Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Things Change ❯ The Duel! ( Chapter 17 )

Finally…I've finally got up from my lazy ass and completed this chapter to this story! I know it took forever to rewrite the lost chapter, but I finally got it done! Also, I've already have an idea on what direction I'm gonna take with this story.

MagicmanSmokegirl -Yeah, that was the biggest mistake he'll make. Looks like we're now gonna have to wait and see…

Sanura-sama - I'm thinking about adding more twists, but I believe that it'd be an overkill.

meluvugi- Don't worry, I'm not going to give up on this story. I worked too hard to try to regain the chapter that was lost to stop now.

Angel-Belle - It'll just keep getting even more and more interesting.

Neshia - I had to find a magazine, which at first glance, appeared to be “unsuitable” reading material at first glance, but turn out to be the opposite. “Lowrider” was the only thing that came to mind. I know about the denial stuff. It's just a joke people use sometimes since “the Nile” sounds very similar to “denial.”

LadySaturnGirl - S'alright! I had to replace my hard drive not too long ago so I understand. Good thing I knew what I was going to write for my school essays.

Chapter 17: The Duel!

Yugi, Tristan, and Tea ran out from the Kame Game Shop as fast as they could, having received the message Kaiba gave to his Grandpa. Their destination was obvious: The Kaiba Land Dueling Arena.

“Joey's Dueling Kaiba? Again?” Tea asked, somewhat skeptical.

“Yeah. From what Kaiba said in his message this may be the first real duel they'll have. Wouldn't surprised from what we've learned about Joey today!”

“Not really!” Yugi admitted. “Joey probably just added some new cards to his old deck! It can't be as if Joey has two decks labeled `serious' and `false.'”

“Yugi, if Joey can lie about his grades, how can he not lie about his Dueling Skills!” Tea scolded, then sighed. “We are going to have a long talk with him after this…”

Joey sighed as he stood on the rising dueling platform. He wondered why was he here in the first place. Weren't there supposed to be a meeting today? But it seems that the meeting would take place here at the Kaiba Land Dueling Arena. The reason why was because of Kaiba wanting to duel him. But wasn't it always the other way around? He had to go home to get his deck first…his real deck, and Kaiba made sure of that. As far as the CEO was concerned, if Joey was bullshitting about his schoolwork, he was probably bullshitting about his dueling skills too!

Joey shuffled his deck as he looked around. In front of him was a guy from school, who also happened to be his sworn enemy. And in the bleachers were the people from his group meetings: His girlfriend for about a week now, the licensed Psychiatrist who happened to run the meetings, a guy who was home-schooled and a girl who went to a private school outside Domino. His friends weren't around…probably after all of this, he doubt that they'd still want to be friends with him…

“Let's get this over with…” He sighed as he drew his five cards, knowing all to well the consequences: If Kaiba won, he'd never let anyone hear the end of it. But if Kaiba lost…he'd never let anyone hear the end of it.

Kaiba drew his five cards. He didn't know what to expect from his enemy, but he wasn't going to take any chances. For all he knew, his could be using the same deck! That Gamble deck he's been known to use… “Okay Wheeler, you make the first move!” He demanded. `Let's see what he'll do…'

“Okay…” Joey drew a card. “Okay, I'll start by playing Alligator Sword 1500/1200 in attack mode and end my turn!” On the field, the Sword Wielding Lizard was ready to attack.

Kaiba drew his card. “I play Vorse Raider 1900/1200 in attack mode and place one card facedown!” He grinned. “Vorse Raider, attack his Alligator Sword!” The dark beast warrior attacked the gator and destroyed it, knocking out a bit of Joey's Life Points.

Joey: 7600
Kaiba: 8000

The CEO smirked, “If that's your real deck you're using, this duel will be much easier then I thought!”

“Keep believin' that, Kaiba!” Joey shrugged it off as he drew a card. “I'll place two Spells facedown and play Ultimate Baseball Kid 500/1500 in attack mode!” He announced as followed by two facedown cards, a young boy in a baseball uniform carrying a bat stood up to bat. “I end my turn.

“Hah!” Kaiba sneered as he drew a card. “Typical amateur move, Wheeler! First, I'll place two cards facedown, then end my turn!” Kaiba let out a grin, as he knew that Joey was too much of a mediocre duelist to see through this strategy. All he needed to do was to summon his stronger monsters and attack and he'll be screwed by his Crush Card/Shrink combination.

Joey blinked. `Kaiba could've attacked my Ultimate Baseball kid. Wait…he's up to something…' Joey decided to humor the CEO as he drew his card. “I'll play Masked Dragon (1400/1100) in attack mode!” Joey announced as the Fire Attribute dragon monster appeared on the field. And Ultimate Baseball Kid's special ability allows this kid to get 1000 Attack Points for every Fire Attribute Monster on the field, raising its attack up to 1500! But…”

Kaiba glared. “But what?”

“I'm going to attack anyway and hope that yer monster be scared enough to faint on its own.” Joey shrugged. “Masked Dragon, attack Kaiba's Vorse Raider!”

“YOU 3RD RATE AMATEUR!” Kaiba screamed at the blonde as Vorse Raider destroyed Masked Dragon as Joey's life points dropped. “MY VORSE RAIDER HAS 500 ATTACK POINTS HIGHER THAN YOUR MASKED DRAGON YOU IDIOT!”

Joey: 7100
Kaiba: 8000

Joey smiled, “Now I activate Masked Dragon's Special ability by drawing one monster with an Attack no higher than 1500. And I chose this lil' guy: Red Eyes Black Chick (800/500).

Kaiba rolled his eyes. “You did all that to summon an even weaker monster Wheeler?”

“Keep yer trench coat on, Gambit!” Joey said as the baby version of Red Eyes Black Dragon appeared on the field. “Now I'll activate his Special Ability! I'll sacrifice Red Eyes Black Chick to Special Summon the adult Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)!” He smirked as the Red Eyes Black Chick broke out of the shell as it grew up to be the more powerful Red Eyes Black Dragon! “Now Red Eyes, destroy Kaiba's Vorse Raider with Inferno Fire Blast!” Joey ordered as Red Eyes was about to fire.

“Ha, I don't think so!” Kaiba smirked. “Activate Face Down Cards: Shrink, which I'll use on my Vorse Raider to cut his attack points in half! (650). And now I'll activate my Crush Card Vir-”

“Kaiba, that was the same strategy you used both against Ishizu and me back at Battle City, remember? I came prepared! That's why I activate my trap card!”

“What?” Kaiba blinked. “But you said-”

“Spell, I know. It's called Bluffing, or in layman's terms, Bullshittin'! I activate my Trap Card Trap Jammer!” He informed as he discarded a card, “Say goodbye to your Crush Card!”

Kaiba scoffed, “Not even a fool can catch a cold.” He said as he watched Joey's Red Eyes destroy his Vorse Raider…

Joey: 7100
Kaiba: 6250

“Now it's time for my Baseball Kid to get in on the action! So go on and attack!” Joey ordered as the Kid ran over on the field and swung his bat hard at Kaiba, knocking down more of his Life Points...

Joey: 7100
Kaiba: 5750

The blonde smirked, “Who's the idiot, now? I end my turn by placing one card facedown” Joey said. “Your turn Kaiba!”

Kaiba drew a card as he grinned. “Duel's over, Wheeler! First, I'll play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw 2 cards!” Kaiba announced as he drew two cards from his deck. “Next, I'll play Polymerization which I'll use to fuse the three monsters I have in my hand, my three Blue Eyes, to form my ultimate beast: Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! (4500/3800)” He announced as his Three Blue Eyes appeared on the field before going to merge together into the ultimate creature.

Joey looked directly at the three heads of the Ultimate Dragon. “…I think I'm in trouble…”

“No shit, Sherlock!” Jackson shouted. “Look at how many attack point he has compared to your Baseball kid. “It has, like what, 500 Life Points?”

Joey ignored Jackson's protest as he stared right into the face…er…faces of the Dragon. He had to admit that it was pretty damn intimidating. After all, they wouldn't call it the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon for nothing! `So this is what Yuge must've felt back at Duelist Kingdom…'

“Now, my great beast, attack his Ultimate Baseball Kid with Neutron Blast!” Kaiba ordered as the Ultimate Blue Eyes unleashed its blast on the poor Baseball Kid!

“Activate Facedown Cards!” Joey announced as his facedown cards were revealed. “First, I'll play my other Trap Card that I placed on the field earlier: DNA Transplant, which'll allow me to change the attribute of every monster on the field to any one I choose, and I choose to change `em into Fire Types!” Joey declared as an aura of fire appeared around both Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Red Eyes Black Dragon.

“Now this is where Ultimate Baseball Kid's special ability comes into play.” Joey continued. “Excluding himself, he gets 1000 Attack Points for every Fire-Attribute Monster on the field.”

“So what? All that does is raise his attack to 2500!”

“Who said that I was done? That's why I activate my last facedown card, Scapegoat!” He announced as four different colored small goats appeared on the field. “They become fire attribute monsters, too! That means more power for my Baseball Kid, now raising his attack power to 6500!”

Kaiba blinked. “That means that little brat's now strong enough to destroy my Ultimate Dragon!”

“Exactly!” Joey grinned. “Ultimate Baseball Kid, Hit a homer on Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!” He ordered as the Baseball Kid deflected the attack with his bat as he now proceeded to hit a home run on Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!”

Joey: 7100
Kaiba: 3750

`This is impossible! A few months ago he couldn't even beat Tea, and now he's already knocked over half of my Life Points down while he's only lost 900?' Kaiba was in major shock. Perhaps Wheeler had been lying about his deck. And if there was anything he could not stand, it was a goddamn liar! The good thing about this is that Ultimate Baseball Kid's attack power dropped to 5500!

“Are you done?” Joey asked.

“I was wrong about you Wheeler! You're not only a Third Rate Duelist, but you're also a Liar!” Kaiba roared! “You planned this all along! You wanted me to think that your deck was pathetic! You wanted me to think that all you had in your deck were Gamble Cards! Well that's the last straw! You're going to rue the day you ever built a deck!” Kaiba grabbed a card from his hand. “I now remove my Vorse Raider and one of my Blue Eyes White Dragons from my graveyard so I can summon Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End (3000/3000) in attack mode! He announced as the Dark Chaos Dragon was summoned onto the field!”

“Kaiba…my Ultimate Baseball Kid has way more attack points, and you summoning that monster just keeps him at 6500! You were better off with 5500!” Joey reminded.

“That brat won't be on the field any longer, as now I activate my Emperor Dragon's special ability!” Kaiba announced. “At the cost of 1000 Life Points, every card on the field and in our hands will go to the graveyard!” Kaiba's Life Points began to drop…

Joey: 7100
Kaiba: 2750

“Okay, now we don't have anything.” Joey shrugged as he gathered the cards that were on his side of the field and place them with the cards that were in his hand.

“For someone who somehow has the grades that you do, you're proving to be an even bigger idiot than usual!” Kaiba continued. “Now you'll lose 300 Life Points for every card that goes to the graveyard.”

“Okay…” Joey began to count the cards he gathered. His DNA Transplant, Red Eyes, and Baseball Kid were three cards he had on the field. Add Kaiba's Chaos Emperor Dragon and the one card that was in his hand and that would be 5! “…Multiply that by 300 and-” He blinked, “I'm gonna lose 1500 Life Points!”

Kaiba smirked, “You're not so dumb after all!” He taunted as the cards were being placed into their respective graveyards, and Joey began to lose Life Points…

Joey: 5600
Kaiba: 2750

“Since I can't do anything else, I end my turn!” Kaiba informed as Joey drew a card.

“You made a bad move using your dragon's effect!” Joey informed as he looked at his cards. However, when he saw what he drew, he freaked out! `Shield and Sword? I can't use this!' He sighed, “I'll just end my turn!”

“I'll take it that you couldn't draw the card you need.” Kaiba went to draw a card, but stopped. What if that was what Wheeler wanted him to believe? Just like his spell cards facedown were really trap cards! Then he summoned his monster and then when he least expected it, he plays some quick play Spell card and screws him over! He smirked, “Nice try Wheeler! But I'm not falling for your lies again! So I'll end my turn without making a move.”

Joey sighed, as it was his turn to draw. `Okay…OH GOD NOT AGAIN!' This time the card he drew was Polymerization. He sighed, “I'll end my turn without making a move!”

Kaiba drew a card as he looked down as a smile came to his face. `Monster Reborn. Perfect to crush that lying hack!' And evil smirk came to his face as a plan was placed into motion. Kaiba would just wait until Joey finally decided to summon his monsters. Then, he would bring back his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and crush him! “Let's see, am I going to play a card? No, I think I'll end my turn!”

Joey drew another card as he sighed. “It's just not my day as I'm not going to make a move this turn! You go!”

“I know your plan Wheeler, you want me to summon a monster so you can do some hocus pocus crap and remove it!” Kaiba drew a card. “So thanks, but no thanks!”

Bored, Jess got up from the stands. “I'm, like, so gone! I have a million things to do and watching a boring duel where neither one of them is not making any moves is not on my list!”

`At least Kaiba thinks I'm lying again!' He mused as he drew a card. `This could be at least useful…' “I'll place one trap card facedown and end my turn!”

“You think that I'm falling for that nonsense again?” Kaiba laughed. “You really are pathetic if you actually believe that one-trick pony will work twice!” Kaiba drew a card. “Since I know that you have some monsters in your hand and are trying to lose this duel on purpose, I figured that I should be a humanitarian and help you fulfill your wish!”

“Careful Kaiba, I have a trap card!” Joey warned!

“I told you that same bullshit your fed me last time won't work, Wheeler!” Kaiba was unmoved as he placed his Monster Reborn card on the field! “I play Monster Reborn, to bring back my Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!”

“Are you sure you want to do that? I'm trying to warn you, Kaiba! I have a trap card on the field waiting for you!”

“Hmph, watch me!” Kaiba sneered as through Monster Reborn's effect, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon was brought back onto the field! “I know that your `Trap Card' was just more of your bullshit! You are all about bullshit Wheeler! First you bullshit about your grades! Then you bullshit about your Dueling Skills! You bullshit about the kind of monsters you have in your deck! Now you're bullshitting about not having any monsters in your hand and basically trying to lose on purpose for some reason! Everything about you bullshit! You're a disgrace to the game, this country, and humanity in general, Wheeler!”

Joey sighed as he showed him the three cards that were in his hand. In addition to Shield and Sword and Polymerization, Inferno Fire Blast was present in his hand!

Kaiba scoffed, “That's the most honest thing you've said so far, but that doesn't change anything about the fact that you're nothing but a complete Liar! And I bet that that so called `Trap Card' you have on the field facedown is just another one of your lies!” He turned to his dragon! “Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon…”

“I'm warning you Kaiba…”

“Attack this lying chump and take out his life points!”

“You shouldn't do this, trust me!”

“Neutron Blast!” Kaiba ordered as The Ultimate Dragon fired its blast at the Blonde liar…or was he a liar? The mirror-like barrier that appeared in front of him answered that question.

“I warned ya Kaiba! You activated my Mirror Force trap card!”

Kaiba blinked, “What?”

“I told ya I had a trap card! But did ya listen? No! And now, your Ultimate Dragon's going on a permanent vacation back to the graveyard!”

Kaiba seethed as he saw the now-reflected Neutron Blast destroyed his Ultimate Dragon! Wheeler had tricked him again, and he wasn't even lying this time! “Damn you…Damn you Wheeler…”

“Hey, it could've been worse! I could've used your Blue Eyes against ya again, if I had Monster Reborn in my hand.” Joey explained as he then heard the sound of Kaiba's dueling platform going downward. “Hey Kaiba, where ya goin'? Oh, it's like that, huh? Yer gonna take yer ball an' go home? You don' wanna play anymore?”

“I refuse to duel someone who is a complete liar!” Kaiba informed.

“Oh come on, Kaiba! It's not like I cheated by having my cards slide out of my wristband or threatening suicide so I can win the duel! So I bluffed a few times! I did used to play poker back in the day!” Joey shrugged. “Hey, when you beat me twice, did I cry, did I placed my tail between my legs and run?”

He just glared. “At least I never lied! Unlike you!”

Joey sighed. “Fine…I'll tell ya what, we'll restart the duel, and I'll stop-”

“NO!”

Joey blinked at Kaiba's response. “I'm serious, we can-”

Kaiba cut him off. “Do you think that I can't beat you? Let me remind you something Wheeler: I'm the World Champion of Duel Monsters…former World Champion, but that's not the point! Have you ever beaten me once at all? Let me answer that for you! You haven't, and you'll never will! The only reason you've got this far was because I was foolish enough to believe your little mind games! That ends now!”

Joey smiled as the duel platform rose, “That's the Kaiba I know!”

The door then opened, only to find Yugi, Tristan, and Tea outside. Much to Joey's chagrin… “Oh lord…” He already knew that it has already hit the fan, and they were not at all happy with him.

“Take a seat, guys!” Arisa offered from the stands. “We're watching a sweet duel! Joey's kicking Kaiba's ass!”

Yugi, Tristan, and Tea looked over at the duelists on the dueling platform. Much to Tea and Tristan's shock, Joey had 5600 Life Points while Kaiba had 2750. It wouldn't have been such a shock if it were the other way around.

“Joey's beating Kaiba?” Tea asked, skeptical!

“I knew that he came close at Battle City, but not by this much!” Tristan blinked.

Yugi was not at all shocked. After Battle City, he and Joey had a duel early in the morning before school! During that duel, Yugi saw a few cards the he never expect Joey to have, let alone those that were rare! For example, he had never expected him to take control of his Dark Magician and turn him into Dark Magician Knight and wipe out his Dark Magician Girl. And he could've sworn he saw Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lvl. 8 in his hand. Nevertheless, Kaiba should at least have a hard time with Joey!

“Now that the rest of the geeks are here, now it's the perfect time to shut you down, once and for all, Chump!” Kaiba smirked.

“You keep believing that Kaiba! I actually wanna see how you can take down 5600 before I take down yer last 2750!” Joey challenged.

“It's your move Wheeler.” Kaiba informed. “Hopefully you begin to rely on your skills, or lack thereof, instead of hide behind your lies and mind games!”

“Whatever…” Joey sighed as he drew a card. “I'll place one card facedown and summon Gearfried The Iron Knight (1800/1000) in attack mode!” He announced as Joey summoned the metal warrior onto the field. “Are ya sure ya don't wanna start over, Seto?” Joey smiled, which made the CEO glared.

“Don't you dare call me Seto! You are not allowed to call me that, chump!” Kaiba glared.

“Yer right! My mistake…” He sighed. “You'd probably prefer to be called `Gozaburo,' anyway.”

“Joey!” Tea protested. Apparently Joey wasn't the only one to remember the situation surrounding him and his stepfather! Tea thought that his comments were uncalled for, not to mention mean.

That comment really got under the CEO's skin as he then gave Joey a vicious glare. “Now you're going too far, Wheeler!” Kaiba hissed at the blonde! “I am nothing like that bastard!”

“The hell you are!” Joey begged to differ. “Look at ya! Yer both cold, heartless snakes in the grass, ya always look to put others down, and ya look like ya haven't had a good happy meal in years! Are ya happy bein' this freakin' negative? Are ya happy knowin' that no matter what happens, you'll always be known as Mr. Roboto, Mr. Ice, and Mr. Constipation?”

Kaiba glared. “Constipation? Are you really trying to piss me off?”

“It's the talk around school! Besides, have ya paid attention to how yer soundin' lately? You sound like someone just shoved a cork up yer ass and keeping whateva you-”

“YOU ARE SICK SICK FREAK, WHEELER!” Kaiba screamed, both disgusted and outraged by the blonde's sick thought. “CAN WE JUST GET BACK TO THE GODDAMN DUEL ALREADY?”

“Fine, let's continue the duel! And would it kill you to smile a bit?”

Kaiba responded, teeth clenched together, as he made a forced smile. A smile so forced that one could be shocked that there aren't any cracking sounds being heard. “Maybe…” He gritted.

“I still haven't attacked yet, so Gearfried, attack Kaiba Directly!” Joey ordered as the Iron Knight swung his sword at Kaiba, lowering his Life Points…

Joey: 5600
Kaiba: 950

“I end my turn. One more attack and yer done! You sure ya don't wanna start over?” Joey asked.

“Ask me that again, and I'm going to slap the living piss out of you!” Kaiba drew a card. “There, I play Dian Keto the Cure Master and get back 1000 of my Life Points.” Kaiba announced as his Life Points increased.

Joey: 5600
Kaiba: 1950

Kaiba had a plan, and Wheeler's Iron Knight was the key to do it. “Now, I play cost down!” He announced as he discarded one card. For the price of one card, the level of every monster in my hand is lowered by two, meaning that I can summon my Magical Marionette without a tribute (2000/1000)!” Kaiba announced as the monster was on his side of the field! “Next, I activate Enemy Controller, which I'll pay the same amount of life points I just activated!” He announced as a video game controller appeared on the field, with the game cord “plugging” into the Iron Knight. Kaiba's Life Points then dropped back down…

Joey: 5600
Kaiba: 950

“Enemy controller, take control of Wheeler's Iron Knight! Left, Right, A, B!” Kaiba gave the commands as the control combinations were inserted into the materialized controller. Gearfried was then brought to Kaiba's side of the field! “Hey Wheeler, you know about my Magical Marionette's special ability, do you?”

Joey scratched his head. “Nope… Never even seen that card before to be honest!”

“Every time I activate a Spell card, Magical Marionette gets one Spell Counter! For Every Spell Counter my magical Marionette gets, its Attack Points increase by 200! And since I activated my Enemy Controller after I Summoned my monster, my Magical Marionette gets one spell counter, thus increasing its attack points (2200/1000)!”

“So your Magical Marionette stronger, Kaiba! Even with my Iron Knight helping you for one turn, I'd still have 1600 Life Points left.” Joey reminded.

Kaiba scoffed, “Don't count on it, Chump! As I now reveal the last card I'll be using this duel!” Kaiba picked up the card he just drew and showed it to him. It was the Spell card, Butterfly Dagger - Elma. “Butterfly Dagger increases any monster equipped with this card by 300 Life Points! And now I'm going to equip it to your Iron Knight!”

Joey narrowed his eyes. “Kaiba…Gearfried's special ability destroys any cards equipped to him! That card's useless to him!”

His grin became wider, “Who said that the card was going to benefit him! It's going to benefit my Magical Marionette! Did I mention that Butterfly Dagger returns to my hand immediately after it's destroyed?”

Joey eyes went wide, now having put two and two together! “You're gonna keep equippin' Gearfried with that card until Magical Marionette gets stronger, aren't you!”

“Look at the big brain on the dog! You should get a doggy treat as a reward!” Kaiba taunted. “Oh, and Wheeler, there's no way an hell you can stop this from happening! It's just going to be a continuing cycle until I'm good and ready for my final attack!”

“So…I'm fucked, huh?” Joey shrugged.

“WHAT?” Tristan shouted. Not believing that Joey was going to just give up! “YOU HAVE A LOT MORE LIFE POINTS THAN KAIBA AND YOU'RE GONNA JUST FUCKING THROW IN THE TOWEL?”

Tristan apparently wasn't the only one as Arisa stood up from the stands. “Whatabout the card you got from-”

“Arisa, just let me lose okay!”

“But-”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. “What card…”

“It's nothing! It can't be of any use to me now, anyway! Hey, when yer beat, yer beat!” Joey shrugged. Apparently he didn't care about this duel anymore. Win or lose, he could care less.

“That's a first, we agree on something.” Kaiba smirked as he went to equip Butterfly Dagger to Gearfried, only for it to be destroyed, and then return to Kaiba's hand. As a result, Magical Marionette's attack increased, Kaiba continued the cycle, destroying and retrieving Butterfly Dagger with Gearfried's effect, and increasing Magical Marionette's attack as everyone just watched. Soon it reached 3000…4000…5000…by the time Kaiba was done, Magical Marionette's attack was up to 500000!

Joey just whistled, “Yer goin' all out on this, are ya Pal?”

“I am not your pal!” Kaiba glared, as he was now ready for his final attack! “Now Magical Marionette…”

“It's been nice duelin' ya!”

“Attack Wheeler Directly!”

“Congrats Kaiba, you won…”

“And wipe out the rest of his life points with-” Kaiba stopped as he realized what Joey just said. He couldn't possibly be doing what he thought, could he? “Oh no…Oh hell no… You are not losing this duel on purpose! I haven't attacked yet and you can't quit until the duel is over! I decide when you quit, Chump!”

“It goes without saying Kaiba! I have no monsters on the field and I don't have a trap card that can-”

“Well I change my mind, I'm not attacking this turn!” Kaiba declared. “In fact, I end my entire turn right now! I refuse to be your charity case, Wheeler!”

“I'm not gonna duel if it means that I'm gonna have to do it for the rest of my life!” Joey declared, “Much less if it's the only thing I do! So attack me right now and end this!”

“Too late, I ended my turn already!” Kaiba crossed his arms as Gearfried was back on Joey's side of the field.

“Fine…” Joey drew a card “I'll end my turn without doing anything! Yer move, Kaiba!”

Kaiba drew a card, “Should I make a move? No…I'll end my turn!”

“Damn it Kaiba, just attack already!” Joey drew another card, “I end my turn!”

“I attack when I want to, not when you want me to!” Kaiba drew a card. `He's up to something…' He thought. What was it with Joey that he wants to lose so bad? `He's probably doing it on purpose, just to make me look like a joke,' The CEO thought. But he wasn't going to fall into his little trap. Not again… If he was going to beat him, it was going to be just like before: On his own terms, not his! “I'll just end my turn! Face it, Wheeler! I don't like taking up easy victories! Duelist Kingdom, you made a complete fool of yourself! At Battle City you at least showed an ounce of a challenge! Now you won't even try to beat me? If you wanna lose, you're gonna have to earn that privilege! Unlike my Stepfather, I don't like wasting my time trouncing weaklings who won't even fight! So if you're gonna lose, you're gonna have to earn the privilege! So now I end my turn!”

“Fine, have it yer own way!” Joey drew a card. “I now summon Raging Flame Sprite in attack mode (100/200)!” He announced as a small pixie-like magician appeared with a wand-like torch. “Raging Flame Spirte's special ability is that it can attack directly even with monsters on the field! And every time it does, its attack increases by 1000! So Raging Flame Sprite, attack Kaiba directly!” He ordered as the Sprite flew around past Magical Marionette as he then fired a fireball from his wand, barely making a dent into Kaiba's Life Points…

Joey: 5600
Kaiba: 850

Raging Flame Sprite's Attack Points increased (1100/100) as Joey went to conclude his turn. “I end my turn by activating Release Restraints, allowing me to summon Gearfried the Swordmaster (2600/200)!” Joey stated as the restraints around his Iron Knight were released, revealing the ebony-haired Swordmaster. “Now do you want to attack me Kaiba? But to be honest, ya missed the bus on that one! Because next turn I'm gonna whip yer tail!”

“Delusional are we, Wheeler! Let's not forget that my Magical Marionette has more than enough Life Points to destroy you Swordmaster, let alone your little Sprite!”

“Then prove it already, Rich Boy!” Joey challenged. “Try to wipe out the remaining Life Points!”

Kaiba drew his card! “I don't need to summon a monster as my Magical Marionette is more than enough for you!” Kaiba ordered, “Magical Marionette, wipe out Wheeler's Raging Flame Sprite and the rest of his Life Points!” Kaiba ordered as the Marionette sent its doll to destroy the small Sprite. After the dust has settled, not only did Joey not lose the duel, in fact he only lost 2900 Life Points…

Joey: 2700
Kaiba: 850

“You should've wiped out the last of my Life Points when I first gave you the chance!” Joey explained as his Trap Card was revealed. “Say hello to my Skill Drain Trap Card! All it costs me is 1000 Life Points and the effects of all monsters are negated! You only did 1900 Life Points worth of damage since the effects of my Raging Flame Sprite and your Magical Marionette were negated!”

“Now you want to duel seriously?” Kaiba replied in both anger and frustration.

“I realized what I'd be doing to you would be far worst than what you did to me in the past! I mean sure, it was humiliating at Duelist Kingdom, disappointing at Battle City! But if I just tanked the duel, it'll be an insult to you, Yugi, and every duelist I faced. Basically, it's either duel from yer heart or don't even bother to bring yer deck!”

“Oh great, that speech is worse than Yugi's ranting about the Heart of the Cards or Tea's speech about Friendship!” Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

`A match made in heaven.' Joey thought to himself as Tea glared at Kaiba.

“Just duel, Kaiba!” She glared.

“How nice of you to let me know this now, Wheeler!” Kaiba said sarcastically!

“I know, and fer that, I apologize!”

“Just get back to the duel! I don't need or want your apology!” Kaiba snapped as he went to summon a monster! “I'll end my turn by placing one card facedown and sacrifice my Magical Marionette to summon Kaiser Glider in attack mode (2400/2200)! He announced as the Golden Dragon appeared on the field! Joey just smiled.

“Yer up to something, are ya Kaiba?” He asked.

“Wouldn't you like to know?”

I guess I'll find out with my attack! That's why I play Autonomous Action Unit!” Joey explained as his Life Points went down…

Joey: 1200
Kaiba: 850

“For 1500 Life Points, Autonomous Action Unit lets me select a monster from yer graveyard and control it!” He explained. “And take a wild guess which one I pick?”

“You wouldn't dare take my Ultimate Dragon, Wheeler!” Kaiba threatened.

“Don't worry, that would be too much of an overkill for me, anyway! That's why I'm just going to take one of your Blue Eyes White Dragons!” Joey said as Kaiba's Blue Eyes appeared on his side of the field. Next, I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back my Red Eyes Black Dragon!” Joey announced as his Red Eyes appeared on the field! Next up, is my Spell Card Pot of Greed, which I'll use to draw two cards…” Joey drew two cards as a grin came to his face. “And last but not least, I play Polymerization to fuse my Red Eyes with the monster I just drew from my deck, Meteor Dragon (2000/1800) to form Meteor Black Dragon (3500/2000)! Red Eyes and Meteor Dragon combined together, forming the Magma-like Dragon! “Now I have three powerful monsters on the field, each of them alone can take out yer Kaiser Glider and win me the duel! Blue Eyes, attack Kaiba with yer White Lightning!” Joey ordered as Blue Eyes was about to attack!”

“LIKE I'M GONNA LET A HACK LIKE YOU BEAT ME WITH MY OWN BLUE EYES!” Kaiba activated his trap card. “Activate Magic Cylinder!” The White Lightning went into a cylinder that appeared in Kaiser Glider's hands. “Hey Wheeler, there's something that belongs to you!” Kaiba informed as the Cylinder was flipped over. The very attack he had ordered fired back at Joey as it proceeded in whipping out the rest of his Life Points…

Joey: 0
Kaiba: 850

Kaiba smirked, “After all that, you're still the same 2nd-Rate hack I defeated before.”

“Whatever Kaiba…” Joey shrugged. “It's just a game.”

“Keep telling yourself that…” Kaiba's Dueling Platform lowered as Arisa saw Joey's hand before he placed it back on top of his deck. What shocked her most of all was that one card he had in his hand. “Tremendous Fire!” She gasped. If Joey had played that instead of going for an attack, he would've won the duel instead of Kaiba. Talk about having it in the bag and lost…

Joey's platform began to lower as Arisa, Jackson, as well as Yugi, Tea, and Tristan came up to the lowering platform.

“And you almost one!” Tristan said. “Then Kaiba pulled that Trap Card on you.”

“How did you get a card like Skill Drain?” Yugi asked, impressed that he even owned a card like that. “I figured with your budget, or lack thereof, you couldn't even afford the cheapest packs from Grandpa's shop.”

Joey sighed, “Let's just say that I won a few Ante-rule duels.” He admitted. “And after this duel, I'm just going to say that with the record of 10-5-1, I now declare my retirement from Duel Monsters!” He then announced, much to the shock of everyone, especially a certain blonde girl…

“You serious, Joey?” Yugi asked.

“You're kidding, right?” Tristan added.

“I'm serious as Kaiba over there.” Joey pointed to Kaiba, who was now leaving.

“OH NO YA DON'T!” A very peeved Arisa Mallovic grabbed Joey at the loins of his white shirt. Pulling him down to her eye level. “You could've beaten Kaiba and you know it!”

“Look Arisa, I lost to Kaiba! He beat me fair and Square!”

“But you had it in the bag! Don't think I didn't see that other card you drew from Pot of Greed's effect, Joey Wheeler!”

“What?” Yugi, Tristan, and Tea's eyes went wide.

“It's nothing…” Joey assured.

“Nothing my foot! You had Tremendous Fire in your hand, didn't you? I saw it in your hand so don't try to deny it!”

“Yeah, so what if I did! Like I already said, you lose, you lose! Not the end of the world!” Joey explained. “Besides, even if I did use Tremendous Fire it wouldn't have changed a goddamn thing! Not with Kaiba!” The mentioning of his name grabbed the attention of Kaiba as he turned around to look at his enemy. “Kaiba would've said something like `You just beat me by a fluke and nothing more' or some lame excuse like that! So that's why I took a dive! Kaiba could just fuckin' become God of Duelin' for all I care. If I win, I get no respect! I lose? I still get no respect! Win, lose, or draw, I just can't win with Rich Boy, so why does it even matter? I already know I can beat Kaiba! Hell, Kaiba knows that I can beat Kaiba! That's why I'm washing my hands with dueling, so Kaiba will back off and get a life or something! Then he won't see me, and I won't have to see his face ever again!

“Don't you ever think about judging me, Wheeler!” Kaiba snapped, having heard enough of Joey's mouth as he stormed over! The last thing he needed right now was this chump putting words in his mouth, no matter how true they may seem to be. “You never have, and you still don't have any grounds to judge me!”

“Why the hell not? That's what you've been doing to me since day one, Kaiba!” Joey retorted. “So what yer saying is that it's okay for you to go around judging people, but not the other way around? I always knew that you were conceited, but goddamn I didn't think of you as a double-standard hypocrite! Why are you like that?”

Kaiba crossed his arms. “What have you been doing? Taking speech lessons from Tea?”

“At least she has a point! Damn it Kaiba, I'm trying to help you!”

“Well I don't need any help from anybody! Much less help from you, and even less your backhanded help!”

“I'm trying to at least help you before you do something fucking stupid and end up regretting it for the rest of your life! Let's face the facts, Kaiba: All you have, besides Mokuba, is yourself! You're basically pushing people who are trying, god knows why, to get through to you! To be a friend!”

“Please! Like I want to have a bunch of pals over and have a `good time!' You're wasting your time and mine with this little spat, Wheeler!”

“That's twice we ever had an agreement! I'm outta here!” And with that, Joey storms out of the Kaiba Land Dueling arena. `He's never gonna change. Why the hell I even bother? He ain't worth the stress anyway.'

“Joey, wait!” Deliah called out. “Hold on-”

“I'll see ya tomorrow…” He said as he went to open the door.

“Oh no ya don't! Tristan ran off after him, with Yugi and Tea following. “You're not getting off that easy!”

Outside, Joey began his not-too-long walk home as he continued to reflect what happened back in Kaiba Land. “You try to be nice to a guy, to be friendly, to just have a duel for fun! And this shit happens!” He released his frustration. He had to just face facts. `No matter if you're as smart as Einstein or have the patience of a Shepard, you can't save everyone, Hasselhoff. Things can't possibly get any worse!'

“Joey Wheeler, you wait one second Young Man!” The loud, angry voice of Tea Garnder shouted as Joey sighed.

`Oh wait, it did…'

“What the hell's up with you, Man?” Tristan asked. “First you start going to places without telling us! Then we find out that you're lying about your grades, and now we find out that you have good cards?”

Joey sighed. “First, I've already told you about that! Second, did you read my essay? And third, like I said, ever heard of duels where you give up your rarest cards?”

“Well First, you should've told us instead of keeping a secret! Second, that's not a good reason to intentionally flunk yourself, and third…well…umm…” Tea couldn't think of anything to retort to the Ante rule duels Joey participated in.

“How did you find yourself in those kind of duels anyway?” Yugi asked, bailing Tea out a bit.

“It's a long story…”

“We have t-”

“Time! I know, Tea. So where'd you want to go, the game shop, or my place?”

“How about we meet at your place for once, Joey!” Yugi suggested. “Everytime we all me, everyone suggests that we meet at the game shop! Let's hang out at the game shop! Why can't we hang at someone else's house for once?”

“Because Tristan's parents doesn't trust company over after that Rave Party incident, and Tea's pops doesn't even trust us! I mean, if he doesn't even trust Yugi over there with Tea, think about seeing two former gang members, let alone former bullies being around `daddy's little girl!'”

“Stop it, Joey!” Tea crossed her arms. She hated being referred to as Daddy's girl! Just because she was a good student making a 3.8 GPA, and has dreams of being not an erotic but an exotic dancer, doesn't mean that she was overprotected. “Just because my daddy doesn't trust Yugi, especially after a certain incident a certain Spike-head was-”

“For the last time it wasn't anything like that!” Tristan pleaded his case.

“Hey guys!” Arisa walked over to the trio. Drinking a can of sprite she received from the vending machines in Kaiba Land. She'd say one good thing about Kaiba: At least he has good taste in sodas. She raised an eyebrow at the brunette-brunette argument. “What's with them?”

“You were snooping in my room!” Tea argued at Tristan.

“I was looking for my wallet!” He said in his defense.

“YOU HAD YOUR HAND IN MY PANTY DRAWER!”

“IT WAS OPEN AT THE TIME, IT PROBABLY FEEL IN THERE!”

“IN MY ROOM?”

“WE WERE IN THERE FOR A SECOND!”

“…Okay, too much information.” Arisa said, now disturbed.

“A'ight, we'll meet at my house!” Joey said. “If it'll get yas to shut the FUCK UP FOR ONE SECOND!”

“Now that I think about it, we've haven't been to your place ages!” Tristan mentioned, hoping to change to the subject.

“So it's settled. As soon as we…well…most of us change out of our Uniforms, we'll meet ya there!”

“And Joey's gonna cook for us all!” Arisa chirps.

“Not gonna happen.” Joey replies.

“Oh yes it is!”

“No it's not!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it's not!”

Arisa looked down as she began to “faux-cry.” “Yes it is…” She then gave him what was known to be the biggest evil known to man: The Chibi eyes.

With a sigh, Joey nodded. “Okay, I'll cook.”

“Yay!” Arisa cheered as she tightly hugged Joey, much to the amusement of Tristan.

“They make such a cute couple together!”

“Shut up, Tristan!” Tea hissed at him.

Okay, that's it for this chapter! I gave you a pretty long one this time! Next chapter, Joey explains about his extra duels. Also, Kaiba realizes what Joey did in the duel, so you can bet he can't be happy!