Every day since Anthony was made into the chief magistrate after the defeat of the Yellow Turban Bandits, Anthony, Kan'u, and Chohi had been working in an effort to repair the village. Over time, Anthony had gotten rather attached to his subjects, and had learned about how much more difficult life was in his current location. Modern conveniences like processed food and electric lighting weren't even ideas at this point, and simple tasks like obtaining rice took much more time and effort than he had ever expected it to. Even so, everyone managed to get by, and enjoy this time of peace.

About one month after Anthony was made governor, he was dealing with easily the most boring part of the job: paperwork. He was considering hiring somebody to do it for him, for payment, of course, when he had the money for it. After another thirty minutes of monotony and writer's cramp, he was in desperate need of something, anything else to do. Figuring that he should go and patrol the city, he went off to find his two "generals", Kan'u and Chohi. Considering that they were his friends, and had an equal part in taking down the bandits, it wouldn't be right to not reward them somehow, hence their rankings. Of course, some of them took their jobs more seriously than others, as when he found Chohi, she was busy playing with some of the other kids in the village, not really caring about patrol.

This brought him to where he was now, standing right outside Kan'u's room, preparing to ask her to accompany him on his task. Slowly, he brought his fist to the wooden door and rapped his knuckles against it three times, which earned him a response, though not one that he was expecting.

"Can you please wait a minute, I'm changing right now!"

Anthony's face turned a similar color to Chohi's hair as he spun around, deciding to lean against the wall until she was finished. Still, he couldn't imagine the disaster that would have happened if he didn't knock, coming across Kan'u in a state of undress, their dignity being compromised, their relationship possibly strained by him seeing her absolutely stunning body-wait, what? Where the hell did that come from? Anthony frantically shook his head, trying to remove these impure thoughts from his head, when the door swung open. He turned to see Kan'u with her arms crossed, waiting for a response. Anthony gathered himself and gave her one.

"Hey, so do you want to go out on patrol with me, outside the city? Rinrin is playing with some friends, so it would just be the two of us."

Kan'u smiled. "Of course, my lord, just let me grab my Duel Disk real quick." She went back into her room, placed her Duel Disk on her left wrist, and went back outside. "Okay, I'm ready."

Anthony smiled. "Alright, let's get going!"

~KD~

Patrol was much more uneventful than Anthony had initially believed. They had been walking along the outskirts of town for almost two hours, and nothing had happened. Eventually, Anthony turned to an equally bored Kan'u and attempted to make some small talk.

"Hey, how did you and Rinrin first meet?"

"Well, as I've said, our parents were very close friends with each other, so we spent a lot of time together growing up. We played together, laughed together, cried together...it was a lot of fun."

"Was she just as rambunctious back then as she is now?"

Kan'u let out a soft laugh at this. "Even more so."

"I still can't believe how close that you girls are, Aisha."

Kan'u's smile vanished. "Please don't call me that."

"Don't call you what?"

"A girl. It suggests that I'm weak, that I can't defend myself, when in fact I'm not and I can."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "What a load of bullcrap."

"Excuse you!?"

Anthony began to explain what he meant, as he realized that she misunderstood what he said. "Gender has nothing to do with that. You can be a man or a woman, and still be strong. Hell, you're a woman, and I'm a man, yet you still beat me with ease!"

Kan'u blushed as she was showered with compliments. "I…appreciate the sentiment, my lord."

"Just call me Anthony."

"But, you're my superior now. It isn't proper to-"

"We're friends, aren't we? You let me call you by your real name, Aisha, so call me by mine."

Kan'u's face was completely red at this point. "If you insist, Anthony."

They were just about to go back to the city, when they heard what sounded like a confrontation in the distance. Sensing danger, they both took off in the direction that the noise came from, Duel Disks in tow.

~KD~

"I said, give us your cards, you little brat! Make me repeat myself one more time, and my boys here will slit your throat!"

"Hawawa, hawawa, hawawa…!"

Anthony and Kan'u appeared to have made it just in time. The scene before them had three bandits threatening a girl who appeared to be around the same age as Chohi. The bandits all had tanned skin, simple brown sleeveless clothing, and spiked black hair, with the one that was speaking also having a black tattoo of a centipede coiled around his left arm, which also bore a plain gray Duel Disk, which like the others that Anthony had seen lacked the ability to split open, leaving the blade as one solid piece.

The girl who was being harassed wore a white blouse that had five tails in the front in a fan-like shape, and a brown cloak that reached her mid-back with long sleeves and a thin red ribbon and bells where it connected around her neck. Tied around her waist was a mint green sash that reached her knees in length. She wore a skirt that was blue on the outside and white on the inside, a pair of white tights, and blue shoes with bells for buckles. She also wore a brown beret with a long green ribbon dangling from it. She had short blonde hair and purple eyes. She was also wearing a Duel Disk, though this one had a mint green trim along the edge.

"Hey, leave the girl alone!" Anthony shouted, before one of the bandits scowled and shoved him hard, knocking him onto his back.

"Anthony!" screamed Kan'u, rushing to her lord's side as he groaned in pain.

"Just who the fuck do you two think you are, trying to stand up to me, Mukade, the Destroyer of Defense?" asked the leader of the three, apparently named after the same animal that was drawn along his arm.

"Ow...I'm the chief magistrate of this area, Anthony Calem, and this is one of my generals, Kan'u Uncho. I'm ordering you to leave this girl alone, or we'll have to duel over - ow!"

As Kan'u steadied Anthony, the bandits apparently found his pain to be hilarious. "A weakling like you, the chief magistrate, please! Why don't you and your whore go mind your own business!"

"The fuck did you just-"

"Anthony, stop it! I'll duel them. I have to defend my lord's honor, especially from scum like these three!"

"I-I-I can d-duel."

The five of them stopped and turned to the blonde girl, who shrunk back and muttered another "Hawawa." Mukade raised an eyebrow. "Having cards doesn't mean you can duel, shrimp. And I doubt that a pussy like you can wield cards like those without pissing her panties. So give me the damn cards already!"

Anthony and Kan'u wondered what he meant by "cards like those," while the petite blonde shook her head. "The whole reason why I went on a journey by myself is to help people, just like my teacher did with me! And I won't let master Suikyo's name be tarnished!"

Surprised by the shy girl's valor, Anthony had to know one thing about her. "What's your name?" he muttered weakly.

"My name is Shokatsuryo Komei! And my Dragons are ready to go!"

'Dragons?!' thought the duelists in red and green.

Mukade chuckled as he pushed his cronies aside and prepared his Duel Disk. "Well, for your sake, your Dragons better be pretty damn amazing, because when I kick your ass, I'll be pissed if I found out this was all for a bunch of shit cards!"

"Hawawa...my cards are good…" Shokatsuryo argued weakly, before she also prepared for the duel.

(Shokatsuryo: 4000 LP)(Mukade: 4000 LP)

"I'll go first," declared Shokatsuryo, as she drew a new card. She analyzed her hand carefully, before placing a monster face-down on her Duel Disk. "I'll set a monster, and that's all for now."

Mukade laughed as he drew. "You moron, don't you know that I'm called the Destroyer of Defense for a reason? My Mad Sword Beast will run through that weakling!"

He then summoned a monster that looked like a rhino with some features of a dinosaur. It had a thick shell on its back that was lined with blade-like horns, and the horn on its nose looked like a curved sword in color and shape (LV 4: ATK 1400).

"Run down that face-down!"

The Mad Sword Beast let out a loud bellow before charging, and Shokatsuryo's monster was revealed to be a bipedal green dragon with armor, a sword, and a shield (LV 2: DEF 800). It raised its shield, but the Dinosaur-type monster simply ran its horn through it as the Troop Dragon was destroyed.

"And the best part is, Mad Sword Beast can inflict piercing damage, which means it still deals damage even if your monster is in defense mode!" (Shokatsuryo: 4000-3400 LP)

The blonde duelist let out another "Hawawa" before she pulled a card from her deck and placed it on the field. "If Troop Dragon is destroyed by battle, I can summon another from my deck to take its place." Sure enough, a new Troop Dragon took center stage (LV 2: ATK 700). Mukade ended his turn, and Shokatsuryo drew.

"Now I tribute Troop Dragon to summon my Kaiser Glider!"

Troop Dragon faded as a new monster appeared with a mighty roar. It was a large golden dragon with large, powerful wings on it back (LV 6: ATK 2400).

"Kaiser Glider, attack with Golden Burst!"

The dragon took to the air, before becoming engulfed in flames, before it spread out its wings and soared towards Mad Sword Beast, before it collided with it and shattered the dino into yellow fragments of light (Mukade: 4000-3000 LP). Mukade's goons pulled on their hair in frustration, while Anthony and Kan'u cheered in applause. Shokatsuryo shrunk back at the applause, clearly not used to this sort of attention.

"Hawawa...I'll end my turn with that."

Mukade drew, then inserted a card into his Duel Disk.

"Your dragon's pretty tough, but it'll still quiver in fear when I play my Earthquake!"

A card that showed an earthquake destroying a temple and forcing Goblin Attack Force onto the ground appeared, and suddenly the field began to shake, forcing Kaiser Glider to raise its wings over its body in defense (DEF 2200).

Kan'u let her concern be known. "That spell forces every monster on the field into defense mode, which Mukade's monsters are strong against! And now Shokatsuryo is about to lose a powerful card!"

Anthony, feeling a little better now, attempted to reassure his general. "Don't fret, Mukade will be in for a surprise if he destroys her monster."

"Now I'll bring out my Disc Fighter!"

This new monster was a knight that wielded two bladed discuses, its entire body coated in plate armor (LV 4: ATK 1000).

"B-But, that monster is w-way weaker than m-m-mine," Shokatsuryo explained.

"Maybe so, but whenever it attacks a monster with a defense of two thousand or more, it automatically destroys that monster without applying damage, meaning I get to blow your shitty dragon to pieces and deal a direct attack to boot! So get to it!"

Disc Fighter threw its discuses at Kaiser Glider, and the golden beast of legend was ripped to pieces by the bladed circles. However, once that happened, a gust of fire came out of the wreckage and pushed back Disc Fighter, who was sent flying back until it disappeared, and its card popped off of Mukade's Duel Disk.

"What the hell just happened to my monster?!" he demanded to know as he caught the card.

"W-Whenever Kaiser Glider is destroyed, it sends a monster back to the hand, hawawa," explained Shokatsuryo.

Mukade snarled, and ended his turn right there. Shokatsuryo drew, and placed a monster on the field.

"I summon my Spear Dragon!"

This new monster was a dragon similar to a pterosaur in body structure, with small legs and wings on its arms with small fingers. Its torso and most of its head were an ivory color, while the rest of it was blue, save for two gray horns on the back of its head. But the most notable feature was its massive beak, long and rounded with a sharp tip like a lance (LV 4: ATK 1900).

"Spear Dragon, attack directly with Cyclone Blast!"

Spear Dragon opened its mouth and fired a green laser that hit Mukade, dealing massive damage (Mukade: 3000-1100 LP). Anthony and Kan'u began to cheer, until Spear Dragon lifted its wings to shield itself, its effect changing it to defense mode after it attacked (DEF 0).

"Damn, now she's at his mercy!" said Kan'u with panic in her voice.

"Hawawa...I end my turn. Your go."

"With pleasure, brat. I summon Ryu-Kishin Powered!"

This new monster closely resembled a purple gargoyle, with sharp claws, a wicked beak, and scaly wings (LV 4: ATK 1600).

"W-W-Wait a minute, that's a Normal Monster, why's it in your d-deck?"

Mukade smirked. "Because I like it, especially when I equip it with my Fairy Meteor Crush!"

A card appeared on the field, showing a picture of a meteor hitting the ground. Ryu-Kishin Powered gained a red glow around its body.

"This makes it so that my monster can inflict piercing damage, which will be twice as bad when I double its attack points with my Megamorph!"

"What!" screamed Kan'u and Anthony.

"Hawawawawawawawa!"

Another card, this one with a picture of a stone circle with various markings on it, appeared in front of Mukade. Suddenly, his monster began to rapidly grow in size until it was twice its original height (ATK 1600-3200).

"This card automatically doubles the attack power of any monster that I equip to it, so you don't stand a chance!"

While Mukade and his cronies laughed at this, Shokatsuryo had her panicked expression turn into a tight frown. This wasn't unnoticed by Anthony and Kan'u, as they were wondering what was going on inside the younger duelist's head.

"Go, my monster, and rip her dragon into tiny pieces!"

The gargoyle raised a massive claw, and brought it down on Spear Dragon, who didn't stand a chance. When it was destroyed, a massive shockwave was released, as Shokatsuryo held her hat with her right hand and guarded her face with her left, hanging on for dear life while releasing several more "Hawawas" (Shokatsuryo: 3400-200 LP). Mukade and his cronies once again burst into laughter while volleying many insults and slurs her way, when suddenly Ryu-Kishin Powered began to shrink. Slowly, it became smaller and smaller, until it reached its original height. And even then, it kept on decreasing in size, until it was half of its original size (ATK 3200-800).

"What the hell!? Why did my monster just get smaller!?"

"You shouldn't use cards that you don't know how to use."

All eyes were now on the dragon duelist, who was glaring at Mukade as hard as she could.

"It's true that Megamorph can double the attack of a monster, but only if the card's owner has less life points than their opponent. If the user has more life points, than the equipped monster has its attack points halved instead. It would be much smarter if you equipped your monster with Megamorph after you took out my dragon, rather than before."

"And what does a shrimp like you think she is to tell me how to play Duel Monsters?!"

Surprisingly, Shokatsuryo didn't shrink back or mutter nervously, but instead kept on talking. "When I was little, I was always smaller and weaker than the other kids. I was quiet, and didn't like to play with others. Back then, my only friends were my books. That is, until I met my teacher, Suikyo. She taught me about Duel Monsters, a way that you could fight battles using your mind rather than your muscles. And recently, I started going on a journey in order to use her training to help people…"

She then drew her next card. "And to protect the weak from people like you!" She then slipped a card into her Duel Disk, which then appeared on the field, with a spellcaster summoning a monster called Cyber-Tech Alligator. "I activate my Summoner's Art, letting me add a Normal Monster that's level five or higher!" As she said this, a card popped out of her deck, and she added it to her hand.

"Are there any level five or higher Dragon-type Normal Monsters powerful enough to win her the duel this turn?" Kan'u asked Anthony.

"Plenty. There's Serpent Night Dragon, Seiyaryu, Curse of Dragon, Hyozanryu, maybe even...wait...don't tell me she has-"

"And now I activate my Ancient Rules, which lets me Special Summon a level five or higher Normal Monster from my hand!"

A scroll appeared on the field, and a large shadow of a dragon began to come out. The shape seemed familiar to Anthony, when suddenly, he knew exactly what monster was coming out.

"Come out, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Suddenly the shadow transformed into, as the card described, a black dragon with red eyes. It was massive, with sharp claws and talons, strong wings, a thick tail, and a long mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. It let out a massive roar, as Mukade's minions screamed and began to make a run for it.

"IT'S ENORMOUS!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

"Get back here, you worthless cowards!"

Soon there was another scream that was just as loud, but with an opposite emotion.

"Omigod omigod OH MY GOD! IT'S THE RED-EYES BLACK DRAGON! It's Red-Eyes, in person! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

Kan'u sweat dropped at this display of "fanboying" done by her lord, who was bouncing around in excitement. Sure, the monster looked very impressive, but surely he could be more composed than this, right? Still, one thing was positive: the winner had been decided.

"This monster was a parting gift from master Suikyo, and I promised to take good care of it. I won't let somebody like you get your greedy hands on it! Red-Eyes, take out that Ryu-Kishin Powered with Inferno Fire Blast!"

After another roar, the black dragon reared back its head and fired a large red fireball which exploded on contact, turning its opponent into smoke (Mukade: 1100-0 LP)(Winner: Shokatsuryo).

"No way...how did a kid like you defeat me!"

Kan'u and a healed and calm Anthony approached the bandit, Duel Disks at the ready.

"So," said Kan'u, "we believe that you were leaving?" She then cracked her knuckles for emphasis, her amber eyes containing a raging fire.

Mukade flashed an angry glare before he took off like a bat out of hell. The chief magistrate and his general then turned their attention to the young teenager, who suddenly became nervous again now that the duel was over.

"Hawawa...what do you want from me?"

Anthony simply stared at her. "You're a pretty good duelist, and you have a fantastic drive."

"Hawawa…"

"How would you like to join my peerage? Your greatest strength is your mind, so I think the position of strategist is perfect."

"Hawawa...hawawa…"

"But first, I'd like to know your secret name. You can just call me by my first name, and my friend here is Aisha. You?"

"Hawawa…it's Shuri...hawawa…"

Anthony smiled. "Happy to have you aboard, Shuri. I'm positive that you'll do great."

This level of praise was too much for Shokatsuryo, as she promptly fainted right where she stood.

"Is that a yes?" Anthony asked Kan'u, who had no idea how to respond. "We'll call that a yes."

All right, a little ship tease between our two main heroes, as well as two new characters, including an original character! Now, on to ages and decks. Shuri is thirteen, and uses Dragon-types, for two reasons. One, to show that behind a young girl and a nervous wreck, lies a brilliant mind and powerful beasts. The other? In the original visual novel, one of Shuri's nicknames was the Sleeping Dragon, a much better, yet slightly less accurate name than the Hawawa Strategist. Mukade, who I made up for this story and doesn't exist anywhere in the Koihime Musou universe, is 21, and uses cards that are designed to combat monsters in defense mode because, in-universe, he hates those that he deems weak, including those who cower and hide. That's all for now, but stay tuned for chapter five, which let me warn you, is quite the long one. Have a nice day, everybody!