Chapter 9

My Freaky Valentine: Part 2

Be Revived! The Third Dragon

"I don't like this, guys. Joey only has 200 life points left and Mai still has all of hers." Spike said, worried for his friend. "Well, the good news is that its Joey's move, so he's got one last chance to turn this around." AJ pointed out. "But what really hurts me most is that, no matter who wins, someone loses. And what they lose is their soul." Fluttershy added.

'There is a way for someone to end this duel without someone losing their soul, right?' Yugi asked. "Yes, but it won't be easy. Somehow, Joey will have to see to it this duel ends in a draw." Yami replied. "That seems to be the biggest limitation of the Seal of Orichalcos." he added. 'So he needs to make this duel end in a draw?' Yugi asked. "Yes, let's just hope that Joey finds that out soon." Yami answered.

'Okay, the odds aren't in my favor to say the least, but it ain't over till its over. First thing I got to do is keep those Harpies and their claws off of my life points, then I got to find a way to destroy this seal, there must be a card in my deck that can help, and maybe it'll be a way Yugi didn't think of when he dueled inside this thing. But which one? It has to be one that's able to wipe the Seal of Orichalcos off the field, that way it wouldn't be able to take a soul.' Joey thought before he looked at his hand.

'Hold on, I think I got it. This card here might do the trick, I guess its worth a shot. After all, what have I got to lose?' he added before choosing his card. "I summon the Fiend Megacyber!" he declared, bringing a look of shock to AJ's face, as she, too, had that monster. "But that monster has a power level of six." Mai pointed out. "That's right, but thanks to its special ability, I can summon it without making a sacrifice so long as you have more monsters on the field than me!" Joey retorted before his monster appeared.

"Now, my fiend, attack one of her Harpie's with Cyber Mega Swipe!" he commanded before one of the Harpies was destroyed, bringing Mai's life points down to 3600. "Alright! I smell a comeback coming on!" Rainbow shouted. "But if Joey wins, Mai loses her soul." Fluttershy pointed out. "Fluttershy's right. No matter who wins, someone loses." Tea added. "I don't think he's Joey's trying to win." Yami pointed out. "I think he's discovered the secret to making sure no one loses their soul." he added. "I'm confused." Tea admitted.

"I'm not. He's trying to end this match in a tie." Twilight revealed. "That's the secret to making sure no one loses everything?" Rarity asked. "Yes, and its the only way." Twilight answered. Up on the second floor, Valon was impressed. "Not a bad monster, looks like Wheeler decided to go down swinging." he said. "Who cares? There's no way that scrawny punk can win with just 200 life points left." Raf replied. "Maybe, but at least him fighting back made this duel a bit exciting, since Mai made it practically one-sided." Valon said.

"I'll set this facedown. Your move, Mai." Joey said as he ended his move. "I was worried about you for a second there, Joey. I thought you lost your touch after that performance at Battle City." Mai said. "Please tell me that you've accepted the fact that our relationship couldn't have been, because the part of me that fell in love with you is long gone!" she continued as she remembered the moment she became part of Dartz's Swordsmen, desperate to not ever go back to the Shadow Realm.

"Your time's up. I win!" she shouted upon drawing. "As soon as I attack, your life points will be gone and your soul will be captured!" she added. Meanwhile, ourside, Rex, Weevil and Duke had arrived at the building. "This is it, Industrial Illusions." Duke said. "Note to self, try not to ride in a convertible anymore." Rex said, clearly a bit queasy. "Something's not right. No security guards or nothing. Its like Industrial Illusions is closed or something, but that can't be." Duke said as he looked around before running to the entrance. "Duke, wait for us!" Weevil shouted as he and Rex got out of the car.

Duke looked inside and saw the duel going on. "Hey, guys!" he shouted before everyone else turned and saw him. "Duke Devlin?" AJ said in surprise. "Hey, man. How'd you know we were here?" Tristan asked as he ran up to the door. "It's a long story, but my question is if there's a duel going on in there." Duke replied. "Yeah, but..." Rainbow began to say. "Why?" Duke asked. "That's a longer story." Pinkie answered. "Pinkie's right, we can't stand around talking. We need help." Twilight stated. "We're trapped in here, think you can find a way to get us out?" Tristan asked. "Just leave it to me, I'll look around the building." Duke answered before running off. "Hurry, Duke!" Tristan called as Rex and Weevil ran up.

"Well, this is becoming a party, but what are you two doing here?" Rainbow asked. "We're with Duke, and..." Rex began to say before they both saw the duel in progress, and in play was the Seal of Orichalcos. "It's that magic circle!" Weevil shouted. "Yeah, the same one we were trapped in!" Rex added. "I sacrifice two of my Harpies to summon Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai declared as her dragon appeared, now with 2500 attack points thanks to the Seal of Orichalcos. "In addition to the 500 point boost my dragon gets from the Seal of Orichaclcos, its gets 300 points for every Harpie I have on the field!" she added as her dragon's power increased to 3400.

"Now that dragon is more powerful than when I faced it at Duelist Kingdom!" Yami said in shock. "It's been nice knowing you, Joey! Now, Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack his Fiend Megacyber!" she declared as the dragon came forward. "Not so fast! I activate Compensation Mediation!" Joey said as his trap sprung. "This trap card gets shuffled with two cards from your graveyard and I have to pick one. If I choose right, your attack gets blocked, meaning I have a one in three chance of stopping your attack and saving my fiend." he explained.

"Joey may be a guy who uses gambling tactics, but what happens if Joey picks one of Mai's two cards?" AJ asked. "Mai's attack goes through and Joey loses the duel." Spike answered. "Won't be long now." Valon said. "Yeah, there's no way his game of chance tactics from Duelist Kingdom and Battle City will save him this time." Raf concurred. "Alright, Mai, pick two cards from your graveyard." Joey said. "I choose these." Mai replied before showing Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation and Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation.

They soon approached each other. "Now to shuffle them together." Joey said before he gave Mai his Compensation Mediation trap card. "You sound pretty confident, for someone who's about to lose." Mai said as she walked back to her position on the battlefield, though Joey just shrugged it off as he walked back to his own position on the battlefield. "After all this time, you're still relying on gambling tactics, plain old luck, to win your duels." she added before she started to shuffled the three cards.

"Not quite. It took some skill to play Compensation Mediation at the right time." Joey replied before the three cards appeared on the field. "But, a little luck never hurt." he added. "Alright, I already made my choice. I choose the card in the middle!" he declared. 'There's no way that's the Compensation Mediation card. He's finished.' Valon thought. 'May the Heart of the Cards show the card to be the right one.' Yugi thought, desperate. "Show me the card." Joey said before the card was revealed to be the right choice.

"I can't believe it! He picked the right card!" AJ said in surprise. "Not even Antonio Inoki would've hit a harder homerun!" Joey shouted. "Unbelievable!" Rarity declared. "Looks like Mai's attack is over before it even started!" Pinkie shouted. "Talk about luck!" Weevil shouted. "Yeah, that takes me back to when he beat me with Time Wizard!" Rex concurred. "Well, there goes our shared theory, Raf." Valon said, clearly impressed.

"Looks like your dragon's attack is over, and I'm still in the game!" Joey said with pride. "For now, maybe." Mai pointed out. "Well, at least he bought himself some time." Tea said. "Yes, but it did come with a price, Tea." Yami pointed out. "I'll admit, I'm impressed, Joey. But your little trap helped me out more than hinder me." Mai said before tossing the card back to Joey, which he caught. "Yeah, I know. Now you get to put the two cards you picked back on the top of your deck." the Domino City Underdog replied before Mai did so.

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Now she can use both of those formation cards again!" Rainbow said in frustration. "You may have stopped my attack, but my turn isn't over yet. I'll move one of my Harpie's towards the rear defense, then I'll set two cards and end my turn." Mai said as her Harpie joined its sisters behind the dragon. 'I've got one more shot to do this, but I'm all out of ideas!' Joey thought, desperate not to lose.

'But this duel ain't over yet, I just need to draw the right card.' he added before drawing. "I'll set one card face down, and then set a monster, and lat but not least, switch my Fiend Megacyber to defense mode." he said aloud. All the while, Duke was busy searching for an unlocked door to get into the building, but had little to no success. "I have to get in there! I don't have much time!" he said in frustration. Back inside, Mai was about to make her move.

"I'm actually impressed with how calm you are, for someone about to lose their soul, that is." she said. "Yeah, well, I've been involved in some pretty crazy duels over my life and I learned a really important lesson about this game; keep fighting till the last card is drawn! And last I checked, I still have a deck full of cards and a handful of life points remaining, so give me your best shot." Joey replied. "With pleasure!" Mai said as she drew.

"You just activated my trap, Drop Off!" Joey declared as his trap sprung. "Now the card you just drew goes straight to the graveyard!" he added. "I don't think so, cause I have a set card of my own. Trap Jammer!" Mai retorted before her own trap sprung. "It allows me to cancel out your trap immediately. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to continue my move." she added.

"Oh, well. Bring it on." Joey replied. "This should be a fun way to end the game, but not just yet." Mai said as she looked at her card before setting it. "Chances are the card she just drew is either Harpie Lady Phoenix or Harpie Lady Sparrow formation." Spike said. "Go, my dragon, attack his fiend, now!" Mai commanded before the massive creature was destroyed in a blast of magenta colored fire. "And now, Harpie Lady, attack his set monster!" she continued before the winged creature struck the hidden monster, which turned out to be a level three, Earth attribute plant/effect monster with 500 attack and defense points called Fiber Jar.

"That's the way! You just destroyed my Fiber Jar and, more importantly, activated its special ability! So we have to dump all our cards into a pile..." Joey began to say. "And then we each pick five, I know how the card works." Mai interrupted. "Not like it even matters, anyway, because my own trap cancels it out!" she continued as her trap sprung and caused a great wind storm full of feathers. "What?! What's going on?!" Joey asked.

"This is what's known as Harpie's Feather Storm, it deactivates your monster's special ability." Mai explained before the storm died down. "Oh, no. Joey's fresh out of monsters!" Tristan shouted. "Not good." Rarity said, worried. "And now your life points are exposed, but luckily for you, my turn is over. Let's see what kind of desperate move you can do, now." Mai said with a sly smile.

"Desperate? Ha!" Joey replied before drawing. "I'll set one monster in defense mode and that's all." he continued. "Told you made desperate moves." Mai replied. "Looks like its time for Mai to put on the finishing touch." Valon said as he watched on. "I'm actually gonna miss the little underdog, but Rainbow will be a decent substitute at least." he added. "Nice knowing you, hon." Mai said before drawing. 'Only one monster left to crush, and I'm gonna send this poor sap down with a bang.' she thought as she looked at what she drew.

'Once I activate Harpie Lady Phoenix formation, his puny set monster will be gone. And thanks to its secondary effect, I'll be wiping out what's left of his life points, too.' he continued before showing her card. "It's over for you, Joey. I activate Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation! And in case you're too stuck to remember what it does, it means I win the duel." she declared as Joey seemingly looked down in defeat while the phoenix formed and came down right at Joey's last monster.

"Goodbye, Joseph." she said, thinking the game was over while everyone else watched in worry and horror. "This can't be it." Fluttershy said with tears of worry in her eyes. But when the phoenix struck, something else happened, nothing. "It didn't work?!" Mai said in shock before the set monster was revealed to be to be a level one, Earth attribute beast/effect monster with 0 attack and defense points known as Neko Mane King.

"No! What was that?!" Mai said aloud before Joey started to chuckle. "That was my little buddy, Neko Mane King. He had 0 life points and defense points, so I didn't lose any life points. Which means you just wasted your best magic card. Oh, well. Pretty cool though, right?" Joey replied as the phoenix faded. "And there's more. Neko Mane King has a special ability. Since you destroyed it using a magic card, your turn automatically ends, which gives me another chance in the driver's seat." he continued.

"Talk about close." AJ said with a sigh of relief. "I don't know how much more of this I can take." Tristan said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "That guy has more lives than my cat." Rex said, surprised. "He just keeps stalling for more time. But how much longer can he keep this up?" Valon wondered. "What the big deal? Is your strategy trying to drag this out so that I either forfeit from boredom or deck out?" Mai asked.

"Why don't you worry about your own strategies and I'll worry about mine?" Joey asked back, smugly. 'But the fact is, she has a point. I'm just putting things off for as long as I can until I figure a way out of this mess and quitting's not an option, that's exactly what those Swordsmen punks want me to do. But I got to save Mai, and then find out what the Swordsmen are REALLY after. But that's gonna take some kind of miracle.' he thought before he looked down at his deck. 'I know that there's an answer in my deck, but what is it?' he wondered.

'Come on, Heart of the Cards, show me some love and guide me to a win.' he continued. Suddenly, the top card in Joey's deck began to glow. "What's up with my deck?" he said, confused. Right at that moment, Yugi/Yami's deck began to glow, too, before he drew The Eye of Timaeus. 'The Eye of Timaeus! Why's it glowing?' Yugi wondered. Meanwhile, up in the air, Seto noticed his own legendary dragon card, The Fang of Hermos, began to glow, too.

"My Duel Disk." he said before drawing his card. "It's that dragon, The Fang of Critias!" he continued before he, Yami and Joey found themselves in The Dominion of the Beasts, though Yami and Joey arrived at the castle. "Yugi? Where are we? And wasn't I just in the middle of a duel?" Joey asked. "I've been to this place before on the night I got The Eye of Timaeus, it's known as The Dominion of the Beasts." Yami answered before Joey saw the final dragon statue, this time with a sword in its foot.

"Whoa. That's one huge ice sculpture." he said. "It's a dragon, frozen in time." Yami explained. "Say what?" Joey asked in disbelief. "And I have a feeling its chosen you to free it, and if my theory is correct, only you can remove that sword." Yami continued. "What happens when I do?" Joey asked. "Then the dragon will awaken." Yami answered. "Here goes nothing." Joey said before taking the hilt of the sword and feeling a force pulsing through him. 'You are the one.' said the voice of the Dark Magician Girl.

"That was weird. I coulda sword I heard someone talking to me through that sword." Joey said afterward before taking the hilt by both hands. 'Yes, Joey. You must release Hermos.' the voice of the Dark Magician Girl said before, like Arthur in Camelot before him, Joey pulled the sword from the ice. "Looks like it worked! Now I just got one more question, is this thing friendly?!" Joey shouted as Hermos was freed, just before both boys returned to their world.

'Was that a dream?' he thought before he looked back to Yami. 'Now Joey has the third and final dragon in his deck. That could be just what he needs to win this.' Yugi said, mentally. Up in the sky, Seto had returned. "What was that?" he wondered. "Are you okay, Seto? Mokuba asked. "Just had a strange dream, nothing to worry about. But did you see a light coming from up here, Mokuba?" Seto replied. "I think I did. What was it?" Mokuba responded.

"I don't know. I can't explain it." Seto said. Meanwhile, Rafael's stone was glowing. "My Orichalcos stone. Its reacting to something." he said. "Oy! You behind this, Pharaoh?!" Valon shouted. "Not by a long shot." Yami replied. 'Wheeler's acting strange.' Mai thought. "Make your move! I have a duel to win!" she shouted. 'Well, this is it. If I don't draw something good now, I'm as good as gone.' Joey thought before drawing.

"No way! It's that dragon, Hermos!" he said in disbelief as he saw what he drew. "Hermos?! One of the Legendary Dragons?!" Raf said in shock. "Did he draw something good or not?" Rainbow asked, sort of impatient. "I hope so, this is his last shot." Tristan replied. 'I feel it. I think Joey just drew the dragon he released!' Yugi said, mentally. "Me, too. Its power is now his." Yami concurred.

"Alright, you're on. Mai, I want you to meet my new friend, Hermos!" he declared as he held his new card, The Claw of Hermos, high above for all to see.