having a friendly duel with one another, Syrus helping Chumley learn how to play his new Kuala monsters that were released recently.

"How many Koalas do you need for your deck Chumley?" He asked him.

"Oh sure, me wanting seventeen Koalas in my deck is too many, but like fifty bicycles, tricycles, cars, trucks, ships and… planes, with arms legs and eyes in your deck is perfectly fine?" Chumley joked back.

"Well, my Vehicroids are awesome, that's only natural!"

"Helloooo fellow Slifers, how's it hanging today!" Joseph asked as he slid right into the seat next to Syrus. "Hey Sy, what's happening tonight?"

"Oh, not much, just checking out the newest Kuala for Chumley's deck." Syrus said cheerfully.

"Check it out, Vampiric Koala! When this card deals damage, I get life points equal to the damage I deal! That's 1800 big ones!"

"Yea… if your opponent has 'zero' attack points that is!" Joseph said as checked out the description. "It only works if it beats an opponent's monster Chumley."

"Oh, well that explains it then…" Chumley said, looking a little dejected. "I guess that's why it didn't work in that duel before, man… I just can't win to save my life."

"Oh, cheer up Chum, you're starting to get a 'little' better… at least you dealt damage to your opponent that last duel!" Syrus said happily.

"Hey, baby steps make for big achievements~!" Joseph also agreed.

"Indeed, as Joseph said, keep your goals small and reasonable and above all achievable, and from there nothing will be out of your reach as you climb ever higher!" Sheou said wisely as she placed a few cups of juice before them, while also depositing a plate of grilled cheeses for them. "And in the spirit of rewarding achievements however small, I made you these to enjoy, if you have further requests don't hesitate to ask."

"Licious!" Chumley declared as he took a big bite out of his grilled cheese. "Mhmmm, it's like a gooey cheesy goodness going down my throat… oooah I love these things."

"Slow down Chumley, we want to eat to, with our appetite intact." Syrus muttered.

"Aww let him eat, come on last to finish their grilled cheese is a rotten apple!" Joseph laughed as he took a bite as well.

His grilled cheese was delicious indeed, even though it was just a simple recipe of two slices of toasted bread as well as, well 'cheese', Sheou had added her own spin on it by adding a few different types of cheeses into it, blending them together in such a way that he couldn't tell what flavor it was as it went down his throat. Sheou smiled warmly as she saw the look of satisfaction on his face as she humbly bowed and clasped her hands before her, content to wait and see if he had any need of her while there.

The door to the kitchen opened moments later and Kite walked out with a large plate piled high with cakes, Jell-Os, glasses of tea and punch as well as mini cakes. She waved happily at Joseph while placing her items on the buffet table, telling all of the guests that the buffet was open, and students could partake in the café's deserts that morning. "Enjoy everyone, catch you later Joseph~!" She said slyly with a wink before heading back into the kitchen again.

Seeing the cakes Joseph got up to grab a few for him Syrus and Chumley to chow on, Kite's cooking was always the best he'd ever tasted.

"Man, Jo your sister can cook, no matter how many times I say it she can 'cook'!" Chumley moaned happily.

"Yea where did she study?" Syrus asked.

"Ya know where 'did' she learn to cook Sheou, I never actually asked but where did she study?"

Sheou chuckled as she smiled in response, "She's self-taught, she went through many trial and error recipes before she learned her craft. A maid's duty is to devote herself entirely to the task she has dedicated herself to, whether it be mastering something simple as cooking, cleaning clothes, showing hospitality to guests or predicting her master's needs before he needs them met."

"So that's why you always have tea and snacks ready so I'm never hungry, and why my clothes are always washed and… well everything else?" He asked.

"That's right, a maid who cannot understand that most basic concept, is truly not worth her weight in salt!"

He smiled as he turned to his slice of cake, his mouth watering as it looked delicious, so he cut his fork into it and brought it to his mouth to take a bite…

*Slam*

In an instant the doors to the café flung open and several security guards stood in the doorway, each wearing academy staff uniforms and scanning the room before their eyes settled on his, Chumley's and Syrus' table. Without another word they steadily walked over, expressions serious as everyone just watched in confusion and worry, as when campus security got involved, something 'bad' usually happened or had happened.

"What is the meaning of this barging into this café?" Sheou asked coldly.

"Uh… can I help you?" He asked nervously.

"Mr. Takara, you have to come with us, Chancellor Shepard's orders." The first guard said as she walked over and offered her hand.

"But… what for?" He asked again in confusion.

"That's not our place to say, now come with us, this is not a request, this is an 'order'." She said even more sternly, her tone implying that she was rapidly losing patience.

"Hold on, I'm a student and as a student I deserve to know why I'm being taken to meet Chancellor Shepard, especially since I haven't done 'anything' to-"

"You can either come with us 'now' or we can skip the meeting and immediately expel you right here and now." She demanded. "Your choice kid, choose wisely, either you come with us 'now', or we can throw you on the next boat off the island without any word or your personal belongings."

Joseph was speechless as everyone just talked quietly in confusion; a shocked expression matched by Sheou as she looked astonished that such a threat was being made. However, Joseph realized he didn't have a choice, so he nodded and got up, following the campus security as they escorted him out of the café, with everyone just watching in silence.

"What the… what did he do?" Syrus asked fearfully. "He's not failing is he?"

"No way, his grades are like top tier, well top tier for 'Slifers', a Slifer is lucky to get a B-, let alone what Joseph had!" Chumley said.

"Well then what could he have possibly done to warrant being taken by Campus Security?"

"Let's go find out, come on Sy!" Chumley said.

"Right!"

With that both of them got up and followed after Joseph, leaving Sheou to look worriedly at the empty table, plates left unattended and food uneaten. But she nodded and walked over to the wall, rang a bell and summoned Kite. She opened the door and quickly walked out, looking nervous as she walked over, presented herself with a bow and asked, "What's wrong ma'am?"

"Joseph has been taken by Campus Security to meet with Chancellor Shepard, I'm going to find out what is going on, inform the others not to interfere or follow us until I learn of the situation, have them keep to their duties." She declared, and without another word she walked out as fast as her dress permitted her.

"Uhm… yes ma'am…" Kite said, but she looked worried as she walked back into the kitchen and locked the door.

With Joseph he walked with security to the main building, up several flights of stairs and down corridors, watched all the while by various students who were wondering what was going on, some of them asking what was up as he passed by, but his only response was to keep his face looking forward and not try to panic. Seriously what had he done, what could he have 'possibly' done? Was this over a late book, it couldn't be his scholastic work, his grades were above decent! Sure, he may have struggled to stay awake in some classes, but he was tired, rushing to catch up since the school duel exhausted him. Nobody had complained about him or something he did, he didn't have anyone who didn't like him that he knew of. Since the school duel a lot of students would often say hi to him in the hallways, heck even the Slifers as a whole were being treated 'slightly' differently because of him.

At least the Obelisks stopped calling all the Slifer's 'Slackers' or 'Slime', now they just called them Slifer Lifers, at least when he wasn't around.

After ten more minutes of walking, they reached Chancellor Shepard's office and the security knocked on the door, announcing that Joseph was there.

Once the door opened, Joseph was told to go in, no questions asked, and they slammed the door behind him. Inside, Joseph looked at Chancellor Shepard with a nervous expression as he stepped over to his desk, the bald Chancellor of Duel Academy frowning as he looked at him.

"Joseph, I apologize for the… abrupt summon and… well… bringing you here without any explanation. However, this was out of my control, I was 'ordered' to bring you here immediately."

"Ordered… Chancellor Shepard what is going on, what did I do to warrant being threatened with Expulsion?!" He demanded, his tone mixed with both fear, frustration and anger as he was very upset at the whole situation.

"That remains to be seen." Another voice said, one that caused Joseph to snap in fear as he recognized that voice from the many advertisements on TV.

He turned to look to his left as he saw… with a white trenchcoat, a black shirt and matching pants, various belts strapped on his arms and a belt with the Kaiba Corp logo, that terrifying presence that just 'demanded' your absolute attention…

"No way… Seto Kaiba… the CEO of Kaiba Corporation?" He asked quietly.

"Good to know you know who I am, that makes things at least 'half' as easy for one of us." He said coldly as he crossed his arms. "Now the real question is who 'you' are, and if you want answers, you better start explaining yourself right away. Because frankly if I find out that I made this trip for nothing, 'someone' is going to be in serious trouble, and I assure you, it won't be 'me'."

He gulped as he had no idea what he did to warrant the head of Kaiba Corp to come to Duel Academy, but he knew better than to keep him waiting in silence. "Uhm… my name is… Joseph Takara… at your uh… service sir." He said nervously, offering a short polite bow to try and 'ease' the tension, if that was possible.

"I got that much already, now tell me everything 'else' about you… and make it fast… I'm losing my patience, and it was already thin to begin with." He said even more coldly.

"Uh… I'm a student in… Slifer Red, I recently was offered a uh… p-promotion to Ra Yellow but I turned it down." He stuttered as Kaiba's eyes narrowed, meaning he was growing impatient. "I recently competed in the school duel, I was born in the… uh… k-kanto region of Japan and… moved to Domino City…"

"And?" Kaiba asked with an extremely cold expression. "I'm 'waiting'."

"I… I can't… think of anything else to say besides… I once was… uh… almost put into an…"

*Knock Knock Knock*

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he looked at the door.

"Pardon the intrusion Chancellor, but a 'maid' is out here asking to be let in?"

"We're in a private meeting tell her to…"

The door was instantly opened and Sheou forced her way in, curtly nodding as she instantly walked over to stand behind Joseph, looking first at Chancellor Shepard and then to Seto Kaiba. The expression on her face was that of determination as she stood behind Joseph.

"Please forgive the… 'intrusion'… however, as his sole legal guardian, I felt my presence was necessary." She said politely, but her tone belayed her quiet fury.

"Miss Sheou please leave, I'm sorry to sound this way but…"

"It's acceptable, as she is his 'legal guardian', I think it's fair enough she can stay here." Kaiba declared as he nodded to her. "I'm guessing you're here thinking I've done something to him?"

"It crossed my mind."

"Hmpf… well rest assured, nothing has happened… 'yet'." Kaiba whispered as he turned to Joseph. "Alright Joseph, since you don't want to tell me, I'll tell you 'exactly' why I'm here and why you're here. Joseph Takara… single child, born to Samantha Takara who is currently deceased, current age 16, your birthday is in three months, moved in with your grandfather who died one year later, would have been put into an orphanage if you didn't find a foster home courtesy of this woman here." He nodded to Sheou who nodded back, implying everything said was true. "Joseph Takara… or should I say Joseph Masuta, son of Phillip Masuta of the Dragtech Corporation!"

At that Joseph took a step back at the mention of his father's name, he'd done everything to try and ignore speaking it, how did Kaiba learn about his relation?"

"Surprised, did you think that filing your name under your birth name would conceal the fact that we traced your parentage back to the CEO of Dragtech? But let's skip that for now… show me those cards right now."

"My… my cards?" He asked.

"Your 'Dragonmaid cards', what else am I talking about?" He said calmly, something Joseph knew was a bad sign.

He nodded as he reached down and pulled open his deck box, and pulled out his Dragonmaids, nervously showing them to Kaiba who frowned as he stared at each one. "Hmmm, I find it 'fascinating' that you just so happen to have every one of those cards in your possession. Such rare and valuable cards, if I weren't interested, I'd make you an offer for them myself." He said. "Tell me, wherever did you find them all?"

"I… randomly found them." He responded.

"You just so 'happen' to find a complete set of cards that are among the rarest in the world, so rare that people would bid fortunes just to own a single legitimate copy for their collections? Forgive me if I don't buy that story for a second. I think the more likely explanation is that you 'stole' those cards." He declared.

"Stole them?"

"That's right… stole them, there is absolutely no way a nobody living in a 'café' could possibly just so happen to obtain every single copy of some of the rarest cards in the world, since there hasn't been a single duelist before you to own more than a single copy of one of the cards, let alone the entire set. So, unless you want to be expelled, you'll tell me right now here you found those cards or I going to expel you from my academy right here and now!"

"B-but I did… I did randomly find them…" He tried saying, but Kaiba was having 'none' of it.

"You think I'm going to believe that pathetic excuse of a lie, do you take me for a fool?" Kaiba muttered dangerously. "I'm going to give you one chance to explain where you stole them from, and who you stole them from, because if there's one thing I do not tolerate at my academy, it's people who 'lie'. When you signed up to attend Duel Academy you signed an agreement, written in black and white and including many conditions for your continued attendance here, with one of those conditions being honest and not 'lying' to me, my company, or the academy!"

"Mr. Kaiba is all of this…" Shepard tried to say but Kaiba glared him into silence.

"So, you want to keep that lie going huh, well I guess there is 'one' way we can settle this issue." Kaiba said as he crossed his arms. "We'll settle this in a duel, I honestly don't care one way or another who you took those from or where you stole them from. But what I don't tolerate are those who come to my academy and 'cheese' their way to the top because of a few rare cards they 'supposedly found'."

Kaiba turned to Chancellor Shepard now.

"If Joseph Takara wins this duel I'll drop my accusations and Joseph can stay. This duel will tell me all I need to know to decide if he stays here at duel academy or not. Have all of the students and staff assemble in the duel arena in one hour." Kaiba said as he looked at Joseph now. "Your choice… face me in a duel, or admit you're a thief…"

His heart started beating as he was presented his choices, tell Kaiba what he wanted to hear and be kicked out of Duel Academy, or duel Kaiba and somehow find a way to win so he can stay in Duel Academy where if he loses he's expelled.

"Fine, I'll duel you, because I'm not a thief!"

Seto Kaiba smirked as he heard that response, almost like he was 'expecting' it. "Well… you're a true duelist if nothing else, but you do know who your facing right?" He asked. "I am Seto Kaiba, there is only one duelist out there who I view as even 'remotely' my equal… and you are not him, not even by a longshot. Though… I will give you 'some' credit…" He declared as he began walking out with a grin, before whispering to him as he passed by, "You 'did' defeat his deck, so at least you have 'that' going for you."

As Kaiba walked out, he took a deep steadying breath as Sheou gently held his shoulder, letting him know she was there.

"Well, I have to go and get things ready… Joseph… I'll, let you stay here and get ready. Good luck…" Shepard said quietly as he too walked out.

Once alone with only Sheou, Joseph's mental strength broke down as he turned and began silently 'crying' into her arms, and she simply smiled sadly while gently brushing his hair. "How am I going to beat Seto Kaiba?" He asked her. "I barely beat Yugi's deck when it wasn't being used by the real duelist, how am I going to defeat Seto Kaiba, the second strongest duelist in the entire world!?"

Sheou was quiet as she continued to rub his hair, not caring that he was crying into her maid dress, she was his ever present, ever faithful, ever loyal maid. But she also served as his current and 'only' parental guardian, and what parent, related or not by blood, would not shelter and shield their child, no matter how old or young, in their time of need?

"I wish I could answer that… but… I am afraid that I cannot." She told him quietly. "I deeply apologize Young Master, but I am simply a maid… I am no duelist; I wish I could help you, but I cannot in this matter."

"I know… but what am I going to do, there's no way I can win, a school duel is one thing but… this is… entirely different!"

He sighed as he let go of her and just collapsed onto the nearby couch, looking at his Dragonmaid cards. "Why doesn't he believe me, I didn't steal these cards, I randomly 'found' them. They found 'me', why would I lie about cards I own?"

"I do not know Young Master, but I do know that you cannot confess to a crime you did not commit." Sheou declared proudly as she walked over to him. "You are the true owner of those cards, ever since you first found and picked up that House Draginmaid card, you and only 'you' are worthy of having them. Of this there is no doubt in my mind, nobody, not even one as powerful as Seto Kaiba can take them away from you."

He just sighed as he put them away before looking at his House Dragonmaid, her warm smile, that glint in her eyes, she still looked 'exactly' like Sheou in front of her, all she needed were a few fake horns, some wings and maybe a fake tail and she'd be a spitting image of her. "Hey Sheou, how long did you stay 'with' grandpa?"

"I believe I stayed with him for… a few years, just prior to you moving in." Sheou answered.

"And in all that time, you never saw this card lying around in your room?"

"No, and I believe your father never knew of it either."

"Well, it 'was' under the bed… but why would Kaiba accuse me of stealing it? He runs a massive multi-billion company, what does he care about one set of rare cards?"

"I would not know… but is there anything you need or want that I can get you?" Sheou asked him politely. "You need to prepare for your duel with Kaiba, you will need all the assistance one can offer."

"Right now… I could use my friends to help me out here."

Sheou smiled as she nodded, and walked over to the door and opened it, looking 'mildly' surprised as she humbly bowed and said, "Mr. Bastion, Mrs. Alexis, Mr. Syrus and Mr. Chumley, please come in~!"

He looked up to see his friends walking into the room, all of them looking dejected and nervous as they approached him.

"We just heard, is it true Joseph, Seto Kaiba himself is charging you with 'stealing' those Dragonmaid cards?" Alexis asked.

"And that unless you admit, your only other option is to duel him?" Bastion asked now.

"And that if you lose, you'll be expelled?" Syrus asked.

"Say it aint so bro, please tell me its all not true!" Chumley pleaded.

He nodded, telling them it was all true. "So, my only options are to admit to a crime I didn't commit and be expelled, or duel and get expelled if I lose. I used to think the worst problem I'd have being here was trying to pass a school exam, now I'm about to be expelled and there's like nothing I can do about it."

"You can still do something about it, you can duel and 'win'!" Alexis declared. "Joseph, you have worked too hard to get where you are now, you took Chazz down in the school duel, you reclaimed Yugi's deck when it was stolen, you proved yourself time and time again here, there is no way even a guy like Seto Kaiba will take you away from here!"

"Yea, you beat the King of Game's deck, and there's no stronger duelist than him. Kaiba is the only person who is a rival to Yugi Moto, but even after all of their duels against one another, Kaiba is still only second best in the world." Bastion said. "I mean… what I'm saying is, if you can beat Yugi's deck then Seto Kaiba will be as easy as… oh who am I kidding, this is the second strongest duelist of all time we're talking about here. Point is Joseph, if you can take on Yugi's deck, you can handle Seto Kaiba's! There's still hope!"

"Appreciate the motivational speech but, there's a difference between dueling a copycat trying to pretend to be the King of Games, and actually 'beating' the King of Games." He said as he pulled out his Dragonmaid cards again and looked at them.

He knew his maids were strong, but… even with them he was no match, no match at all for a duelist as strong as Seto Kaiba. Sure, he wasn't nearly as much of a novice as when he first dueled against Crowler in his entrance exam, but what hope did he have against the one and only Seto Kaiba? He was no Yugi Moto, he wasn't even a Joey Wheeler, he was just a guy going to school and looking to become a professional duelist. The closest to an actual tournament he ever had entered was the 'inter-cafe tournament' he and his adopted sisters held to see who would get tickets to see a showmatch featuring some of the top duelists in the world at Kaibaland. He won but he thinks the girls kinda 'threw' the duels against him so he could get those tickets cause he always wanted to go to Kaibaland.

"No way my deck is going to be able to win against Seto Kaiba as it is… I'm toast." He muttered.

"Well then, how about we beef it up a bit!" Syrus declared as he held out some of his cards.

The cards in question were three, Kiteroid, Submarineroid and Steamroid.

"You can borrow a few of my Vehicroids Joseph, they aren't the strongest but, they can come in handy and help you take on Kaiba!" Syrus said warmly. "No best friend of mine is going to be kicked out without me helping you out!"

"Wait, really, you're giving me a few of your Vehicroids to use?" He said as he took the cards.

"Yea, maybe with their help you'll win!"

"Well don't count me out, if Syrus is going to give you a few, I'll add in a few of mine!" Chumley said as he held out three of his own. "Here, take two copies of Des Koala and a Big Koala! They'll give you some Down Under muscle to help your Dragonmaids out!"

"Chumley…" Joseph said, touched that even 'Chumley' was offering his own cards to aid his maids.

"Don't forget about me." Alexis said with a smile. "Your girls aren't the only tough gals around, take a few of my Cyber Angels to give you a helping hand!"

She handed him three cards of her own, Cyber Petite Angel, Cyber Angel Dakini, and Machine Angel Ritual.

"Well, not to be outdone, I have a few cards you can use as well, I wish I could offer more but, if everyone here is lending you cards your deck's balance will be out of wack, so these will help restore that balance!" Bastion said as he held out four of his own. "These will help you in a tight spot, so don't hesitate to use them!"

Bastion's addition to Joseph's deck were three magic and trap cards and one monster, Dark Hole, Cyber Jar, Amorphous Barrier and Dimensionhole.

"Of course, since you're taking our cards to add to your deck, we need to rework it, so let's get to it Joseph, you've got a duel against Kaiba to win!" Bastion declared.

He took a deep breath as he nodded gratefully to his friends. "Yea, let's do this…"

With the new cards added to his deck, he and Bastion, as well as Alexis, Chumley and Syrus all went over his deck to see what could be sacrificed and what to keep. It was only temporary but every card hat to be precise so as to ensure it would still function as intended. Chumley's Koala cards would help buffer for his maids while Syrus' Vehicroids would lay the hurt and run interference. Alexis' Cyber Angel would be the tip of his spear, leading his monsters into battle once she hits the field. As for Bastion's cards, they would help clear the path and buy him precious time if needed.

[Attention all students, please report to the duel arena immediately, all students please report to the duel arena!]

He saw his friends give him one last look of reassurance before saying they'll see him after the duel. Sheou bid them farewell but proceeded to say she would go as well, wishing him good luck in the duel. "No matter what happens Joseph, don't give up or give in to your fears. You can defeat Kaiba, just believe in yourself and your cards, they will not abandon you no matter what."

With that she stepped out and left him alone.

He took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself, knowing this duel would be his hardest yet, harder than any other before. But at least he knew, he wasn't going to duel this duel alone. His friends were all with him, not only in the stands when he went down, they were with him in his deck.

After a few more moments, his draconic friends appeared before him, each looking worried as they obviously knew what was going on.

'Master… are you okay?' Nudyarl asked worriedly.

"I'm about ten minutes from being expelled… I'm told to admit to a crime I didn't commit, and I'm going to be facing the strongest duelist I've ever faced, one only the King of Games could match, in a duel that determines my entire future as a professional duelist." He tried joking, but he just couldn't bring himself to laugh. "So, yea… I'm about as okay as can be."

'We know you're not okay though…' Tinkech said sadly as she cuddled up to him.

'Master, don't lie to us, never lie to us, we know you are scared.' Lorpar now whispered as she snuggled onto his shoulder.

'Just know, we're scared too…' Ernus told him with a sad expression.

He looked at the floor to avoid looking at them, "I'm just scared of losing you girls, you're like my family, same as my adopted sisters at the café. When I was alone and had nobody else to be my friend you guys were always there, you guys always cheered me up and… I just don't want to see you all leave me."

They each nodded in understanding and agreement, even as they floated next to him and cuddled him in their own ways.

'We won't leave you, no matter what happens… not even that Kaiba can keep us from being with you.' Nudyarl declared proudly.

'We love you too much master, we'll stay with you no matter what.' Tinkech agreed.

'If Kaiba thinks he can scare you into giving us up, then he's got another thing coming!" Lorpar yelled.

'If you want to win, we'll help you win with all of our power!' Ernus said warmly.

He smiled as he softly scratched at their foreheads, giving them little head pats of gratitude for being there for him.

"Well, let's get going…" He said as he got up.

They all nodded and vanished.

He made his way downstairs to the dueling arena, the halls feeling very empty and devoid of traffic as everyone had gone to the arena as well. But Joseph took his time, not just out of fear, but also to buy as much time as he could. He didn't want to leave Duel Academy, he didn't want to be forced to leave. He'd never had as much fun, stressful as some days were, or made as many friends as he'd ever made while he was here.

He'd spent so long trying to get into the academy, wanting to become a great duelist, to duel professionally.

"Hey Joseph!" A voice called out, and he turned to see it was Zane Truesdale, holding his duel disk.

"My Duel Disk, where did you?"

"Your maid was on her way to give it to you, she went back to your dorm to fetch it, and I offered to bring it to you in her place." He explained as he handed over the duel disk. "If you're going to be dueling anyone, you should use your own Duel Disk."

"Yea… thanks." He said as he felt the familiar weight of his disk strapped to his arm.

"I'm guessing the others gave you their cards to help you duel against Seto Kaiba right?"

"Yea, I'm grateful to them for wanting to help, it really means a lot to me."

Zane was quiet as he walked with Joseph, the older student's expression unreadable.

"So, feeling nervous, afraid?" Zane asked nonchalantly.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but I don't have any other options, do I?" Joseph replied.

"No, I suppose not, I won't ask what this is all about, I have a feeling we'll be told soon. As for you, don't focus on what your opponent can or will do, just focus on your own plan and stay as calm and focused as possible, or else you'll make mistakes that will cost you the duel."

They walked in silence some more until Zane brought up another topic.

"You know, using so many cards and trying to play them as they would be played if used by their owners is only going to result in you losing." Zane said. "This isn't pessimism, this is the cold hard truth, even if your friends had good intentions, they basically ruined your deck's synergy and your personal gameplan."

"I know but… my deck doesn't stand a chance against him Zane, I needed all the help I could get."

"I wasn't saying it was wrong, but being as it is, now you have to come up with a winning strategy or else you're going to lose." Zane said as they paused right outside the tunnel entrance to the duel arena. "Fortunately, I already came up with a perfect strategy in your case, so before you go in let me explain it…"

Joseph looked to Zane as he turned back to him, and then told him what to do with all the cards he'd been given. After that Zane simply told him, good luck, and headed into the stadium to find himself a seat.

Inside the duel arena the students were talking about why they were there and what could possibly be the reason for this sudden public assembly and especially for none other than Seto Kaiba to be present. They all knew how important he was as a duelist, everyone knew he was the second strongest in the world, and that he funded and established Duel Academy. But he never had any reason to actually 'go' to the academy, until today it seemed. But rumors were circulating around the students from those who were at the café when campus security 'escorted' him to the chancellor's office, to seeing Kaiba stroll to the arena moments after they were all called to attend to it.

"I'm worried for Joseph guys; he just can't catch a break it seems." Syrus said nervously.

"You're telling us, first he has to defeat Yugi's deck, then he has to take on Seto Kaiba himself?" Alexis agreed.

"He may not have the best luck in the world, but if there's one thing Joseph has going for him, is that he can handle himself when the going gets tough." Bastion said.

"Yea but he's never faced someone like Seto Kaiba, they don't get tougher than him! Well actually they do but… there's only one duelist stronger than him!"

After a few minutes Zane made his way up the seats to where they were sitting, accompanied by Chazz who was arriving 'late'.

"Sorry we're late, but I had a quick chat with Joseph before he would be called into the stadium." Zane said.

"As for me, The Chazz likes to make his own entrance." Chazz said as he sidled into his seat.

"More like you were so busy getting your room ready for all those renovations you have planned that you didn't even realize there was a meeting." Syrus muttered.

"Yea whatever, so what's going on, why are we all here? And why is Seto Kaiba here, doesn't he have like a big company to run?"

So, they all explained why, telling Chazz how Kaiba believes Joseph 'stole' the Dragonmaid cards and is now calling him a thief, threatening to have him expelled unless he confesses and admits it. Or he duels Kaiba and wins to earn his right to stay here.

"Joseph, 'steal', you have got to be kidding me." Chazz said dully. "No way no how, Joseph a thief? If he's a thief, then I'm poor. Which we all know isn't true."

"Yea, I just can't picture Joseph stealing those cards, not with how he treats them and cares for them." Zane declared. "Any duelist who treasures and cares for his cards the way he does would never think of stealing them."

Down on the arena floor Seto stood with his arms crossed as he awaited the time to begin the duel.

"Mr. Kaiba, its time, shall we call him in?" Rolan asked.

He nodded.

"Send in the accused!"

Moments later Joseph walked into the arena, face set and looking shaken, but still defiantly walking forward despite the fact that he felt he had no hope of winning this duel but refusing to give in without a fight.

[Attention Students, this is an expulsion duel, I repeat, this is an expulsion duel. Today's duel is between Joseph Takara and Seto Kaiba. Joseph has been accused of thievery, stealing a set of highly valued and extremely rare cards known as the Dragonmaids. Joseph proclaims his innocence, if he is victorious then the charges will be dropped, and he will be allowed to remain at Duel Academy. If he loses, his fate will be in Kaiba's hands.]

Joseph stepped onto the arena floor with the eyes of the students watching him, all around the arena people were talking about the charges and asking if they were true or not.

"You think it's true, Joseph stole those cards?"

"I wouldn't be surprised now that I think about it."

"I mean with how rare those cards are, I wouldn't put it past anyone to try and take them."

"Man, I used to look up to him, if he stole his cards…"

'Gatta love how all it takes is 'one' accusation to turn everyone against me…' Joseph thought as he stood opposite of Seto Kaiba.

Seto smiled as he stood there, "So, feel like confessing, if you admit you're a thief now, I'll let you go back to your dorm room and stay here, and I can get on with my life." He declared. "I'll even sweeten the deal, I'll let you 'keep' those cards if you want. I honestly couldn't care if you had them or not, I just don't like it when people 'lie' and contradict their contracts to me."

At that Joseph glared back before he said, "I am 'not' a thief, I didn't steal my cards, and I am NOT going to admit to something I did not do. So, if you want to intimidate me, you're not succeeding, now turn on your duel disk and let's get this game on!"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he heard those words. "As you wish… since this duel is an 'exceptional' duel, the rules will be changed ever so slightly. Instead of the usual 4000 life points, we each will be given 8000 life points to start with. Other than that minor change, the rules are still the same."

At that Joseph was confused, his starting life point total was doubled? Why would he make that change? "Uh, any reason why?"

Kaiba smirked at those words. "Well, it's not for my generosity, I just feel like doubling the points because otherwise this duel won't last very long. But if you would rather lose 'faster' and be expelled sooner, then we can change it back, it's your choice."

He nodded as he turned on his duel disk and said, "Fine, let's get this duel started already!"

Kaiba smiled and activated his classic 'Battle City' duel disk, and both of their life point counters began to rise.

[Seto Kaiba – 8000 / Joseph Takara – 8000]

Their decks were shuffled, their hands drawn, and the duel began.

"Since this is 'my' academy, I'll start this duel off, I draw!" Seto Kaiba declared as he drew his first card and looked at it. "I'll start off this duel with my Vorse Raider!"

On Kaiba's side of the field a muscular barbaric beast warrior rose up, wielding a powerful axe and growling as it stared against him.

[Vorse Raider, Lvl 4, Dark Attribute, Beast Warrior Type, Normal Monster, 1900 Atk / 1200 Def]

"Next, I'll play two cards face down, and that will end my turn!"

Joseph recognized Vorse Raider, one of Kaiba's iconic monsters. "Alright I draw…" He said as he looked at his hand upon drawing his first card.

[Cyber Petite Angel, Des Koala, Submarineroid, Dragonmaid Welcome, Big Koala, Dimensionhole.]

"I play the magic card, Dragonmaid Welcome! This magic card gives each of my monsters an extra one hundred attack and defense points, for each Dragonmaid monster I have in play. Next, I play a monster face down in defense mode… and that's it for now."

"You know, playing defensively is only going to lead to your defeat sooner, but if you want to lose then don't let me stop you, I don't have an appointment scheduled for another five hours. I draw…" Kaiba declared as he drew his next card and smiled. "I think I'll play my X-Head Cannon in attack mode!"

A new monster appeared on Kaiba's side of the field, and it was the same monster that Joseph was all too familiar with, having faced it before but under Chazz's command. X-Head Cannon appeared and readied its cannons against Joseph's field.

[X-Head Cannon, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Normal Monster, 1800 Atk / 1500 Def]

"Next, I'll activate my equip spell card, Fairy Meteor Crush, and equip it to my Vorse Raider!" Kaiba said as he played the magic card.

[When the magic card, Fairy Meteor Crush, is equipped to a monster, and that monster defeats an opponent's monster while in defense mode, the difference between the equipped monster's attack points and the defense monster's defense points, are dealt as piercing battle damage.]

"Now Vorse Raider, start your raid and strike down his defense monster!"

Vorse Raider roared and launched his axe at Joseph's face down monster like a boomerang, slicing the card in two and revealing it to be Des Koala, who strained in desperation to keep the axe at bay.

"You took out my Des Koala, but you also activated its flip effect! When Des Koala is flipped face up, you take 400 points of damage for each card in your hand!"

Des Koala snarled as flung a pair of holographic nails at Kaiba, striking him down and dealing him damage for the 2 cards still sitting in his hand.

[Seto Kaiba – 7200 / Joseph Takara – 8000]

"YEA, GET HIM DES KOALA, show him what we're made of!" Chumley cheered as his monster dealt the first blow against Kaiba.

"Now its your turn to feel damage, because despite your monster being in defense, due to my equip spell card, your life points take damage now thanks to the difference between their stats. Hope you didn't expect to get off the hook that easily!" Kaiba declared unflinchingly.

Vorse Raider's ax sliced through Des Koala now and chipped Joseph, causing him 100 points in damage.

[Seto Kaiba – 7200 / Joseph Takara – 7900]

"And now that you have no cards left to stop me, X-Head Cannon BLAST HIM!"

Joseph grimaced as X-Head Cannon lowered its cannons, aimed, and fired, blasting him for 1800 points of damage that he could not retaliate against.

[Seto Kaiba – 7200 / Joseph Takara – 6100]

"Uuugh…" Joseph muttered as he was on the defense again.

Up in the stands his friends were looking worried as Kaiba took a scratch while blasting Joseph to smithereens during this opening phase of the duel.

"Well so much for getting the opening hit…" Bastion muttered.

"It's only the first few turns, Joseph still has life points, as long as they don't hit 0, he's still in this duel." Alexis said.

"Yea, but at least he scratched Kaiba, so that's something." Syrus said.

"Hang in there man, hang in there…" Chumley said worriedly.

Back on the field Joseph drew his next card, [Machine Angel Ritual], and began thinking about his plan for this next turn. "Alright Syrus, give me a helping hand here… I summon Submarineroid in attack mode!"

On the field the floor rippled and waved as a mechanical blue-yellow cartoon submarine rose up with arms holding a torpedo and determined looking eyes.

[Submarineroid, Lvl 4, Water Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 800 Atk / 2000 Def]

"Hey that's my card!" Syrus called out. "Take it to him Submarineroid, give him the Torpedo of Doom!"

"That's what I was planning to do, now Submarineroid, submerge!" Joseph called out, and Submarineroid submerged itself into the ground with only the periscope left visible. "Submarineroid has an effect, it can attack you directly, now lay it on him with Torpedo of Doom!"

Submarineroid angled its periscope, locked onto Kaiba, and released a torpedo which flew toward Kaiba, who only responded by furrowing his brow and watching the torpedo emerge and explode in his face. When it ended Kaiba looked completely unfazed while his life point counter went down.

[Seto Kaiba – 6400 / Joseph Takara – 6100]

"Uh… now that it's attacked, he switches into defense mode… and I end my turn." Joseph said nervously, his courage suddenly finding itself absent as Kaiba seemed to be looking 'bored' despite the response.

Submarineroid rose to the surface and crossed its arms to indicate it was in defense mode.

'At least Submarineroid will keep me safe for now, even if… he brings out Blue Eyes this turn then I'll be safe!'

Kaiba drew his next card and only glanced at it before saying, "I summon out my Y-Dragon Head into attack mode."

On the field the Y-Dragon Head appeared and stood beside X-Head Cannon.

[Y-Dragon Head, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Union Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"I think you know what's about to happen, I combine my X-Head Cannon and my Y-Dragon Head, to bring out XY Dragon Cannon!" Kaiba declared as his two monsters flew into the sky and began to fuse.

Both X and Y fused and then emerged on the field as their stronger, superior form.

[XY Dragon Cannon, lvl 6, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Fusion Effect, 2200 Atk / 1900 Def]

Joseph grimaced as he knew what was coming but couldn't stop it.

"Now XY-Dragon Cannon, attack and get rid of that pathetic excuse for a monster, Triple Plasma Cannon Blast!"

Submarineroid looked determined to protect him despite the triple plasma beams that launched and obliterated it.

"Now Vorse Raider, take him down with your Axe Slash attack!"

Vorse Raider roared in triumph as it launched its axe like a boomerang again, and Joseph instinctively shielded himself from the assault. Despite being a hologram, he still felt the need to shield himself, and even though it didn't hurt him physically, the life point counter told another story.

[Seto Kaiba – 6400 / Joseph Takara – 4200]

"Now doesn't it feel nice to know that if you hadn't accepted my offer, you would be at 200 life points and on the edge of elimination?" Kaiba taunted as his monster's axe returned. "In fact, let me lay that fact into you with my next card, Meteor of Destruction!"

Joseph eyes went wide as he looked up and saw a large meteor appear and speed toward him. He screamed in fear as it struck his life points and dealt serious damage to him.

[Seto Kaiba – 6400 / Joseph Takara – 3200]

"Give up yet kid, I could have won this duel this turn the way you have been playing, change the order of my moves and that would have been the end of the duel. And you thought you could attend 'my' duel academy, with cards you don't even own? You can't even last against my 'easiest' plays." Kaiba declared. "Just give up and accept it, your way out of your league, if you admit that your nothing more than a thief and that you stole those cards, this duel will end, and we can all get on with our lives. Or keep dueling… but frankly you better improve quickly because otherwise you'll bore me so much that my life points might hit zero before you even touch them again."

Joseph took a deep calming breath, as he glared back at Kaiba. "I… am not a thief, I draw!" He responded.

Kaiba just nodded and said nothing more as Joseph took his turn.

[Dragonmaid Tinkech]

He smiled happily as he saw his first Dragonmaid. "Alright, I can't bring you out yet Tinkech, but I need your help still!" He declared.

Tinkech appeared before him and smiled, nodding in understanding. 'I'll do whatever you ask of me, my power is yours, master!'

He looked back at Kaiba who was watching him closely. "I summon out, Cyber Petit Angel!"

On the field Joseph summoned out one of Alexis' monsters, the Cyber Petit Angel, who appeared as this mechanical pink ball with two magenta eyes and a yellow halo, as well as two mechanical white wings and stubby arms and legs.

[Cyber Petit Angel, lvl 2, Light Attribute, Fairy type, Effect Monster, 300 Atk / 200 Def]

"Now that Cyber Petit Angel has been summoned out, I can use its effect, which allows me to add a Machine Angel Ritual or Cyber Angel ritual monster to my hand, and I choose to add Cyber Angel Dakini!"

Cyber Petit Angel turned and blasted his deck with a tiny burst of fairy energy, extracting the monster from his deck.

"Now I activate the ritual spell card, Machine Angel Ritual! Now I sacrifice Dragonmaid Tinkech, and Cyber Petit Angel to ritual summon Cyber Angel Dakini!"

On the field a ritual circle appeared and Dragonmaid Tinkech appeared on the field, both her and Petit Angel being offered as the sacrifices to enable the ritual.

"The ritual's complete, so come forth Cyber Angel Dakini!"

From the flaming circle a blue skinned warrior woman with golden armor and four arms, wielding two swords and a spear appeared before him, she knelt at her appearance and stared in defiance against the opposition before her.

[Cyber Angel Dakini, Lvl 8, Light Attribute, Fairy Type, Ritual Effect Monster, 2700 Atk / 2400 Def]

"Alright, my card's on the field!" Alexis said excitedly. "Show him what my ladies can do Joseph!"

Joseph nodded as he thought about what Kaiba might do, "I activate Dakini's effect, when she's ritual summoned, I can make you send one of your face up monsters to the graveyard, so take your pick, you have two to choose from Kaiba!"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as his hand moved toward his duel disk, and it looked like he was about to activate a face down card, before it switched to his Vorse Raider. He took it from the field and sent it to the grave, causing Vorse Raider to vanish, as well as the equip card as it too was sent to the graveyard.

"Now that that's over with, I initiate the battle phase, Dakini attack and destroy XY-Dragon Cannon!"

Dakini leapt forward and brought all three of her weapons down on the machine monster, slicing and dicing it into pieces.

[Seto Kaiba – 5900 / Joseph Takara – 3200]

"Alright… with that I play one card face down and end my turn." He said, playing Dimensionhole face down, hoping to use it as a bluff and stall Kaiba from attacking him.

"You know… that was 'almost' impressive." Kaiba declared as he drew his next card. "Almost however, does not count for anything. I play one monster face down and end my turn."

In the stands his friends were still watching with worried expressions, all except Chazz, but even he had a look in his eyes that showed sympathy for his former enemy on the field.

"He hasn't lost, so that's one thing…" Chazz said.

"Yea but, Kaiba was telling the truth, if Joseph had chosen to not have their life points be doubled, this duel would have ended that turn." Syrus muttered fearfully.

"Look let's stop talking about how strong Kaiba is, we all know he's powerful, and we all know that this duel was going to be a struggle and the odds are completely stacked against him, let's instead focus on the positives." Bastion declared. "Look on the bright side, he's managed to fight his way back into this duel, he has a powerful monster on the field. Sure, his life points may be down, but all he needs is one good turn to turn everything around, and Dakini is a good place to start."

"Yea, he wiped out Kaiba's field thanks to my monster, but I'm getting worried." Alexis said. "Kaiba is 'known' to have 3 Blue Eyes White Dragons in his deck, and he's wiping the floor with Joseph without even one of them. If He's going to win this, he needs to do it 'before' any of those dragons come out."

"Yes…" Zane muttered quietly.

"What's up bro, your looking… well, not like your usual self." Syrus said.

"It's those two face downs Kaiba's got that has me cautious." Zane said. "He's had them since the start of this duel and hasn't played them. He had two opportunities to use those two cards and he refused to."

"You think they're part of some big plan or something?" Chumley asked.

"I don't know, but Joseph needs to be cautious and figure out that Kaiba's waiting with those two cards in the wing for something, and fast."

Joseph however was focusing on the duel as he drew his next card, [Steamroid].

"I summon out Steamroid into attack mode."

On the field a steam engine rolled onto the field and rose onto its… hind wheels, with two eyes that glared and raised, wheel fists on arms as it boxed and looked ready to steamroll.

[Steamroid, lvl 4, Earth Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1800 Atk / 1800 Def]

'Alright, he still has two face downs… but I need to keep up the pressure, if I attack with Dakini, then her effect to deal piercing battle damage still applies, so Steamroid can come in and help even up the score. That's as good a plan as I can think up at the moment, so let's get on with it!'

"Alright, now then I initiate the battle, Cyber Angel Dakini attack his face down monster!" He ordered.

Dakini nodded as she leapt up and launched her blades down, right as the face down monster revealed itself.

[Ancient Lamp, lvl 3, Wind Attribute, Spellcaster Type, Effect Monster, 900 Atk / 1400 Def]

"Oh no, quick Joseph, call off the attack, don't attack that lamp!" Bastion yelled out, but it was impossible.

"Too late, you've activated my Ancient Lamp's special ability, when this card is attacked while it was face down, I can use its ancient powers to target one of your other monsters and have the attack redirected toward it!" Kaiba declared as Ancient Lamp released a stream of gas that swirled and swayed before it revealed Steamroid, looking confused as it looked around before spotting Dakini about to slice down. Steamroid tried to signal her to stop but she was already mid attack stance.

"No, call off your attack Dakini!" Joseph tried but it was too late, Dakini without hesitation sliced down and destroyed Steamroid, but looked shocked as she realized that it was an 'ally' she destroyed instead of the ancient lamp.

He grimaced as his life points went down, as it was 'his' monster that was destroyed, the only saving grace being that since Steamroid wasn't attacked by an opponent's monster its attack points didn't go down.

[Seto Kaiba – 5900 / Joseph Takara – 2300]

"So, Joseph, feel like attacking yourself again, if you want to go ahead, I'm not going to stop you." Kaiba declared.

"I'm not giving up… I end my turn!"

"Suit yourself…" Kaiba declared as he drew his card. "Tell me, do you 'still' not want to admit that you're a thief, I'm telling you to do this because I'm getting tired of dueling an amateur like you. This has already been a waste of my time, all I want to hear is the truth, that you're a thief and that you stole those cards. So just make this easier on all of us, tell me what I want to hear, and we can all go on with our business."

Joseph growled to himself as Kaiba told him to say that, and said "I don't care how 'busy' you might be or how much 'time' I'm wasting by dueling you, I am not, nor have I ever done something like STEALING, I am not a thief, I did not steal my Dragonmaids, so if you want to end this duel then you better end it on MY terms not yours! I'll never admit to being a thief to a rich, arrogant, bully like you!"

Gasps emerged from the crowd of students at those words, but all Kaiba did was narrow his eyes.

"You know… any other duelist out there who 'dared' label me with such 'mundane' titles as that, would have been worth the time it takes to defeat them, but since you're so insistent… I'm going to grant your wish." He said as he played his card, "I play the magic card, Painful Choice. Now I pick five cards from my deck, and show them to you, and you pick one for me to keep, the rest go to the grave."

So, Kaiba pulled out five cards from his deck, and then played all five on the field for Joseph to see, and what he saw caused his eyes to go wide, as the very first of them was none other than...

"No way… he's forcing me to pick..." Joseph said before he looked at the cards Kaiba was telling him to pick from.

[Giant Germ, Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, Blue Eyes White Dragon, Rage with Eyes of Blue, Monster Reborn]

"That's right, take your pick, but I have a feeling we all know you're going to select my Blue Eyes White Dragon, it's the only option you have if you want to keep this duel going." Kaiba told him. "So don't waste anymore time and select it already…"

He grimaced as he looked at the choices presented to him again and realized… that Kaiba was telling him the truth. He had no choice… the other options were doomed to end the duel. If he picked Giant Germ, then even if he blew it up two more would appear and he'd lose 500 life points for each germ he'd kill, 1500 total for all three, and his life points couldn't take that big a hit from just 3 germs. If he picked Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, then that means he might have a Blue eyes in hand, and all he'd need is a way to get blue eyes on the field, then he'd be in more trouble. If he picked Rage with Eyes of Blue… he'd be staring down '3' blue eyes potentially, and Dakini couldn't save him, Monster Reborn would bring blue eyes back and then he'd be back where he started… so he had only one choice.

"That is a dirty move, forcing Joseph to pick his demise in that way." Bastion scowled.

"Well, that's why he's the second strongest duelist. His best chance is to pick either that Giant Germ or that Shining Dragon, at least he'll still be in the duel and he won't have to deal with a Blue Eyes."

"Unless he's got one in his hand, and he's just 'trying' to get Joseph to pick it." Syrus muttered fearfully.

"No… as much as I hate to say it, picking Blue Eyes is his best option…" Zane declared. "He'll have to tribute 2 monsters to summon it out, but at least Blue Eyes will stand alone, and Joseph can withstand a single Blue Eyes attack, over 3 giant germs, the shining dragon, or '3' blue eyes at the same time if he picked the other options besides Monster Reborn.

Joseph grimaced as he knew what he was going to take when he selected it, "I pick your Blue Eyes White Dragon."

Kaiba smiled as he took Blue Eyes and threw the others into the grave. "I told you you'd select it for me. Now let's get on with this duel shall we? I activate my Ancient Lamp's special ability, to special summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp."

From the lamp emerged a wisp of smoke that soon coalesced into a green humanoid genie that crossed his muscular arms.

[La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, Dark Attribute, lvl 4, Fiend Type, Normal Monster, 1800 Atk / 1000 Def]

"No way, he 'didn't' have a Blue eyes in his hand?" Joseph asked in shock. "But then why would he pick Blue Eyes Shining Dragon?"

"I'll let you figure that out when your expelled, in the meantime, I sacrifice my two monsters to summon, my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba declared as he played his remaining card.

La Jinn and Ancient Lamp vanished as they were replaced by a bright light, which dissipated to reveal the powerful roaring form of a creature whose draconic body was of white color, who's eyes gleamed with blue, who's power was unmatched and unparalleled by all other monsters in the dueling world. The undisputed monster that belonged to only one duelist, Blue Eyes White Dragon! It roared its mighty battle cry as it appeared, wings spread wide, claws glinting in the light, its menacing glare causing Dakini to step back in fear, crossing her swords and spear to protect herself from just the 'roar' of this mighty foe.

[Blue Eyes White Dragon, lvl 8, Light Attribute, Dragon Type, Normal Monster, 3000 Atk / 2500 Def]

Everyone gasped as they knew that the duel was about as over as it could be, Kaiba had his blue eyes on the field, there was not a single monster in Joseph's deck outside of House who could match it point for point.

"Not a single card you have can stand up to this…" Kaiba declared as his mighty beast awaited his command. "Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack his monster now, white lightning attack!"

Blue Eyes roared as its mouth gathered its power, readied it, and then unleashed it in a torrential burst of white fire and lightning, bringing devastation to Cyber Angel Dakini who covered herself and withstood the attack despite the ferocity of the attack. When it was ended, Dakini was breathing heavily as she stood on one knee, but still she stood.

"I activate my Machine Angel Ritual's graveyard effect, if a Cyber Angel on my field would be destroyed in battle or by card effect then I can banish it from my graveyard, and my monster stays to fight another round!" Joseph declared. "My life points still take a pounding, but at least Dakini will still be here."

[Seto Kaiba – 5900 / Joseph Takara – 2000]

"So, you get to survive with her again, go right ahead." Kaiba said with a smirk.

Joseph nodded as he looked at his next card he drew, he'd weathered the first assault of Kaiba's signature Blue Eyes White Dragon, but he knew Dakini wouldn't protect him from another assault. He needed help and he needed it 'fast'. [Graceful Charity]

"I play the magic card Graceful Charity, so now I draw three and discard 'two'." Joseph said as he drew his cards.

[Monster Reborn, Parlor Dragonmaid, Laundry Dragonmaid.]

"I'm going to discard Laundry and Big Koala." He said as he discarded those two cards. "Sorry Laundry, but I need you to wait for me for now girl, just sit tight in the grave until then!"

Nudyarl appeared next to him and nodded in understanding, 'Whatever your plan is master, my powers are at your disposal, just call and I'll be there!'

"Next, I switch Dakini into defense mode, and activate the magic card Monster Reborn, this allows me to bring back a monster in my graveyard… and I choose Big Koala!"

Dakini knelt before Joseph and crossed her weapons in a defensive posture, indicating she was in defense mode. As for the other move Joseph did, right after she assumed her stance, a giant blue Koala rose from the field after Monster Reborn appeared. Big Koala grunted as it slapped the ground and used its massive body to act as a shield for Joseph.

[Big Koala, lvl 7, Earth Attribute, Beast Type, Normal Monster, 2700 Atk / 2000 Def]

"Oh yea, my monster's time to shine, do what you can Big Koala! Teach Kaiba a lesson from down under!" Chumley cheered.

Kaiba looked unimpressed as he drew his next card. "I set one card face down, and attack with Blue Eyes, finish what you started last round with White Lightning!"

Blue Eyes roared, readied its attack, and unleashed a devastating burst of white lightning breath upon Dakini, who grimaced as she was completely consumed by the assault. This time she had no ritual spell to protect her, so she was obliterated, but at least Joseph's life points were spared.

"If the best you can do is a girl with two extra arms and a giant furball this duel is going to end very soon, why don't you just accept you're a common thief and get this over with already, time is money, and I don't like wasting either." Kaiba declared.

"For the last time… I'm NOT A THIEF!" Joseph yelled as he drew his next card. [Pot of Greed]

"I activate the magic card Pot of Greed; this lets me draw 2 cards!" He said and drew his cards.

[Dark Hole, Kiteroid]

"I activate my face down spell, Dimensionhole!" He declared as he flipped his face down card up, revealing it to be Bastion's card.

Up in the stands Bastion got excited as he knew Joseph must have drawn something he could use in conjunction with his magic card. "Alright, that's my card, now that he's activated it, he can banish Big Koala until next turn!" Bastion said.

"So, for now, Big Koala, I banish you, but he'll be back next round!" Joseph said as a dimensional hole appeared above the field and Big Koala was pulled into it.

"Now I activate my next magic card, Dark Hole! This powerful magic card will suck ALL monsters on the field into it, destroying them and sending them to the graveyard! Too bad 'my' monster was sent away, so it looks like your Blue Eyes is going in alone!"

On the field a massive black hole appeared above them, and Kaiba looked up with a slight frown, but everyone began cheering as his dragon began being pulled into it, trying its hardest to resist the irresistible force of the magic card.

"That's it, that was wonderfully played, now Blue Eyes will be the only monster destroyed, and Joseph will have removed Kaiba's strongest monster from the field, and he's already sent his Monster Reborn to the grave so he can't bring it back!" Bastion proclaimed excitedly.

"If this works it will be the break he needed!" Alexis cheered.

Everyone watched as Blue Eyes began to lose the fight, being pulled into the Dark Hole and sent to the-

*Vwingsh*

In an instant, Blue Eyes 'vanished', but not into the Dark Hole, and Dark Hole soon vanished from the field.

"What the…" Joseph muttered in confusion as Blue Eyes just vanished without a trace. "Where did… that's impossible, Blue Eyes has no special ability, Dark Hole destroys all monsters on the field… how did?"

Then he and everyone else saw on the field, a trap card had been flipped face up on Kaiba's side of the field, the one he set last turn. [Interdimensional Matter Transporter]

"No way…" He muttered in shock.

"That's right, I activated my Interdimensional Matter Transporter, banishing my own monster before your spell could take effect, but it'll be back at the end of the turn… so any other moves you want to try?" Kaiba asked smugly.

"N-no… that's the end of my turn." He said quietly, his courage once again vanishing in the face of Kaiba's power and tactics.

"Good, now come back Blue Eyes!" Kaiba declared, and at his command Blue Eyes reappeared in front of him, roaring its might and power as he drew his next card. "I play the magic card Pot of Greed; this lets me draw '2' cards."

He drew his two cards, and smirked.

"I remove one light monster, and one dark monster from my graveyard!" Kaiba declared as XY-Dragon Cannon and Vorse Raider appeared before a swirling vortex.

Joseph went wide eyed as he remembered that exact summoning phrase. "No… you can't have…" Joseph muttered as he remembered what Bastion said about two monsters that can be summoned by this 'exact' method.

The first one he fought against was in Yugi's deck, Black Luster Soldier, Envoy of the Beginning… but if Yugi had Luster Soldier, then that means Kaiba must have…

"Yes I 'do', I'm glad you know exactly what I'm about to summon, because since this isn't an official tournament, I can keep it in my deck, you should be proud, your about to lose this duel to one of my best monsters…" Kaiba declared as the swirling vortex grew bigger. "I special summon my Chaos Emperor Dragon, Envoy of the End!"

Both monsters flew into the vortex, and it erupted in a burst of chaotic flames that slowly dissipated to reveal a fearsome foe that even gave Blue Eyes a run for its money in terms of sheer power. It stepped out of the chaotic flames, this azure dragon with orange flowing hair and steel silver like armor and rings, a bony skull like armored skull with a fearsome gaze and roar to match. It breathed smoke as it stared at him, preparing to assault his life points.

[Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End, lvl 8, Dark Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 3000 Atk, 2500 Def]

"Not good…" Joseph whispered fearfully.

Up in the stands the feeling was mutual as Alexis, Syrus, Chumley, Bastion, Chazz and Zane all watched Joseph stare down the might of not only the Blue Eyes White Dragon, but also the outlawed Chaos Emperor Dragon.

"This is impossible, taking on the Blue Eyes was going to be hard enough, but the Chaos Emporor Dragon 'AND' the Blue Eyes at the same time?" Bastion declared. "He can't possibly take them both on with no monsters on the field and no face downs to protect him!"

"Come on Joseph… hang in there…" Alexis hoped.

Both Blue Eyes and Chaos Emperor readied their attacks as Kaiba smirked. "Well, it's been a boring duel, but at least it's about to end, I attack with my Chaos Emperor Dragon, direct attack!" He declared and Emperor Dragon roared as it unleashed a torrential flame upon him.

With no monsters to defend him, Joseph did the only thing he could, he played Kiteroid, sending it to the graveyard.

From the sky Kiteroid, Syrus' monster glided down with a determined expression as it flung itself into the path of the flame, shielding Joseph with its kite-like form until the attack ended, then it vanished from the field.

"Oh?" Kaiba asked in mild surprise.

Joseph grinned as he silently thanked Syrus for that monster. "Thanks for the save Sy… as for you Kaiba, when Kiteroid's in my hand and my opponent targets my life points directly, I can send it to my grave and reduce all battle damage involved with that attack down to zero! So, your Chaos Emperor Dragon deals 'no' damage."

Kaiba however frowned, more so in annoyance than in surprise. "I see… so you survived the first attack, but what about the second?" Kaiba declared as Blue Eyes readied 'it's' attack. "Blue Eyes white lightning attack!"

Blue Eyes roared as it unleashed its assault now on his life points, but quick as before, Joseph activated Kiteroid's 'graveyard' effect.

From behind him Kiteroid soared out and, though burned and looking worse for wear, flung itself into harm's way once more, shielding Joseph from harm with a determined expression. Once it ended, Kiteroid vanished, this time for good.

"Hmmm…" Kaiba declared with a frown.

"Sorry Kaiba, but I'm not done yet, I activate Kiteroid's secondary effect, by banishing it, I can reduce any battle damage I would take from your monster to zero!" He declared as he gratefully nodded to Kiteroid, and Syrus for saving him that round.

"Way to go Kiteroid, flying in to save the day!" Syrus cheered. "Sure, that once per turn nerf hurt, but all Joseph needs is 'one' turn!"

Back down on the field Kaiba's face no longer portrayed boredom, instead he looked, 'annoyed', almost frustrated.

"I end my turn." Kaiba said, keeping his last card in hand.

Jospeh nodded as he took his next card and nervously drew. [Des Koala]

'What's going on, last turn Kaiba could have ended me… Chaos Emperor Dragon's effect could have won him the duel…' He thought fearfully. 'Kaiba had Blue Eyes, Chaos Dragon, two cards face down, one card in his hand, plus my Dragonmaid Welcome on the field, and my Parlor and Kiteroid in hand. That's a total of eight cards, with his effect, even if he didn't count Chaos Dragon, that's a total of 2100 points in effect damage… he could have ended the duel right there… but he didn't… is he just 'toying' with me?'

He watched Kaiba's expressionless face as he waited for him to begin his turn.

'Does he really consider me so beneath his skill level that I'm not even worth using his monster's effect to win the duel with? Maybe I am… look at me, I'm barely holding my ground… but what else can I do?'

"Alright, since its my next standby phase, Big Koala returns to my field." He declared.

From the sky the dimensional hole appeared, and Big Koala fell out of it, landing in a defensive posture and blocking Joseph from view of Kaiba's monsters.

"Next, I play a monster face down and end my turn!"

"That was quick, is that all you have?" Kaiba declared as he drew his next card. "I attack your face down monster with my Chaos Emperor Dragon!"

Chaos Emperor Dragon roared and launched its flames against the face down monster, which flipped up to reveal itself as Des Koala.

"You attacked Des Koala again, now its effect activates, you take another 800 points of damage, 400 for each of the 2 cards you have in your hand at this time!"

Des Koala growled and launched a swipe of energy at Kaiba before being incinerated, tapping Kaiba's life points down.

[Seto Kaiba – 5100 / Joseph Takara – 2000]

"Hmpf, Blue Eyes, show him what REAL damage looks like with White Lightning!"

Blue Eyes roared and did as commanded, blasting Big Koala with its powerful white lightning attack. Big Koala grimaced as it widened itself to protect Joseph from harm, thankfully saving him from damage since it was in defense mode, but still Big Koala was destroyed.

"Your turn, but if I were you, I'd just surrender, because you're getting on my nerves now." Kaiba declared. "You're wasting my time, don't you see that sooner or later you're going to lose, just admit that you stole those cards already…"

Joseph ignored him, he refused to respond, to even acknowledge that as he drew his next card.

[Cyber Jar]

"I play a monster face down and end my turn!" He said.

"That's it… nothing else, you've been at my academy for this long, you've averaged a score of B- during your first quarterly report, and 'this' is the best you can do?" Kaiba asked him. "Well, if you want to be expelled then fine by me, I draw! Now Chaos Emperor Dragon, attack his monster now!"

Once more Chaos Emperor Dragon roared and unleashed its draconic fury upon Joseph's monster, who flipped over and began absorbing the attack, as well as everything else on the field.

Joseph smirked for the first time. "You did it now, you activated Cyber Jar's special ability, so all monsters on the field are automatically destroyed!"

For once Kaiba actually grimaced as his two Dragons roared in anger as they were pulled into Cyber Jar's inescapable form, and then exploded. Joseph meanwhile was looking relieved as Cyber Jar's second effect took hold.

"Now we both draw five cards, and special summon any level four or below monsters we pick up to the field, the rest we keep!"

Kaiba wordlessly drew his five cards and declared, "I summon two monsters, Lord of Dragons and Kaiser Sea Horse!"

From the field on Kaiba's side, a draconic lord and an aquatic warrior in metal armor rose up to stand before him.

[Kaiser Sea Horse, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Sea Serpent Type, Effect Monster, 1700 Atk / 1650 Def]

[Lord of Dragon, lvl 4, Dark Attribute, Spellcaster Type, Effect Monster, 1200 Atk / 1100 Def]

As for Joseph, he drew his cards and smiled, as the plan was coming together. "I summon out, Cyber Dragon Drei, and Cyber Dragon Vier!"

Everyone was surprised as soon as those two monsters hit the field, two mechanical serpentine monsters each with triangular heads that roared and snarled upon hitting the field.

[Cyber Dragon Drei, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1800 Atk / 800 Def]

[Cyber Dragon Vier, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1100 Atk / 1600 Def]

Both Cyber Dragons roared in defiance, before Vier curled up and vanished as its card was played in face down defense mode, only being revealed because of Cyber Jar's effect.

In the stands however, Syrus and the others look to Zane in shock that he'd given a couple of his Cyber Dragons to Joseph to use.

"Big bro, you gave him your Cyber Dragons, when did that happen?" Syrus asked him, speechless that his brother would do that.

"Just before he was called in, I pulled Joseph aside to give him my cards." Zane said quietly. "I knew Joseph wouldn't stand a chance, even with your cards, so I gave him a few of mine to help him out, and together we came up with a strategy… a strategy that involved him getting his Dragonmaids as late as possible. It was the only hope he had of winning with the deck he had against a duelist of Kaiba's level."

=Flashback=

"Wait, you want me to 'avoid' using my Dragonmaids?" Joseph asked him in disbelief. "But they're my best cards Zane, why wait to use them against someone like Kaiba?"

"I'm not saying avoid using them, I'm saying use them 'last'." Zane clarified. "Joseph, with my cards included, your deck is now almost half based on cards from your friends and the other half cards you own, your whole deck's strategy has been thrown out the window. So, you need to use a new strategy, this is something I came up with but it will work if you play your cards right."

Zane held up the cards he and the others had given him. "None of these cards, none of them are a match for Kaiba's deck, his monsters are too powerful, even your maids will struggle if he decides to get serious right off the bat. But what they 'can' do is delay him, stall him out, force him to waste his best cards on 'us' and keep your maids protected. Our cards will act as the vanguard and hold the line until you're ready. When the time's right, use your maids to their full potential and bring him down in one fell swoop. Until you have your maids in position, let our cards hold the line for you. Then hit him with everything your maids got!"

=Flashback end=

"Alright Joseph, just hang in there a little longer, your monsters are almost in position, just like I said… just a few more turns are all you need to last." Zane said quietly as his monsters now took the field to stand between Joseph and Kaiba's beasts.

Back on the field Joseph looked at the remaining four cards he'd kept Amorphous Barrier, Dragonmaid Lorpar, Dragonmaid Hospitality and Power Bond.

"Hmpf, so you saved yourself, this battle phase is over, but this duel is going on, I activate my magic card Monster Reincarnation, this lets me discard one card to bring a monster from my graveyard back to my hand, and I choose my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba declared as he played the card, discarding what looked like Flute of Summoning Dragon, and adding Blue Eyes to his hand. "Next, I activate polymerization, fusing the three Blue Eyes White Dragons in my hand… into my ultimate monster!"

Joseph again felt a spark of fear as he watched four cards emerge on the field, the three Blue Eyes White Dragons, and then the Polymerization card, knowing full well that what was about to happen meant that Kaiba was 'done' messing around with him. He was going to hit him with everything he had one way or another. He watched as all three dragons emerged together to become the ultimate monster of destruction, the three headed, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"Now you're going to feel my wrath, you have wasted enough of my time you lying punk, nobody wastes Seto Kaiba's time without getting away with it, I fuse my three Blue Eyes into my ULTIMATE monster… come forth, BLUE EYES, ULTIMATE DRAGON!"

The fusion was completed, and the three heads of the Blue Eyes roared in suppressed fury and devastating power at Joseph, its supreme power undeniable and its sheer strength overpowering.

[Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, lvl 12, Light Attribute, Dragon Type, Fusion Normal Monster, 4500 Atk / 3800 Def]

All three heads roared as its tail swayed back and forth, with Joseph gulping nervously as his Cyber Dragon roared back, but its roar looked feeble in comparison.

"I play one card face down, your move… but make it last, this won't be much longer."

Joseph glanced at his deck and drew his next card, [Cyber Dragon Zwei]

"I summon Cyber Dragon Zwei into attack mode!"

On the field the third Cyber Dragon that Zane loaned him appeared, snaking upward and roaring at the ultimate monster before him.

[Cyber Dragon Zwei, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1000 Def]

"Now I flip over my face down monster, Cyber Dragon Vier! When this monster is on the field, all monsters on the field named Cyber Dragon gain five hundred attack and defense points, and while it and Cyber Dragon Drei are on the field or grave, they are considered Cyber Dragon."

Cyber Dragon Vier appeared on the field between its fellows, and all three roared in unison.

[Cyber Dragon Drei, 1800 Atk / 800 Def – 2300 Atk / 1300 Def]

[Cyber Dragon Vier, 1100 Atk / 1600 Def – 1600 Atk / 2100 Def]

"And now I activate Cyber Dragon Zwei's effect, I can reveal one magic card in my hand, and then its name becomes Cyber Dragon for this turn. I reveal, Power Bond!"

[Cyber Dragon Zwei – Name changed (Cyber Dragon)

[Cyber Dragon Zwei, 1500 Atk / 1000 Def – 2000 Atk / 1500 Def]

"No way… you actually gave him…" Syrus asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I did… you didn't think I'd let a duelist like Joseph, your best friend little bro, get expelled without doing something to help?" Zane said with a smile. "Now Joseph, all the pieces are in place, if you can pull this off, you won't need your maids to fight, you can win this duel here and now!"

Back on the field Joseph looked at the magic card he'd been given, its risk was huge, he had zero life points to spare… if he didn't win with this combo… but it was his best shot yet, Zane's ultimate monster had all the power he needed to win right here and now. "I play the magic card Power Bond, fusing all 'three' of my Cyber Dragons together to form… the Cyber End Dragon!"

All three dragons roared as they were pulled together into a swirling mass of energy, and from it emerged the most powerful monster Zane had at his disposal, the three headed, mechanical, Cyber End Dragon. It roared onto the field and matched Blue Eyes' head for head, point for point practically. Both beasts roared in defiance and challenged each other before the actual battle took place.

[Cyber End Dragon, lvl 10, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Fusion Monster, 4000 Atk / 2800 Def]

Joseph felt all of his fear, all of his worry go down the drain as Zane's ultimate monster now stood before him, a sword 'and' a shield, a powerful force to both act as his saving grace and his protective barrier to keep him from being expelled. He knew Zane was entrusting him with his monster in this duel, and he was truly grateful that Zane considered him friend enough to entrust his best card with him. For a moment, it almost felt like Zane was standing beside him, carrying out the same combo in the same manner that he would bring out that monster for him.

"Thanks for the help, Zane… now I'll try to win this duel here and now." He muttered as he looked and saw 'three' face downs still.

It was a risk, but he had to take it, he couldn't hesitate, now that Power Bond was in effect, it was either he blew up Kaiba here and now, or he'd lose and be expelled due to Power Bond's effect.

"I initiate the battle phase; Cyber End Dragon attack his Lord of Dragons NOW!" He yelled.

All three of Cyber End Dragons heads gathered their power, and launched it at Lord of Dragons, who watched the attack come his way.

"And just so you know Kaiba, when Power Bond is used to fusion summon a machine type monster, the monster's original attack points are DOUBLED!"

[Cyber End Dragon, 4000 Atk / 2800 Def – 8000 Atk / 2800 Def]

For a single moment, Kaiba's eyes went 'wide' in surprise as the ferocity of the attack doubled, and for a moment it looked like Joseph had 'won' the duel.

The attack slammed into Lord of D and there was a huge explosion, Joseph standing there hoping it connected… but as the smoke cleared Lord of Dragons still stood, and a magic card was flipped up in front of it.

[De-Fusion]

Joseph went wide eyed as he turned around and saw that his mighty monster given to him by Zane to use, was gone… and in its place, three Cyber Dragons stood there, each in attack mode.

[Cyber Dragon Drei, Lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1800 Atk / 800 Def]

[Cyber Dragon Vier, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1100 Atk / 1600 Def]

[Cyber Dragon Zwei, lvl 4, Light Attribute, Machine Type, Effect Monster, 1500 Atk / 1000 Def]

"I have to admit, that was 'impressive' for a novice… you did something that surprised me…" Kaiba said quietly. "That magic card was intended for my own Dragon, but you did something that I was not expecting to do, you forced me to change my strategy." However, he did not look, or sound impressed, he sounded cold and calculating. "So, congratulations… you now have my 'full' attention."

"Guh… it's… its STILL My battle phase, so now I attack with my Cyber Dragon Drei against your Kaiser Sea Horse, he still gets a power boost thanks to Vier's effect!"

[Cyber Dragon Drei, 1800 Atk / 800 Def – 2300 Atk / 1300 Def]

Cyber Dragon Drei launched a blast of plasma energy at the opposing monster who tried to shield itself but was obliterated regardless.

[Seto Kaiba – 4500 / Joseph Takara – 2000]

"Now I'll attack with Cyber Dragon Zwei, and when Zwei attacks a monster, its attack power goes up by 300!"

[Cyber Dragon Zwei, 1500 Atk / 1000 Def – 1800 Atk / 1000 Def]

"Attack his lord of dragons!"

Zwei obeyed, launching its own plasma blast at the monster who shielded itself but was still destroyed.

[Seto Kaiba – 3900 / Joseph Takara – 2000]

"With that… I play one card face down and end my turn…" Joseph muttered nervously.

Kaiba drew his card and declared, "I attack, with my Ultimate Dragon, this duel is going to end sooner or later, now ATTACK!"

Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon roared as all three heads gathered power to attack and launched it against his Cyber Dragons who had no hope of surviving without help.

"I play my trap card, Amorphous Barrier. If I have three monsters on the field when you attack, I can activate this trap and stop your attack, ending the battle phase automatically."

Several rods of an unknown material appeared and created a protective barrier that absorbed the Neutron Blast attack of the Ultimate Dragon, and only dissipated when the attack was over, and the battle phase had eneded. Kaiba was now looking visibly frustrated.

"Fine… you get to last another turn… make your move."

Back in the stands everyone watched nervously as Jospeh drew his next card, looking worried as he stared down the Ultimate Dragon 'still' on the field.

"He can still win this right?" Chumley asked.

"I don't know, but the cards we gave him have lasted as long as they could, its now up to Joseph's maids, if he can get them on the field then he may just stand a chance." Bastion said.

"Grrr COME ON JOSEPH WHAT ARE YOU WAITING ON!?" Chazz hollered now, screaming in frustration. "Stop wasting everyone's time and bring out those maids of yours, is this REALLY the guy who beat me, are you 'really' the best Duel Academy had to offer in the school duel?"

Joseph glanced over at Chazz now.

"Yea that's right, its me, The Chazz talking, and I have to say this is absolutely pathetic of you Joseph, I can't believe that someone like 'you' could beat the likes of 'me' not once, twice but THREE times, and you have the 'guts' to think your better than me? You should just forfeit right now and get it over with, hop on the next boat off this island so 'I' can take your place as the top Freshman here."

"Or you can man up, stop acting afraid of some big giant three headed dragon, and show Kaiba what you REALLY made of! You've got a deck made up of cards your friends all gave you, what have you got to fear against Kaiba, he's alone and there's five of us with you! So go ahead, prove me wrong, prove me wrong right here and now! Get up and show this rich guy what your made of!"

"Chazz, was that really needed?" Alexis demanded. "He's already pushing himself hard enough, you don't need to belittle-"

Zane silenced her with a touch on her shoulder, causing her to look back at him and then back to Joseph, who was smirking and nodded in understanding.

Joseph smiled to himself, Chazz sure had his way of motivating him, but he was right, what did he have to fear from Kaiba, he had his friends backing him up, all of them were helping him through the cards they'd lent him, Chumley's Koalas, as weak and fluffy as they were still stood between him and Kaiba's. Alexis' Cyber Angel led the charge into battle for him, Syrus vehicroids swooped in and helped where they could, Bastion's cards played their parts however he needed them. And Zane's, well his Cyber Dragons may not have defeated Kaiba, but they 'still' stood between him and Kaiba, acting as both sword and shield.

All of them were there to achieve one goal, working together to accomplish the goal of keeping him from being expelled from Duel Academy.

Now it was his turn to show them he was not afraid as he looked at his next card. [Dragonmaid Ernus]

"Alright I switch all of my Cyber Dragons into defense mode and end my turn." He declared.

Kaiba nodded as he drew his next card, looked at it and declared, "I play the magic card, Neutron Blast! Now my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon can wage three separate attacks this turn, and you aren't permitted to activate any card effects until the end of the damage step, now go Ultimate Dragon, Neutron Blast, wipe out all 'three' of his Cyber Dragons!"

Ultimate Dragon roared in fury as all three of its heads launched a separate attack at each of the Cyber Dragons, who responded in kind with their own plasma bursts, but each attack was pushed back and each Cyber Dragon was destroyed. The only saving grace, they were in defense mode.

"With that I end my turn, make your 'final' move… because this duel is 'over'."

Joseph sighed as he now stood alone… but as he drew his next card, he felt four separate sets of claws holding onto his shoulders and arms, and glanced to see Lorpar, Nudyarl, Tinkech and Ernus smiling lovingly and warmly at him. Even though his friend's monsters had been taken away from him, he was still not alone, he was 'never' alone.

As one they all nodded in unison, and he looked to see the card he'd drawn was [Kitchen Dragonmaid]

"Alright… I've waited as long as I could, now… let's bring this duel to an end… for the last time Kaiba I am NOT a thief, I did not steal my cards, and now you're going to face them 'ALL' together. I play the Kitchen Dragonmaid in attack mode!"

The stadium erupted in cheers as the 'first' of the maids finally hit the field, Kitchen erupted onto the field in attack mode with a proud smile and a proud grin as she emerged from her crimson pillar of draconic flame.

'Master, give me your command, let's teach Kaiba what happens when someone tries to separate us from you!'

[Kitchen Dragonmaid, lvl 3, Fire Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1700 Def]

"When she hits the field, I can take a Dragonmaid monster from my deck, add it to my hand and then discard another Dragonmaid monster. And I choose to add, Nurse Dragonmaid!"

Kitchen nodded, turned and blasted his duel disk with her signature energy to extract Nurse for him.

"Now I discard Parlor to the graveyard, to keep Nurse, next I activate Dragonmaid Ernus' effect, by discarding her I can special summon a Dragonmaid from my hand to the field, and I choose 'Nurse' Dragonmaid!"

On the field a pastel pillar of draconic flame erupted to signal the arrival of the 'second' of Joseph's Dragonmaids, Nurse appeared with a humble but determined bow.

'I am at your service master, now and forever, what do you wish of me~!'

[Nurse Dragonmaid, lvl 2, Earth Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"I activate your effect now, special summon to my field Parlor Dragonmaid into attack mode!"

Nurse dutifully nodded as she aimed her powers at his duel disk, and then called out Parlor in her signature emerald green draconic pillar of flame, signaling the arrival of the 'third' Dragonmaid.

Parlor appeared with a smirk as her tail waved slightly.

'From the ashes of defeat comes my master's victory, let's show him what we're 'maid' of!'

[Parlor Dragonmaid, lvl 3, Wind Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1700 Def]

"I activate Parlor's effect now, allowing me to send a Dragonmaid card to the grave, and I choose to send the Dragonmaid Tidying trap card!"

Parlor nodded as she turned and blasted his duel disk with her power, extracting the card and sending it to the graveyard.

"Now I activate the Dragonmaid Hospitality card in my hand, allowing me to special summon to my field a Dragonmaid from my hand or graveyard to the field and then send another Dragonmaid with the same attribute but different level to my grave from my deck, and I choose to bring out Laundry Dragonmaid! And I send Nudyarl to the grave now."

The school erupted into cheers as the 'fourth' Dragonmaid appeared in a pillar of azure blue draconic flame, Laundry knelt before Joseph, tail raised high and growling cutely as she prepared for battle.

'We'll never leave our master, not no way, not no how, we fight as one!'

[Laundry Dragonmaid, lvl 2, Water Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1600 Def]

"Now I activate laundry's effect, allowing me to send the top three cards from my deck to the grave, do your stuff girl!"

She nodded, turned and blasted his duel disk, revealing the top three cards being sent to the grave were, [Chamber Dragonmaid, Dragon Shrine, Dragon Rage]

"I activate the Dragonmaid Tidying Trap Card, by banishing it I can call upon a Dragonmaid from my hand or grave and special summon her to the field, so I call upon Chamber Dragonmaid!"

In a pillar of black draconic flame, the fifth Dragonmaid revealed herself with a smug grin and a twirl of her feather duster.

'Well well, this is 'most' entertaining, such a mighty beast… it will be very difficult to defeat it, but if our master wills it, we shall make it happen. As he wills it my sisters and I in Dragonmaid-hood, will ensure our master's wish be carried out.'

[Chamber Dragonmaid, lvl 4, Dark Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 500 Atk / 1800 Def]

"And now that she's hit the field, I activate her effect, she can bring out a Dragonmaid magic or trap card from my deck to the hand, and I choose Dragonmaid Changeover!"

She nodded and without even looking back, blasted his duel disk with her signature energy, extracting the card he desired for him.

"Now I activate my Dragonmaid Changeover spell card, by fusing my Dragonmaids together to create a new monster, I fuse Chamber Dragonmaid and Dragonmaid Lorpar 'still' in my hand to bring out the one and only…"

Chamber nodded as she closed her eyes and was wrapped up in a pillar of draconic fire made of crimson, white and black flames. It swirled around her in a vortex that took on the terrifying visage of a dragon that roared its defiance and might to the school as a whole, a pair of glowing menacing eyes was all that could be seen in the swirling pillar that gazed upon Kaiba, who only watched unflinchingly.

"I fusion summon, House Dragonmaid!"

House Dragonmaid appeared as she flung her arms out, dissipating the flames as she humbly smiled and clasped her arms before her, her wings curled up as she stared at Kaiba's ultimate monster, unafraid and with calm determination. With that final display, the sixth and final Dragonmaid had made her appearance.

[House Dragonmaid, lvl 9, Light Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Fusion Monster, 3000 Atk / 2000 Def]

Everyone was going ballistic as Joseph pulled out the largest summon of his dueling career at Duel Academy in one turn. In just one turn, he'd pulled out 'all six' of his Dragonmaids, with their Dragon forms in the graveyard to boot.

"He did it, he did it!" Crowler cheered from the staff room.

"That's the Joseph we've been waiting on!" Chazz screamed finally. "About damn time too! I mean, it took him long enough is all I'm saying… how dare he make us wait this long."

"Now we're talking, the plan came together perfectly." Zane said with a grin.

"Alright, this is the big break he needed, not even Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon can take on the full might of Joseph's Dragonmaids." Alexis cheered.

"Bring it to him Jo!" Chumley cheered.

"Come on Joseph, you've played as best you can, now finish strong!" Bastion cheered as well.

"Do it Jo, take it to him! Ride the wings of Slifer Victory!" Syrus chanted.

Kaiba however, looked unconcerned even as all five of the maids prepared to go into their dragon forms.

But Joseph, now that he had his family beside him, now that they were all there, he was no longer afraid of Kaiba, no matter what he had planned, no matter what cards he had face down, Joseph was not afraid anymore. His Dragonmaids came to him, they wanted to stay with him, and he was not going to let anyone separate them.

"You called me a thief for stealing these cards Kaiba, but I am 'not' a thief, I never stole these cards… I found them, they came to me, I know you probably don't think that's true, but it is. So, if you really want to separate them from me, take them away from me… do your best now that they're all together on the field with me. I initiate the battle phase!" He declared proudly. "Dragonmaids, TRANSFORM!"

As one, his maids nodded and four of them glowed, grew, and emerged into their true Dragon forms of Ernus, Tinkech, Lorpar and Nudyarl with House standing in between all of them as herself.

[Dragonmaid Lorpar, lvl 8, Wind Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def]

[Dragonmaid Nudyarl, lvl 7, Water Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2600 Atk / 1600 Def]

[Dragonmaid Ernus, lvl 7, Earth Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2600 Atk / 1600 Def]

[Dragonmaid Tinkech, lvl 8, Fire Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def]

"And don't forget Kaiba, Dragonmaid WELCOME is still in play, so even though this is the first time my maids have hit the field, they 'still' get a bonus for each maid, I count five, so each get a five-hundred-point boost!

[Dragonmaids Lorpar/Tinkech, 2700 Atk / 1700 Def – 3200 Atk / 2200 Def]

[Dragonmaids Ernus/Nudyarl, 2600 Atk / 1600 Def – 3100 Atk / 2100 Def]

[House Dragonmaid, 3000 Atk / 2000 Def – 3500 Atk / 2500 Def]

"Lest I also forget, when a dragon returns to my hand, House Dragonmaid can wipe out as many monsters as you have equal to the number of dragons that returned to my hand, and I counted '4' but you have only one, do your thing House!"

House nodded and gathered a massive ball of draconic energy,

Then just as she launched it, Kaiba 'smirked', "I activate my face down card, Enemy Controller!"

At long last, one of the two face down cards Kaiba played on his very first turn flipped up and revealed itself as one of his signature cards, Enemy Controller.

Joseph and all of his Dragonmaids went wide eyed at the appearance of that card.

"Now I can activate this card's effects, now for the price of paying one monster on my side as a tribute, I can enter this command! So goodbye Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba declared as his ultimate monster vanished. "Now I enter the command, Left Right A B!"

The controller's buttons were pushed in the order, and then a wire extended and connected to House Dragonmaid, who looked in confusion as it strapped to her arm, but then she was dragged forward with a struggle.

"Now your monster belongs to me!"

Joseph and his maids looked in horror as House was forced to turn around, despite her attempts to resist, she struggled against the card's effects.

"With one less maid, your monsters lose their points, and your Housemaid goes down since she's no longer on your side of the field."

[Dragonmaids Lorpar/Tinkech, 3200 Atk / 2200 Def – 3100 Atk / 2100 Def]

[Dragonmaids Ernus/Nudyarl, 3100 Atk / 2100 Def – 3000 Atk / 2000 Def]

[House Dragonmaid, 3500 Atk / 2500 Def – 3000 Atk / 2000 Def]

Joseph looked worried as he'd lost House, but he still had '4' maids on the field that he could use for battle, this was his best chance still, he had to attack, he HAD to attack, he couldn't give Kaiba another turn, if he did then he was doomed.

"I… I attack anyway, Tinkech destroy House with your Crimson Draconic flame!" He ordered.

But in the stands Zane saw what was going on, he knew there was only '1' reason for Kaiba to wait so long to play that face down, because those 2 cards were meant to destroy his Dragonmaids in one fell swoop. That was why he waited this long to trigger them when he had ample opportunity to activate them before.

"NO JOSEPH, CALL OFF YOUR ATTACK!" Zane screamed as loud as he could.

But it was too late, Tinkech had already obeyed the order and launched her assault, House held out her arms to absorb the attack, looking like she 'wanted' to be destroyed, but the other face down card now flipped up, revealing itself to be a trap card.

[Mirror Force]

Kaiba smiled. "Too bad… you activated my trap card… now your monsters are all destroyed." He said smugly.

The mirror launched his attack back at all of his monsters, who screamed in fear as they were all hit by the powerful force, in a cascade of draconic flame and power… Joseph was left alone, as all of them were destroyed in one fell swoop.

He shielded himself from the blast and bright lights, but when he turned and looked, he was shocked to see that only House stood before him, but on the opposite field, with Kaiba looking thoroughly unimpressed with his actions.

"No… not my Dragonmaids…" He whispered fearfully, his courage fading as they were all gone.

Kaiba however was waiting expectantly. "Well, is that all, are you done yet, would you like to beg for mercy?" He asked. "This is your last chance I'm offering, if you admit you're a thief and you-"

"I'M NOT A THIEF!" He screamed. "For the last time… don't call me a thief… I didn't steal them; I didn't take them… I found them. Now I end my turn, do your worst Kaiba, but you will 'never' get me to admit to something that I am not!"

Kaiba frowned as he nodded, and House returned over to Joseph's side, the effect of Enemy Controller ending. He drew his card and said, "Well… you had your shot, you had your chance, but it's over." He declared. "I play the magic card, Soul Release, now I can pick one of our graveyards and remove up to five cards, so I choose to remove, my Chaos Emperor Dragon, my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and all 'three' of my Blue Eyes White Dragons! Next, I play Mystical Space Typhoon to remove your Dragonmaid Welcome spell card from the field."

Joseph watched as a swirling vortex appeared above them and 5 cards were pulled into it, then a typhoon appeared and wiped out his magic card, removing its effects and reducing House to her standard stats.

[House Dragonmaid, 3100 Atk / 2100 Def – 3000 Atk / 2000 Def]

"Now I play my final magic card, Different Dimension Fusion, now I pay the price of 2000 of my own life points to activate its effects!" Kaiba declared as he played his final magic card in his hand.

[Seto Kaiba – 1900 / Joseph Takara – 2000]

"Now then due to the effect of this magic card, we both can special summon as many monsters as possible to our field that have been removed from the game!" Kaiba declared as he pulled 5 monsters out and laid each of them onto the duel disk in quick succession.

[Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, lvl 12, Light Attribute, Dragon Type, Fusion Normal Monster, 4500 Atk / 3800 Def]

[Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End, lvl 8, Dark Attribute, Dragon Type, Effect Monster, 3000 Atk, 2500 Def]

[Blue Eyes White Dragon, lvl 8, Light Attribute, Dragon Type, Normal Monster, 3000 Atk / 2500 Def x 3]

All five of Kaiba's dragons appeared in flashes of light as they roared at him, and Joseph and House could only stare in shock as he brought all the monsters, he'd spent so much effort trying to defeat in one fell swoop.

But for Joseph, all he could see… was the inevitable. He had no cards left on his field to help House Dragonmaid, no Tidying to bring out another maid, no way to protect himself from harm. That was it… it was over… he'd lost… all his work, all of his effort and his friend's best attempts…

"Any last words before I end this duel?" Kaiba asked as his Dragons took up formation.

In the stands, Zane looked sadly as he saw the look in Joseph's eyes, he knew the duel was over, not 'just' based on the monsters, but by how Joseph's eyes looked. "It's over… the duel's finished…"

"No, there must be something he can…" Alexis tried to say but Zane shook his head.

"No there isn't… Joseph's spirit has been broken, look at his eyes…" He whispered quietly. "He's lost the will to continue. Look at him…"

As one his friends looked and saw what he meant, Joseph's arms were hanging, his eyes had lost their color, his mouth hung open slightly but, it was in the expression of a frown.

"But… he can't lose… if he loses…" Syrus said, before everyone watched as Joseph slowly raised his duel disk up, and shakily… moved to put his hand over hid dueling deck.

But it looked like it was 'struggling' to reach it, as to everyone but 'Chazz', it seemed like he was trying to resist putting it there. Chazz however, watched as four draconic 'spirits' were struggling to keep his hand from touching the deck, straining and pleading with Joseph to not do it.

'No mater PLEASE don't surrender!' Tinkech begged.

'Don't do it master, we-we can still do something!' Nudyarl pleaded.

'It's not over, we can still fight, we still have House!' Ernus moaned sadly.

'Don't give up yet, we're still in this, we still have a few points we can…' Lorpar tried to beg, but House seemed to glance back at them, and they glanced at her.

She shook her head ever so slightly, so little that nobody else noticed, but the Dragonmaids looked tearfully at her, before nodding sadly, regretfully letting go and allowing their master's hand to finally make contact with the deck.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he watched Joseph put his hand on the deck, the universal signal of a duelist 'surrendering' the duel.

"So, you're going to turn tail at the last moment, instead of letting me finish you off like a coward?" He asked him.

"Call me… whatever you want, but I won't… I won't let my last moments here… at Duel Academy, be one where my fellow students see my Dragonmaids wiped out by you." He whispered quietly, tears straining to fall. "I'd rather leave… with my last Dragonmaid, standing defiantly against all of your strongest monsters… knowing I did my best… my very best, to the last moment, fighting… to stay here. No matter what you say about me, I'll never… admit that I'm a thief, so go ahead and expel me for something I didn't do, but I won't admit to it just to stay here!"

House stood defiantly before him, not looking afraid as she stared off against all of Kaiba's dragons. Even as the holograms began to vanish, she refused to lose that look of defiance.

"Hmpf, fine."

[Seto Kaiba – 1900 / Joseph Takara – Surrendered]

When the holograms vanished, Joseph began to put his cards back into his deck, feeling dejected as he knew his duel academy days were over now, even as his friends stormed the duel field.

"Joseph!"

"It's okay man, it's okay, you did well, there's no shame in losing…"

"Yea bro, hang in there, y-you don't have to leave!"

"Come on Jo, say something!"

He looked up at his friends, smiled apologetically as he tried to put on a brave face, but as he spoke his words were full of tears. "Hey guys… guess… that's it, I did my best… but it's over."

"No… NO you are 'NOT' leaving here!" Alexis said as she walked forward and pulled out her deck now. "I don't care what you say Seto Kaiba, as far as I'm concerned Joseph stays here, he's not a thief, he's no criminal, so he has NO reason to be expelled! I don't believe a word about your accusation of him, he's my friend and there's no way he'd lie about that. So, if you want to kick him out, you're going to have to duel ME to make him leave!"

"Y-yea, what she said, you… you want to throw Joseph out, th-then I'll duel to keep him here!" Chumley said as he drew his deck now, but he looked way more nervous as he spoke those words. "I don't care if I lose but you won't kick my bud out without a fight."

"Yea, he stays, and if you want to get to him then you have to go through me!" Syrus also declared.

"I've studied your dueling deck, and sure I may not have a way to win but that doesn't mean I won't try to find a way, if it keeps Joseph here then I'll take you on!" Bastion also said.

"Yea right, only the Chazz deserves to take on a rich boy like Kaiba, you want to take him down, nobody takes Joseph down but 'me'!" Chazz declared now.

"That's enough of that, all of you… don't you see your making this harder than it needs to be." Zane said as he walked forward. "Joseph… I know it isn't appropriate, but do you think I could take my cards back?"

"Bro, are you serious, right now you want to ask for your cards back?" Syrus asked in disbelief as he couldn't believe his brother would just so casually ask Joseph to return his cards, right after losing his chance to stay here.

"Yea… sure…" Joseph said quietly as he pulled his deck out, searched for the cards, and then handed them to Zane. "Here… sorry I couldn't…"

"That's alright, you fought your hardest, you have nothing to be ashamed of." Zane said in understanding as he took back his Cyber Dragons and Power Bond. "Besides… if 'anyone' is going to be dueling Kaiba to keep you here, it's going to be ME!"

Zane stepped forward with his academy issued duel disk in hand, a look of fierce determination on his face.

"I am Duel Academy's top student, and the strongest duelist here, if 'anyone' is going to have a chance to defeat you and keep Joseph from leaving it is 'me'. So, you might as well shuffle your deck again Seto Kaiba, because Joseph stays here no matter what. No best friend of my little brother is going to be pushed around while 'I'm' here!"

Kaiba almost looked like he was growing irritated as he watched all of Joseph's friends standing up for him.

"If you all think you can intimidate me you have another thing coming, now unless you want your days here to be over, I suggest you all back off and go back to your seats, because this doesn't concern ANY of you!" He ordered them.

"I already told you, Joseph is staying here, you can call him whatever you want but he is no thief, he is not leaving and that is 'final'." Zane said, but Joseph stopped him with a top on his shoulder and a shake of his head.

"It's alright guys… a deal's a deal… I appreciate it… I really, really do… but I made a deal with Kaiba, and I'm going to honor it." He muttered. "I said I'd duel him, and if I lose… well, now I have to keep my end of the bargain." He then smiled as warmly as he could, knowing that this was the last time he'd be seeing them. "Thank you all… it's been a blast, wish it could have gone on longer but… what can you do huh?"

"Joseph…" Alexis whispered as he handed each of their cards back to them, before turning around and slowly walking away.

He walked past Kaiba who had his arms crossed and watching him uncaringly.

He got about ten steps before Kaiba said, "And who said anything about you being 'expelled' if you lost the duel?"

He stopped at those words and turned to look back.

"But I thought you said…"

Kaiba turned and looked at him, to say "I said this duel would tell me exactly what I needed to know to determine your fate, I never said it would result in you being expelled if you lost." He clarified before he beckoned him to follow. "Walk with me, we have much to discuss."

As he walked away his friends followed suit, and Kaiba looked 'annoyed' at them. "I thought I told you all that this doesn't concern any of you, return to your seats!"

"We're his friends, we're sticking with him, after how you treated him this duel, we're not leaving him alone with you for anything." Alexis said, moving to stand beside Joseph.

Seeing as none of his other friends were going to leave, Kaiba rolled his eyes and said, "Great, another one… fine but don't interrupt me from here on out, I don't have time to waste explaining things." And proceeded to walk on.

They walked up to Chancellor Shepard's office and there Kaiba was joined by Rolan with a computer for him. Upon entering the first thing Kaiba asked for was to see Joseph's Duel Disk, and only his duel disk. Joseph agreed and handed it over.

"As the President of Kaiba Corp, I'm obligated to inform you that your duel disk is still under warranty, if for any reason it is damaged while in 'my' care, I am legally required to replace it no matter how minor the damage is." He declared as he flipped open his computer screen and connected it to the duel disk via some cables.

He nodded and watched as Kaiba looked over a few things, brought up some screens, typed in commands and furrowed his brow as he looked at stuff. After a few minutes he nodded, closed the computer, and returned the duel disk to him.

"Uh… was something wrong with it?"

"Yes, there was a 'minor' glitch with the life point counter, it was showing a 0.6 second delay in terms of how long it takes for the counter to update, other than that, everything is working 'perfectly'. Rest assured I've fixed the issue." Kaiba declared. "Rolan, I want a complete list of everyone who worked on this duel disk, including all of the parts that were used, and I want it by the time we get back."

"Yes sir Mr. Kaiba." Rolan said and left the room.

"Uh…" Joseph began to say but Kaiba interrupted him.

"Kaiba Corp's products should 'not' leave with defective equipment; I don't tolerate even the slightest issue." He said. "Now, as for what happened earlier, I apologize for how I treated you, however I had to be sure of a few things regarding you and your duel cards, specifically your Dragonmaids. You see Joseph, as I told you, you're the son of the CEO of the Dragtech Corporation, one Phillip Masuta."

At that everyone looked to Joseph in surprise, wondering why he never mentioned 'that' fact about himself.

"He's not my father, despite what you say he's nothing to me, I don't want anything to do with him 'or' his company." Joseph said sternly.

"Like it or not he's your father, so you can understand why I reacted the way I did, you see Joseph, he recently told me that a certain 'student' had stolen a card from his collection, a certain Dragonmaid… your House Dragonmaid card."

"Wh… why would he?"

"Because you see, there's a legal loophole regarding that company and it involves that card. While I have managed to acquire 49% of that company, your father owns the other 49%, leaving 2% of the company up for grabs. That 2% is tied to that card, whoever owns that card is legally in ownership of 2% of the Dragtech Corporation. Despite my best attempts to buy it out, without that 2% the only thing I can do is put Dragtech under partnership with Kaiba Corp, they do what I ask, provided I don't overstep my limits."

A knock on the door sounded, and Sheou walked in, humbly bowed and said, "I apologize for my appearance, but I was told Joseph was up here… I hope you don't mind if I stay by his side?" She asked warmly.

Kaiba looked at her with a glare before nodding, and she walked over to stand behind Joseph.

"In any case, my guess is that your father thought you took the card, and now he wants it back, so he figured I'd do the dirty work for him. Getting you out of this school and reclaiming that card for him… and I don't like it when someone tries to use 'me'." He said. "As long as you own that card… you have 2% of a company's ownership, but your father isn't the 'real' CEO, he's just a figurehead, he's only in charge because the true CEO grants him ownership of those stocks and lets him run the show. I'm here because this whole incident has put our agreement in danger."

"So… who 'is' the real CEO of Dragtech?" Syrus asked.

Kaiba was quiet as he glanced at them all, Sheou taking the time to walk over and quickly pour a few glasses of water for everyone, muttering how, "Everyone is probably thirsty after such a long duel." Before he replied, "I am not at liberty to tell you, but rest assured it's not your father Joseph."

He stepped over to Joseph and offered his hand in a handshake, which Joseph accepted, and said "You have my sincerest apology, as an offering of my apologies for how I treated you today, I will grant you any request if its within my power."

"Whoa 'anything'?" Joseph asked in shock.

"Anything, if its within my power that is." Kaiba reiterated.

"Oh man, imagine what you could ask…" Chumley muttered.

Joseph however, thought about it and, well he wasn't exactly in need of anything, but… he knew what 'could' be done. "Seto Kaiba, can you please… renovate the Slifer Red Dorm? I know we're not the most important dorm and… we're the lowest on the totem pole but… could we at least get our dorm fixed up, so we don't have to deal with roaches, peeling paint and… no air conditioning, as well as the occasional leaky roof, and creaking floor? Please?"

Kaiba looked at him before nodding, "I'll have a construction team sent to fix the dorm tomorrow afternoon. If you'll excuse me… I have an announcement to make to the student body." With that, he left them.

Joseph's friends stayed with him a bit longer, telling him he did well, fought his hardest, they were proud of him and glad he was staying, as well as to talk to him about other things, but after a while they began to leave because Sheou said the café was going to host a party to help drive away all the bad feelings of the day, and asked all of them to go. But Joseph was last to leave as Zane had something he wanted to talk to him about.

"I want you to have these, consider these… a permanent gift from me to you Joseph." Zane said as he handed over three cards.

Joseph looked and saw to his amazement, it was the three Cyber Dragon cards he'd used in the duel, Cyber Dragon Zwei, Vier and Drei!

"But, Zane, these are yours, don't you need them?" He asked.

Zane smiled as he opened his deck and showed off, he had multiple copies of those monsters. "I don't think I'll be in trouble if I don't have them, besides… think of it this way, those maids of yours might need some 'extra' help in duels to come, and for a moment you looked really proud of yourself for bringing them out. So, when you duel again, if you ever find yourself in a tough bind, just know that I'll have your back in a pinch." He said. "My Cyber Dragons and your Dragonmaids are good friends at this point, they'll be the tip of your spear or the broadside of your shield no matter the situation. Think of it as my way of thanking you for helping my little brother out, and for bringing us together as you did. I don't think I ever saw Syrus look so determined to fight someone so very much stronger than himself in my life, he took over a year to stand up to a bully, but for you he stood up to Kaiba in a heartbeat."

Joseph smiled and nodded gratefully, shaking Zane's hand, and thanking him for his gift.

"Shall we head to the café now master?" Sheou asked warmly.

"Yea, let's go celebrate!" He said as he and Zane headed out.

Sheou however, walked slowest, glancing beside her as three different spiritual dragons of cybernetic origin, floated beside Joseph, while on Zane's side were three identical cybernetic dragons, all of them roared in unison as she acknowledged their presence.

What Zane had given Joseph was something worth more than all the money in the world, a gift of true friendship, tied between them via three cards. A gift greater than any he could have hoped for.

Meanwhile, many hours later, Kaiba stood in his office glaring out the window as the door opened and a man walked in.

"Yes sir, you asked for me Mr. Kaiba?"

"Yes… I have a few words to share with you."

"Of course, what is it-" the man began saying, before Kaiba turned around and grabbed him by the collar.

"I do not LIKE when someone tries to use me, get this in your skull quick because I am EXTREMELY thin on my patience at the moment." He yelled furiously. "Did you think I would NOT figure out what your game was?"

"B-but, I have no idea what your…"

"Oh, don't lie to me, it doesn't suit a fat pig like yourself, did you think you could get me to solve 'your' problems for you?" Kaiba said as he flung him forward onto the ground. "You informed me of a thief who stole your card, and the suspect was attending Duel Academy, but you neglected to inform me he was your own 'son'. A son you seem to have 'failed' to report you had."

"I… I-"

"And more importantly, you didn't actually have the card 'stolen' from you, just plain lost it. And it just so happened to be in his possession now. I didn't go to Duel Academy just to find out about this thief of yours, I also went to investigate some 'inconsistencies' that I found at Duel Academy. Like the fact that several duel disks were malfunctioning, despite being routinely inspected and checked, at the exact same time. And I noticed a certain flow of money being deposited into the account of one of the employees there that happens to 'also' be in charge of maintaining the test duel disks. Not to mention a few surprise 'bonuses' to key members of the staff who were in charge of security for the island."

Kaiba glared angrily as he glared at Joseph's father lying on the floor before him.

"If you want a problem solved, do it yourself, don't you 'dare' try to get me to solve it for you. Now get out of my office, and if I find out that you have ANYTHING to do with what I said, I'll make sure to throw you out of the window of my office and see just how long it takes for you to hit the bottom! And I don't just mean you'll be removed from your position as CEO of Dragtech…"

His father sneered at him as he slowly got up and walked out, being watched by Kaiba's security to ensure he left.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Master… there is nothing more for me to say… the time has come to face what I hoped would never come. I do not know if you will succeed or fail, but we… your Dragonmaids, will do all we can to protect you, to support you, and ensure your success in this trial."

"For you are the only Master whom we will acknowledge, as our Master, of the Dragonmaids."

=Next Time, Joseph Takara vs Phillip Masuta, Challenge for the Dragonmaids, The Shadow's Lengthen! =

.

.

.

Please review away… I am tired, t his is 24k words long… and I have to work on other chapters now… ganna be a while b4 I come back to this fic, forgive me…

I can only hope you all like it…