"Some cats have paints and whiskers. But, as for me, I got a beard. Because obviously, because obviously, I'm weird!"

Rattlesnake glared up at his newest mental hatchling, "You keep singing 'I Odd' and I'll make you disappear for good Chess."

Samantha and my unnamed OC and original cards "Renegade Fire, Scythe of Nightmares, and Double Critical" are the only things that I thought of on my own.

"-So, I wound up dueling in this high stakes game against Samantha Hillary here." Jaden finished explaining his current situation to his friends.

'Yeah, and I was introduced last chapter and the writer acted like a tool and made me stick with this silently watching bull.' the unseen figure thought to its self, as it continued to mask its presence.

Unawares of the unseen member of the audience Sam continued the duel. "Speaking of which, it's still my move." The young duelist said as she drew her next card.

Current round 2 stats

Jaden: LP - 2900; Field – Inferno Wing; S/T card zone – One facedown; Hand – 0

Sam: LP - 1500; Field - Spark-man (ATK-1600 DEF-1400) - Poison Rose (ATK-2300 DEF-1800); S/T card zone - empty; Hand - 1

Second turn - Sam's turn

"I play Card of Sanctity it lets us both draw until we have six cards in our hand."

As the two drew their cards, Samantha let a cocky grin spread over her face she had this in the bag. "Now I summon Elemental HERO Lady Heat in attack mode (Atk-1300 Def-1000)." (AN; Just look it up, it's a real card, and I don't have the temperament to write it out)

'Completely understandable, it's not like she is a major plot point.' The figure thought, carelessly breaking the fourth wall, as he observed the duel interestedly.

"And her card effect inflects 200 points of damage for each face up Elemental Hero monster I control and I see three." Sam said triggering her card's effect and orange flames sprang into existing at the new flame wielder's silent command intent on burning away six hundred of Jaden's life points until his face down sprang up at his command. "I activate my trap Barrel Behind the Door (real card). It takes the damage that I would have taken and throws it back at you!"

The orange flames were absorbed into the card's picture of an ornamented golden pistol pointed at a person who had just opened a bobby-trapped temple door and threw them back at Sam in effecting 600 points of damage. Sam growled in an unladylike way. "I play the spell H-Heated Heart and equip it to my Poison Rose increasing her attack points by five hundred which is more than what your Inferno Wing has. And she will use them! Attack now with Poison Cyclone!" The plant-type spirit sent a cloud of razor-sharp rose petals riding on a roaring cyclone at the former Evil HERO, destroying her and inflecting five hundred points of damage,

"And because she infected damage she gets that extra 200 atk points." Sam smirked. All she had to do was attack with the other two monsters and she'd win. "And now Sparkman will attack going for 1600 points."

Jaden groaned in spite of himself as his life points dropped to four hundred. "I activate a monster effect an effect from my hand to special summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness* (Atk-2700 Def-2500). If I take damage while I don't have any cards on my side of the field I can special summon it. But that is not all depending on what type of damage I took I can activate one of two other effects. And since I took battle damage I can especial summon a Gorz the Emissary of Darkness Token, whose attack and defense equal the damage I just took." (Atk-1600 Def-1600)

Two figures appeared in a flare of shadow and the other in a bust of light, a red-headed man dressed in black with a large sword (Gorz) and what looked like his twin sister in dressed in white(token). 'Yubel have I said thank you for this card?' Jaden asked his spirit partner

"No you didn't. But if you want you could always grovel in appreciation a little after the duel is over." Yubel responded as her partner's opponent fumed at having missed her shot at finishing him off.

"Fine, I'll set three cards face down and end my turn," Sam took a minute cool down and properly assess the situation. 'Okay, Jaden just summoned two powerful monsters and has a full hand thanks to the effect of Card of Sanctity but I still have more life points than him and my facedown's; Mirror Force, and the quick-plays Shrink and Rush Recklessly… it'll take something like an Egyptian God Card to get him out of this.'

Current round 3 stats

Jaden: LP - 400; Field – Gorz the Emissary of Darkness (Atk-2700 Def-2000) - Gorz the Emissary of Darkness Token (Atk-1600 Def-1600); S/T card zone – empty; Hand – 6

Sam: LP - 900; Field – Lady Heat (Atk-1300 Def-1000) - Spark-man (ATK-1600 DEF-1400) - Poison Rose (ATK-2500 DEF-1800); S/T card zone – 3 facedown's; Hand – 1

Jaden's hand had several good cards. He had Negate Attack, Mirror Force, Emergency Provisions, Soul exchange, and even Kisara's card but he knew Sam's face-downs were probably nasty and that things were looking bleak but still… "Hey, Sam something about this game that makes it one of the most frustrating and rewarding games in the world is how a single turn to change everything." And with that he drew his card and grinned, "Case and point right here. I use the card Soul Exchange to use your Sparkman and Lady Heat to tribute summon the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Samantha could only stare at the majestic dragon in awe as she fought against her disbelief, 'How is this possible? There are only four of those cards in the world! But still no need to panic between my face-downs and Poison Rose I still have this in the bag.'

"But that is just the beginning I pay my copy of Double Summon and now I'll tribute all three of my monsters to summon one of three creatures whose power is beyond any others." Jaden said as his monsters disappeared and in the center of his field was a giant golden sphere that was shinning like a small sun.

Jaden reached out to it and called to it, chanting in a clear voice…

Almighty protector of the sun and sky, I beg of you, please heed my cry.

Transform yourself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight.

I beseech thee, grace our humble game.

But first I shall call out thy name…

Winged Dragon of Ra!

As soon as the ancient name was spoken the golden orb opened its self up with blazing golden flames surrounding it as it assumed its true form the majestic divine spirit, Winged Dragon of Ra. Everyone there was able to recognize it for what it was... Something that was ancient and truly powerful.

"So what if you have a faked Ra? Some knock off won't win this duel!" Sam yelled with fake bravado as she did her best not to shake under the pressure of the golden dragon's very real spiritual aura.

"Unfortunately, this my copy is as real as Yugi's was, which means that its attack and defense points are equal to the combined attack and defense as its tribute monsters." Jaden said as the point's changed from being unknown, to 6100 defense points and 7300 attack points!

Jaden pointed to the other player and give the Egyptian god card her orders, "This is the end! Winged Dragon of Ra attack with your Blaze Cannon now and finish this game!"

"No! I activate my trap!" Sam tried to counter with her Mirror Force card but it didn't work. "Sorry, but while it's face up on the field the Winged Dragon of Ra can't be destroyed by card effects." Jaden explained as the divine spirit prepared to attack, a ball of golden flames forming in front of it.

'And since its attack and defense were originally (?) my Shrink won't work!' Sam knew that she couldn't do anything to stop the attack and her life points wouldn't survive it.

"I…lost?" Sam couldn't believe it as the blazing column of flames rushed toward her. She hadn't lost ever since she found the E-heroes. She wouldn't accept a loss now. "This is not happening!" She yelled as she changed into her true-form. A pair of ethereal blue wings with black lines making up a set of bones appeared from her back and sent several feathers flying toward Jaden as his eyes widened in remembrance.

He knew what she was from his time as Nuraihyon, a Yakushi. A bird yokai born with beautiful wings, that turn poisonous when they come of age. Making their bodies physically weak but granting them an instinctual grasp of poison and healing.

Sam's feathers shot straight at her opponent like arrows only his body seemed to disappear in a black flicker and then reappear right in front of her, eyes blazing aqua-green and bright orange, made all the more fighting and imposing by the golden flames from the god spirit's attack. In his right hand was a straight-edge katana that had polished white lacquer handle and didn't have a handle guard, while in the left was its scabbard which like the handle was also made of polished white lacquer wood. The simple beauty of white scabbard and handle didn't hold a candle to the blade its self. The blade seemed unmarred by any impurity in the metal or nick in the blade which shone in brightly almost glowing with a pure light. But beneath that, there was an undeniable darkness that made it unmistakable that had witnessed true horrors and was now a blade that was cursed by the evil of men, a blade dark salvation.

"Nenekirimaru…" she breathed out as the blade rested just under her chin.

"Samantha Hillary," Jaden said in clear voice as the fires from Ra's attack and disappeared, "you are under arrest for attacking a member of the Internal Affairs Department… and reckless endangerment of students." He pointed at the figures of the newspaper club hiding behind several trees that were impaled by Sam's feathers.

"NOW CAN I MAKE MY APPEARANCE?!" A voice, that sounded like it was distorted by something that wasn't entirely there, yelled from behind a tree which made everyone turn toward it, "…Crap, that was supposed be in thought marks… this one too."

"Come out." Jaden said as pointed his blade out where his spirit seeing eyes pin-pointed the stranger.

"Alright, no need to make this a bad experience." Was the fear inspired response.

"Rattlesnake, I'm not afraid. I just don't want to become a Shish-Kabob ala Nenekirimaru." He said as slow faded into sight starting with a wide grin that and then rest of him. He was an inch shorter than Jaden and dressed in black jeans with three silver chains dangling across his left hip, a dark-purple black striped tank-top which showed his slim yet athletic body, and on his neck was what looked like a black studded cat collar with a sliver chain hanging from its led-ring. He looked he had a very feline like face which was fixed with grin that showed off all off his teeth including the particularly long canines, and he had shoulder length black hair. But the thing that really stood out was his eyes; they were a deep shade of purple and silted like a cat's. There was something in them that made you sure wasn't normal, but could never sure be if he was truly insane.

"Oh great, a Cheshire Cat," Jaden deadpanned.

"That is right!" he said with an exuberant cheer, "I'm a Cheshire and my name Gabriel Wilson."

X

As he led Sam to the holding cells the rest of the group kept silent as Jaden tried to figure the day's events out.

"Come on! I want to get some background out here!" everyone except Gabriel kept quiet, but honestly he was grateful that he had a distraction to keep him from thinking too hard.

"Alright this is your stop." Jaden ignored the Cheshire and motioned for the poison bird to inter the cell.

"Where are the bars?" Sam asked as she noticed the lack of a cell door or window, which the IA chief shrugged off. "There was a delay with those, but as long as you stay on that side of that white line on the floor and there won't be any mistakes," he said as he pointed out the chock line he made earlier.

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT THE ONLY THING STOPPING ME FROM LEAVING IS A LITTLE… Wait, what's that red stuff?" Sam cut her rant short as she spotted what looked like a blood splatter on the floor across the chock line.

"A mistake," Jaden said casually.

Nothing further was said as Sam sat down quietly on her cell cot.

X

Gabriel had fallen asleep on the coach in a chair in Jaden's office after he had told everyone that he was going to let "his majesty explain" since he had traveled all the way from London to get to "this not at all isolated little school." The sarcastic tones weren't lost one anyone.

"So what is a Cheshire Cat? Is it anything like a Bakeneko?" Yukari asked.

Jaden sighed, this was going to take a while even lying about his ancient past, "Something like that. After the confrontation with Kyoko I knuckled under and read some of the old text my ancestors left me. I don't know all the details about it but as far as I understand it, a group of militant warlocks created a Bakeneko like yokai by taking advantage of a human's natural adaptability and made a completely new type of yokai. But the experiment was deemed a failure and the test subjects were going to be destroyed until Nuraihyon attacked the warlocks and rescued the sole remaining survivor of the tests."

"Why was it considered a failure? They made a new species of yokai like they wanted right? And that invisibility thing he did was pretty impressive back during your duel with Sam was pretty impressive" Tamao asked as she looked that the sleeping Cheshire Cat and failed to find anything wrong as far as she could see.

"Creating a new yokai wasn't the point." Jaden elaborated, "The average cat in feudal Japan was invisible. Imagine if you could use them as spies… messengers… saboteurs… hell, assassins even if you coat their claws in poison…" Jaden listed off the possible uses for such cats, the part about poisoned claws made the others notice that the sleeping teen had his nails painted black. "And the Cheshire Cats would give the orders." Jaden finished explaining.

After letting that set in Kurumu turned back to Jaden, "So the normal cats wouldn't fallow the Cheshires or something?"

"No, the Cheshire Cats are the highest ranking cats there is." was Jaden swift rebuttal. "So what was the problem?" Moka asked.

"Because the Cheshire Cats were insane! The warlock hadn't killed the one that Nuraihyon saved because they wanted to find out why she was the only one that wasn't a raving lunatic! And it was obvious that she wasn't completely all there either from the way she kept calling Nuraihyon, "mommy"!" Jaden exclaimed, disturbing Gabriel's nap.

"Five more minutes, Mommy... My all alarm hasn't even gone off yet…" The Cheshire Cat murmured in his sleep. Making every one wonder if he real did just call Jaden, mommy or if their ears were playing tricks on them.

Sorry that this chapter took so long. Duel scenes take a while to write and I had to figure out which version of the Winged Dragon of Ra chants to use Marik's or Yugi's. I chose Yugi's.

As usual you are welcome to review but flame will be ignored and just add to the number of reviews in the review box which brings me more readers and are completely counter productive.