Virtual World

'When you two lose this duel, you and your friends will be sentence to an eternity in this digital dungeon,' Johnson boasted.

'You're the one who's going down, Johnson,' Joey shot back. 'I beat you once and I'll beat you again.'

'Yes,' the Pharaoh said. 'But now we're up against all five of them.'

'That's right. I'm not alone in here.' Johnson drew. 'Now then, my first manoeuvre should seem familiar to you, Joseph. The move's called Clear the Courtroom. It's Judge Man's Deck Master ability!' Beside him, Judge Man's eyes glowed.

'Oh, no,' Joey said. 'Not this move!'

Johnson lifted a finger. 'Oh, yes. First I'll give up 1000 of my life points.' His life points dropped down to 7000. 'Proceed Your Honour.' He put his thumb down. 'Prosecute all of their monsters to the full extent of the law!'

All four of their monsters cleared off of the field.

'All four of our monsters are gone now,' the Pharaoh said.

'But that's not all I've done,' Johnson said.

'What?' Joey demanded.

'Have you forgotten already, Joseph?' Johnson sneered. 'Next you'll each lose 500 life points for each monster that I've crushed.'

Yugi's and Joey's life points dropped down to 3000.

YGO

Kaiba had gone down into the amusement park.

'This doesn't make any sense!' Kaiba looked around. It was all closed up but, It's a virtual copy of the Duel Monsters theme park I designed. There's no way Noah could have known about this!

Kaiba walked to one of the doors and over to the chessboard that acted as a kind of access panel. 'The blueprints for this KaibaLand are top secret, and construction isn't scheduled to begin for another four years! But it's all right here…every detail.' He moved one of the horses. 'They even included my backstage security system.' The access panel above the board flashed the word "checkmate" and the automated voice activated.

'Checkmate. Access to restricted area granted.'

The metal roller door slid up in front of him.

Maybe I'll get some answers in here.

Kaiba walked in.

YGO

'Now that I've cleared the field of all of your monsters,' Johnson pulled a card from his hand, 'it's time to work on your life points.' He set the card. 'I call Hysteric Angel to the stand.' The monster appeared on the field. 'And now,' he looked up, 'I think our spectators are really going to enjoy this next move. Especially that little monkey boy up there.' He smirked at Tristan's loud and outraged reaction. 'Time to put this body to good use. Now, Hysteric Angel, attack Joseph's life points directly.'

The Pharaoh looked over to see Joey brace himself right before he was struck. The Hysteric Angel hit him with eye-lasers. When the smoke cleared, Joey was doubled over and clutching his chest. His life points dropped down to 1200. He straightened up as much as he could.

'Wow,' he quipped sarcastically. 'Now I remember why I love you lawyers so much!'

'If you love that one, just wait until my next move.' Johnson gave the order. 'Angel, use my Catapult Turtle to launch yourself at the defendant, Mr. Joseph Wheeler!'

The Hysteric Angel landed on top of the catapult and dropped into a crouch. She was quickly launched forwards and across the field. Joey braced himself again. But he was still thrown back and landed in the dirt with a cry of pain. His life points dropped down to 300.

'Joey!' Serenity called. 'Are you all right?'

Joey climbed back up to his feet.

'Are you sure you're all right, Joey?' the Pharaoh asked.

'I've…been better.'

Johnson began gloating. 'Tell me, Joseph: are you beginning to understand my duelling strategy or do you need a hint? I plan to destroy the weaker link first. Then I'll concentrate on Yugi.'

'Is this the part where I'm supposed to be scared?' Joey wiped his hand across his face. 'You're just mad cause I wiped the courtroom floor with you in our last duel, Johnson.'

'Ha! Don't flatter yourself.' He set a card. 'I place one card face-down.' Johnson set another one. 'And then I play the magic card, Altar of Mist.' Both cards appeared on the field. The latter flipped up.

Oh, no! Yugi exclaimed. Thanks to that card's effect, after three turns Johnson will be able to play any ritual magic card in his entire deck! That will allow him to automatically summon a really powerful monster to the field.

'The prosecution rests,' Johnson said.

'Good. About time.' Joey drew. 'Now…' He looked at the card he just drew. 'This'll help.' He set the card on his duel disk. 'I summon Rocket Warrior.' The card appeared on the field and the monster emerged from within. Joey looked up at his Deck Master before returning his attention to Johnson. 'Now, here comes a move that you might remember. Thanks to my Swordsman's special ability, I'll take 1000 of his attack points and transfer them to my Warrior.

The Flame Swordsman's attack dropped to 800, while the Rocket Warrior's flew up to 2500.

'And now,' Joey called out the order, 'Rocket Warrior, attack his Catapult Turtle!' The Rocket Warrior transformed himself into his rocket form and launched himself at the Turtle. It hit and the Turtle was destroyed.

'Huh.' Johnson sneered. 'I activate Revenge Sacrifice!' His face-down card flipped up.

'No!' Joey cried out.

'This card allows me to sacrifice the monster you just attacked me with,' Johnson said. 'So consider your Rocket Warrior dismissed!'

The Rocket Warrior vanished from the field.

'And I'll use it to summon a new monster.' Johnson took a card from his hand with a laugh and played it. 'So please welcome to the stand Machine King!' The Machine King appeared on the field in front of him. 'This mechanical menace receives an additional 100 attack points for every machine monster in play, including itself.' Machine King's attack points went up to 2300. 'The decision is unanimous. You two don't stand a chance!'

'All right, Yug,' Joey said. 'Finish this guy.'

'I'll try.' The Pharaoh looked down at his hand. All right. I need to play Des Volstgalph, but in order to summon it to the field I need to sacrifice another monster first. And I have no other monsters. The Pharaoh's eyes narrowed as a play cooked itself up in his mind. Not yet anyway.

'It's my move, so here goes!' The Pharaoh drew. He looked at the card. This is just what I needed! It's the Rock Spirit monster card. But, in order to use it, I first have to take a monster out of my graveyard and remove it from the game. I was forced to send Buster Blader to the graveyard before, so I guess I'll take him out of play. The Pharaoh looked forward at Johnson in Tristan's body again. 'First, I'll remove my Buster Blader from the game…'

The card was ejected from the graveyard.

The Pharaoh removed it and played his monster card. '…in order to summon the Rock Spirit! But I'm afraid that's not all, Johnson.' He took the card he wanted out of his hand. 'I'll sacrifice my Spirit to summon this: Des Volstgalph!' He swapped the cards over.

The Rock Spirit vanished. Des Volstgalph appeared on the field.

'And now I'll place a card face-down,' the Pharaoh set the card. It appeared in front of him. He smirked, 'and end my turn.'

He ignored Joey trying to tell him the move was too obvious. 'It'll never work.'

I know it's obvious. That's the point.

YGO

Mayet smirked.

'Don't you think Joey's acting kinda weird?' Téa asked.

'I think maybe a bumblebee flew down his pants?' Serenity suggested.

If a bumblebee flew down Joey's pants, he'd jump up level with us.

'No,' Duke said. 'He's trying to warn Yugi about something.'

'Huh?' Téa and Tristan both asked.

'See, Yugi played a weaker monster, then he put a card face-down,' Duke said. 'Which is…a really predictable move. He wants Johnson to attack him.'

'Really?' Téa asked. 'That doesn't sound like something Yugi would do.'

'It isn't,' Mayet said. 'It is, however, something he might do to lead the Big 5 into a certain course of action.'

'Huh?' All four of them looked at her.

Mayet smirked again. 'Everyone's so busy looking at Yugi's face-down card that they've completely ignored the monster.'

YGO

The voice changed again.

'It's about time that I stepped in to rewire this duel! I am Nezbitt. Now meet my Deck Master, the unstoppable android Robotic Knight.' The Judge Man transformed into Robotic Knight.

Made no difference, really. Nezbitt would probably do exactly what Johnson would've done.

'Prepare to lose!' Nezbitt drew. He studied the Pharaoh – or rather Yugi – for a moment. 'You look a bit nervous.'

Hm. He must've been a better actor than he thought.

'First thing I'll do is rid the field of your face-down card.' Nezbitt took a card from his hand. 'So sorry, but take this.' He played the card. 'Heavy Storm!' The card appeared on the field and flipped up. 'It destroys all your magic and trap cards on the field.'

The card activated and a huge gust picked up. The Pharaoh covered his face as Mirror Force was blown away.

Nezbitt smirked. 'Mirror Force was your face-down card.'

Obviously, he hadn't noticed, so the Pharaoh just said, 'That's right.' He decided to hold off on it for a little bit longer. This was kinda fun. 'My plan was to reflect the attack of Machine King right back at you, Nezbitt.'

'Come on, Yug!' Joey exclaimed. 'That's the oldest trick in the duel book.'

'It was worth a try.'

Joey looked shocked. 'There's too much at stake here to try a lame move like that, Yug!'

The important thing was that Nezbitt was fooled. 'All right, kid. It's time to dismantle you! Go, Machine King! Attack now!' The Machine King's eyes lit up. 'Disassemble his Des Volstgalph!'

Machine King lifted his arms and the laser was shot out from its chest.

The Pharaoh smirked and chuckled. Worked like a charm. 'Thank you.'

'What?' Nezbitt demanded.

'Looks like you fell for my real trap, Nezbitt,' the Pharaoh said.

'What trap?' Nezbitt demanded. 'You have no more trap cards left in play.'

'You're obviously unaware of Des Volstgalph's special ability,' the Pharaoh said. 'So allow me to explain. When you played your magic card, you increased my monster's attack strength by 200 points, giving it a total of 2400. And now, Des Volstgalph, attack!' The dragon monster roared and let loose a blast.

The blast shot right through Machine King's laser and passed right into him, destroying him. The Big 5's life points dropped down 6900.

'Lucky break, kid,' Nezbitt grumbled.

'And my monster has one more effect,' the Pharaoh said. 'When it destroys your monster, you lose 500 life points, Nezbitt.'

Their life points dropped even lower, to 6400.

Nezbitt narrowed Tristan's eyes. 'I'm not impressed.'

No, he wouldn't imagine so.

Nezbitt looked a little constipated. '500 points is nothing! I still have plenty of life points left!'

'Nice one, Yugi!' Tea called down. 'Nice way to protect Joey!'

The Pharaoh knew Joey hadn't caught on, and he was somewhat amused by that. 'Your acting was key.' He gave him a thumb's up. 'That made it convincing.'

Of course, that had everyone else coming to the conclusion that Joey knew, and he clearly didn't. The only one who caught on was Mayet, who was grinning widely. Joey, of course, pretended he had known the whole time. It was actually quite an amusing little exchange.

Nezbitt visible ground Tristan's teeth. 'That won't work again!'

'All right, you corporate creepazoids, you're outta luck, pal!' Joey called across the field. 'Cause, other than that walking junkyard you call a Deck Master, it looks to me like you're outta monsters! Leaving your life points wide open. Here goes!' He drew. Joey looked worried and then looked thoughtful. Then he took the card he'd just drawn and set it. 'I summon Panther Warrior in defence mode!' The card appeared on the field and his Warrior emerged, crouched on the card. 'Now I'll wrap things up by placing this little number face-down.' He set a second card and it appeared on the field. Joey looked over. 'It's all you, Yug.'

'Right. And I know what I need to do.' The Pharaoh drew. He looked over his shoulder to address the robot monkey that contained Tristan's mind. 'I'm sorry, Tristan, but…I must attack directly!'

The monkey dropped his head. 'Do what you gotta do, Yugi!' He then spun around to hug Serenity. Mayet looked over with an expression somewhere between sympathy and amusement.

The Pharaoh turned back to the duel. 'Now, Des Volstgalph, attack his life points directly!' His dragon attacked, shooting the blast out of his mouth and hit Tristan's body.

Nezbitt staggered back and his life points dropped to 4200.

The Pharaoh played his final card. 'Now I'll summon Big Shield Gardna in defence mode!' His monster appeared on the field. 'That's all for now, Nezbitt.'

YGO

Kaiba walked through the darkened rooms. Looks like Noah didn't have enough imagination to fill this place with anything.

Something suddenly caught his eye and he drew back. 'Huh? It's another one of that twerp's virtual doorways.' With no other choice, he walked towards it. If I had to guess, he thought with a smirk. I'd say it leads to more images from my past. Yanking the handle open, he walked in.

Instead of a scene from his past, he saw a small dark room with a projector set up. And it was a pathetic old thing that was more than outdated. What's this? A cheap old movie projector? Get with the times, Noah! As he came over to it, he decided to see what was on it. He flicked it on and started it up The lens lit up and a montage of videos was shown on the screen set up directly in front of it. Surprisingly, they more featured Noah.

'I bet you can't catch me, dad! Ha-ha-ha!'

The first image featured a younger-looking Noah running.

It's Noah. Nice outfit, dork. Although, to be fair, he probably hadn't dressed himself as young as he looked.

The next clip showed Noah and Gozaboro standing by a birthday cake, with Noah blowing out the candles. And then the two of them were on the front of a yacht. There was a close-up of Noah's laughing face but then it faded to black. It came back on. The front of a church was shown, with a Mercedes parked out front.

'What's this?' Kaiba wondered.

'How can this have happened?' a woman's voice asked.

A moment later, a woman walked out of the church, dressed all in black, carrying a photograph. It took a moment before the picture of Noah became clear enough for Kaiba to make it out.

'Don't worry,' Gozaboro's voice said. 'Noah can still be saved! I'll find a way!'

'But how?'

'There's nothing I can't do!' Yeah, he'd always held that opinion of himself.

Kaiba suddenly remembered the autopsy report he'd seen.

Cause of Death: Full Body Trauma due to Vehicular collision

'But why would Noah show me this?' Kaiba wondered. Unless…it wasn't Noah.

With a scowl, Kaiba left the room.

YGO

Robotic Knight suddenly vanished.

'All right!' Leichter said. 'Say goodbye to Nezbitt and his pathetic robot! I'm Leichter, and I'll be controlling this body for the remainder of the duel.'

'Whatever,' Joey said. 'Less talking, more duelling.'

'Fine. I'll draw.' He drew.

'Not quite! You triggered my trap!' Joey's down card in question flipped up. 'Sorry, Leichter. Meet Drop Off. My card sends the card you just drew to the graveyard!'

Leichter smirked. 'Guess again.'

'Hm?'

A beam suddenly shot across and destroyed the trap card.

'No way!' Joey cried out. 'What gives? How'd you destroy my trap card?'

At that moment, his Deck Master came down to stand at his side. Leichter chuckled. 'Haven't you noticed the monster I've chosen to be my Deck Master?'

'It's Jinzo!' Joey exclaimed. 'My trap cards are useless!'

'That's right,' Leichter said. 'He'll automatically destroy every one of them. He looked at the card in his hand and then he played it. 'Now I play the magic card, Pot of Greed.' The card appeared on the field and flipped up, activating. 'Allowing me to draw two more cards.' He took those two more cards and looked at them.

'Ha!' The Pharaoh drew his attention. 'You just played a magic card which triggers my Volstgalph's special ability! So it gains 200 attack points!' Volstgalph's attack points flew up to 2400 again.

'Now is that so?' Leichter demanded. 'He won't be around for much longer anyway!' He played a card. 'For I summon my Fairy Lily!' The monster appeared on the field, holding onto her mega-sized syringe.

'Ha!' Joey mocked him. 'Looks like she's only got 400 attack points, Leichter!'

The Pharaoh remembered this one, though. 'Looks can be very deceiving, Joey.'

'I give up 2000 life points to increase her power!' Leichter's life points dropped to 2200. Her attack points flew up to 3400. 'Lily, destroy his Des Volstgalph!'

The Pharaoh braced himself.

Lily threw her needle. It hit Des Volstgalph straight in the chest, and his monster was destroyed. The Pharaoh's life points dropped to 2000. In the next moment, Lily had her needle back and she was on her way back on her own side of the field, in front of Leichter.

'That manoeuvre cost you more life points than it cost me,' the Pharaoh observed.

'Not exactly,' Leichter said. 'Cause I'm about to restore mine, with my Sebek's Blessing magic card.' He played the card and it appeared in front of him.

The Pharaoh cringed at the butchering of the deity's name.

'What's the deal with that card?' Joey asked.

'It increases Leichter's life points by the same number of life points I just lost.'

'Exactly! And if my math is correct, that gives me 1000 more life points.' Leichter's side of the field was covered with a light and his life points flew up to 3200. He yanked another card out of his hand. 'And, finally, I'll place one card face-down.' He set the card. 'Soon we'll claim four more of your bodies, leaving your minds trapped here.'

'Yug!' Joey exclaimed. 'We do something, and fast!'

'Get ready, boys!' Leichter crowed, activating a down card. 'To give up your bodies, that is!' The card flipped up and activated. 'I just activated Gravity Bind, which stops all monsters with four or more stars from attacking. That includes everything except my Fairy Lily.'

'That's a trap,' Joey pointed out. 'And your Jinzo's supposed to destroy all trap cards on the field!'

'That's usually true, but since Jinzo's my Deck Master, he only destroys my opponent's traps,' Leichter said.

'Oh, yeah? Now…' Joey drew. From the grin on his face, the Pharaoh would say he'd just drawn his own Jinzo. 'I sacrifice Panther Warrior so I can summon this!' Joey swapped the cards over. 'My own Jinzo!' His monster rose up onto the field. 'Your Jinzo might not cooperate, but mine definitely will. All right, Jinzo, destroy his trap!'

Joey's Jinzo's eyes lit up and the lasers shot out, obliterating the card.

Leichter drew back and yellow out in alarm.

'Aw, yeah!' Joey cheered.

'Celebrating so soon?' Leichter recovered quickly and turned to mocking Joey.

Joey stopped. 'Yeah. Why?'

'You may have destroyed my trap card,' Leichter snapped, 'but my Fairy Lily is still the strongest monster on the field, Mr. Wheeler. Once I power her up again, she'll wipe out your Jinzo, and your life points!'

Joey made a sound of alarm and drew back.

'Joey, Leichter is right,' the Pharaoh told him. 'Her special ability allows him to raise her attack points higher than any other monster on the field.'

Joey looked over at him. 'Oh, yeah.'

'But then again,' the Pharaoh let a knowing smile come onto his face, 'attack points aren't everything, are they, Joey?'

It took him a moment to get it.

The Pharaoh nodded.

Joey grinned. He turned back to Leichter. He pulled a card out of his hand. 'I play Block Attack! This magic card switches your Fairy from attack to defence mode.' He played the card and it flipped up, activating.

'You can't…!' Leichter tried to protest.

Fairy Lily immediately dropped into defence mode.

'I just did,' Joey said. 'Jinzo, do us all a favour and send his little monster back to Fairy Land, will you?' He gave the order as Jinzo moved into position. 'Cyber Energy Shock Attack!' The pulse went over the field and Fairy Lily was shattered.

Leichter growled.

'Well,' Joey remarked. 'That's all from me, Leichter.' He looked over. 'Now, back to you, Yug. Pound this bozo!'

'Right. Time to take you down!' The Pharaoh drew. He smiled when he saw what he'd drawn. 'And I have just the card to do it in my hand.' He set the card on the field. 'Come forth, Dark Magician Girl!' With a sigh, she emerged onto the field. The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes. 'Your life points are wide open! Dark Magician Girl, attack him directly!'

She shot a beam of energy at Leichter.

The Big 5's life points dropped to 1200. Leichter cried out and fell to his knees.

'He just lost 2000 life points,' Joey remarked and gave him a thumb's up.

The Pharaoh smiled and nodded. Then he looked back at Leichter. 'It's your move.'

Leichter chuckled darkly. 'The time has arrived, my young friends,' he rose up off of his knees, 'to reap the benefits of my magic card.'

'Say what, man?' Joey asked.

It suddenly hit the Pharaoh. 'Wait! He's right! It's been three turns since he played Alter of Mist! Now he can summon almost any monster he wants.'

'You are correct.' Leichter drew. He looked at the card, and began laughing.

'What's so funny, Leichter?' Joey demanded.

But Leichter only laughed harder.

'That's getting real annoying!' Joey snapped.

Leichter managed to control himself. 'If you were me, you'd laugh too.'

The Pharaoh made an alarmed sound as the implications of that sank in.

Leichter lifted the card, still keeping it faced away from them. 'For in my hand, I hold the Big 5's most powerful creature. Say goodbye to your bodies!'

He began laughing again.