YuGiOh Jr: Sister of Anansi Chapter 38: Double Attack, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

For those of you who love the deckmaster system, then you're in for a treat; the next few chapters will have their duels run on it. All credit to the deckmaster system goes to the writers of the Noah arc of the anime.

NOTE: Some of the cards are from the Elemental Energy booster pack.

My name is Arnold Rockwell. I am one of the counselors of Duelist Camp. My uncle, Tristan Taylor, was a good man who was friends to the legendary King of Games, Yugi Mouto. Of course, Tristan didn't duel as often as his pal, Joey, but from what his nephew, Brandon, told me, Tristan had shared the same adventures with Yugi Senior and his pals.

It was a shame my uncle never had a child, or else that kid could have joined Yugi Junior in his adventures. I feel a little envious that Brandon's uncle had a kid, Mary Wheeler, who had joined Yugi Junior in the Duelist Labyrinth and Duelatopia and was as great a duelist as her father.

I have tried to be a great duelist too, and my deck of warriors and machines, most of them army-related, was sort of a nod to my uncle's favorite card, Cyber Commander. I carry that very card he owned in my deck as a memorandum to him.

I usually don't like working with others, unlike my uncle, but now I have no choice. If I want to avoid ending up in the dungeons of Pisaro's place, I have to help Lina, who I consider my rival, to battle these crazy Duel Monsters come to life. However, the new rules here are a little intimidating. Tristan told me about his adventures and mentioned the deckmaster system. He told me about one duel he had with Brandon's mom.

Too bad he lost that duel. I just hope I don't end up the same way.

Yu-Gi-Oh Jr.: Sister of Anansi Chapter 37: Double Attack

Lightning flashed over the crystal tower. Twilight saw this and pulled a card called Fushi No Tori from her deck. The image of the monster, though, was lavender. "I don't like this, Sibylla, I fear that Lina and the others are in trouble."

We must find them quickly, came the voice in her head. Pisaro's evil must not succeed.

"I know, but this forest is like a labyrinth!" sighed Twilight. "We seem to be going around in circles..."

Pisaro chuckled. "That's because you ARE, my dear. This dimension is under my domain, and thus everything in it follows my rules."

"So, what happens if Doitsu and Soitsu win?" asked Circe.

"I don't expect them to, even with all the cards I gave them." Pisaro chuckled. "Their job is to stall for time. The enchanted forest will only keep the sorceress out for a little while, but hopefully it will be long enough." He turned to Ares, who had entered. "Ares, you are to stand guard in the hallway below us, where the prison is. If Diane manages to escape, you must not let her pass."

Ares activated his special duel disk. "I promise, they won't."

"And I hope you don't seek to help your girlfriend either," warned Pisaro.

"Giselle is not my girl," said Ares. "My loyalty is to you, Pisaro."

"Hopefully it will remain that way," said Pisaro, waving his hand over the crystal orb and making another image appear. "Now Circe, you may watch the duel. I have work to do. A villian's work is never done."

"Will the potion be ready soon?" asked Circe with a mock pout. "I don't want you to miss much of this duel."

"Don't worry, I'll be there for the endgame," chuckled Pisaro as he left.

Ares shook his head. "He's insane."

"At least he isn't making us use the Seal of Orichalcos, because he's only got a couple of copies left," said Circe. "The thought of losing my soul is something I really don't want to think about." She grimaced.

Ares sighed and turned to leave. If he plans to do what I think he's going to do, then maybe it is time to start questioning my loyalties.

Giselle, Brigit, Donald, and Jake watched in worry from the Nightmare Steel Cage as their counselors stood down the Duel Monsters Doitsu and Soitsu.

"Who goes first?" asked Arnold.

"Don't worry, we'll let the Dora of Fate decide that," said Doitsu. A strange looking goblin appeared and put four tiles between the groups, then vanished. "Pick a tile, the number you have determines who goes when."

Lina pointed at the far right tile and its symbol was revealed. Lina had read enough Japanese from her time with Pegasus to know what that meant. "I get a five," she announced.

Arnold pointed to the far left tile and another symbol was revealed. "Three."

Doitsu pointed with his stubby finger at the leftmost tile that remained. "One."

"And that leaves me with..." said Soitsu, as the last tile was revealed. "Four. That means my partner goes first, then army boy..."

"Hey!" snapped Arnold.

Soitsu ignored him. "Then me, and Lina is last. Okay, let's duel!"

The four drew five cards from the top of their decks.

"I wouldn't worry about a direct attack if I were you," grinned Doitsu. "None of us are allowed to make an attack until all of us have finished our first turn." He drew a card. "Since I start this duel, I'll play a card face-down and a monster in defense mode." The cards appeared before him. "That will end my turn."

'Not very impressive," said Arnold, drawing a card. "What a rotten hand. I'll play this magic card, Reload, to refresh it." He shuffled the cards back into his deck and drew a new five-card hand. "Much better! I play a card face-down and activate the field magic, Fusion Gate! This allows all of us to fuse monsters without Polymerization, as long as the monsters fused are removed from play." He slid the card into his field slot and it appeared before him.

"What are you up to?" asked Soitsu suspiciously.

"You'll find out," grinned Arnold. "Next, I'll summon a Marauding Captain in attack mode!" The armored blonde warrior appeared before him. "And by summoning him, one of his effects kicks in, allowing me a free summon as long as the monster in my hand is four-stars or less, so I'll bring up my second Captain!" A twin of the warrior appeared besides the first. (1200/400) "And thanks to their other special ability, you can't attack either of them OR any warriors on the field, including Lina's! So if she summoned her Toon Goblins, you can't touch them!"

"Awesome, now his life points are safe!" said Giselle, recalling how Arnold had used that tactic in his duel with Diane.

Soitsu snorted and drew a card. "I, like my partner, will put a card face-down and a monster in defense mode." The two cards appeared before him. "And that ends my turn."

"You're gonna be in a world of hurt soon," said Lina, drawing a card. She grinned. "To start, I'll start by playing my favorite magic card, Toon World!" The cartoon book popped open with some crazy music as Lina's life points dropped to 7000. "At the mere cost of a thousand life points, I can give my Toons special powers, and summon the stronger ones! Next, I'll summon one of my favorite Toons...Toon Gemini Elf in attack mode!"

The twin elves burst out of the book and giggled. (1900/900) Suddenly, their attack rose to 2080.

"Huh? What happened?" gasped Lina.

"Seems your Deckmaster's special deckmaster ability kicked in," said Soitsu in disgust. "It's called Toon Power. Anytime a Toon is summoned to your side of the field, Parrot Dragon gives it an attack boost equal to twenty percent of the monster's defense!"

"Cool, that makes Toon Gemini Elf pretty decent," grinned Lina. "Well then, I set a card face-down and end my turn." The card appeared before her.

"Looks like this game's set and match!" said Giselle with a grin. "Arn's got two untouchable monsters on the field, and Lina's Toon Elves are pretty good with that Parrot Dragon's ability."

"I never thought that Parrot Dragon would work well with a Toon duelist," said Jake. "But I guess his Deckmaster ability makes him useful. Although she should have summoned her Toon Goblin Attack Force, so Arnold's Captains could protect it."

"Don't assume she has her Goblins in her hand," said Brigit.

"I'll set a card and end my turn," said Lina, sliding a card into her disk and making it appear.

"Is it possible? My turn again?" laughed Doitsu, drawing a card. "I play the magic card Frontline Base!" The card appeared next to him. "This allows me..."

"I know, I know, you get to summon a Union monster of four-stars or less!" said Lina. The weirdo, being a Union monster, must be playing a Union deck!

"Next, I reveal my face-down monster, Mother Grizzly!" said Doitsu. The card exploded into light and a huge vicious bear with blue fur emerged. (1400/1000)

"Uh oh," whispered Giselle. "I recognize that thing! If it's destroyed in battle, Doitsu can summon any Water monster from his deck as long as it's got 1500 attack or lower!"

"That's right!" said Doitsu. "And since that was a flip-summon, I can summon another guy! Rise, Giant Orc!" A hideous bald-headed troll holding a bone club appeared. (2200/0)

"Lina's in trouble, that thing's stronger than Toon Gemini Elf!" gasped Brigit.

"Now, I'll attack your Toon Elves with...Mother Grizzly!" said Doitsu. "Use Grizzly Slash!" The giant ursine charged, rearing its paw back for a strike. The Toon Gemini Elf blasted magic from their hands and blew it away, dropping Doitsu's life meter to 7320.

"What the..." said Arnold. "Why didn't you stop that guy?"

"Oh chill, Teddy Ruxpin lost the battle, and since my Toon Gemini Elf inflicted damage from the battle, they force him to discard a card from his hand." Lina watched her Toon Elf grab a Union Rider monster from Doitsu's hand and discard it. "Besides, anything that bear summons is easily taken care of by my Toon Elf."

"Thanks to Mother Grizzly's effect, I can summon this from my deck!" said Doitsu, pulling a card from his deck and shuffling it before putting it back in. He played it. "Koitsu!" A pool of water formed and a strange blue figure similar to Soitsu rose up, doing a handstand. (100/100)

Arnold did a double-take and then laughed. "Are you nuts? That thing's so weak it's not even worth dulling my Captains' blades on!"

"Be careful, Arn," said Lina. "Koitsu may look weak, but he's no joking matter!"

"I'll show you joking!" said Arnold, drawing a card. He then heard a voice. "Huh?"

"What's wrong, Arn?" asked Lina.

"I...I just heard someone tell me what my Deckmaster's ability was," whispered Arnold. "I hope that voice is right." He looked at their opponents. "First, I'll play two cards face-down." The cards appeared before Arnold. "Next, I activate my Deckmaster's special ability, Army Swarm! By paying 1000 life points..." His life meter dropped to 7000. "I can summon as many Warrior or Machine monsters of four stars or less from my hand as I have room for, so I'll summon Overdrive, Gigatech Wolf, and Cannon Soldier to the field!" The three machines rose up as Arnold laughed. "Now it's time to show you a world of hurt! I play the ritual magic Commencent Dance, tributing both of my Marauding Captains to summon Performance of Sword!" The two warriors were slapped by the ghost-dancer's sword and exploded, and the dancer became real. (1950/1850)

"Oh yeah, I've seen this before!" laughed Giselle, recalling Arnold's duel with her friend in the tournament. "Those two are finished!"

"Now, I activate the power of Fusion Gate to fuse two monsters, starting with my Labyrinth Tank!" Arnold said. The Giga-Tech Wolf and Cannon Soldier leapt up and fused into the giant drillbit tank, which crashed down. (2400/2400) "Next, I'll use Fusion Gate again, to fuse my Performance of Sword and Labyrinth Tank into the mighty Neo Mecha Z!"

The two monsters melted into light and fused into the familiar anime robot-warrior, manned by a cute anime chick. (3000/3000)

"All right, they're finished!" said Jake.

But Soitsu cackled. "Ha, ha, ha..."

"What's so funny? This baby's going to wipe out a huge hunk of your partner's life points!" growled Arnold.

"I knew you'd try to summon a powerful fusion when you played Fusion Gate," grinned Soitsu. "But I'm afraid such a powerful fusion is dangerous in the wrong hands." He flipped the trap switch and the face-down card flipped up, showing a demon being consumed by a wall of flames.

"I've never seen THAT card before!" gasped Lina.

"It's a new creation," snerked Soitsu. "A diabolic trap card known as Cthonian Polymer!"

Brigit gasped. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?" asked Giselle. "You know about this card?"

"It's a very deadly trap when used against fusion monsters!" gulped Brigit.

"By sacrificing one of my monsters, I can take control of a fusion monster just summoned this turn!" laughed Soitsu. "So long, face-down." The face-down monster exploded into flames and dark flames surrounded the mecha, making the rider howl in agony. The mecha then teleported over to Soitsu's side!

"NO!" cried Arnold in horror. "My monster!"

"Mine now," chuckled Soitsu. "Is that all?"

"Not yet!" said Arnold. "Overdrive, blow away that blue fairy!"

"Wait!" cried Lina.

The jeep fired its machine gun, but suddenly Doitsu glowed and the bullets bounced off. "You just witnessed my deckmaster special ability!" laughed Doitsu as the glow faded. "Union Shield! By paying five hundred life points, I can negate an attack on any Union monster on my field! And since this is a tag-team match, I can use it on my partner's Union monsters too!" Doitsu's life meter dropped to 6820.

"I knew it," said Lina. "You two are using Union decks!"

"That's right, miss," said Soitsu with a chuckle. "We summon Union monsters and equip them to each other's monsters!"

"Holy crap," said Arnold.

"This is bad," said Jake. "I heard about Union monsters. When they equip to their partners, they require you to attack them TWICE to destroy them! Our counselors have their work cut out for them."

"I end my turn," sighed Arnold.

"And I begin mine," chuckled Soitsu, drawing a card. "And I'll summon a Union monster of my own, Second Goblin!" A tiny goblin with an eyepatch appeared. (100/100) "And I'll merge it to my partner's Giant Orc!" The goblin laughed and leapt onto the back of the Orc. "Now, every turn Giant Orc attacks, Second Goblin can wake it up and it can shift back to attack mode! Not only that, but thanks to my special deckmaster ability, Union Might, every time a Union monster equips itself to its host, the host monster gains 500 attack points, in addition to any attack from the Union monster itself!" Giant Orc rose to 2700 attack.

"Great, just great," said Lina. "Those two have the perfect deckmaster abilities for their decks."

"And now to clear the field, Toon girl!" laughed Soitsu, sliding a magic card in his disk. "I activate the magic card Soul Exchange!"

"No!" said Donald. "Kaiba uses that card! He'll sacrifice one of their monsters for his own!"

"Bye-bye, foolish elves!" laughed Soitsu as a wave of energy engulfed them and they dissolved. "Hello, Aitsu!" A red fairy popped out of the ground and balanced on one leg. (100/100)

"Uh oh," said Brigit. "Lina's defenseless!"

"And now, taste the bitter pain of mecha-death!" cackled Soitsu. "Since your friend summoned Neo Mecha Z on his turn, the rule that fusions must wait to attack doesn't apply here! Neo Mecha Z, blast that woman to her own Toon World with protonic pulse!"

"NO!" cried everyone in the cage..

Arnold was about to throw his Overdrive to block, but then recalled something his uncle had told him about his own tag duel. Tristan had thrown his Cyber Commander into Serenity's path to take the hit and lost almost all of his life points, then he threw his deckmaster in the way to protect Serenity's Forgiving Maiden and lost the duel. No way am I gonna end up like Uncle Tristan, thought Arnold. But if I don't, Lina...

Lina laughed. "You sillies! Did you forget about my trap card!" She flipped up the card. "Plummeting Safe!"

"But...that shouldn't work!" said Soitsu. He ate his words when a giant safe with "ACME" on the side crashed into Neo Mecha Z's windshield, making the rider see stars. The machine and its rider exploded.

"Plummeting Safe is just like Sakuretsu Armor, protecting my life points from a direct attack as easily as it protects my Toons as long as Toon World remains on the field," grinned Lina. "And since you were controlling that gal, you lose life points from its destruction, Soitsu!"

Soitsu groaned and slapped his forehead as his life meter dropped to 7250. "Great."

"Sorry, Arn, I had to end her misery," sighed Lina.

"It's okay," stated Arnold. "Those bastards are gonna pay for stealing my monster!"

"If you don't mind," said Lina, drawing a card. "Well, this is really interesting. I play the magic card Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two!" She drew three cards and got a devilish grin, discarding two cards. "Then I play two cards face-down." The two cards appeared before her. "And I activate the magic card Brain Control!"

"What?" squawked Soitsu as the fiendish brain appeared and two wicked hands came from it.

"I know exactly how your fairy brothers work, Soitsu, and I'm not about to let you pull off that combo! If Aitsu equips Koitsu, he'll gain 3000 attack points and a trampling ability, making defending useless! So I'm nipping it in the bud now by taking your Koitsu!" The hands grabbed the blue fairy creature and dragged it to Lina. "Just as I thought. Your deckmaster ability may be able to protect your Union creatures from attack, but NOT from card effects! And now, I'll sacrifice your Koitsu for one of my monsters!" She slapped a card down and the blue fairy melted into light.

"No! Our plan is ruined!" cried Doitsu.

"You betcha," grinned Lina. "Say hello to my favorite Toon of all! Toon Dark Magician Girl!" The book exploded with color and the cute replica of Diane's female sorceress appeared. (2000/1700) "Thanks to my deckmaster, she gets a little boost!" Toon Dark Magician Girl giggled as Parrot Dragon screeched and the Girl's attack rose to 2340. "And to let you know, she doesn't have to wait a turn to attack, unlike the other Toons! Toon Dark Magician Girl, blow away that red fairy!"

The sorceress giggled and pointed her rod, blasting away Aitsu. Soitsu gasped as his life meter tumbled to 5010.

"All right, they're winning!" laughed Giselle. "Go, Lina!"

"Now, unless you have Monster Reborn in both of your hands, those brothers of yours are STAYING down," chuckled Lina. "I end my turn."

Doitsu drew a card. "I play a card face-down, then attack that wretched army Jeep with my Giant Orc! Go, Goblin Club!" The Giant Orc was whipped by the goblin and hefted his club.

"Not so fast!" shouted Arnold, flipping up his face-down card. "I trigger both my traps, Negate Attack and Dust Tornado to wipe out that Second Goblin!" The goblin screamed as a whirlwind snatched him up and threw him into oblivion.

"Oh great!" said Soitsu. "Now he's gone!"

"And since he's gone," said Lina. "Your deckmaster ability won't work on Giant Orc anymore!" The orc sat down as his attack dropped to 2200.

"Big deal," said Doitsu. "Next turn, I'll attack again! I end my turn."

Arnold smirked. "You're running scared, you ugly fairies!" He drew a card. "Perfect. I sacrifice my Overdrive to summon Freed the Matchless General!" The jeep melted into light, and out of the light stepped a blond-haired armored warrior with a mustache. He drew his blade. (2300/1700)

"Awesome! You go, Arnold!" cried Jake.

"What's so great about this guy?" asked Giselle. "Sure, he's strong for a one-tribute monster..."

"If that face-down Doitsu put is what I think it is," said Jake, smirking. "He's in for a rude awakening!"

"Now, destroy his ugly orc!" shouted Arnold. "Blade of the Brave!" The warrior charged.

"Ha, activate magic card, Offerings to the Doomed!" laughed Doitsu, flipping up his card. "Say goodbye to your General!" A beam oflight shot from the card.

"Yikes!" cried Brigit.

"Don't worry, honey, it'll be all right," chuckled Jake. "Arnold's not stupid."

Arnold laughed. "You're so stupid!" The general leapt over the beam of light.

"Whoa, what just happened?" cried Lina, wide-eyed as the warrior sliced apart the orc. Doitsu's life points dropped to 6720.

"No! That card should have destroyed your monster!" cried Doitsu.

"Freed is the master of war, and a smart and skilled general," grinned Arnold. "He's trained from his youth to avoid the deadly ambushes of the enemy. In game terms, any magic card that would target him fails! And thanks to your card's drawback, you can't draw the next turn."

"No!" howled Doitsu.

"Yes!" cried Donald. "Kick those two fairies back to their Escher painting!"

"If you had simply let me destroy your stupid Orc instead of trying to protect it," said Arnold. "You could have used that card on Lina's Dark Magician Girl. But you had to try to protect your precious little monster and failed to realize that I'm not stupid! To end, I'll play a card face-down." The card appeared behind Freed.

Soitsu looked at the field and drew a card. "Fine, my turn. I play Decayed Commander in attack mode." A rotting skeletal soldier rose up. (1000/1500)

"You sick freak, how dare you insult the powers of war with an undead soldier!" said Arnold.

"Oh, it gets worse," chuckled Soitsu. "By summoning this guy, I can special summon a Zombie Tiger from my deck." The ground burst as a hideous mummified big cat emerged. (1400/1600) "And I'll union him to Decayed Commander!" The commander mounted the undead tiger. "Which increases its attack by 500, along with my deckmaster ability, Union Might!" The duo rose to 2000 attack. "I end my turn."

Lina smirked. Duh, that's plainer than vanilla ice cream! If I attack Doitsu, Soitsu will fling his monster in as a shield, sparing Doitsu at the cost of Zombie Tiger. Well, I hate to break it to you, kids, but you haven't seen MY monsters work! She drew and recognized the card. Well well... "I play Red Archery Girl in defense mode." The mermaid appeared, hiding under her shell. (1400/1500)

"Why did she do that?" asked Donald.

"Because it's weaker than Decayed Commander," said Brigit. "It wouldn't stand a chance in battle against that zombie."

Lina smirked. "Toon Dark Magician Girl, attack Doitsu!"

The sorceress giggled and flew into the air, then fired a beam of pink magic at the tan fairy.

"Intercept the attack, Decayed Commander!" ordered Soitsu, and the mounted zombie leapt in front of Doitsu, but the blast flew over them and hit Doitsu, who screamed as he was zapped!

"Silly, I wasn't attacking directly, I was ATTACKING DIRECTLY!" cackled Lina as Doitsu's life meter dropped to 4560.

"Your monsters can bypass ours?" gasped Soitsu.

"Duh, TOON monsters," sighed Lina. "That's their nature, I can make them attack your life points and bypass your monsters!"

"Seems your guards forgot about Lina's deck theme," grinned Circe.

Pisaro, who had returned from his work to let the potion steep a few minutes, slapped his forehead, then lowed his hand. "Well, there's one problem with Lina's deck...it needs Toon World to work. If that card were to be destroyed..." Let's hope those two fools get THAT card from their deck, or else that Toon witch will blow away their life points and the delay will not be sufficient!

Doppler walked down the stairs to the dungeon. "That foolish sorcerer. He really thinks he can get away with having his way with Diane, can he? Well, it's time to activate a plan of my own... but I'll need Diane's help." He grinned wickedly. "And now she's our guest, everything is ready."

A gruff figure emerged at the bottom of the stairs. "Who are you?"

"Calm down, I am here on Pisaro's order," said Doppler. "I'm here to see the prisoners."

"Oh really?" said the figure, pulling out a big knife.

"I'm afraid threats won't spook me," chuckled Doppler. "I'm not even alive. Let me through, it is Pisaro's will." He waited patiently for an answer.

The figure grunted and left.

"Good boy," chuckled Doppler as he entered the cell block.

"My turn again!" said Doitsu, drawing a card. "Sweet! I start by summoning Vampire Orchis in attack mode!" The ground burst open again, but this time a giant tree grew rapidly. It soon became similar to the trees around the area, with a wicked face. Two fanged mouths appeared on the branches. (1700/1000) "This allows me to special summon a Des Dendle straight from my hand!" He placed a card and a hideous yellow mold crawled out of the ground. (300/2000)

"Eeeew! It stinks!" cried Giselle, pinching her nose.

"But I won't union it yet," grinned Doitsu, holding up a magic card. "Because then it would get destroyed by THIS! Heavy Storm!"

Everyone but the Duel Monsters gasped as Doitsu activated it. Well, almost everyone. Arnold grinned wickedly. "What's your counselor smiling for?" cried Brigit. "Lina's about to lose her Toon World!"

"I dunno," said Jake. "Arnold's never shown me his deck. That face-down card he has could be anything."

"Forget Arnold!" said Giselle. "Lina's Toon World is about to go bye-bye!"

Sure enough, the cartoon book exploded and Toon Dark Magician Girl screamed and exploded. "Seems your Toons are gone, Toon girl!" cackled Soitsu.

Arnold laughed as his card exploded.

"What's so funny?" asked Doitsu. Suddenly, a bomb appeared in his lap and exploded! He howled as his life meter dropped to 3900. "WHAT?"

Arnold grinned as he held out a card showing a mad demon scientist pressing a button. "You activated my trap card, tanny! Kozaky's Self-Destruct Button activated when you destroyed it, causing you to lose a thousand life points! Think of it as a proximity mine." He discarded it back into the discard slot.

"Fine, I'll merge my Des Dendle to Vampire Orchis," said Doitsu as the mold crawled up on the tree and covered it.

"And thanks to my Deckmaster ability," chuckled Soitsu. "It gains a five-hundred attack boost!" Vampire Orchis rose to 2200 attack.

"But I won't attack yet," said Doitsu. "I'll just lay a card face-down. Go on, army boy."

Arnold snorted. "Now to activate my Freed's second ability, the power to recruit troops! In game terms, I can forego my draw phase..." He pulled a card from his deck and shuffled it. "To search my deck for a Warrior-type monster of four stars or less and put it in my hand!" Returning the deck back to its holder, he placed the card. "Let me show you what I drew! D.D. Warrior in attack mode!" A tall handsome red-haired warrior wearing a scarf and wielding a large curved sword. (1200/1000)

"Hey, I heard about D.D. Warrior," said Brigit. "He has the same special ability of D.D. Warrior Lady, only he's much weaker. If I played Messenger of Peace instead of Gravity Bind, I'd have played him."

"Why?" asked Giselle.

"He's four stars, Gravity Bind and Level Limit would stop him cold," sighed Brigit.

"Whatever," said Soitsu, inching towards his deck.

"HOLD ON!" snapped Arnold. "DID I SAY MY TURN WAS OVER YET?"

"No," growled Soitsu, pulling back.

"Good," said Arnold. "I use my deckmaster ability AGAIN!" His life points dropped to 6000 as two monsters appeared; the first was a tank with a demonic head on the front(1400/1700), the second looked like Freed, only younger(1700/1200). "Meet Oni Tank T-34 and Freed the Brave Wanderer! Once my D.D. Warrior removes your Vampire Orchis from the game, you'll be defenseless! D.D. Warrior, attack with Dimension Blade!"

The warrior raised his sword and charged. "NO! STOP!" cried Lina.

"Ha, fell for it!" cackled Doitsu, activating his face-down Mirror Force trap. The window appeared in front of the warrior and he slammed into it, destroying it! Arnold gasped as his other monsters exploded as well, dropping his life meter to 4350.

"Now who's the idiot?" groaned Lina, slapping her forehead.

"HA HA HA!" laughed Soitsu. "I can't believe you actually fell for it!"

Arnold snarled. "You'll...pay for that."

"Well, it's my move now," grinned Soitsu, drawing a card. "Excellent! I start by playing the magic card Mystic Wok on my Decayed Commander, tributing it to gain life points equal to my Commander's defense." Soitsu rose to 6510 life points. "Then I play the magic card Soul Absorption!" The magic card appeared, showing a man being possessed by ghostly heads. "This increases my life points by 500 for every card removed from play, but since this is tag-team, I'm sharing the increase with my partner!"

"And why would you remove cards from play?" asked Lina.

Brigit frowned. "There's a sort of set of Union monsters which can only form a fusion by removing them from play..." She gasped. "Oh no, it can't be!"

"Now I'll play Y-Dragon Head in attack mode!" said Soitsu, slapping down a card on his disk. A red metallic dragon-robot rose up with a screech. (1500/1600)

"No!" cried Brigit.

"Holy crudola, one of the XYZ monsters!" said Lina, wide-eyed. "But why?"

"Duh, Y-Dragon Head is a Union monster!" said Soitsu. "But wait until you see our ULTIMATE combo!"

"Forget it!" shouted Lina. "We'll stop you before you summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"

"Ha ha ha," laughed Doitsu. "You think that stupid junk-heap is the Ultimate? Guess again!"

"But for now..." said Soitsu. "Y-Dragon Head, attack Arnold!" The dragon spat lightning.

"Intercept that attack!" cried Lina. Red Archery Girl flung herself into the blast and it glanced off. "Since my monster's defense is equal to yours' attack, the battle was a draw!"

"Phew, that was close," sighed Giselle, wiping her brow.

"Fine, I play two cards face-down and end my turn," said Soitsu.

Twilight huffed a bit as she sat down on a rock. "Sibylla, forgive me, we seem to be no closer to our goal than we were before."

Evil magic, most likely, sighed the Phoenix. Pisaro is trying his hardest to prevent us from reaching his lair before his plan is complete.

"What now?" said Twilight, worried about what would happen if she didn't reach the tower.

A moment passed, then...I have an idea, but it will involve a bit of risk, with the dragons watching for us. Put my card on the ground.

"Very well," said Twilight, standing up and removing the Fushi No Tori from her deck. She placed it on the ground and the small lavender phonix emerged in a burst of purple fire.

I'll scout for a path, said the bird. Wait here for a moment. I promise, I'll be quick. Sibylla flew off in a burst of lavender flame.

Be careful, Sibylla... thought Twilight, sitting back on the rock and closing her eyes.

"My turn now, army-green freak!" said Lina, drawing a card. She looked at it and grinned. "I play Premature Burial on my Toon Gemini Elf!" The elves returned to the field as Lina's life meter dropped to 6200.

"Big deal!" said Doitsu. "In case you didn't know math, your little mermaid is weaker than our monsters and your elves can't attack on the turn they're summoned!"

"Who said I was keeping my monsters around?" grinned Lina. "I sacrifice both of my monsters..." The two monsters melted into light.

"Oh no, if she summons her Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, we're in trouble!" whispered Soitsu.

"...for Guardian Angel Joan!" Lina watched as the beautiful angel appeared. (2800/2000) "Destroy Soitsu's Y-Dragon Head with Divine Wrath of Heaven!"

The angel blasted light from her hands. "Activate trap card, Shift!" shouted Soitsu, flipping up his card. "This trap lets me choose which monster your angel attacks, and I choose my partner's Vampire Orchis!"

"No!" cried Lina as the light changed direction and washed over the evil tree, burning away the ugly mold on it. Her life meter rose to 6500.

"Since you know that attacking a monster equipped with a Union monster destroys the Union monster," chuckled Doitsu. "Des Dendle was destroyed, but Vampire Orchis was spared. I may have lost a bit of life, but you didn't gain it since you destroyed a weaker monster!" Doitsu's life points dropped to 3780.

"Drat," said Lina. "Fine, I end my turn."

"This duel is as good as over," said Brigit. She paused. "Unless..."

Meanwhile, Diane was chatting with her cellmates, especially Serenity. "So, how did you get into real dueling?" asked Diane. "You don't look like a duelist."

Serenity grinned and shuffled her deck. "Well, you see, I wasn't really going to continue dueling after Battle City. After taking a tour with Yugi's friend Tea, I took the train home. A month later, my brother called and said he was going to the United States to find Yugi's cards, the ones he had won in Battle City."

"The Egyptian God Cards?" gasped Dione.

"The same," said Serenity with a nod. "Duel Monsters, real ones, were appearing all over the place. A week later, something terrible happened. Strange beasts appeared and starting attacking people. My mother was one of the victims and went unconscious. I was afraid I'd be next and screamed as I was surrounded by the monsters, but then a figure saved me...that monster who defeated Nezbitt. St. Joan."

"St. Joan?" asked Diane, recalling the monster that Peter Ramset sometimes summoned.

"Exactly. She told me that, in the future, I would be kidnapped and the only way I could save myself and the others with me was to become a duelist. I made a deck and did pretty well."

"Wow, that's awesome," said Diane. "Maybe we could duel."

"There's no time," said a voice. The girls turned to see Doppler.

"Doppler!" said Diane. "What are you doing here?"

Doppler chuckled. "Rescuing you, of course. I apologize for pretending to be your beloved, but you see, I need you here to activate my plan."

"You duplicated Donald?" gasped Diane.

"Yes, that's one of my special abilities," said the doppleganger. "One I developed after leaving the Labyrinth. But come, you want to get out of here before Pisaro turns you into his slave, right? I can save you...but to do so, I need you to trust me. I am going to do something to your counselor, but to do that, I need to duplicate you."

"Why me?" asked Diane.

"So Pisaro mistakes me for you and springs his trap on the wrong person." Doppler nodded. "I am being honest, Diane. You'll never get out of this cage without my help."

Diane hung her head and thought deeply. What would Sheena do?

"I trust him," said Serenity. "If he wants to help us escape, we should take his offer."

"Oy, don't you read Harry Potter?" said Dione. "Innocent beings can be wicked. Professor Quirrel seemed nice until it was revealed that he was the host of Voldemort! We can't trust this boggart!"

"Well, if you won't trust me, I'll leave," said Doppler, turning.

"Wait!" said Diane. Doppler turned back. "I'll accept your offer, but if anything happens to Lina that is really bad..."

"You can punish me," said Doppler, chuckling. Foolish girl, I won't be alive to feel the pain. He reached out and touched Diane's cheek. "Don't panic, this will only take a second..." His body turned into a black whirlwind that surrounded Diane, who gritted her teeth hard.

Doitsu growled and drew a card, then played it. "I play the magic card Pot of Greed!" The green jar appeared before him. "This allows me to draw two cards from my deck!" The jar exploded as Doitsu drew two cards. "Excellent, this will cinch the whole thing! But first, I'll activate my trap card, Altar for Tribute, and sacrifice my Vampire Orchis." The evil tree was placed on an altar and melted into light, raising Doitsu's life meter to 5480.

"Oh great," grumbled Lina. "Now he'll be tougher to take out."

"Much more than you know," laughed Doitsu. "I play another Frontline Base!" The card appeared before him. "And you know what that does!"

"Big deal, you have nothing on the field!" said Lina.

"Hmph, you're dense, aren't you Toon Girl?" chuckled Doitsu. "I summon V-Tiger Jet in attack mode!" A yellow tiger-robot emerged from the card and roared. (1600/1800)

"Another XYZ machine?" gasped Lina.

Brigit looked at it. Now that I think about it, Johnathan did defeat Peter with some VW creature or something. I wish I knew more about these monsters!

"And thanks to Frontline Base, I can also summon this! W-Wing Catapult!" A blue jet flew out of the card. (1300/1500) "And now I remove both from play to fuse them into VW-Tiger Catapult!" The two machines flew up and merged into a giant blue jet with a tiger's head on it. (2000/1900)

"Eek, another XYZ machine fusion!" said Lina.

"Since I removed the machines from play, me and my partner share 500 life points, thanks to my partner's Soul Absorption card!" Doitsu laughed as his life meter rose to 5980 and Soitsu's rose to 7010. "Now I'll activate its special ability, discarding a card from my hand..." He slipped a card in the discard slot. "To change the position of your Guardian Angel to defense mode!"

Joan knelt. "Oh man," groaned Lina. "Well, I'll shift it back on my turn!"

"That's what you think, girl," grinned Soitsu. "I'll play a card face-down and end my turn."

Arnold drew a card, then grinned. "Okay, you fairy freaks! Time to take this duel by storm! I summon a powerful machine! It's not an army machine, but it's one to respect!" He slapped the card down. "Cyber Dragon in attack mode!"

The ground shook.

"Something's not right," whispered Giselle.

The ground burst and the girls screamed as a huge silver serpent-like monster emerged and coiled up behind Arnold. (2100/1400)

"Wait a sec! That thing has five stars!" cried Soitsu. "And you had no monsters to tribute!"

"You don't know Cyber Dragon's special ability," chuckled Arnold. "Whenever my opponent has a monster on the field and I have no monsters on my field, I can summon this baby without tribute! And if you think I'm going to be stupid and attack your Y-Dragon Head, think again! Cyber Dragon, blow away that Tiger Catapult with Sinister Scorch!"

The dragon inhaled and fire began to form in its jaws...and suddenly black chains wrapped around it and dropped its attack to 1300!

"Heh heh!" cackled doitsu as the card had revealed itself as a Shadow Spell.

"No!" cried Brigit in horror. "They're toast!"

"Fine, I put a card face-down and end my turn," growled Arnold, sliding a card into his disk.

Soitsu chuckled and drew a card. "I play my own Pot of Greed!" The pot appeared and exploded as Soitsu drew two cards. "HA HA HA!"

"I don't like that laugh!" said Donald, biting his nails nervously.

"Time to finish you off!" cackled Soitsu. "I play X-Head Cannon in attack mode!" The purple cannon-robot rose up. (1800/1500) "And thanks to Frontline Base, I can play Z-Metal Tank!" The yellow caterpillar-like thank rose up. (1500/1300)

"Oh no, it's the trio!" cried Brigit in horror.

"And now I'll remove all three monsters from the game to summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" The three robots flew up and fused together into the familiar dragonoid tank. (2800/2100) "And thanks to Soul Absorption, we both gain 750 life points!" Doitsu's life meter rose to 6730 and Soitsu's rose to 7760. "But that's not all that we're going to do!"

"Yep, two is usually better than one, but not this time!" laughed Doitsu. "Combine!"

The VW-Tiger Catapult and XYZ-Dragon Cannon flew up and merged into a giant humanoid robot! (3000/2800)

"Yeeks!" cried Jake.

"Behold our ultimate fusion, VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon!" laughed Soitsu. "And since we removed two more monsters from play, we each get another 500 life points!" Doitsu's life meter rose to 7230 and Soitsu's rose to 8260.

"They're doomed..." whispered Giselle in horror.

"They can't be defeated," said Donald. "They can't!"

"And since it's a fusion of both our monsters," said Soitsu. "My partner gets to control it too! But first, I'll use VWXYZ's special ability to remove one of your monsters from play!" Guardian Angel Joan melted into light.

"No!" cried Lina in horror.

"Looks like we're going to be sharing a cell with Diane," groaned Brigit.

"Now, VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon, attack Lina's life points directly!" said Soitsu. The robot powered up its phasers.

"Activate Mystical Space Typhoon!" cried Arnold, flipping up a card. The chains shattered around Cyber Dragon and it leapt into the path of the attack, exploding. Arnold's life points dropped to 3650.

"I can't believe you DID that!" cried Lina.

"I guess I did the same thing as my dumb uncle," sighed Arnold, hanging his head.

"Yeah, that's right, go ahead and kill yourself!" chuckled Soitsu.

"Shut up!" cried Lina angrily. "He sacrificed his monster for me, and I'd do the same for him!"

Arnold looked up in shock." Lina..."

"And in my entire life, I've learned one thing!" snarled Lina as she drew a card. "Never give up, no matter how bad the odds!" She checked the card she had drawn. "Since it worked for you, Arnold, I activate my own Card of Sanctity!" She plugged it into the disk and everyone drew until they had six cards. Lina looked at her hand and grinned. "Guess what I drew?"

"What?" asked Doitsu, confused.

"I'll keep you guessing, but first, I play the magic card Spell Reproduction!" She played it. "This allows me to discard two magic cards from my hand to reclaim one from my graveyard." She discarded a second Toon World and Toon Table of Contents and withdrew a card from her graveyard. "And I activate the reclaimed card, Monster Reborn!" The ankh appeared.

"Ha, bringing your monsters back in defense won't work," said Soitsu smugly. "Whenever VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon attacks, we can shift your monster into attack mode! And we removed all the machines from play, so you can't bring them back either!"

"Who said I was bringing any of my or your monsters back?" grinned Lina. "I bring back my partner's Cyber Dragon in attack mode!" The metallic snake-dragon emerged from the ankh in a bolt of lightning.

"I'm afraid that won't help you either!" laughed Doitsu. "Next turn, I'll remove your friend's dragon and hit you with a direct attack!"

"He's not staying around," said Lina wickedly. "Time to show you what I drew!" She showed the card and everyone who could see it gasped, except Jake, Arnold, and Donald.

"She must have put it back in after Diane's abduction!" said Giselle.

"Yes!" grinned Brigit.

"I play the Eye of Timaeus!" cried Lina, slapping the card down. The green-scaled dragon emerged. "Now there are two dragons on the field! Timaeus, merge with Cyber Dragon and form...SUPRA-CYBER DRAGON!" The two creature melted into light and a giant silver dragon similar to the Oriental dragons of lore emerged, with glowing blue eyes. (3600/3200)

"What do you get when you cross the Terminator with Dojo?" asked Giselle in awe.

"Now to activate Supra-Cyber Dragon's special ability," said Lina. "By sacrificing him, I can destroy every card on your field and in your hand!" The dragon howled and exploded into light.

Twilight saw the light. "Sibylla! I've found something!"

The phoenix flew back to Twilight. I know! We must head to that place immediately! The bird vanished into Twilight's deck.

"I hope it's not what I fear it is," murmured Twilight as she dashed to the fading light.

Doitsu and Soitsu moaned as they saw their life meters drop to 880 and 1910 respectively.

"The other effect is that for every card in your hand and field destroyed by this effect, you lose 800 life points!" Lina grinned. "And not only did you lose 750 life points from the backlash of your monster's death, but since I gave each of you six cards in your hand, you lost ANOTHER 4800 life points!"

"Yikes, that's like Chaos Emperor Dragon on steroids!" said Giselle.

"So much for your big ultimate weapon," chuckled Arnold. "Your move, Doitsu, but without any cards and your life points in the triple digits, you're pretty limited in options."

Doitsu gulped and drew a card. "Freezing Beast in defense mode." A blue crystalline beast appeared and crouched. (1500/1000)

"Pathetic," said Arnold, drawing a card. He grinned. "I play another Cyber Dragon!" Another Cyber Dragon emerged with a screech. "Destroy his Freezing Beast with Sinister Scorch!" The dragon belched fire that melted the creature. "Any more options?"

Soitsu drew. "I place a card face-down and call myself to the field!" The card appeared behind him. (0/0) "Just try to attack!"

Lina turned to Arnold, who showed his hand to her. She drew. "Look what I found! Double Spell! I'll discard a card to duplicate my partner's Card of Sanctity!" She discarded a card and everyone drew until they got six cards. Arnold's grin turned into a chuckle of pure evil. "I play a card face-down and end my turn."

"No monsters?" asked Doitsu in worry.

"Go ahead and move," said Lina with a wicked grin. "My partner will finish you off."

Doitsu drew. Combination Attack? Worthless! Only option left! "I call myself to the field!" He floated forward.

"You know, you'll lose the duel if you get killed," chuckled Arnold.

"Not likely, thanks to my Deckmaster ability," said Doitsu. "But you forget that I am a Union monster too! Union merge!" He leapt into the air and melted into Soitsu, streaking the fairy with yellow stripes. Soitsu then spoke in a deep voice. "Now we're merged, we gain 2500 attack!" Soitsu rose to 2500 as he spoke in his own voice. "Not only that, but now we're merged, my deckmaster ability gives me another 500 attack!" Soitsu rose to 3000 attack.

"Three thousand attack! Geez!" said Donald.

"I think my counselor's not impressed," said Jake as Arnold's grin didn't fade.

"I'm afraid that won't help you when I unleash a powerful beast!" said Arnold, drawing a card. "Hmph, I don't need this." He put it in his hand and slapped in a card showing a welder at work. "First I'll play Giant Trunade to banish your face-down card." The card behind the merged monsters was blown away. "Then I activate the magic card POWER BOND!"

"Power Bond?" asked Lina.

"What's that?" demanded the merged Soitsu.

"A Polymerization variant," said Arnold. "But ONLY for Machine fusions. However, it doubles their attack! I power-bond fuse the Cyber Dragon in my hand with my active Cyber Dragon to form Cyber Twin Dragon!"

The two metallic serpents melted into light and a blast of lightning formed a giant two-headed serpent made of metal! (2800/2300)

"Oh, and the fun part is that machines fused by Power Bond DOUBLE their attack, like Limiter Removal!" laughed Arnold as Cyber Twin Dragon rose to 5600 attack.

"Oh no," said Soitsu in Doitsu's voice. "I'm toast!"

"Actually, you both are," said Arnold. "You see, I'm not about to let your pal get off scot-free, and thanks to my Cyber Twin Dragon's ability to attack twice, I don't have to!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" cried the fairies in a combined scream.

"Tell your 'master' that nobody messes with Arnold Rockwell and lives to tell about it!" snarled Arnold. "Cyber Twin Dragon, finish them off with Double Sinister Scorch!"

The cybernetic heads roared and belched white fire that tore apart the howling fairies, vaporizing them both in one blow. The duel disks shut off.

"Oh drat," said Circe.

"Well, I didn't expect them to win, but against something like THAT..." Pisaro grinned. This Arnold person intrigues me with those monsters. When I destroy Yugi Junior and return to my world, maybe I'll make a Cyber Twin Dragon my steed... "Time for plan B..."

"We have a plan B?" asked Circe.

Pisaro revealed a list in his hand. "Since Doppler's occupied, I need your hacking skills. Go to the Internet and find these people, then print out their photos. I'll be along shortly."

Circe looked over the list and grinned. "Oh, interesting! What are you doing with them?"

"You'll see..." chuckled Pisaro as he walked off. Duel Monsters aren't the ONLY things Imposters can mimic...

The Nightmare Steel Cage crumbled, releasing Giselle, Brigit, and the boys. "Wow, that was awesome!" said Donald.

"I never realized you had those cards, coach!" said Jake. "You've dueled many times and never showed THOSE guys!"

"I had them in my box, I just added them before we left," grinned Arnold. "Even though they aren't army monsters, even the best army needs a little boost. Anyways, let's get out of this wood before we go crazy."

"Yeah, next stop, that crystal tower!" said Donald, looking up through the trees. Don't worry, Diane, I'll rescue you!

DECKMASTERS:

Doitsu (Union Shield)

Effect: Whenever a Union monster is attacked, pay 500 life points to negate the attack.

Soitsu (Union Might)

Effect: When you equip a Union monster, increase the attack of the equipped monster by 500.

Parrot Dragon (Toon Power)

Effect: Increase the ATK of a Toon monster by 20 of its defense.

Cyber Commander (Army Swarm)

Effect: Pay 1000 life points. Special summon as many Warrior-type or Machine-type monsters from your hand as you have spaces for. The monsters summoned by this effect must be Level 4 or less.

NEW CARDS:

Supra-Cyber Dragon:

Type: Light/Dragon/Effect
Level: 10
ATK: 3600
DEF: 3200
Effect: This card can only be summoned by using "The Eye of Timaeus" on "Cyber Dragon." Sacrifice this card to send all cards on the opponent's field and in your opponent's hand to the Graveyard. Inflict 800 points of damage to your opponent's life points for each card sent to the graveyard by this effect.

NEXT CHAPTER: The gang reaches the tower, but inside, a nasty duel with a character from Cyber Commander's old fic, "City of Souls", will be dueling one of the girls! Will he get his awful way or will his opponent be the victor? Find out in the next chapter!