Chapter 3

The crowd had quickly dispersed after Laird's Golden Homunculus had flattened Brock's Kuraz. While Laird was getting Brock to make good on the bet they'd made at the start of the duel, Aaron and Maev were chatting to each other.

"I was just thinking, Maev. Legion drove us here, so how are we going to get back?" Aaron asked, somewhat concerned.

"How do you think Laird got here? We'll ask him about transportation," Maev replied, annoyed.

"Oh…that shows you were my mind is. Come on, come on. Let's go congratulate Laird on his win!" Aaron finished as he took off for his friend. Maev merely shrugged and sighed in resignation. Aaron was always like that and it was hard to get used to even after knowing him for years.

Laird held Brock's deck as Brock himself ran away like all of Hell was after him. He turned to greet Aaron when he heard him approaching. Maev stood back a bit while she watched Laird and Aaron chatter and laugh with each other over Laird's victory. It was while she was thinking about them that someone snuck up behind her, clapped their hands over her eyes and squealed, "Guess who!?"

Maev recognized the voice immediately and thought, Ah Hell, not her. She just had to pick this time to come and be a pain to me, even though she doesn't really try to be.

She quietly sighed and replied to the person, "I know it's you, Sharona. What are you doing here?"

"What, no hello for me? Aww, that's cruel of you. I come over here to be friendly and I get a cold shoulder," Sharona complained in a cutesy voice as she took her hands off of Maev's eyes. When her eyes were no longer covered, Maev took a few steps forward then turned to face Sharona. Standing only a couple inches shorter than Maev, Sharona's cutesy face was framed by short, pink hair that she swore was natural. Smiling in a way that looked adorable, much to Maev's annoyance, she clasped her arms together and struck a pose that showed off her blue sundress. "What do you think? It suits me pretty fine, right Golden-eye cutie?"

Maev smacked a palm on her forehead and groaned at Sharona's pet name for her. She didn't like it, but telling that to Sharona was like trying to push a mountain uphill. Sharona came from a rare kind of rich family – the nice kind – but even though she wasn't spoiled rotten and snobbish like other rich kids, she was still hard-headed and set in her ways.

"Yeah, yeah…It looks good on you. You avoided my question."

"Well, isn't it obvious, Golden-eye cutie? What else would I be doing in a mall?" Sharona replied with a frown as she stopped posing, but she smiled again as she clapped her hands. "Say cutie, I've got some spending money left over from my little shopping spree today, so how about I treat you to some lunch?"

Maev held up a hand in a stopping gesture as she informed Sharona, "Thanks but no thanks, Sharona. I'm here with my friends and we'll be leaving once Laird takes us to wherever his ride is waiting."

Sharona shifted her weight to one foot so she could see Laird and then frowned when she noted that Laird had his attention on the deck in his hands. Laird was going over the deck he had won from Brock with Aaron looking over his shoulder asking for whatever card caught his interest. For her part, Maev saw the look on Sharona's face and did her best from turning around and snapping at Laird and Aaron. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she counted to three and relaxed. She tried not to let it bother her when she knew what she was going to see immediately when she opens her eyes.

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"Duel!" sounded the cry of two voices; one was the calm tone of James Maverick while the other was the eerie rasp of Deathless. With practiced ease, they both drew their starting five cards before Deathless proclaimed, "Age before beauty if you don't mind."

James gave an unconcerned shrug when Deathless drew for his first turn. With an exaggerated slowness that belied the ability that James had seen previously, he took a card from his hand and set it sideways on his disk with a hologram appearing on the field. "Just setting this face-down monster will be my turn."

With a slight tilt of his head, James drew. In his head, James was reviewing his strategy. I'd better be careful. Only a face-down monster to start could mean he either had a bad starting hand or that he's decided to hide his strategy for now. Hmm, I only have one monster in my hand to start, but I'll admit it's a good one. Setting these cards down would be a good idea also. Alright guys, time to see if you're ready for parole.

"I'll start off my turn by summoning the Mad Archfiend (1800/0) in Attack Mode," James declared as he calmly set the card in his tray. When nothing happened for a few seconds, Deathless frowned.

"Your disk isn't saying that's an illegal card or an illegal move, so why isn't the monster appearing yet?" he demanded with a huff.

James gave a knowing smirk as he answered, "Because I haven't summoned him yet."

Deathless crossed his arms with a scowl on his face as he retorted, "You declared that you were starting your turn by summoning that monster and placed the card in the tray, so therefore you did summon it."

James' smirk only got wider as he raised his empty left hand above his head. Taking on a look of concentration, he started chanting under his breath as a small orb of crackling dark energy formed in his upheld palm. With a final cry on the last syllable of the chant, James bent over and slammed the orb into the ground. In front of him appeared a dark, swirling gateway from which a demonic form emerged. Its red hair was wild and unkempt while its face was hidden by shadows. In place of most of its chest, it had a massive fanged orifice with a skull floating right in the middle. Most of the visible flesh was withered and skeletal while the little armor it was wearing around its shoulders had a pair of animalistic skulls protruding from it.

James stood straight up and expressed his usual calmness as his monster cackled evilly. He groaned at the cackling as he set three cards in his hand face-down on the field before commanding his monster, "Mad Archfiend, I order you to attack his monster with Skull Scream!"

More cackling could be heard as the hollow eyes of the skull in the Mad Archfiend's chest lit up. The skull's jaw opened up and let out a spine-tingling howl, generating shockwaves that shot toward Deathless' monster. When the monster was revealed and the shockwaves dissipated against it harmlessly, James merely blinked. It was a vaguely humanoid monster wearing mostly white armor. At the few places where you could see its flesh, it was even more withered than the Mad Archfiend. Two large, green gems covered most of the back of its hands.

"That, my lowly opponent, is a Ghost Guardna (0/1900). It looks like it had a defense that was just a little too high for your Mad Archfiend. Oh well, maybe next time," Deathless drawled insultingly as James' life points dropped to 7900. "And while I may have been taken aback by you summoning your monster yourself, a trick like that won't win you this duel."

"There's no trick about it. My disk is specially programmed to allow me to handle most of my monster summoning and effects of my magic and trap cards personally. It's a lot more fun for me than to do like other duelists and just stand there. Anyway, it's your move," James explained in a cool tone.

With a scowl plastered to his face, Deathless drew. Glancing at the card, he sneered and slammed it onto his disk tray, rasping, "I summon the Dark Crusader!" (1600/200)

A pool of darkness spread out next to Dead Guardna. Out of the pool emerged a human-shaped silhouette. The shadows fell away from the figure, revealing its black leather and armor outfit and tattered red cape. Its red hair was as wild as the Mad Archfiend's while it wore a skull mask…at least, James wondered if it was a mask as he couldn't tell. To complete its look, it carried a black metal broadsword with a hilt made of bones. It hefted the weapon in one hand easily and pointed it at Mad Archfiend, who took an offensive stance and motioned for Dark Crusader to bring it.

"He's not just another pretty face. His effect makes him very powerful," Deathless wheezed through a smirk. "I can send Dark monsters from my hand to the graveyard to grant him 400 ATK for each soul thrown away. These two monsters here will do just nicely."

He plucked two cards from his hand and tossed them in his graveyard slot as if they didn't matter to him at all. James frowned when he saw this treatment as a black glow enveloped Dark Crusader. (2400/200)

"So the monsters you sent to your graveyard were nothing but fodder for your monster's effect, huh? How pathetic."

"Say what you will of me, Legion, I don't care. I've lived since before King Henry the First and I'll be alive for a long time to come. When I beat the Reaper of Souls, I overcame Death itself and became immortal. Do you want to know what I've been doing with my unending life?" Chuckled Deathless.

"I get the feeling that you're going to tell me anyway," James' replied as he crossed his arms stoically.

Deathless chuckled again, "Heh, smart boy. After I gained my immortality, I participated in every war I came across. It never mattered to me whose I was fighting for or why either side was fighting, the only reason I'd fight in a war is so I can kill people without getting caught."

James' crossed arms flexed for a moment, his frown deepening into a full-blown scowl, "You entered into wars just so you could kill people without having to be tried for murder. Killing for killing's sake is atrocious, you heartless, sadistic son of a bitch!"

Now Deathless was outright laughing, "That's right, young Legion. I kill for the sake of killing and I enjoy it thoroughly. Nothing's more exciting than taking the last glimmer of life from someone with your own two hands. When I deliver this deck to my master and he unleashes the Duel Spirit you've tried to seal away; I'll be allowed to kill unimpeded. My ultimate dream."

James uncrossed his arms and gave Deathless a look that few have seen and those that have, fear it. In a tone that could have frozen Hell over, only four words left his mouth, "Are you done yet?"

Deathless blinked a few times, and then coughed, "Not yet. Dark Crusader, attack his Mad Archfiend with Blade of Slaughter!"

The black suited monster cackled madly as it lifted its sword effortlessly and rushed the skeletal demon. James reached his left hand over and hit a button on his disk. One of the three cards he had set previously flipped up, revealing the image of Dark King of the Abyss confronting Dark Ruler Ha Des with a lit bomb in his hands.

"Your attack triggered my trap, it's called Hate Buster. I'm only going to explain this once, so listen up. I can only activate this trap when you declare a face-up, Fiend-type monster I control an attack target. Then your attacking monster and the monster you selected are both destroyed and you take damage equal to your monster's original ATK."

Dark Crusader slid to a stop as Mad Archfiend laughed insanely while it reached behind its back and pulled out a lit bomb. It went off with an explosion that could be heard several blocks away and both monsters with annihilated. Dark Crusader's sword, which didn't vanish with its master, was flung towards Deathless with tremendous force. He didn't even have time to react as the black blade plunged deep into his torso.

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Maev opened her eyes to see Sharona's face only a few inches away from her own. She did her best not to put a hand on Sharona and shove her away. Instead, she settled to just glare at her and say, "Don't get so close to me without me knowing. If I had thought you were some perverted guy, I'd have leveled you easily before I'd know it was you."

Sharona's eyes widened and she backed up a couple steps. Maev mentally smirked at this reaction. She waved her hand in a dismissing gesture and was about to say something when she heard, "Hey you two, Laird and Aaron! Would it be all right if I took up some of Maev's time with a duel?"

Maev's eyes widened in a "What the hell!?" kind of way. This surprise quickly gave way to anger as she made a fist and clenched her teeth. To anyone looking at her, it might seem she was about to become She-Hulk.

Laird and Aaron look away from the deck when they hear Sharona's question, then they looked at each other in worry when they saw Maev angry. Maev's temper was legendary at school, earning her the nickname "Golden Spitfire". It wasn't that she was a violent person or anything because everyone at school knew that she was usually very hard to anger. She just found certain people a lot harder to deal with and erupted when they got her going.

Sharona caught the worrying looks of the boys while not really paying any attention to Maev's anger. When they didn't respond fast enough for her, she snapped, "Am I going to get an answer from you or what?"

Laird nervously pointed to Maev and stuttered, "I think…having a duel with you is up to her."

Turning her head to face Maev, Sharona got nervous when she saw Maev in a noticeably angry mood. I'm in trouble now. For me to forget her nickname, Golden Spitfire, is definitely going to come back and bite me. Any bully that's picked a fight with her knows that her current deck can go from strong to deadly when she gets mad…I'm screwed.

"When you make a challenge to someone, you don't do make it to her friends. I accept your challenge, Sharona. Get your disk and deck ready because I'm stomping you flat right here, right now, "Maev's accent made her growling voice that much harder.

With a squeak of fear, Sharona reached down a picked up a duffel bag by her feet she apparently had set down so she could sneak up on Maev. Quickly opening it, she reached in and pulled out a golden version of the common duel disk covered in various jewels. Aaron and Laird took one look at it and groaned. They knew of only two ways to get that kind of disk, either by winning a tournament higher than regional or by custom order.

Considering this is Sharona we're talking about, it's a custom order model, which means it cost more than James' Corvette, thought Aaron with a grimace. If seeing other duelists with a custom order "Jewel Disk" is any indication, Maev's got her work cut out for her. Since most duelists rich enough to buy that kind of disk usually run what is commonly called the "Spoiled Brat's Deck". That's the most annoying kind of Cookie Cutter deck, since it contains nothing but overpowered, expensive rare cards.

Laird was having thoughts along the same lines. A custom order disk…I keep forgetting she's from a rich family with how she cute acts. I'm interested in how a duel between her and the "Golden Spitfire" will go. I know from personal experience that Maev's deck can hit hard and fast. As long as Aaron and I can keep Maev from murdering Sharona, I don't think things will be too bad.

While those two were thinking to themselves, Sharona slid on her disk and pulled a deck box out of her duffel. Maev had set her deck in its slot and activated her disk. Sharona followed suit and soon, people who had stopped to watch the spectacle of the group surrounded them in anticipation for a duel.

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The smoke from the explosion cleared revealing James, stony-faced as usual. A clatter of metal was heard as Deathless pulled his monster's sword from his chest. His life points now read 6400 as he took a card from his hand and set it. Glaring at James, he seethed, "I'll get you for that stunt you just pulled. I can't die, but I can still feel pain and getting a sword through the chest hurts as much now as it did when I fought for Attila the Hun."

James blinked at that, "Attila the Hun? He ruled most of Europe and Asia in the mid 400's…Just how old are you?"

Deathless pondered that question for a moment before saying, "To be honest, I have forgotten. I think Attila was my first ruler, around the time I became immortal. Oh well, doesn't matter. My turn's over for now."

James drew his next card silently. Suddenly, Deathless rasped as he activated his face-down card, "Your deck is finished now. I activate the dreaded Crush Card Virus!"

Dead Guardna burst into a cloud of noxious looking black spores as Deathless continued talking, "I have to tribute one Dark monster on my field with 1000 ATK or less, but it's definitely worth it. Now all monsters on your side of the field, in your hand, and what you draw with 1500 ATK or more are destroyed. Since you don't have any monsters on the field, show me your hand."

James turned his hand around, after he set the card he just drew into it, without batting an eye. In his hand was a monster called Imprisoned Queen Archfiend (2600/1700) and two spell cards called Falling Down and Pandemonium. He calmly took his only monster and placed her in the graveyard. Just as calmly, he activated one of his remaining face-down cards, "I activate Archfiend's Roar. By paying 500 life points, I can bring back one Archfiend monster from my graveyard for this turn only. Activating that virus card's going to cost you, revive Imprisoned Queen Archfiend!"

James' life points dropped to 7400 as he created a larger sphere of dark energy than the one he used to summon the Mad Archfiend. Slamming that into the ground caused an intense shaking as a huge portal opened on the ground and a vaguely feminine form pulled itself out. Standing over twenty feet tall; with a violet body, black bat-like wings, and chains attached to her wrists and ankles, the Imprisoned Queen Archfiend certainly deserved the title. Deathless was left gaping at the gigantic demon, who turned her attention to the man in front of her.

"Queen of the Archfiends, I humbly request that you smite this man with Merciless Hell Flames!" intoned James in a beseeching manner.

She rubbed her chin for a few moments before she smiled both crazily and scarily. Pulling one hand back, black flames filled her palm and she drove it right into Deathless. His life points plummeted to 3800 as he screamed in agony. The flames stopped as soon as she took her hand away and it looked like Deathless was still standing, barely. He seemed on the verge of collapse though.

"Before I end my turn, let's change venues for right now. I play a Field magic card, take us to Pandemonium!"

The results of the Field card were dramatic. Every building in sight vanished and the sky turned an unsettling red. What seemed to be an altar of some kind rose up in between the two duelists, with them standing on top of some yellow structure made of bones. Pillars and ruins made of the same stuff could be seen in the distance. Overall, it would have had a very negative impact on most duelists. With a shrug of his shoulders, James said, "I end my turn."

The Imprisoned Queen Archfiend shattered to pixels, leaving Deathless baffled, "What the heck just happened to your monster?"

James calmly explained while he took his deck from its slot. "Archfiend's Roar will bring back any Archfiend in my graveyard when I pay 500 life points to activate it; however, the summoned monster is destroyed at the end of the turn. Now normally that's a bad thing, but because I had Pandemonium active, I get one Archfiend monster from my deck when one is destroyed outside of battle. The only condition is that the Archfiend has to have fewer level stars. So I choose this, my Mist Archfiend (2400/0)!"

Finding the monster, he showed it to Deathless and added it to his hand. After shuffling for a moment, he set it back in its slot.

"It's about time, damn brat. I'll pay you back with interest for what you just did. My turn, draw!"

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Maev and Sharona locked eyes as they turned their disks on and shouted, "DUEL!"

Drawing their starting hand, Sharona said seemingly putting on a brave front, "I'll be a good sport and let you go first. After all, I want this to be a good fight so I'll feel like I've earned it when I claim my prize."

Maev reached her hand over to draw when Sharona said that she could have the first turn, but paused when Sharona said 'prize', "A prize? You didn't say anything about a prize for winning."

Sharona was taken aback by this, "What? Didn't I say that I wanted to have lunch with you?"

Maev gave her a blank stare, "Yeah, you said you wanted to take me to lunch, but what does that have to…That's the prize you mentioned. If I lose, then I'll have to go to lunch with you, right?"

Sharona smiled, "Yep, you got it right on the head. We could even make it a date!"

Maev smacked her forehead and held her hand there, Damn it. Don't tell me she still has that stupid crush on me. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised considering the fact that she told the entire school that she's bisexual on the first day. Why'd it have to be me who she has a crush on, of all people?

"Alright Sharona, if you want a date with me if you win, then I get something if I win."

"Sure, anything I can do for you, Golden-eye Cutie." Sharona giggled.

"If I win, then you leave me alone about this crush of yours. It doesn't matter what gender a person is attracted to, trying to force your feelings onto someone else is wrong."

"That condition's fine with me. Get this duel started already."

"In that case, draw!" exclaimed Maev as she swiped a card from the top of her deck. She immediately took a card from her hand and said, "Here's how to start a duel, I summon my Royal Magical Library (0/2000)."

Out of nowhere, several towering shelves full of books sprung up around Maev. Many people in the crowd could be heard calling her crazy for summoning a monster with 0 ATK in attack position. She merely grinned as she took three cards in her hand and declared, "I got really lucky here because I have all three copies I have of the continuous magic card, 7. Now to activate them, go!"

Sliding the three cards into her disk, holograms of the cards appeared. Three rolling slot wheels materialized above the card holograms. Eventually, the wheels came to a stop and each of them had a red seven on them. When the three sevens lined up, the word "Jackpot" written in humongous, golden letters flashed in front of the wheels and confetti fell from out of nowhere.

"When I have all three copies of 7 on the field, I get to draw three cards. Then the 7s are destroyed which means that they are sent to the graveyard and their other effect activates, granting me 700 life points for each one," Maev explained as she drew her cards and the slot wheels shattered. Her life point counter jumped from 8000 to 10100 and three glowing books fell down from the library surrounding her to hover in front of her. She slowly touched each of them while saying, "And here's my Library's effect. When either my opponent or I activate a magic card, my Royal Magical Library here gains one spell counter to a maximum of three counters. Then I can remove those three counters to draw a card."

As she touched each book, they vanished. Smiling a little, she drew for her monster's effect. Now holding the same amount of cards as she started her turn with, she took two and announced, "Here's a card that's been highly used ever since it came out, I activate Double Summon and use its effect to bring out my Skull-Mark Ladybug!"

The familiar magic card appeared on the field for a moment as an insect with a blue carapace with white skull and crossbones on it. Maev frowned at her monster, "I guess I need to pay more attention to my own cards. Whoever designed the Skull-Mark Ladybug didn't know his entomology; it's not a ladybug, it's a tick with six legs. Whatever, I activate Multiplication of Ants. By offering up one insect monster I control as a tribute, I get two Army Ant Tokens with the following stats; Insect-type, Earth Attribute, 4 level stars, 500 ATK, 1200 DEF."

The misnamed Skull-Mark Ladybug vanished into pixels and two giant green ants took its place. She smiled as she glowed with a green aura and said, "That's my Ladybug's effect. When it's sent to the graveyard, I gain one thousand life points."

Her life points went up to 11100 as she took two more cards from her hand, "Here's where the real strength of my deck comes in. Activate the magic of the Black Magic Ritual card. I have to tribute at least eight level stars worth of monsters, and then I get to summon a very powerful monster. So, even though they can't be used as tributes for tribute summons, they can still be used for special summons. I offer my Army Ant Tokens for the ritual."

A magnificent altar and pair of braziers materialized underneath the tokens. The pair of tokens disappeared into the smoke coming from the braziers, which then gathered into one spot above the altar. In a blast of magic, both the smoke and the altar were blown away. In its place was a powerful looking man with blue skin, black hair, black leather full-body suit and fancy black head-dress. In his right hand, he held an elaborate staff.

"Behold the Magician of Black Chaos (2800/2600). Quite a strong monster to get out on my first turn, wouldn't you say? Oh, before I forget…"

Three more books floated down to her and just like the previous ones, they vanished once she touched them. Drawing a card from her deck, she took it and the remaining one in her hand and set them on the field. Two face-down holograms appeared behind the Magician of Black Chaos and Maev signaled the end of her turn.

Sharona tilted her head at the Magician, who stared right back at her. Shuddering a bit, she drew her card then grinned, "It's time to show you the Voodoo that I do so well. Go, the continuous magic card Call of the Mummy!"

The card hologram, depicting a group of decaying mummies emerging from their coffins, materialized onto her field. She held up a card as she giggled, "If I don't control any monsters, I can use my magic card to special summon one Zombie-type monster from my hand. So how about I introduce you to my cute little Mezuki (1700/800)?

Mist flowed out of the Call of the Mummy card, forming into a muscular man with a horse's head and legs carrying a Poleax. It flicked its limbs a bit to loosen itself up before twirling its axe with ease. Magician of Black Chaos stared at it for a moment before rapidly twirling his own staff as if in contest with the opponent's monster. Sharona frowned as she declared, "Since that was a special summon, I'll use my normal summon to set a monster face-down."

An evil gleam flicked through her eyes as she played her next card, "My face-down monster's not going to stay with me for very long. Your Magician is going to help me with a little magic act; it's just too bad that it'll be his last. I activate Mystic Box."

Two boxes covered in question marks and full of holes for something to go through it covered both Sharona's face-down monster and the Magician of Black Chaos. Out of nowhere appear several swords around the box that sat on Sharona's field and slid right into the holes on the box. Maev had seen a Spellcaster deck that James had made use that card once and she knew exactly what she was going to see when the boxes opened. Sure enough, the box on Sharona's field held a skewered Magician of Black Chaos, who gave Maev a sorrowful look before it shattered, while Sharona's face-down monster popped onto Maev's field.

Sharona giggled again as she announced, "Go Mezuki, attack the face-down I just gave her with your Underworld Axe Crash!"

With a brief nod, it charged and the hologram of its target flipped face-up, showing a Morphing Jar. Mezuki's polearm slammed into it, shattering it to pieces. Sharona slid her remaining cards into her graveyard with a nasty grin then both duelists drew five cards. All of a sudden, Sharona's graveyard glowed with a black aura as two cards slid out of it.

"This is it Maev. Your about to face the horrors that lurk in my deck. Too bad you can't get ready for these guys. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

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Dang it. It's certainly taking a lot longer to make these chapters than I'd like. Oh well, I'm getting this done and that's not going to change. This is a step for me in becoming a real writer, so through Hell and High Water, this story will continue!