Firstly, I would like that the excessively metafictional title be pardoned; normally I would not be so blunt with the chapter naming, but current circumstances dictated such.

Secondly, since a second-stringer from GX featured so prominently in a chapter which was well-received by the sole reviewer, let's see if I can pull the same trick twice in a row. Probably not, but worth a shot.

Apart from that, I won't delay you any further. For the current chapter, the reader is treated to this rewrite's first Shadow Rider encounter, before the actual Shadow Riders arc has begun.

His identity? Evil HERO Malicious, in case anyone forgot or didn't catch the memo.

His adversaries? Jasmine and Mindy, supporting characters who just sorta disappeared into the aether (oh yeah, like I'm the first to notice or comment on this) after the first season.

What could go wrong?


In a nebulously established 'somewhere', a fortune teller by the name of Sartorius felt uneasy, in part what he felt: A terrible disturbance in the weaving of destiny itself. Something on Duel Academy Island was causing the weave to shatter under its newfound weight. The humans residing on that island were being robbed of their predetermined fates, their guaranteed joys and sadnesses and triumphs and losses alike all snatched away, with them being none the wiser.

Laid before the human were three cards from the Tarot deck- er, that was, the 'Rider-Waite' Deck of Major Arcana, not the Duel Monsters Deck superficially based on the Major Arcana, and oddly enough, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. One wondered why Peggie had given that particular card an ability comparable to the power of Dio's Stand: ... no. That particular Internet meme would most certainly not be pulled off.

On the left of this three-card spread was a card that depicted an aged king, the fourth in the series of Major Arcana, The Emperor. In essence, it indicated stability and structure, the Status Quo, and its position indicated that to be the past.

In the middle of this hallowed three-card spread was a card that depicted animals howling at a golden moon, the eighteenth in the series, The Moon. In essence, it indicated vagueness and illusory things.

On the right of this three-card spread was a card that depicted a skeleton in knight's armor, mounted on a white horse, carrying a flag, the thirteenth, Death. In essence, the card indicated great change, though not, in contrast with its name, actual death.

Amid the quietude, the human was left to dwell on it, and it seemed that the narration was not privy to his thoughts on the matter. No matter.

It was almost humorous that he worried about a force capable of altering fate and the course of history at a whim, for in the universe directly preceding the one in which he existed, he and several others had become possessed by a malignant cosmic force called the Light of Destruction. In this iteration of that universe, the white hole which had birthed the Light of Destruction anew into this universe had popped up in adistant galaxy, one located a good deal away from earth's galactic super-cluster-####. Now that was a big whup.

It was somewhat intriguing, given the evil light's existence, that some of humanity's cultures equated light with goodness, and conversely, darkness with evil, when in fact, other human cultures presented the issue as being the exact inverse, associating thematically 'dark' elements not with evil but with flawed and/or less flawed forms of goodness, such as the various deities of death, Hades and Anubis and Hel, and all that hogwash.

But let us, for a moment, depart the company, of both the charming fellow and such meandering speculations - seriously, from the finer meanings of Tarot cards, to interstellar astronomy, and just to finish off, a brief lecture in mythology and morality...

Quite a distance away, but still on the same planet in the very same dimension, across the vast bodies of water that the human race had, at some point and somewhat arbitrarily, dubbed an 'ocean', there was a single island, known quite well across the globe: Central Academy.

It had so far been quite an ordinary Duel Monsters History class, vague statement though it was. In practice, it amounted to: A: No inexplicable explosions like in Duel Alchemy Class, B: No transdimensional monstrosities from alien realms beyond human life or dimension-spanning armies invading, C: Nothing that counted as 'kinda weird' on the common scale of event mundanity, never codified in April 1988 on this universe's planet Earth.

Vellian glanced around the room, checking that they were actually paying attention; in Mickey's case, that had been a problem, he recalled. To his satisfaction, the Slifer seemed attentive, or attentive enough.

"Alright class, let's move on, and I believe that several of you might find this particular question interesting," he addressed the classroom. Almost to the extent that it became a palpable sensation, the collective attention of the students were roused by his statement. "Firstly, can somebody explain to us what a 'Dark Magician Derivative' is?"

A thin veneer of silence seemed to coat the entirety of the room, an Obelisk Blue dudette named Gwen observed, feeling rather in a poetic mood. The raven-haired sixteen-year-old saw that around the classroom, three students rose to answer the question.

"Now, Thomas," the lanky-built department chair glanced in the heavyset Ra's direction. The teen swallowed nervously, immediately regretting having gotten up. "Why don't you give the class an explanation?"

"Un, well..." the red-haired male began apprehensively. In the background as relative to him, Alexis and Bastion sat back down. "I've never really been the best at explanations and that stuff, but isn't a 'Dark Magician Derivative' just what all those cards based on, no wait I mean, ... um... inspired by Yugi Muto's ace card are called as a group?"

Somewhat hurriedly, Thomas retook his seated position after having answered. In the collective unconsciousness of the bunch of teens gathered in the room, the relevant information was collected, and shuffled away for future examination.

"Quite correct," Vellian commended. "The Dark Magician earned a unique status among the thousand of Monsters in the Duel Monsters card pool, and is virtually the most famous card ever made. Many Duelists who aspire to follow in Yugi's footsteps generally use one of the currently 100 or so monsters produced in the vein of the Dark Magician, as the core card of their Deck, series or archetype. Now, could I receive the names of... shall we say, 25 of these derivates?"

Quickly, the general mood in the student-occupied section of the classroom became one of quiet contemplation. More than a few leaned back in their seats, wracking their brains for less obvious ones than the Elemental HEROes, Shining Flare Wingman and Terra Firma. While they did, Crowler attended to the desk's computer.

"Here's one for your little list, Professor Crowler," the currently blue-garbed Obelisk Blue smirked for all to see. Chazz was holding out his Dragon... his Burning Dragon, not his Armed Dragon, just to clarify a potential innuendo.

Crowler's fingers promptly raced across the jet-black glass panel, pressing lightly the rendered letters on it, and on the screen in the wall that seemed standard equipment for D-A's classrooms, there appeared an up-sized image of the Burning Dragon card.

From another row of desks, some Ra Yellow dude looked in Chazz's direction, and more specifically, at Chazz himself. Jack couldn't place or explain it, but there was something about Mister Princeton that... distracted him from the class, just from the other teen's presence. Nobody else took much note of his ambiguous feeling of unease, because how could they know?

Another student rose, a blonde-haired Obelisk Blue. Though the description could apply to more than one individual, it was in fact not Alexis Rhodes. "Well, I've seen Miss Rhodes use Ice Master and Glacial Queen a few times, they both have 2500 Attack Points, so they count, don't they?" the bespectacled blonde suggested, with traces of nervousness at the far outskirts of her tone-of-voice, if it made conventional sense to apply geographical mapping to speech.

"Very good," the Department Chair of Techniques replied to her. With a single, relieved sigh, the blonde nervous wreck sat back down, not at all cool and composed.

"Does anybody else have any cards to name? Hm?" Professor Crowler queried his class. Contemplative silence filled the room with a few kilotons of the metaphorical substance.

A few of the red-garbed maler Slifers began to consider his query, as did several others, dressed varyingly in yellow and blue.

From the second desk of the third row rose a nebbishly-looking guy in red who name was Rick, who firmly believed himself the greatest Duelist of all time, yet had not the track record to back it up. "Great Shogun Shien, Reign-Beaux Overlord of the Dark World, and D.3.S Frog, yo," he stated confidently, and gave a V-sign.

With those names supplied, Crowler quickly moved to get the cards on the screen above his head. This raised the total number of Dark Magician wannabes to... one moment, please... Burning Dragon was number 01, Ice Master and Glacial Queen were 02 & 03, so this legitimately doubled the number. Sweetness. Nineteen to go.

Silence befell the classroom. It was a pensive sort, thick with the ambient hum just-beyond-one's-field-of-hearing of students collectively wracking their brains to come up with nineteen more names.

The field of collective unconsciousness generated by the students came metaphysically online in a second, inhabiting a plane of reality beyond human sight. Through the non-spatial fields of consciousness generated by little more than human brains walked a transdimensional entity. That being was Atem, son of Aknamkanon, Pharaoh of Egypt, one who had joined the illustrious group termed the Guardians of the Multiverse by the Signers in the next universe over. Apparently they did stuff apart from annoy a bunch of high school students... who knew?

For the record, the exact monsters that the students namedropped in about five minutes were: Hyper Revival Jam (07) - Royal Knight Brigade General (08) - Guardian Eatos (09) - Elemental HERO Terra Firma (10) - Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman (11) - Elemental HERO Shining Phoenix Enforcer (12) - Vision HERO Trinity (13) - Evigishki Mind Augus (14) - Garlandolf, King of Destruction (15) - King of the Beasts (16) - Sorcerer of Illusions (17) - Angel of Conquest (18) - The Ruler of Wind (19) - The Ruler of Fire (20) - The Ruler of Earth (21) - The Ruler of Water (22) - Spirit of the Pharaoh (23) - Mythic Dragon-Knight (24) - Machina Fortress (25)

Phew, it was finally over. Greatest narrative visuals of all time, the narration mocked itself: None finer. Of course, the same went for the readers. They were awesome like that...

But let us now depart the company of the present time and the local area, and just sorta fast-forward through the next few days, to a certain point in this particular timeline of the multiverse... ahem...

All was well on Duel Academy Island. Yeah, that was the lie of the century, or might seem that way. Still, it was actually true.

A few days had gone by since Dimitri Kagurazaka had issued challenges to a literal handful of Duelists that he had heard to be exceptionally talented at Dueling, and indeed they were; the faculty's listing of the School's top fifty currently included both Syrus, The Chazz, Alexis and forty-seven others whose identities were best kept concealed for the moment, out of respect for their privacy.

Around the island, life had gone on, and many had found their own forms of entertainment that evening.

In the Slifer Red dormitory, the fifty or so students made merry, with chatting, and the company of friends, and the occasional Duel.

In the Ra Yellow dormitory, a few hundred students hung out in loads of individual social circles, with the odd individual drifting between more than one. As was relatively apparent, Duels were infrequently done.

In the Obelisk Blue female dormitory, the mood was considerably less jovial, in large part due to... hell, there was no way to really sugarcoat it... the periods of several of them. Their individual reactions varied wildly in both nature and intensity, but a downcast atmosphere loomed over that dorm all the same, among both those whose menstrual phases were on that day, and among these who counted themselves as lucky to not experience it yet.

In the Obelisk Blue male dormitory, however, another hundred students were experiencing an almost disproportionately chipper mood, enjoying themselves with both watching and partaking in Duels.

Elsewhere, over in the central building, a number of people found ways to amuse themselves.

In Professor Crowler's office, Vellian was doing a casual reading of the Doctor Who novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, while his Duel Disk was plugged in to recharge for the night. What he read unnerved him greatly. The Department Chair of Duel Monsters Techniques drew parallels between the Doctor's Matrix-induced amnesia and their own sets of conflicting memories.

In Professor Hibiki's office, silence reigned supreme, for Midori was currently off on another mission/adventure, in a dimension known as the Dominion of the Beasts. Why she was there was a good question, and a story for another day, perhaps, or perhaps not.

In a Test Duel room, Chazz and Alexis were pitting themselves (and of course, their monsters: Burning Dragon & Glacial Queen) against a series against virtual opponents in a series of Tag Duels, both renditions of other students and of various Structure Decks. The system had been set at Level 5, which gave the AI a slew of advantages, but yet they... well, they were managing not to lose... [Chazz & Alexis: 1200] [Computer: 13,000]

Elsewhere still, in the forests outside that spanned great swathes of the island, there were only a few people walking about.

One of these was apparently ... my egyptian gods, his abs were astounding. Also, he was buck-naked, and kinda dirty all over, and his hair was shaggy and unkempt, and his body stank almost like a decayed corpse, but his abs were amazing. On the whole, however, this man was deeply unattractive in appearance. This, then, was the jungleman whose existence was merely a rumor, and he was on the hunt for his food.

Elsewhere in the forest, a couple of Ra Yellow students were cautiously moving around, carrying flashlights and cameras. They were on the look-out for the rumored jungleman who was on the hunt for his food. There might be a problem (or a few) heading their way, but it was perhaps best not to dwell on that...

Elsewhere still in that bloody large forest were a pair of Obelisk Blue girls, sleeping in tents deep in the forest, gazing up at the stars and constellations in the obsidian some they might be familiar, to some they might not.

They appeared much the same in certain ways; moderately developed feminine figures, lean and perhaps athletic. Decidedly attractive, but then, most people at the Academy were. One's hair was hued cinnamon, one's hair was hued a dull raven-black; both hairstyles were neat and forceful and arranged in bangs.

Their names were Jasmine and Mindy, and for today, a page of their stories would be told.

For the most part, the girls had just hung out, thinking to themselves, and gazing at stars, and talking about guys they were cute. At the moment, however, the focus of Jasmine's musings were her place at the school.

She knew what most people thought about her, that she and Mindy were just "those girls who hung around Alexis a lot" or "Alexis' tag-alongs, her groupies", but they weren't even that anymore.

She didn't really get it, but Alexis had new friends now; Chazz, and the Slifer, and Professor Crowler. That was what weirded her out the most, because what was going on with them? If one of them was her new boyfriend, and she was just caught up in the experience of that, she could understand, but that didn't sound much like Lex.

In the past three months since she and Mindy and Lex came to the Academy, she had been acting weird. Chazz wasn't as much of an cocky ass anymore. Crowler was... surprisingly the very image of a nurturing teacher all of a sudden. She hung out with a freaking Slifer more than them now.

She didn't get it in the least - just what had changed them?

Her musings continued onward, into ideas that she had explored before, and probably would again.

She knew that she wasn't anything special - just a student with a Spellcaster Deck, a name on a list of about thirty, and those were the ones she knew about; she had no claim to fame around the school, not like Alexis, or Seika, or Zane, or Chazz, or Masaru, or Duncan, or Atticus, or Susan, or any of the big names on campus.

Contrary to popular belief around the school, she was fine with that, mostly, though there were times where Alexis was just... frustratingly and unbelievably awesome.

She was beautiful most of the time, but never had to work for it. She was a talented Duelist who seemed almost born with a gift for the game, and a Deck powerful enough to match that skill. She was kind, and thoughtful, and funny, and sarcastic, and competitive, and she swore that the girl was asexual, or something in that category. Overall, an awesome person, her best friend, like the older sister she never had.

That, all of that, was why she was fine with occasionally being overshadowed by her - because one day, she was gonna be every bit as cool as Lexy was, the one enjoying the spotlight for a change. A beaming grin formed on her face at the thought.

Beside, what was a bit of (probably unintentional) attention-hogging between friends?

Unseen and unheard by all, and unfelt by almost all, around the entirety of the Academy were the presences of the two Celestial brats, Leo and Luna, surveying the campus, and the humans who mutually held the power of the Gentle Darkness, monitoring for any signs of the ancient force.

From somewhere, the female posthuman intelligence observed something. It wasn't as fascinating as the Gentle Darkness incarnating in five humans, not remotely so, but it might do for a laugh. The metaphysical entities shifted position, to where a pair of teenage girls were camping.

Outside, there was a sudden flash of light, or more accurately, a globule floating in the air and illuminating the area, interrupting a conversation which had lasted an hour. (Though the narration wanted to put some snarky commentary right about here, it couldn't be arsed to do so - oh, wait, we were back in business)

With an ease that verged on absurd was it that the very fabric of space itself was made the playthings of these crazy kids, and this was where it got sorta complicated: See, human languages weren't much intended to convey multi-dimensional concepts. It was for that reason temporal mechanics was hell on the tenses. So, it should come as no surprise that the narration here became kinda weird from trying to convey what happened next looked like.

Around the region of local space which the tent existed, potent and strange forces were exerted upon the fabric of the universe, lacking any sort of physical manifestation, ripping open the deeper layers - the 'membranes' that separated the twelve dimensions from one another - of the universe, causing a lot of tiny little disruptions in the spacetime continuum

Inside the tent reigned panic, as Jas and Min struggled to hold on to whatever hard surfaces there was in their respective compartment for the duration of their unknowingly inter-dimensional journey, thoroughly disoriented by the transition.

In that instant, their tent passed through the space between the twelve dimensions, a swirling vortex of psychedelic colors - at least the Different Dimension Gate card had gotten that part right... - a realm outside of normal time and space and yet within those dimensions; as was said, multi-dimensional concepts and areas made more often than not little sense.

Then, the tent and its occupants came to a dead stop, deep within one of the Spirit World dimensions, the one known as the Dominion of the Beasts.

Jas & Min got up, looking around. Their surroundings were a muted white emptiness; that was the best that Jasmine could think of, off the top of her head. Neither had any freaking clue what was going on.

Jasmine felt strongly reminded of that time she got taken hostage by a chimpanzee. "Why is it always me who's the damsel in distress I hate this," she thought, her mental process fraught with anxiety.

"Allow me to explain the situation," said a voice from nowhere, one that simply. Into their field of vision drifted something really weird looking, fading into reality. Both teens saw a cloud, made up of shades of green, float on the whitish backdrop, staring blankly and incredulously at the alien being - it had to be an alien, Mindy decided & hoped, because meeting an alien would be hella cool.

"I summoned you both because you are needed in this dimension to combat a great evil," the viridian mist boomed at them.

That cleared up exactly nothing for Jasmine. The brunette was still too disoriented by the rapid-fire turn of events to really pay attention.

A giddy smile grew on Mindy's face, however: If reading The Hero With 1000 Faces had taught her anything, it was to recognize the Call to Adventure on sight. "I'm so in!" she announced excitedly. However, her glee was dulled substantially when she noticed the look of shock on the brunette's face. "What?"

Jasmine glanced briefly at the strange stranger, before focusing on the raven-haired chick. "Mindy, this is a terrible idea, did that even occur to. You're signing up for an unspecified job against an unspecified bad guy, and you're doing it because just, I mean, just because some floating abstract painting told you to and-Iwannagohome."

Absently folding her arms, Mindy considered that for a wee bit. Jas was right, she decided, and turned to whatever that weird mishmash of greens was. "Mind giving a better explanation? Because nuh-uh," she wagged a finger, "am I doing this without one."

The abstract-painting-creature stared without eyes, the hues of it oscillating between bright and dark greens. "Oh well," it decided. Perhaps some form of the truth would be the best means of persuading these humans.

"As you wish," it informed. "The being I am asking you to fight is called Evil HERO Malicious Edge. He is currently in a dimension known as the Dominion of the Beasts, and is a member of a group known as the Shadow Riders. I believe that the group's goal could endanger both this dimension and your homeworld, and have brought you two here to safeguard both worlds. I hope that this answers your questions satisfactorily, and that I was sufficiently succinct about explaining the matter."

Mindy nodded her assent. Jasmine was still somewhat wary.

"I've honestly still got a few questions about this," said the brunette. "1; why did you pick me and Mindy? 2; what's the Dominion of the Beasts? 3; how're we even supposed to fight anyone, we don't know karate."

The sounds of the words she spoke faded into the white void around them, snuffed out in almost a second. Mindy took a step back, shifting her attention between both.

The creature-that-was-not-a-creature's colors shifted, brightening and darkening for a moment. Finally, its reply came. "You are wise to be cautious," it praised.

"To answer the first of your questions, I believe that 'why not you' would be an equally valid question to ask," it answered. Jasmine and Mindy shrugged almost simultaneously; they had sorta expected the cryptic answer.

"To answer the second of your questions, the Dominion of the Beasts is a dimension parallel to the one where the planet earth exists," it exposited to them. "In this world lives many creatures that you know as Duel Monsters: The Aliens, out in space, the Neo Spacians, on the other planetary bodies of this solar system, the Elemental Heroes on this alternate earth, and many others."

Simultaneously, their eyes widened in disbelief. The girls were silent for a moment, taking in that information.

"To answer the third of your questions, I ask of you to fight the Shadow Rider with your skill in Dueling, not with fisticuffs," the colorful entity conveyed to them. Shock was promptly etched all over their faces.

"Duel this guy?" Jasmine echoed. "We're gonna Duel this guy?" she reiterated. "How does a guy from another dimension knows how to Duel?"

"Indeed, he does," the weird-as-balls-looking transdimensional creature chuckled goodnaturedly. "It may or may not surprise you to hear, but Duel Monsters is far older than the game that Maximillion Pegasus created."

Silence reigned as the two took that in. It honestly didn't, for the idea was far from foreign; they knew vaguely of a Doctor Hawkins who theorized that it was almost ten thousand years old, dating back to the time of Atlantis, and it was common knowledge, even if many were skeptical, that Yugi himself had hosted an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh in his Millennium Puzzle, and that they had saved both their world and all humanity from the Great Leviathan ten years ago - but one reason Yugi Muto was a hero and a legend.

"Okay, let's get to it," Mindy voiced cheerfully, and turned, with the intent of fetching their Duel Disks and Decks from their tent.

"Wait," the manifestation of colors interrupted her mid-stride. "I would be honored if one of you would do me the use this Deck for this Duel."

The girls saw, from within the green mists that comprised him, a stack of Duel Monster cards float, like it was nobody's business go frick yourself assclown.

Mindy reached out and grabbed it. Jasmine leaned in to get a good look as she shuffled through them.

It was a run-of-the-mill Elemental HERO build; three each of Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman, Sparkman and Bubbleman, and two of E - Emergency Call, for consistency. It packed some Spell/Trap destruction too; Breaker and Anteatereatingant. Brutal, Jasmine mused, but handy.

However, the Fusions were what really took them by surprise: They were from an archetype called Evil HEROes. They thought nothing much of it, because seeing unfamiliar cards was only natural.

Mindy inspected each Evil HERO briefly; they looked kinda creepy, and sorta demonic, which came as no surprise, given that they were Fiends. Most of them were familiar, however. A lot; they were based on eleven of the Elemental HERO Fusions. They weren't all that surprised by that - upgraded counterparts to monsters were rare, but sometimes made; the brunette herself used two of them.

In particular, the evil twin of Shining Flare Wingman held her interest. The card's image differed greatly from the Elemental HERO's: Black armor with blood-red markings had replaced the silver and gold, and the wings were coated in raven feathers.

Evil HERO Supreme Inferno Wing, she read off the top of the card. The differences were more than cosmetic, but the statistics were the same - this HERO got 500 extra ATK per dead Evil Hero, and its attacks were unstoppable.

"Cool, a card better than Glacial Queen and Burning Dragon," was her sole giddy thought. She decided right then and there that she was keeping this Deck. An excited smile grew on her face at the thought of the things she could do with it;

"Thanks, I'll make you proud," Mindy promised to the WTF-looking stranger, giving a mild bow. To Jasmine, she shrugged, "You don't mind, right?", and got an answer in the positive.

"Well, let's get to it," the green-conglomerate was told.

Far from where they were, Leo and Luna focused rudimentarily. A section of their telepathic illusion faded.

The Academy students' surroundings shifted in a heartbeat, taking on both colors and shapes. The blank white was replaced with blue sky, and a meadow littered with rubble and ruins, and the occasional smattering of blood.

A gasp and breathless silence was the extent of their reaction. Both scanned the area, uneasily, unsure of what had happened to cause this. It looked like a war had gone on here, or something else just as awful. Was this really where the Duel Monsters lived?

Apart from that, Jasmine was a bit surprised by how... normal and pretty it looked, beyond the signs of warfare.

Nearby, relatively, in a direction that Jasmine decided to be west like Key West of the Florida Keys, she saw ... a guy in leather. For some reason, his outfit also had a pair of blades or maybe wings sticking out of his back.

The Evil HERO gave his home another brief glance, half-hoping that denial of reality would somehow change it.

It didn't.

His masters were gone, like they had never existed, and perhaps they hadn't; he knew enough about Chaos Magic to know that it was unspeakably dangerous, but he had thought them the masters of Chaos Magic.

It was, after all, in their names: Dark Magician of Chaos, Dark Magician Girl of Chaos - Rulers of the Power of Chaos. But alas, they hadn't learnt the craft well enough to stave off their destruction by the very force they thought themself to master, and their folly had taken his battlemates with them.

With a mask of sorrow marring his features, he inhaled nasally, and sighed. What was actually left for him in this dimension? A legacy of distorting reality as he willed it? A responsibility to wield the paradox-force that would someday be his undoing?

"No, he spoke aloud. "Fate must wish other-" he found himself suddenly interrupted by a feminine shout of 'HEY!', and turned in the direction of the statement. To surprise, he laid eyes on what seemed to be a pair of humans. If not, then some Warrior or Spellcaster, they looked human enough. He decided that the latter was more likely; apart from the Wielder of the Jashin, and his existence was but a rumor, no human could travel between dimensions.

What he did not know was that at that moment, three other such humans were sitting atop a hill not too far way, watching those three.

"Let's Duel," one of the girls demanded of him. Both brandished Duel Disks, of a model unfamiliar to him. "You and us!"

He inspected them briefly, before giving his answer. His lips curled upwards beneath his mask; their timing was most assuredly fortuitous.

"I accept your challenge," he replied neutrally, his voice carrying clear across the distance between them.

His Duel Disk materialized magically on his arm, a model similar to theirs, but violet, and with sharpened edges. A single declaration of 'DUEL!' from Mindy kicked it off. [Mindy & Jasmine: 4000] [Malicious Edge: 8000]

In short order and with practiced precision, the three beings drew five cards, while a good distance away, three others served as an unseen audience. Jasmine frowned in distinct displeasure when she noticed their opponent's Life Point at his cards, the Shadow Rider devised a strategy for this bout. "I shall commence this Duel," he barked at them, and drew. Mirthlessly, he observed the female Elemental HERO he had drawn.

"And my first act shall be the summoning of the Elemental HERO who commands water," he announced, already sounding bored. In a splash of water from seemingly nowhere, the HERO emerged onto the field. "And with his emergence onto my empty field, I can now draw two additional cards at no cost.

He did so, and observed those cards to be Axe of Despair and Avian. The Dueling Duel Monster quickly decided to use Abyssal Terror to dispose of them. "I now activate Dark Fusion, melding Bubbleman and Avian together, into the instrument of your undoing!"

A second later, the Spell emerged onto the field, suspended in the air in front of the Evil HERO, image and lore displayed for all to two Elemental HEROes appeared before it, before they both were absorbed by a dark-blue Fusion vortex, drawing them into the Spell itself, to meet whatever being or force or fate dwelt within.

A spiral of bright blue hellfire emerged into their place, and a second later, the Evil HERO that was born broke free of his fiery cocoon. Both Jasmine and Mindy beheld the demonic creature then, the evil counterpart to Elemental HERO Mariner.

Physically, this one appeared much the same - a muscular, light-green bod, an anchor-on-a-chain wrapped around the right arm. However, the differences were plain to see: His left arm was not made of flesh or steel, but colorless water. [1400/1000]

Mindy grimaced, remembering its effect: Abyssal Terror could attack directly during their turn too, which was gonna be a problem.

Malicious slid the expended cards where they belonged before continuing, and held up a Spell. "Next, I heighten his strength with this, my Axe of Despair," the Duel Monster announced.

Abyssal Terror's fleshy appendage began to mutate from the arcane forces it was subjected to, brown-red veiny flesh appearing as his own flesh tried at once to resist the transformation and embrace it. In that brief-lived struggle, the forces of sorcery won out over the forces of biology, and the blade of an axe grew out of his hand. All the while, the Evil HERO of the deep reacted not in the least. [1400/1000 → 2400/1000]

Mindy felt at once disgusted and excited: Disgusted, because that was really really gross, excited, because she was going to do pretty much the same thing. Great minds thought alike, the Obelisk Blue girl mused.

"I will conclude my turn in this fashion," the Fiend informed them. A single breath later, the interlocked devices made it known that Mindy's turn was in session, by way of the machinery moving a card out for her to draw. She took it, and examined it for a second.

"Cyclone Wing," she noted. "With this," she paused to survey her hand, "I can take out that Axe of Despair, but I have to make the attack fast, before he can make his... "I activate Dark Fusion," she announced. Malicious Edge was visibly shocked.

Behind Mindy, a new form of space opened up, one that was hued various shades of black and blue, like the sky at night. Something that was equal parts matter and energy and something altogether third formed within the void she had conjured up. "Now I can fuse Burstinatrix and Bubbleman to summon an Evil HERO of my own!"

The named duo appeared, for an instant, before they were drawn into depths of the Fusion vortex, distorted and blurred beyond all recognition, existing barely as an afterimage. Another spiral of blue hellfire emerged, and with it, a new breed of demon, straight out of Hell's fifth circle.

Quite like her good counterpart, this HERO was armored in purple and red metals. However, where Steam Healer's suit was technological in nature, Inferno Stream's coating was more like that of a medieval knight, arranged in a few layers and many individual sections of plate armor. Left exposed were only her hands, and around those open hands were manifestations of the two elements, flame and water, that she commanded. [1800/1000]

"If ya liked that, then try this on for size!" Mindy continued, flashing him a Spell card. "Here comes Cyclone Wing, straight onta Inferno Stream!"

The Evil HERO glanced back, moving her head minutely, glaring at Mindy out of the corner of her eye. The Duel Monster saw a set of wings with a pair of fans become attached to her back.

Malicious Edge was almost speechless. Whoever that girl was, she was most certainly capable of unleashing the brute strength of the Evil HEROes, but her skill left much to be desired. Judging from her attire, she was a student at that Duel Academy place, which made the question into whether she was a prodigy or, worse still, an average Duelist.

"Get a load of this," she bragged, "now, when Inferno Stream attacks, she'll destroy the Axe and your monster and give us 1400 more Life Points and get lots more Attack Points. Simply put, you're seriously screwed, big guy."

He said nothing. Inferno Stream unleashed her power on Abyssal Terror, firing blasts of fire and water that joined together, with gusts of wind dispelling his enchantment and axe. In seconds, the Evil HERO had been defeated. [Malicious Edge: 8000 → 7600]

"And guess what happens now?" Mindy said with a wide grin.

"I realize fully what happens now," the Evil HERO countered, indignant that she thought he did not. As he had said, so did it happen.

An obsidian and purple aura flared around Inferno Stream, strengthening the knightly HERO's Attack and Defense values, up to the point that they became 3200 & 2400. After they had reached their respective heightened amounts, the aural outburst died down again. Then, finally, their Life Points rose as well, to 5400.

"Well, that's it," Mindy beamed triumphantly. "I end my turn."

Expressionlessly, the Duel Monster drew a card. "I bid Bubbleman to emerge, to serve me. I shall summon this one in Attack Mode. RISE!"

In another splash from nowhere, the Elemental HERO arose. [800/1200]

"By the fact of his solitude on my field, I can draw two additional cards," he stated, and did so. He saw that the cards were Dark Calling and Evil HERO HQ - neither card could affect the situation, but then, that was fine.

Three large cards appeared on the field without a verbal declaration, their position being face-down. Jasmine smirked widely; between her Breaker, Mystical Space Typhoon and Mindy's Cyclone Wing, they had enough to take out each of those cards.

"And this will mark the completion of my second turn," Malicious deadpanned. "Bring your best to bear, and pray that it suffices."

Mindy rolled her eyes at that bit of trash-talk.

"Oh, I will!" Jasmine shot back, and with an exaggerated motion, drew a card. "Please be good please be good please be good - YES!" the ginger-haired teenager shouted, when she saw that the card was Ties of the Brethren.

"Okay, listen up because this might get kinda long-winded," Jasmine began.

"See, first I activate the Spell, Mystical Space Typhoon, which destroys the middle one of your face-down cards," she held up the magical card, and from it emerged a whirlwind that charged at the named target. The card was ripped asunder by the air currents.

"Next, I normal summon Breaker the Magical Warrior," she continued. On the field materialized a sorcerer-knight in predominantly red-and-gold armor. The sword-wielding mage stood at the left side of their other knightly monster, the blue jewel in the shield burning with arcane light. [1600/1000]

"I see," the half-naked Duel Monster commented idly. "You mean to use the Magical Warrior and Cyclone Wing to do away with my cards, and all but win the Duel, I take it?"

A moment later, he had been proved absolutely right about absolutely everything.

With a swing of his blade, Breaker cast a wave of arcane energy at the left card, annihilating it into oblivion.

Inferno Stream unleashed her tri-elemental fury on her foe. The blasts ripped through the air, aimed directly at Bubbleman and the sole remaining face-down card.

The Elemental HERO struggled to survive for a fleeting moment, but alas, he met his end to the overwhelming force that had been unleashed, and Malicious paid dearly for his defeat. [Malicious Edge: 7600→ 5200]

Once again, Inferno Stream's unique ability activated, bolstering her strength and durability, as well as their Life Points, by 1200 points each. [Inferno Stream: 3200/2400 → 4400/3600] [Jasmine & Mindy: 5400 → 6600]

"But I'm not done," Jasmine continued. The Evil HERO Duelist looked at her almost as though she had gone nucking futz. "Here's a Spell, Ties of the Brethren, and here's how it works," Jasmine initiated a round of tedious exposition. "Now I can summon two other Level 4 monsters from my Deck, and I have the perfect two in mind: I summon two Vengeful Dark Elves!" she emphasized the statement by picking up her Deck, and examining its contents. A card was picked from there and from her hand, and placed on her Disk.

Almost in the manner of a volcano, plumes of solid shadow erupted from the ground beside the Evil HERO knight, plumes that shaped themselves into a duo of dark-skinned violet-haired elf women who were garbed in blue garments that recalled both the designs of robes and tunics in certain ways.

The display of their respective Attack and Defense Points was rendered almost as soon as they were summoned, and lingered only briefly, though long enough for Malicious Edge to read it. [2000/800]

"Downside is," Jasmine continued while the tell-tale sound effect of dropping Life Point played, "I can't attack with them or tribute them, and I have to give up 1000 Life Points to even use the card, but it's still worth it; you'll see why soon enough. I'll end my turn as-is."

The Evil HERO knew why - Vengeful Dark Elf could whittle away his Life Points without attacking, but he didn't care. He drew and was met with a Solemn Wishes card. He felt a mixed frustration and relief at that; one brief turn more, and nobody would be able to say that he hadn't championed the cause of his masters to the very end.

Barely a minute later, the Evil HERO lady knight dealt the final blow. [Malicious Edge: 4200 → 0]

Immediately after they had won, they felt their skin turn sorta tingly. With barely a moment to react or think or speak, a half-formed cry of shock escaped Jasmine's throat. In about a second, reality turned all kinds of screwy for her - firstly, her surroundings turned a single bright shade of blemished white, then replaced by more than an infinitude of colors, more than she could number or identify, as blindingly bright as they were brief-lived.

For a single moment, Jasmine physically felt nothing apart from the incomprehensible inflood of color. The whole psychedelic experience induced nausea in the girl - and then it ended quite bluntly.

After a moment to orient herself, she saw that she was back at Duel Academy, hopefully in the right dimension. Frantically looking around, she was relieved to find the tent parked exactly where they had put it up, and to hear Mindy rustle around within.

Within minutes, a sense of peace and quiet and jovial warmth had descended over their little campsite, one far removed from alternate dimensions where real Duel Monsters lived or Duels against nebulously evil Duel Monsters.

Finding comfort in the presence of the other girl, they quickly eased into their earlier conversation about guys around the island who they thought were cute or downright hot - Zane was in the latter category, incidentally.

And it was like so that another day at Duel Academy had passed. For some, the day had been mundane. For some, the day had been monumental.


Well, that's a wrap. Hopefully the choices for their Decks and their Duel were both appealing. Kindly remember to leave a review if ya could be bothered. Now, all that remains is the CoTD feature, which I forgot on the initial posting.


Evil HERO Abyssal Terror | 5/Fusion/WATER/Fiend/Effect | 1400/1000 | "Elemental HERO Bubbleman" + "Elemental HERO Avian" | Effect - Must be Fusion Summoned with "Dark Fusion" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. During either player's Battle Phase, this card can attack. This card can attack directly.

Evil HERO Inferno Stream | 5/Fusion/WATER/Fiend/Effect | 1800/1000 | "Elemental HERO Burstinatrix" + "Elemental HERO Bubbleman" | Effect - Must be Fusion Summoned with "Dark Fusion" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: Gain Life Points equal to the ATK or DEF (whichever is higher) of that destroyed monster in the Graveyard, also this card gains an equal amount of ATK/DEF.

Evil HERO Supreme Inferno Wing | 8/Fusion/FIRE/Fiend/Effect | 2500/2100 | "Evil HERO Inferno Wing" + 1 "Elemental HERO" – OR – 1 "Evil HERO" monster | Effect - Must be Fusion Summoned with "Dark Fusion" using the correct (printed) materials, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. For each "Evil HERO" monster in your Graveyard, this card gains 500 ATK. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your opponent. When this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to either the ATK or DEF (whichever is higher) of the destroyed monster. When this card battles, no other cards and/or effects can be activated/applied, until the end of the Damage Step.