Author's Notes: Now it's Kirani's turn to step up and kick some ass!

Chapter Twenty-Two: Troop Roll-Out

Kirani grimaced and glanced around, trying to find any trace of the others. She had jumped to the side when an arrow flew at them, and then when she turned back there was no trace of the others or the hall they had been in. It was like the wall had closed after her.

"Damn it...why is there always a trap door?" There was nobody to answer her. Instead, a door behind her slid open, revealing a small ring of lights, almost beckoning her to enter.

"Yeah...that's not foreboding." She rolled her eyes and stepped forwards, walking down the path of lights until she came to their end. Suddenly the entire area around her was flooded by lights, revealing her to be in a large circular room of steel and plexiglass.

"Welcome to a duel you cannot hope to win little girl. I commend you for making it this far, but your weakness will soon be revealed. I am Cameron Watts, and you are to be my opponent!" The man who had spoken was tall, just a handful of inches shorter than Dalin, and he had a crew cut and a sleeveless shirt on, displaying his muscles.

"Whatever. I'm not in the mood to deal with arrogant muscle heads right now, so let's get this duel started shall we?" She pressed the activation stud, and her duel disk sprang to life, the duel tray transformed, and the life points were set. (KLP: 4000)

"You're a confident little one, not that it will matter. In a duel against me, confidence is insignificant. I won't be out-dueled by a little girl barely old enough to be out on her own." He smirked and raised his duel disk over his head, greeted by the roaring cheers of the crowd. (CLP: 4000)

Kirani rolled her eyes and flicked six cards off her deck and into her hand. "How come I'm the one who gets paired with idiots? Oh well, I set two cards face down and a monster in defense mode. Go on and take your turn muscle head."

Cameron chuckled as he drew five cards, then drew a sixth for the start of his turn. "Just as I suspected, like every woman you are strong willed but incapable of true strategy. That is the problem of a woman's mind, too unfocused to accomplish great strategic maneuvers. Now, watch a man's power and strategy at work!"

"Oh brother. Fine, show me your power and strategy at work and I'll sit here. If I yawn a bit, don't mind me, that's just a sign of boredom." Her remark got a laugh from the audience, and suddenly it seemed like they were against Cameron. He snarled in irritation and slammed a card onto his duel disk.

"I'll show you! I summon Panzer Tank Unit(1400/1200) in attack mode!" A massive crude looking tank rolled out onto the field, and leveled its weaponry at Kirani. She stepped back slightly in response to the appearance of the massive weapon of destruction.

"Prepare to feel the wrath of German ingenuity. You see they mass produced these little devils, and so the same can be said of the Panzer itself. When normal summoned I can take the other two from my deck and unleash a blitzkrieg as I summon them in attack position!" Kirani grimaced as two more identical tanks rolled out into position.

Kirani settled back onto her heels, aware that her set monster could still defend against these attackers. "I activate the continuous magic card United Army! This card boosts the attack points of all my machines and warriors by 200 for every other machine and warrior I have in play. So now each Panzer Tank Unit gains four hundred attack points!"

She paled a little as the tanks gained additional attack points, making them stronger than her set monster. "Panzer Tank Unit attacks your set monster!"

The tank fired a volley and blew her monster away. "Second Panzer Tank Unit attacks you directly!"

"Not quite, activate Lightning Revival! This brings back one light-type monster from my grave, so Kaiser Seahorse(1700/1650) returns in defense mode!" The armored humanoid monster returned in a crouched position, only to be blasted apart by a shell attack from the next tank.

"Panzer Tank Unit the final one attacks you directly for eighteen hundred damage!" Kirani grimaced and pointed to her face down card, and a barrier of water shot up to block the cannon fire, protecting her from harm.

"Squall Barrier negates your attack and lets me add a Gilford from my deck to my hand. So, are you done?" Cameron chuckled at her as she added a monster to her hand, and then he slid one card from his hand onto his disk and motioned for her to make her move.

She held out one of her cards, and energy began to swirl around in front of her, forming into Kaiser Seahorse. "Monster Reborn resurrects Kaiser Seahorse in attack mode. Then I'll join him by using this monster's effect to special summon it. Gilford the Swift(1400/500) in attack mode!"

Cameron sneered as the two monsters appeared, making her nearly even with him in the monster department. "You think you can rush me? Nobody can rush me, not with my strategy. So please, show me what you can do."

"You want to see my power? Well you've got it, as I sacrifice both my monsters, counting as three, in order to summon Gilford the Lightning(2800/1400) the man himself!" The two monsters shattered and were soon replaced by a towering warrior in silvery blue armor and a green robe around his waist. At his back was a huge sword.

"Activate special ability, Raigeki Blade!" Gilford swung his sword, and lightning bolts rained down on the three tanks. Each one blew up, one after the other, leaving Cameron with nothing on his field but a single set card.

"This is what you're about to get. Attack him directly with Thunderbolt Cut!" Gilford rushed forwards, his sword pointing directly at Cameron.

"Ha! No strategy whatsoever. A good strategist knows when to have someone else to take the fall, so I have the magic card Decoy, which I can play from my hand at any time. By discarding cards from my deck equal to half the level of the attacking monster I can negate all damage!" A dummy version of Cameron appeared and was run-through by Gilford and torn to pieces.

The muscle bound duelist slid four cards off the top of his deck and into the cemetery. Then he folded his arms across his chest, waiting for her to continue. "You think you're so good huh? We'll see quite soon. Activate Card of Sanctity!"

Both duelists snapped up additional cards, giving them a grand total of six cards each. "Hmmm...I can't really go on the offensive yet, but since you're in no position to make a real come back I'll just set one magic or trap card face down. How's that for strategy?"

Cameron frowned even as he drew another card, shaking his head in amusement. "You call that strategy? All that is happens to be brute force. You need different elements in combination with force to get the job done. Here, allow me to demonstrate."

He held up his newly drawn card, revealing a game board with a spinner. "Back To Square One lets me discard one card from my hand to return a monster on your field to the top of your deck. So, it's time to say goodbye to it."

He chuckled and pointed at Gilford, which vanished and popped up off Kirani's duel disk. She grimaced and caught it in mid-air, then slid it on top of her deck. "Just because you got rid of Gilford the Lightning doesn't mean I'm defenseless. And I can promise that he'll be back."

"I'd agree with that promise. You see, returning Gilford was just step one of my strategy. Now here's how it really works. Activate trap card, Conscription Order!" His face down card revealed itself, and then the top card of Kiran's deck began to glow.

"Here's how it works. Conscription Order turns over the top card of your deck. If it's a magic or trap card it goes back. If it's a monster then it's summoned to my side of the field. So now you see...I prepared myself and now your strongest monster is mine. Come to me, Gilford the Lightning(2800/1400)!" The light shot from the top of her deck and landed on his deck.

"No way...Gilford the Lightning is yours?" She stared at the figure that formed on his field, for the first time ever facing down Gilford the Lightning on the opponent's side of the field instead of hers. And worst of all it was her Gilford, not her opponent's.

"That's right, and the more strategy the better, which means I'll take all of your strongest weapons from you! Activate magic card, Forced Recruitment! For each card I discard I can special summon one copy of a monster in play from either player's deck. So I discard two cards!" He slid two more of his cards into the graveyard to pay for the effect.

Kirani grimaced as two more beams of light shot out of her deck and landed on his duel disk. Two more towering warriors appeared, giving him a grand total of three Gilford the Lightnings. "How fun, your best monsters will be your downfall! Sadly these newly summoned monsters cannot attack this turn...but the original can!"

He smirked and slammed another card into his duel disk, and a soldier appeared in front of him holding a mortar. Another soldier dropped an explosive into it, and it fired off, slamming into Kirani's set card and blowing it apart. "The magic card Mortar destroys one card on the field, so your field is empty. Now, Gilford the Lightning(3200/1400) attacks you directly!"

Kirani screamed in pain as electricity surged through her body from the assault, shocking her and making her stumble backwards. She had never experienced its attack, and under the conditions set for them it seemed all the worse. "My very best monster...fighting against me." (KLP: 800)

"You see, I told you women were incapable of using true strategy. Now I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards...and then I set these two drawn cards face down. Go ahead and take your turn little girl, but it will all be over soon enough." He snickered, watching her struggle to get back up and fight on.

She glanced down at the card, and then slapped it into position. "You may have taken away my key monsters, but that hardly beats me! I summon Gilford of Thunder(1800/400) whose special effect lets me draw the top card of my deck and the bottom card!"

She pulled two more cards off her deck, but was forced to pause when Cameron's set card flipped up and send a spray of purple vapor at Gilford of Thunder. The warrior stumbled backwards, coughing and holding a hand in front of his face. "What's going on?"

"The trap card Gas Attack gives you two options. You can either take one hundred damage for each level star of your monsters, or you can make a strategic retreat and send Gilford of Thunder to the top of your deck. Which will it be?" Kirani paused, considering the two options.

She knew that if she took the damage then she'd hardly have any way to fight back with just four hundred life points. If she sent it to the top of her deck she could draw it again next turn and use its effect again. "I return it to the top of my deck."

"Yes, and you fall into my trap once again! I reveal the second Conscription Order, and that special summons Gilford of Thunder(1800/1400) to my side of the field!" She clenched her fists tightly, biting back a cry of frustration as another of her monsters came under her opponent's control, and he got to draw two cards.

"I set three magic or trap cards and then end my turn." Now that was all she had between him and her former monsters, all of whom had a boost of six hundred attack points, making them deadlier than ever.

"I'll sacrifice your Gilford of Thunder to summon Anti-Tank Cannon(2000/2000) which gains six hundred attack. Not that it will be attacking, since I forfeit its attack to destroy one of your set cards!" A massive cannon on treads appeared in front of him and launched a volley, blowing apart one of her three face down cards and leaving her with just two more.

"Now I activate Mortar Shell, which can be tributed to Anti-Tank Cannon to destroy one of your cards and deal five hundred life points of damage to you. Say goodbye to another face down card!" She grimaced as another volley was launched, blasting away all but the last of her set cards. And that one had been her Mirror Force. (KLP: 300)

"I bet you're glad that you didn't take the four hundred damage last turn, since now you can survive. Oh well, it hardly matters. Gilford the Lightning will finish you off right now!" She grimaced and snapped her fingers, causing her set card to flip up. The attack fizzled out and Gilford returned to his former position.

"All three of my traps were good ones, and this one was Negate Attack, so that means I'm still in this duel. What does your strategy have to say about that?" Cameron shrugged as if it hardly mattered and then placed the last card in his hand onto his duel disk.

She drew and frowned at the five cards she held. "I set one magic or trap card and one monster face down. That's all for now."

He chuckled at her pathetic move and slapped his newest card onto his duel disk. "This is all you can manage? Then allow me to show you what I can manage with my attacker, the Bf-109 Dogfighter(1600/1400)!"

A jet fighter of older style now buzzed overhead, proudly displaying the cross that represented the German army. "Bf-109 will strike your set monster to open a path to your life points, boosted all the way to twenty-four hundred attack!"

A spray of bullets blew apart her set monster, which briefly showed itself as a depressed looking young woman. "You just destroyed The Unhappy Maiden(0/100) whose effect now immediately ends your battle phase!"

"A good strategist knows how to fight back, not just defend hopelessly. Just like all women you prove yourself to be nothing of a strategist and a nothing of a duelist. I admit that you have a strong will, continuing even when facing your best monsters, but a strong will won't win the duel for you. End." He smirked, confident that his victory was assured with his assembled force of monsters.

Kirani paused in her draw, and thought on about Drake and all the times she had seen him duel against opponents who seemed to have the advantage. A smile played about her lips, and the room went quiet as they saw her smile. "You're wrong Cameron...that's my strength, the strength of my will. And that is what is going to defeat you!"

She pulled the card up and out, and then brought it to the front so that he could see it just like she could. "Magic card activates! You want a storm of will, well here's one! Lightning Vortex destroys all of your face-up monsters at the cost of one discard!"

A barrage of lightning bolts slammed into the five monsters on his field, blasting each of them to oblivion, leaving him with nothing but one set card. His eyes widened in surprise at seeing his gathered force so quickly obliterated. "Impressive...but it won't be enough to beat me."

"I never said Lightning Vortex would win the duel, but it is a start. Finally I set one magic or trap card face down, and end my turn." Now each duelist had only a single set card to protect them, and it was up to who drew the better card to see who would win.

"Counting on me not drawing a monster are you? Well, looks like your confidence pays off a little bit. All I've drawn is this monster...Mortar Cannon(0/0) in attack mode!" The same little cannon that he had used earlier formed, only this time it was a monster.

"Mortar Cannon has the same effect as Anti-Tank Cannon, only it doesn't have to forfeit an attack, it just has to be in attack mode. Now, shatter that set card!" The soldier dropped a mortar into it, and the explosive went flying and exploded in front of Kirani, licking at her with its flames.

"Now, I'm confident in my defense of Mortar Cannon, while I doubt you're the same. Draw all you wish, but without some form of strategy you cannot defeat me. Go ahead and draw, it doesn't matter!" Kirani frowned at his conviction, and frowned even more when the crowd roared in response, obviously on his side again.

"Wow, such confidence from you. Not that it will matter. Gilford of Thunder(1800/400) in attack mode!" According to its effect she drew a card from the top of her deck and one from the bottom, giving her a grand total of three cards.

"Now, it's time I attack and cut down your life points!" Gilford of Thunder rushed in, but when he slashed through the mortar it detonated, throwing him backwards and into Kirani.

"Ha! You activated my trap card, Trigger Mine! This activates when you destroy one of my monsters and negates all the damage. Then I get to draw one card for every two level stars of the monster that destroyed mine. That means two cards." He slid two cards off his deck, replenishing his numbers.

"Always so confident. I'm not bothered by your arrogance, but I will show you that it's my will power and my strategy that wins this, and that my being a woman in fact makes me stronger, not weaker!" Her conviction and her words pulled the crowd to her side, swinging them back and forth like a yo-yo once again as they changed sides.

"You can't possibly prove something like that. And all I need is one more card to prove it, so end your turn and let me get on with it." Kirani nodded and slid one of her three cards onto her duel disk. It materialized in front of her, ready to do its duty in protecting her.

He drew and held out the card, which started to shine. "Blitzkrieg Summon lets me remove one level four or lower monster from my graveyard and special summon any copies of that monster from my deck. So I remove Bf-109 Dogfighter!"

Two more the of jet fighters whizzed in overhead, doing aerial tricks in the little room they had to maneuver. Not only that, but United Army boosted each of them so that they had eighteen hundred attack a piece. "Don't worry little girl, things are about to change. I'm tired of all this metal, so let's take this fight out to sea..."

One of the side panels of his duel disk slid open and he fitted a card into it. Then the area around them began to change, and water filled up the arena all the way up to the plexiglass. Both duelists floated carefully in it, trying to stay up in the water while their cards floated in mid-air. "My Umi field magic card should do the trick now shouldn't it?"

"Umi? Why in the hell would a duelist like you who uses machines and apparently the occasional warrior use that field card? It only powers up water monsters, and I can't think of any water machines." Kirani looked at him quizically, but he only chuckled in response and threw out his remaining card.

"This is why! I sacrifice both of my Dogfighters in order to summon the very deadly Kriegsmarine Unterseeboot(2800/2500) in attack mode!" The two flying jet fighters vanished and Kirani waited for a monster to present itself. But nothing happened, it seemed like nothing had changed.

"Where's your monster? I don't see it." Cameron laughed and pointed down to the water. Kirani looked where he was pointing, and saw bubbles rise up out of the water.

"Unterseeboat is just the German way of saying submarine. My machine is under-water, and as long as it is in the only monster I have and Umi is in play it can attack you directly. Attack with Torpedo Launch!" Two plumes of water shot straight for Kirani and exploded near her, shaking up the water and shaking her around.

"Your attack is useless! I use Lightning Rod to drain all twenty-eight hundred damage, and then Lightning Rod is destroyed. Unfortunately all my Gilfords are in the graveyard, so I can't special summon one. Either way I'm still alive now aren't I?" Cameron shrugged, obviously not bothered by this.

"You can't defeat the strength of my Unterseeboat very easily, and in my next turn I'll just attack directly for the win. This is true strategy, using the very waters to my advantage. There's nothing you can do that can match this." He sneered at her and snapped his fingers. The submarine rose up, and now he stood upon the top of it, looking down at her.

"Draw your card pathetic little girl! It will do you no good, for no woman and few men can defeat the strength of Cameron Watts, the World War Two Duelist!" He threw back his head and started to laugh, and the crowd began to chant his name, obviously enthralled by his showmanship.

Suddenly his laughter was cut off by a very similar sound. It was Kirani, and she too was laughing. "What's so funny little girl?"

"You are! All your bluster and you overlooked one obvious fact about our dueling styles. You just played Umi...and my deck revolves around Gilford and the Storm. And storms involve electricity, which doesn't mix well with water." Cameron blinked in surprise, trying to figure out what this had to do with the duel.

"This is a duel, your electricity won't affect me more because of Umi. Besides, I still have four thousand life points while you have just three hundred. What could you possibly do that would save you?" Kirani drew, and then pointed her card at him.

"Just watch and learn! Because it's the power of electricity that's going to win this duel, along with the power of my will! Activate magic card, Gilford's Rise! I tribute my current monster to revive Gilford the Lightning(2800/1400)!" The towering warrior appeared, hanging onto a rafter above the water, looking down at them.

"Their attack strengths are equal, it will accomplish nothing to attack. Not to mention the fact that Unterseeboat cannot be destroyed in battle while Umi is in play." Kirani shrugged and slipped another card from her hand onto her duel disk.

"Yeah, well you better do some math, because my monster is stronger thanks to Titan's Storm, which boosts him by fifteen hundred points for one turn!" Gilford flexed his muscles as lightning surged through his body, pumping him up to a grand-total of forty-three hundred attack points.

"Ha! Deal fifteen hundred damage if you want, but I'll remain and so will my monster. Then next turn I'll simply attack directly to win. You see? My superior strategy has granted me victory!" He threw back his head and started to laugh again, but for the second time he was cut off by Kirani.

"I told you before that Umi was the worst place to bring out, since water conducts electricity. Not only that, but so does metal, and you're standing on what has become one giant lightning rod! So every ounce of juice I send your way is going straight for you!" Cameron eyed her askance, still not seeing where she was going.

"And I already explained that Umi doesn't conduct electricity like that. It's not how it works in the game of Duel Monsters!" Kirani chuckled just like he had, and then slid the card in her hand into her duel disk.

"Gilford the Lightning has a little something to say about that, thanks to the magic card Heart of Lightning, Soul of Thunder which destroys every card but one Gilford the Lightning that I have on the field and in my hand...but that's nothing now isn't it?" Cameron frowned as Gilford surged with even more electric power.

"For all of that cost what does it do?" Kirani brought up one finger to her throat, and then slid it across slowly.

"With no hope of being countered my monster is about to attack the water, which is a lightning rod that leads right to you and your life points. In other words Gilford the Lightning is about to attack you directly! Lightning Surge Attack!" Gilford dropped down from the rafter, his sword crackling with electricity.

Cameron's eyes widened as the electricity surged right through the water, and into the boat. It connected with him and his entire body began to spasm as it was shocked with millions of volts of electricity. "I told you water conducted electricity, but did you listen? No! Of course not, you're a man, and that means your weakness is that you're prideful and tend to think with something other than your brain." (CLP: 0)

The magically induced holograms faded away, leaving both duelists on the metal floor once again. Cameron lay unconscious face down on the ground. The door behind him opened up, and Kirani walked towards it, making sure to step on him on her way out.

She stopped at the door and flashed a big grin to the audience. "And that's what they call girl power."

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Next Chapter: Of Insects and Dinosaurs

Author's Notes: Kirani showed Cameron what a girl can really do by kicking his ass from her to L.A. Next up is another pair of duelists who you just may recognize against another pair you just may recognize. Till then, ciao!

Author's Note2: Also, as you may know Panzers were German tanks in WWII as a general term Bf-109s were the German jet fighters used in WWII. Kriegsmarine Unterseeboot was the general name for all submarines of various models used by the Germans in WWII. I call Cameron's deck a WWII Deck.

Review Responses

WolfGeneral: Personally I like Armor Decks, but I can understand where you're coming from.

John: That's the point actually, Breaker the Magical Warrior is Kai's favorite monster, so it's perfect for him to have more.

G.O.T. Nick: Breaker the Holy is a cool card I've been waiting to use for a while. And this was what Kirani unleashed.

Time Mage: Yes, I thought that it was a fun duel as well. Also, again I agree that Breaker the Holy rocks.

The White Mage: I wasn't sure who David Knott and since I didn't want to have to wait for an e-mail response I just went with it. Thanks for the use of your card. And yes, Breaker the Holy does indeed rock.

Original Cards:WG(WolfGeneral), TM(Time Mage), G(Gryphinwyrm7)

Cameron: Panzer Tank Unit, United Army, Decoy, Forced Recruitment, Mortar, Gas Attack, Anti-Tank Cannon, Mortar Shell, Bf-109 Dogfighter, Mortar Cannon, Trigger Mine, Blitzkrieg Summon, Kriegsmarine Unterseeboot

Kirani: Lightning Revival, Squall Barrier, Gilford the Swift, Gilford of Thunder, Lightning Rod, Gilford's Rise, Titan's Storm, Heart of Lightning-Soul of Thunder

Anime Cards