“How lucky I already had them prepared.” The insect boy sat down again at the gaming table.

“We finally faced each other like you wanted and it seems that you are preparing something against me” Mai was smiling, she liked being taken seriously, she was ready to show him how wrong was in allowing her to continue.

“I decided to face each duel in this tournament with all my strength and you will not be the exception.” They both placed their decks on the table to start and draw their initial hand.

Mai winked at her as she played the first turn. “I summon the Harpy lady.” The beautiful monster with 1300 attack and 1400 defense appeared on the field.

(As I expected from Wheeler's story and the last turn against Panik) Weevil tried to ignore the blonde's actions.

“And I also place a card face down.”

(The always problematic one… it's only the first round) He had had a good hand, but there was no need to rush “My turn, I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards” More ammo was always welcome “I summon Metapod in defense mode” The dark green cocoon with disinterested eyes appeared on the field, it had 3 stars, 200 attack and 1900 defense.

"You're being careful, huh? I see they taught you that girls don't like to rush and finish quickly." Mai took the next letter from her regardless of the double meaning of her words.

In the spectator area

“Why do you have to talk like that?” Tea covered her face, a little blushing.

“I hate to say it, but do you think Mai can win, Yugi?” After Weevil had defeated Yugi himself, something Joey believed deep down was impossible, and she had lost to him.

"You never know the end of a duel until the last one plays, Mai must have enough skills if she made it this far." They both watched as Mai equipped a card to her monster so that her attack and defense increased by 500 points.

“My turn, draw” It wasn't the card Weevil needed right now (Negate attack, I could try) but he had to do something first “I activate Metapod's effect to bring Butterfree into my hand” It might be useful later “Also, I place a card face down and summon Drowzee in defense mode” A tapir-like monster appeared on the field, it had 4 stars 1350 attack and 1850 defense.

"My turn!" She took her next card from the deck (Weevil's tend to 'grow' if left alone, I better get rid of the new one quickly) she kept an eye on his face down card. “First I'll play: Harpy'Feather Duster.” This spell card would allow her to destroy all spell and trap cards on her opponent's field.

“Tch” He could only see how his letter flew off the field.

“Heh heh, you're not the only one who's cautious, then I'll give my harpy another card! Electro-Shock Whip!” The monster grabbed the whip with electrical powers and its attack escalated to 2100. “Punish that Drowzee with your whip!” For some reason it almost seemed like the tapir vanished with a smile after being whipped.

“My turn” His next card was Caterpie (It's always good to see you, but it wasn't a better time, I can't let her keep increasing her monster's attack, she could become a nuisance to take down... I'll take the risk, I have damage control and enough monsters in hand) You couldn't draw the best cards all the time "I summon Butterfree in attack mode, also since I control an insect monster, I also special summon Scyther in attack position" The 4-star butterfly with 1800 attack and 900 defense and the praying mantis with huge 5-star blades with 2100 attack and 1500 defense appeared on the field.

“He's using the combo he beat you with, Yugi!” Joey imagined that Mai was just watching as the Harpy's attack began to drop to 1600 and Scyter was heading towards her.

“I activate my trap card; Silver-Screen Mirror Wall" Before could reach the winged woman, the mantis' sickles ran into a glass wall that damaged his limbs and lowered his attack to 1050."As you can see, this beautiful mirror will stop your attack and reduce your monster's attack by half.” Mai smiled proudly for stopping it.

(A rare card, Wheeler must have been very lucky that she didn't draw it in her duel) He couldn't attack with another monster because the effect of that trap was continuous, he had no choice but to end his turn

Yugi was impressed as Mai countered the move, it was obvious that she had improved since the duel with his friend.

“My Harpy combo seems to be working, let's see if I can finish you off with this.” She immediately played the card she had just drawn. “Meet the ultimate servant of the harpies! Hapies pet dragon!” A large dragon with a chain that linked it to Harpy appeared on the field, it had 7 stars, 2000 attack points and 2500 defense, but its attack increased by 300 for each harpy on the field "Go destroy them!" The dragon burned the butterfly to ashes with its fiery breath and the harpy strangled the mantis until it disappeared.

“I must admit, I'm impressed, Mai, I see that you could defeat Rex fairly… Why all that manipulation and tricks?” He didn't seem worried as his hit points dropped to 950.

"I've learned a lot since I arrived on this island." Her gaze shifted to Yugi's group. "But it's not something worth telling."

“I understand you, in a way I could also say the same ones” His gaze also wandered towards them “But you're right, this is not the time for stories, I still have to turn this around, don't hate me after doing it” He smiled looking at his next letter , if he hadn't been prepared in case the previous plan went wrong, he would be very frustrated, although he was still a little frustrated that he couldn't use any of his prepared cards for this duel.

“You can try, don't worry, I'm not spiteful” She winked, Joey looked like he had to say something about it, but Tea stopped him.

“I'll introduce you to one of my favorite cards, but first, I cast Spinarak in attack mode, I hope you remember that.” The 1-star spider with 500 attack points and 400 defense points made its appearance again

“Yeah, like forgetting the monster that dealt the killing blow to Keith.” Although it seemed strange that he summoned it at this moment, she still had the entire life of her.

“Then I'll just activate his effect.” The arachnid shot this time a silk thread between Mai's monsters and went straight towards her.

“…Are you trying to be funny?” Before hitting her, the thread opened into a web-like network and hit the target... right between her tits.

"Now active, the monster reborn." Weevil, with his face a little red, did not decide to comment, he did not control what the holograms did. "I bring Scyter." The mantis had returned to the field.

Mai decided not to continue the argument and watch as it continued, but that this would not be enough to stop her.

“I continue with another magic card: Evolutionary Object” The card had a similar polymerization image; and worked in a similar way although it only needed one material; with the difference that the blue spirals were replaced with objects that seemed random; There was a great variety of stones, fangs, claws, cables and even hearts; representing the spirals and the two shapeless monsters were replaced by four that seemed to be jumping from each corner of the card towards the center of the spiral; one of them was Scyther, located in the lower left corner; another looked like some sort of rather adorable brown dog or fox, located in the lower right corner; also a figure with certain humanoid features with green hair stretching out his arm, located in the upper right corner; Finally a kind of ghost with a big smile seemed to have literally thrown his hand at her from the upper left corner.

Mai only eats a kind of metallic liquid from the letter and drinks Scyther and throws him into it.

“Did you destroy your own monster?”

“No, as its name says, it is evolving” Scyter's card was replaced by a 7-star purple one with 2300 attack and 1700 defense “Let me introduce you to Scizor” From the spell card Scyter's exoskeleton emerged, but now it was covered in a shiny, polished red metal and its sickles were replaced by pincers that looked like another monster opening its mouth.

“As if that thing needs to be any more intimidating,” Joey snorted.

“It's imposing, I admit, but my mirror wall is still active.” Even if he waited another turn, she only had to summon another harpy to increase her dragon's attack and if he tried to put a card face down she would destroy it again.

“Scisor has something to say about that.” The monster charged straight towards the trap card and hit it directly as its pincer began to glow, cracks quickly began to appear all over the wall until it broke into pieces.

"What?!" She couldn't believe was gone

“Once per turn you can use her new metallic coating to destroy a magic or trap on the field, but don't think that's all…” Scisor continued along the way, punching the Pet Dragon in the jaw to make it get out of the way and reach its owner, grabbing the Harpy by her neck with his pincer. “His power increases by 1000 when attack"

If anyone could see the red insect's mouth, they would notice how it smiled while it broke its enemy's neck with its pincers.

(I got overconfident, I should have put my harpy on defense when I had the chance, I trusted my Crystal Wall too much) She was in a hurry to clear her field, Mai was resigned seeing her life points go down to zero.

A hand appeared in front of her.

"Good game, it's been a while since anyone made me use Scisor, I hope we can play again." Weevil had a small smile, these duels had been so much fun that they almost made him forget that he is in mortal danger.

(Weevil…) She closed her eyes and shook her head as she shook his hand. “Next time I will be stronger.”

“I hope so, I still have plays prepared”

She just winked at him before leaving.

“The winner of the last semi-final is Weevil Underwood!” The announcer updated the monitor

“I thought so” Joey was not at all surprised with the result

(Mai's increased abilities are incredible, she is a true duelist) Yugi looked at her with respect.

“Congratulations, Weevil.” Tea came up to congratulate him.

“Thank you, it has been good duels”

“Are you going to face Yugi?”

That was the question Weevil had had for a long time, if it were a normal tournament there would be no doubt, but this was a completely different situation and the fact that Pegasus did not move to kill Mai was a good sign, it showed how serious the situation was. He didn't even understand the point of this tournament at this point.

(First he should confront him face to face, he should confirm if it is true that he is obsessed with fighting Yugi) He needed more information, he turned to look at Pegasus to see if he could get something out of him.

“Before we continue, I would like to thank you for inviting me to this tournament Mr.Pegasus” He tried to sound as servile as possible.

“You should be proud, Weevil-boy, you have come quite far, I can see that you are not only good at designing cards but also using them” The creator's gaze fell on the insect boy “You know, you have impressed me so much that I want to make you a special offer if you manage to beat Yugi-boy, I'm willing to offer you a high-level position in my company... don't worry, I won't bite." He let out a playful laugh, Pegasus could see that the teenager was hesitant to face Yugi, he wanted to see if he could push him, after all he had already defeated him once.

(That would almost be a dream come true if he hadn't seen him kill someone earlier) Although this gave him a clue. (Pegasus seems to insist that I face Yugi, if he cheats, he shouldn't mind knowing his deck, for some reason he seems to want Yugi out of the competition)

“You're overthinking it, are these people you just met that important?” The created one continued speaking as he read her mind.

(This is chilling) I really hope he didn't have magic powers "They are my friends"

"Really? Because Yugi-boy seems eager to crush you.”

Weevil turned his head and saw Yugi very interested on the floor, but he didn't deny it.

“Revenges cause those feelings…” Weevil didn't take it personally.

“You should respond in kind.”

“I'm sorry, but I feel like I'm going to get to this point.” He approached the puzzle boy. “Yugi, do you think you can take care of this trickster?” It seemed like the best option not to play along with Pegasus or maybe he was just a coward and this was a convincing excuse, but he decided to pass the bar, although he looked at his hand for a second.

“I'll take care of Pegasus!” At least he was motivated

"Well, don't even think about losing, you'd make us look very bad." Weevil decided to go to his room to rest, he didn't have the will to see the result and if they were going to kill him he preferred it to be while he was sleeping. Plus the wounds from Keith's beating hurt.

(It disappoints me and I had prepared that) Pegasus wouldn't have to put down the card he created to counter Weevil's deck, it was called Toon Rocket, it was a continuous spell card; which could only be activated if Toon World was on the field, had the image of three cartoon rockets with bulging eyes of blue, red and yellow respectively, although the latter was smaller and had cat whiskers for some reason; and its effect allowed either player to take control of an opponent's Pokemon monster once per turn, but returned it at the end of the turn.

Tea watched with concern as Weevil left the room, but he had to stay to cheer Yugi up, this was the final battle that would decide if they would get his grandfather and the Kaiba brothers back.