"To fight or not to fight…is that even a question?

Geno Roads

War Mongering

"Where is Owen!"

Tressa looked around and shrugged. It was not the response Lilka was looking for, and by the expression she now wore on her face, it was obvious that she wasn't thrilled Tressa hadn't seen that instantly. She sighed and looked around again.

"I'm sure he is just held up." Tressa said calmly, though she was wondering where her brother had disappeared too as well. He hadn't been in the stands when she had dueled, as far as she could tell.

Of course, he could be working on his deck. I know he was getting real excited about some new card he had discovered…it would make sense that he would want to make his deck work with it. Tressa looked at the alls of the tunnel leading to the dueling arena, hoping her brother would come running in at any moment.

"I just don't get why he isn't here!" Lilka said, frustrated. "He is always at our matches."

"Maybe he's in the crowd and we missed him."

Lilka frowned and looked at her little sister. "Tressa, look at us. We are the tallest people in Domino other then our parents and grandparents. It's very hard not to miss us giants!"

Tressa sighed. "I don't know, ok?"

"Listen…Im sorry sis…you know that…"

"I know Lil, I know." Tressa paused. "Would he be up with mom and dad in the owners box?"

Lilka paused. "I don't know…didn't occur to me that he might…there's a chance he was tired of paying for food and went to go get some real breakfast up there."

"You want me to go check?"

Lilka smiled. "Would you? That would be a big help." Lilka gave her sister a hug. "What would I do without you?"

"Go insane." Tressa said with a grin,before running off. She turned around and called out to her sister, "You get to the field, I'll find Owen!"

Owen looked at the guard. "What do you mean she can't come in?"

The guard at the stadium sighed. "Sir, without a pass, she would need to buy a ticket."

"Owen, it's ok. We'll just go back and get it from my house."

Owen looked at her. "It's not ok." Owen glared down at the guard. "Do you know who that is? That is Kelli Moto, the daughter of the queen of games!"

"How do I know that?" The guard snapped back. "For all I know, she's just some imposter. Do you realize how many people we get dressed up as duelists, trying to sneak in. There is no exception to the rule."

Owen tried to keep hi anger in check. "You listen to me you cardboard star wearing idiot. Do you realize who's son I am?"

"I assure you,I don't care."

Owen smiled. "You will when my uncle Seto fires your ass for not letting his nephew in!"

The guard paused…and finally looked to the right, seeing the duelist id on Owen's jacket. His day had just gotten very very bad. "Owen….Owen Roads?"

"Well, surprise surprise. It seems all it takes ot get respect around here is to be related to your bosses."

The guard bit his lip. "I am sorry sir. I will call up the fornt office and have another ID badge made…"

"Forget it." Owen said. "We'll go get Kelli's badge. It's just a 10mile walk. When we are both disqualified, I'm sure Uncle Seto will enjoy finding out who stopped us from entering."

"Sir…please…"

Kelli sighed and stopped Owen. "Ok Owen, you've had your fun. Now let's just go in, ok?"

Owen crossed his arms. "Now I don't feel like going in" Kelli's jaw dropped and he winked, out of view of the guard. "Nothing could make me want to go in…"

'Sir…what if I personally gave madam and you vouchers for food at the food court?"

Owen stroked his chin. "mmm….I guess that will do."

The guard smiled and ran off to get the front office to bring Kelli a new badge. Kelli shook her head. "Youcan be an ass, you know that?"

"And you love me,so what does that make you?'

Kelli smiled.

"Let's get it started….in here!"

The crowd cheered as Lilka entered the stadium, her theme musicblasting over the loudspeakers. She nodded to her fans and made her way to the field, waiting for her opponent to enter.

"Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatorse!"

Lilka watched as her opponent entered to the blare of his own music. She still wasn't use to some duelists finally getting on the boat and getting their own theme song. When Owen had suggested they do it, it had been original…now it seemed tacky for others to cop them.

She took thistime totake in her opponent. He had shoulder length black hair, greased back of course, and light skin. He wore sun glasses and had a pure white smile. He wore a leather jacket and pants that left nothing to the imagination. He waved tot eh crowd, calling out, "I love you Domino!" everyso often, before stepping into place.

The ref took his spot as both shuffled their decks. "This match is between Ron Branis and Lilka Chitoshi-Roads. Normal rules apply. Lilka will draw first"

Lilka nodded to Ron. "Good luck."

"I have no need for luck! I have the love of the fans to lift me up and help me win!" Ron shouted in an irish accent.

Lilka frowned. "Ok then." She looked over her hand carefully. "I willsummon Amazoness Fighter to the field, and activate The A. Force."

As she laid the card on her duel disk, the dark haired, muscled bound amazon appeared, watching Ron carefully. The purple force field activated, and the amazon growled as her power increased.

"You know,that's the problem with duelists today! They are all about fighting and warring, and none want to simply play the game."

Lilka looked at her opponent. "Uh…that is the game. Fighting,battling. That is what duel monsters is all about."

Ron shook his head. "This game is about beating your opponent, not about killing monsters. This game is merely another weapon against peace."

"Then why do you play?" Lilka asked.

"I play because I know that it is possible to use this game for peace, a way to settle disputes calmly and peacefully. It is a game that could bring the world together in love and harmony."

Lilka sighed. God, this is so sugary it'd even annoy Aunt Tea. She passed her turn to Ron, who laid one monster and one cardface down, ending his turn. "Oh, I get it.; You're just going to lay things face down and let me kill them?"

Ron shook his head. "not at all my friend! You'll see soon enough what I have in order to deal with all your war mongering."

mongering? Lilka thought, drawing her next card. "Iwill summon a second Amazoness Fighter to the field, and hav my first attack your down face monster!"

The amazon leapt up in the air, bringing her fist down on the card. It pulsed, then a strange man appeared, his legs crossed, deep in thought. Lilka's amazoness Fighter blinked, then screamed as she was sent flying away, shattering against a wall. The old man sighed and stood up. (Lilka-4100)

"What the…?"

Ron smiled. "You activated my Guru of Peace's special effect. You see, when this card is attacked while in defense, it automatically destories the attacker and deals you damage equal to it'sattack strength. The only problem is now it can never return to defense."

Lilka smiled. "I meant why weren'tmy lifepoints going back up,but I see the computer is finally working."

Ron looked up at the board, and gasped as Lilka's lp returned to 6000. "But how?"

"amazoness Fighter prevents all battle damage. That means your Guru's damage attack is negated, since it isn't effect damage, but counted as battle."

Ron nodded. "Smart move."

"That it is. And this is smarter: Your Guru has 0 atk power, and I have another Amazon…so let's get rid of him, shall we?"

Lilka watched her second fighter fly int eh air, only to smash into something. It fell to earth and a wall of light appeared.

"I activated my trap card, Wall of Revealing light. I paid 3000 lp to prevent all monsters with attacks under that from attacking." (ron-3000)

Serenity frowned from her seat in the MIB stadium box. While it wasn't as nice as Seto's box, it was nice to have a place for the family to be in. "I don't get how that is good. He just lost 3000 lp."

Tristan smiled. "But think about it…Lilka would have to power up a monster to above that to attack him. He's probably betting that she doesn't have anything witht aht power."

"He's not betting." Kevin said, watched the duel carefully. "He's risking everything. If Lilak can break through that, he's done."

"Why would he make such a risky move?" Serenity asked.

Kevin closed his eyes,thinking back to his days of dueling. Kevin had left the game not because he had wanted to, but because eof health reasons. His fiancée, Veronica, had discovered that the stress of dueling had been causing his demon blood boil. While it sounded weird, the results were simple: The more stress, the more the demon side of him wanted to come out. And if he didn't quit when he had, he would have risked unleashing the long dormnt vampire instincts that had been locked in his mind.

So, he had quit, much to his pain. Dueling was the only way he flet connected to his family. Their spirits, in his cards, always made him feel so good when he was dueling. It made it ironic, that the thing he loved the most was also the one thing that gave him stress.

As such, he had been restricted to easy battles against dueling computers, timed and set at lw levels, to allow him the conact but not the true game. He hated it, and that was why he had begun his experiments.

Kevin had bee working for the last few years to master his vampire instincts, learn how to use the powers they gave while remaining human. So far, he had moderate success. He had been able to crack up the dueling computers level to a higher pace, and had learned to master a new technique.

While the stone in his spine allowed him to warp, that was the only vampire skill he had been able to master, until a few weeks ago. Now, he was able to create ed electricity, or 'blood lightning' as the demons called it. It was still weak, but with practice, he would be able to shoot red energy out of his finger tips and into anything he wanted to fire.

He had managed to resist the urge to say, "Now Young Skywalker…you will die."

"Kevin?" Veronica said,tappign his shoulder. Kevin blinked, returning to the real world.

"Yea, what is it?"

Veronica gently took his ahdn and lifted it, revealing the crackle dancing along his finger tips. She looked at him and e focused, calling off the blast that might have come.

"You were going to answer Serenity?" Veronica asked, gently stroking his palm, calming him down.

"Yea…" Kevin smiled softly. "He is planning something…something that involves protecting his monsters for a while…bt trust me…when he reveals it…those 3000 lp will be well worth it.

Lilka had been wondering what Ron was up to aswell. She figured he was planning to tribute a big monster, then just wipe her out. But thinking about it, that made no sense. Unless he was a liar, which she doubted, he would stick by the idea of not attacking.

So…what could he have planned that needed to lock down battles?

Lilka looked at her Amazoness Paladin she now held in her hand, doing the math. Right now, with it's own bonus and The A. Force bonus, it would only be at 2300. If she could manage to get another Amazoness or two ont eh field,then she might have a chance,but right now, it would have to act as a wall.

'I summon Amazoness Paladin,and end my turn."

Ron nodded. "Finally seeing that it isn't worth attacking me? Finally seeing it'sbetter to just battle without the use of weapons or fists?"

"No, I am waiting to beat the crap out of you once my Amazoness can leap over that wall." Lilka replied.

Ron merely smiled. "The sooner you give up this need to hrut people, the sooner you will have a more healthy, peaceful life."

"Will you cram a sock in it and just duel?"

Ron sighed, shaking his head as one would to a child that was misbehaving. "I will summon Soldier of Tranquility, in attack mode…I sure do ahte that word…attack." As Ron rattled on, a woman in long bellybottoms, a baggytee shirt and rose colored glasses appeared. She gave Lilka the peace sign.

"This is just getting sad." Lilka said calmly as she drew. "I will summon Amazoness Border Guard- Miaka to the field." Lilka smiled as her white haired Amazon teen appeared, her scythe in hand. Now was her chance. "Allow me to do some math. With three Amazons, my Paladin first increases to 2000 attak points. Next, The A. Force gives her an additional 600 attack points. Finally, I will activate this card: Amazoness Barbed Claw!"

Ron watched as the Paladin held out her hand, a gunlet appearing. It had three long claws upon it, each sharp and shining in the sun. The Paladin smiled and ran at the wall, beginning to climb in.

"Barbed Claw gives my Paladin a 500 attack increase. The only disadvantage is that it must attack if there is a monster on the field that can be a target. Of coruse, right now that isn't much of a disadvantage."

Ron watched the Paladin reach the top of the wall. She smiled and raised the claw, ready to strike. "Did I forget to mention my Soldier's effect? When she is on the field, all equip cards are destroyed."

The Paladin struck, hitting the wall, and toppled back,landing on her behind. She grumbled, rubbing it and stood up.

Ron drew and grinned. "And now, it is time for my plan to take full effect. You see Lilka, there is a reason I have created my deck to avoid attacks. It's because of this legendary card that I now hold." He grinned and he laid it in the duel disk. "I activate the field magic card, Vertigo!"

Lilka waited as the card appeared. On it, it showed two large decks. But nothing happened. She looked around, and finally heard a rumble…only to find herself rasiing in the air. She looked down to see the duel platforms, which were used when oppenent's wished not to use duel disks, activate, bringing Lilka and 10 feet in the air.

"What is this?" Lilka asked.

"Veritgo is a powerful field magic card. By it's effect, in order to do anything in this game, from drawing a card to attacking with a monster, you must pay 100 lp."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Lilka said,not impressed.

"each turn, this will increase by 100."

"Ok…impressing me a bit more." Lilka said.

Ron smiled. "Of course, the cost of this card is, that in order to allow it to activate, I have to get rid of two monsters on my field that have not attacked or been attacked."

Lilka paled. "The Wall…was all done to set this up!"

"Exactly." Ron said as his soldier and Guru faded, and the card flashed,showing it was active. "Now, I will pay 100 lp to activate this card: Spell Econimics. This card will cancel out the need for me to pay the lp cost." (Ron-2900)

Lilka frowned. "How is that fair?"

"I am a peaceful guy. You like war. It is the meek that inherit the earth."

Lilka sighed. "It's bad enough that I have to deal with this no attack crap…do I have to listen to it too?"