Wolfie: I do not own anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh. Just my oc and all alterations I make to the plot in order to add her in. Now please read, review, and I hope you like the book so far.
Chapter 26: Arena of Lost Souls: Part 2
Yuki and the others were all getting extremely worried about Joey now. They had searched everywhere within the section of woods that they were in as much as humanly possible. But no matter how much they searched they came up with nothing as they all made their way to the waterfall that fed into the stream. By now they thought that they would've seen an active duel arena or even just Joey wandering around aimlessly. Instead they found nothing, absolutely nothing as the forest was painfully quiet to where a tree could fall and they'd hear it. Now even though they wouldn't admit it, a few of them were beginning to fear that they can't find Joey was because he lost a duel. They feared that he not only lost a duel but all of his star chips and was then booted off the island before they could help him. As they stood near the stream they were beginning to lose hope, that is until Tea noticed a familiar beige wallet on the ground that they've seen with Joey before.
"Tristan, look." Tea said, gaining said male's attention as she picked up the wallet and opened it as she looked at it.
"Hey, that's Joey's wallet." Tristan said as he recognized the wallet immediately, having seen it with Joey a million times.
"With a picture of his sister Serenity." Tea said as she looked at the picture of Serenity as she had an opened mouth smile and seemed to be wearing what looked like a school uniform.
"Joey would never be careless enough to lose that. His sister means more to him than anything." Tristan said as Yuki, Yugi, and Bakura soon caught up to them whilst Tea closed the wallet. "This is starting to smell like foul play." He added because if it was just a normal duel and possibly being booted off the island then Joey wouldn't have dropped his wallet.
"So then where is he?" Yugi asked as that was honestly something that they all wanted to know.
"Look over there!" Tea exclaimed as she pointed towards the opening of a cave that was nearby.
"A cave. I don't like the look of this." Tristan said with a grim expression before he started jogging over to the cave as Tea followed him.
"You and me both, Tristan." Yuki said as her, Yugi, and Bakura followed after him and Tea a few seconds later.
"What is this place?" Tristan asked as they walked deeper into the cave, only to com,e face to face with two closed coffins.
"Careful! There could be booby traps..." Yuki trailed off as she looked skeptically towards the empty space between the two coffins that led deeper into the cave.
"Paranoid much, big sis?" Yugi asked as he noticed the skeptical look that was on his sister's face as she glanced at him with a sigh and a roll of her eyes.
"What's up with those coffins?" Tea asked which brought the rest of their groups attention to the two coffins.
"Beats me. Who'd leave them just standing here?" Bakura asked as he walked closer to one of the coffins and placed his hand on the lid as she looked at the tall ominous coffin.
"Yeah." Tea said as she came to stand next to Bakura, also looking up at the tall coffin.
"Guys, I don't think you should be touching those things." Yuki stated, getting a bad gut feeling that touching those coffins would not end well at all.
"Be careful." Tristan warned, also feeling like touching those coffins would not end well.
"Don't be silly. It's just a wooden b- uh-." Tea started to say as she approached the second coffin before looking around in confusion as there was a creaking sound.
As the creaking sound began it caused Tea and Bakura to look around in confusion and see the chains hanging above them moving. The movement of the chains caused the coffins to stand up straight, the doors soon swinging open to reveal a skeleton. Tea yelling in fright as the skeleton fell out and landed ontop of her, the same thing happening to Bakura. Both of them running around in a circle, scared out of their minds and freaking out because the skeletons were stuck to them and weren't coming off. All while Yuki, Yugi, and Tristan watched on with sweat drops before they decided to help get the skeleton's off. With Tristan simply punching the skeleton off of Bakura whilst Yuki and Yugi pulled the skeleton off of Tea. The two gaping in shock at the now broken skeletons that now laid on the floor of the cave as they recovered from their bout of panicking. Sure they were just harmless skeletons but that didn't make it any less scary or creepy to have them fall on them. Plus they didn't know if the skeleton's were fake or real, which made it both creepy and possibly so very wrong.
"That Pegasus has sure got a sick sense of humor." Tristan stated with a scowl as he also looked at the two broken skeletons.
"Yeah, he sure does. What a dick..." Yuki said as she crossed her arms, with every passing second she just ends up hating Pegasus even more.
While this was happenin, deeper in the cave Joey was still watching as the monster's he had just defeated emerged from the ground as zombies. Grey sludge dripping off of their bodies as they stood guarding Bonz against any further attacks. Only minimally changed by coming back as zombies as Crawling Dragon growls and Crass Clown laughs maniacally whilst Zanki was silent. Joey honestly couldn't believe that the monsters were back as Bonz was absolutely ecstatic about this turn of events. Once again explaining how the Call of the Haunted brought back his monsters as zombies which the blonde still couldn't quite process yet. Maybe he should've asked Solomon more questions about magic cards, surely he would've known about the Call of the Haunted... Bonz monsters soon getting a power bonus now that they're zombies, their attack power's soon getting higher whilst their defense is zero. All of them now stronger than the two monsters that Joey currently has on the field if only by a little bit when it comes to Zombie Zanki and clown Zombie. Dragon Zombie was currently the strongest one on the field and was the one he really needed to worry about for now.
"Dragon Zombie, attack the Axe Raider!" Bonz ordered with a creepy grin as his dragon inches closer, still dripping grey sludge as it opened its rotting maw to prepare an attack.
"Axe raider, bash that lizard!" Joey exclaimed as his Axe raider tried to slice Dragon Zombie straight down the middle, only to have it recover like nothing happened as it roared. "Oh, no. Direct hit, and the zombie dragon recovered." He said in both aw and disappointment as Bandit Keith laughs in amusement at his misfortune.
"They're zombies now, dweeb. You can't destroy 'em with an axe." Bandit Keith revealed but once again not because he wanted to be helpful to Joey.
"Wha-? Oh, no!" Joey shouted in realization as that meant that his two current monsters were gonners.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, yes, Dragon Zombie! Destroy Axe Raider! Deadly Zombie Breath!" Bonze exclaimed as his Dragon Zombie reared its ugly head and blew nasty green breath at Axe Raider.
"No!" Joey protested as him and the Axe Raider tried to shield themselves from the windstorm that was caused by the dragon's zombie breath. Only to see that his Axe Raider had been destroyed, leaving behind his rusted axe which crumbled to dust and was blown away.
"One down and one to go." Bonz stated causing Joey to look towards his Flame Swordsman as he hummed in confusion. "Now your puny swordsman is outnumbered three to one." He said as the Flame Swordsman, despite being outnumbered, was standing his ground with his sword at the ready.
'Oh, man, now what am I gonna go? Nothing can kill those monsters.' Joey thought as he watched how the zombie monster's seemed to have cornered his Flame Swordsman. "Uhh... I blew it. I'm dead meat." He said, clearly disheartened by this sudden turn of events as it seems like all his hope of winning has been lost.
"You've had it, duelist." Bonz said as that last attack took away 380 of Joey's life points, but the blonde was still in the lead.
Bonz: 1,350 Joey: 1,620
"Face it, all my monsters you thought you killed have risen from the grave as invincible zombies that can't be destroyed." Bonz said as his monsters laughed, roared, or were silent as they stared down the Flame Swordsman. "And as zombies, they all gain a field power bonus from the graveyard." He explained as the power bonus had given his zombies an added 350 points to their attack points.
"Ohh..." Joey groaned through clenched teeth, things really weren't looking all that good for him and his Flame Swordsman.
"Come on! Play your next card, Joey!" Bonz ordered as he was ready for Joey to set up more monsters for him to knock down.
"Hmm... This one. Garoozis!" Joey said as he played the card and an alligator/lizard man wearing armor with an axe appeared with a 1,800 attack and 1,500 defense points. "Go! With Five-Slash Strike!" He ordered as Bandit Keith laughed and watched Garoozis sliced and diced the Clown Zombie into five pieces. "Yes! Adios, you clown zombie!" Joey exclaimed, thinking that maybe that attack had succeeded and had destroyed the clown zombie.
"Not quite." Bonz said with a smirk, effectively cutting off Joey's premature celebration,
"Huh?" Joey asked obviously having already forgotten that his Axe Raider had failed to destroy the Dragon Zombie one turn ago.
"I tried to tell you, dweeb. Forgot my magic card? Call of the Haunted is still in play." Bonz explained as the Call of the Haunted activated again as Clown Zombie literally pulled himself back together with a laugh.
"Your clown's come back to life!" Joey shouted in shock as he stared with wide eyes at the once again intact Clown Zombie.
"Ha ha, and that's not all. Each and every time a zombie monster is killed, it will come back to life even stronger and more deadly than before!" Bonz revealed as he grinned, knowing this spelled bad news for Joey and good news for him.
"What?" Joey asked, wondering how that was even possible since he's never heard of a card having that kind of effect on a monster.
"The Clown Zombie's attack power was originally 1,350, but it gains a 30% field power bonus from the graveyard field. So now it's 1,755. And after being brought back to life, it gets another 10%." Bonz explained as his clowns attack rapidly climbed from 1,350 to 1,755 and finally to 1,890. "Do the math, pea brain. He's stronger than Garoozis." He said as his clown has 90 more attack points than Joey's monster.
"He can't be!" Joey protested as that attack should've worked and the Clown Zombie should not have come back stronger than Garoozie.
"Clown Zombie, Flame Dagger Acrobatic attack!" Bonz exclaimed as Clown Zombie laughed and threw daggers at Garoosie whilst balancing on a colorful circus ball on one hand as they hit his chest and destroyed him.
"Ohh..." Joey growled in annoyance even though he only lost 90 life points from having Garoozie be destroyed by Clown Zombie.
Bonz: 1,350 Joey: 1,530
At the same time that this was happening Yuki, Yugi, Tea, and Tristan were all panting as they ran deeper into the cave. Since there had been no sign of Joey outside of the cave and because it wasn't a coincidence that his wallet was near the cave this was the only place left to look. Though as they stopped to catch their breath and after Tristan pointed out that there was no sign of Joey yet they noticed they were down another member. There was no sign of Bakura now either and this greatly worried them since it's not like they had done anything that would get someone lost. So far the cave hasn't made them make any turns and there were no branching off paths as of yet. It had all just been one long tunnel deeper into the cave for the past ten minutes that they have been walking. Which raised a question in everyone's minds: what had happened to cause Bakura to fall behind from the rest of them? After all he had been right behind them a few minutes ago, so unless he stopped and left the cave for a pee break he must not be too far behind them.
"Do you think we should turn around and look for him?" Yugi asked as he glanced at his sister and her friends, wondering if they should do that or wait for Bakura to catch up.
"Maybe..." Yuki trailed off as that didn't seem like such a bad idea, after all they were responsible for getting Bakura home safely after the tournament.
"Aah!" Bakura yelled from a few feet behind them causing them to turn and look back in the direction they came from.
"Did you guys hear that?" Yuki asked as that meant that Bakura wasn't that far behind them, but then why was he screaming?
"What, that scream?" Yugi asked, looking back in the direction they came from as he blinks slightly in confusion.
"Sounds like Bakura!" Tea exclaimed, happy that their friend wasn't lost after all.
"Bakura! This way!" Tristan called out, thinking that Bakura may need a little help finding where they are in the cave.
"Aah! Help me!" Bakura yelled as he came into view with yet another skeleton on his back, scaring Yuki, Yugi, Tea, and Tristan half to death.
"Aah!" All four of them yelled as they ran away in fear with Bakura following after them a few steps behind them.
"Help! Get this thing off of me! Aah! Aah!" Bakura yelled before eventually him, Yuki, Yugi, and Tea all collapsed onto the ground out of fear and exhaustion from running.
"Uhh! From now on, don't go picking up any hitchhikers." Tristan stated frustratedly as he destroyed the skeleton after getting it off of Bakura's back.
"Is it safe to open my eyes now?" Tea asked as she was laying on her stomach on the cave floor, her eyes closed and her tongue sticking out as she spoke.
"Ugh! This is the first and last time I ever go walking into a creepy cave on an even creepier guys island." Yuki grumbled as she sat up from her spot on the ground, what the hell was Pegasus trying to do with all these skulls, scare them to death?
"Ah! Man what were you trying to do? You scared us half to death with that skeleton on your back." Yugi said as he sat up, watching as Bakura pushed himself up onto his hands and knees next to Yuki.
"Sorry." Bakura said with his eyes closed and an apologetic look on his face.
"Never mind that. Because now we've got another problem." Tristan said as he was looking at something behind them causing the three teens and one eighth year old to look behind them to see a fork in the path. "Which way do we go now?" He asked since there was no indication of which way was the right one, just some skulls stacked ontop of one another with lit candles in their mouths. "Anybody go any ideas?" Tristan added, making it clear that he has no idea about which way they should go.
"Gee, both ways look so inviting." Tea said sarcastically causing Bakura to laugh slightly and Tristan to look more frustrated.
"Yeah, well, if Joey got invited down one of those tunnels, then we need to figure out which one." Tristan said as he placed the hand that wasn't holding the duffle bag strap on his hip.
"Tristan's got a point. We need to find Joey and fast." Yuki said as she stood up and then helped Yugi up, brushing dirt off of her clothes as he does the same.
"Yeah!" Tristan, Tea, and Bakura all agreed wholeheartedly as the latter both stood up as well.
"Uhh! Hey! My foot!" Bakura exclaimed as he had stood on something and had felt his foot sink deeper into the ground as there was a rumbling sound behind them.
"What is that sound?" Tristan asked as they all looked towards where the sound was coming from.
"Appending doom?" Yuki asked sarcastically as she doubted that that is actually what that sound meant.
"I stepped on a switch or something." Bakura explained, hoping that would help them figure out what had caused that sound.
"Shh!" Yuki hissed as the sound had gotten louder, no longer being sarcastic as Bakura quickly covered his mouth.
"Listen. Now the sound's getting louder." Tristan said as he was starting to sweat slightly, that certainly can't mean anything good.
"I think it's coming this way." Tea added as that could be the reason why the sound is getting louder.
"Yeah, but the question is what the hell is coming our way?" Yuki asked, her lips set in a frown as she kept her little brother behind her incase it was something dangerous coming towards them.
"Speak for yourself big sis. My question is why are we standing here waiting for this thing to get closer? Do we have a death wish or something?" Yugi asked as he wondered if he was the only person here with common sense. After all when someone hears an unknown noise they usually don't wait around for it's source to appear.
'Maybe Yugi's got a point. Waiting for this thing to appear does seem like we have a death wish...' Yuki thought as she glanced around slightly, either one of those tunnels looking more inviting with each passing second.
"Uhh. Oh, dear. Uhh." Bakura whimpered from behind his hands as he trembled, knowing it was his fault that the thing causing the rumbling noise was coming their way.
All five of them watched with bated breath as a large round boulder rolled into view and was rolling towards them at quite the fast pace. Causing them all to scream in terror as they quickly bolted down the left tunnel in a panic with the boulder hot on their tails. As they ran for their lives Tea had to ask the stupidest question in the world which is why was the boulder chasing them? Especially when everyone knew that the boulder was "chasing them" because the tunnel was down hill, something Tristan pointed out immediately. Meanwhile at the back of the group Bakura kept apologizing as he ran and since he had his eyes closed he wasn't watching where he was running. The rest of them looking back and watching/screaming in horror as he tripped on a rock that was protruding out of the ground. Falling to the ground and seeming to be crushed by the boulder as the other's continued to run, feeling terrible that they couldn't help him. Though luck was not on their side as the tunnel they had run down was a fastly approaching dead end.
As they skidded to a halt before they literally hit the dead end Tristan turned towards the approaching boulder as he got into a fighting stance. Clearly intending to try and punch the boulder since they had nowhere else to run. Now Yuki and Tea both tried to tell him that he couldn't punch out a boulder but he was still going to try. And as Tristan winded up and threw his punch, his fist sunk into the boulder before it popped like a balloon! Yuki, Yugi, Tea, and Tristan all watching in shock and confusion as the pieces of the popped "boulder" fell to the cave floor like confetti. Quickly realizing that they had been dealing with a balloon all along and that there never was any real boulder. Then upon further inspection they noticed a spherical speaker laying on the ground, which had to be the source of the rumbling sound that they had heard. Which brought them to the conclusion that this was another one of Pegasus's sick jokes as they went back for Bakura. Finding the albino male laying on the ground, absolutely petrified with fear as he whimpered and shook.
"Are you ok, Bakura?" Tea asked as she kneeled on the ground and leaned down close to the terrified albino, speaking softly as to not scare him even more.
"Tea, I think he's broken." Yugi said as he poked Bakura with a stick that he had found somewhere...
"Well, Pegasus certainly didn't cut corners when it comes to scaring us half to death..." Yuki said with a frown because who in their right mind would pay for a big balloon shaped like a boulder?
As for Joey, he certainly wasn't in any better of a situation than his friends currently were in, infact to him his situation seems worse than there's! He was still backed into a corner with only one monster to his name and only 1,530 life points. On the bright side he still has 180 more life points than Bonz does but that was the only bright side to this. Everything else was just terrible and oh how he wished Yuki was here, if she was she would know how to defeat these zombie's. Cause he certainly didn't have enough knowledge of Duel Monsters to figure it out on his own, even after all of the training he did with Solomon. Which meant that things were a total catastrophe because he destroys the zombies only to have them come back stronger than before. He had to bet that this was probably every duelist's nightmare, facing off against a monster they can't kill and comes back stronger when it is killed. It's like that movie Happy Death Day, except it's not Joey's birthday and the zombie's are the one's getting destroyed over and over and not him. He's stuck in a duel time loop where the only thing that'll ever come back because of that Call of the Haunted card are Bonz's zombies.
"Heh. Had enough yet, dweeb? I told you there's no way to beat Bandit Keith." Bandit Keith said smugly with a smirk and a laugh, watching how Joey was deep in thought as he stared at his cards.
"Yeah, Bandit Keith's the best there is." Zygor stated in order to prove Bandit Keith's point whilst also trying to boost his boss's ego.
"You can leave your star chips at the door." Sid said making it clear that Joey can just forfeit now and walk away with some of his dignity still intact.
"Uhh... Uhh." Joey growled and huffed slightly before looking down at his four star chips. 'If I lose these chips, I get axed from the tournament. Last time I dueled, Kaiba beat me pretty bad.' He thought as his mind drifted to how Seto had easily cut through his monsters like a hot knife through butter. 'Maybe I should just give up.' Joey thought as he soon got a vision of him in a doggie suit whining like a dog. "Nah! No way, man! I'm not a scared little puppy. And for Serenity's sake, I've gotta stay in the game! I have to trust in the cards... and in myself." He said after viciously shaking his head no, once again his fire to fight being regained as he drew a new card as he looked at it. 'Time Wizard! This card I got from Yuki has pulled my ass out of the fire before. Like in my duels with Mai and Rex Raptor. When I fought Rex, it even fossilized his dragon. Maybe it'll help me again. Yeah, maybe it can blow those zombies away! what have I got to lose?' Joey thought as it really was a shot in the dark with this next move. "I play Time Wizard!" He exclaimed as he played that card and his Time Wizard appeared on the field in a burst of bright light.
'Time Wizard? Apparently the dweeb's smarter than I thought. His Time Magic could age Bonz's zombies right into dust!' Bandit Keith thought as he gaped at the Time Wizard, shocked that Joey had actually made a smart move this turn.
"Spin- Time Roulette!" Joey ordered as the roulette arrow on Time Wizard's staff began to spin, gradually gaining speed.
"Boss, help me." Bonz said as he looked back at Bandit Keith nervously, he knew exactly what Time Wizard could do to his zombies.
"Don't worry. Don't you know Time Roulette is totally a game of chance, Bonz? It's all a matter of luck. So, if yours is better, you won't be wiped out. See?" Bandit Keith asked as he was pretending not to be worried, but that certainly didn't stop him from sweating slightly out of nervousness.
"Aah!" Bonz yelled, not feeling any relief what so ever from that explanation as that meant Joey still had a chance to be luckier than him.
"Come on, Time Wizard. You can do this." Joey said as they all waited in anticipation as the roulette arrow was still spinning.
"No, you can't. No, you can't. No, you can't. No, you can't." Bonz chanted with his eyes closed as he rubbed his palms together.
"This is it!" Joey exclaimed as the arrow had finally slowed down to the point where it can stop.
"Uhh!" Bonz whimpered as this was where he will either sob in defeat or celebrate in victory.
At first the arrow seemed to have stopped on a line in between two of the skulls which confused Sid and Zygor. Then it moved onto the bottom Time Machine symbol as Bonz groaned and continued to rub his hands together, thinking that'll help. The arrow soon moved on to partially being on a skull as Joey growled, the arrow seeming to stop on the top Time Machine. Finally the arrow stopped on a skull, much to Bonz's relieved delight and Joey's horror as a portal soon opened up above the Flame Swordsman. The blonde shouting for his monster's not to leave as a vortex of wind destroyed them, their pixels getting sucked into the portal before that disappeared to. Then to make matters worse Bandit Keith pointed out that half the attack power of both of his monsters gets deducted from his life points. Watching in amusement as Joey sobbed at the loss of his monsters and at the loss of what could've been the ticket to winning the duel. Now all he;'s got to show for his effort is no monsters and 900 missing life points.
Bonz: 1,350 Joey: 630
"Ha ha ha ha! Want me to play a card? Or would you rather defeat yourself?" Bonz asked tauntingly because now he was in the lead with 720 more life points than Joey.
"I didn't know that I'd take this big a hit if I lost the Time Roulette." Joey said as he hung his head slightly in shame at the screw up that he made even if it was unintentional.
"Poor Joey. I'll give you a free turn. Throw my zombies another tasty morsel." Bonz stated as his Zombie Dragon roared, the dragon ready and able to help cut down more of Joey's monsters.
'I can't win an attack. I'll play this in defense mode!' Joey thought as he chose a card and placed it face down in defense mode.
"Go Dragon Zombie!" Bonz exclaimed, preparing to make his Dragon Zombie attack Joey's face down monster.
"Hold it." Bandit Keith suddenly said, cutting off Bonz before he could finish his order to attack as Bonz hummed in confusion. "Why just defeat him when you can humiliate him, the way Pegasus did me? Beef up your zombies, and you can wipe him out in a few turns. Play the King of Ghosts!" He ordered, once again not letting the person that was actually dueling make decisions about what cards to play.
"I hear you, boss. Pumpking, rise from the grave!" Bonz shouted as he played the card and a huge one eyed jack-o-lantern with vine tentacles wearing a crown began to appear behind the zombies.
"What is that thing?" Joey asked as he watched this menacing one eyed jack-o-lantern appear and tower over the field with 1,500 attack and 2,000 defense points.
"It's the Pumpking, the King of Ghosts!" Bonz said as the power bonus rose Pumpking's attack and defense power to 1,950 and 2,600.
"What does it do?" Joey questioned as he stared at the Pumpking with wide eyes, once again having never seen that card before.
"Oh, the Pumpking has a very special ability. Ectoplasmic Fortification!" Bonz exclaimed as Pumpking raised three of his vines and implanted them into the zombies backs.
"Ecto-whozis Forta-whatsis?" Joey asked, clearly confused by this term and wondered if that was an attack or was something else.
"Ectoplasm is the ghostly substance that gives my zombie monsters their power, and Pumpking, as the King of Ghosts, can pump up their ectoplasmic energy and their attack points by 10% each and every turn." Bonz explained all while Pumpking was pumping energy into the zombies via the vines imbedded in their backs.
"Oh, no." Joey uttered, if he wasn't in deep shit before then he certainly was now.
"And as their attack power grows, they become giant zombies!" Bonz exclaimed as his zombies grew 10 times in size and their attack powers grow to 2,025, 2,240, and 2,100 respectively. "Dragon Zombie, attack with Deadly Zombie Breath!" He commanded as his Zombie Dragon destroys Joey's face down defense monster easily. "That defense monster was much too weak. Why don't you give me something stronger to destroy?" Bonz suggested because then each destroyed monster would be a much sweeter destruction to him.
"You wish." Joey snapped, no way was he going to waste his stronger monsters for defending his life points. "Armored Lizard- defense mode!" He said as he placed that card face down in defense mode.
"Ectoplasmic Fortification!" Bonz exclaimed as Pumpking pumped more energy into the zombies, making their attack power grow as they get even larger. "Power up my zombie army and attack!" He commanded as his monsters attack powers were now 2,400, 2,160, and 2,250 before Zombie Dragon attacked and destroyed Joey's defense monster.
"Huh. Well, so much for my Armored Lizard." Joey grumbled, it wasn't that big of a deal since he didn't lose life points but it was still annoying nonetheless.
"Oh, this is so cool! Boss, you're giving me great advice!" Bonz bellowed ecstatically with a grin, with Pumpking on his side there's no way he could lose!
'Nah, just good advice so far, Bonz. But you've got one card that'll demolish the dweeb.' Bandit Keith thought with a grin as his mind drifted to a certain card Bonz has.
"Man, I can barely defend myself." Joey stated as he placed yet another card face down in defense mode.
"Deadly Zombie Breath!" Bonz yelled as Dragon Zombie destroyed what was Joey's third face down defense monster. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I'm wiping them out one by one!" He declared with a laugh as he had his hands held out like one of those guys who attempt to look like a super villain when they laugh.
"He's right. I'm done for." Joey said, starting to lose hope yet again as he played another face down monster.
"Deadly Zombie Breath!" Bonz yelled as his Zombie Dragon attacked and destroyed Joey's fourth defense monster.
'Ohh. That dragon's bad breath is killing me. I lose another warrior, and his zombies only get stronger. This is really bad.' Joey thought as by now Dragon Zombie had 2,720 attack points, Pumpking still had 1,950, Clown Zombie had 2,430, and Zombie Zanki had 2,550.
"Come on! Throw another card for my monsters to devour!" Bonz said because at this rate he will make it so Joey will either be out of monster's and will forfeit or he'll have no choice but to attack.
'There's gotta be some way to beat him. Yuki would know.' Joey thought as he looked at his cards before tightly shutting his eyes as he gritted his teeth.
"Joey!" Yuki and Tristan suddenly called out from the tunnel next to Joey causing him to hum in confusion.
As he looked off to the side Joey saw not only Yuki and Tristan but Yugi, Tea, and Bakura as well. The group of five, after waiting for Bakura to recover from the scare of getting "crushed" by a "bouler", retraced their steps to the fork in the tunnel. Going down the tunnel that branched off to the right this time seeing as the left had ended up being a dead end. Yuki had been relieved that it had been the right one as it had led them to Joey just in time to see him with his eyes shut as he gritted his teeth. The blonde obviously having been deep in thought and was getting frustrated with something that he was thinking about. However judging by the fact that the life point display on the side of his platform read 630 and he had no monsters that meant he wasn't doing so hot. Though when they looked at his opponent's life points and saw that his was 1,350 that meant Joey had put a dent in his life points. Which Yuki was proud about because once again Joey had been holding his own without her help.
"Yuki! You're really here!" Joey said, extremely relieved that Yuki and their friends were here for him.
"Grr. Block 'em." Bandit Keith ordered as he turned towards Sid and Zygor who both grunted with a nod.
"What kind of duel arena is this? I mean is that supposed to be a graveyard?" Yuki asked with a raised eyebrow as she saw the tombstone's, the zombies, and is that... a jack-o-lantern?
"Big sis, is that pumpkin lookin' at me?" Yugi asked but got no answer as he kinda hid behind his sister, feeling creeped out that that one eyed pumpkin looked like he was looking at him.
"Are you crazy? Why in the world did you accept a duel in a place like this?" Tristan asked, did Joey hit his head or something while he was gone and that's why he made a fool decision like this?
"Yeah, like I had a choice. Those three creeps there ganged up on me and forced me into this crazy duel." Joey said frustratedly as he pointed behind himself at Bonz, Sid, Zygor, and Bandit Keith as he had turned to face his friends.
"Whoa!" Tristan uttered before they noticed how Sid and Zygor had scampered over to block the way over to Joey.
'Why does it feel like one of those scene's where the villain sends his goon's to keep the hero occupied?' Yuki thought with a raised eyebrow as she looked at the smirking Sid and Zygor.
"This duel's over." Tristan stated since there was no way he was going to let Joey continue a duel that he was forced into.
"That's not up to you, chum." Sid said as this duel would be over when someone win's, lose's, or forfeits.
"I say it is." Tristan said, ready to fight his way past Sid and Zygor to get to Joey if necessary.
"You wanna stop it, you gotta get past me." Zygor stated, making it obvious that there was no other way for them to get close enough to stop anything unless they go through him.
"My pleasure!" Tristan exclaimed as he charged at Zygor with a yell, only to have Sid flick a pebble at his forehead.
Suddenly having a pebble hit him in the forehead threw Tristan off balance long enough for Zygor to get up close and punch him in the stomach. The brunette holding his stomach in pain as he sunk down to his knees and hunched over on the ground. Trying to recover as Yuki called out his name in worry, Joey doing the same as he went to climb down from his platform. Wanting to go help his friend up off of the ground as the brunette was clearly winded by that hit to the gut he had received. Although before Joey could even attempt to climb down Bandit Keith suddenly spoke, reminding him if he leaves then he forfeits and loses his star chips. This revelation greatly shocked the blonde because before it was just if he didn't accept the duel then he would forfeit and lose his star chips. This also caused Tera to comment that this duel is illegal, as if that would be a justified reason for Joey to actually forfeit the duel as Bakura agreed with her. Yuki was silent however as she kept Yugi close and in eyesight, not wanting him to wander off as she had a feeling that Bandit Keith has some kind of loophole.
"Wrong, Tea. When he threw down his star chips, he accepted the duel. Ha ha ha ha!" Bandit Keith said with a laugh, which meant that this duel was legal according to the tournament's rules.
"In that case, Joey- you're just gonna have to beat these punks." Tristan strained out as he stood up, still feeling the pain of the gut punch but it had dulled slightly. "And if you're gonna need a little added motivation, try this!" He exclaimed as he threw something at Joey, who caught it and saw that it was his wallet as he opened it.
"Huh? Serenity." Joey uttered as he looked at the picture of his little sister's smiling face.
"That's right, Joey. Your sister. You're dueling for her." Tristan said as he never wanted Joey to forget that Serenity is who he's dueling for.
"Thanks, man." Joey said, happy that he got his wallet back and that his friend was helping him remember who he's fighting for in this tournament.
"So, what's it gonna be? You gonna cut and run, dweeb, or you gonna part with your star chips the hard way?" Bandit Keith asked once again not giving Joey much of a choice when it comes to this situation.
"Hey, I've had it up to here with your smart remarks. Spill! Who are you, anyway?" Joey asked as he pointed a finger, wanting to know what kind of scumbag was so obsessed with winning that they'd force someone into a duel.
"Don't you know? They call me Bandit Keith." Bandit Keith stated as Yuki's eyes widened slightly as she remembered the story Seto told her about him the other night.
"You're Bandit Keith? Pft, you look more like a reject biker than a duelist. Much less an Intercontinental Champion." Yuki said as she crossed her arms, glancing at the other's when she felt them looking at her curiously. "Seto told me about him when I went after him to talk. He's only lost one duel, and that was to a kid who was reading direction's given to him by Pegasus." She explained as the other's let out "oh"'s of understanding as Bandit Keith growled. Both at being called a reject biker and because she was talking about his loss so casually.
"Huh. No wonder skull face there has outsmarted me at every turn." Joey said because only a champion duelist would probably be able to pull something like this off.
"Which is why you ought to just pack it up and go home, dweeb, cause I've give my little pal Bonz here the perfect strategy. You couldn't beat him with every card in your deck." Bandit Keith said as Joey gritted his teeth with every word that was spoken by the other blonde male.
"Nobody's gonna get inside Pegasus's castle except Bandit Keith and us." Zygor said as an add on to what Bandit Keith was currently telling Joey.
"You've fought your last duel, Joey. You're about to join the other zombies in this graveyard field." Bonz said threateningly as part of him definitely still wanted to scare Joey half to death as well as defeat him.
"Hey, big sis you were right! It is a graveyard field." Yugi asked with a smile as he looked up at Yuki who was still silent but chuckled slightly in amusement at his comment.
"Come on. Play your next card or rest in peace." Bonz said causing Joey to look down at his cards in order to try and make a decision.
"Hmm? Serenity." Joey mumble as he caught sight of the wallet laying on the edge of his dashboard, it folded open so he could see his sister's picture. "For your sake, I've gotta win!" He exclaimed before laying yet another card face down in defense mode.
"No! All your hopes and your dreams will die right here!" Bonz declared, wanting to see Joey become a shell of his former self when he loses the duel and his star chips to him.
"Says you, geek! I'll keep my defenses up until I find a way to attack!" Joey revealed, his doe brown eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched as he was determined to protect what little life points he has left.
"You know, you shouldn't broadcast your strategy." Bandit Keith commented as that was certainly a bad move for Joey to make.
"I what?" Joey asked, confused since he didn't really think that that was him giving away his strategy.
"Especially when it's a losing one." Bandit Keith added on to his previous statement as Bonz let out a maniacal giggle. "Bonz has a special card in his deck that'll render all of your defenses useless!" He explained though that was pretty hard to believe because hearing about it and experiencing it are two different things.
"You gotta be bluffing. He can't possibly do that with one card." Joey said as there had to be no such thing as a card with that kind of power, right?
"Oh, yeah?" Bonz asked as he drew the card and looked at it, seeing that it was the card Bandit Keith was talking about. "This trap card can. It's called Stop Defense!" He revealed as the card depicted a man in armor with a shield in hand and a big white X over him.
"Oh, no." Joey groaned in dismay as the others groaned alongside him as well, except for Yuki.
"That card is major trouble, Joey!" Yuki called out in warning, wishing she had more time to do more than just warn him.
"From now on, any card you try to play in defense mode will activate the trap!" Bonz said as he played the card causing Joey to growl as that throws his original plan out the window. "And you still can't stop me from raising the ectoplasmic power of my zombies!" He added as the Pumking continued to make his three zombies even stronger than before: their attack powers now at 2,565, 2,700, and 2,880. "So now, all that's left is to snuff the last monster you have standing. Deadly Zombie Breath!" Bonz exclaimed as his Dragon Zombie attacked, destroying Joey's monster.
"Ha ha ha! End of the road for you, dweeb. You got nowhere left to run now." Bandit Keith said because thanks to the brilliant strategy he gave Bonz, Joey is backed into a corner and can no longer defend himself.
"I let you down, sis." Joey muttered as he hung his head and looked at the picture of his sister in his wallet.
"Don't let him scare you, Joey!" Tea called out even though Joey had already technically gotten past the getting scared part.
"Hang in there!" Bakura encouraged, having a feeling that things will be going Joey's way soon enough.
"Whatever he says, don't quit." Tristan said, hoping once again to help his friend to stop possibly thinking about quitting the duel.
"Quit? No way. I can't give up. Not while Serenity's counting on me." Joey said before he drew a new card from his deck and looked at it. "Go! Red Eyes Black Dragon!" He exclaimed as a square on the field lit up and crackled with black electricity as his mighty dragon appeared with a screech.
"Red Eyes? Where'd this dork get a card that rare?" Bandit Keith asked, shocked that such a pathetic duelist like Joey had such a rare card.
"If all my defenses are blocked, then I'll just have to take to the offense. Red Eyes, take out that overgrown pumpkin!" Joey ordered as his Red Eyes was stared down by the one eyed gaze of the Pumpking.
"What do I do? His attack power is greater than mine." Bonz said as he began to stress about what he can do to protect his Pumpking.
"Inferno Fire Blast!" Joey exclaimed as his dragon attacked, the blast hitting Pumpking as it caused a massive cloud of smoke.
"All right!" Bakura shouted with a smile as he pumped a fist into the air.
"Woo-hoo, you fried that fugly pumpkin!" Yugi exclaimed whilst jumping around and waving a Joey banner that he pulled out of somewhere...
"Great move, Joey. Now that Pumpking is gone he can't raise his zombies attack power anymore!" Yuki praised, glad to see that Joey had gotten a key factor to Bonz's plan off of the field. "And the cherry ontop of it all is that since that fugly pumpkin of his was already a ghost to begin with, the Call of the Haunted can't bring him back." She explained as Bonz growled angrily, Pumpking being destroyed by Red Eyes Black Dragon had lost him 495 life points!
Bonz: 855 Joey: 630
"Minor setback, Bonz. Don't forget, you've still got more than enough attack power to polish him off for good." Bandit Keith said reminding Bonz that his zombies attack powers were well into the 2,000's by now and well above Red Eyes's attack power.
"Yeah. Ok, boss. Go Dragon Zombie! Blow Red Eyes away!" Bonz ordered as his dragon attacked, the attack starting to turn Red Eyes a reddish brown as if it was rusting as the dragon shrieked.
"My Red Eyes! No! Uhh!" Joey shouted and then covered his face to protect it from the pixels that were sent flying at it as his dragon was destroyed.
"Ha ha ha ha! Even Red Eyes was no match for me." Bonz said happily as once again Joey has no more monsters on the field.
"With that card wiped out, I'm all but done for." Joey said, watching as having Red Eyes destroyed took away 480 of his life points.
Bonz: 855 Joey: 150
"Red Eyes Black Dragon, up in smoke." Bonz saiad in a teasing way, having a feeling that that card may have been Joey's only hope.
"He-He annihilated my strongest card." Joey said with a stutter, trying to wrap his head around the fact that the monster that may have been his ticket to winning was destroyed so easily.
"Ha ha ha ha! It's all over for you, dweeb." Bandit Keith said with a laugh as it didn't matter what monster Joey played now, one more attack and he was done for.
"Don't give up." Tristan repeated, still not wanting his friend to give up on the possibility that he can win, however slim it may be.
'I'm all out of moves. The only monster card that I've got left is Battle Warrior, and his attack power is way too low.' Joey thought as the monster card he was staring at had only a measly 700 attack points and 1,000 defense points.
"Well, are you going to play or surrender?" Bonz asked, wondering which way he was going to end up winning this duel against Joey.
"Yuki, isn't there some way Joey can beat that little ghoul?" Tea asked softly as she leaned down slightly towards the other girl, attempting to try and talk to her privately.
"He's stuck between a rock and rotting place here, Tea. Attacking that zombie army of Bonz's won't do any good, and Stop Defense prevents Joey from defending so he can't bide time to find a good card to play." Yuki explained, though she suddenly got an idea thanks to what she had said about defense. "Yes! Why hadn't I thought of it before? Joey, there's still a way you can beat him! You have a magic card in your deck that can turn the tides in your favor!" She called out, giving him a hint as him and Bonz hummed in confusion about what she said as they looked at her.
"Heh. You've got to be kidding You're Yuki, right? Well, maybe you beat Kaiba, but the strategy I gave Bonz is just perfect. Your friend is a goner!" Bandit Keith said causing Yuki's eyebrow's to furrow as she sent a glare his way.
"Joey, don't you dare listen to this biker reject douchebag who wears sunglasses in a cave!" Yuki snapped, having enough of Bandit Keith belittling her friend because he got enough of that from Seto. "He's wrong! Completely and utterly wrong!" She continued as she huffed, if it were for the two goons blocking the way she would've marched her way over and shut up the sunglasses wearing blonde herself.
"Why you little..." Bandit Keith trailed off as he growled, he was getting real tired of this little girl insulting him.
"You sure?" Joey asked, taken aback and honestly quite fearful of Yuki's sudden outburst as she silently maintained eye contact with him, her expression holding no lies. "Ok. Yeah." He said as he smiled, trusting her judgment even though she did not give him any verbal confirmation as he turned back to his deck. "Trust in the cards. Yeah, this is... the one." Joey said as he stared at the card he now held in his hand. 'This must be the card Yuki was talking about. Shield and Sword is a magic card that swaps the attack and defense points of every monster on the field! If I can take away the zombie's attack power by flipping it to defense, his monsters won't be able to stop my next card!' He thought as he realized that this is what Yuki was telling him to do.
With his mind made up that it was the only chance that he has left he played Battle warrior in attack mode. The blue skinned spandex wearing warrior appearing with his fists up, ready to attack despite only having 700 attack points for now. Bonz did question him about it being the only move he had left but before he could say more Joey dropped the bomb that adding the magic card Shield and Sword to that move. This greatly shocking Bandit Keith since he had not expected Yuki to be right about there being a magic card in the dweeb's deck that could turn the tides in his favor. Joey, not wanting to waste anymore time, quickly put the card into play as it immediatly flipped the attack and defense powers of all the monsters. Their holograms glitching as this happened as a way to show that the flip is happening. All of them watching as the zombies sunk to the ground weakly, their limbs hanging limply like dead weight. Meanwhile Joey's monster almost seemed to get, buffer, as the offensive defensive flip happened.
'Zombie monsters have no will of their own. They can't defend themselves on this turn. We're sunk!' Bandit Keith thought as his anger and annoyance about being insulted by Yuki was washed away by nervousness.
"My zombie's attack power has dropped to zero!" Bonz exclaimed in horror as he stared wide eyed at the limp corpses of his zombies.
"And my Battle Warrior's attack and defense points switched, too. See?" Joey asked as his warriors attack was now 1,000 and his defense was now 700. "Smash those zombie freaks! Ultimate Battle Fist!" He exclaimed, Bonz whimpering as Battle Warrior smashed Dragon Zombies head to pieces with one punch.
'Uhh! With their attack points at zero, the zombies can't come back to life.' Bandit Keith thought as this meant that the zombies would be defeated for good this time.
"How could I lose?" Bonz asked sorrowfully as having Dragon Zombie destroyed depleted the rest of his life points.
Bonz: 0 Joey: 150
"All right!" Tristan exclaimed with a smile from behind a shocked Sid and Zygor as he pumped his fist into the air.
"Joey, you won!" Tea yelled happily with a smile, yeah she totally never doubted he'd win at all.
"You did it, Joey!" Yuki called out with a smile, wanting to praise him as Yugi was jumping around excitedly waving his Joey banner around again.
"I did, didn't I?" Joey asked as he looked at Yuki over his shoulder, giving them all a thumbs up as well.
"Yeah, you did." Yuki affirmed with a smile and a nod of her head, glad that everything worked out ok in the end.
"Unh!" Bandit Keith grunted as he jumped down from the place he had been sitting during the duel. "See ya around, loser." He said as he walked past Bonz, fulling intending on leaving the defeated duelist behind.
"But wait, boss!" Bonz called out, trying to get Bandit Keith to not leave him but said male just kept walking as Joey hummed and watched him curiously.
"Wait up, boss!/ Hey, boss!" Sid and Zygor both called out at the same time, trying to get Bandit Keith's attention but were promptly ignored.
"Bandit Keith." Joey suddenly said, causing Bandit Keith to stop mid step and turn his sunglasses covered gaze to Joey as he hummed in question. "Maybe next time you'll have the nerve to duel me face to face, instead of hiding behind your creepy flunkies." He said, clearly hinting that he thinks the other blonde male doesn't have the stones to duel for himself.
"Heh. Duel you face to face? You're hopeless, dweeb. The game of Duel Monsters is all about keeping your opponents off balance. Winning the duel's all that matters, not how you go about it." Bandit Keith said because who has time to play a fair duel in a tournament let alone in real life?
"We'll just see about that, Bandit Keith." Joey said, he was going to duel Bandit Keith and he was going to do it the right way and not the wrong way.
"Ha ha ha ha! Yeah, right. I'm quivering in fear already, dweeb. Ha ha ha ha ha!" Bandit Keith said sarcastically with a laugh, Bonz catching up just in time for and the others just in time for Bandit Keith to start leaving as his flunkies followed him.