Chapter 8: Amy vs. Garth

The next room looked a little more inviting than Gypsy's room at least. There were no insects crawling all over the place and no webs everywhere. But it was still unlike any room the teens had seen before.

This room looked like something out of a steampunk convention. Huge boilers kept the room nice and warm and puffed steam every so often. Giant gears turned as mechanisms whirred and clanked into action. Hooks and chains dangled from the ceiling. Steam powered robots whizzed around the room, frantically working and keeping everything in operation. Standing in the middle of the room was the second member of the Fiendish Five.

He was an overweight boy, only seventeen years old but Amy could barely make out what he looked like. He was wearing a golden mask with huge goggles over his eyes and he was wearing armour over his torso and shoulders. He wore huge chunky gloves like something an eccentric inventor might wear and he had a huge apparatus on his back with a pair of robotic arms to reach out and grab or carry things for him. Amy had to admit that the boy's appearance seemed appropriate considering Halloween was in the morning. He could easily win any Halloween Costume Contest with this crazy get-up! How much work did he put into his appearance? Was it him who invented the robots too?

"Allow me to introduce the second member of the Fiendish Five." Hallows announced, holding an arm out towards the boy, "This here is Garth, the Machine Specialist. He was nothing but a pure, lonely inventor who's genius was never appreciated until I recruited him into my ranks. Now he gets to show all duellists what he's capable of, both as an inventor and as a duellist!"

"You can tell he's a machine fan!" Chloe acknowledged, fanning herself with her hand, "Phew…it's like a steampunk fantasy land in here! Does it have to be so hot? I feel like I could melt in here…"

"It's lucky for me I don't dress particularly warmly." Amy acknowledged. Despite her more loose style of dressing, even she could feel the heat from the steam powered machines in this room.

She took her position in the arena opposite Garth. Garth observed her with cold, studious eyes. Amy felt a little unnerved looking at him. With his mask, it was impossible to tell what he was feeling and what expression he had on his face. Was he happy, angry, sad or worried? No doubt he knew the price of failure as well and was going to make sure he didn't end up like Gypsy.

"So you're my next opponent." Garth acknowledged, his voice amplified by his mask so it sounded deeper and more menacing than normal, "Lord Hallows told me to watch out for you, Amy. I cannot say that I'm surprised you beat Gypsy. She was always the worst duellist out of all five of us. I assure you: I will NOT be defeated. You will be joining your brother in the Shadow Realm by the time I'm finished with you."

"Dream on you bucket of bolts!" Amy growled, "Nobody's gonna stand in my way! I'm getting my duel with Hallows and I'll be winning my brother's soul back no matter what you throw at me! As much I hate that I'll have to cause you to go to the Shadow Realm if I win, I really have no choice in the matter. I'm sorry Garth, but I have to beat you if it means getting my brother back." she added apologetically.

"Spare me your apologies, foolish girl." Garth retorted, "You won't need to apologize when you're the one that will be going to the Shadow Realm. I have done all the necessary calculations and I calculate I have a 100% chance of winning this duel."

"You better hope you haven't miscalculated, Garth…for your own SAKE!" Hallows crooned darkly, his face twisted into a nightmarish grin that could make a T-Rex feel nervous, "Let the duel commence! And I hope I won't have to remind you all about my strict rules of no cheating again…"

He vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Amy and Garth to begin their duel. Amy was ready to activate her Duel Disk but Garth held up a hand to stop her.

"Hold on. We need to make one little preparation first." he said bluntly.

One of the robot arms on his back pointed a remote control at the ceiling and suddenly, a giant metal cage dropped down around Amy, trapping her inside. Chloe and Kazuki yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards. The cage looked strong enough to contain a dinosaur with its thick bars and strong, iron construction. Garth had made it himself, being skilled in metallurgy as well as invention. Amy tugged on the bars furiously.

"Hey! Let me out of here! What's the meaning of this?!" she shouted angrily.

"Simple: you are in position for my own little death trap." Garth explained, "Did you think Gypsy was the only one with a price for losing a duel? All of us have our own fates for losing duellists. In this case, when you lose Life Points, a giant gear will roll out of the wall towards you and this cage. When they hit zero, the gear will crush you, but not before your soul is delivered safely to my master. I assure you, even this cage will not protect you from it, though it will stop you trying to flee from your demise."

Amy looked over her shoulder and saw that, indeed, there was a colossal gear slotted in the wall just behind her. A large track led straight towards the cage. Amy could just imagine it now: the gear moving along the track getting closer and closer to her. Then pressing down on the cage until it broke and her body was flattened into the ground…Amy cringed just thinking about it. No way was she going to let herself die in such a grisly way! She wasn't going to lose! She would win this duel and move onto the next member! But Amy considered what Garth had said. All the Fiendish Five had death traps for losing duellists. Who knew what the last three had in store for her?

"You can't do this to her! Let her out of there, please!" Chloe protested.

"Why are these death traps even necessary?" Kazuki demanded, "Amy will lose her soul to you guys if she loses anyway! This is just overkill!"

"No, it provides extra entertainment for us and it also means that the duellists we beat will not have bodies to return to when we claim their souls." Garth said, his voice lacking in any emotion as if he'd become the very robot that he'd invented, "Enough talk. Let us duel."

One of his manager robots approached him and handed him his duelling deck and Duel Disk. Of course, his Duel Disk had a steampunk design which matched the décor of his room and his overall theme. He clamped it onto his arm and loaded his deck into it. Amy deployed her Duel Disk. Cage or no cage, she would get this duel over and done with. After her duel with Gypsy, she knew that playtime was over and this was a time to be serious. She looked over at Chloe and Kazuki through the bars of her cage.

"Please Amy, whatever you do, don't die!" Chloe begged.

"We know you can do it Ames! Once you beat one Fiendish Five member, you'll beat them all!" Kazuki cried supportively.

"I sure will! I'm glad you two are still here to back me up." Amy said appreciatively, "Now let's go!"

She and Garth drew their starting hands. One of Garth's robots stood nearby holding up an electronic billboard that displayed both opponents' Life Point counters. The boilers wheeshed with steam, almost as if they were excited to watch the duel get under way. Amy drew for her turn.

"I'll go first if you don't mind!" Amy declared.

She studied her hand. She had Ground Attacker Bugroth, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, Remove Trap and Trap Hole to start with and she'd just draw Polymerization for her Draw Phase. Not a particularly good hand to start with. She had two dead draws for now and only one monster she could actually use. But Trap Hole was a good Trap Card to start with at least.

"OK, I'll start off by playing Ground Attacker Bugroth in Attack Mode." Amy announced as she made her move, "And then I'll set one card face-down. That's all for this turn."

Garth took in Amy's move with interest and suspicion. She played a moderately weak monster in Attack Mode and had at least one card face-down. He could hear Hallows whispering to him in his mind.

"Remember what cost Gypsy her duel. Play very carefully with this girl…" he hissed.

Garth nodded. He was sure he had a way around Amy's play. He studied his own hand. He had plenty of good cards to use and he knew just the move to make.

"As you control a monster and I do not, this allows me to Special Summon Cyber Dragon from my hand in Attack Mode." Garth announced.

Amy stared in shock as Cyber Dragon (2100ATK/1600DEF) appeared on the field. True to its name, it looked like a robot dragon with a sleek, serpentine body made entirely of metal and sharp fangs. Amy had seen this card before and she cursed herself for not expecting it. Nearly EVERY Machine duellist used this card nowadays and as such it was never a good idea to go first when duelling anyone who used Cyber Dragon! What made it worse was that Amy's Trap Hole only worked on monsters that were NORMAL Summoned. Cyber Dragon had been Special Summoned so her Trap Card was useless!

"And given I've Special Summoned Cyber Dragon, that still frees me up to Normal Summon my Robotic Knight as well." Garth continued, playing his second monster.

Robotic Knight (1600ATK/1800DEF) appeared on the field beside Cyber Dragon. It looked like an army admiral complete with a head design that made it look like it was wearing a cocked hat. It even carried a cup-hilted rapier. Amy allowed herself to relax a little. At least Trap Hole could give her one monster less to deal with.

"Nice try Garth, but Robotic Knight's going straight to the scrapyard!" Amy crowed, "Activate Trap Hole!"

Her Trap Card activated and Robotic Knight plummeted straight down into a large pit that opened up beneath it. Garth didn't even flinch at this move as if it barely registered to him that anything had happened.

"So what? You only gave me one less monster to use. I still have Cyber Dragon to destroy your Bugroth." Garth muttered, "Of course, that was all part of the plan, making you waste your resources on a single monster so I would be safe to attack."

"Yeah right, as if you planned that. You're just trying to save face and big yourself up as some all-powerful mastermind." Amy snorted, "There's no way you could've known I had Trap Hole face down and planned accordingly for it!"

Garth ignored Amy and played his next card. It was a Continuous Spell Card called Machine Assembly Line. This card gave a 200 attack point boost to all Machine Monsters on the field, including the opponent's, and it had another effect in where Garth could place two counters on it anytime a Machine Monster was destroyed. Then he could send Machine Assembly Line to the Graveyard and resurrect any Machine Monster from the Graveyard if the number of counters matched their levels. Amy knew that Garth was only using this card for his benefit, not her's as Cyber Dragon was still way too powerful for Ground Attacker Bugroth. She covered her eyes as Cyber Dragon blazed Ground Attacker Bugroth into molten metal with a huge tongue of flames blasting from its jaws. It was only the second turn and Amy had lost Life Points already! She was down to 7400 and as her points went down, the giant gear in the wall slowly started to move. Amy heard it creak and rumble as it moved a few inches. If Amy didn't step up her game now, it was going to move a lot more!

"As I calculated, I am already winning and this duel has barely started." Garth gloated, displaying what might have been pride but his emotionless delivery made it hard to tell, "I will now conclude this turn with Precious Cards From Beyond. Now if I Tribute Summon using two tributes, I get to draw two extra cards."

The Continuous Spell Card materialized on the field. Amy could already tell this card was going to give her trouble if Garth was able to tribute summon. Garth drawing more cards was the last thing she needed. If only Remove Trap could get rid of Spell Cards as well!

If I ever get out of this alive, I'm so gonna make sure I have a Harpie's Feather Duster in my deck for all future duels! Amy muttered in her mind.

Amy drew her next card and looked at it hopefully. To her dismay, it was only a monster card that couldn't match up to Cyber Dragon's power but it would at least give her a decent defence for the time being. She would have to hope she could stall Garth out until she drew one of her deadly Trap Cards or Monster Effects to throw him off his game.

"All I can do for now is play The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave in Defence Mode and end my turn." Amy said in disappointment.

A large green dragon (1300ATK/2000DEF) materialized onto the field, rolled up as if it was about to go to sleep. Kazuki shook his head sadly, feeling Amy's disappointment. She would need to make a stronger move than that if she had any hope of defeating Garth. She couldn't defend herself forever.

"I really hope Amy can use that Black Skull Dragon again. That one REALLY helped her out last time!" Chloe said worriedly, "Or at least any of her Trap Cards would be useful right now. Maybe she'll get lucky and draw Mirror Force again?"

"Let's hope so, Chloe." Kazuki agreed, "Amy can only make do with what she draws, unfortunately."

The two watched anxiously as Garth made his next move. And unfortunately for Amy, it was a move that was going to leave her with a lot less Life Points.

"Your pitiful defences are useless against the superior might of my machines." Garth said bluntly, "And my machines won't even have to knock you down for my Spell Card will do it for them. I activate Back to Square One."

He slotted the card into his Duel Disk. Amy felt her stomach tingle in worry.

"What does that do?" she asked, already fearing the answer.

"By discarding one card from my hand, I can send one card on the field back to the top of the deck, and I choose your dragon." Garth explained.

He discarded his Heavy Mech Support Platform to the Graveyard. Unlike Gypsy, Garth was willing to play by the rules and discard if his cards told him to. All at once, Amy's dragon disappeared from the field and went straight back to the top of Amy's deck. The red-haired duellist was horrified. Now Garth could attack her directly and on her next turn, she'd just end up drawing her dragon again which would slow down her progress in this duel!

"And now I add Acrobat Monkey to my expanding machine army." Garth announced, playing his second monster to do some serious damage to Amy.

Acrobat Monkey (1000ATK/1800DEF) was true to its name, looking like a robot monkey that performed acrobatic feats. Amy sighed with relief. At least Garth didn't play a particularly strong monster to go with Cyber Dragon. Even if Machine Assembly Line gave it 200 extra attack points, a 1200ATK monster was still manageable at least and she'd have a reasonable amount of Life Points left to stay in the game. Amy braced herself for impact as Cyber Dragon and Acrobat Monkey attacked directly. Her Life Points fell down to 3900 as both monsters launched their assaults. Amy truly felt as if she was getting pounded into the dirt and that she had no chance of getting back into the fray. Her heart leapt as the giant fear moved ever closer to her. It moved several metres before coming to a stop a few feet behind her. It was dangerously close now. Any more Life Points gone and Amy would be a bloody smear on the floor! Chloe watched with her fingers close to her lips.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is so very, very bad!" the blonde haired girl shrieked, "Amy's already lost 4100 Life Points and it's only been four turns! Garth hasn't even been touched yet! Oh Kazuki, Amy's totally finished her! We gotta get her out of this mess!"

"We can't Chloe. Lord Hallows will only stop us before we can get within five feet of Amy." Kazuki sighed, "I don't wanna watch Amy die either but there's nothing we can do but hope she can turn this duel around. She pulled it off against me when she broke my winning streak and she did it again against Gypsy. I'm confident she can do it again."

Amy head Kazuki's encouraging words and forced a smile to her face. If Kazuki believed in her, then she could do it!

"You brace yourself, metal mouth!" Amy shot back, "My back's truly against the wall, but I'm not gonna let you win! I'll spring back from this, you see if I don't!"

"Are you gonna wallow in your own delusions or are you gonna duel me so I can finish you off and deliver your soul to my master?" Garth said nonchalantly.

Amy rolled her eyes and drew for her next turn. Of course, she had re-drawn The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave as a result of Garth's Back to Square One Spell. Amy imagined that her next draw could've been something truly helpful if it hadn't been for Garth's tricky Spell Card! At least she could still stall him for now.

"OK, I bring back The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, but this time in Attack Mode!" Amy announced, playing her dragon once again.

"Attack mode?! Is Amy insane?!" Chloe screeched, "Garth's Cyber Dragon will burn it alive and she'll lose more Life Points!"

"Yes Chloe, but if Amy played it in Defence Mode, she'd STILL lose Life Points because Acrobat Monkey would only attack her directly after Garth's Cyber Dragon destroys Amy's dragon." Kazuki observed, "She's making a smart play here by having her dragon in Attack Mode so she can get rid of Acrobat Monkey and give Garth one less monster to use. Also it'll stop him taking advantage of Precious Cards from Beyond if Garth hasn't got two monsters to sacrifice for any tributes if he draws any." he added, glancing at Garth's Spell Card he currently had in play.

"Ah, so giving Garth one less monster to attack with and stopping him from sacrificing two monsters to draw two cards with that spell of his…maybe Amy hasn't lost it after all." Chloe said, sounding more relaxed.

"She hasn't. At least with this play, when Cyber Dragon destroys her monster on the next turn, she'll lose slightly less Life Points." Kazuki noted, "We just have to hope Garth doesn't draw another monster next turn…"

He and Chloe watched as Amy concluded her turn by ordering her dragon to destroy Acrobat Monkey. The large dragon smashed the robotic monkey to pieces with one mighty swipe of its tail. Garth was now down to 7900 Life Points. It was only 100 less than before but to Amy, any damage was significant in a duel. Garth looked undeterred, clearly feeling that he was still in control of the duel in spite of everything. Now his monkey was gone, he could place two Junk Counters on Machine Assembly Line. Amy frowned. She'd forgotten about the card's second effect. If she destroyed Cyber Dragon now, Garth could just send this card to the Graveyard and bring back a Level 4 monster if it had four counters on it. At least when that happened, his monsters wouldn't get an attack boost anymore.

"A pitiful effort from a pitiful duellist with a pitiful deck." Garth muttered, "You may as well not have bothered destroying my Acrobat Monkey for all the good it did you."

He drew his next card. Behind his goggles, he frowned in annoyance. He'd drawn Amplifier, a card that would be useful if he had the one monster card it could be equipped to, but he didn't. Another monster would've been more useful in this case! Oh well, he'd just save Amplifier until the time came. He still had Cyber Dragon to do some damage with at least.

"Lucky for you Amy, I cannot play any other monsters for now. But your dragon still pales compared to my own. Cyber Dragon, destroy The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, now!" he barked.

Cyber Dragon blasted Amy's monster to ashes with its fiery attack. The resulting attack had left Amy with only 2900 Life Points left. The gear rolled forwards again with a loud mechanical groan. Amy couldn't help but look over her shoulder as it moved. It almost felt like it was right on top of her already! Just a few more feet and she'd hear the cage breaking as the gear crushed it along with her!

"Please let this next draw save my life again! Please, please, please!" Amy pleaded furiously.

Meanwhile, Lord Hallows was watching through the shadows and he was very pleased with how this duel was going. Garth was doing much better than Gypsy was and he was very close to winning right now!

"Garth was always one of the best of the five." Hallows purred, "That boy's Machine Deck has never failed to claim any of my victims! It helps that he plays strategically and has more than just brute force on his side! Oh poor helpless little Amy, however will you get out of this mess?" he taunted.

Amy drew her next card, her hand trembling furiously to the point she nearly dropped it. Kazuki and Chloe held their breath, praying that Amy had drawn something good. The red-haired girl looked at the card and allowed herself to relax just a little. It wasn't the most ideal draw, but it might help her out of this scrape.

"I'd rather my chances weren't down to luck, but here goes." Amy said hopefully, "I summon Twin-Barrel Dragon in Attack Mode!"

She placed the card on her Duel Disk and her gun-faced dinosaur machine materialized onto the field. Garth recoiled. It was the first time Amy had seen him look somewhat nervous.

"Yeah, I get you're worried now!" Amy crowed, "This handy little robot's effect allows me to destroy your monster if I toss a coin and get two heads! No wonder you look worried!"

"Negative: I am not worried." Garth lied, "This effect is a literal 50-50 chance so your effect could easily fail."

"But it could easily succeed too. Nail-biting to think of, isn't it?" Amy sneered, hoping she was making Garth feel more nervous by taunting him like so.

"I really hope this works or Amy's toast!" Chloe piped anxiously.

"At least unlike the last duel, Garth hasn't got anything protecting Cyber Dragon from destruction effects so if Amy gets 2 heads, her dragon's effect will actually destroy it." Kazuki acknowledged.

All eyes were on Amy as a coin materialized in the palm of her hand. Amy tossed it, making sure not to toss it too high as it would just hit the roof of her cage and that would ruin the toss. The coin spun several times in the air before Amy caught it and placed it on top of her hand. She'd managed to score one heads. Now she had to get a second one for Twin-Barrel Dragon's effect to work. Amy could feel her heart in her throat as she tossed the coin a second time. This had to work! It had to be another heads! Please let it be another heads! Chloe covered her face, already dreading the worst. Lord Hallows watched intently, feeling as anxious as Garth did. Was Amy going to get lucky and pull it off? Amy caught the coin and placed it on top of her hand. It seemed that her luck had run out for she looked dismayed at the result. Chloe and Kazuki gasped while Garth just took the whole thing in with indifference.

"So it seemed your gamble didn't pay off." he muttered, "You once again failed to make anything out of your turn. Defeating you will be easier than I thought."

But then to Garth's amazement, Twin-Barrel Dragon took aim at Cyber Dragon and blasted it into atoms with its twin-barrelled gun face! Cyber Dragon was wiped out in an instant, leaving Garth with no monsters to defend him. Kazuki and Chloe blinked in confusion. Amy lost the coin toss, didn't she so why was Cyber Dragon destroyed? Then they heard Amy erupt into mocking laughter. Garth was equally confused.

"Cease this infernal laughter at once! Explain yourself! How did your dragon destroy my dragon if you lost the coin toss?" Garth demanded.

"Because I didn't lose you idiot!" Amy jeered, showing Garth that the coin had indeed landed on heads again, "I just thought it'd be funny to mess with you by making it look like I lost! Gosh I wish I could've seen the look on your face when it turned out I won after all!"

Kazuki and Chloe couldn't help but laugh with their friend.

"Ha! That's so you Amy, always mocking your enemies before you humiliate them thoroughly!" Chloe chuckled.

"I have to admit, you had us fooled for a minute. I really thought the worst had happened!" Kazuki exclaimed, "Still, way to go Ames! You really lucked out here!"

"And thank goodness too for this duel was really looking bad for me." Amy agreed, "Now Garth has nothing to protect him and thanks to his Machine Assembly Line, my Twin-Barrel Dragon gets a power boost so I'll be able to do 200 points of extra damage! So I guess I can thank you for that!" she taunted, "Twin-Barrel Dragon, attack Garth directly!"

Twin-Barrel Dragon took aim with its guns and blasted Garth directly, knocking the gadgeteer genius off his feet with a single shot. With Amy's monster at 1900ATK points instead of 1700, Garth dropped down from 7900 Life Points to 6000. Hallows winced, almost feeling Garth's pain from that shot. He clenched his bony hands furiously.

"Curse that impudent girl! How is she being so lucky in these duels?!" he growled, "Luck of the devil I'd call it! I hope by the time she duels me, her luck will run out!"

He then barked to Garth as the Machine Duellists picked himself up.

"Don't you dare lose control of this duel Garth or so help me I'll use the shadows to turn your precious little machines against you and give you more pain than you can ever imagine! And that's before I banish your soul as punishment!" he snarled.

"At ease master, this duel is far from lost. Amy is only delaying her inevitable defeat." Garth insisted, "With any luck, I should draw my ace card that will render half of her deck useless."

Garth knew that despite the fact he had no monsters currently in play, he could defend himself still. Amy's Twin-Barrel Dragon had allowed him to place two more Junk Counters on his Machine Assembly Line Spell Card so now he had four counters on it overall. He drew his card to start his turn and began his turn by setting the card he'd just drawn. Then he sacrificed his Machine Assembly Line with all four Junk Counters on it so he could resurrect Robotic Knight from the Graveyard in Attack Mode. At least he now had a monster to protect himself if necessary. Amy took in everything with a cautious eye.

OK, Garth's got Robotic Knight back, but he's got it in Attack Mode. Why? He knows it's at least 100 points weaker than my Twin-Barrel Dragon. Amy thought, Is he trying to bait me into attacking him so I can stumble into an obvious trap? Who does he think I am, Gypsy?!

Amy almost wanted to laugh. Was Garth really that stupid to think she'd fall for such an obvious trap? Garth may as well be saying "I set a trap! Now attack me!". But Amy knew she would have to attack if she wanted to keep Garth from having any monsters to sacrifice for his Tribute Summons and she'd never take off any Life Points if she hesitated. The rookie duellist made up her mind. She'd see what her next card was and decide her move from there.

She drew her next card and looked at it. Amy smiled as she saw what she had drawn.

Now THAT'S a good draw! she thought, Good old Widespread Ruin! So even if I fall for Garth's trap, I have a trap of my own to back me up! It's a win-win situation for me!

"OK, I'll place one card face-down on the field." Amy announced as she set Widespread Ruin, "And now I'll have Twin-Barrel Dragon attack your Robotic Knight!"

"No Amy, don't! That's what he wants you to do!" Kazuki shrieked frantically.

"Your friend is right, it is what I wanted you to do." Garth gloated, "But don't worry, this trap I set isn't a destructive one. I activate Zero Gravity!"

His Trap Card flipped face-up and all at once, both monsters on the field were switched from Attack to Defence Mode. When Zero Gravity was activated, it changed the battle positions of all face-up monsters. Amy's attack was cancelled and Robotic Knight remained on the field unharmed. Amy had mixed feelings about this turnout. While the trap hadn't been as bad as she'd feared it would be, it was annoying that Garth had used it to stop her attack. Now Garth would have a monster to sacrifice if he drew a strong monster or at least use Robotic Knight to destroy Twin-Barrel Dragon. Its tiny defences wouldn't put up any resistance so Garth would have a monster to use while her's would be scrap! She was glad she'd set her Widespread Ruin as that would at least help her out if Garth tried anything. She wasn't done for yet!

"Well…I guess it could've been worse?" Chloe said, trying to see the bright side in this duel, "I thought Amy's dragon was gonna be destroyed there…"

"Yeah, I was worried Garth had a Mirror Force or something like that." Kazuki agreed, "But Zero Gravity was still not a Trap Card Amy could've dealt with right now. On Garth's next turn, he can use his Robotic Knight to destroy Twin-Barrel Dragon and leave Amy with no monsters. Hopefully Amy's face-down card can save her."

Chloe nodded agreeably. After seeing her in action against Gypsy, she knew that Amy had plenty of useful Trap Cards to turn the duel in her favour. Hopefully Garth would be stupid enough to fall for them as Gypsy did. She watched anxiously as Garth drew his next card.

"I now activate the Spell Card, Pot of Greed!" Garth declared.

"Gee, let me guess, does it let you draw two cards?" Amy said sarcastically, "I have one of my own so I know what it does already."

Garth ignored her and drew his next two cards. He smiled behind his mask as he saw what he had.

"And now Amy, this is where the duel steers back into my control, just as I calculated." he declared, "For I sacrifice my Robotic Knight on the field to call forth Jinzo!"

Amy thought her heart was going to stop. No! Not THAT card! Robotic Knight vanished from the field and the mighty mechanical monster, Jinzo (2400ATK/1500DEF) took its place. Jinzo looked like some hideous cyborg abomination with its metal body, long spiked neck, metal mask, organic head and long robes. Jinzo was not only a decently powerful monster in its own right, but it had one of the most devastating effects in all of Duel Monsters…it prevented the use of Trap Cards. They couldn't be activated and their effects, if there were any in play already, were negated. Kazuki felt Amy's horror. He'd dealt with Jinzo from other duellists he'd played against in the past and he knew it was not a monster anyone would want to deal with. Chloe didn't know about Jinzo so she asked Kazuki about it.

"To sum up Chloe, Jinzo's the Trap Card Killer." Kazuki explained, "Amy's Trap Cards are useless as long as it's on the field."

"Oh no!" Chloe exclaimed, "Amy's pretty much stuck with almost half a deck now! She has so many powerful traps that she can't use now!"

"Affirmative." Garth said bluntly, "And unfortunately, its effect applies to me as well. But fortunately, I had a card in my hand ready to mitigate that issue. I equip Jinzo with Amplifier."

He placed the card in his Spell and Trap Zone and Jinzo was equipped with some kind of helmet device that formed around its head. Amy was curious. Amplifier didn't seem to strengthen Jinzo at all as its Attack Points hadn't gone up.

"So that's it? You equip a toilet bowl on its head and nothing happens?" Amy snorted, "What was the point of that?"

"You are more foolish than I thought." Garth muttered, rolling his eyes behind his goggles, "Amplifier changes Jinzo's effect so that now only YOU cannot activate Trap Cards whereas I still can."

"What?! That's not fair!" Amy protested, "How can I possibly fight back when you have all your resources and mine are cut in half?!"

"You cannot, that's how." Garth retorted, "And it is totally within the rules and regulations that this card combination is allowed to be played, so it is actually fair contrary to what you believe. Now to finish off, I will equip Jinzo once again with 7 Completed!"

He played the card and as he equipped 7 Completed to Jinzo, it gave him the option to either increase Jinzo's Attack Points or Defence Points by 700. He chose Attack Points, which boosted Jinzo's already strong 2400ATK to an even beefier 3100. Amy could see that this duel was really going to end badly for her. Her Trap Cards were useless and Jinzo had become an all-powerful beater with Attack Points she couldn't hope to match! There was always a chance she could draw Summoned Skull and Red-Eyes Black Dragon to Fusion Summon her Black Skull Dragon as she had Polymerization in her hand but she doubted she'd even live long enough for that to happen.

Amy watched in dismay as Jinzo carried out its onslaught by blasting Twin-Barrel Dragon to pieces with its laser eyes. Her only monster was gone and she was now wide-open for an attack. If she didn't draw a good card now, Jinzo would finish her off and her soul would belong to Lord Hallows! The Shadow Demon could see the worry on Amy's face and he licked his lips as if he could taste it.

"Yes Amy, you have every right to be worried now!" Hallows cackled, "Jinzo has been Garth's ace-in-the-hole in every duel he's ever had! Let's see you win without your precious Trap Cards to get you out of this corner!"

He threw his head back and laughed loud enough to wake the dead. He could already feel Amy's soul being absorbed into his cane right now…

Amy was starting to make a comeback but now Garth has Jinzo, the Trap Card Killer, in play! Half of Amy's deck is pretty much out the window here! Can Amy pull back from this or will Jinzo bring her ultimate demise? Find out in Part 2 next time...

Trivia: This duel was originally going to be one part as it wasn't as long as the other duels I wrote for the story but in the end, I felt it was long enough for two parts.