Yugioh GX: The Ancient City Tournament

"Here eat this."

Zane looked up from his CSS to see Kaiba holding out an orange and two apples to him. The two men had gotten up at the break of dawn so they could get an early start to the day. Zane had been given the task of packing up their 'camp' and plotting their course for the day to get the most Glyph Capsules as possible and Kaiba had been out looking for food for breakfast and, hopefully, enough to last them the rest of the day. Zane reached out and grabbed the three fruits from the older duelist and gave him a smile. "Thanks. Where'd you find these?"

"A few trees not too far from here," Kaiba answered as he pulled off his heavy looking backpack. He opened it and pulled out more fruit, passing it over to Zane so he could put them in his own bag "I got us enough fruit so that we can each have at least three for each meal until we find something more filling."

"The path I plotted today should take us by a stream. We can try fishing and fill up the hydration pack. We need water, especially if it gets hot today," Zane rationalized as he finished placing the food in his bag and started to peel the orange.

Kaiba nodded his agreement. "Good idea. If all goes well how many Glyph Capsules can we win today?"

"We'll be going by four flags if we head out soon."

"So that would give us six each with the two we both won yesterday. If we find others to duel or even if we just keep doing challenges, we should be done by tomorrow."

Zane smiled. "That's good. I wonder how the others are doing."


"I told you we need to go that way!"

"And I said dat way!"

"Why the hell would we go deeper into the poison ivy patch?!"

"Cause it's quicker!"

"That's not even the right directions!"

"Yes it is! I looked at da map!"

"I doubt you can even read the map!"

Chazz and Joey continued to glare at one another, the blonde boy grabbing the rich kid by the collar of his shirt. As soon as they had woken up, they had started their very same arguments from the previous night. It didn't help that the two boys were still hungry and hadn't eaten. They had little to no patience to speak of. The current matter they were debating regarded a mental challenge they were going to head to.

Chazz shoved Joey off of him and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, this isn't getting us anywhere! Let's just pick a direction and head that way, then we'll see which flag is the closest, deal?"

"…fine."


"Come on Sy, shake off that sleep!"

Syrus stretched his arms over his head and let out a yawn before he blinked up at Aster sleepily. The two boys had been walking along a hiking trail with Aster walking at a brisk pace, smiling and looking around and Syrus trailing behind looking as if he was ready to fall asleep by a bush nearby. "Why did we have to wake up so early?"

Aster smiled and shook his head as he slowed his pace to walk beside the small powder blunette. "We have to get at the challenges early today Sy! Remember they said the first sixteen duelists were going to be the ones to compete in the next round, and that means that half of the people here won't make the cut. We want to be one of the sixteen that do, right?"

"Right," Syrus agreed with a nod, suddenly looking focused. "Yeah, you're right! We need to get as many challenges we can out of the way! No way will we not make the cut!"

"That's the spirit Sy! It's just a few more minutes to the physical challenge!"

"Wait… did you say physical challenge?"


"There's another physical challenge just up ahead, and then there's a mental challenge not too far away. We should hit those two first before we decide to take a rest," Frankie rationalized as she scanned the woods, looking for the flag that indicated their challenge.

"That sounds good to me," Mai agreed before she stopped to think about how exactly she and Frankie had started to get along. The two of them had wanted nothing to do with the other throughout the tournament, but with the curve ball of being thrown off a helicopter and each other being the only person they could possibly rely on, the girls had put aside their differences in order to work together and progress to the next round of competition. It was amazing what survival situations did to relationships. "Do you need to fill your hydration pack soon?"

Frankie shook her head and turned to look at Mai with frown on her face. "No, I've been trying to ration it as much as possible. I may have to fill it up later on tonight though. Why do you?"

"I have enough for the next few challenges but after that I'm probably going to need more."

"Okay, we'll take care of that during our break."


"You still worried?"

Jesse looked over to the King of Games and gave him what he hoped look like a reassuring smile. Ever since the two of them had woken up, they had gotten to work finding food, filling up their hydration packs and began their hike to the mental challenge a mile away. They had talked throughout the entire process, discussing dueling tactics and who they were hoping to duel, but even while talking to Yugi, he hadn't been able to get his mind off of Danni. Of course he shouldn't have been surprised that Yugi would be able to catch that. "I know what ya said about her provin' to us that she can take care of herself, but I still can't help but worry."

Yugi ducked under a tree branch and nodded his head, a smile settling on his features. "I understand how you feel, and that's natural. I'm, of course, a bundle of nerves right now, but I know that she'll be fine." Yugi got quiet for a moment before he frowned. "I'm more curious as to who her partner is, though."

Jesse frowned just as the King of Games did. He hadn't thought about that. He had been more focused on Danni and her being safe that he hadn't really considered who she could possibly have been paired with. It could've been Joey, Kaiba, Jaden, Zane… anyone really. It could've been someone that they knew or someone they didn't. Hell, they could've paired her with Frankie; though Jesse didn't think that was the case—and sincerely hoped it wasn't the case. But still, he had no idea who was out there paired with Danni and if they would help her get through this whole thing or if they'd leave her on the wayside and take off on their own. Jesse snapped out of his thoughts only when he saw the blue flag ahead of him.

"I'm not sure who's with her, but they better be takin' good care of her."


"So, who taught you all of this stuff?"

The question threw Danni off guard. The girl looked up from the stream where she was filling up her hydration pack. She had just finished filling up Atticus's for him after they'd gotten up early for the day. She gave him a half-smile and finished filling up her pack before she stood up and looked back at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You know how to work with these pack thing-a-ma-jiggers, you were able to set the fire last night, and you seem to know how to handle yourself out here," Atticus pointed out as he waited for Danni to pull on her pack and start walking with him back into the woods and up the path they had traveled down. "So either you were raised by wolves or someone taught you."

"What makes you think I wasn't raised by wolves?" Danni challenged with a smile on her face.

"You've got better eating habits than Jaden, Jesse, Joey, and I."

Danni laughed and nodded in agreement, consenting to his point. "That's true. Aaron—Jesse's dad—taught me all of this. I always thought his 'Survival School' was pretty fun and cool, but I never thought that I'd actually use it ever. I guess I owe him as soon as this whole thing is over."

"And how does he know all of this?" Atticus asked with a small pout on his face.

Danni looked up into the trees, searching for something, as she answered him. "He's military. He does survival training all the time and he thought it would be good to teach us all some basics. Emma, would always have a fit whenever we came home sick or with scratches though. She's so sweet."

"I'm assuming Emma is Jesse's mom?"

"Yup!" Danni answered before her eyes narrowed slightly and a smile stretched across her face. "Finally! We found one!"

Atticus—obviously not aware that they had been looking for anything—looked to Danni in confusion, trying to follow her line of sight. "What did we find?"

"Breakfast," Danni replied with a grin as she pointed up.

She was gesturing towards a large tree where yellow bananas at the top, branches from the tree intertwining with the other large trees in the area. Atticus blinked in confusion and started looking around to try and see what it was that Danni was going to use to get the bananas from. The only things around were trees, bushes and rocks. "Uh… do you expect to sprout wings?" Atticus asked with a raised eyebrow.

Danni slipped her pack off of her back and handed it to Atticus, a smirk on her face. "No, I expect to climb it," Danni retorted, zipping open her bag and reaching in to pull out black leather gloves. She quickly slipped them on and walked towards the tree, starting her climb.

"Is that something that Aaron taught you too?" Atticus joked as he put her bag down and watched as she quickly and skillfully hoisted herself up into the tree and started to swing herself up to the next branch, finding handholds and testing branches to make sure that they were sturdy enough to hold her body weight.

"Nope! This I learned from all my childhood years of climbing kitchen cabinets and the trees at Jesse's house. Grandpa calls me his little monkey."

Atticus laughed, seeing exactly why Solomon Muto would call Danni a 'little monkey'. She seemed quite at home in the trees and quite adept at climbing, not once breaking her pace as she neared her prize. It also helped the 'monkey' part that she was trying to get bananas of all fruits. She was nearly at the top when Danni suddenly looked away from the fruit and grinned, looking out into the distance. "Atticus you're not going to believe what I can see from here!"

"Tell me it's a burger stand!"

"No, it's a hot spring!"

Atticus immediately beamed. A hot spring was just as good as a burger stand at that point in time. He could feel his tight muscles make themselves known at the prospect of a nice soak. "Hurry up so we can head over there!" Atticus called up to the girl. Danni quickly reached the top where the bananas were and started to pull them off dropping them down into Atticus's awaiting arms. It took around two minutes for Danni to get over twenty bananas—that Atticus threw into their bags after leaving out two for each of them—and another two minutes for Danni to make her way back down from the tree. As soon as her feet had touched the ground Atticus had handed her the backpack and her bananas before they took off for the hot springs that they'd seen.

It took seven minutes of hiking before the two teens had walked into a clearing where the hot spring was located. The spring itself was just by the face of a cliff, its rocky surface branching out and creating the pool that held the warm steaming water. Atticus and Danni immediately beamed and turned to each other at once. "I call dibs first!" They said in unison before they pouted at one another. "No fair! I get dibs!"

"Age before beauty," Atticus pointed out with a grin.

"Ladies first," Danni countered, crossing her arms across her chest.

Immediately the grin fell off of Atticus's face and he sighed dramatically. "You just had to go for the chivalry and male pride. Fine, you can go first," Atticus consented with a pout. Danni grinned and quickly started doubling back into the woods, confusing the brunette boy. "What are you doing?"

"Changing into my bathing suit! You better not peek!"

"Remember to turn off your live feed before you change!" Atticus reminded just as she disappeared behind one of the trees. Atticus pouted and dropped to the ground and sat cross-legged, eating his two bananas as he waited for the girl to make an appearance. It was three minutes later before Danni reemerged from the woods, her dark hair scooped up into a messy bun, her feet bare, and only wearing a red bikini. Atticus's eyes popped as soon as he saw her and a grin found its way onto his face. "Man, it sure is a shame that you don't swim, because you should be at the beach all the time if you can pull off a bikini like that."

Danni's face flared red, before she rolled her eyes and carefully made her way over to Atticus, dropping her bag by his leg. "Thanks for the compliment. And I still wear this to sunbathe."

"Good."

"You're such a flirt, you know that?" Danni retorted as she started to head towards the water. She peered inside, making sure she could see the bottom clearly, before she dipped her toe in, smiling at the warmth of the water.

"It's a part of my charm," Atticus retorted with a smile. "How's the water?"

Danni slowly climbed into the water before sitting down and leaning her head back against the rock wall, a content and relaxed smile on her lips. "It's fantastic," she answered as she felt the water loosen her tight muscles and get rid of the stress she'd been feeling from the tournament.

"Aw man, I wanted to go first," Atticus pouted, lying down on the grass before turning to look at the girl. "How do you think everyone else is doing?"

"They should be fine," Danni assured, with a contented sigh. "I'm kinda curious who everyone got though."

Atticus and Danni talked about potential pairings—some more amusing than others—for around ten minutes before Atticus declared it was time for them to switch. "Alright, alright," Danni agreed, pulling herself out of the water and walking over to Atticus to grab her bag. "Just wait until I finish changing before you hop in."

"Are you crazy?" Atticus asked, already pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it in a heap by his backpack. "I'm jumping in now!" Atticus kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks before he started to undo the buttons of his jeans before Danni held up her hands and started walking away, back towards the woods.

"Don't get naked in front of me! And make sure you put on some swim trunks or something before you get in! You never know when you need to get out fast!"

"Yeah, yeah," Atticus muttered as he pulled off his jeans and tossed it towards the rest of his haphazardly thrown clothes. He was about to go for his bag to get his swim trunks before he thought about it. He didn't really need the swim trunks. It's not like anything was going to happen anyway! And when he hopped out later he'd just have Danni turn around. With that in mind Atticus pulled off his boxers and quickly made his way into the water, sitting down and leaning against the rock wall just as Danni had. "Aw man this is great!"

"You went in without clothes, didn't you?" Danni called out from behind her tree.

"Yup!"

Atticus didn't hear anything from Danni and didn't bother to try to come up with something to keep the conversation going. He knew she'd come over and start talking as soon as she was done changing, so all he had to do was sit back and relax until she was done. He was soaking for around two minutes before Atticus heard something shifting. He looked up, trying to figure out what it was before he groaned in annoyance and hit his head against the rocks behind him. Standing just in front of him were two boys, one with bright red hair and the other with black hair, both of them wearing jeans and t-shirts. That didn't bother him, however. The thing that had made him realize it had been a mistake not to wait for Danni was the fact that they were holding up his clothes and his bag, with smirks on their faces. Atticus looked back at them and frowned. "Is there any way you boys will decide to just give those back out of the kindness of your hearts?"

"Nope, but we'll give you clothes back for all your Glyph Capsules."

"Isn't stealing Glyph Capsules against the rules?"

The redhead shrugged. "Stealing them is, but bartering for them isn't. They never said anything about stealing clothes."

Atticus exhaled loudly before he looked towards the trees. "Danni! Can you come out here please?"

Danni walked out from behind the trees wearing her boots and her shorts, but her halter top wasn't on yet, and instead she only had a black bra. "What's up?" Danni asked in confusion before she spotted the two boys. She grinned before she looked back at Atticus and laughed. "I told you."

"Dude! He's partnered with Danni Muto!" The black haired boy hissed to his partner, his eyes fixated on the brunette girl and a bright smile on his face. The redhead looked just as star struck as his friend beside him.

Danni smiled at the two boys as she pulled her halter top quickly over her head and let down her hair so she was back to her normal look. "Hey there, you guys seem to know who I am, but who are you guys?"

"I'm Jensen Singer!" The redhead quickly spoke up, edging towards the girl the slightest bit, looking like he was ready to sit on the ground like a dog and bark if the girl asked him to.

The black haired boy bobbed his head. "And I'm Bobby Portland!"

Danni dropped her bag on the ground before she tapped her finger to her lips in thought. "Bobby and Jensen… oh right! I've heard about you boys! Bobby is the best Hazy Flame duelist, and Jensen specializes in Bujin. I remember watching a couple of your duels a few months back!"

If it was at all possible, it looked like the two boys were about to explode in joy. "Y-You mean that you remember our duels?"

"Of course, I like to watch pro duels whenever I'm not busy! You boys are pretty good!" Danni complimented.

Bobby shifted for a few seconds before he frowned, looking to the clothes in his hands. "Hey, if we had known that this guy was your partner we wouldn't have taken his clothes."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Danni waved it off with a smile. "I told him not to leave his clothes everywhere."

"Hey!" Atticus complained from his spot in the hot springs.

A smile found its way onto Danni's face as she looked at the two boys. "Hey, I've got an idea. How about we duel for them?"

"You wanna duel against us?" Jensen asked, his smile growing impossibly wider. "But it would be two on one."

"I've had worse, trust me," Danni assured, reaching into her bag and pulling out her duel disk and her deck, slipping it onto her wrist and activating it. "Plus, I've been itching to duel ever since I got here and you boys are the first ones we've found! How about you boys each wager one Glyph Capsule and Atty's things and I'll wager two Glyph Capsules of my own. Then whoever wins gets to keep the pot!"

Jensen and Bobby wasted no time in pulling out their decks and duel disks, ready and more than willing to duel one of their idols. "You're on! Duel!"

Danni: 8000 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 8000 LP

"You boys feel free to start it off!" Danni encouraged with a smile.

Jensen and Bobby shared a look before the redhead started, looking over his hand. "I summon my Bujin Yamato in attack mode and I'll place one card facedown." The large towering gold and red creature appeared on the field in front of its master. "Your move."

Bujin Yamato: 1800 ATK/200 DEF

Danni looked at the large monster before she smiled. "Cool looking monster! Guess it's time I bring out some of my friends! I summon Temple Guard and place one card facedown to end my turn!" A large muscled man with long black spiky hair and a large sword in one hand wearing Spartan armor appeared onto the field in front of Danni.

Temple Guard: 1200 ATK/1600 DEF

"I summon my Flamvell Firedog in attack mode!" They magma rock dog appeared on the field snarling and snapping it's jaws, prowling back and forth in front of Bobby's side of the field.

Flamvell Firedog: 1900 ATK/200 DEF

Danni looked at the dog and grinned. "He's a pretty cute looking dog if you get past the whole 'vicious' thing. But allow me to bring out another friend of mine, Apprentice Warrior Fubi!" A young man dressed in golden armor appeared on the field, with shoulder-blade length dark brown spiky hair and a golden mask covering his face. He had a small dagger in one hand and a shield in the other.

Apprentice Warrior Fubi: 1500 ATK/1000 DEF

Jensen grinned. "Aw man this is so awesome. I can't believe we're actually dueling Danni Muto. But now it's my move! And I'll activate my facedown spell card Forbidden Lance and I'll target your Temple Guard! Now for this turn he'll lose 800 ATK points! Now, Yamato, take out her Temple Guard!" The larger monster shot off across the field and slammed at Temple Guard, destroying it. "And using my Bujin Yamato's special effect I'll discard one care in order to get another Bujin monster in my hand! Your move, Danni."

Danni: 6600 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 8000 LP

Danni smiled slightly and nodded. "Good moves Jensen. But by destroying my Temple Guard you activated his special ability. Now I can summon any monster from my deck as long as it's level four and below and I'll choose my Spell Keeper!" A tall man with short blonde hair and blue eyes hidden behind glasses appeared on the field wearing a violet suit and holding several scrolls underneath one arm.

Spell Keeper: 1000 ATK/1000 DEF

"Alright that means it's my move!" Bobby cheered, drawing his card. "Now I summon my Hazy Flame Sphynx!" The half lion half woman creature appeared on the field in front of Bobby and he smiled. "Now but using her effect, I'm going to discard the top card of my deck, and if I can accurate guess which type of card it just was, I get to special summon one flame monster from my hand or graveyard, and I think this top card is a trap!" Bobby discarded the card and beamed when it started to glow gold. "Looks like I was right! Now give a warm welcome to my Manticore of Darkness!" The large muscular lion and winged beast appeared on the field, roaring loudly.

Hazy Flame Sphynx: 1900 ATK/ 1900 DEF

Manticore of Darkness: 2300 ATK/1000 DEF

"Uh… those are pretty strong monsters, Danni!" Atticus piped up from his spot in the hot springs, cheering the girl on.

Danni fought off the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes and instead focused on the duel at hand. She could chastise Atticus later. "Now, my Flamvell Firedog, Hazy Flame Sphynx, and my Manticore of Darkness are going to take your life points down!" The three monsters shot off to Danni's side, Sphynx destroying Spell Keeper while Flamvell took out Fubi. Manticore, however, went straight for Danni, hitting the girl away so she landed on her butt.

"Danni!"

Danni: 2400 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 8000 LP

"I activate my facedown spell card, Spell Circle! And in exchange for discarding two cards I get 1000 life points back!" Danni announced as she did just that.

Danni: 3400 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 8000 LP

"And now that I have some breathing room, I'll activate the spell card Pot of Greed so that I can draw two more cards!" Danni drew her cards before a small twitch in her lips became a full blown smile. "Now I'll summon my Palace Patrol in defense mode and place one card face down!" A group of armed men, dressed in similar clothing to the way that Apprentice Warrior Fubi was appeared on the field, each of them huddling down and placing their shields in front of them as defense.

Palace Patrol: 700 ATK/2100 DEF

"C'mon Danni you can't lose! My clothes are on the line!" Atticus commented from behind her.

Jensen grinned seeing the fact that they were so close to winning against one of the best female duelists in the world. "Well it's been fun doing this but I guess it's time to end this! Now I'll attack using all four of our monsters!"

Danni smirked. "Over confident are we? I activate my facedown spell card Scapegoat!" The four monsters that had been sent across the field to attack merely destroyed one of the sheep tokens, leaving Danni's monsters and life points intact. Jensen winced before he turned it over to Danni. "C'mon now, you couldn't have thought it would be that easy. Now I sacrifice my Palace Patrol in order to summon my Ancient Spell Master!" A man wearing golden flowing robes appeared on the field with markings on his cheeks.

Ancient Spell Master: 2000 ATK/2000 DEF

"And that's not all! I activate my spell card Spell of Equality which I can only activate when you have both more monsters and more life points than I do! This allows me to destroy one of your monsters and summon one of my own! So say good bye to you Hazy Sphynx and say hello to my Hado of the Sacred Arts!" A man with white hair and violet eyes appeared on the field. He had tan skin and black billowing robes covering his body with markings on his cheeks that matched the ones on Ancient Spell Master.

Hado of the Sacred Arts: 2200 ATK/1500 DEF

"Now I'll have my Ancient Spell Master attack your Bujin Yamato and have Hado take a crack at your Flamvell Firedog!" Danni ordered, sending her two monsters shooting off towards their opponents' side of the field. The two hits connected before the Spellcasters made their face back to their side of the field, standing at attention in front of Danni. "Now I'll just place one card face down and end my turn."

Danni: 3400 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 7500 LP

"At a girl Danni! Now keep it up! You can do it! Go Danni go! Danni, Danni, she's the best! She's much better than the rest! Go Danni!"

Danni whirled around and looked at Atticus with her hands on her hips. "Can you not do that? I appreciate the support but screaming at me from in the hot springs isn't going to help me!"

Bobby looked up at Danni and beamed, despite the fact that she was in a verbal match with Atticus. "Wow, you're every bit as good as everyone says! This is so awesome! Now I'll attack using my Manticore to take out your Hado!" As Manticore shot off across the field after the man, Danni smirked.

"You activated my trap card, Battle Tether!" Danni announced. "This changes your attack from one on my monsters to a direct attack on me!" The large monster quickly changed directions and headed in Danni's direction, striking the girl and sending her to her knee.

Danni: 600 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 7500 LP

Atticus stared in concern at the brunette girl who was kneeling on the ground. "Danni are you okay?" He called out, worry lacing his tone.

"I'll be fine!" Danni pushed herself up to her feet and tossed Jensen and Bobby a smirk. "This duel is about to end right now. I activate my field spell card Magical Dimension!" The entire field changed from the wooded area they'd previously been in to a large clearing in a forest. It was clearly night outside with hundred upon thousands of multi-colored lights floating around them. There were large various colored stars with a red moon high in the sky, and a large violet and blue planet just behind the moon. "Now what this does—besides changing the scenery of course—gives all my Spellcasters a 500 attack point increase!" Some of the lights that hung in the sky flew down to engulf the two monsters in a multicolored aura.

Ancient Spell Master: 2500 ATK/2000 DEF

Hado of the Sacred Arts: 2700 ATK/1500 DEF

"Now I'll activate my spell cared Spellcaster Revival in order to bring back my Spellcaster Noa and Spellcaster Ginta that I had discarded earlier so that I could use my Spell Circle! But these guys won't be here long! I'll sacrifice my two monsters and use the ritual spell card Royal Ritual in order to summon my Princess of Magic: Aurora!" A girl wearing a pitch black knee-length dress with a red ruby necklace appeared on the field. She was wearing black gladiator sandals that tied up to her shins and a golden crown perched on her dark brown hair. The most noticeable thing, however, was the fact that this monster looked exactly like Danni. Aurora even had Danni's violet eyes and brown hair which was braided elegantly. "And Aurora's special ability allows her to gain an additional 200 attack points from each spell card in all graveyards! And by my count there are nine, which gives my Aurora an 1800 attack point boost!" The lights surrounded Aurora, as they had with Ancient Spell Master and Hado.

Princess of Magic: Aurora: 5300 ATK/2500 DEF

Danni smirked at her monster before looking across the field. "Alright Hado, take out his Manticore! Spell Master and Aurora come in from the rear and attack them directly!" The three monsters set off to do their tasks, sending their attacks towards Jensen and Bobby, kicking up a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared the duel was over and Jensen and Bobby were both sprawled on their backs.

Danni: 600 LP

Jensen and Bobby: 0 LP

Atticus jumped up and pumped his fist in the air. "Alright Danni, way to go! That's how you show them how to duel!" Danni turned around to give Atticus a thumbs up before her face exploded in a blush and she whirled back around quickly covering her face with her hands.

"ATTICUS PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!"