Well, after a long wait, its time for the third chapter

Lets see how Summer manages against the most feared card in the game.

"The full use of your powers along lines of excellence."

- definition of "happiness" by John F. Kennedy

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I wish I did.I also don't own the idea for the Icons of Popular Culture cards, that belongs to Cyber Commander, however I did make my own cards for this.

000

"The only unbeatable monster in Duel Monsters is Exodia the Forbidden One."

That is the first line of the Dueling Handbook.

While its not entirely true, Exodia has one weakness, its seperate pieces must stay in the hand.

Exodia is still unbeatable as a whole.

And with me now facing down the forbidden giant...

Well, lets just say I would give anything to be in someone else's shoes.

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CHAPTER TWO:

CURSED SEAL OF FORBIDDEN SPELL

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The next day, a student with long curly auburn hair, forest green eyes, and pale skin, wearing a Ra Yellow uniform, but the only difference is that it has black instead of white, is sitting in a tree in the grounds reading.

She looks up suddenly, sniffing the air.

"Ah know your there, Devis," she says in a southern accent.

Warren steps out from behind a tree. "How'd you know it was me, Huebner?"

Marie Huebner, the best duelist in Ra Yellow, smirks. "Yah smell as bad as your dinosaurs, seriously, do yah bathe much?"

"Funny," Warren says with a grumble.

"Wha' do yah want this time, meh ta beat some duelist tha' kicked your prehistoric butt?" Marie asks, Warren just glares. "Please, your easier ta make fun of tha tha entire Brotherhood combined. Fine, who ticked yah off this time?"

"Summer Howard," Warren says. "With your cards, you can win easily."

"Alright fine, but listen here, Ah'm not doing this fer yah, Ah just want ta duel tha girl," Marie says, and does a perfect backflip off the branch, and walks off.

"Perfect," Warren says to himself.

000

5 minutes later, Summer, Rebecca, and Renee are sitting around their dorm, discussing strategies.

"Will Summer Howard please report to Seto Kaiba's office!" A voice over the intercom says.

Summer gulps, and leaves.

"This dosen't sound good," Renee says.

"I agree," Rebecca says, and the twins follow.

000

They reach Seto Kaiba's office, Kaiba is seated at his desk, and Marie Huebner is standing off to the side.

"Uhh, hello Mr. Kaiba, sir," Summer says, looking rather nervous, standing before a dueling legend such as Seto Kaiba.

"There's no need for that, Summer," Kaiba says. "May I introduce the honor student of Ra Yellow, Marie Huebner."

Marie steps forward, and offers a gloved hand for Summer to shake, she takes it rather relunctantly. Marie may be a little shorter than Summer, but she had an air around her that showed all too well that she had power.

"Umm, nice to meet you," she says.

"Tha pleasure is all mine," Marie says.

"Marie here is already a legend in the school, and she requests a duel with you, Summer," Kaiba says, looking to Summer for an answer.

"Very well," Summer says with a slight smirk. "But don't expect me to lose."

"Funny, Ah was about ta say tha same thing," Marie says.

"Good, the duel will happen in half an hour, so you have time to prepare your decks," Kaiba says, and both girls nod, and head off.

This duel will require all my skills, they both think.

000

"What can you tell me about my opponent's deck?" Summer asks her friends once they are back in their dorm.

"Marie has a very unique deck type, it dosen't center on a single strategy really," Rebecca says.

"You need to be careful of the cards in her hand, she runs an Exodia deck," Renee says.

"There might be a card that can help you," Renee says, and looks through one of her card binders, takes out a card, and hands it to Summer.

"Failure of Destiny?" Summer asks.

"The only card that can beat Exodia," Renee says. "And any other instant win card for that matter. Go ahead, consider it an early birthday present."

"Thanks," Summer says, and places the card into her deck.

000

In her room, Marie is seated on the floor, working on her own deck.

"Come on Marie, you've been like working on your deck for like 15 minutes," her roomate says.

"Ah know, Sally," Marie says, glancing at her roomate.

By some twist of fate, Marie had been paired up with Sally Alvers, who was also her roomate back at the Xavier Institute. While the girls differed in dueling strategies as well as personality (the usual goth and valley girl thing), they where good friends.

"Ah'm almost done."

Sally walks over to Marie, and looks over her shoulder. "You've never used those monsters before," she says, pointing to a page labled "Icons". "Why?"

"Ah've been saving them fer a special occasion, but Ah think Ah'll put a few in mah deck, ta spice things up," Marie says, and smiles, taking out 4 monsters, and placing them in her deck. "An' Ah might as well add this one as well," she says, and places a trap card in her deck. "Now, Ah think Ah'm ready."

"You go girl," Sally says, Marie just smirks.

000

15 minutes later, Summer, Rebecca, and Renee enter the arena. The stands are almost empty, other than Kaiba and Dr. Hawthorne, Warren is sitting in the back.

"Good luck," Rebecca says, and the twins take two seats near the arena.

As Summer steps up onto the dueling stage, Marie arrives, with Sally close behind. Marie takes her spot as well, and Sally takes a seat next to Rebecca and Renee.

"So, your like, Summer's friends?" Sally asks.

"Umm, yes," Renee says.

"Alright Summer, its time ta duel," Marie says, and then suddenly a pendant around her neck begins glowing. Marie suddenly becomes taller, her hair becomes straight and a little darker, and she loses her accent.

"Hey, whats going on? Marie knows very well that she's not allowed to use her mutant abilities in a duel!" Hawthorne says to Kaiba.

"She's not," Kaiba says simply, and leaves it at that.

"I'll go first," Marie says, and draws a card. "I place one card face down, and summon Peten the Dark Clown (500/1200), in defense mode."

The creepy clown in a harliquinn outfit appears with a tip of his hat and a chuckle.

Summer draws. "I place a card face down, and summon Hysteric Fairy (1800/500)!"

The fairy carrying a book, appears, and glances at Marie.

"Now, attack, hysteric blast!"

The fairy sends a blast of light at the clown, destroying it.

"Activate trap, the Crush Card Virus!" Marie says.

"Reveal magic card, Trap Booster, with this I can activate one trap in my hand by discarding a card," Summer counters, and discards a card from her hand, and activates Trap Jammer. "Too bad," she says, discarding another card, and the Virus is destroyed.

"Ah can still remove this Peten ta summon another," Marie says, and a secound clown appears.

"One more card face down, your turn," Summer says.

Marie draws, and smirks. "I activate, Soul Exchange, and sacrifice Peten and your monster to summon the first of my special guests..." she says, and a sudden burst of fire appears on her side of the field, and from it, a huge Serpant-like red dragon emerges, breathing fire. "Meet the first of a series known as the Icons of Popular Culture, the dragon king from the still popular Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time known as Volvagia, the Subteranian Lava Dragon (2500/2100)!"

The dragon lets out a huge roar.

"WOW, THAT'S A BIG DRAGON!" Renee exclaims.

"Thats, like, one of Marie's rarest cards," Sally says with a giggle.

"AN ICON CARD? YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS, DIDN'T YOU KAIBA!" Hawthorne shouts at the headmaster.

"Of course I knew, now shut up before you lose your job," Kaiba snaps.

"An Icon monster," Summer says, gulping.

"Thats right," Marie says. "And Volvagia is one of the best, but since I used Soul Exchange, I have to skip my battle phase, so I'll set one card face down an' end mah turn."

Summer draws. "I activate Cost Down," she says, and discards a card. "I now summon, Prenumbral Soldier Lady (2100/1400), in attack mode!"

A beautiful female warrior appears, and glares at the dragon.

Good move, Marie thinks. But she's made a grave error, that warrior lady is weaker, but even if she wasn't, Volvagia's special ability would kick in.

"I activate, Scroll of Bewitchment, and give it to your dragon, and changing his attribute to light," Summer says, and the dragon gets a little lighter. "Now Soldier lady, attack with Sword of Shadows!"

The female warrior slashes through the dragon.

"Since she gained 1000 attack points by attacking your dragon, your monster is destroyed."

Marie suddenly laughs, and Summer looks confused.

And then suddenly Volvagia turns his head, and blasts the Soldier Lady away, and they both dissapear in a burst of pixles, Marie's life points still lower to 3400.

"What did you do?" Summer demands.

"Your Soldier Lady is a female monster, come on, didn't you ever read stories about dragons?" Marie says with a laugh.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Summer asks.

"Everything, when Volvagia battles a female monster, even a warrior, the monster is destroyed right after the damage step, even if Volvagia dosen't survive," Marie says.

Looks like that dropout Summer is going down, Warren thinks to himself.

"Grr, fine, one card face down, your move," Summer says.

Marie draws. Still no Exodia, but this will do, she thinks. "I activate, Card Destruction!"

Both duelists discard their hands, and draw the same amount of cards.

"I will summon Witch of the Black Forest (1100/1200), in defense mode, and end my turn."

The female witch appears.

Summer draws. "I summon Opticlops (1800/1700), in attack mode!" she says, and the hulking fiend appears.

"Activate trap, Dark Renwal!" Marie counters, and the card flips up, revealing a red coffin with a cross and a blue stone on it. "By sacrificing your Fiend, and my Witch..."

The two monsters dissapear in bursts of energy.

"And I can summon this from my graveyard, meet my next Icon monster, the short-time foe of the Jedi in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the machine maniac known as General Grevious, the Jedi Slayer (2700/3000)!"

The monster summoned can only be described as ugly. It is a machine monster with 4 arms, each wielding a light saber from Star Wars (2 blue, 2 green), and a beating heart of some sorts is almost visable beneath its armor.

"And I get to add a card to my hand," Marie says, and takes a card out of her deck.

"I place one card face down, and end my turn," Summer says. "Now attack me if you dare."

"I can't, General Grevious can only attack directly if there is a monster that has attacked before," Marie says, and draws, then groans. "One card face down, your move."

Summer draws. "I activate Monster Reborn, and revive my Prenumbral Soldier Lady!" She says, and the warrior lady appears again. "Now, I trigger my face down card, its known as Effect Diffusion, this makes it so I can change my Prenumbral Lady's effect, so she gains attack while attacking dark monsters, and I'll bet my Dark Necrofear thats exactly what your monster is!"

"Impressive," Marie says.

"Now, I'll set one card face down, now my Soldier Lady, attack with Sword of Shadows!" Summer commands, and the monster slashes at the machine, sending one arm flying, but the general remains.

"You notice that Grevious has 4 arms, each arm is a turn token, and he can only be destroyed after he loses all four of his arms," Marie says, and the general chuckles, pushing back the Soldier Lady. Marie's life points still fall to 3000. "And you activated my face down magic card, Icon Clash, now I can special summon as many Icon monsters as I wish from my hand, deck, or graveyard. So first, welcome back Volvagia!"

The serpentine dragon appears.

"Now, from the Father of Modern Fantasy himself, Aragorn, the Exiled King (3200/2500)!"

A tall man with long scraggly hair appears, brandishing a sword.

"And finaly, out of the works of the famous J.K Rowling, Basilisk, the Monster of Slytherin (2200/2500)!"

A loud hissing sound is heard, and a huge snake appears with a hiss.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hawthorne screams.

"Your afraid of snakes?" Kaiba says, holding back a laugh.

"Uhh, no, I, uhh, FORGET IT!" Hawthorne says.

"Now, I get to take 3 cards out of my deck," Marie says, and three cards slip out of her deck, and she puts them in her hand, and then reshuffles.

"One card face down, your move," Summer says.

Marie draws. "I activate, Pot of Greed," she says, and draws two. "Game over," she says with a grin, and shows her Exodia cards.

YES, THAT DROPOUT IS GOING DOWN! Warren thinks.

Exodia rises, Marie laughs. "EXODIA, OBLITERATE!" She shouts.

"Activate trap card, FAILURE OF DESTINY!" Summer counters, and something strange happens, Exodia begins falling apart, and colapses, blasts hit both duelists.

"I know what that does, this game is now ended in a draw," Marie says.

"Wrong," Summer says, and triggers another face down card. "It lowers both our life points to 0, meaning I can chain it with this card, Poison of the Old Man, giving me 1200 more life points."

Both player's life points go down to 0, then Summer's goes up to 1200.

We then see Warren banging his head against the wall. "WHY DOSEN'T THAT ROOKIE EVER LOSE?"

Marie's pendant glows again, and she's back to her regular self. "Good game," she says, giving Summer a smile.

"Yeah," Summer says.

Hmm, she does have a lot of potential, Kaiba thinks, and watches as the four girls walk off.

000

Trap booster will be used by Zane Truesdale in season two of GX, in a way similar to this one, ironicaly.

Volvagia, the Subteranian Lava Dragon

Fire

Dragon/Effect

2500/2100

This monster was created to honor the popular Legend of Zelda video games. Only one of these cards in the game exists. This dragon is a firey beast out of the depths of Death Mountain. When this monster battles a female monster, that monster is destroyed.

(All creative credit goes to Nintendo of America, and the Legend of Zelda games.)

General Grevious, the Jedi Slayer.

Dark

Machine/Effect

2700/3000

This monster was created to honor the Star Wars movies, and their creator George Lucas. Only one of these cards in the game exists. This machine was an adversary of the Jedi, but was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi. This monster cannot attack the opponent directly unless another monster has attacked first. When this monster is summoned, it gains 4 turn tokens, and loses one each time it is attacked by a stronger monster. This monster can only be destroyed when it has 0 turn tokens.

(All creative credit goes to George Lucas.)

Effect Diffusion

Continuous Trap

Image of a beast being changed around. This card can exist when there is an effect monster on the user's side of the field. The user can make some changes to the effect. This can only be used on one monster once. If there aren't any effect monsters on the user's side, this card is destroyed.

Icon Clash

Quick-Play Spell

Image of 4 shadowy monsters. This card can only be activated when you have a monster under the catagory of Icon. Summon up to 4 monsters under the catagory of icon from your hand, deck, or graveyard. The user can then take cards from their deck equal to the amount of monsters summoned this way.

Aragorn, the Exiled King

Light

Warrior

3200/2500

This monster was created to honor the Father of Modern Fantasy J.R.R Tolkein, and his Lord of the Rings Trillogy. Only one of these cards exists. Aragorn is the one destined to become the king of Gondor, but he is in exile.

Basilisk, the Monster of Slytherin

Dark

Reptile/Effect

2200/2500

This monster was created to honor J.K Rowling and her Harry Potter series. Only one of these cards exist. The "King of Serpents" as it is called, is the monster in the Chamber of Secrets, waiting for the heir's arrival. Any monster with attack higher than this monsters that battles this monster is automaticaly destroyed.

Failure of Destiny

Counter Trap

Image of Exodia Crumbling, Destiny Board colapsing, and Final Countdown exploding. This card can only be activated when the opponent fulfills one of the following requirements: Draws all 5 pieces of Exodia, has played Final Countdown 20 turns before the activation, or has completed the Destiny Board. When one of the requirements is met, the cards are destroyed, and both player's lose all their life points.

000

Well, Summer has another ally in Marie, the ever mysterious gothic duelist.

Next up, Kaiba announces a new tournament that will take place on the island, and our heroes are invited.

The only catch is, they need a fith person for their group to compete.


Don't miss, "Royal Decree."

Comming to a website near you.