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The Grand Tournament

Fanfic Chapter 243: The Saga of St. Joan Pt 2: What the Hex?
Episode Basis: None

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Harold faced his old nemesis, Chris, in the futuristic planetarium of Futuretown. Chris was upset that Harold took his prized card, Gold Chronos Warrior, during Battle City. But Chris got his revenge as he took Gold Chronos Warrior from Harold, and used it along with its red and blue counterparts, to summon his Father Time. Harold's plan to summon St. Joan was literally cut short as Father Time decapitated Goddess with the Third Eye. Now on the defense with two monsters, can Harold defeat a monster stronger than Kaiba's dragons?

"Father Time, destroy his Mystical Elf!" The Elf gasped as Father Time sliced her along her middle and she fell back and was destroyed.

(C: 2800)
(H: 1800)

"This is getting to be no fun at all, Kumara, you were much stronger at Battle City."

"Don't patronize me, Chris, you have no idea what I've been through since then."

"Yeah, yeah, cry me a river. Just make a move."

Harold growled and drew a card. It's a card I got from Yugi. Unfortunately, I can't use it with my Forgiving Maiden, I need St. Joan but without Goddess with the Third Eye, I can't summon her! Man, this is frustrating. "I end my turn."

Chris made an exaggerated yawn. "Boring, Father Time, show him how displeased we are." Father Time swung his scythe. At first The Forgiving Maiden was dissolving but then Mist Body kicked in and reformed her.

(C: 2800)
(H: 600)

Harold drew another card. "I pass again."

"How sad, I was hoping for a challenge," Chris said. "Oh well, I'll tell Katy you said hi. Father Time, attack his Forgiving Maiden!"

Harold smiled, "Reveal face-down card, Reliable Guardian. This increases my monster's defense points by 700!"

(FM: 2800-3500)

(C: 2800)
(H: 100)

"Well, that's more like it," Chris said placing a card face-down. "I was beginning to think you lost your touch."

So was I, Harold mentally admitted and drew a card. "I set another card face-down and end my turn."

His face-down card may be a trap, Chris thought. Then again, he could be pulling a fast one just to buy some time. But if he's not, and I attack, I could risk losing my Father Time. "My draw."

"My trap," Harold returned activating his face-down card. "Thunder of Ruler!"

It was a trap, Chris thought. I wasn't going to attack anyway, but now that he has that trap card I don't have a choice in the matter. Fine then. "I end my turn."

I bought myself some time, Harold thought. But not a lot, I don't think the next card I'm going to draw is going to help me. Maybe I should just give up… no, that's not what I would do, and that's not what St. Joan would do either…

I remember some time ago, right before Anubis attack, Yugi and I were paired up for a project on European historical figures. I was looking through a book and came upon a picture of a familiar looking warrior.

"Yugi, look, it's St. Joan," I said jokingly while pointing out the picture of the girl carrying a sword.

"Yeah, it looks just like her," Yugi agreed. "I heard that when Pegasus was searching for ideas for Duel Monsters, he drew upon legends from all around the world."

I found out that Joan was just a child, probably not too much older than Mokuba when she started having visions. Some unseen force was directing her to do stuff that wasn't normal for a teenage girl at the time. In other words, become a knight to the French king. She did, even going so far as to lead several successful campaigns against the enemy. But then she was captured by the enemy. She was railroaded; she had nobody to defend herself against the humiliation she suffered. In the end, the English burned her at the stake as a witch and heretic. But Joan was noble and loyal to the literal end and was eventually made into a Saint.

"Joan wouldn't give up until the end and neither will I, so that when the end does come, we will have no regrets."

"Yozora miage kyou mo ano hoshi wa mienai; toki wa mujyou ni kokoro sugite yuku."

Everyone looked up as a strange song started to play over speakers which were probably masked by the galaxy landscape they were in.

"That song, I know it somehow," Harold muttered. Louder, he said, "Where's that coming from?"

"I'll go check it out," Rebecca said and ran off.

What's she doing, Chris thought to himself but he wasn't referring to Rebecca.

Rebecca ran into a control room. But it was empty, she didn't even see any audio equipment though there was a microphone there. She ran out, "I couldn't find the source."

"She's disobeying the boss," Chris grumbled.

Harold heard him, "'She'?" He wondered.

"I better win this duel fast."

"Oh don't go away mad, Chris, just go away," Harold retorted. Somehow hearing that song has reenergized something deep inside me, I don't know what it is but somehow I know everything's going to turn out all right. Harold drew a card, "This card… yes, I can use it! Hey Chris, how would you like to meet my favorite fusion monster?"

"St. Joan? I had a feeling you were going to try to summon her, what, did you draw Marie the Fallen One (1)?"

"Nope, don't even have her in my deck any more, gave her to a friend." He cast a side glance at Rebecca.

"But how are you… oh, I see, I bet you drew another Goddess with the Third Eye and am going to use her."

"Nope."

"Hey, geek, in case you haven't read the rule book, you need two to fuse, and if I know you, you only include monsters that are light attribute and Goddess with the Third Eye is the only monster that fits those two conditions."

"Not exactly, Chris. You see, you're right in that I only include light monsters in my deck and you're right in that you need at least two monsters to perform a fusion. But what I have here is a monster that's better than my Goddess! I summon The Light – Hex Sealed Fusion (2) in attack mode!" A strange rotund-looking object appeared. "Just like my Goddess, Hex Sealed Fusion can duplicate any monster used in a fusion summons as long as the fusion monster I'm going to summon is a light-attribute monster. And what do you know St. Joan is a light attribute monster. So I'll have it imitate Marie the Fallen One." The object transformed into a yellow and brown outline of Marie the Fallen One. "Now I play Polymerization!"

"I activate my trap card," Chris called out. "Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell!"

"Who what of the where?"

"Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell, by discarding a magic card I can negate your magic card." The image of Polymerization broke into pieces. "But there's more, you can no longer use the card that my trap has affected, in other words, looks like St. Joan won't be coming out to play any time…" He noticed that there was a smile on Harold's face and he was chuckling. "What's so funny?"

"You are, I had a feeling you would try to destroy my magic card which is why I have this: Hex Sealed Fusion's special ability!"

"But you already activated its special ability!"

"Yes, but it has another one, by sacrificing it and my Maiden, I can summon a light attribute fusion monster without actually fusing it."

"Oh no!"

"Oh yeah, now I sacrifice The Light – Hex Sealed Fusion and The Forgiving Maiden to summon St. Joan!" An orange-haired woman wearing silver armor appeared. "Next I play a card I got from Yugi, the magic card Excalibur!"

"Excalibur?" Chris wondered as a large sword appeared in St. Joan's hand.

"According to legend, St. Joan found a special sword which she used throughout her battles. This sword was so powerful that it was said that it was the reason why Joan was such a valiant warrior. And what's more, the legends also say that the sword was Excalibur. I don't know if it's true or not, but the fact that St. Joan was a strong fighter up to her last fight does give it some integrity. As for the card, it doubles St. Joan's attack power."

(SJ: 2800-5600)

"Now I have enough power to lay waste to your Father Time. But he isn't my target."

"Then what…" Chris then noticed his Timeater. "Oh no, my Timeater, I forgot to switch it to defense mode!"

"Bingo, and now you're going to pay for your mistakes. St. Joan, attack his Timeater!" St. Joan ran her sword through Timeater destroying the clock.

(C: 0)
(H: 100)

Chris fell to his knees as Harold walked towards him. "You win," he said glumly. "Go ahead take any card in my deck."

"Nah, in fact, you can keep your Gold Chronos Warrior."

"But… why are you being so nice to me?"

"It's not in my nature to hold a grudge but if you think that means I'm going to just lay down and die like a dog, think again. I will fight to my last breath. And tell ALL your friends that." Chris nodded. Harold turned and went over to Rebecca, "What, no kiss for the conquering hero?"

"Don't flatter yourself, blue boy the only one I want to kiss is Yugi."

"Heh, thought so," Harold said. He was caught off guard as Rebecca threw her arms around him.

"But I will give you one of these for winning a duel despite your handicap."

"Thanks, Beck, hey can I see your duel?"

"You better watch my duel considering I watched yours."

"Then lead on, kimo-sabe," Harold said and the two left.

Leon Wilson waited near the center of what is known as "Main Street", a road with shops and stores right in front of the entrance. He was so busy shuffling his deck that he didn't notice two figures sneak in through the front gate.

"Leon."

Leon turned and saw Drew standing at the other end of the street. "Hey, Drew, are you ready to duel?"

"What is going on here?" Drew asked. "Harold doesn't even know me!"

"Huh?"

"Leon, nobody will tell me why Harold doesn't recognize me! Is there something wrong with him or did he forget about me once he became friends with Yugi Moto?"

Leon looked away, "Drew, I honestly don't know how to answer that. But if you want to make Harold remember you again, you should show him something familiar to help jog his memory."

"That's it, I have an idea," Drew exclaimed. "But first I have to make sure I get to face him in the finals."

"Then let's get to dueling," Leon said activating his Duel Disk.

Katy was on her way to her first duel with Brian Berg when she heard someone calling out to her. Chris ran up to her. "Chris, how was your duel?" She asked.

"Don't give me that, I know fully well you were there. You're going against the boss's orders!"

"The boss said not to socialize with him, he said nothing about playing music."

Chris chuckled, "Katy that was almost underhanded."

Katy turned away and put on a crossed look, "It runs in the family," she said solemnly.

The End

Duel Monster Database

(1)
Name: Marie the Fallen One
Level: 5
Type: Fiend/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 1700
DEF: 1200

(2)
Name: The Light – Hex Sealed Fusion
Level: 3
Type: Rock/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK: 1000
DEF: 1600

A/N: The story of St. Joan was obviously based on the story of Joan d'Arc (Joan of Arc) who actually did become a saint some 500 years after her death. And here's something interesting, the two monsters used to form her. One is called Marie the Fallen One. Joan was known to carry a banner with Jhesus-Marie on it, (Jesus and Mary). Even to this day, nobody really knows why she used the name but they said the banner was enchanted due to it. The other monster, The Forgiving Maiden, Joan was known as "The Maiden of Orleans." You should google her name sometime, her story's actually quite interesting.

Also, you might be wondering what the gibberish that the three heard during the duel is. Well it's not gibberish, its Japanese. It's from the song Foolish Dream by Yoko Ishida. It's off her CD entitled "all of me." The translation is as follows:

Looking up to the night sky I can't see that star again; time passes by mercilessly leaving me uneasy.

I included the reference to that song for three reasons: 1, I like it, 2, it has an intimacy I can't find on any other Japanese track that I have and 3… well you'll have to find out later.

Okay, this chapter seemed a little short, didn't it? Well there's a specific reason for that. I am giving all who read this chapter a sneak preview of an all new fanfic series I'm going to write based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series. This is the opening scene.

Professors Jeremiah Bedford and Xing Yu weren't really brother and sister, but they certainly acted that way, meaning they fought like cats and dogs. For some reason, Yu even felt like calling him Big Brother, probably just to spite him. Nevertheless, they worked together on several archaeological digs and had become a formidable team over the years. Now they were on another one. This one was in Europe. Recent sonar and tectonic readings revealed an underground cavern beneath Stonehenge and Professor Bedford and Professor Yu, being experts on Ancient European history, were asked to investigate it.

"I don't like this, Big Brother," Professor Yu said. "I feel some bad energy from this place."

"Nonsense, I don't 'feel' anything, we'll just take some preliminary readings and get a team down here to stabilize the area." The cavern walls seemed to be hollowed out but the ground as they descended the slope was smooth. "Remarkable, some of this architecture is reminiscent of the ancient Celts. Some had theorized that Stonehenge was actually a crypt but there was no evidence to support it until now. Professor Yu, stop hanging off of me like a monkey."

"I'm sorry, Big Brother," she said, her petit frame and high-pitch voice made it seem like he was talking to a schoolgirl instead of someone close to his own age. He stopped and looked at a wall.

"Xing, come take a look at this, ancient Celtic or perhaps even Gaelic, I didn't think I would see so much scripture in one place."

Professor Yu noticed a hallway. "Big… I mean Professor Bedford, I will scout ahead."

"Of course," Professor Bedford said but he didn't really hear her, he was too busy searching through a notebook. "Let's see, there are hundreds of different characters here, I hope I can figure it out. 'After… fallen in battle, his…' I think that's body… 'was brought here, sealed beyond time and space, protected…' no, 'guided, by the Four Maidens. Two who supported him, one who opposed him, and another who loved him, he will remain here beyond human… reach (I think) until such time as he will be needed again, sent forth from the island to protect the world of man from a threat that is beyond space, beyond time, the once and…"

"Big Brother!" Bedford hearad Yu's voice screamed out and ran to check on her.

The woman was standing at the entrance to a chamber, her flashlight rolling around on the ground in front of her. Professor Bedford shined his light into the chamber.

The chamber was not very large, the ground and walls were made out of stone and carved in a similar fashion to the rest of the place. Surrounding the room at four corners (or what would be corners had the room not be round) were four feminine-looking statues, each of them had long hair and in a dress. The only difference between the four was the colors, faded with the passage of time. The purple one had her arms near but not touching her hips, a blue one had her hands on either side of her head, a yellow one was holding her hands out like she was expecting a gift and a red one had her hands plastered to her chest. All four of them were facing a crypt, about four and a half feet in length.

"I knew it, so it is a tomb," Bedford said. He shined his flashlight on the humanoid statues. "I wonder if these are the four Maidens mentioned in the scripture."

"Why are they in different poses?" Professor Yu asked.

"I believe their gestures represent the four parts of a human: body, heart, mind, and soul. Ancient people long believed that with the union of these four elements, great things could be achieved. So why…"

The cavern started to shake. Yu gripped Bedford tight. Light emitted from the eyes of the four women statues converged over the crypt. The lid of the crypt started to slide open. A kaleidoscope of light shined from the crypt.

What happened next neither of them could believe.

So what do you think, interesting, huh? I will put two more such scenes throughout this particular story arc so now you guys have an additional incentive to keep on reading. Well, enjoy!