In The Shadow of The Prophecy

Disclaimer -You know the drill, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I own Carmen.

Chapter seventeen - Number # 1 Fan

I don't give a damn about my reputation,

You're living in the past its a new generation.

And a girl can do what she wants to do,

And that's what I'm gonna do,

And I don't give a damn about my bad reputation.

Oh no...

Oh no.

-- Half-Cocked

CCC-

Great.

This was just perfect, turned her head for a second and Yugi vanished into the crowd. Carmen wasn't familiar with the area of town she was in, since, besides her friends, her life really only extended to the library, school and the museum, (a/n : okay, so she only knew Yugi's address cause she bought some DM cards there once) but now she was a bit anxious, she could wandering around the city for hours. Shoving her hands into her pants pockets and shifting her weight from one foot to the other Well, standing around looking like a lost puppy's not gonna make it any better for you she chided herself.

If she couldn't find Yugi, or Joey, if she kept moving, eventually she'd come across something she recordnized, right ? " Excuse me ," " Coming through ," " Pardon me ," said the amber-eyed girl as she squeezing through the crowd and in-between people. An uncomfortable pressure began to build up in her right temple, a feeling unwelcome to the adolescent, but strangely familiar. Huh? Whats that ? she wondered spying a group building in the middle of the street. Weird. Her gut told her to check it out, so she approached cautiously.

Wait ! she realized, it was Yugi and Joey...or at least, she thought it was Yugi. This duelist's eyes were wine red and ablaze with determination, slanted forward in a daunting fashion. It had to be Yugi, that hair was hard to mistake, but he looked... maybe a little taller. She could almost see the aura around him, the air was electric with his presence.

Carmen couldn't see the face of his opponent, nor was she close enough to hear the words the contenders exchanged. What's goin' on? I can't hear a thing she thought craning her neck to hear.

The weird white-haired guy lost, the summoned skull laid him out and won her friend the duel. " Hey Yugi, Joey !" Carmen called.

Yami skimmed the cards the rare hunter dropped / Ah, there it is / he thought, finding the coveted dragon card easily.

" Hey Yugi, Joey !"

His crimson eyes met hers in a friendly embrace as she jogged up to them, she returned the silent welcome with a quick smile and looked away. Odd, why didn't she keep eye contact with him? She had no problem looking his aibou in the eye when they talked. The pharaoh, shook his head, no she's just shy, that's all and dismissed the thought. Suddenly...

" NO MASTER, PLEASE FORGIVE ME !" howled the white-haired man shooting up to his head in his hands franticly, startling him and his own. Put on the defense Yami and Joey dug their toes in. " NO, NO DON'T, PLEASE SPARE--".

" Ah, 'pharaoh' we meet again " said the distorted voice, the millennium symbol encrested of his brow. The puppet master chuckled darkly, " Well, actually this is the first time we meet isn't it ? you were trapped in the puzzle when I dueled your 'partner', yugi, i think it was, right ?".

/ Pharaoh / the spirit thought scowling, sensing that foul, overpowering aura emanating from the human 'doll'. " How is it you can control the minds of others ?" he demanded.

" heh, for someone who spent the better part of three thousand years chained to a millennium item you certainly are dense " he jeered sardonically, secure in his knowledge of the pharaoh's past. Yami's scowled deepened dangerously, " each of these artifact possess unique . . . properties, thus controlling the minds of my subordinates is a trivial feat with my millennium rod ,".

/ Millennium rod... mind control / thought the spirit / Nothing good can come of that / .

" enjoy your victory here 'pharaoh' but just so you know, my other assassins are by no means as weak as this one " said the puppeteer, " heh, enjoy your last days ,".

" Who are you ?" Yami demanded, liking this individual less and less.

" heh heh, the one who takes you throne o Pharaoh, is malik, remember that ," said his nemesis. The white haired card stalker pitched forward in a dead faint, hitting the ground with bone cracking 'thud'.

Malik... . " Carmen ,". She turned, obeying the unspoken command without thinking. She looked untrustingly at the form prostrate on the ground, 'Yugi' looked at her and then what she was glaring at. " Is something wrong ?".

" Uh... n-no, nothing ," she said, those her eyes flickered suspiciously, saying otherwise.

" Well, this is where our roads diverge Joey ," said Yami.

" Good luck Yug', you too Ca'men ," said the blond in reply sincerely. The crowd dispersed, as well, now that the action was over.

The strawberry-haired teen approached the fallen hunter, cards were scattered around the ground, mostly in pieces, but a few were intact. There it is she said to herself, finding what she was looking for. How it escaped destruction she didn't know, but she was glad it had, so she took the card and slipped it into her deck box. Now to find Yugi .

CCC-

Malik.

Yami thought as he walked down the street, this was the one after not just the puzzle, but the lives connected to it. / Well, at least we know its not Carmen for sure / voiced Yugi from within / Because this Malik-guy controls the rare hunters and he has the millennium rod / .

/ That may be / replied the spirit / but we don't know what kind of powers she possesses, so we can't let our guard down around her, it could Bakura all over again / . The teen looked away, his darkness was right, referring back to the " Monster World " fiasco. Still, it was uncomfortable to be close to someone he couldn't let himself trust completely.

A hand grabbed the shoulder of his jacket, pulling him out of the stream of sidewalk traffic, " Who ...?" he turned.

" Alright, there's something your not telling me ,"said Carmen, a little annoyed, " Do you mind filling me in on way these card assassins are on your case? Or why, sometimes, you're like a completely different person ?".

" HEY !".

The two duelists paused.

" You're the sesako (3) that beat Kaiba !" said a guy in a methat.

A silence ensued for a few fleeting moments as the two befuddled teens blinked with confusion.

" You ?" they said, pointing at each other, then indignantly pointed at themselves, " Me ?".

" You, foreigner ," he said.

" Oh me ," said Carmen, seeing as she was the only foreigner there... hey wait a minute, " Did you just call me a sesako !".

" Indeed saseko, for anyone that cheats Kaiba out of a victory is a saseko ," said the guy, " Now I challenge you to a duel ,".

Carmen was flabbergasted and a touch angry at this nutbar, " Hold on, first you insult me, now you wanna duel me ?" she shot back.

" The rules say you can't refuse a challenge ," he said, " Unless you want to forfeit, since I will most likely own you anyway, A-HA HA HA ,".

Inferiority-complex much pal ? said the amber-eyed girl to herself. Why not except this jerk's challenge? Someone seriously needed to shut him up. " Fine, you've got your self a duel ," she replied, activating her duel disc, " we'll see who gets 'owned' ,". Her lips twitched upwards coyly, setting into her into her 'game face'." So what's you name ?".

" Just call me Wing ," replied her adversary.

" Hm, weird name for a weird guy ,".

Carmen - 4000 Lp

Wing - 4000 Lp

Wing drew six cards, since he took it apon himself to go first, " I'm playing a monster face down ," he said, " Go saseko ,".

Carmen drew her card, " stop calling me that, My name's Carmen ," she said.

" See you're a namae-saseko ," he barked.

" Will you just let me play a card !" she retorted, finding it hard to keep her smile without cheesing too much from frustration. " I summon Shining Angel ," she announced, " attack his defense ,".

" A-HA HA HA, you just attacked Cyber Jar saseko, destroying every card on the field ," he cackled.

Dammit, now I have to draw five cards and I won't be able to attack him till my next turn she thought, picking up the cards from her deck ; Agido, Dancing Fairy, Rush Recklessly, Wingweaver and Silver Bow And Arrow. " I'm special summoning Dancing Fairy and Agido with Cyber Jar's effect, then I'll special summon another Shining Angel since the first one was destroyed as a result of battle ," said Carmen, " and lastly I play one card face down and end my turn ,". The monsters appear from a swirl of iridescent lights as well as the two face down cards, Wing summoned Lord of D., Twin Headed Behemoth and Troop dragon.

' Perfect ' he drew just the cards he needed," Draw !" another card for his awesome combo, " I'm sacrificing troop dragon and Lord of Dragons to summon Seiyaryu ," announced Wing, " Next I activate the Magic Card Holy Flame Attack (1) ". The pale crimson beast produced a burst of searing orange flames from its mouth, all three of his amber-eyed opponent's monsters exploded into hundreds of points of light. " Seiyaryu can't attack on the same turn I use Holy Flame Attack, so Twin Headed Behemoth will attack you directly ,". The Mutated purple, red and black over-sized pimple slammed her with its talon, " That ends my turn ,".

Carmen - 2500 Lp

Wing - 4000 Lp

Carmen drew her next card reciting the first two rules of gaming ; never loose your cool and always act like you have the upperhand. " I'm special summoning Pixie Knight thanks to Shining angel, plus, by also sending Agido to the graveyard I can roll a dice and summon another angel-class monster form my graveyard ,". The red egg-shaped angel reappeared popping open like a jack-in-the-box, a die hopped out revealing four little black dots. The teen sighed inwardly, anything else and she wouldn't have been able to summon anything, since she only had three angel-type monsters in her graveyard. " Now, I'll activate my face down card Ray of Hope and shuffle my Shining Angels back into my deck ," she added, Then I'll set one card face down and equip Dancing Fairy I brought back from the graveyard with the Sliver Bow and Arrow card. Now, attack his Twin headed Behemoth ,". The chibified sprite took aim and shot the eyesore threw the head.

Carmen - 2500

Wing - 3500

Wing drew, ' If I attack her Pixie Knight I could seriously damage her life point, but I can't leave that Dancing Fairy on the field, she's probably going to boost it with another magic card on her next turn ' , " When my Twin Headed Behemoth is destroy it returns in defense mode ," and indeed, it faithfully reappeared sitting atop its card. " Now I'll sacrifice it to summon Dragon Healing Maiden (2) ," said Wing, " Now, Seiyaru attacks Dancing Fairy, owned bitch ,"...

To Be Continued . . .

Author Commentary :

1. Holy Flame Attack - Wing35 graciously donated a deck list with these interesting custom cards, this one is a normal magic card that can only be activated when "Seiyaryu" is on your side of the field and destroy all monsters on your opponents side of the field, but as Wing said, Seiyaryu can't attack on the same turn this card is used.

2. Dragon Healing Maiden - another of Wing's custom cards, its a 6 star warrior class monster with 2000/1800, it has the ability to redirect a an attack targeted at another dragon type monster to itself.

3. Saseko - Japanese for "whore", not a very nice thing to say Wingy.