Real quick, just because I forgot about it last chapter, Meirin is twenty. No, she's not in this chapter, but I wanted to get it out of the way. Enjoy!

Currently, Anthony was standing outside a cell in the camp's dungeon, occupied by the statue that was once Kayu. After the duel concluded, it had taken the combined efforts of Kan'u, Chohi, and Kakoton to carry the statue back to their base, as per Anthony's request. Ever since he came back, he had stared at the statue, not leaving the room, not even to eat. It was currently sunset, as Anthony heard footsteps approaching, although he didn't react to them. Kan'u suddenly stepped in front of him, holding a plate of food.

"Anthony, you've been here for hours. Everyone's worried about you. Rinrin, Shuri, Sui, Pairen, even Sonken has been wondering when you'll come out. At least eat something, please."

Anthony slowly held out an open hand, declining the offer. "I'm not hungry."

Kan'u furrowed her brow. "You haven't eaten for at least eight hours. And for the last four hours, you've been here. It isn't healthy."

Anthony then walked out, with Kan'u following him. He then walked through the camp, before sitting down in the empty dining hall and staring into space, completely unfocused. Kan'u set the plate in front of her lord, who simply pushed it away. She pushed it back in front of him, and he pushed it away again, with the same blank stare. This went on for a while, with Kan'u being too stubborn to give in, until she received a tap on her shoulder. She spun around, and came face to face with Kakoen.

"Hm? What are you doing here? I thought I told Soso that I have no intention of leaving Anthony."

Kakoen closed her eyes and shook her head. "That's not why I'm here. I saw you with your lord, still traumatized over his duel."

Kan'u sighed. "I can't get through to him. He's barely spoken ever since the 'incident.'"

Kakoen looked at Anthony, still staring into space. She then turned to Kan'u. "Perhaps I can try to get him to open up." Kan'u simply gestured to her lord, granting the bluenette permission to try. Kakoen pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

"Hello there, Lord Anthony. How are you doing?"

Nothing. Kakoen had to pry harder if she wanted a response.

"Are you doing better after your duel with General Kayu?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Kan'u gasped. Those were the most words he'd said in the last four hours! Kakoen smiled. She had him now.

"Look, I understand you don't, but unless you talk things out, you won't get any better. I understand that it's hard to admit that you're frightened."

That did the trick, though a little too well. "Frightened? I'm frightened? Yeah, I am. I'm fucking scared out of my mind. And do you know why?"

He turned to Kakoen, a look of rage in his eyes. "It's because I almost lost my soul! And even if I didn't, she did, and there might be no way to bring her back! Even if she was 'the enemy,' nobody deserves a fate like that! And what if I lost? What if YOU lost, Kakoen!? Do you think your sister and Skull Loli would simply move on? No! I spent my entire life thinking that Duel Monsters was just a game, a fun hobby, but now, lives are on the line." Tears began to stream down his face as he continued to chew out the Gi general. "It's not just a game anymore, and I've never been so scared in my life!"

Kan'u was worried. She had got what she wanted, but Anthony was freaking out now. If she didn't step in and try to calm him down, he could have a panic attack! But Kakoen beat her to the punch, almost literally.

*SMACK*

In one fluid motion, Kakoen slapped Anthony, her right hand making hard contact with the left side of his face, causing an audible slapping sound and a red mark to appear in his face as he stopped screaming, breathing heavily as he attempted to calm down. Naturally, Kan'u took exception to this.

"Why did you hit him!?"

"He was acting hysterical. It was the only thing that came to mind."

"There are other ways to calm somebody down, Kakoen!"

"At least it worked."

"So what if it worked!"

"Don't worry. I've done it to Shunran several times before, and she held no ill will."

"Lord Anthony is not your sister!"

Anthony chimed in. "No, Aisha, it's fine. I'm good. Thank you, and sorry, Kakoen." Kakoen nodded in response, before she had an idea.

"The reason why you're feeling all of these negative emotions - fear, guilt, paranoia - is because of the Shadow Game, correct?"

Anthony looked down. "Yeah…if you lose a Shadow Game, you lose your soul. It wasn't a fun experience to participate in one."

"Well then," suggested Kakoen, "if you initially believed that Duel Monsters was just for fun, then maybe we need to reaffirm that belief."

Anthony looked at her. "What are you getting at?"

"Duel me."

Kan'u was rather against this idea. "Hold on, it was a duel that caused him to act this way in the first place! How is this going to help!?"

"It was a Shadow Game that caused him to act this way. This duel has no risks, no catch, no wager. It's only for fun, like he's used to."

Anthony pondered this. 'Now that I think about it, I haven't dueled for fun since I got here. All of my duels have had some sort of consequence or wager behind them.' "I'll accept."

Kakoen smiled. "Meet me outside at the duel arena in twenty minutes. That should be more than enough time to eat." As she left, Kan'u looked at him with pleading eyes. Anthony sighed, and began to dig in. As he did, he suddenly brightened up.

"Hey, this is really good," he said between bites, causing Kan'u to smile warmly.

"Thank you, I worked really hard on it."

Anthony stopped for a second, before he turned to Kan'u with a look of shock. "You cooked this?"

Kan'u nodded.

"On your first try?"

Kan'u shook her head. "My fourth. It took me a few tries to get it perfect for you." 'A few, disastrous attempts.'

Anthony continued to eat. "Well, it's fantastic. Thanks for not giving up on me, I suppose."

"So are you really going to duel Kakoen?"

Anthony put down his utensils, pushed away the empty plate, then stood up, looking his general in the eye. "Look, I have no intention of doing another Shadow Game, not after what happened today. But this is different. We're just gonna duel for fun, and that's something that I can do."

Kan'u became serious. "Fine, but I'm going to watch. I need to make sure that you're doing better."

Anthony nodded his head as he reached into his satchel and pulled out his Duel Disk, before strapping it on. "That's okay with me." And with that being said, the two of them made their way to the arena, ready for the duel.

~KD~

When the two of them arrived, the sun had finished setting, and the sky was black with white stars scattered across it, the moon glowing above their heads. Kakoen was already there, Duel Disk on her wrist. She smiled when she saw them approaching and brushed her hair out of her right eye, only for it to fall back over it.

"You came. I was worried that you weren't going to show up."

Anthony got into place as Kan'u stood a distance behind him, as he activated his Duel Disk. "Why would I miss this?"

"A great answer. Let's begin!"

(Kakoen: 4000 LP)(Anthony: 4000 LP)

"I'll let you go first," insisted Anthony.

"Thank you," said Kakoen as she drew. "I summon my Harpie Lady!"

This new monster took into the sky, revealed to be a blue-skinned harpy. She had long pink hair, and wore a sleeveless skin tight jumpsuit that was violet in hue. Her arms and legs ended in talons, and she had bright blue tail feathers, and wings of the same color on her arms (LV 4: ATK 1300).

"And that will end my turn."

'So she uses Harpie monsters,' thought Anthony as he drew. "Well, I summon my Overdrive in attack mode!"

His new monster was a green armored vehicle that tore onto the field with its four wheels before screeching to a stop, its gray minigun aimed at Harpie Lady (LV 4: ATK 1600).

"And now my Overdrive is going to take out your Harpie Lady!"

The monster's chain gun roared to life, as a hailstorm of bullets tore through Harpie Lady, who shattered into yellow pixels (Kakoen: 4000-3700 LP).

"And now I end my turn by setting two cards!"

As two cards appeared face-down behind Overdrive, Kakoen drew her next card.

"I summon my Birdface in attack mode."

Another monster graced the field, this one looking like a humanoid bird. It had green and yellow feathers, with an iron piece of torso armor and gold armor on its limbs (LV 4: ATK 1600).

"To end my turn, I set one card."

"Alright," said Anthony, as he drew his next card. He then placed his new card onto the field.

"I Normal Summon Guardian of the Throne Room!"

This was another new Machine-type, which resembled a golden robot with tank treads in place of its legs. On its back was a rack filled with gray missiles with red warheads (LV 4: ATK 1650).

"Now my Guardian of the Throne Room will permanently ground your Birdface with its Safeguard Missiles!"

His monster aimed its rockets at the Winged Beast-type, when Kakoen pushed a button on her Duel Disk.

"I activate my Mirror Wall, which halves the attack points of all your attacking monsters!"

Suddenly, a glass wall appeared in front of Kakoen's side of the field.

"Oh no!" said Kan'u, while Anthony simply played his own Trap Card.

"I activate my Seven Tools of the Bandit!"

This card had a picture of a penknife with multiple tools sticking out of it, as Anthony's life points took a self-inflicted hit (Anthony: 4000-3000 LP). As this happened, the Mirror Wall had a crack appear in it, which began to grow and branch until the entire barrier shattered into tiny glass shards, letting the rockets hit their target without fail, destroying Birdface (Kakoen: 3700-3650 LP).

"Thanks to my trap, I was able to pay one thousand of my life points to negate your Mirror Wall," Anthony explained. At this time, Kakoen put her monster into the Graveyard, then added another monster from her deck to her hand.

"By destroying my Birdface, you've let me add a Harpie Lady to my hand."

"No big deal. Overdrive, attack directly!"

His monster then let loose another round of gunfire, inflicting quite a bit of damage (Kakoen: 3650-2050 LP).

"Keep it up, Anthony! She's almost halfway out of life points!" cheered Kan'u.

Anthony gave her a thumbs-up, as he ended his turn. Kakoen drew her new card, smiling.

"First, I summon my Harpie Lady!" The bird woman returned, or at least another copy of it did (LV 4: ATK 1300).

"Now, I play my Elegant Egotist!"

A new Spell Card appeared on the field, this one showing some sort of kaleidoscope showing images of Harpie Lady.

"And with its power, I can Special Summon my Harpie Lady Sisters from my hand!"

Suddenly, three more harpies appeared on the field next to Harpie Lady. They all had a light skin tone, unlike the light blue Harpie Lady. One had long pink hair and purple wings, one had shoulder-length orange hair with green wings, and one had spiky blue hair with purple wings. Each of them wore golden plate armor (LV 6: ATK 1950).

"Oh dear, this might be trouble," said Kan'u to herself.

"Harpie Lady Sisters, destroy that Guardian with Triple Scratch Attack!"

The three newly summoned sisters flew towards the golden robot, before all three slashes at it with their talons, destroying it (Anthony: 3000-2700 LP).

"And that will end my turn!"

Kan'u looked towards Anthony with a worried expression as he drew. 'He has remained calm so far, but even so…'

"First off, my Overdrive will take care of Harpie Lady!" Once again, his Overdrive blasted a Harpie Lady out of the sky (Kakoen: 2050-1750 LP). He then looked at his newly drawn card, Giga-Tech Wolf, before he made up his mind and put it on the field, face-down.

"I'll end my turn by setting one monster!"

Kakoen drew her next card, before she smiled, and slid it into her Duel Disk.

"I play my Graceful Charity, letting me draw three cards and discard two!"

A Spell Card showing an angel holding a glowing card appeared, as Kakoen drew three cards and added them to her hand, before taking out two of them and sending them to the Graveyard. She then played a spell that looked like a massive lightning bolt.

"Now I activate my Raigeki!"

"Oh crap!" shouted Anthony. "That card destroys all monsters on my side of the field!"

"It does WHAT!?" asked Kan'u. Suddenly, a thunderbolt fell from the sky and obliterated Anthony's Machine-types. But Kakoen wasn't quite finished yet.

"Now I equip my Sisters with the Equip Spell, Cyber Shield!"

Suddenly, all of the Harpie Lady Sisters gained brand new armor. This new armor was a dark gray steel, with spikes shoulder and thigh guards (ATK 1950-2450).

"This isn't good," said Kan'u.

"Go, Triple Scratch Attack!"

As the harpies slashed at Anthony with their talons, Anthony suddenly remembered something as his life points fell (Anthony: 2700-250 LP). Without missing a beat, he activated his other trap.

"I activate Damage Condenser!"

His card flipped up to reveal what looked like a power generator overloading, as Anthony sent a card from his hand to his Graveyard, then pulled out his deck and flipped through it.

"Here's how it works. Whenever I take battle damage, I discard one card, then I can Special Summon a monster from my deck who has attack points equal to or less than the damage I took. And I pick my ace in the hole, Machine King!"

He then selected a card from his deck and placed it on the field, before he put his deck back into his Duel Disk, which automatically shuffled it. The massive mechanical monarch appeared before Kakoen, causing her visible eye to widen (LV 6: ATK 2200-2300). Kan'u smiled as Anthony summoned his signature monster to the field.

"First that unusual exploding sphere, then that massive metal dragon, now this? What other secrets lie in your deck?"

Anthony smiled as he flipped down his sunglasses, even though it was night. "More than you can imagine."

Kakoen was intrigued. 'Perhaps the rumors of him being the fabled Messenger from Heaven have some truth to them, after all. He did manage to beat Lord Karin, a task I once thought impossible.' "I end my turn."

"Then I begin mine!" Anthony smiled when he saw what he drew, but it wasn't enough by itself. He needed some backup, and he selected a card from his hand to provide it.

"I summon my Robotic Knight in attack mode!"

The robotic soldier appeared on the field, prepared for combat (LV 4: ATK 1600).

"And since I have another Machine-type monster on the field, my Machine King gains power!"

Robotic Knight then got down on one knee and bowed before Machine King, as the larger monster got a small power boost (ATK 2300-2400).

"And I'll end my turn with this face-down!"

Kan'u watched closely as Anthony set one card, and Kakoen drew. 'I hope that Anthony's card can keep him from losing, because if Harpie Lady Sisters manage to destroy his Robotic Knight, it's all over.'

"I'll have my Harpie Lady Sisters destroy your Knight for the win!"

The three harpies began to circle Robotic Knight, before they flew towards it, claws outstretched. The world seemed to go into slow motion as Kan'u saw the three winged women close the distance between themselves and the Machine-type, but Anthony was prepared, as he played his face-down in the nick of time.

"It's time to face the future!" he announced, as his card flipped up to reveal an image of Mechanicalchaser defending itself against an approaching pink blast, with Cannon Soldier behind it, firing its own blast to counter the attack and protect its fellow Machine-type. "I play my Trap Card, known as Covering Fire!"

His Machine King then stood next to its subject, charging power in its chest, while Robotic Knight aimed its laser arm (ATK 1600-4000).

"What's happening? Suddenly your monster gained more than double its original attack power!" shouted Kakoen.

"You've fallen into his trap, it seems!" said Kan'u.

"Aisha's right. By attacking one of my monsters, you've activated my Covering Fire. This lets me select another monster I control, and the monster that you selected for an attack gains the amount of power that the monster I picked has, until the turn is over. Now, my monsters will take out your harpies!"

The two monsters shot their weapons at the Sisters, destroying them and leaving Kakoen with an empty field (Kakoen: 1750-200 LP). Kakoen was speechless, and all she could do was set a monster to protect her life points.

"She's almost done, Anthony! Finish her off!" shouted Kan'u. Her lord was doing great, both game-wise and mentally!

"With pleasure, Aisha," he said as he drew his next card. "I tribute my Robotic Knight to summon my Jinzo!" The horrific green cyborg appeared on the field, once more catching his opponent off guard (LV 6: ATK 2400).

"Jinzo, blast her face-down monster with Cyber Energy Shock!"

His monster built up a dark orb of electricity between its hands and fired it at the defending monster, which was Kakoen's third and final Harpie Lady (LV 4: DEF 1400).

"Now I'm gonna end this duel! Machine King, Jet Punch!"

His monster launched its arm at Kakoen and knocked her backwards, ending the duel at long last (Kakoen: 200-0 LP)(Winner: Anthony).

"That was incredible!" Kan'u cheered as Anthony deactivated his Duel Disk and put his sunglasses back on the rim of his hat.

"Thanks, Aisha."

Suddenly, Kakoen walked up to the two of them, applauding and smiling.

"That was quite a duel you gave me, Lord Anthony."

"Thanks, though it wasn't easy. You sure gave me a run for my money. And, uh, thank you, Kakoen, for everything."

Kakoen widened her smile. "After everything that's happened today, I think you've earned the right to call me by my secret name, Shuran."

Anthony smiled, before he suddenly turned serious. "I'm really glad you snapped me out of my funk, but there's something I need to make clear. I have no intention in participating in any more Shadow Games for as long as I can help it."

"But what if you have to?" asked Kan'u.

Anthony thought about this for a minute. "Then I have to. But enough about that for now. Right now, I want to go to bed. Come on, Aisha. And Shuran?"

The blue-haired general of Gi looked at the leader of Kikai. "Thanks for reminding me why I love this game."

As the two Kikai representatives returned to their camp, Kakoen returned to hers, feeling flushed. She noticed that she was blushing.

'What is this? I can't be falling for him, I have Karin.' Her blush then deepened. 'But even so, he's kind of sweet.' She decided to push these thoughts into the back of her mind and return to her barracks, in order to fall asleep and prepare for the next day.

Yay, Anthony's back, bitches! He just needed some help for the newest member of the harem, Shuran! I mean, come on, I couldn't leave out Best Girl! I gave her Harpies because I wanted both her and her sister to have female monsters, making her one of the privileged few to use an archetype (at least in the first story. The other three will make them far more commonplace). Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed, and I'll see you again soon with the next chapter! Starpion out!