Gangsley chortled, not even trying to hide his amusement at how he had managed to anger Koyo. "Ah… so it is the moronic little piece of blonde eye candy. Honestly… I don't get it. Valentine would have been a far better choice."

Koyo though merely narrowed his eyes. "You want me to explain myself to you? Or is it that you can't understand anyone else because there is something fundamentally broken in your brain that prevents you from understanding the world and emotions and things such as love?" He paused. "That's it, isn't it? No wife. No children. Nothing but your little games?"

"I don't play games, boy. I engage in business. I win. I don't let such things cloud my vision. The fact that you grew so angry so quick shows that you can't think straight."

And then he began to laugh even harder, his entire body shaking as he gave into his mirth.

"You get it, don't you?"

Koyo didn't answer, instead drawing his next card. 'Men like him… you can't beat them by shaming them or embarrassing them. They believe that they are right and that all others are wrong.' He thought back to what Gangsley had said earlier, about how he was respectful and that Koyo's generation didn't understand how to act amongst their elders. 'He believes that everything he's said, every vile thing, is justified. That its his right. And to call him out on it is to be too 'woke' or the like.

'No… I'm not going to win by mocking him. He'll just dismiss it all or think its part of the game. The only way for me to win… to truly win… is to beat his puppet. To outduel him and leave him with no way to claim any victory. A war of words? A man like him can find a way to claim that he still managed to win a moral victory. But he'll never accept a loss in something like this. Where there is a clear winner.'

Koyo narrowed his eyes.

'I am going to destroy you, you fucking bastard.' And with that he drew. "I'll start by using The Warrior Returning Alive, allowing me to select one Warrior Monster in my graveyard and return it to my hand."

"Trying to bring back your hero?" Nate asked with a shake of his head. "Sorry mate, but it ain't gonna happen. I activate Longlong's Deck Master ability once again, allowing me to negate the activation of that card." On the field the card fizzled before it shattered into pieces.

"No need to apologize… I wanted you to do that. Burn through your Deck Master's ability so that I can go through the rest of my turn without having to worry about it again. So now I summon Elemental Hero Blazeman to the field." His face was hidden behind a red visor but no one could miss how clearly passionate the new hero was. His hair burned in a riot of flames and the hero gave a fist pump in the air to let all know he was ready for a fight. The monster let out a cry, fire raging around him on the ground, before he knelt down into defense mode. "And now I'll use his affect, which triggered when he was summoned, to add a Polymerization to my hand-"

But as he went to do that he found his deck stuck, refusing to come out.

"What?" he said, surprised.

"I'm afraid I didn't explain Blue Screen well enough," Nate stated. "The first time I use it is free. But I can then use it a second time, at the cost of 500 lifepoints." (Nate-3500)

That had Koyo thinking. 'So… he can do it at least twice. But can he keep using it, over and over? Or is it limited to the two? If it's the latter then I'll need to think hard about my combos but once I push past the first two then I will be able to make him suffer. But if it's the former then I could begin burning through his lifepoints, forcing him to constantly decide if he wants to burn another 500 lifepoints in order to stymie me.'

He didn't know which would be better. One would force him to waste more resources in order to pull off his moves… but would also mean that, at the very least, he was able to punish Nate every time he used the Deck Master Ability. The other would do the same but if he changed his entire strategy that would possibly net him a quicker win. But that came with its own risks, especially if Nate's deck was built around more than just locking him down. Which he was sure it was.

'The cat is dead. The cat is alive. It only becomes a single state when I open the box,' Koyo thought as he tapped his duel disc. "I will now use the second affect of my monster, sending Elemental Hero Neos Alius to the graveyard in order to give Blazeman the attack, defense, and attribute of my monster!"

"Neos Alius?" Gangsley said with a frown. "What kind of name is that?"

"Honestly… I have no idea." Koyo smiled as he looked down at the card in his hand, having pulled it out when it had popped out of his duel disc. "I didn't get this card from a pack or a card shop. It was given to me by…"

He paused.

Koyo stared in shock at the spot where the building had nearly fallen on him. Nearly… because the figure before him, dressed in a white body suit with blue and red accents, had managed to push him out of the way before catching the rubble, holding it up despite the fact that it must have weighed a ton.

"…a hero," he finished, staring down at the younger form of the figure that had saved him. He didn't feel any need to explain anything else to the likes of Gangsley. "So now Blazeman's attack and defense become 1900 and 1300 and his attribute switches to light." The warrior smirked as his flames switched to a bright blinding white, cloaking him in an almost holy aura. "And now I will activate my Deck Master's Ability, which allows me to fusion summon a fire, light, or earth monster using cards in my graveyard, returning them to my deck! So I select my Elemental Hero Ocean and my Elemental Hero Neos Alius in order to summon forth Elemental Hero Sunrise!"

At first the only thing that would make anyone think the hero had a connection to the sun was the icon on his stomach, the burning sun. But then the hero raised his hands into the air and from all around his red-armored body came a glow that was as beautiful and terrible as the sun on the hottest day of the year.

When nothing happened Koyo smirked to himself. 'He might be waiting, not wanting to burn too many lifepoints, but the fact that he let me use Blazeman's effect confirms that Blue Screen only can be used twice. Now to figure out how to turn that effect against Nate and win this duel!' Out loud he declared, "And thanks to being summoned this way my Elemental Hero Sunrise can attack the turn he is summoned! Meaning you are about to lose your defenses! Elemental Hero Sunrise, attack-"

"I activate Virtual World Gate-Xuanwu!" Nate declared, tapping his duel disc. "This card forces Sunrise into defense mode… and with no other monsters in attack mode your battle phase is done." Sunrise found himself forced to shift into defense mode, joining Blazeman in that position. "Well, mate, that certainly amounted to jack piss."

'Maybe,' Koyo thought to himself, 'but I've still learned a lot this turn. I understand your deck far better, and your deck master. I am finding the weaknesses and soon I am going to begin poking at them, tearing open those wounds until they bleed. And with them will come your lifepoints. Its only a matter of time, Gangsley… your pawn WILL fall!'

~MC~MC~MC~

One of the first lessons Noah's father had taught him had concerned exploiting weakness.

"Everything is a weakness, Noah!" his father had been fond of telling him, laughing boisterously when he did so. "And everyone has a weakness. Many weaknesses in fact! The very fact that we are alive is a weakness! It is a strong man who minimizes all his weaknesses. It is why I am careful with who I spend time with. Reveal little of myself to the public. Ensure that I control every story about myself.

"A strong man also knows when to go after another's weakness. Everything is a fight, Noah, and you must be ready for battle. But that doesn't mean that you swing wild punches and hope that one connects. Or that when it does it actually is worth the effort you put into it! A strong man knows when to bob and weave, when to lure their opponent in, and when to finally lunge and go in for the kill!"

That was what his father had always told him. And Noah had lived his life like that, both before and after entering the Virtual World. In school he had been careful not to be a bully to any student, seeing such things as only alienating potential assets. He wasn't meek though… he made clear that he would not be pushed around and those that thought they could defeat him were at once destroyed in the most vicious way possible. But he also was ready to offer his hand to an enemy… so long as they saw the error of their ways. That was why, when he'd found the Big 5 in his domain, he had been willing to align with them. Yes, they had betrayed his father and sided with the usurper… but they had realized their folly and now would work to correct it.

And should they fail him, as Nezbit had, they would be punished.

'But apparently Gangsley never learned about knowing when to pull your punch,' he thought as he watched the old man mock Koyo.

Because Noah knew… this was wrong.

"I'm sorry." That's what he wanted to say to Joey. What he found himself unable to say. "I am sorry that you had to learn about your friend this way. I am sorry that Gangsley decided to force your friend to out himself to you this way, even if he doesn't realize he did so. I'm sorry you now have to deal with this information."

Love was a weakness. Noah understood that. His father had told him that many times. 'Harden your heart to it,' he had advised him. But… it was a weakness that Noah preferred not to exploit. There was taking advantage of a situation because it benefited you… and there was cruelty for the sake of being cruel.

This wasn't right.

'And tricking Seto as you did was right?' a soft voice whispered in his head. 'Using his love of his brother against him was right?'

He pushed the thought aside.

'If Gangsley wins… I will honor our agreement. He will have Koyo's body. But I will do everything in my power to make sure that old man knows how displeased I am with him. ' Noah's face didn't twitch as he stared down the guffing man. 'And he will have a very LONG lifetime to make it up to me.'

~MC~MC~MC~

'Koyo…feels that way about me?' Joey thought to himself as he watched his friend end his turn.

Joey looked back at all their interactions, all their moments together… and just didn't see it.

'I mean yeah, he's a great pal already but… he never acted like he felt… like he felt that way for me.' He searched harder, trying to find something he might have missed… but there was nothing. Koyo was… just Koyo. And he hadn't acted in any way that was different from what Joey would have expected from Tea or Tristan or Yug. They had quickly bonded as friends. 'Okay, might have been a bit easier than with Duke… or Yug especially.'

Joey's mind flashed back to how he had been with Yugi… how he had tormented him and picked on him because he was smaller and weaker. How he had tried to make it out that he was doing it to toughen him up… but Joey knew that was a lie. Had known even back then it was a lie. He'd picked on Yugi because he was smaller and weaker… and Joey wanted to feel for once like that wasn't describing him.

'None of my friends realize that I was a short little shrimp until about 2 years ago,' Joey thought. He had been a scrawny kid and only looked bigger because he was constantly around Serenity, she herself having been rather short until about a year or so when she'd hit puberty. 'Man, if I had been any later people would have thought I was her little brother!' Joey had the mental image of Serenity, as she was now, towering over him, telling Joey to hold her hand so he didn't get lost in the crowd. 'Yug… he was everythin' I used ta be… or at least how my old man used ta make me feel. So I wanted ta pick on him because… because it made me feel better about myself. I had some control.'

But now all of that just made Joey sick to his stomach.

And that was the other thing that was surprising but not in a bad way. He wasn't repulsed by the idea that Koyo cared for him.

'Dad would have a fit,' Joey thought. 'Probably beat me ten ways past Sunday if he found out that some gay… that someone like Koyo… gah, I don't even know how to word it!' Joey clenched his jaw tight, hands balling up into fists. 'He would say it was sick and it was my fault and that he needed ta punish me so dat I was 'back on the right path'.

'But the thing is… I think he'd be mad no matter who loved me. If I brought Mai home?' He thought about him and Mai entering his apartment, Mai hiding her disgust at how filthy it was and how it stank of old beer and unwashed dishes and sweat clinging to dirty clothes, only for his father to rant and rave that Joey was getting delusions of being 'better than your old man!' because he brought home someone as attractive as Mai. 'He'd probably say the same thing about Koyo if he didn't mind the whole bein' a guy thing. Be mad that I had brought someone as handsome as Koyo with me. Claimin' that I was tryin' ta make myself out ta be better than him.'

He paused.

"I can't even please him."

"What was that?" Noah asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can't please Koyo?"

"Nah man that ain't-"

Joey had meant his father. He had come in that moment to the realization that, no matter what he did, he would never be able to make his father happy with him and his choices. He had been chasing after his father's approval all his life, hoping that if he found that one thing that made his old man stop and pay attention to him then he'd be able to… change everything.

In his mind he saw him and his father on the KaibaCorp blimp, having a duel. He kept laying out monsters and his father would counter with his dragon. It was a monstrous thing, orange in color with blazing emerald eyes, half its body made up of its gapping maw that it kept shoving Joey's monsters into. While Joey's lifepoints took hit after hit he still had enough not to knock him out of the game and he kept drawing from his deck, waiting for the card that would change everything. The combo that would destroy the dragon and allow him to finally strike back at his father. Get him to see how good he was and acknowledge him.

But Joey now saw… that would never happen. Because where he was playing Duel Monsters his father was just screaming about how pathetic he was and how he'd never amount to anything and how he believed he was better than him when he wasn't. They hadn't even started their first turn because his father refused to play the game.

How could you win if someone refused to even give you a chance?

It was a sad thing to realize… and also burden lifting. He didn't have to worry anymore about pleasing his old man. Oh, he wouldn't go out of his way to annoy him or get him riled up… but there was no need for Joey to spend his nights thinking about how if he did something it would finally get his father to realize his worth. It… simply wasn't going to happen.

"Aren't what?" Noah asked.

Joey frowned.

He had been talking about his father. That he could never please him. But… could he please Koyo? Did his friend really understand what Joey was like? They hadn't known each other for that long…

(His mind briefly flashed to a ship… the war they had fought in. Months, maybe years preparing to take on Wyatt. Finding time to slip away from the training and just have some fun. The missions they'd gone on together to secure items and weapons that had been more like wild adventures with laughter and thrills than duty. He couldn't cling to a memory for too long but it was there. It had been longer than a few days.)

'So does he really know who I am? I mean… how can he when I don't even know who I am most days?'

Joey didn't have an answer.

~MC~MC~MC~

"You know, I kind of wish that I had learned how to duel, back when I was in the real world. Seto Kaiba made it out as something only he could do, that it wasn't worth any of us even trying and to be frank I though it to be rather childish. But now I see there is a thrill there that would have been… oh so delightful." Gangsley chuckled at that. "Is this how you feel all the time? I know that you haven't dueled that much-"

That had Koyo laugh.

"Did I say something humorous?"

"Not at all," Koyo said quickly, stifling his laugh. "Just found it funny that you only didn't duel because Kaiba told you not to. You truly are a pet on a leash, aren't you?"

"Miserable little…" Gangsley's good humor disappeared. "You-"

Koyo tuned him out. 'They aren't working with all the information that should be. Gangsley thinks I'm just some nobody that got brought along… that I'll be easy pickings. He has no idea how many National Titles I've won. Australian. Pan-Pacific. Canadian. Brazil. He has no idea that I'm one of the Top Ten duelists in the world and the only reason I wasn't in Battle City was because I missed out on entering because I was busy with other tournaments.

'And that is how I am going to defeat him. Because he's underestimating me. Because he thinks I'm weak. He's focused on me being gay, being young, being naïve. Have no idea just how strong I really am. And I think its time I stopped studying the situation and truly took control of this duel.' He mentally smirked. 'You want a challenge, Gangsley? I'm gonna give it to you. Just be careful what you wish for…'

Nate finally decided to speak once Gangsley stopped ranting. "Alright, mate, 'cause I only control a psychic monster I'm able to summon without any tributes my Virtual World Oto-Hime Toutou!"

'Another maiden suited for a world of electronics,' Koyo thought as the monster appeared on the field. 'But with a pet rabbit as well it seemed. Or rather a robotic rabbit.' It made Koyo chuckle; he wanted to ask if she had tried to dream up a sheep and gotten things confused. But he decided that Nate wouldn't get the reference.

"But this Shelia won't be staying here for long," Nate continued on. "Nah… I'll be usin' my Lulu to tune my Toutou in order ta Syncro Symmon my Virtual World Kyubi- Shenshen!"

Koyo watched as one of the monsters turned into a ring of energy, the other one leaping into it and converting into a beam of light that raced up high above him before arc back down and slamming into the ground, forming into Nate's new monster. It was some kind of hoofed animal… Koyo could tell that right away, though he had a feeling it wasn't merely a horse or a gazelle. 'The deck is clearly based on folklore and myth… has to be something more than that,' he thought before focusing on the duel at hand; while the monsters were interesting it was more important to he stay focused on what his opponent was doing.

"And now I think I'll be removin' that hero ya wasted so much time summoning. Virtual World Kyubi- Shenshen, destroy Elemental Hero Sunrise!"

The hoofed creature reared up before half running, half flying at Elemental Hero Sunrise, bowling right over him and shattering him into bits.

"And thanks to Shenshen's effect your monster is banished rather than sent to the graveyard. So ya won't be getting him back."

"Well done, Nate, well done!" Gangsley cheered. "Oh, how that must burn you, to suffer that loss."

"Not really," Koyo said. "It just helped confirm more things for me."

"That you are going to lose?"

"No… that this is a case where I finally get to be my real self." Koyo drew his next card. "I've been… so afraid of admitting who I truly am. Playing down how smart I am… how skilled. But you Gagnsley? You and your little puppet are going to allow me the perfect chance to actually show off just how good I am. How much better I am."

"Better? At what? This card game?"

"This card game. At strategy. At intelligence gathering. At outsmarting your foes. Outplaying them. Taking advantage. Breaking down and building up. You look down upon me because you think I'm some stupid little gay boy flouncing around crushing on Joey Wheeler. I'm Koyo. I am a certified genius. One of the best duelists in the world. A master strategist. You are nothing more than a whining old man who can't even fight the very battles he claims gives him a thrill and I am now going to tear apart your last chance to ever hope to return to the real world and leave you rotting in this digital hell until someone comes along and pulls the plug."

"That… was a lot of bolds words from someone who is about to lose."

Koyo merely smirked. "And that wasn't a comeback. First I will activate Blazeman's special ability, allowing me to send one Elemental Hero to the graveyard in order to once again change Blazeman's type, attack, and defense to that monster's." He leaned in. "You know what I can summon… my Deck Master is ready. You can negate it in a heart beat but… do you really want to?"

Nate… remained still.

"Ah… there it is. The subroutine that forces your puppet, in matters where there is no sure solution, to turn to you." And Koyo himself turned towards Gangsley. "So now you need to figure this out, don't you? Need to figure out the best move. Tick… tock."

Gangsley glowered at him, gripping his cane so tight his knuckles were turning white. "I choose… to negate the effect." He smirked. "It clear you don't want me to use that effect and I still have Longlong's second negate ability to fall back on."

Blazeman shuttered, his flames turning blue before they transformed back into their normal red color. "Right," Koyo said. "And now I will activate E-Emergency Call, allowing me to select on Elemental Hero from my deck and add it to my hand-"

"Negate again!" Gangsley declared before Nate could even react. "Well, so much for that!" he chortled at managing to stop Koyo again. "And with your hand nearly empty there is nothing you can do. I have eliminated your resources and left you with barely anything to call upon!" (Nate-3000)

"That's right," Koyo admitted. "You're getting into this, aren't you?"

"At long last I am. There is a thrill to this game… it is battle without having to deal with a bloody nose."

"Oh… there can be bloody noses. Maybe in another life I'd have told you about my friend Tea punching out Ishizu Isthar. But for now I think I'll go with activate this: Pot of Greed!" He drew two cards from his deck. "And now I will summon my Deck Master, Elemental Hero Gaia, to the field!"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Koyo man, what are ya doin'!?" Joey exclaimed. "If your Deck Master gets destroyed than you lose the duel, no matter how many lifepoint ya have! Why would you take that risk!?"

"He's desperate," Noah replied. "A shame… after all his talk about being able to destroy Gangsley I was curious how he would be able to do it. But his grand move is merely summoning his deck master? That is… highly disappointing."

"Next I'll use the card I just drew, Polymerization, to fuse my Elemental Hero Gaia and my Elemental Hero Blazeman in order to summon forth my Elemental Hero Nova Master!"

"WHA!?" Joey exclaimed as he watched the two cards join together in a swirl of energy, forming into the new fiery hero. "He can do that?"

"He can but it is unwise," Noah said with a smirk. "When a deck master fuses with another card that card becomes the new deck master. Your friend clearly thought he had found a way around the Deck Master flaw but all he has done is doomed himself!" Noah snickered at that. "Oh… it is such a shame when hubris gets in the way of things-"

Joey tried to tackle Noah again.

"Come now, I thought we were done with that!" Noah complained as Joey sailed through him.

"That's my friend out there that is riskin' himself and you're gigglin' about it? Listen here, pal, just because you've been all on your own don't mean that all the rest of us are by ourselves! Koyo has me and I'm gonna fight for him!"

"And how is that?" Noah taunted. "I control everything here. All you are doing is tossing yourself about." He let out a sigh. "I will forgive that one time, due to your emotions getting the better of you… but do not attempt such an act again. It will… not end well for you."

Joey grimaced at that. 'Yeah… better not try that again. Noah might not be a total jerk but he still kidnapped all of us.' Outloud he said, "Right… well… I don't like ya laughin' at my friend."

"You should be more focused on your friend losing this duel, which is about to happen."

Clearly Nate and Gangsley had also decided that Koyo's move deserved all the mockery they could muster because the two of them were still snickering and laughing at what he had done.

"A weak monster that has no hope of defeating our Virtual World Monster?" Gangsley asked. "Oh… if you wanted to lose you could have done so with a bit more dignity."

Koyo though didn't look disturbed. "Game's not over yet. I activate the field spell The Hall of Heroes!"

On the field the headquarters for the Elemental Heroes appeared in its full glory. It looked as if every one of the Elemental Heroes had been asked to contribute to their home and, in their delight in being able to help, had given it their all. Great pillars of stone brought up from the depths of the earth met a roof of ice so pure it was utterly clear. Fountains unleashed flames of a hundred different colors while floors hung in the air, supported only by the windows. Light and shadow twisted together to create great testimonies to the victories won by the heroes, lightning frozen in place lighting the path to the great doors.

"Whoa…" Joey said, looking about wildly. "Now dat is an amazing field spell!"

Noah was utterly silent and it took Joey a minute to realize that he was just as startled as Joey was by the card.

"I'll use The Hall of Heroes' first effect, which allows me to send one fusion monster from my field back to where it came in order to return two of the cards used to summon Nova Master, be they monster or spell, back to my hand! And if one can not be returned to my hand I am able to select another Elemental Hero and add it to my hand instead."

"Why would he do that?" Joey said in confusion. "He just did all dat ta get out that fusion and now he's gettin' rid of it? And he has nothin' on his field now! He has less than what he started out with!" Joey looked over at Noah… and saw that their captor was staring at Koyo with wide eyes. "Eh?"

"That clever boy…" Noah whispered.

Nova Master flickered for a moment… before stepping back, moving to position himself so that he was just behind Koyo.

"What is this?" Gangsley demanded. "Why is your card still on the field? Why has it not returned to the extra deck?"

"Normally it would," Koyo responded with a sharp smile. "But see… when a Deck Master is used in a fusion then fusion monster becomes one's new deck master. And because Nova Master is now my Deck Master my Hall of Heroes doesn't send him back to my Extra Deck… it sends him back to being my Deck Master."

"…holy crap!" Joey exclaimed. "Koyo just managed ta… ta… ta change his deck master!"

Noah nodded. "He did… he took several different rules within my Deck Master Style and combined them together in a way I never imagined." The young man let out an impressive little huff. "He is far clever than I gave him credit for."

"I suppose you are curious about my Deck Master's new ability!" Koyo declared, thrusting out his hand. "It is known as Burnbright! This card allows me to decrease a monster's attack by the amount of lifepoints I pay. But we'll be getting to that in a moment. First I will summon Elemental Hero Blazeman back to the field and use his affect to send one card from my deck to the graveyard to change Blazeman's attack, defense, and attribute; I select the Neo Alius that I returned to my deck when I summoned my first Elemental Hero several turns ago!"

"You can't do that," Nate said quickly. "Ya can only use Blazeman's effect once per turn!"

"Except I never used it… you negated it, remember? So I am allowed to do just that. And now I will use the Polymerization I also gained from Blazeman's summoning in order to fusion summon Blazeman and the Elemental Hero Stratos I added to my hand in order to summon forth Elemental Hero The Shining!"

Joey shielded his eyes as an intense glow filled the field. It was a pale white hero, with golden accents, the light wasn't the sun but rather a million stars all deciding as one to bathe the world in their light.

"Hall of Heroes allows any fusion monster I summon to attack the turn they were summoned. And The Shining's effect now activates: every monster your Shenshen has forced me to banish now adds their strength to The Shining!"

Joey blinked at that; he had completely forgotten about that effect. Nate had only brought it up once, after Shenshen had been summoned. 'But Koyo didn't forget. He remembered… and he's been usin' that monster's effect in order to prepare for this moment!' It was… just awe inspiring how clever his friend was.

"That brings The Shining to 4400 attack points. And I use Burnbright to reduce my own Lifepoints by 2000 in order to bring your Shenshen down to only 900. More than enough for me to end this duel!" (Koyo-1900)

"NO!" Gangsley shouted. "There… there has to be something else!" He turned to Nate. "Summon you deck master!"

"It doesn't matter. It would be destroyed and we'd still lose. Sorry mate, but we're done."

"We are not done!" Gansley roared in a fury, black and terrible. "You will find a way to defeat him!"

"There is no way to defeat me," Koyo stated. "Do you know why? Because you were so focused on what came after that you weren't paying attention to the game. A game you couldn't even bring yourself to play. How could you ever hope to beat me if you didn't even try and do it yourself?"

"…it doesn't count!" Gangsley cried out suddenly. "I will duel you and I will win! I deserve to win."

"You deserve only what you are able to claim," Noah said and Joey started when Koyo whipped around and stared at the two of them; he dimly realized that Noah must have made it that they were visible once more. "My father brought you into KaibaCorp so that you would challenge him. Keep him on his toes. You were always seeking to take over other businesses and become a dominate force in the world and he had thought that you would serve as motivation for him to stay sharp.

"But that didn't happen, now did it Gangsley? You, like the rest of the Big 5, became soft. Fat and bloated. You lost your drive to try and claim KaibaCorp for yourself. You relied upon my usurping brother Seto and then Maxamillion Pegasus in order to try and claim the company. And every time you grew bored and thought that this time it would be you, and only you, who would take control… only to once more fall in line. Is it any wonder then that against a dominate force like our dear Koyo here that you failed?"

"Master Noah-"

"Enough." Noah waved his hand and Nate disappeared… and Gagnsley fell to his knees, screaming and clutching his head. "You lost. I would have thought you'd be used to that by now." And with that Noah turned to Joey. "And I suppose this is where we part. It was… interesting… speaking with you Joey Wheeler. I wonder if we will do so again?"

With that Noah and the screaming Gangsley disappeared.

Koyo at once took a step towards Joey… only to go completely still.

"How… how long have you-"

Joey shrugged. "Only for a minute or two at most."

Koyo slumped in relief before quickly rallying. "Well… I won my duel. You?"

"Yeah," Joey said, not really paying attention as Koyo discussed what they should do next. 'I wish I could tell ya the truth. Let ya know I heard everything ya said. But… I'm not ready, Koyo. Not ready to consider what ya said… and how I feel about ya. But I swear man… once I work this all out? I'll let ya know. I swear.'

~MC~MC~MC~

Author's Notes: No Omake, but I promise one next time from The Patient One, who has been, as he would say, very patient in waiting for his next entry.

Instead, I wanted to address this chapter.

I wish I could say that I planned for it to release today but that isn't the case. I write these chapters out WELL in advance... A Web of Lies has chapters I wrote back in early December and this one I wrote back in February. But... It feels meant to be that it released now.

Back during the middle stages of writing the Battle City Duels I knew that I wanted Koyo to be a character. I felt that it would be fun to have him come in and tie further GX to Duel Monsters. The problem I had though was that I didn't want him to lose; it felt unfair to GX that the Elemental hero Deck and Koyo would lose to a DM Character. But... I didn't want him to win either because that meant setting a character back and that simply didn't work. Edwin was getting in through being sly. Renard needed to show why he was an Eliminator. Tea, Tristan, and Yuri needed to prove their skills as duelists. Joey was never a choice because as I have said before Battle City is the start of his heroic rise, when he truly takes his place amongst the greats.

So, with a duel out I began to think and, realizing Joey was on his own, I decided that Koyo would be a fun character for him to interact with.

I never set out with the idea that Koyo would be an LGBTQ+ character. He was just a character. But as I began to develop his backstory, adding details and fleshing him out from what the Manga showed us, I realized that he provided a chance to tell a story. The tale of a closeted gay young man who suddenly finds himself struck by one of our main characters. And Joey... Well, Joey fit the bill.

It would be easy for people to claim that Joey exploring his sexuality and moving towards understanding that he may be bisexual was purely because Edwin "Stole" Mai from him. But... I felt that it worked well for the character. Joey has always been someone in touch with his feelings. But also someone incredibly guarded about them. Someone that is brash and loud... But also very insecure. Someone who thinks he knows who he is... but also not really sure. Someone open to change. But also someone scared of change.

Joey not realizing that he may be bi and now having to deal with that?

I feel it not only honors his character well but it is a rather good representation of such people going through the same things.

I want to state here that I identify as heterosexual. Maybe 70/30 on the scale as I can admire a handsome man but I prefer women. But... I also respect those that are gay. Lesbian. Bisexual. Pan. Ace. Queer. Trans. All of it. I hope I have done well to represent them in this. Many of my closest friends do not fit the standard mold for men and women. They use they/them. They have changed their names. They are straight and gay and bi and pan.

They are also funny. Thoughtful. Caring. Creative.

Being LGBTQ+ isn't their be all, end all. Just as me being hetero isn't all I am.

So I hope people do not see this as "Oh, Joey is now the gay character."

Joey... Is Joey Wheeler. This is just one more aspect of him.

Happy Pride Month.