"A Friendly Match against the Masked Duelist"

By: Von Stupor

            Von Stupor… say… I think that… for you… awake… afraid to… hard…

            Baron Von Stupor heard these words as he awoke.  He opened his eyes to see Téa standing over him.

            "Téa?" he said, confused.

            She cried out in shock and shot backward, tripping over a stool and nearly falling.

            "What… what are you doing?" he asked, now very puzzled.

            "I… um, I… oh…" she sputtered.  Her face turned a bright crimson and she ran out of the room.

            "Well, then," he said to himself.  "That was quite an odd surprise."

            He sat up and looked around.  He was in a small bedroom, probably a guest room.  He was sitting in a bed that had a table next to it.  Two stools lined the opposite wall.  He marched out of the room and followed a hall to a stairwell.  Along the way, he saw a room with Bakura resting in its bed

            Interesting, he thought.  His Millennium Ring does not slumber with him…

            He passed another room with Odion as its resident.  Poor man…  His loyalty is truer than no other, but his alignment was not.  Torn between what is right and what is best.  'Tis a shame, indeed.

            He passed one final room before he reached the stairs.  In it laid Marik. Surprised at this, Von Stupor stepped into the room and wandered to Marik's side.

            "His mind has been banished to the Shadow Realm…" he solemnly said to himself.

            "Not quite," said a voice from behind him.

            Von Stupor turned to see Yugi, though his voice sounded much deeper.

            "Yugi, have you just now reached puberty?" he asked. "Your voice—"

            "No," replied Yugi.  "We haven't been properly introduced.  Call me Yami.  I am the spirit of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle.  I function quite like Majora does with your mask."

            Von Stupor nodded.

            "Anyway," he continued.  "Marik has two different minds.  He has his own, and another, completely corrupted by evil.  Since his corrupted mind was out when you defeated him, it was the evil inside him that was sent to the Shadow Realm.  He is not lifeless, but it may take some time for his original mind to return and recover."

            "Why does your hair stick up?"

            "What?"

            "The yellow scraggly parts of your hair… they're sticking up.  Why?"

            "I… don't know.  Anyway, I came to check on you.  Fortunately, you're awake."

            "Why is that?"

            "We've arrived at KaibaCorp Island, and the semifinals will begin in just a few minutes."

            "Ah, and if I could not show, I would be eliminated?"

            "Yes, exactly."

            "Very well, then.  Let us depart!"

            Von Stupor followed Yugi back through the hall to a different stairwell, where they exited the blimp.  They continued to walk across jagged terrain to a torn down building.  Above its main entrance, Von Stupor could make out the word "Karp".  Inside the building's lobby, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Serenity, Duke, Kaiba, and the duel referee awaited them.

            "Your building welcomes carp, Kaiba.  Why is this?" inquired Von Stupor.

            "What are you talking about?" he asked back, quickly.

            "Above your door is a sign that says—"

            "That's KaibaCorp, you dolt.  The letters have fallen off."

            "If they have fallen off, though, then it is not KaibaCorp, it is Karp."

            "It's KaibaCorp," Kaiba said, gritting his teeth.  "The letters need to be replaced."

            "But then it is still—"

            "The semifinals will begin here!!!  Each pair of duelists will enter one of these two doors.  Only the duelists and the referee are allowed, everyone else must stay out."

            What? Why?" asked Tristan, a bit surprised.

            "A true duelist should be able to duel and win without outside support.  If you can't take care of yourself in a duel without relying on someone else, then you don't belong here."

            The referee then spoke.

            "It is time for the semifinal round of the Battle City tournament.  This round will consist of two matches.  The duelists randomly selected for the first match are Baron Von Stupor and Joey Wheeler."

            "I saw that coming," Joey said nervously.  "I'll have you know Von, I'll be dueling with a new deck, so I won't be using some of the same tricks you've already seen!  Heh, heh."

            "Be careful, Joey, for many of my tricks are ones you've yet to see as well."

            "Well then, let's get this party started, huh?"

            "Ha, ha."

            The two duelists stepped into one of the two large doors and into a large room.  It had one large dueling platform made in a style similar to the ones used in Duelist Kingdom.  The referee stepped into the room and the door shut behind him.

            "Who do you guys think will win?" Duke asked the group.

            "Well, building a new deck so quickly can give Joey a serious disadvantage.  If he built his deck well, though, then he'll be able to surprise Von Stupor, since he won't be expecting certain things," Yami contemplated.

            "I don't care what the odds are, I'll always stay by my big brother's side," answered Serenity.

            "Well, I'm gonna have to stick with Von Stupor on this one.  Unless Joey has a god card (which of course, he doesn't), Von Stupor's Relinquished can just suck up whatever he throws at him," Tristan commented.

            "That's a good point," mentioned Yami.

            Meanwhile, preparations for Von Stupor's duel against Joey were completed.

            "Von, I'm gonna tell you right now that I ain't gonna hold back!" Joey announced.

            "Excellent, most excellent.  As shall I."

            "Let's duel!!!" they cried in unison, and drew five cards each.

            "I'll start by setting three M/T cards," Von Stupor declared.  "Next, I'll play the Field Magic card, 'Mystic Plasma Zone' and end my turn!  Now, I'll set one monster and end my turn!"

            "Alright, I'll summon the Goblin Attack Force and attack your set monster!" Joey countered.

            His Goblin Attack Force rushed Von Stupor's set monster.  The monster was revealed to be Sangan, and was brutally beaten before it was destroyed.

            "Why do you attack so early?  Once your monster attacks, it goes into defense position and cannot change that position during your next turn," Von Stupor commented.

            "Oh, you'll see… on my next turn, heh heh.  Your turn."

            With Sangan's effect activated, Von Stupor fetched a monster from his deck with an attack of 1500 or less and drew a card.

            "Blast!  I fear I have no options save skipping my turn," he muttered.

            "Well that's good for me, 'cause now I can summon Freed the Matchless General by offering my Goblin Attack Force as a tribute!"

            The goblins sank into the card beneath them, and out leapt Freed, clothed in armor.

            "Now, Freed!" Joey commanded.  "Attack his Life Points directly!"

            Freed gave von Stupor a fierce slash with his sword and Von Stupor's Life points sank to 5700.

            "Hm.  Your ass up M/T card troubles me; therefore I shall play 'Harpie's Feather Duster' and send it straight to the Graveyard!"

            An enormous feather appeared before Von Stupor and blew away Joey's trap card, 'Torrential Tribute'.

            "My magic card has served me well.  I set one monster and begin to end my turn.  However, I stop abruptly, contemplating whether my actions were correct.  Then, assured that my plan was properly executed, I successfully end my turn."

            "Uh, right.  Here's a trick I've been dying to pull!  First, I'll activate Freed's special effect, which allows me to pick one Warrior-type monster from my deck and add to my hand instead of drawing during my draw Phase!  Now I'll summon that monster, Exiled Force, and activate his effect, too!  By offering him as a tribute, I can destroy one monster on your side of the field!"

            "No!" Von Stupor cried as Joey's Exiled Force grabbed his face down Second Goblin and drug it to the grave.

            "That's right!  Now I'm free to attack your Life Points directly again!"

            "Not if I activate 'Call of the Haunted'!"

            "Yeah, but that'll only bring your Sangan back in face up attack position!"

            "Who said I was protecting my Life points this time?"

            "Huh?"

            "By bringing back my Sangan, I can utilize its effect once more!"

            Freed, instead of attacking Von Stupor directly, gave a chop to the newly reborn Sangan, and it was destroyed just as fast as it had came.

            "Now I may play 'Black Illusion Ritual', and sacrifice the monster I just drew from my deck to summon Relinquished!"  Von Stupor declared.

            "Oh, no!  I didn't count on him coming that fast!"

            "Come to me, Freed…"

            Relinquished sucked Freed into its torso and closed its shoulder flaps.  Freed's face appeared outside the flaps.

            "Now I attack you directly, and thanks to the 'Mystic Plasma Zone' I played earlier, Relinquished's attack raises by 500 to a grand total of 2800!"

            Energy surged throughout Freed's face and Relinquished shot a blast from its eye, hitting Joey and sending his Life Points down to 5200.

            "Damn…  How am I gonna get rid of that thing?" Joey muttered to himself as he drew.  Seeing his next card, his eyes lit up.  "All right!  I set this monster and this M/T and I end my turn!"

            "I order my Relinquished to attack your set monster!"

            "Hah!  I activate 'Magical Cylinder'!"

            Relinquished's blast soared into a vividly colored cylindrical tube.

            "My own trick…" Von Stupor said.  "'Tis not so easily used against me!  I pay 1000 Life points to activate 'Seven Tools of the Bandit'!"  It negates the effect of your trap card and destroys it!  Simply put, I take 1800 less damage and my attack still follows through!"

            The second tube, rather than appearing next to Von Stupor, reappeared aiming at Joey's set monster.  It was a Witch of the Black Forest, and was easily blown apart.

            "Ah, an excellent move, that is," Von Stupor admired.  "The whole time the card was expendable…"

            "That's right!  …Either way, you would have taken damage, and I'm sure you know your witch's effect!  Once it's in the Graveyard, I can pull a monster with a defense of 1500 or less from my deck and put it in my hand!  Now I draw!"

            Joey thrust his arms in the air in triumph.  "Yeah!  I just draw the perfect card!  My timing couldn't be any better!  Say bye-bye to Relinquished, Von, 'cause I'm playing 'Raigeki'!"

            A lightning bolt shot down from the ceiling and struck Relinquished.  A magnificent explosion commenced, and nothing remained afterward.  Von Stupor grunted in disapproval.

            "Now I summon the Gemini Elf I got from my Witch of the Black Forest and attack you directly!"

            The two elves chanted a spell and a burst of light energy shot from their palms, striking Von Stupor in his chest and dropping his Life points to 1500.

"Had enough?" Joey asked cockily.

            Von Stupor laughed heartily.  "You're certainly giving me a run for my money, but I fear I am not out of this picture yet.  As long as I have Life Points, I'm still in the game.  For my next move, I shall play 'Fissure', which destroys your face up monster with the lowest attack, and since your Gemini Elf is the only monster…"

            The floor cracked open and the Gemini Elf fell in prior to its resealing.

            "Well, that was fast.  It doesn't matter though.  I'll summon another Goblin Attack Force, and since your Life Points are only at 1500, I can attack you directly and win this duel!" announced Joey.

            The Goblin Attack Force proceeded to rush Von Stupor, but stopped when a large gate appeared before them.  They curiously began to walk through it, but were destroyed by an electrical pulse that emanated from it.

            "What?!  What happened to my monster???" asked a very puzzled Joey.

            "Joey, you have not learned yet?  I cannot go down so easily!  I have activated 'Skull Lair'!  By removing a number of monsters in my Graveyard from play that match the level on one your monster's star levels, I can destroy that respective monster!"

            "Damn!  Fine, your turn."

            "I summon my Second Goblin and end my turn."

            "Hmmm, now I'll summon Gearfried the Iron Knight—"

            "…Whom I shall destroy with 'Skull Lair'!"

            "You mean he doesn't have to attack to be destroyed?!"

            "Any monster within the vicinity of my Skull Lair that is not chosen to pass through can be destroyed at any time!  Now I shall further protect myself by switching my Second Goblin to defense mode and equipping it with 'Heart of Clear Water'!"

            "What?  What does that card do?"

            "Any monster that is equipped with this card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle or by the effect of a Magic, Trap, or Monster card that specifically designates a target!"

            A water drop with a grimacing face dripped out of the ceiling and hit the goblin's head and it began to glow a bright gold color.

            "Von's getting too advantageous, so maybe I can screw him up with this…" muttered Joey to himself.  "I'll play 'Card Destruction'!"

            Now I must discard the cards in my hand and draw the same number of cards sent to the Graveyard from my deck, Von Stupor thought to himself.  Not a preferable occurrence, but it may give me the card I'm looking for…

            "All right!" Joey cheered as he looked at his new hand.  "I was getting tired of your Skull Lair, so now I'll blow it away with 'Mystical Space Typhoon'!"

            The typhoon blew, and the Skull Lair crumbled under the howling winds.

            "Now I'll summon another 'Gearfried the Iron knight', and since attacking your Second Goblin is useless now, I'll end my turn."

            "Fine," said Von Stupor, who then chuckled when he saw his next card.  "It makes no matter.  I just drew the card I had been waiting for…  I shall now play the Magic card 'Metamorphosis'!  This card allows me to tribute one monster to Special Summon another from my fusion deck whose level matches that of my tribute!"

            "What can you possibly summon using a monster with only one star?"

            "Why, I can summon the fusion of Relinquished and Thousand-Eyes Idol!  Come forth, my wonderfully hideous (but slightly colorful) creature!"

            The Second Goblin slowly grew and metamorphosed into the Thousand-Eyes Restrict.

            "Crap!  If I had known that, I would have used my… wait a minute…"

            "…Not only does my Thousand-Eyes Restrict possess the effect of Relinquished, but as long as it is face up on the field, no other monster may attack or change their position!  Come to me, Gearfried!"

            The Thousand-Eyes Restrict absorbed Gearfried the Iron Knight, but there were no flaps to close around it, so it simply grew in size.

            "It is useless for Thousand-Eyes Restrict to defend himself when no other monster can attack," Von Stupor explained.  "Now, my Thousand-Eyes Restrict, attack his Life Points directly!"

            Von Stupor then began giggling and dancing around.  "I've been waiting for so long to get him out!"  He was then surprised, however, to see Thousand-Eyes Restrict's eye beam ricochet harmlessly off of Joey.

            "Surprised?  Don't be," he scoffed.  "You see, I activated my 'Imperial Order' Trap card!  It negates the effects of all face-up Magic cards, and if I'm not mistaken, my monster is equipped to yours… just like a regular old Equip Magic card."

            Von Stupor stared in confusion for a moment and began to applaud.

            "Kudos, Joey!!!" Von Stupor complimented.  "By far the best comeback I have witnessed in many a duel!  You have stopped me dead in my tracks!"

            "Thanks, and since your monster has zero attack again and no other monster may attack, it looks like we have ourselves a nice lock.  Now, 'Imperial Order' lets me keep it on the field as long as I pay 700 Life Points during each Standby Phase, so I do just that and end my turn."

            "Bah!  I pass this turn."

            "I won't be needing Imperial Order anymore, so I'll just send it to the Graveyard and summon a Giant Orc.  That ends my turn."

            "Horrific mistake, my dear friend.  'Imperial Order's' absence allows me to play my Magic card, 'Black Illusion Ritual'."

            "What?!  You have two Relinquished?!"

            Chuckling, Von Stupor said, "This is a secret I have kept from you all specifically for a moment like this.  I actually have three Relinquished in my deck.  Now, you cannot be angry, for I have not provided false information; where I have referred to my Relinquished as plural, you have interpreted my Relinquished as singular."

            Joey shook his finger at Von Stupor and said with a sly grin on his face, "You…  You dirty bastard…  You have definitely got a way with people's minds…"

            "As they say, Joey: 'You jus' been played, biatch.'  I sacrifice my Thousand-Eyes Restrict to Ritual Summon Relinquished and absorb your Giant Orc!"

            Relinquished tried its hardest to inhale the Giant Orc, but to no avail.  Its girth kept it from moving.  Relinquished, now desperate, charged at the orc and slammed its torso into it, forcing the orc inside.  Its shoulder flaps closed and the orc's face appeared on its right flap.

            "That's okay, even if you attack, I got one more turn to make things right.  Just gotta trust my cards…"

            "I am sorry, Joey, but a Ritual Summon counts as a Special Summon, so now I may also summon Senju of the Thousand Hands and attack you directly with both.  Thank you Domino, good-night."

            Relinquished and Senju's combined strength sent Joey's Life points to 0 and he slammed his hands on the playing field.

            "Damn…" he muttered.  "Good match, Von."

            "The winner of this duel is Baron Von Stupor," announced the referee, and the door to the lobby opened.

            Von Stupor and Joey were greeted by the others.

            "You always have one more thing up your sleeve, don't you?" Tristan said to Von Stupor.

            "Huh?  How'd you guys know that?" Joey asked.

            "We saw the whole duel on the monitors here.  They're linked to either room.  Kaiba says that even though we can't offer any support, we can still spectate," Yugi informed the two.

            "I see," Von Stupor acknowledged.  Well, while we are all friends, we cannot forget that this is still a competition, and you know what they say: 'save the best tricks for last'."

            "I can respect that strategy."

            "It's time, Yugi," Kaiba ordered.  "It's time for me to claim your ancient Egyptian god card!"

            Transforming into Yami, he said, "We shall see, Kaiba.  We shall see."

            Yami and Kaiba stepped into the room opposite Von Stupor and Joey, and the referee followed close behind.

            "My bladder is quite full," whispered Von Stupor to Duke.  Wouldst thou please direct me to the nearest lavatory?"

            Stepping away from him a bit, Duke replied, "Uh… there's one in the far back on the second floor of Kaiba's blimp…"

            "Sweet Nayru, it beckons to me!" he shouted and ran off.

            "Weirdo," Duke whispered as he ran away.

            Upon arrival to the second floor of the blimp, Von Stupor heard Téa down the hall, talking to an unfamiliar voice.

            "Well, I suppose the only way you can expect something to happen is to tell him," said the voice.

            "It's really hard to get out, though… especially to him." replied Téa.

            "Trust me, it always is, but once you get started, the words should just flow out."  Think of it as if you were turning on a really tight faucet."

            "But I'm afraid of what he might say…"

            "The water faucet has no label, so you're afraid of whether the faucet will spout warm or cool water.  There is a way to find out, but only one way."

            "…You're right, Bakura.  Thanks, you always know what to say."

            "I'm always happy to help, Téa."

            "Bakura?"  Von Stupor said, stepping into the room.  "I thought you to act more evilly…  Your accent could use a touch up as well."

            "Accent?" he said, confused.

            Téa looked at Von Stupor, frozen in shock, her face a deep red.  She began to sweat profusely.

            "Hm?" said Von Stupor, noticing Téa.  "Oh, do not fear, Miss of Gardner, your secret is safe with me."

            "Wh… what?" she sputtered.

            "I shall not tell him.  Do not fear."

            "T-tell who?"

            "Oh, ho!  Surely you jest!  I can see that my tactics are rubbing off on you!"

            "Uh…  I…"

            "Oh, you must be in a state of shock.  After all, I would be too, if someone walked in whilst I were spilling my guts about another.  Here now, Yugi and Kaiba's match has begun.  Go watch and recover from this occurrence."

            "O… kay…"

            She then walked quickly out of the room.

            "Yugi is a lucky boy," he said to Bakura, who had been watching the whole time.  "I figured Téa would fall for him in time.  I could tell she was growing emotion for him simply by the look in her eyes.  However, one must ask oneself who she truly loves, Yugi or Yami?"

            "Um, I don't quite think that that is what she was—"

            "Oh!  My bladder strikes!  Forgive my rudeness, but I must depart!" Von Stupor cried, running out of the room.