Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi


"You got a lot of nerve coming back here after what you pulled, dirtbag!"

Noire shielded herself from the spotlight shining on her.

"Is this whole 'Bad Cop' routine really necessary?" said the second voice in the dark room.

"Hey, who's interrogating here?!"

"Guys, this must be some kind of mistake!" Noire tried to reason, "I haven't done anything!"

"Oh, so you're gonna keep playing dumb, huh?" Rock growled, looming over the desk at the ra, "You though you could leave your glasses at home; and you thought we'd be stupid enough not to notice, didn't ya?!"


Meanwhile...

"I must say, using their own friend against them was pure genius!" one of the last mages laughed, "They never saw it coming!"

"Thank you," Martis bowed, "And soon we will gain back all of the millennium card, so we can unleash the power to rule this world."


"You LIAR!" and another strike landed on Noire, "What are the mages planning? Tell me!"

"That's enough!" Aspen snapped, grabbing Rock by the collar and pushing him back to the end of the room, "Go cool off! Now!"

"Rrr, alright…" Rock grumbled an stepped out of the light…before he came lunging back scoring a couple more blows before Aspen tossed him back, this time separating him from that pillow he was using. With that, Aspen finally managed to sit down in front of a sniveling Noire.

"Why are you doing this to me?" the ra whimpered.

"Look, I'm sorry for what he did…" Aspen began, "But you gotta admit, I didn't know what to make of this. From what he and Jason told me, you caused a lot of trouble last night working with that high mage."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I was in bed last night!"

"Trust me, I'd really like to believe you. But they said it was your face they saw dueling Bastion; he was even sent to the nurse's office because of what happened."

"Oh no!" Noire recoiled at the mention of that and gasped, "What happened?! Is he okay?!"

"Other than a few bruises and a little hyperthermia, he's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Argh! This is getting us nowhere!" Rock exclaimed, stomping back towards the desk, "Time we bring out the big guns!" he hyperventilated some before turning to the only other person in the room, "C'mon Jason, help me flip the table!"

Suddenly the dark room was filled with a familiar ringing, coming from a PDA which Jason answered, "Uh guys, you might wanna look at this…" Rock and Aspen gathered around over Jason's PDA to see…

"High Mage Martis! We were just talking about you!" Rock greeted in sarcasm at the high mage behind the screen.

"Actually we were talking about Noire," Aspen added, "But your name might've came up at one point."

"I've decided to give you another chance at retrieving the millennium cards," the mage said, "Any able-bodied duelist will come to the wastelands tonight. You will have your chance," the video then turned off.

"I guess that clears out our schedule for the night," Aspen sighed.

"What about her?" Rock glared towards Noire.

"Already got it covered."


Later...

Both Rock and Jason went back to their dorm to prepare before going halfway across the island into the wasteland area. After an hour or so of walking…

"Welcome, duelists," came Martis' voice. Both sliders look up on the elevated cliffs to spot the high mage himself with someone else by his side, "It is a pleasure to see you agree to duel again. Now would be your chance to reclaim what you lost."

"And make sure you put up more of a challenge than that ra yellow reject!" the Firestorm Mage snided.

"Wait, if you're up there, then…" Rock whipped out his pda and made a call, "Aspen, is she…"

"Sorry guys, she slipped away when I out."

"You kidding me?!" Rock exclaimed, "What's so important that you had to let her out of your sight?!"

"I'd like to see you take guard duty on an empty stomach."

"You…make a good point there," he then turned to the Firestorm Mage, "I guess that's sums it up."

"So which one of you losers are gonna go first?" Firestorm Mage asked.

"Oh! I'll go!" Rock stepped forward, "I kinda got a bone to pick with you anyway!"

"Fine with me. You'll both go down just the same," the Firestorm Mage jumped off the cliff to ground level across from Rock. Both duelists prepared their duel-disks...

"Wait!" everyone stopped what they were doing and were drawn towards the new voice.

When Rock took a close-enough look at who was coming, he recoiled in surprise, "There's no way!" Jason shared a similar expression. Doubling over gasping for breath after a long run here was the ra yellow Noire, the girl who the Firestorm Mage was thought to be, "Wait, if you're right there, then who the heck is that?!"

Noire stepped over in front of Rock and Jason, "Please, let me duel."

The two slifers looked at each other before Rock replied, "Noire, you sure about this? You do remember how it went last time…"

"I do remember. And all of this is my fault. If only I had done better, then we wouldn't be stuck in this position. I know I'm not as good a duelists as you guys are, but I'm the one who made this mess, so I wanna be the one to fix it. That is, if you'll let me."

Both slifers exchanged another look before Jason replied, "Are you sure you're ready?" Noire nodded, "Then you'll need this," he took off his pendant and offered it to Noire, "Then I hope you do your best."

Noire gave a small, embarrassed smile as he accepted the pendant, "Me too," he then turned back to confront the mage.

"So you're the first on my list. Fine by me," Firestorm Mage activated her duel-disk and Drew her opening hand. Noire did the same.

"Let's duel!"

Noire: 4000

Firestorm Mage: 4000

"Hey Rock, hold me up! I don't wanna miss this," Rock followed Aspen's order and held up his PDA to face the upcoming duel.

"Just one moment," Martis announced and vanished before reappearing behind Firestorm Mage, "I think it's time to increase your power to it's peak," the eye of the millennium scales he was holding glowed brightly and covered her with a gold aura. Her armor gained a new addition with blue arm and leg guards, a bronze upper chestplate and a gold star-shapped helmet, "Now you will be able to use you power like never before. So use them well," he them jumped back to his original spot.


"I'm taking the first move!" the mage drew her sixth card, "I summon (1) Gemini Summoner(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 0) in ATK mode!" a spellcaster in green and blue robes appeared with a pair of large horns each protruding from his shoulders and from his headdress (ATK: 1500), "That ends my turn."

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "And I summon Machina Soldier," the green soldier-like robot appear (ATK: 1600), "And since I have no other monsters on the field, I can summon another Machina monster from my hand so I summon Machina Sniper," the taller, tan-colored soldier appeared (ATK: 1800), "Next, I activate the continuous-spell card Machina Armored Unit," the spell came to life on the field, "Finally, I end my turn with one card face-down," a set card appeared.

"Not yet, it doesn't!" the mage interrupted, "It's not over until Gemini Summoner gets a turn! By paying 500 life-points during your end-phase, I can summon something called a gemini-monster from my hand! So I think I'll summon my Evocator Chevalier to the field!" the red knight appeared (ATK: 1900).

Noire: 4000

Omni Mage: 3500

"Now it's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "I summon (2) Featherizer(3/ATK: 700/DEF: 1100) to the field in ATK mode!" a sorceress in a green dress and hat appeared with tassels the formed a sort of spiral around her neck (ATK: 700), "Chevalier, attack!" the knight swung its sword at Machina Sniper.

"I activate my trap card, Sakuretu Armor!" Noire opened her reverse-card, and Chevalier shattered into pixels, "This card destroys any monster that attacks when activated."

"Then I'll just have Featherizer attack instead!" Featherizer attacked by summoning a small cyclone, but Machina Sniper remained where it stood and destroyed Featherizer by firing his blaster.

Noire: 4000

Omni Mage: 2400

"Now I can activate her special-ability: by sending a gemini-monster from my deck to the graveyard, I can draw a card from my deck!" the mage discarded a monster, then drew her card, "I end my turn."

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I set one monster in DEF mode and end my turn," a set monster appeared.

"And my Gemini Summoner activates his effect," the mage said, "So now I can summon Gemini Soldier from my hand," the small green ninja warrior appeared (ATK: 500).

Noire: 4000

Omni Mage: 1900

"It's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "Gemini Soldier, unleash your power and attack that face-down monster!" the soldier vanished in a blink and reappeared to deliver a strike at the set monster, which became a quadpedal blue robot (DEF: 1800).

Noire: 4000

Omni Mage: 600

"When Machina Defender is flipped face-up, I can add Commander Covington from my deck to my hand," Noire added the card to her hand.

"My Soldier has an ability also: after it does battle, I can summon any level-4-or-below gemini-monster from my deck, like my (5) Future Samurai(4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1200)!" a woman in light-blue attire appeared with a green-bladed sword in hand (ATK: 1600), "I place one card face-down before ending my turn," the mage concluded.

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I summon Commander Covington in DEF mode!" the red leading robot appeared (DEF: 600), "Next I activate his special-ability: by sending Machina Soldier, Machina Sniper and Machina Defender on my field to the graveyard, I can combine them to form Machina Force!" lead by Covington's, hand signals, the three machines rose into the air and dismantled themselves, before recombining into a large, centaur-like machine armed with Defender's missile-launchers and Sniper's blaster, before landing with a quake (ATK: 4600).


"Alright, now's your chance!" Rock called out, "Now attack and you can win this!"


"…I place one card face-down and end my turn," a reverse-card appeared.


Rock recoiled, "Okay, I might've missed something, but Noire's got the strongest monster out there. So why didn't she attack…?"


"And now my Gemini Summoner activates his ability!" the mage said, "And I can use it to not only summon a gemini from my hand; when there's already one on my field, I can use my Summoner's ability to unleash its power instead. And that's what I'll do with my Future Samurai!" the samurai pressed a button on her earwear and a green visor covered her eyes.

Noire: 4000

Omni Mage: 100

"Now it's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "I sacrifice my Soldier to summon the Chthonian Emperor Dragon!" the small ninja was then replaced by the much-larger gold-rimmed green dragon (ATK: 2400), "And now, since there's at least two normal-monsters in my graveyard, I can special-summon (3) Woodland Archer(3/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1300) from my hand," a horned, troll-like archer appeared (ATK: 1400), "But he won't be around for long, because by sacrificing my archer, I can add a gemini-monster from my deck to my hand," the archer vanished and another card was added to the mage's hand, "Now I remove my archer from play to activate Future Samurai's ability to destroy one of your monsters!" the samurai lunged towards Machina Force with a glowing green blade and cut it down with a single strike, destroying it in an explosion, "And that was a special-ability dealing the damage, which means my samurai can still attack!" the dragon destroyed Commander Covington with her sword.

"Machina Armored Unit now activates, which lets me summon Machina Peacekeeper from my deck," Noire said and the small red robot on wheels appeared (DEF: 600).

"I activate my spell card, Super Double Summon!" the mage's quick-play spell came to life, "This allows one of my geminis to unleash their power! And my Chthonian Emperor Dragon can attack twice each turn, so not even that hunk of scrap can protect you!" the dragon unleashed twin large fireballs towards Noire and Peacekeeper.

"I activate my trap card, Mirror Force!" Noire's reverse-card formed a barrier that caught and absorbed both attacks, "This card absorbs any attack from an opponent and destroys every monster on their field in ATK mode!" the same barrier dispersed into bolts of magic that travelled towards the mage's field.

"Finally, some initiative!" Rock cheered.

"…I activate my face-down card, Mystic Wok!" the mage opened her reverse-card, "And by sacrificing my dragon, I get to add its ATK power to my life-points!" Chthonian Emperor Dragon vanished from the field, leaving the rest of the monsters to be obliterated by Mirror Force.

Noire: 4000

Omni Mage: 2500

"I place one card face-down and end my turn," the mage concluded.

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I summon Scrap Recycler in DEF mode," the robotic trash bin appeared next to Peacekeeper (DEF: 1200), "When Scrap Recycler is summoned, I can then take a machine-type monster from my deck and send it to the graveyard," a card was then discarded from the deck, "Next I activate Scrap Recycler's other ability, which lets me return two level-4-lower monster in my graveyard back into my deck, which then lets me draw one card," two more cards were shuffled back into the deck before Noire drew, "Finally I equip Machina Peacekeeper onto Scrap Recycler and end my turn," Noire concluded as Peacekeeper attached to Scrap Recycler as a battery-pack.

"It's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "And I summon out (6) Gemini Lancer(4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1400) to the field in ATK mode!" an bronze-scaled, merman-like knight appeared wielding a pair of forked javelins (ATK: 1800), "Next I activate the spell Double Summon to unleash Lancer's power. Because when Gemini Lancer attacks a weaker monster in DEF mode, the difference between each monsters' points go to you as damage! Now attack!" Gemini Lancer charged forth and pierced the battery-pack on Scrap Recycler, destroying it.

"When a monster equipped with a union-monster gets attacked, that union-monster gets destroyed in its place," Noire explained as she added a card from her deck, "And since Peacekeeper is destroyed, I can add another union-monster from my deck to my hand."

"And yet you still take the damage!"

Noire: 3400

Omni Mage: 2500

"And with that done, I activate the spell Card of Sanctity. This lets both of us draw until we hold six cards?" both players redrew, "That end my turn."

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I activate Scrap Recycler's ability to add two more machines from my graveyard to my deck to draw another card," two cards were shuffled into the deck before Noire drew, "Next I summon Machina Gearfame in ATK mode," the orange Machina robot appeared (ATK: 1800), "Next I discard Perfect Machine King from my hand in order to summon Machina Fortress!" the large, tank-like robot appeared (ATK: 2500), "I can summon Machina Fortress from my hand or graveyard by sending machines from my hand to the graveyard until their total levels are eight or higher. Next, I equip my Gearframe onto Machina Fortress," Gearframe folded into a battery-pack and attached itself onto the base of Fortress's rail cannon, "Finally I end my turn with two face-downs," two reverse-cards appeared.


"Okay, now I know something's wrong!" Rock said, "Noire has the strongest monster out on the field! Why isn't she attacking already?!"

"…Maybe she's just being extra careful," Jason said, "Remember the last time? She was drawn into Martis' goading and lost because of it. I don't think she can afford to fall into anymore traps…"

"Ha! You'd wish it was that simple!" the mage laughed, "You boys really don't know what's going on, do you."

"Allow me to explain," Martis spoke from the sidelines, "Ancient folklore speaks of a magical duplicate known as a doppelganger, where when it cross paths with the person it copied spells certain doom," he then brought out his millennium scales, "The same applies to your friend. When I separated her into two with these millennium scales, I also split their personalities between the two. The one dueling for me is the aggressive side came to life!"

"Aggressive side?" Rock wondered, "You mean that crazy part of her we saw dueling back at the expulsion tag-duel?!"

"You can call it that…"

"Let me dumb it down for you," the mage said, "I'm the part of Noire who has the guts to attack my opponents. Without me, she can't go all out."

'So that's the problem Noire's having,' Jason thought, 'It's not just that she's afraid to spring any traps; she's become too scared to attack, because that part of her had been taken away from her…'

"Now everyone here knows the truth!" the mage snided, "The real Noire was always a weakling! Always has been before I showed up!"


Flashback...

A much younger Noire was stuck in the middle of a circle of surrounding bigger kids. She's been trying to get back her doll from the towering bullies but it was always kept out of reach no matter how high she jumped.

Eventually they grew tired of it and decided to throw the doll into a nearby tree. Seeing it stuck between the branches where she could never reach it, Noire fell to her knees and cried while the bullies kept at her.

"What do you punks think you're doing?!"

As the bullies ran off, Noire looked up to see her uncle towering over her. Even with his usual disapproving scowls, she was happy to see him.

"Let's get out of here," he muttered as he turned to leave.

"But…" Noire trailed off as she looked up at the tree where her doll was stuck.

"Then go get it!" her uncle barked back, glaring over his shoulder. But as much as she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to climb up there a grab her doll, and simply hung her head low. She was simply to scared. This was no surprise to her uncle, "Thought so…" he muttered and walked off, Noire sulking away from the tree to catch up with him…

...End Flashback.


"Now it's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "Gemini Lancer, attack!" the merman charged forth, but was destroyed by a blast from Fortress's cannon.

Noire: 3400

Omni Mage: 1800

"Now I can activate my trap card, Gemini Trap Hole!" the mage opened her reverse-card, "Now that my gemini was destroyed in battle, I can use this card to destroy all monsters on your field!"

"My Machina Gearframe prevents my Fortress from being destroyed!" Noire said as all but Machina Fortress were shattered into pixels.

"I activate the Herclean Power spell card!" the continuous-spell card came to life, "While you're the only one with monsters on her field, I can summon a level-4-or-lower Gemini from my hand, like my Blazewing Butterfly!" the large, orange-scaled butterfly appeared (ATK: 1500), "And that there was a special-summon, so I can use my normal-summon this turn to unleash Blazewing's power and activate her special-ability!" the wings then went ablaze, "Now I can summon a gemini from my graveyard, with its power already unleashed at that! So Blazewing Butterfly, make way for Phoenix Gearfried!" the butterfly dove into the ground making a sea of flame, where the red-and-white knight jumped out and onto the field (ATK: 2800), "Next I activate the spell card Emergency Provisions! By sacrificing my Herclean Power card, I gain 1000 life-points!" the continuous-spell card vanished.

Noire: 3400

Omni Mage: 2800

"Next I activate my second spell, Magical Stone Excavation! By sending two of my card from my hand to the grave, I get to pick up another spell card from my grave!" the mage exchanged two cards from her hand with one from her graveyard, "Now I play Card of Sanctity to draw until we each have six cards in our hand!" both players redrew, "Next I activate yet another spell card, Double Summon to get an extra summoning this turn. So I'll use it to play my (4) Energy Bravery(4/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1200) in ATK mode!" a shirtless horned man appeared (ATK: 1700), "And to end my turn, I'll equip my Gearfried with Raregold Armor and Metalsilver Armor!" Gearfried gained a fearsome aura from those two spells.

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I switch Machina Fortress to DEF mode," Fortress put its arms at its sides and tucked its head inside, making it's form more tank-like, "Next, I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted, and use it's effect to summon Perfect Machine King from the graveyard," the continuous-trap card opened and the large red-and-white robot appeared on the field (ATK: 2700), "And for every machine-type monster on the field beside Perfect Machine King, it gains 500 ATK points (ATK: 3200). Next, I summon Oilman and equip it to my Machine King," a large oil can with limbs and a head appeared, and folded those appendages before attaching itself onto the Machine King's back, "I end my turn."

"It's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "First, I activate the spell Pot of Greed to draw two more cards," she drew twice, "Next I summon another Blazewing Butterfly to the field!" another butterfly appeared (ATK: 1500), "Now Energy Bravery, attack Machina Fortress!" the horned man had surges of electrical energy coming from between his hands, which he fired upon Machina Fortress where an explosion occurred. The smoke cleared showing a scrapped Fortress.

"Before Machina Fortress goes to the graveyard, his special-ability destroys an opponent's monster on the field, and I choose your Phoenix Gearfried!" Fortress's cannon, his only working part, fired a shot at Gearfried. However, Energy Bravery jumped between them and pressed his hands into the ground, raising a barrier that blocked the attack. Machina Fortress soon exploded, finally destroyed.

"Too bad! Energy Bravery's special-ability protects gemini-monsters from being destroyed by card-effects!" the mage said.

"Then I activate my Armored Unit's effect and summon Gear Golem the Moving Fortress from my deck," Noire said and a spiked gold-and-silver robot appeared (DEF: 2200).

"Then I'll just end my turn after giving my Gearfried the Mist Body equip-spell card," the mage concluded.

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I summon Red Gadget in DEF mode," the red gear-turning robot appeared (DEF: 1500), "And when he's summoned, I can add a Yellow Gadget from my deck to my hand," another card was added, "Next, I discard Yellow Gadget and Green Gadget from my hand to summon Machina Fortress from my graveyard," the blue Machina tank returned (DEF: 1600), "And with two more machines on my field, Perfect Machine King gains 1000 more ATK points (ATK: 4200). That ends my turn."

"It's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "First I equip Phoenix Gearfried with the Sword of Deep-Seated, giving him 500 extra ATK points," Gearfried's sword changed into a dark, barbed form (ATK: 3300), "Next I unleash Blazewing's power and sacrifice it to summon the gemini-monster Evocator Chevalier from the graveyard!" the butterfly was then replaced by the red swordsman (ATK: 1900), "And through that, Chevalier's power is also unleashed. That lets me sacrifice an equip-spell like Sword of Deep-Seated to destroy a card on your field, like your Armored Unit spell card!" the black sword then caught aflame, and Gearfried tossed the flaming sword through the spell card and destroyed it, "As for my sword, I can add it to the top of my deck when it's sent to the graveyard," the mage placed the card at the top of her deck, "Now to go on the attack! Evocator, take out his Gadget! Bravery, go for her Fortress!" both monsters destroyed their respective targets.

"Machina Fortress's effect activates! And this time I'm targeting your Energy Bravery!" Fortress fired another shot before being destroyed, but was deflected by an aura from Phoenix Gearfried, who got in the path of the attack.

"With my Metalsilver Armor on the field, it draws all targeting effects to the monster wearing it," the mage said.

"Phoenix Gearfried, attack that Gear Golem!" Gearfried charged in and destroyed Gear Golem.

Perfect Machine King: (ATK: 2700)

"Then I'll end my turn," the mage concluded.

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, "I discard the level-8 Machina Cannon from my hand to summon back Machina Fortress from my graveyard," the robotic tank returned (DEF: 1600), "Then I place one card face-down to end my turn," Noire concluded.

"It's my turn," the mage drew her next card, "I activate the spell card known as Hidden Armory. By sending the top card of my deck to the grave, I can add an equip-spell card from my deck," the mage added another card, "Next, I equip Gearfried with my Sword of Deep-Seated, then sacrifice it using my Evocator's effect to destroy your Machine King!" Gearfried threw his flaming sword towards Perfect Machine King, but Oilman detached from the robot and stood in the path of the attack, being destroyed in an explosion.

"When Perfect Machine King is about to be destroyed by an effect, Oilman can take his place!" Noire said.

"Then I'll have to activate my quick-play spell card Gemini Spark! By sacrificing a level-4 gemini on my field, I get to destroy a card on your field! Now your Machine King is wide-open!" Evocator, surrounded by an unstable aura, charged towards the Machine King.

"I activate my trap card, Roll Out!" Noire opened her reverse-card, "This card equips a monster on my field with a union-monster from my graveyard! So now my Machina Peacekeeper can be equipped to my Machine King!" Peacekeeper attached itself onto Machine King's forearm as the robot used it to block Evocator's assault, causing it to shatter into pixels through the explosion, "And when Peacekeeper gets destroyed, I can add another union-monster from my deck," Noire then added another card.

"I equip my Phoenix Gearfried with the Fairy Meteor Crush spell card! So no matter what mode you put your monsters, you still take damage! And don't forget, the card I drew thanks to Gemini Spark was my Sword of Deep-Seated, that means 500 extra points for my Gearfried!" Gearfried regained the barbed black sword, which now has a frightening pink aura (ATK: 3300)! Now I'll have Gearfried attack your Fortress!" Gearfried cut the tank in half and destroyed it.

Noire: 1700

Omni Mage: 2800

"I'll end my turn," the mage concluded.

"It's my turn," Noire drew her next card, 'This card might help me. But first…' "I summon Heavy-Mech Support Platform and equip it onto Perfect Machine King, giving him 500 points!" a flying red-and-white platform appeared and folded outward, before attaching itself behind Perfect Machine King and giving him a centaur-like form (ATK: 3200), "Next, I activate the spell card Reload! With this, I shuffle all the cards in my hand back into my deck…" she shuffled her hand with her deck, "Then I draw the same number of cards," she reached out to draw, but stopped due to hearing laughter coming from her doppelganger.

"Thanks for that! You just helped me win the duel!" the mage said, "And it's all thanks to you playing your spell card! That just triggered Phoenix Gearfried's unleashed power, which brings one of my geminis back from the grave! And this is the gemini that's gonna help me on the way to victory!" the red knight Evocator Chevalier returned (ATK: 1900), "And last I checked, my field's filled to the brim with equip-spells! So once I unleash Evocator's power on my next turn, I'll use it do destroy every card you have on the field!"

"But…every card?!" Noire stammered.

"That's right! I've been pulling my punches with him before; but the truth is, my Evocator Chevalier can use his effect as many times as there are equip-cards on my field. And I'll be able to splurge to my heart's content with this guy the first chance I get! Face it; you just made your last mistake."

'No. I can't lose…' "I draw!" Noire redrew her hand. And when she looked at her cards, her expression lightened, even giving her a small smile, '...And I won't.' "You know, ever since this duel began, I've been thinking about who I am and who I'm supposed to be. And now I finally know."

The mage rolled her eyed, "And here we go…"

"You and me, we're not that different."

"Oh bite me! I am nothing like you!"

"You misunderstand. I'm not comparing each other. There's no need when we're both the same person. We each represent the part the other lost. You represent my courage."

"Oh really. Then tell me, what do you represent?"

"…Judgement. I represent the restraint that's necessary when making decisions. The problem is, I lack the courage to act upon them. Just as it is your problem that you lack the restraint to see the sound decisions from the hasty ones."

"Ha! Spare me the mystic mumbo jumbo! You're the only problem I see and with you gone, I'll be the one true Noire Kennedy! You'll be the just a memory best left forgotten, bet on it!"

"Then perhaps at the end of this duel, you'll see the truth…I end my turn with four face-downs," four reverse-cards appeared.

"It's my turn!" the mage drew her next card, "And now the moment we've all been waiting for: Evocator Chevalier, unleash your power!"

'Now!' "I activate my trap card, Disarmament!" Noire opened her reverse-card, "All of your equip-spell cards are destroyed!"

"What—say that again?!"


"Say goodbye to all your spell cards, that's what!" Rock smirked as all five of the mage's equip-spells shattered and Gearfried lost his aura.


The mage growled, "Fine! But don't forget… That trap cards works both ways, so you just cost your Machine King his equip-card!" Perfect Machine King was detached from his centaur form to his previous form, "And again, don't forget that I got three monsters to your one! So all I need is to take him out so I can finish the rest of your life-points, winning it all!"

"…If you're so confident then what are you waiting for?"

"Someone's in a hurry to lose! Have it your way! Phoenix Gearfried, attack!" Gearfried charged over and swung his sword down on the Machine King. But the blade was stopped halfway…by a metal fist, "What the…what just happened?!"

"What just happened…" Noire began, "Is that you lost," the blade shattered into pieces, causing Gearfried to lose his balance and began falling over. The Perfect Machine King then took this chance to swing his fist across Phoenix Gearfried, finally destroying the warrior in an explosion.

"But…how?!" the mage exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"Maybe it's best that I showed you a step at a time," Noire gestured to her first opened reverse-card.

"Staunch Defender?!" the mage read, "Why play a card that can redirect attacks when you only have one monster on the field?!"

"That's not my only card. There's also my Scapegoat card," Noire gestured over to third reverse-card, whereas round, goat-like creatures hovering around her.

"Four fluffballs don't change anything! I wanna know how your Machine King could—" the mage then crestfallen when she spotted the fourth and last reverse-card, "Oh."

"As you already know, my Perfect Machine King gains 500 points for each machine monster on the field other than the King himself," Noire explained, "So when I played my DNA Transplant to change all monsters to machines, he drew the power from all seven new machines on the field. Which means…"

Perfect Machine King: (ATK: 6200)

Noire: 1700

Omni Mage: 0

"I…lost…" the mage felt her knees grow weak and fell to her knees. All holograms vanished around the duelists.

"She did it!" Rock cheered, "Noire just went through her first shadow-duel!"

'And all without attacking even once,' Jason thought, 'She managed to find a way around her handicap and made that double come to her monsters…'

'I thought I know that deck inside and out! I didn't think she's be smart enough to come up with a combo like that…' the doppelganger then found a pair of familiar feet step up in front of her, and looked up to see her twin offering her hand to her,

"Do you need any help?" Noire asked.

"…I can help myself up, thank you," the other Noire said as she stood on her feet. As the two stood face-to-face, the next few moments were spent in awkward silence, the twos' gazes repelling each other.

To escape, the silence was broken by the doppelganger, "Look…I know I'm not exactly the nicest person, and that I threatened to replace you and stuff… but this turned out to be a real fun duel. You got more guys than I gave you credit for."

"I have you to thank. You're the one who pushed me to my limit. I couldn't have done it without you."

The other Noire scoffed and looked away, "Yeah. I know..."

Noire took another look at her doppelganger, before she stiffed a giggle, which the other Noire then noticed, "What?"

"You know, now that I got a closer look at you, it really looks like we're twins. I always wanted a twin sister."

"News flash, we're both the same person…except I'm not a wuss…and I'm better-looking."

"Aw…" Noire sulked over at that. The two then found the slifer duo stopping in front of them.

"So…" Rock said, "This has gotten a bit bizzare."

"Yeah, you're seeing double," the second Noire spat, "Anything else you'd like to report, captain obvious?"

"No, I don't mean this…okay, now I mean this but this is just a bonus. I mean our mage friend took off without saying goodbye!"

Everyone looked around and realized that Martis was nowhere to be seen, not even in the place he was standing. If Martis has disappeared, what does that mean for Noire…?


DUEL-MON DATABASE

(1) Gemini Summoner

Stats: [Spellcaster/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 0)

Attribute: WATER

Effect: Once per turn, during your opponent's End Phase: You can pay 500 LP; Normal Summon/Set 1 Gemini monster from your hand or Normal Summon 1 face-up Gemini monster you control. The first time this card would be destroyed by battle each turn, it is not destroyed.

(2) Featherizer

Stats: [Fish/Effect] LV: 2 (ATK: 700/DEF: 1100)

Attribute: WIND

Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can send 1 Gemini monster from your Deck to the Graveyard and draw 1 card.

(3) Woodland Archer

Stats: [Beast-Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200)

Attribute: WIND

Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by having 2 or more Normal Monsters in your Graveyard. You can Tribute this card to add 1 Gemini monster from your Deck to your hand.

(4) Energy Bravery

Stats: [Beast-Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1700/DEF: 1200)

Attribute: LIGHT

Effect: Gemini Monsters you control that are being treated as Effect Monsters cannot be destroyed by card effects.

(5) Future Samurai

Stats: [Warrior/Gemini] LV: 4 (ATK: 1600/DEF: 1200)

Attribute: LIGHT

Effect: This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it become an Effect Monster with this effect.

● Once per turn: You can banish 1 monster from your Graveyard to target 1 face-up monster on the field; destroy that target.

(6) Gemini Lancer

Stats: [Sea-Serpent/Gemini] LV: 4 (ATK: 1800/DEF: 1400)

Attribute: LIGHT

Effect: This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it be treated as an Effect Monster with this effect:

● During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.


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