章節 18: Blond Guy Rescue and Tag Team Duel?

[Yuna POV]

After the whole thing with Kaiba, I cleaned up the campsite and prepared to continue my journey. Thankfully, Mokuba was there to help, and we packed everything at double the speed. However, he seemed to be in a sour mood, constantly muttering about how selfish his brother was.

Anyway, when everything finished, I slung the backpack over my shoulder. Together, we left the clearing and into the deeper part of the forest. Luckily Mokuba seemed to calm down, probably due to finally not having to hide around the island like a fugitive, and he began to hum a tune under his breath.

As we walked, I was starting to feel a little annoyed. There should be many duelists on this island, but I couldn't find one!

Hello?! Anyone there!?

I sighed and patted my empty stomach. Lunchtime had already passed, and we still couldn't find a single person. Had they all been defeated already? Well, even then, some people should still be left, right?

As I was wallowing in self-doubt, Mokuba called out to me: "Big sister, I think I heard something that way." He said and pointed in the direction of the trees.

I still couldn't get used to the fact that he was now calling me Big Sister, but the news of finding people outweighed that. I eagerly followed him as we stopped behind a couple of bushes and got close to a waterfall.

The sound of the raging waters drowned out most of the noise, but we could still detect someone's presence. We sneakily peeked from over the bushes and spotted a man by the bank of the waterfall.

Just by looking at his black spiky hair and fierce face, my immediate impression of him was evil goon number one. Regardless, you can't judge someone based on their appearance, so I continued to observe him.

He seemed pretty tired as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. The man approached one of the undergrowth away from us, and moments later, he returned while dragging; wait, hold on, was that a person?

Alright, I take it back; you should maybe, just maybe..... you can assess someone on how they look? Just a little bit, though.

I shook my head and stared at the unconscious person being abducted. He was tall, wearing jeans, a white shirt, and a green jacket. He has sporadically arranged blond hair and hazel eyes.

I frowned. Huh, that's Joey, but what's he doing here?

Oh wait, that's right, I thought, hitting my palm with my fist. This must be when he gets kidnapped and battles a zombie child in a cave! If I remember correctly, that guy abducting Joey was called Zion, um, no, Zeke... Zebra?

I couldn't remember, as the character itself wasn't important. But all I know was that in the arc, he and two others work for Bandit Keith, the guy behind this master plan. I watched with interest and wondered if I should show myself or not since the matters would be resolved eventually if I let it be.

I glanced at Mokuba, and he was staring at Joey pitifully: "I feel bad just watching... Should we help that weak uncle?"

Geez, Joey, even the younger brother's looking down on you. Deciding to save his dignity, even just a little, I emerged from my hiding spot and confronted the duelist.

[3rd POV]

"Damn, this guy is heavier than he looks," Zygor muttered as he dragged Joey deeper into the forest.

Under his boss's order, he was supposed to kidnap a weak duelist and take their Star Chips in a duel. However, he was warned to avoid certain people unless he wanted to get obliterated, but Zygor wasn't listening then, so he can't fully recall what Keith said.

'Well.' Zygor smirked: 'What's the chance of that happening?'

"Stop..." Suddenly, a voice echoed from behind him, and Zygor frowned.

He swung around and noticed a girl appearing out of nowhere. Zygor subconsciously shivered, he remembered seeing her somewhere before, but his memory was a little fuzzy. Nonetheless, she's in the way right now, and his boss will get mad if he doesn't return soon.

"Go away, girly; this is none of ya business." Zygor chided.

Yuna frowned and pointed at Joey: "L...leave him."

"Huh, no, can't do." Zygor crossed his arms: "Now scram before something bad happens."

The girl didn't budge and detached three Star Chips from her gauntlet. Zygor's pupils flashed with greed as Yuna gently tossed the Star Chips before catching them mid-air: "Take... i...if win."

Zygor smirked confidently: "Sure, just make sure you cough up those Star Chips once you inevitably lose!"

[5 mins later....]

[A/N: P.S Mokuba survived against Yuna for 10 minutes...]

"H...how..." Zyogor collapsed on all four and stared at his crumpled deck in shock.

Yuna glared at him, and he flinched: "T... That was just luck! I will be back!" Zygor shouted before sprinting off with his tail tucked between his legs...

She Watched as Zygor ran away with the speed befitting of an Olympic athlete. Yuna turned to Joey and sighed. She gently nudged Joey with her foot, and his face scrunched with discomfort.

Gradually, Joey stirred and clutched his head: "Ugh... What happened?"

He sat up and instantly noticed a beautiful girl standing before him. Joey's first reaction was to blush, but he relaxed when he recognized her identity.

"Huh, Sano? What are you doing here?"

Before Yuna could respond, Mokuba suddenly interrupted her: "Shouldn't the first thing you say is thank you? Big Sister rescued you after all."

Joey's face turned red when he seemed to recollect what had happened before being knocked unconscious. He felt embarrassed being saved by a girl and scratched his cheek sheepishly: "Ah... Thank you."

He hurriedly got up and patted the dirt off his pants; this was the first time he was alone with a girl before, and Joey felt a subconscious of his actions. Fortunately, Yuna wasn't really interested in him, and he himself had a bigger problem at the moment.

"So you're the one that interrupted my plans."

They heard a rough voice and loud footsteps approaching from the distance. Joey and Yuna tensed as a group of people appeared from the forest. The one leading the group was a buff man with a red shirt, jeans, and a black vest. He had blond hair that was covered by an American bandana, and his black sunglass hid his eyes.

Joey frowned: "Hold on, I know you! You're Bandit Keith, the former U.S. Duel Monster Champion!"

Keith spat angrily, being named as a former champion. He glared at Joey and glimpsed at the girl beside him. At first, when one of his subordinates reported that a girl intercepted his operations, Keith was angry at their incompetence but kept his composure. He was curious and wanted to check out the perpetrator that ruined his plans. However, it was someone he dreaded meeting the most.

'Sh*t, it's her...' Keith cursed between his teeth.

He knew that girl, and he especially paid attention during the gathering on the ship back in Domino City. So it was obvious he would get wind of the duelist that defeated Seto Kaiba...

Keith scowled, and his glasses covered his annoyed expression. He knew some rumored that she won by luck; Keith was smart enough that sometimes rumors were deceiving. The duelist understands that his chances of winning may not be as high as he would've hoped, but there was one method...

He took a deep breath and smirked: "Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous Yuna Sano in the flesh."

Yuna glared at him, and Keith laughed haughtily: "Heh heh heh, hey, how about it, let's have a duel? We can also put our Star Chips on the line; after all, may the strongest win?"

She felt suspicious of Keith's suggestion, knowing his personality, his brazenly challenging someone for a duel meant he had some dirty scheme planned. However, Yuna agreed as she needed the Star Chips to advance further into the tournament.

"I knew you would accept." Keith smiled: "But how about we make this a little interesting? I propose a tag team duel! You and that boy while I get one of my guys here." He explained and pointed at his group with the back of his thumb.

Yuna frowned and couldn't understand Keith's thoughts. She glanced at Joey, and he seemed to be really excited: "Alright! That's what we're talking about! Sano, let's show them how it's done!"

Joey stared at Yuna intently, and she felt pressured by his confident attitude. She timidly averted her gaze and nodded.

"Don't worry; there's no way we will lose!" Joey said, but Yuna wasn't relieved of her doubt.

Keith scoffed at Joey's witty attitude and turned to his group: "Bonz, hurry up and get over here!"

A young boy frantically arrived from the group behind Keith. He has messy purple hair with sunken cheeks and eyes, giving him an expression of a ghoul.

"You better not mess up," Keith growled, and Bonz flinched in fear as he frantically assured his boss.

When he was satisfied, Keith regained his smile: "Well, let's get the show on the road." He pulled on a hidden lever beside a tree, and the ground rumbled.

A huge platform, much larger than an ordinary duel arena, appeared. Now four diffident podiums were located at each corner, and the field was wider to fit all the cards that would be played.

The four duelists stepped onto the arena with their team standing adjacent to them: "We will bet three Star Chips each. How does that sound?" Keith suggested

"Fine by me!" Joey and Yuna sighed as they placed their respective Star Chips on the dueling table.

The four duelists quietly observed each other, and a serious atmosphere engulfed the surrounding.

"Duel!" x4

[Joey: 2000 LP]

[Yuna: 2000 LP]

[Keith: 2000 LP]

[Bonz: 2000 LP]

[A/N: You may be wondering why I'm not combining their LP, since in the Duelist Kingdom shown, the battle with para and dox didn't have their LP combined, so I will leave it as it is but would change in Battle City Arc.

[Yuna POV]

'Tag Team Duel, huh?' I thought while staring at Kieth and Bonz across me.

The concept was first introduced in the later episodes with Yami Yugi and Joey fighting against the Paradox Brothers. But to think I will be playing a tag team duel right now...

The rules were fairly simple, we each had two thousand life points, and if one of us was defeated, the team lost altogether. Also, we can use each other's monsters for tributes, materials for fusion, and activating their effects, but we can't use the monsters for battle. A team also shared the same graveyard, so I had many more options.

The order will be me going first, Keith second, Joey third, and finally, Bonz will go forth. As the last player to make a turn, Bonz was able to make his first attack, so I needed to make a strong defense before starting my counterattack.

"I will activate Foolish Burial!" I announced: "This spell card allows me to send one monster from my deck to the graveyard!"

I searched through my cards before finding the one I wanted. and set the chosen card into the discard pile: "I will then summon Dragon Knight of Creation! And activate my continuous spell card, Ruins of the Dragon Lords!"

A knight in golden armor and a large stone statue of a dragon appeared in my field. The Dragon Knight noticed the state and stood before it with a fierce attitude.

"I will set two cards and end my turn," I said and watched Keith as he drew a card.

I couldn't shake off the suffocating feeling in my chest, and I watched his every move tentatively.

"Hmph, first, I will summon Mechanicalchaser." He said a round floating machine with wings wielding multiple sharp weapons in its limbs was summoned onto the field.

[Mechanicalchaser: Attack: 1850, Defence: 800]

"Now I will activate Machine Conversion Factory! I can equip this to a machine monster, and it gains 300 Attack and Defence!"

A small strange factory manifested beside Mechanicalchaser. The building began to make some loud churning noises, and metal flew out and attached itself to the monster.

[Mechanicalchaser: Attack: 1850 -> 2150, Defence: 1100]

"I will set two cards and end my turn." Keith smiled.

Two set cards... I pursed my lips and glanced at Joey worriedly. He was oblivious to the hidden danger and was extremely pumped up.

"I'm going to summon Axe Raider and end my turn!" He said with an upbeat tone.

[Axe Raider: Attack: 1700, Defense: 1150]

Um, that's it. Shouldn't you at least set something? I stared with disbelief while Keith scoffed. He turned to the nervous Bonz: "Play as I told you, and don't screw it up."

"Yes!" He yelped and hurriedly played his card: "I'm activating the field spell Wasteland! All Dinosaur, Rock, and Zombie monsters on the field gain 300 Attack and Defense!"

The forest on the all our field withered into nothingness, and a wide desert filled the area: "I will summon Snake Hair in attack position!" A green-skinned woman with snakes for hair arrived while flicking her reptilian tongue.

The monster's appearance reminded me of a monster from Greek mythology, and her slithering snakes made my skin crawl.

[Snake Hair: Attack: 1800, Defense: 1500]

(A/N: I already added the stat changes)

"Now I activate Sword of Dark Destruction! I can equip this card to a monster, and they gain 400 attacks while losing 200 defense!"

A black sword with a hilt that has a design of a purple dragon materializes in Snake Hair's hand. She swung the weapon and smiled viciously.

[Snake Hair: Attack: 1800 -> 2200, Defense: 1500 -> 1300]

"Now attack the Axe Raider!" Bonz shouted and pointed at Joey's monster.

"Not so fast!" I interrupted him and flipped my two trap cards: "I will activate Reinforcement and Battle Mania! Reinforcement gives my monster 500 more attacks until the end of this turn, and Battle Mania forces your Snake Hair to attack mine instead!"

[Dragon Knight of Creation: Attack: 1800 -> 2300, Defense: 600]

The Snake Hair suddenly changed trajectory and threw herself toward my knight. However, contrary to my expectation, things were not going as planned...

"That won't do!" Keith shouted: "I use Trap Jammer!"

His set card revealed itself, and a thunderbolt struck my Battle Mania: "I can negate a trap activation and destroy it! How do you like that?" He smirked, and I cringed with disgust.

Snake Hair returned to her original direction and swung her sword. The Axe Raider was cleaved in half.

[Joey: 2000 LP -> 1500 LP]

Joey gritted his teeth when his life points dropped considerably. Keith laughed confidently: "Do you know? No matter how great of a duelist you are, as long you have a weak team, you are bound to fall!"

So that's what you're planning...

I glanced at Joey with a complicated feeling. This will be tougher than I thought.

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I hope you enjoy!