Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: Well, it all started a few years or so ago... actually... in the 1990s. A Japanese man name Kazuki Takahashi started drawing the first season of a manga called Yu-Gi-Oh!. Long story short, I don't own Yu-Gi- Oh!. Heck, I have trouble drawing Yami Yugi's hair!

Sorry for the slightly later-than-planned update. I just started using my new DeviantArt account. It's taken up some time, but I'm finally on track! If anyone's interested, my account is in my bio.


While the hall caved in, a rectangular box appeared out of nowhere in a different hallway.

Luckily, we were in it.

It was quiet. And really, really dark. I looked around frantically. The Magical Box wasn't my idea, so Master probably summoned it. But where did he go? "Master? Where are you?" I took a step forward. "Whoa! Never mind," I said as I bumped into him. Now, to look for the exit. "Ow!" I had turned around, but I kinda walked into the side. Geez, the box seems smaller than last time. I didn't mind stating that out loud.

"Really?" came Master's reply. I could tell that he was smiling. "Now, do you mind...?"

I shook my head. Then, I realized that he obviously couldn't see me, so I answered, "No! 'Course not!" I leaned away as far as I could, and he gave the wall a light tap with his staff. The three doors swung open, letting the gloomy light from the halls inside the box. I jumped out. Hey, this hall actually had windows! I looked back at Master who was already out. The box was gradually disappearing. "That was close!" I sighed and made sure that my helmet was still on. I still have my wand! "And scary!"

"Come on, let's go," said Master, already walking away at a quickening pace. Hey, somebody just tried to kill us. Shouldn't he tell me why? As... weird... as Sengenjin is, I don't think that it was a random act of violence.

"Um... Master?" He didn't stop. Actually, he seemed to be walking quicker. Scowling, I ran after him. "Master!" I lunged at him and clamped my arms around him.

He stumbled forward a few steps and stared at me when he regained his balance. "May I ask what you're doing?"

"First you tell me what's going on!" I said determinedly. "Why was he after us! Tell me!"

"Dark Magician Girl..."

"Master!"

With a small shake of his head, he continued walking. "We don't have time for this."

A sweatdrop was starting to form on my head. "Um... I..." He was literally dragging me down the hall. "...I'm not holding you back in any sort of way, am I?"

"No," he said coolly. I groaned and released him.

"You're definitely hiding something!" I said and walked in front of him. He didn't stop, so I walked backwards. Still, I wasn't giving up until I learned something about this big secret. "I mean, Amir knows too!" I could see that affected him. A barely noticeable frown darkened his face. I pressed on, "He did say something about Sengenjin being 'the one this time.' What's that mean?"

"He's insane; don't talk to him." Master nearly stopped when he saw my reaction to his response. Nearly. So close, though. "I mean it, Dark Magician Girl." Then he gave me one of those looks of revelation and queried, "And when was this?"

"Uh..." I thought about it. "Recently," I said after a long pause.

"How recently?" he asked, his steps hastening again. That forced me to walk back quicker. I looked behind my shoulder to make sure that nothing was in my way, and I remembered that I had only met the guy today. Therefore, how recently...? Darn, the roles have been switched!

"Well...Ah!" I grinned at the loophole that I just grasped. "Today."

"Oh?" As hard as he tried, a smile managed to get past his efforts. "Then tell him to leave you alone next time."

By the time we got back to our seats, the second Duel had already started. The Old Vindictive Magician wasn't in my seat anymore. When I asked why, Mystical Elf laughed and said, "Well, the Magician of Black Chaos threatened him, and he left!" The previously mentioned mage shrugged casually and she continued, "He said that if he didn't leave, he would blast him off the spot with a Chaos Sceptre Attack!" This time, the Magician of Black Chaos glared daggers at her, but she didn't notice him.

"I didn't know you cared!" I said, sincerely.

The glares were aimed at me. It was an uncomfortable situation to be in, but I survived. When he was through with his death glares, he said, "By the way, what happened to you two?" With an easygoing grin, he examined our dusty armor said, "Did a hallway cave in or something?"

I gaped at him and exclaimed, "Wow! How'd you know!"

Their reactions were comical and identical. Both stared at me for two seconds in horror. Then, they leaned towards me dramatically, with aghast expressions, they both cried in unison, "WHAT!"

Master watched them and commented on their performance, "Sounds rehearsed."

"Whoa, man; what happened!" demanded the chaos mage, turning his attention to him. Master raised an eyebrow, as if testing the Magician of Black Chaos. A look of comprehension replaced his confusion. "Oh, I see... Who was it this time?"

"Sengenjin," Master replied, brushing the dust from the emerald orb on his staff. It glowed eerily.

The Magician of Black Chaos' mouth moved, but no sound came out. "A soundproof barrier?" asked Mystical Elf, and I confirmed her guess with a nod. She noticed the betrayed look on my face and said, "What's wrong, Dark Magician Girl?"

"I can't believe it!" I said in distress. "Even the Magician of Black Chaos knows what's going on!"

"Does it make you feel any better if I told you I didn't, either?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

Sighing disappointedly, I said, "I'd rather if you knew. Then, you could tell me!"

An argument seemed to have broken out between the two full-fledged magicians. Well, even if I didn't know what they were saying, at least I could make out something from their expressions! I take that back. Master's face revealed nothing. The Magician of Black Chaos' expressions, then.

Yup, he seemed to be rendered speechless from something that Master had said. Finally, he grinned awkwardly and nodded. Then he was serious. He said something. Master nodded this time. I'm pretty sure he said, "I'll go." For what? The sphere on his staff glowed again. I watched him hurry back inside.

"What was that about?" I asked the Magician of Black Chaos.

"Nothing to worry your pretty little heads off about," he replied with a good-natured smile and folded his arms.

"Flattery gets you nowhere with me," I said angrily. Unfortunately, Mystical Elf blushed, so I couldn't count on her support.

"Neither does curiosity," he said and pointed to the arena behind me. "Oh yeah, your friend, Maya, is Dueling the Amazon Archer right now."

I turned back around. The words, "She's not my friend", threatened to spill out of my mouth, but I held them in.

Their Lifepoints had both been attacked at least once. The Amazon Archer seemed to have the advantage. Arrows flew at Maya from all directions. Half of them missed their mark when the Dark Witch unfurled her wings and took flight. She dodged the few arrows that had been launched into the air and whacked a newly shot one out of the air with her spear.

"So predictable!" said Maya with a jeering laugh. The female archer glowered at her and sent another arrow at her. Like before, Maya knocked it back to the ground. This time, she dived towards her opponent and slashed at her. "Ha!"

The Amazon Archer jumped back and evaded the spear. Immediately following that attack, Maya aimed and hurled her weapon at the Lifepoints that was down to 1200. With no hesitation, the Amazon Archer pulled back an arrow and released it. It glided through the air with such speed! It was like it was splitting the air itself!

The arrow impaled itself in the spear and pushed it off its original course. Maya looked away from the failed attack to face an arrow pointed right at her. She backed away a few steps in surprise. "Now it's your turn, Witch!" said the Amazon unremorsefully and let the arrow fly.

One of Maya's large wings whipped in front of her like a shield. A grimace appeared on her face as the arrow pierced through the feathers and into the flesh. She inspected the injury for less than a second and ripped it out of her wing. I heard Mystical Elf inhale a sickened gasp. Maya threw the arrow like a spear at the Amazon Archer's Lifepoints. It hit. She won.

"Congratulations to Maya, the Dark Witch," said the Unhappy Maiden. There was a little resentment in her voice, but she covered most of it up with a bubbly, cheerful tone. The Witty Phantom was watching her carefully. It almost reminded me of a tiger, ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

"Huh," said the Magician of Black Chaos once the contestants had left the Dueling field. "That was unexpected." I didn't say anything. I might be facing Maya in the next round...

"Your beloved Witty Phantom is back!" Half the audience groaned as the fiend's voice rose above the clamor of the crowd. "I'm here to announce the third Duel in the second round!" he said, choosing to pay no attention to the 'boo's he was getting. The Unhappy Maiden gave him a light whack on the head, but he ignored that too. "The Duel Monsters are... uh... hold on...um... what's her name? Oh yeah! Dark Magician Girl!"

"Aren't you lucky?" chuckled the Magician of Black Chaos.

Mystical Elf gave him an annoyed look, but I just shrugged. "Well, it can't be avoided, now can it?" I stood up and stretched my arms. "Okay! Who'd he say my opponent was again?"

"I didn't hear," said the level-eight Dark Magician, "but that doesn't matter. We'll find out when we get there."

"'We'?" I asked, catching that a few seconds after he had spoken.

"Yeah, Dark told me to make sure you didn't get into any trouble when he was gone."

"Gee, you really do care, don't you?"

"Not really," he said with a sheepish grin. "We made a deal..." I opened my mouth to speak, but he then stopped me by saying, "that you might find out later, but not now."

"'Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets are for everyone.'" The Magician of Black Chaos' headpiece suddenly rose from his head. He turned around to face the redheaded harpy, who now held it in her hands. "Hi."

"You are so annoying," he told her. She just grinned smugly.

"You two know each other?" asked Mystical Elf watching in bewilderment as Elly ran her talons through his thick mane while mumbling in disgust.

"Tch, yeah," he grumbled, now looking very sulky. "She chased me halfway across Yugi's deck just to find out where Dark Magician was, so she could have a rematch!" He tilted his head to the side a little, as if to pull away from Elly. "Let go."

The Harpy Lady gave a dismayed sigh as her fingers got caught in some of his tangles. "You have so much hair, but you don't take care of it!" He snorted at that comment. "It's such a shame, really!" She blinked and pulled, but her hand wouldn't come free. "Oh... I think I'm stuck..."

He looked as if he was going to explode. A sinister aura surrounded him. "You... what?" he asked in a menacing voice. As I've said, all Dark Magicians can look scary when they wanted to! And the Magician of Black Chaos was definitely no exception!

"Joking," laughed Elly as she yanked her hand away. At the same time, a few strands were pulled out. "Ooh... Sorry," she said as the chaos magician pointed his staff at her in a very threatening way. "Okay, okay. Let's go, Dark Magician Girl!"

"Huh?" I asked, "Oh! Are you Dueling me?"

She nodded. "Right." She grabbed my arm and pulled me into a run. The Magician of Black Chaos got up and took a step after us. "Hey, think fast!" She stopped and ran behind me. She flung his helmet at him. He caught it and fumbled with it for a short time before completely getting a good grip on it. Or, so I had thought.

After almost dropping it, he yelled, "Hey! Wait—!"

Elly ran started running again. "She's a big girl!" she called back to him as she ran faster. "She doesn't need you men hanging around her all the time!"

"Uh... it's okay," I said as she pushed me down the hall. "They're nice when you get to know them..."

Laughing, she slowed down to a walk. "Yeah, Chaos is cute, but a little conceited, know?" Then she observed that I was staring at her in disbelief. Hey, I hadn't expected her to say something like that! She smirked at me. "You're pretty lucky. I know plenty of girls who would kill to be you."

I remembered the fangirls and said, "I think I know a few too..." I grinned at the memory, which now was kinda funny. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that they tried to today..."

"Well," the Harpy Lady said as we neared the entrance to the arena, "You know what I told you before, right?"

As we walked to the center of the field, I said, "Uh huh. All friendships are left outside of the battlefield!" My voice rang out louder than I had intended. She had informed me of her little rule during our first Duel... It wasn't a pleasant Duel. I ended up forfeiting, but not after I took down her dragon! Skull's been dying for a good battle after that, and Graceful's dying from Skull's complaints—

—Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait, does that mean she thinks of me as a friend?

"All right, quickly, quickly! The tournament only lasts for one day! And we're already in the afternoon!" announced the Witty Phantom. I shook hands with Elly and looked over to the Judges' Table. The Judge Man was waiting for us to walk to separate sides of the arena. His red-haired daughter was paying more attention to the microphone in the Witty Phantom's hand than us. A discussion was taking place between the Chaos Command Magician and Master... Wha...? What's he doing here? I couldn't hear anything, so I'm assuming that another soundproof barrier had been set up. Elly and I walked to our starting positions. "So, now that we're all ready, I'd like to say that despite the lousy turn of events—"

With a snap of his fingers, the Chaos Command Magician had apparently disabled the barrier. He turned to the Witty Phantom and said calmly, "You speak of how the contestants waste mere seconds, but you must consume the most time with your rants. I suggest you cease with your childish nonsense and do what you're compensated for." The red-faced fiend looked at him, clueless. "Imbecile, announce the beginning of the Duel."

"First, you tell me what 'imbecile' means," said the current announcer.

The Judge Man had had enough. "Fool! Start the Ra-da—"

"Say 'Duel,'" said the Chaos Command Magician and returned to his conversation with Master.

"Right..." The Witty Phantom gave him a withering look. "DUEL!"


Yeah, about that rhyme that Harpy Lady said? See, my friends recited that to me once. It's been stuck in my head ever since...

Yeah, yeah. I know. Sad excuse for an update, huh? Well, just wait! For what? More action in the next chappy, of course!

In the next chapter, we'll give you some info on what's the big secret, as well as a little on Amir. Seeya there! R&R!