Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to The Lost Kingdom! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest edition of the Hope sisters. This upload will focus on the Grand Prix/Grand Championship arc whilst next week we'll move onto Dawn of the Duel arc
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 12: - The Final Match
The time had finally come, the final Duel of the KHI Grand Prix before the championship match, since the main arena had already been used for a Duel Seto decided to move us to a new location known as Blue-Eyes Castle. I was eager to face off against Leon, who had managed to prove how incredible of a Duelist he was and how difficult it would be to face off against him.
"We're here my lady," Athena spoke up. She had appeared beside me as I ascended the steps that would take me to the first balcony where the Duel would take place; I nodded my head at the war goddess' words. "Since it's that Leon boy, the battle will no doubt be an intriguing one with numerous obstacles to overcome," Athena admitted. She did love solving difficult problems no matter the situation.
"Definitely, but with all of you beside me, I'm certain we'll be victorious and then we have Yami to battle against," I stated. I felt the strength and confidence of my Deck pumping into me as I finished ascending the steps and stepped out onto the balcony, hearing Isono beginning the opening speech, once he called out my name, I stepped from the shadows out onto the sunlit balcony as the spectators present began to cheer.
I glance back behind me and saw Leon also stepping out, but I sensed something extremely strange as the expression on his face seemed to be drawn and tight which was unusual since Leon had always been vibrant and expressive the other times I'd seen him. Leon came to a stop and turned to face me, directing that tight expression at me completely and my worry spiked even more.
"Katherine-san, are you ready to Duel. Normally… I'd love to be facing off against you, but today…," Leon spoke. However, Isono was stupid enough to cut the boy off just to continue with his speech and I felt a spark of concern whip through me, Leon was acting very strange and I didn't know what to think of it, I walked closer to Leon who did the same to me, we traded Decks and shuffled them.
"Let's have a great Duel," I pushed. Maybe saying something would reveal what was gnawing at Leon, causing him such distress, however after taking back his Deck Leon abruptly turned away from me with squeezed eyes and a grimace on his face. "Leon," I whispered. Something was definitely wrong, but I had no way to find out what it was, but it clearly upset him enough, I turned around and walk back to my position as a quick glance up showed all my friends, family and Yugi were watching from the second balcony.
"Now the two of them are ready. And this person shall announce the start of the Duel!" Isono announced. Jounouchi thought it was going to be him but Mokuba, rightly angry at the blonde's words, told him that he wasn't and Seto was going to be giving the announcement from the balcony that was seated above them, I watched as Seto stepped out with my dad of all people joining him which caused my eyes to widen in surprise.
"You two stand before us, having survived intense battles with Duelists from all over the world. It is your greatest honour to be able to stand there! And within this battlefield you must show the world which of you is worthy of facing off against the King of Duelists! Now, as you seek the path to greatest victory, the Duel starts now!" Seto declared. When he finished speaking, I snapped my head back down to face Leon and immediately pulled five cards from my Deck.
Katherine – LP: 4000
Leon – LP: 4000
"Here I come! I'll go first! Draw!" Leon declared. He seemed to be almost angry as he spoke, pulling the card free from his Deck. "I Summon Forest Wolf in Attack Position!" Leon declared. That gluttonous Monster appeared on the field, baring its' fangs at me and a frown quickly tugged at my lips upon seeing the Monster.
Forest Wolf – Attribute: Earth, Type: Beast, Level: 3, ATK/1800, DEF/300
"Forest Wolf? What kind of card is that?" Jounouchi questioned. Since they had missed the majority of Rebecca's Duel against Leon due to saving Suguroku and we'd been busy whenever Leon had been Dueling other times, it was no wonder that none of them had any clue as to what the Monster was except for Arthur and Rebecca; Leon announced the end of his turn then.
"My turn! Draw!" I declared. I pulled the card free and looked ta it, a brief smile coming to my face before I placed the card in my hand and selected another one. "I activate the Magic card Cost Down. By discarding one card from my hand I can reduce the level of all Monsters by two for the duration of the turn," I explained. Sliding the chosen card into the Graveyard.
Forest Wolf – Level: 3 – Level: 1
"Thanks to this I can now Normal Summon Lady of Love, Aphrodite in Attack mode!" I declared. The ethereal goddess of love appeared on my field in a flash of rose petal as she sent a wink flying at Leon who turned a red shade in response to the move. "Stop flirting would you! We're in the middle of a battle! Don't make me sick Artemis on you!" I snapped. Sometimes the woman couldn't be controlled.
Lady of Love, Aphrodite – Attribute: Light, Type: Angel, Level: 5, ATK/1300, DEF/3000
Lady of Love, Aphrodite – Level: 5 – Level: 3
"Why did she Summon out Aphrodite in Attack Mode when she's more of a Defence Monster?" Otogi asked. Whilst that might be true, the card I'd drawn actually made it so that Aphrodite's lower attack level became less of a problem, I reached for the card and proceeded to flick it around revealing a pure white dove on the artwork.
"I then activate the Equipment Magic, Dove of Love!" I declared. Sliding the card in caused it to rise up and the white bird emerged from its' confines and fluttered over to Aphrodite and settled onto her shoulder. "Dove of Love can only be equipped to Aphrodite and it increases her attack by eight hundred points!" I revealed.
Lady of Love, Aphrodite – ATK/1300 – ATK/2100
"Lady of Love, Aphrodite attack Forest Wolf with Rose Petal Intoxication!" I commanded. Aphrodite proceeded to bring out a storming cascade of bright red petals that spun around as they flew towards Forest Wolf and slashed the Monster several times before it eventually shattered into pieces and stole some of Leon's Life Points.
Leon – LP: 4000 – LP: 3700
"I end my turn!" I declared. I'd had to reduce my hand a fair amount to get Aphrodite out on the field and strong enough to remove that blasted wolf from the field before it started gobbling up all my Monsters, Cinderella and House of Sweets were the other problems that I needed to watch out for from Leon's Deck that I knew off.
Lady of Love, Aphrodite – Level: 3 – Level: 5
"You're very strong, Katherine-san. By Dueling you like this, I can feel an oppressive aura coming from that normally isn't present. It's like you're a whole different person. My turn, draw!" Leon declared. He pulled the card free and looked at it. "I Summon Little Red Riding Hood in Defence Mode!" Leon declared. A diminutive girl in a red cloak and pink dress appeared on the field holding her wicker basket in hand.
Little Red Riding Hood – Attribute: Earth, Type: Angel, Level: 3, ATK/800, DEF/1200
"Seems like Leon has many cards like that in his Deck," Jounouchi commented. Anzu claimed it was full of childhood tales but Rebecca quickly warned them, and me I guess, not to get sucked in by how adorable they may look given how dangerous these fairy tale creatures had proven themselves when facing off against Rebecca and her Deck; but at that moment Leon ended his turn without any reverse cards.
"He's different from how I felt when he fought with me," Rebecca commented. I wasn't surprised that someone else had caught on to how Leon was acting, I was only surprised by how long it had taken for anyone else to realise how strange the boy was acting; I was concerned the longer this Duel dragged on about how strange Leon was acting right now.
"Leon Wilson," Seto spoke. I directed my gaze up to the balcony as did everyone else with dad turning to face him. "I've got a feel of his Dueling style whilst monitoring the Duels. There is something different about him now," Seto stated. That was unnerving to say the least, Seto would have been able to study every participant during all of their Duels so he had the best grasp on Leon's Dueling style out of everyone present.
"What's going on with Leon-kun? He always looked like he enjoyed the Duels before but now…," Yugi commented. My sister nodded her head in agreement with those words, I turned my attention back to the boy who had such a dark expression on his face, one that looked more familiar to me the longer I stared at it during this Duel.
"Leon Wilson… or perhaps I should call you something else," I spoke up. Leon seemed to flinch at those words, eyes wide with surprise and a slight hint of fear. "People seem to always forget the younger sibling, don't they?" I asked. Leon's face turned slightly ashen at my words. "My turn! Draw!" I declared. I pulled the card free and looked at it before turning my gaze back. "I Summon Child of Wine, Dionysus in Attack Mode!" I declared. The drunken god appeared on the field, looking about ready to topple over at the slightest gust of wind.
Child of Wine, Dionysus – Attribute: Earth, Type: Angel, Level: 3, ATK/1400, DEF/1500
"I use Child of Wine, Dionysus to attack Little Red Riding Hood! Madness Curse!" I declared. The previously drunken god snapped to attention and purple streams of energy short forward, twisting around Little Red Riding Hood and quickly compressing down on her, until she was squeezed into pixels with a scream of terror echoing from her as she disappeared.
"Great! Kathie got yet another successful attack! I feel bad for Leon, but I think Kathie's going to emerge as the winner!" Jounouchi celebrated. But Rebecca quickly cut across the celebration by claiming that it wasn't going to be that easy due to Leon's Deck being full of Monsters possessing Special Effects, it was muck like my own Deck in that regard.
"I activate Little Red Riding Hood's Special Effect! When this card is destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon a Level Four or lower Warrior-type Monster! I Special Summon Forest Hunter in Attack Position!" Leon declared. He pulled the chosen card free and proceeded to place the card onto the Duel Disk, allowing the new Monster to appear on the field.
Hunter of the Forest – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 3, ATK/1200, DEF/800
"And when Forest Hunter is Summoned successfully, one Monster on the opponent's field will be removed from the game!" Leon explained. The new Monster appeared on the field and levelled his bow at my field. "Forest Hunter, get rid of Aphrodite!" Leon commanded. There was nothing I could do to protect her, the Forest Hunter loosed the arrow, the sharp point burrowed its' way into Aphrodite causing her to explode into a mass of pixels with Dove of Love following shortly after as Kylie called out my name and I felt Yugi's concern pulse through to me.
"Like I said, there are many Monsters with unknown powers in Leon's Deck. And the Leon now is different from the Leon that I fought with," Rebecca commented. Anzu and Jounouchi didn't understand what the young girl meant. "When he was Dueling me, he seemed to really be enjoying the Duel. But now that he's one step away from fighting with his idol Yugi, he doesn't seem happy at all," Rebecca explained.
"I end my turn," I stated. There wasn't anything more I could do this turn, I simply had to wait for my next turn to come around any go from there; I could only hope that I'd be able to get to the bottom of why Leon was acting so strange and if it had anything to do with the suspicions that I was beginning to harbour about the boy.
"Katherine-san," Leon called out. I focused on the boy, wondering what he wanted to say to me. "Yugi-san is the True Duelist I've admired, it's been my dream to fight against him. But now, I'm fighting for the sake of my mission Katherine-san!" Leon declared. He reached his hand up to his Deck as he spoke and my lips pulled into a frown as I felt confusion echo from me and Yugi at the last word that Leon had spoken.
"This is bad, Seto-sama!" A grunt yelled. I snapped my head up as I saw the grunt rush towards Seto and hand him a sheet of paper. "P-please look at these!" The grunt insisted. Seto snatched the papers from him and proceeded to look them over. "To prevent further incidents, I continued checking the backgrounds of the Duelists. And this is what I found!" The grunt explained. Seto finished reading and seemed to understand something.
"Looks like you finally get it, Kaiba," Siegfried's voice came. Seto calmly turned back and accused Siegfried of being behind this strategy. "That is right. Everything is going according to my plan," Siegfried agreed. I saw dad's eyes narrow as he turned around to look at the man who had already caused so much trouble whilst mum and Kylie looked at each other, concern clear on their faces.
"To think that another son of the Schroeder family would enter this competition with a fake name," Seto stated. The others were shocked by this revelation as Siegfried agreed that Leon was his younger brother, revealing his true name of Leonhart von Schroeder before insisting that playtime was over and for Leon to show off his true abilities.
"Yes, brother!" Leon agreed. Despite Siegfried's declaration, the spectators up above were still shocked by the response and Anzu asked Leon what was going on; Siegfried accused Seto of letting his guard down after defeating Seto but Siegfried already had this backup plan in place and I saw Kylie almost lunge forward only for Jounouchi and Otogi to grab a hold of her to prevent any rash actions.
"On this grand stage that Kaiba Corporation painstakingly prepared, for the entire world to see, Katherine Hope and then Muto Yugi will be utterly defeated by my Leonhart. What would everyone think after witnessing that? Naturally the name 'Schroeder' would be deeply etched in their hearts. And at that very moment, we Schroeders will announce our new game product to the world. After making such an impact, everyone around the world will be eager to purchase games made by the Schroeders," Siegfried declared. Dad actually started to glare as Siegfried kept speaking.
"In short, you intend to copy Kaiba Corporation and do the exact same thing? Utilising your own brother as a tool to get what you want!?" Dad snapped. His fist impacted the railing that looped around the balcony that the three men stood on, Siegfried turned around to look at my dad whose eyes were filled with blazing coals of anger at the way Siegfried was acting. "Family are not pieces on a game board Siegfried! They are the true treasure that should be cared for beyond anything else!" Dad snarled.
"George! Calm down!" Mum cried. Dad's chest was still heaving for air as mum cut across, she moved closer and reached a hand up to him in an effort to help him cool his rage. "Arguing with this boy does nothing, if he cannot understand such concepts without your words then it's pointless arguing with him," Mum advised. Her soothing tone managed to ease the tension that coiled across my dad's frame, Siegfried warily turned his back to dad and looked at Seto.
"If my synopsis is correct, then the outcome of our Duel earlier will hardly matter at all. As long as I can prove that I am a superior enterpriser to you!" Siegfried stated. Business gambits and machinations made my head hurt, the only thing that seemed worse was politics which was exactly why I avoided it; setting cover and decoys in chess or Duels were one in, but in real life I couldn't understand people who did that, like Siegfried and Gozaburo… at least Seto was honest to my face whilst Mokuba was honest all the time, using family to hurt others was a horrible thing to do.
"What do you think a Duel is?!" Jounouchi snapped. Rebecca accused him of being the worst and Isono stepped out onto the field and turned to look up at the third balcony before asking if they should proceed to cancel the Duel which caused my eyes to widen and I quickly snapped my head up to focus on Seto who was death staring Siegfried at the moment as he listened to the chaos going on around him.
"Don't you dare interfere Seto!" I yelled. Seto looked down at me, surprise in his eyes as I looked up at him. "You already interrupted one of my matches, I won't permit it again. But more than that, if you cancel another Duel – especially one already underway – it will reflect badly on Kaiba Corporation and Hope Industries," I explained. I then proceeded to direct my dark eyes to the smirking pinkette beside Seto. "As for you Siegfried, you seem to think that my defeat is guaranteed, but nothing is over until Life Points drop to zero and no more cards can be played! Don't go assuming Leon's already won!" I snapped. At that moment Seto began to laugh that maniacal laugh of his.
"Katherine's right! She's a capable Duelist, someone worthy of challenge Muto Yugi! And even if she did lose, Muto Yugi is the only Duelist worthy enough to be called my rival! He wouldn't lose to your little brother! Because there's no Duelist in the world capable of defeating Yugi other than me!" Seto declared. I had a few issues with what he just said concerning the stuff focused on Yugi and Kylie raised a fist to shake it at the brunette whilst dad shook his head in exasperation. "But your brother has to defeat Katherine first! And like that it possible!" Seto added on.
The others seemed terrified by the confidence that Seto showed to everyone as the brunette CEO declared that the Duel was going to continue, encouraging Siegfried to remain there and watch as his plan was swiftly ruined. Siegfried quickly turned his attention to Leon and insisted that the boy had to defeat both me and Yugi, even going as far as to say that not doing so was essentially a betrayal of his family causing my teeth to grind against each other as mum seized dad's hand tightly despite the strain it put on her to hold him back form a lower balcony whilst Yugi and Rebecca started work on calming Kylie down.
"I understand, brother. Here I come Katherine-san," Leon announced. I doubted Leon got close simply to deceive us, he didn't seem to have a heart capable of that kind of action; he seemed earnest and true during every other time I had seen him whether it was inside or outside of a Duel, I needed to get to the bottom of his own feelings.
"Are you truly okay with this, Leon? Is this the kind of Duel you really wish for? Are you not a True Duelists?" I asked. Siegfried ordered Leon not to listen to me and instead focus on defeating me in order to move on to defeat Yugi and then he would be recognised as a member of the Schroeder family. "So, you're saying Leon isn't even your brother unless he wins!" I snarled. That was exactly how he made it sound and I wasn't happy about it. "Leon…," I spoke.
"Katherine-san, I understand what you're trying to tell me, I became a Duelist because I admired you and your sister. But now I want to be of help to my brother. My brother needs me now, me, who has no place in the Schroeder family. That's why… that's why I have to," Leon admitted. He seemed so sad and concerned that it pulled sharply at my heart, causing me to frown at his words. "That's right, my brother was the star of hope for the Schroeder family. And without disappointing anyone, he has also shown his talent. I'm very proud of my brother, but I couldn't help him in anyway. However, my encounter with Duel Monsters changed my life greatly, I couldn't tear my eyes away from my favourite cards and the Hope sister's Duels. That's because the world that I'd imagined was becoming a reality. The more I got exposed to Dueling, the more obsessed I became with that wonderful world and seeing Yugi-san's Duels pushed me to start Dueling myself but then my brother said I was needed. So… so for the sake of my brother, even if my opponent is you Katherine-san and Yugi-san, I'll defeat you!" Leon explained.
"Leon…," I whispered. I felt tears burning in my eyes as Leon had explained the life he lived and my Gauntlet clad hand curled tightly into a fist which shook slightly, but nothing came to mind about what to say; the young boy quickly moved on his with turn as he proceeded to Summon out another Monster known as Iron Hans in Attack Position.
Iron Hans – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 4, ATK/1200, DEF/800
"And when this card is Summoned successfully, I can Special Summon Iron Knight from the Deck! Watch me! For the sake of my brother who needs me, I'll win this no matter what! I Special Summon Iron Knight!" Leon declared. He played the card and out on the field a knight atop a horse appeared on the field. "Due to the effect of Iron Knight, if Iron Hans is on the field he loses one thousand Attack Points," Leon explained.
Iron Knight – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 4, ATK/1700, DEF/700
Iron Knight – ATK/1700 – ATK/700
"Let's fight!" Leon declared.