A/N: Second round! Whoo! Good times! Pairing is Tieshipping, aka Tristan Taylor (Hiroto Honda)/Miho Nosoka.

So anyway, this fic may or may not be in continuity with my previous round's fic; apologies for the confusion, the universe makes much more sense in my head. Right now, they're both set in the same universe, along with a couple fics from the previous Contest.

Specifically, in this Contest, the theme of Duel Spirits will probably be common throughout because I want to explore how the characters will react to their world opening up as it's about to. Please enjoy!

Tristan felt like he had woken up, but he was dressed in his clothes from earlier today and he was standing in the middle of a field. What happened? How did he get here? Had he been kidnapped again?

Wait, no, he must've been dreaming. And that was super weird too, usually when he was dreaming he didn't realize that he was dreaming. He didn't know what the word for being aware you were in a dream, but wasn't he supposed to be able to control where his dream went now – like imagine that he was now at a bowling alley or something instead?

Huh, no, still in a field. Whatever.

As long as he knew he was dreaming, he knew he couldn't be really hurt, which was good enough.

And the field wasn't the worst dream he had; there was the sun that was pretty warm and no breeze, and nothing there to bother him. He couldn't see anything for a long while, but there looked like there were some cliffs in the distance and maybe something that looked like some tents or huts in another direction.

Might as well start walking towards the tents area, Tristan thought, and this seemed like a weird way to start a dream, like one of Ryou's RPG starts where you had to walk around and approach people.

He wasn't sure how long he was walking for – wasn't there something about how long you were in a dream was how long the time passed while you were sleeping? If so, it seemed like a really long time. But he didn't wear a watch, so probably he didn't have one in his dream, and apparently wishing things up still didn't work even if you knew you were dreaming.

The town didn't seem to be getting any closer as he kept walking in the direction, so didn't that mean that something was supposed to happen to him soon? This was a weird dream. Maybe if he tried to go to sleep in the dream, he'd wake up for real…

"Hold on there, thug." A female voice interrupted his thoughts. "Don't do anything stupid just yet." Tristan paused, as a woman in a kimono seemed to be getting closer to him. How come she was able to move around? Oh crap, she had a giant sword! What was that all about? Was she here to cut him into pieces?! This was turning into a nightmare!

"Hey, stop, you thug! No running, I'm not going to cut you!" Tristan paused and turned back around to meet her, jogging towards him, her sword still in her arms. Her purple hair was flying in her face, and her shoes made noise against the grass as she got closer.

"Why should I believe that, huh? What's the point in scaring a guy like that?" He raised his fists up even though he'd be no match for a giant sword with just them. Maybe with Joey here they could. "If you're not going to cut me, then why don't you drop the sword!"

But that just made her run at him faster, until she finally was close enough to stop. He backed away a few steps, but if something was supposed to happen to him, this looked like it'd be the thing. He'd listen to her if it meant something was going to happen, but if she started to spear him, he'd probably have to pinch himself awake or something!

Tristan eyed the girl closely. She was tall, her purple hair pulled away from her face with a ribbon, and in a light blue kimono with her large cleaver-knife by her side. Her face was really cute, even if she was just a dream person.

"I'm not a thug by the way, my name is Tristan. Who are you, anyway?" She rested her hands on her knees, but wasn't out of breath or anything. Hopefully she'd be able to tell him what he was supposed to be dreaming about.

But that got her attention. "What do you mean, you don't know who I am?" She hmmphed, her free hand on her hip, looking irritated. It still made her look cute, but he didn't want to piss her off too much by telling her that in case she'd cut him. "How dumb are you, thug? I'm the one that brought you here."

"And where is here, exactly?" Tristan was getting kind of annoyed, he didn't remember RPG characters being so rude. "Besides, I told you who I was. Tell me who you are now."

She fumed at him. "Fine! I can't believe you don't know! I should've summoned someone smarter. I'll tell you who I am, as long as you promise not to back-talk."

"Whatever." This chick was starting to be really annoying now. "Do you mind also telling me why you 'summoned' me here, and where exactly here is? Because right now this is a weird dream."

The girl shook her head. "I am called the Beautiful Headhuntress, but you can call me Miho, thug."

That name sounded familiar. Both of them, actually. "Isn't that a Duel Monsters card?"

"Correct. Glad to see you can somewhat keep up the pace." She started walking towards the village, her sword slung over her shoulder; and as he followed her, it finally looked like he was finally making some progress. "I don't know why I'm surprised you're uninformed. The reason I chose you is because I had to go through a third party, so to speak. We are in the middle of a world, with no humans, inhabited solely by the Duel Monsters that are known to humans like you. This world specifically is home to the Earth Warrior types, and it is my home."

"Oh, you're one of those spirits I've been hearing about?" So yeah, apparently Duel Monsters from ancient Egypt were real and all that stuff, and his friends had been able to see them, he'd learned that already. He had no idea they had whole worlds, but at this point he was willing to believe anything.

"Apparently so."

Tristan paused. "So you summoned me. For what? I haven't done anything, I'm usually not the one doing magical 'things' like this, anyway. Why not take Yugi or Joey?" This was starting to sound like it was more than just a stupid dream.

The girl – Miho – sighed. "I wanted someone a bit less conspicuous. Everyone here knows about Yugi, some of his monsters are here. You'll do, I suppose, at least for now. You're also a bit less likely to freak out than Yugi."

Well, he did pride himself on being calm and collected. But that seemed like a lie to him.

"Though only a little bit, it seems."

"Look, if a cute girl comes at me, yelling, with a giant sword, I don't know what you expect a man to do." He laughed in his head a bit as her grip tightened on the sword; and for a supposed monster, she looked like a person, and a pretty cute on in the kimono and ponytail.

"Don't annoy me, thug."

"So how did you guys… I dunno, end up here? Were you made by the Egyptian pharaohs?"

She paused in her stance. "I'll tell you what I know and what you need to know, but little else, understand? I don't need any more humans here to ruin my fellows."

Tristan was at a blank to who even knew about places like this. Did she mean Dartz? Yugi had told him that Dartz had an army of Duel Monsters, but he hadn't known they were actually real monsters. Then again, he shouldn't be that surprised. Dartz was only one part of the crazy mess, he should've figured there would be more.

"My fellow Duel Monsters have been alive as long as humans; a long time ago, we existed side by side, but the bridges between the worlds have been broken. I assume you've heard some of this from Ironheart and Yugi Muto, yes?"

He nodded. "So tell me, why are you able to bring me here and all that stuff. I mean, I'm really on another world? That's so weird."

"It's only for a short period of time, don't worry. A day only, each year, where we are able to move back and forth. Unless summoned by our human partner – which you cannot, apparently."

Okay, that was good, only for a little bit of time. Wait, partner? Oh never mind, it didn't seem important enough.

"So Miho, why you specifically? You're not exactly the warmest welcome I've ever had." He grinned at her back, eyeing her ponytail instead of the sword.

She scoffed at him. "Don't be difficult, thug. Be lucky you were greeted by a monster that was human."

"Don't you mean, look human?"

Miho started walking again, ignoring the question. "I just said, don't be difficult."

Tristan shrugged, walking alongside her. Humans turned Duel Monsters. He didn't think that'd happened before to anyone he knew. Except, well, Marik. And Noah. And maybe Dartz, according to Yugi.

But that wasn't really the same thing, or it didn't seem like it. Maybe he shouldn't touch the subject. He was still in her world, and apparently there were a lot of scarier cards that lived in her home. Earth Warriors, huh?

Still, he couldn't help but wonder. He tried to look for stuff in her clothes to see if he could tell when she came from (the where was pretty obvious at least). Her sword was unusual… maybe she had been some kind of executioner? She didn't take well to guys, maybe that was part of her backstory?

"You're quiet. No more questions? You don't want to know why I've summoned you here?"

He sighed. "Are you going to tell me if I ask?"

"Probably."

"Man, the other Duel Monsters here must love you, Miho. I mean, you really know how to welcome a guy." He laughed again, though he got the feeling she was rolling her eyes at him.

She scoffed. "I am not the leader of my fellows, but I am well respected. You would do well to treat me with some of that respect, thug. Anyway, since you must know, the reason Duel Monsters need to start facilitating talks with humans is because there is a war starting."

Of course there was. It was always something. "What war? Between people and Duel Monsters?"

"I don't know that much about it, anyway, and I'm not going to tell you either if I did know. You're not that important." Man, this girl was getting even ruder.

"All I'm saying, is that the people around you need to start building relationships with the Duel Monsters they are tied to. The connection of the two is extremely important to all our worlds, and it has not been this unbalanced since Dartz's final attack. That's why you're here, partially."

Tristan groaned. "Look, not that exploring other worlds with cute girls isn't fun at all," and this time she raised her sword a bit threateningly which should've scared him but was actually kind of hot, "but I still don't get why you needed me here tonight to do all this junk. From what I can see, you're not really going to show me anything and you can't tell me what's actually going to happen any more than Yugi can't."

"You talk too much, thug. I told you already, we need bridges between the worlds, and your job is to make sure your friends who can connect with their Spirits, do." Her voice seemed calmer, more even, like she was done yelling at him. Tristan felt like he should listen especially closely at this part.

She sighed and looked up at the sky, as if looking for something. Tristan tried to look up and noticed a bird coming down towards them. It finally landed on her shoulder, perched between her head and the giant sword.

"Eagle Eye?" He recognized that Duel Monster from Marik's deck, from the other day when he and Odion had been practice-dueling. "I thought you said this place was for Earth Warrior types."

Miho smiled at the bird, the first time he'd seen her do that since she'd gotten here – or gotten him here, which was probably more likely. "I've been keeping him here for a little while, helping him out a bit.

"You're not going to take the actual bird back with you, he's not yours to summon. Just let whoever's spirit this is to think about him a little bit." She shrugged her shoulder and the bird flew back away, though Tristan had a feeling he'd be seeing it again, and probably from Marik.

That must've been part of what Miho wanted him to do; let Marik know what he saw with the bird, maybe point him in the right direction and stuff like that?

"I think I get it. You want me to get my friends to get their Duel Monster spirits and fight whatever it is that's going to bring on a war with your worlds."

She shrugged, her face neutral again, but her eyes didn't seem as harsh. "Partially. You're catching on, at last."

What a pain. "Am I done yet? I get what I'm supposed to do, and if you're not going to tell me the rest, can I wake up now?"

Miho moved her sword back over her shoulder defensively. "Soon. Since you're so eager to leave." She stopped, kneeling down on the grass in her kimono. "Sit." He did.

"First, though, you may ask one question of me and I of you." She smiled; it looked really good on her, but he was still suspicious. "Why? That seems really random."

Miho smiled again, and lay her sword down between them. "You've been agreeable so far, thug, and I feel like asking you a question, so it's only fair. You start."

Tristan shrugged. It couldn't hurt, and he got to go home after this. "Fine." Was she going to answer a question? It wasn't like he'd ever see her again anyway. If he asked her about who she'd been before, she's probably cut him or something. She'd made it clear that he couldn't summon anything apparently, so he wasn't going to be able to do anything. Thought that also meant he could ask whatever he want.

Man, this question thing was so stupid. Was being intentionally mysterious a Duel Monster thing or just a girl thing?

He'd have to remember the name Miho, it was probably her name as a human. Maybe he could learn more about her once he got back.

Tristan smiled back at her. Heh, maybe she had picked him because she thought he was cute too. That'd be pretty funny. But if he asked her that, she'd really cut him. He had picked up that she saw things that were going to happen in the future, at least a little bit, kind of.

"Fine. My question is, will you come looking for me again, for any reason at all?" Not 'will we see each other', but if she wanted something specially from him or if she expected him to be a part of this war; the question would be either. Tristan had the feeling that something would happen, so he wanted an actual answer.

She smiled back at him. "I don't know for certain, but I think so. I will promise, that if I need to come down to your world, I'll look for you, thug. Okay? Your company hasn't been half bad."

It was girls. Definitely girls. Even monster girls.

"Let's just say that if you do this for me and my worlds, I'll owe you this."

"Deal. What's your question?"

Miho grinned back at him, teeth exposed now, and her sword hmmmed as it vibrated against the grass. "What are you going to do, if all your friends have chosen their spirits partners, and you're left, stuck with nobody, maybe not even me, to help your friends out? Can you watch by the sidelines anymore?"

Tristan was confused, until the question sunk into him. Was she suggesting that his future was going to be just sitting by the sidelines, the normal guy, watching his friends do magic battles? Again!? Man, did she know how to ask piercing questions! What if he told his friends what she asked and they had to fight some kind of stupid war? What would he do then?

Miho sighed, leaned over and cupped his face, kissing his mouth. But even as she pulled back, she grew fainter, the whole world was getting fainter around her.

"Relax, you'll be fine, I was just kidding, to mess with you… mostly." He groaned, trying to pull himself back out of panic mode. He was fine, his friends were fine, and she just said she'd find him again.

"I told you I was going to come looking for you, didn't I, after you asked it? Do your duty, only-a-thug, and I'll pay you a visit. You've earned a bit of my help. I know I've put you through this today, and you've proven your competence dealing with me and doing my task. Maybe together we'll raise your worth in the world, after all. Jaa ne."

A/N: The card Beautiful Headhuntress, in my opinion, looks a bit like Miho, which is how this story started. Maybe it was Miho, but alternate dimensions and stuff means she never existed in the second anime and was sent there instead? Hmm, I smell a sequel.

Hope you liked, see you all next round!