This is a quick reminder that existing cards are bolded for easy reference in case any readers wanted to look up their effects. Custom cards created by myself or the owners of the various OCs featured in this story will italicized. If you have any questions about their effects, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Duel 11 – All's Fair In Love and Duels

"Here we are, the third duel of the second stage is now commencing! We have Jake, the man who could have beaten the machine going up against Abigail, the femme fatale who only lost once. We've got a pair of heavy hitters ready and rearing to go, duel boys and girls! MC-sama, do you have any speculations as to who might win this duel?"

"The odds are in Jake's favor at first sight," He began. "But if you look at Abigail's win/loss ratio in the tournament, you might just find that those first odds can be flipped upside down at any moment."

"What do you mean by that?" Hitomi questioned.

"You'll have to see for yourself as this duel is about to take place. Alright everyone, say it with me!"

"Let's duel!"

"You don't mind if I start us off, do you?" Abigail drew five cards.

"Ladies first." Jake smirked.

"What a gentleman." Abigail drew a sixth card. "I'll start off by summoning Mystic Tomato (1400) in attack position and setting two cards."

"Abigail starts off with a bit of a gamble of a play," The MC commentated. "She could have set her monster, but it's as though she's inviting Jake to make a move!"

"What kind of man would I be if I didn't take that invitation?" Jake drew a card from his deck and looked at his hand. "Let's start things off slow, Abigail, and get to know each other. I summon Giant Rat (1400) in attack position."

"And would you look at that!" It was Hitomoi's turn to speak. "Both duelists start off with similar cards!"

"I attack, and since our monsters have the same attack value,"

"They're both destroyed by the battle." Abigail giggled. "And both of their effects trigger. I can special summon a Dark attribute monster from my deck in face up attack position, the same attribute as my Tomato, so long as it has 1500 or less attack."

"And I can summon an Earth attribute monster from my deck, with the same stipulations as your monster." Jake drew the ejected card from his deck at the same time as Abigail. "Why don't we play them at the same time and see what we chose?"

"If you're about to play what I think you are," Abigail smiled at Jake. "You can take me to dinner later."

"You're on." Jake smirked. "I hope you like to eat as much as I do."

"Are we seeing sparks that aren't duel related?" The MC spoke slyly.

"I summon… Giant Rat."

"Mystic Tomato!"

The two duelists shared a laugh. "Well," Jake began. "Why change a good thing? I'm attacking again!"

"That means once more, we can summon… Mystic Tomato!

"Giant Rat!"

"Why are they summoning the same monsters?!" Tem shouted at the monitor, his hands pulling at his hair. "And why are they flirting now of all times?"

"I suppose that's what the youth does nowadays." Tem looked over to see Johann sit beside him. "Hello, young Tem." Johann smiled at him. "Congratulations on your victory."

"Johann! Thank you." Tem smiled back before turning his attention to the duel again. "Come on, do something already…"

"Quite a bit is happening already, young Tem." Johann leaned forward.

"They've just been flirting and spamming the same monsters for the last few minutes."

Johann tsked at Tem. "Your friend Jake has a slight advantage as it's his battle phase and he's forcing Abigail to spend more resources so early on. However, Abigail still has those two face down cards that could be anything, effectively shutting Jake out of any solid information about her deck."

"But neither has lost life points yet. Isn't it just a stalemate?" Tem glanced at Johann.

"It will be until the last of their searchers have been destroyed. Then, whichever one of them summons the weaker monster will likely lose out. Abigail knew this was a possibility for her, so she set those cards after goading an attack with her attack position monster. Jake, on the other hand, will be on the defensive whether he pulls out a weaker monster, or Abigail activates one of her face down cards. He doesn't have anything else on the field to fall back on as it's only the second turn."

"So, Jake's losing right now…" Tem nodded.

"Now Tem, I hope your excitement hasn't blinded you to how the momentum of a duel can change at any minute." Johann adjusted the tiny glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Particularly, when Jake could be viewed as the strongest duelist here."

"Well, there go our walls." Abigail drew the card ejected from her deck, watching Jake do the same. "I'm forced to summon my Allure Queen Lv 3 from my deck (500) in attack mode."

"And here comes my Millennium Shield, also in attack mode (0). I think I've attacked enough, so I'll set two cards and end my turn."

"Though their first moves were rather similar, their ending boards are different." Hitomi's voice prompted a few surprised responses from the audience. "Abigail is preparing to steadily build up her forces with a level monster, while Jake apparently readies his defenses!"

"While it is true that shield of his has a whopping three thousand defense points, it's currently in attack position and couldn't even stop a sneeze! It makes you wonder what the man who rivaled the dueling robot's time is thinking!" The MC followed up.

"Since it's my main phase now," Abigail settled her drawn card in her hand. "I can activate the equip spell card Demotion. I equip it to your Millennium Shield, reducing it by two levels. Now, my Allure Queen's effect can activate, and I can equip your level three monster to my queen."

"Allure Queen, huh?" Jake commented as his monster was ensnared by shadowy hands and dragged to Abigail's side of the field. "That's quite a fitting deck you have there."

"Why thank you. But let's see if you'll keep up the compliments after this. I normal summon Armageddon Knight (1400), triggering its effect. I can send one Dark attribute monster from my deck to my graveyard, and I choose Necro Gardna. Now, my Allure Queen will attack you directly."

Jake's LP: 3500

"You aren't going to activate your set cards to protect yourself?" Abigail asked curiously.

"It'd be rude to make a move on the first date." Jake winked at her.

"Well then allow me to. Armageddon Knight attacks you directly!"

"I activate the trap card Confusion Chaff, forcing your knight to attack your queen!"

"You'd have a knight attack his queen? And here I thought you were a gentleman. I activate the trap card Half Unbreak, preventing my monster from being destroyed this turn and cutting the damage in half."

Abigail's LP: 3550

"Then it's my turn." Jake drew a card then looked at his hand. "I'll use a little spell card called Mutual Draw. We each draw a card from our decks, reveal them, and if they're both the same type of card, I get to draw a second card." The two duelists drew a card then placed them on their duel disks. "And would you look at that, we both drew another spell card." Jake drew another card. "Just what I was looking for."

"Mutual Draw?" Tem looked over to Johann. "Wasn't that card scheduled to be released in the upcoming booster packs next month?"

"I suppose he received it early due to clearing the first stage so quickly." Johann guessed.

"That's not fair." Tem grumbled to himself.

"We all received cards. It would make sense that those who did exceptionally well got a more substantial reward." Johann's words didn't seem to ease Tem's mood.

"Since you control a monster and I don't, I can Special Summon Inca Polearm Warrior (2100) and I follow that up with a normal summon of Field Commander Rhaz (1600). I'm sure we're all familiar with his searching effect by now." Jake waited until his deck was shuffled before placing a card atop his deck."

"He uses a Warrior Type deck, too?" Tem leaned forward in his seat, unaware of a concerned look from Johann. "But what's that first monster?" Tem stared at the stocky man garbed in a white battle dress with gold accents, and as the name implied, held a long polearm in the other hand.

"I can't say I've heard of that monster before." Johann rubbed his chin scruff. "But his deck seems to be centered around similarly named cards."

"You've watched his duels?" Tem's attention kept bouncing between the monitor and Johann.

"Of course. My duel is towards the end of the first round of duels, so I've been using this time for research." Johann raised an eyebrow at Tem's expression. "Yes, I watched your duel just now for further research, but I am sincerely glad to see that a friend is doing well thus far."

Tem gave a nod. "You did make it clear we're still competing for the top spot. But, I hope you do well in your duel, too, Johann." Tem noticed Johann's eye were on the monitor so Tem looked back. "Wait; what did I just miss?!"

Abigail LP: 2850

"Jake attacked her Armageddon Knight with his warrior, then declared an attack on her Allure Queen with Rhaz. She stopped the attack with the Necro Gardna's effect, and Jake set a card. No doubt preparing for the next level of Allure Queen."

"During my standby phase," Abigail removed her Allure Queen from her duel disk. "I can send Allure Queen Lv3 to the graveyard while equipped with your monster, and Special Summon her stronger Lv 5 version directly from my deck (1000)." She placed the card on her duel disk, and the hologram of her monster grew in size, seemingly taunting its opponent with a wave of its hand. "Next, I'll use her effect and take your level five Polearm Warrior."

Abigail's new monster outreached its hands, caressing the face of Jake's monster past its gold helmet. With a few whispered words from the Allure Queen, Jake's monster waltzed over to the opposite side of the field, and stood in front of its new queen. "And why just stop at one protector when you can have two? I normal summon Queen's Bodyguard (1700) and attack your Field Commander!"

Jake's LP: 3400

"And now my Allure Queen attacks you directly and deals damage to your life points!"

"My trap, Defense Draw says otherwise. I take no damage, and I get to draw a card."

"Not bad, setting up your draw like that." Abigail set a card. "I end my turn."

"You've snatched up two of my monsters." Jake drew for the start of his turn. "I'm starting to get the feeling I might be next."

"Perhaps." Abigail giggled.

"Well, I hope you appreciate a challenge. I set a monster and a facedown. It's your move."

"Is that it? Weren't you going to show me how a man duels?" Abigail drew a card before declaring; "As my Allure Queen Lv 5 is equipped with your monster, I can activate her effect to level up to her strongest form. Allure Queen Lv 7 (1500)!" Her monster was concealed in a shroud of darkness, before unveiling and looking stronger than before. "And now, Queen's Bodyguard attacks-"

"I hate to cut in," Jake pressed a button on his duel disk. "But now's the perfect time to trigger my Blasting Fuse trap card."

"You use Blasting Fuse? On purpose?" Abigail's expression was one of aversion.

"A niche card, I know. But destroying all cards in this column; both our back row cards and our monsters, is a neat effect."

"My Allure Queen!" Abigail realized. "Its effect only activates when it has a monster equipped!"

"And it's only protected from battle destruction. My monster, however, gets its effect activated when destroyed by a card effect." A hologram of Jake's monster appeared on the field "Inca Apostle can special summon an Inca monster from my graveyard and I'm bringing back my Inca Polearm Warrior."

"Tch… and since I've declared an attack with my Bodyguard, I can't change it to defense position this turn. I set a monster, and end my turn."

"Alright," Jake smirked at the card he drew. "How about I show you just how manly I am?" He placed the card on the field. "Let's go, Inca Battle Maid (1000)!" A slender woman garbed in red and gold took a place beside the warrior on Jake's field. "I'll use her to attack your Queen's Bodyguard!"

"But she has less attack!"

Jake's LP: 2700

"Now my Polearm Warrior goes in for the finish, with a seven hundred attack boost from my Rush Recklessly Quick-Play spell card."

Abigail's LP: 1750

"So much for finishing me." Abigail huffed, a bit disheveled from the turn in events. "You came up short."

"Inca Battle Maid's effect activates from the Graveyard!" The transparent image of Jake's monster appeared on the field. "My Battle maid is a bit spiteful after her battle. So spiteful, in fact, that she's possessing my warrior to attack once more!"

"So that's why you attacked into my Bodyguard…"

"Sometimes, a man has to take a small loss, for a big victory. Don't worry, I'll cover the dinner bill."

"And in an amazing display of control with his unique deck, Jake takes the win!" Hitomi's voice rang clear as Jake's image popped up on every screen. He waved to those that cheered for him, and waved harder to the handful of jeers he received. "Alright, let's see if that great duel will be followed up by another!" Abigail walked off the stage, visibly upset but maintained a small smile on her face.

"I must say, I'm a bit surprised by this result." MC began as the crowd died down a bit.

"What makes you say that?" Hitomi turned to him.

"Abigail only had one loss in the first stage. Her two victories were handled with little effort against her male opponents, but her only loss came from a female opponent."

"Huh?" Hitomi pulled up the details of Abigail's duels on a laptop at their table. "Would you look at that? Does that mean Jake was impervious to her charms?"

"That'd be the most obvious answer judging by what just happened, but there's another possibility."

"Another possibility?" Hitomi looked toward Abigail who stood by the double doors, looking back at Jake. Jake walked towards her, giving the crowd one final wave, before stopping in front of her and pulling out a pen and pad from one of his many pants pockets. He scribbled something down and tore off a page, handing it to Abigail.

Abigail looked from the paper to Jake, earning a wink from him. He walked through the double doors as she clutched the paper to her chest. "Yup," MC laughed. "She fell for Jake's charm!"

There was a mixed reaction from the crowd, some wolf whistles and some more heckling to the now absent Jake. Abigail seemed to come to her senses and scurried past the double doors. "Well, dueling fans, let's see what the next duel will entail for our hopefuls! Our next match of the day is…"

END

Custom cards used in this chapter:

All cards made by Xen Kenshin

Mutual Draw: Each player draws one card, then reveals it. If both players drew the same type of card (Monster, Spell or Trap) then you get to draw one additional card.

Inca Polearm Warrior: [EARTH Warrior/Effect] LV 5 2100/1200 If your opponent controls a monster(s) and you don't; you may special summon this card from your hand. If this card is destroyed by a card effect; target one face up monster you control; it gains 800 during its next damage step only.

Inca Apostle: [WATER Warrior/Effect] LV 2 800/800

When this card is destroyed by your card effect; Target one level five or higher 'Inca' monster in your Graveyard. Special Summon that target. You can banish this card from your Graveyard; target one level five or higher 'Inca' monster you control. This turn, it cannot be destroyed by battle.

Inca Battle Maid:[WATER Warrior/Effect] LV 3 1000/1000

If this card was destroyed by battle; target one face up 'Inca' monster you control. It can make a second attack during its next Battle Phase.
If this card were destroyed by a card effect during the battle phase; Special Summon in in face up defense position. Banish this card the next time it leaves the field after being Special Summoned by this effect.