Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Yu-Gi-Oh!:Duelist of the Stars ❯ The Tournament Begins ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

[AN:Hi again. Here's the second chapter of Duelist of the Stars, containing the first dull-fledged duel. Also, I'm assuming that Yu-Gi-Oh! is set sometime in the near future because, y'know, of all the hologram projectors. That's why they have space-capable planes available for a card tournament. Note:In this chapter's duel, I use some original cards. These are marked with asterisks (*), and their full stats will be listed at the bottom of the chapter. And now, without further ado, is...]

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Yu-Gi-Oh!:Duelist of the Stars

by Amor

Disclaimer:If you think I own Yu-Gi-Oh!...well, you're just plain wrong.

Chapter 2:The Tournament Begins
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"No way!" Yugi said as he glanced out the window. But sure enough, they were flying through the starry void of space.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Duke said mockingly. "The tournament is held on a space station. Demon Dice figured it was the only way to make sure one country wasn't favoured, by having home turf."

"Thanks for telling us sooner," Tristan said, irritated.

"You never asked," Duke smirked.

Their arguement might have continued, but the captain's crackling voice came over the speaker system once more. "Attention all passengers. We will soon be docking. Please do not undo your seatbelts until the vehicle has come to a full stop."

Sure enough, a silvery sphere quickly appeared in their view. Weevil whistled. "That's big. They built that just for the tournament?"

"Nah," Duke Devlin said, happy to know more about the tournament than anyone else on the plane. "They renovated it. Scientists live there most of the time, but Demon Dice paid NASA to let them use it for the World Championships."

The plane quickly docked inside what looked to be a hangar, and the steps extended downwards. Yugi cautiously stepped off, expecting to float up into the air, but found that gravity was working perfectly normally.

"Hey!" Joey said, noticing this. "Are you sure we're in space. There's still gravity."

"Artificial gravity boosters," Duke yawned, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "Only the best technology for the world's best duelists." He glanced askance at Tristan. "And their cheerleaders."

"Hey!" Tristan yelled, rushing at Duke. Serenity barely managed to restrain him.

"Why do I have the feeling we're going to spend the whole tournament keeping boys from knocking the daylights out of each other," Tea said to Serenity. The younger Wheeler giggled in response.

"Attention!" a lofty male voice said over the loud speaker. "Would all duelists please clear the hangars." The eight finalists and their companions quickly headed towards a glass door marked "Hangar Exit." The pilot followed them.

There was a roar as the hangar door opened and another space-plane flew in, about the same size as theirs. It landed softly beside the one Yugi had taken. The hangar door slammed shut. As the duelists began to walk down their plane's stairs, Yugi realized that this was the plane for the American championships. There was Rebecca, Bandit Keith...

And Seto Kaiba. Both duelists locked eyes with one another momentairly. Their look seemed to say. May the best man win. Oh, and I hope you crash and burn in the first round.

* * *

"Wow!" Joey said as he flicked through the TV channels. "We get, like, every channel in existance! Ooh, here's a Mexican game show!" After arriving, the duelists had been given their rooms. Yugi and Joey had decided to share a room. The station room was pretty basic, with two single beds, a TV set, and a small bathroom. Joey was channel surfing, and Yugi was thumbing through his deck for what had to be the millionth time.

"Oh yeah," he muttered as he came across a certain God card. "I forgot to give Kaiba his Obelisk back."

"Say what?" Joey asked incredulously. "You're going to give that guy back his god card? What are you, nuts? You won it fair and square."

"I didn't see you complaining when I gave you Ra," Yugi said with a smirk.

"Well, um, yeah, but..." Joey seemed dumbfounded at this, so Yugi enjoyed a moment of silence that was only broken by the dull sound of the TV (Joey couldn't understand the words, so he had turned the sound down low.) Yugi could understand them (it was much less funny because of this.) For some reason, his Millenium Puzzle let him perfectly understand languages he barely even knew the names of. Just another mystery of the Millenium Items.

Joey changed the channels again, switching to a British comedy. After a couple of jokes, Joey grunted in aggrivation. "I don't get it."

"Joey, you're barely passing English class(1), I don't expect you to," Yugi said casually. Once again, he could understand it, but didn't find it all that humorous. Yami seemed to, however He lay back on his bed, setting his cards in a pile on the nightstand. Joey had changed the channels once again, to some animé about giant robots.

Forgetting for once about duelling, Yugi decided that watching something mindless wouldn't be too bad for a change. I need all the rest I can for tomorrow. But the explosions of the animé on the TV soon lulled Yugi into a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

The holder of the Millenium Rod grasped his item closely. The last time he had tried to use the item, it had nearly killed him. Already, he was sweating with a mix of anticipation, fear, and the thrill of power. But it would be worth it. Once he mastered the item, he would be unstoppable.

He glanced over at his roommate, deep in sleep. Rest easy. He couldn't imagine what the other would say if he awoke now. Awoke and saw him, of all people, wielding a Millenium Item. But that wouldn't happen.

The holder of the Millenium Rod silently began to use the item. First slowly, edging just a bit of his mental power into the Rod. But it was like a hunger, as if there was suddenly an empty void that needed filling. Slowly but steadily, he began feeding the Rod more power...more power...the hotel room swam around him, all but disappearing. It didn't matter, nothing mattered but the Rod. There was only the Rod.

He was the Millenium Rod, and the Millenium Rod was him. In the dark unity he had achieved power. And he reached out with his power, striking whatever unfortunate soul was nearest. And then, he had control. He hadn't left his own body, but he was in his host's--it was a strange, but somehow exhilarating feeling.

He tried to see where his victim was, but the images from the host's eyes--a female, it was a girl--mixed with images from his own, and it all was blurred into a mass of colour. He couldn't sense anything. But he was still in control. Right? Move forward. He could feel the host body do so. A sense of exhilaration filled him. He was in total control. Move forward. And she moved forward again, like a puppet on a string! Move forward!

And then all of a sudden something cold ran through his very essence. It felt as though a part of him had been ripped off of his body. Drenched in cold sweat, he quivered on the floor of the room. He opened his eyes. The image was blurry, but it quickly reformed into the hotel room. He was no longer seeing through another's eyes.

He knew what happened. The girl had died. The thought turned him to ice. The chill he had just felt...it was death. He had killed someone. It made him sick to his stomache, the idea. Not even an enemy, just whoever was in my way.

Fearfully, he shoved the Millenium Rod under his bed. Lying on the floor and breathing heavily, he felt disgusted with himself. I should stop. What if next time I possess someone close to me? And then kill them? And then, there was a different voice inside of him: You must master the item. It has great power. Remember all the power Marik had?

Wishing he had never even heard of Millenium Items, Ancient Egypt, or any of that stuff, the holder of the Millenium Rod crawled into bed and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

A sharp buzzer awoke Yugi from his slumber. He blinked and moaned at having to get up so early. It was still dark outside. <Well, of course,> Yami said in his mind. <It's always dark in space.>

"Oh yeah..." Yugi groaned. He had forgotten where he was for a minute there. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. 7:00. Yugi wasn't normally that late a sleeper, but he still thought it was inhumane to forcibly wake everyone up at seven. Glancing over at Joey, who had slept right through it, he silently added well, maybe not everyone.

He was about to see if there was anything on TV, when he noticed something lying on the nightstand. It was the size of a Duel Monsters card, but plain white except for a bit of text on it. Yugi took it and read it. It was obviously a message, in some kind of fancy font.

Yugi:
Meet me in Arena 270 by 8:00
Ishizu

Yugi blinked, confused. Ishizu wanted to meet him? That sort of made sense, he supposed--he had a Millenium Item, after all. But the last time Ishizu had wanted to talk to him was during Battle City. Yugi had been telling himself all along that this tournament wouldn't be like that, that this was just a simple championships.

<All three God cards are here--in this room, actually> Yami said, as if he had a slight smirk on his face. <Probably most of the Millenium Items are on this space station as well.>

<Really?> Yugi asked his counterpart. <I mean, we know about my Puzzle, and Ishizu's Necklace, but I don't think that any of the others are here.>

<Remember Yugi,> Yami thought. <We still don't know where the Millenium Ring or Millenium Rod are.>

<So you think they're on this ship?> Yugi asked his counterpart.

<They might be,> Yami replied warily.

<You're just paranoid,> Yugi thought back, trying to crack a smile. But somehow he thought that maybe Yami's fears weren't so ungrounded after all.

* * *

Tea Gardener tried to keep herself from cursing as she ran down the halls of the space station. First she had a bad hair day, then she realized that she hadn't brought any changes of clothes and was forced to wear the same ones as yesterday, and then she had gotten lost in the halls of the space station.

She glanced momentairly at the card she had found on the night stand this morning. Why Ishizu wanted to see her specifically, she had no idea. Weren't Yugi and, to a lesser extent, Kaiba supposed to be involved in those things. Arena 270. She hoped Ishizu didn't want to duel. Tea had only played one tournament duel in her life, and she should have rightfully lost that.

She started counting the doors that presumably lead to various arenas. Arena 262...264...266...268...270! Taking a deep breath, she mustered up the courage to pull the red door open.

Inside the room was a large dueling arena, much like the ones that were used during the Duelist Kingdom tournament. The walls were plain steel, and the chamber was about the size of the one in which the Duelist Kingdom finals were held. A large viewscreen stood on one end of the arena. Standing in a silent circle on the other side of the room were Ishizu, Yugi, Kaiba and Bakura.

Ishizu broke the silence. "Good. You're here."

"Tea?" Bakura asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," Tea admitted as she joined the circle. "Ishizu, what am I doing here?" she asked the Egyptian woman wryly.

"I have gathered you all here today because you are all linked by a common destiny," Ishizu began. Everyone had their attention focused on her , they knew that this was important. "I saw this destiny in some of you"-she gestured to Yugi and Kaiba- "before, although I may not have realized it's full signifigance. But now I believe I have seen what binds you, along with me and two others who aren't with us today, together and apart. We are all destined to carry one of the Millenium Items."

Tea gasped. "Me...with a Millenium Item? But how? And which one?"

Kaiba snorted derisively. "Don't believe this phoney. If I'm destined to carry one of these so-called Millenium Items, then why don't I have it already? Answer me that Ishizu."

"I cannot say when and how you will get your items," Ishizu said. "Nor what they will be, although I believe it is fairly safe to say that Yugi is destined to carry his Millenium Puzzle. I tell you this only to warn you, so that you will know when the time is right."

"That's bullshit!" Kaiba cursed. "I don't know why I even bother to listen to this Millenium Item mumbo-jumbo. I have more important business to attend to." Seto began to storm out of the room, but stopped and wheeled around halfway through. "One more thing. Moto, please give me back Obelisk."

"Of course," Yugi responded, handing the God card to his rival. With this, Seto Kaiba left the room.

"You may go," Ishizu said, following Kaiba. "Remember what I have said." Tea was too confused to think. I'm destined to carry a Millenium Item? Yugi gave Kaiba one of his God card? None of this makes sense. But then again, when did anything about these Milleniym Items ever make sense anyways.

* * *

After a breakfast provided by the tournament, Day 2 of the World Championships were under way. This day would be devoted to figuring out who would make up the National Teams. Dueling Arena 212 was reserved for the Japanese team, and by 10:00 all eight duelists had arrived. Yugi, Joey, Mai, Bakura, Weevil, Rex, Duke and Mako all prepared themselves for the beginning of the Championships. Even though losses here didn't count against your individual record, getting onto the national team was definitely a good sign. Tea, Tristan and Serenity sat on the sidelines.

The computer screen lit up, and began showing photos of each duelist. Red frames began to flash around them randomly, and it became apparent that they were randomly selecting which two players would face off first. The frames slowed down, and settled on two photographs: Joey Wheeler and Rex Raptor.

Both duelists climbed into their side of the arena and shuffled their decks. The room was full of tension. This was it. The beginning of the World Championships.

"So Rex," Joey said, trying to cut through the tension with banter. "Looks like it's me and you again."

"Don't be cocky Wheeler," Rex responded as he drew his hand. He obviously saw something he liked, because the dinosaur duelist grinned smugly. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"You know Rex," Joey said as he evaluated his opening hand. "I'm really wondering if you have any good cards left. I mean, you lost your Red Eyes Black Dragon to me at Duelist Kingdom, and you lost your Serpent Night Dragon to Esper Roba in Battle City. What have you got left to lose, really?"

"Be quiet!" Rex snapped as their life point counters went up to 4000. Joey grinned, feeling strangely satisfied with agitating his opponent. "Since I'm lower in standings than you, I get to go first. And I'll play Uraby, in attack mode!" A lifelike hologram of the smal black dinosaur appeared on Rex's side of the field. Joey looked at the monster's stats. 1500 attack, 800 defense. Not horrible, but nothing remarkable either.

Unfortunately, Joey didn't have the best of hands, and he didn't have anything that could beat Rex's monster right away. "All right," Joey said. "I'll summon Alligator Sword in attack mode, and play this face down card!" With 1500 attack points, both monsters were evenly matched. "Your turn Rex."

"Excellent!" Rex said with a grin as he drew another card. "I'll play one monster in face-down defense mode, and play a face-down card." Joey was taken aback by this. Rex was usually a very agressive duelist. This latest move didn't suit him. Maybe he has learned to play better.

Joey peeled a card off the top of his deck, and celebrated inwardly. This was exactly what he needed! "I'll play Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode!" Joey announced, playing the 500/1200 Warrior on the field.

Rex laughed. "What are you going to do with that weakling."

"I'll show you!" Joey answered. "I'll use my face down card, Shield and Sword, to trade all monsters' attack and defense strengths." All four monsters on the field seemed to distort a bit as the Magic card took affect. Now Uraby only had an attack of 800, and both of Joey's monsters had 1200 attack points. "Now, Alligator Sword! Attack his Uraby!"

Rex smiled as if Joey had done something funny. "I'll reveal my face-down monster, Skulking Serpent*!" The card turned over, revealing a long black serpent. Joey checked the stats of Rex's monster. Attack strength 500, defense strength 500. But Joey was sure that Rex had some sort of plan, and so refrained from commenting on his monster's weakness. "And whenever a monster attacks one of my monsters, Skulking Serpent attacks back!" The serpent snapped out, biting Joey's Alligator Sword on the leg before quickly retreating to it's area.

"Was that supposed to do anything?" Joey taunted.

"Yes!" Rex snapped back. "Even though my Serpent isn't strong, it has a poisonous bite that reduces a monster's attack power by 500 points!" Joey gasped as Alligator Sword's attack points went down to 700. His monster ran up to Rex's Uraby and slashed at it, but the sword bounced off of the dinosaur's hide. In return, the monster tore into Joey's Alligator Sword, destroying it. Joey's life points were reduced to 3900.

Joey frowned. This was not how he had planned. But he could still make some progress. "All right then...Swordsman of Landostar! Attack his Skulking Serpent!" The Serpent whipped out with his bite, reducing the Swordsman's attack to 700. But that was still enough to tear through the Serpent.

"Wait!" Rex snarled. "I activate my Continuous Trap card! Necromatic Spirit*!" The face-down card flipped up, revealing an image of a haunting spirit. The same spirit leaped out of the card and into Rex's Skulking Serpent. Joey was momentairly worried, but that dissipated when Swordsman of Landstar cut the Serpent in half.

"Looks like your trap card wasn't enough to save your monster," Joey said. "Your turn."

"If only you knew..." Rex muttered as he drew his card. "And now that it's my turn, our monsters revert to their normal powers. Which means that Swordsman of Landstar only has 500 attack points, and my Uraby has 1500! Now, Uraby! Attack!" The black-scaled dinosaur rushed forward, tearing through Joey's swordsman. Joey winced as his life points went down to 2900. He was beginning to lose. "And now it's time I show you the effect of my Necromatic Spirit!" Rex declared. "Whenever a monster goes to the cemetary, the monster infused with the Spirit returns to play! Which means that my serpent comes back!" Sure enough, Rex's serpent reappeared on the field, still in Defense mode. "It's your turn...see if you can do anything, Wheeler!"

Joey paused. To get rid of his Uraby now, I'd have to use a monster with over 2000 attack points...and to play one of those I'd have to sacrafice a monster of my own. "All right," he said, resigned as he drew a card. "Hey...this might work! I'll play Gearfried, The Iron Knight, in attack mode!" he shouted. The monster's 1800 attack was displayed briefly. "And I'll attack with him!"

"Are you an idiot or what!" Rex cackled. "Skulking Serpent, Poison Bite!" The serpent snapped forward, but his teeth bounced off Gearfried's armour. The knight stepped forward and slashed Uraby in half, cutting Rex's life points down to 3700.

"My Iron knight is immune to poisons like your Serpent's" (2) Joey explained mockingly. "Now it's your turn, Raptor. See if you can do anything."

"Oh, I can!" Rex gloated as he drew his card. "I'll play my Two-Headed King Rex in attack mode." Joey looked relieved. His monster only has 1600 attack points, not enough to destroy Gearfried. "And I'll play Raise Body Heat on it, increasing it's attack points by 300!" Joey gulped. He couldn't help but notice that the tempertaure in the room seemed to be rising. Now the Two-Headed King Rex had 1900 attack points. "Now, attack!" Gearfried parried one of the monster's two heads, butwas caught by the other one and destroyed, reducing Joey's life points to 2800.

Joey was sweating now. Gearfried was his only monster that wasn't affected by the Serpent's Venom. Come on Joey. You're only losing by about a thousand life points. You can still win this. Hoping he got something useful, he peeled the top card off of his deck. Graceful Die...that might help me, but only for one turn... All of a sudden, a play came to him. It was strange, but it would work. "I'll play Rocket Warrior, in attack mode!" The monster appeared face-up on the field, looking brave in the face of adversary. "And I'll play these two face-down cards. It's your turn, Rex."

The Dinosaur duelist grinned. "Why bother with your pathetic defenses, Wheeler? You know you can't win. Now, Two-Headed King Rex! Attack his Rocket Warrior."

"I'll activate Graceful Die..." Joey declared, playing one of his face-down cards.

"Oh no!" Rex said, worried that the enemy monster would become stronger than his own.

"On your Skulking Serpent! (3)" Joey finished. Rex looked puzzled, obviously wondering why you would choose to power up the opponent's monster. A panel on the dueling console flipped open, revealing a dice and coin for use with certain cards. Joey took the dice and rolled a five, multiplying the Serpent's attack power to 2500. Perfect.

Rex was laughing madly. "You're insane Wheeler. Now that you've powered up my monster, I can finish you off this turn."

"You're missing something Rex," Joey said slyly. "Your Necromatic Spirit card can only be used on monsters with an attack power of less than 1500. That means that it's destroyed, because it can't affect any of your monsters (4.)" Joey smiled triumphantly as the card image shattered.

"Are you stupid or something," Rex snarled. "That dosen't matter, because you're dead now!"

"I don't think so either," Joey replied smugly. "I'll activate my other face down card, Reverse Trap! It reverses all bonuses and penalties to attack and defense penalties. Which means that, since Angel's Die once increased your Serpent's attack strength by 2000, it now decreases it by the same amount. And since a monster can't have negative attack strength, it's destroyed for good. And as for your Two-Headed King Rex, that Raise Body Heat card you played on it is reversed too!" Rex gasped as his monster's attack points went down to 1300. It was now somewhat cool in the dueling arena. "Now, Rocket Warrior will finish it off!" With two swipes of it's sword, Rocket Warrior chopped off the King Rex's heads, destroying it and reducing Rex's life points to 3700.

"I've got to say, that play was pretty impressive," Mai said offhandedly.

"I knew you could do it big brother!" Serenity cheered.

Weevil grumbled something about cheerleaders as he shot a scathing glance at Serenity.

"Y-y-your turn..." Rex stuttered, seemingly shaken by the sudden turn in fortune.

"All right," Joey said as he drew his next card. "I'll sacrafice my Rocket Warrior to summon the Legendary Fisherman to the field!" The strong man riding a whale appeared on the field, clutching his trademark spear. Joey turned to Mako, the card's original owner. "By the way Mako, thanks for the card."

"You earned it," Mako said with a smile. "Now go and show this dinosaur who's boss."

"I will," Joey said with a grin. "Legendary Fisherman, attack his life points directly!" Joey's monster raised his spear and tossed it at Rex's console, bringing a spray of sparks. Rex frowned as he watched his life points go down to 1850. "Another attack like that, and you're done for!"

Drawing a card, Rex still looked unsure of himself. "I'll place one monster in face-down Defense mode. Go."

"I'll play Terraform*," Joey said, a big smile on his face. "It allows me to take any field card in my deck and put it into play." He searched his deck for one of the new additions, and picked it out. "And I choose Umi!" Water instantly flooded the arena, lapping up against the dueling consoles and concealing Joey's Legendary Fisherman.

"Not only does it give my Legendary Fisherman a 20% boost in attack points, raising his attack power up to...um...something or other, but it prevents him from being affected from magic or trap cards, or being attacked," Joey explained as he shuffled his deck and set it back on the field. "There," he said as he looked at his console. "His attack points are 2170. And they're coming right at your face-down monster!" The Legendary Fisherman rose up from the water and tossed his spear at Rex's hidden monster. A Corpse-Eating Dragon card appeared briefly before getting destroyed.

"My turn," Rex said cautiously. A small grin managed to cross his face. "I'll play a monster in face-down defense mode, and one face-down card. It's your turn now."

"All right then," Joey smirked. "I'll play Baby Dragon in attack mode. And then I'll attack that face-down monster with my Legendary Fisherman." The small dragon appeared, flying over the ocean, while the Legendary Fisherman struck.

"I reveal Steel Scorpion!" Rex laughed while his face-down monster was revealed. The Legendary Fisherman easily impaled the scorpion on his spear, but the machine struck out at it's arm, injecting Joey's monster with poison before being destroyed. "Now in three more turns, your Fisherman will be destroyed."

"Big whoop," Joey said nonchalantly. "In three more turns, you'll be the one that's destroyed! Baby Dragon, attack his life points directly!" The small dragon spat out a jet of flame at Rex's console, reducing the dinosaur duelist's life points down to 650.

"I don't think so, Wheeler," Rex smirked. "It's my turn now. And I'll use my Trap card, Careless Avarice! It allows me to draw two cards, with the expense of skipping my next two draws." Rex smiled while looking at his hand. "Yes, this is perfect! First I'll play De-Spell to destroy your field card," -a blast of blue energy absorbed all the water on the field, and then exploded- "then I'll play Swords of Revealing Light, to hold your monsters in place for three turns" -a flurry of light swords appeared, freezing Joey's two monsters- "which, coincidentially enough, is exactly the amount of time it takes for your Legendary Fisherman to croak."

"You know Rex, this is awfully elaborate just to kill one monster," Joey replied.

"You idiot!" Rex snapped. "I could care less about your pathetic Fisherman. Three turns is all the time it will take to summon my ultimate monster! Now prepare for the end!"

"Ooh, ultimate monster, I'm spooked," Joey shot back. "Really, if I had a nickel for every time a duelist said that to me, I'd have...um...a lot of nickels!"

"He's right there," Yugi remarked.

"Well this is a monster like nothing you've seen before," Rex replied, agitated. "So now I'll play my Two-Mouthed Dark Ruler in defense mode, and end my turn." That monster, at 900/700 was pretty weak, but Joey knew Rex was only using it as a sacrafice for a larger monster.

Despite his talk, Joey was worried about Rex's monster. He looked at the card he had drew. Not a great solution, but a powerful monster nonetheless. "I'll sacrafice both of my monsters to summon the Insect Queen in attack mode." He turned to Weevil and added with a grin, "Hey bugface! Look familiar?"

Weevil sniffed. "I don't care if you're playing my insect queen. You don't even know how to use it!"

"How to use it?" Joey said, stupefied. "How much is there to using it anyways? I mean, it's amonster, you play it, you attack with it, simple as that."

"You moron!" Weevil said, as if offended that any monster of his could be used for such a simple strategy. "Do even have any other Insect monsters in your deck?"

"Um...no, I don't think so..." Joey said, trying to think if he had put any Insects in his deck.

"I figured," Weevil sniffed. "While Insect Queen is a powerful monster, it's only truly powerful when combined with other Insect monsters. In your deck, it's little more than dead weight."

"Says you," Joey said, choosing to ignore Weevil. "I'll show you how much this monster can do once Rex's Magic card expires. I go, and it's only two more turns now dinosaur boy."

"My go," Rex said. "I'll play Tomozaurus in defense mode, and one card face down. Your turn."

Joey growled as he looked at Rex's Swords of Revealing Light. If not for them, he'd have won by now. "I play one card face down," he sighed, "and end my turn."

"Excellent!" Rex cackled. "I'll play one card face down, and sacrafice both my monsters to summon...CYBERTRON MEGASAUR*!"

Joey stood back as the two weak dinosaurs disappeared and one much large rone appeared. Half his body seemed to be covered in metal, and his eyes were glowing red. Joey nervously checked the monster's stats. 2400/2200. He's not all that powerful. "Your turn, Wheeler!"

Joey grinned as he drew his next card. Rex's "ultimate monster", like most he'd faced, was a total pushover. "I'll play this monster in face-down defense mode," Joey announced. "And end my turn. Guess what? Now your Swords of Revealing Light expire, allowing me to attack again on my next turn."

"Oh, I'm so scared," Rex chuckled. "Now I'll activate my Trap card Reinforcements, to increase my monster's attack power by 500!" Joey smiled even though the Cybertron Megasaur's attack power was now 2900. Luckily for me, I've got an ace up my sleeve. "Now, Cybertron Megasaur! Destroy his Insect Queen!"

"I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, Rex," Joey replied. "I activate Skull Dice. It'll divide your dino's attack strength by the roll of the dice. So, unless I roll a one, your 'ultimate monster' is finished!"

"Um...nope," Rex smirked. "I'll activate my other face-down card, Solemn Judgement! It allows me to spend half my life points to negate the activation of any card." Joey watched in horror as Rex's life points went down to 325, and the Solemn Judgement card blasted a beam of light at the Skull Dice card, shattering it. "Now, destroy his Insect Queen!" Joey winced as his monster was ripped up, and his life points went down to 2300.

"All right then..." Joey muttered. "My turn?"

"Yes!" Rex said, grinning devilishly. "And at the end of each turn, my Cybertron Megasaur's effect activates! Any Trap cards that were used up during the turn--like your Skull Dice, or my Reinforcements--become attached to my monster and increase it's attack power by 500 each!" Joey gasped as two spears grew on the Megasaur's claws, and a dice formed a helmet on it. Great. Now it has 3400 attack points!

"All right..." Joey moaned as he drew his card. "I guess all that I can do is play a monster in face-down defense mode."

"Not even that will save you!" Rex cackled. "I'll play Fairy Meteor Crush on Cybertron Megasaur! That means that he'll tear through even defense monsters and damage yor life points. Attack!" Joey winced as the monster attacked his Ogre Rock, crushing it under his feet. That monster's defense was 1200, so 3400 minus 1200 is...a lot. He found out just how much it was as his life points decreased to 100. Ow! If I don't get something powerful by next turn, I'm finished.

But he did. He felt like kissing the card he drew. You know, if I ever see Esper Roba again, I've gotta thank him. "You ready Rex? Because right now, you're at the end of the line. I'll sacrafice my other face-down monster to summon...Jinzo!"

Rex chuckled. "2400 attack? That didn't get your insect queen anywhere, it's not gonna get your Jinzo anywhere either."

"Then maybe you don't know Jinzo's effect, Rex," Joey tuanted. "You see, Jinzo destroys all trap cards in play. Which means that all those additions to your hunk of junk dino? They're gone." Rex looked like he was about to cry as red beams shot out of Jinzo's eyes and destroyed the additions to his monster.

"B-b-but...our monsters have equal attack strength now," Rex realized. "That means that, on my next turn, I can just kill both of them and attack your life points directly with a weaker monster! You really are stupid, Wheeler."

"I wouldn't count on that," Joey said. "Not once I play this magic card, Rush Recklessly! It increases my monster's attack strength by 700 points."

"No!" Rex gasped as Jinzo's attack went up to 3100.

"Yes!" Joey shot back, now jubilant. "Jinzo! Finish him!" Jinzo shot forward a final red beam, destroying Cybertron Megasaur and reducing Rex to 0.

"I'm...finished..." Rex muttered.

"You did it!" Serenity cheered.

"Yeah, great job, Joey," Tristan added.

"Thanks guys," Joey said as he stepped down from the console. He felt happy now. He had won the first duel of the World Championships, and he couldn't have done it without the cards he had won from Battle City. You know, I'm not really that bad at this game at all.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Original Cards:

Skulking Serpent
Type:Effect Monster
Water/Sea Serpent/2/500/500
Effect:Whenever an opponent's monster attacks, reduce it's attack points by 500 permanently.

Necromatic Spark
Type:Continuous Trap
Effect:Choose a monster with less than 1500 attack strength. Whenever a monster is put into the cemetary from play, if the chosen monster is in your cemetary, return it to play in face-up attack or defense mode.

Terraform
Type:Normal Magic
Effect:Search your deck for a Field magic card and put it into play. Shuffle your deck afterwards.

Cybertron Megasaur
Type:Effect Monster
Dark/Dinosaur/7/2400/2200
Effect:At the end of a turn, you may attach any Trap cards put into a Cemetary to this monster. For each card attached this way, this monster gets 500 attack points.

All other cards used are actual cards, although because I'm getting them off of Edo's site, they may not have been released stateside yet, or called something different (I use English card names when I know them, though.)

(1) For this fic, I'm assuming that Yugi and friends live in Japan. I know that I'm mainly using dub stuff, and there was one line in the dub that suggested that they lived in America (which I didn't even hear...), but it just makes more sense from a logistic standpoint if they live in Japan. (Personally, I don't think the dub line was too eronious because of the fact that they don't use real locations anyways.) But anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. This line basically references the fact that in Japan, they study English as a second language (much like Americans learn spanish, or us Canadians learn French.)

(2) This wouldn't actually work, but it makes sense flavour-wise. I'm doing this like the animé, which makes flavourfull additions to the rules all the time.

(3) I don't think that this is an actual legal use for Graceful Die, but since it's use is so warped in the animé anyways, I don't really care.

(4) I'm actually not sure if it would be destroyed or not, so I used what worked for the fic.