Chapter 7: This is the Tale of the Duel

Yugi watched as his next opponent entered the arena. She was a curious person, wearing circular glasses and reading a book while carrying a rather hefty hiker's backpack. She pushed her glasses up and looked to see Yugi on the field and smiled a warm smile.

"You must be Yugi Muto, correct?" she asked in a kind voice.

Yugi nodded. "And that means you are..."

"Leanna Warner, yes," the girl replied, introducing herself. "I hope I didn't startle you with my appearance. I tend to do that a lot."

She smiled at Yugi, who answered, "Not at all. It's a treat to duel someone like you."

"Yes, though it's a shame we aren't using the Deck Master system this time around," she answered. "A good story always begins with a charming protagonist!"

Meanwhile in the spectator booth, the others watched as the duelists retrieved their decks and Duel Disks and prepared to begin.

"Leanna Warner, huh?" Joey said.

"Is she an author of some kind?" Tristan asked.

"As a matter of fact, she's an author of children's books," Tea replied. "She retells old fairy tales in a whole new way."

"You saying you read some of dese books?" Joey asked.

Tea nodded, saying, "I read them to kids I babysit sometimes."

"You babysit kids?!" Joey and Tristan yelped in unison, to which the response was a swift knock on their heads from a rather peeved Tea.

Back on the field, Yugi and Leanna had finished shuffling their decks and already started up their Duel Disks.

"Shall we?" Leanna asked, to which Yugi nodded again saying, "Let's do this!"

"DUEL!"

Leanna: 8000
Yugi: 8000

"I'll take the first move," Leanna began, drawing her first card. "And our story begins with the prologue."

Leanna Set a monster on her field in Defense mode. "And with this face-down card, I'll end my turn," she continued, placing another card face-down. She looked up at Yugi and said, "Now it's time for the next chapter."

"Then it's my turn," Yugi said, drawing a card. "I summon the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian (4/1400/1200) in Attack mode!"

An elvish swordsman appeared, brandishing his mighty sword and gazing intently at Leanna.

"A lone knight wanders into the meadow," Leanna recited.

"And now Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, attack!"

The elf swung his sword at Leanna's monster, revealing herself as a small girl wearing a red riding hood.

"It seems the elf has slain poor Little Red Riding Hood (4/800/1200)," Leanna lamented. "But not to worry, for her cries of anguish have summoned a young warrior to the field, the great Tom Thumb (1/300/500)!"

With that said, a small man in green appeared, standing proudly with his hands on his hips staring down the Celtic Guardian.

Yugi continued his move, "I'll play one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

"And a new chapter begins," Leanna narrated, drawing her next card. "Now the young Tom Thumb is not yet strong enough to take down the Celtic Guardian, but with a little help from his good friends the giants, he'll become strong enough to win against him! And so I activate the magic of Giant's Training and sacrifice Tom Thumb to bring out Globerman (8/2600/2000)!"

The young lad vanished in a flash of light and was replaced with a mighty green-skinned giant.

"Now Globerman, take your vengeance for Little Red Riding Hood and attack!"

The giant lunged forward against the Celtic Guardian and unleashed a powerful blow against him! But the Guardian deflected the blow with his blade!

Leanna: 8000
Yugi: 6800

"Yet the elvish warrior remains unharmed!" Leanna gasped dramatically.

"That's because the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian can't be destroyed in battle against a monster with 1900 or more Atk points," Yugi explained.

"Hmm, that may be problematic," Leanna noted. "But there's always a way, as they say. I will assist Globerman with the Spinning Wheel Spindle!"

And just like that, a wooden spinning wheel appeared and began sewing away, unleashing several threads and tangling up the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian until he couldn't move!

"You probably are aware of the power of the Spinning Wheel Spindle," Leanna said. Yugi nodded, noting that these cards were just as familiar to him as the Toons from his last duel. Leanna continued, "Then you know your monster is destroyed and that on the stroke of the third Standby Phase afterwards, it shall return to your field as it was before."

Meanwhile, in the spectator booth, the others continued to watch.

"Weren't dese cards in dat one kid's deck?" Joey asked.

"Leon von Schroeder," Tea noted. "He used them in the KC Grand Prix Kaiba held a while back."

"Oh yeah, I remember him," Joey replied. "And I remember his brother was a creep too!"

On the dueling field, Leanna had ended her turn and Yugi began his next one.

"I'd hate to disappoint you, but I'm going to take back this duel," Yugi said. "I activate the magic of Brain Control!"

As the magic began to take effect, a brain appeared with light blue arms that extended from it, reaching out for Leanna's Globerman. Once they gripped onto him, they picked him up and brought him over to Yugi's side of the field.

"By paying 800 of my Life Points," Yugi said, "I can take control of one of your monsters until the end of the turn."

Leanna: 8000
Yugi: 6000

"And now I sacrifice your Globerman," Yugi continued, "in order to summon Archfiend of Gilfer (6/2200/2500)!"

The green giant disappeared and out rose a fearsome fiend, with a burnt blue body and armor the color of dried blood over him. He extended his great wings upon his arrival, sparking out a small flame.

"A terrible and evil force has taken away the innocent Globerman and replaced him with a devilish foe," Leanna noted. Yugi couldn't help but laugh a little, and Leanna smiled at this.

"Archfiend of Gilger, attack!"

The archfiend absorbed some energy and then unleashed it in the form of a fireball at Leanna, enveloping her in flames!

Leanna: 5800
Yugi: 6000

"Yeahhhh!" Joey cried out from the booth. "Yugi's in da lead!"

"Keep it up, Yugi! Just a few thousand Life Points to go!" Tristan cheered.

"That's all for my turn," Yugi said.

"And so the rising action continues to rise," Leanna noted, drawing her next card. "But now I will halt your progress with the special powers of a devious trickster. I summon forth Rumpelstiltskin (4/1700/0) in Attack mode!"

A small troll wearing a set of robes and with a large amount of red hair appeared on the field, dancing away.

"And no troll is complete without a lovely home," she continued. "In fact, Rumpelstiltskin lives in a rather unusual house: a Gingerbread House!"

With that, a curious house appeared, made completely out of gingerbread and an assortment of candies and frosting.

"I think that should set up Rumpelstiltskin for life," Leanna smiled. "I'll close this chapter and let you write a new one."

"Then I guess it's my move," Yugi announced, drawing his next card.

"And now for this next part, I will help you and your monster with the power of the Gingerbread House," Leanna said. "Feed him well, my house!"

And so the Gingerbread House opened its doorlike mouth and sent out a large tongue filled with candy onto the Archfiend of Gilfer, feeding it with an overly large quantity of such candy.

Archfiend of Gilfer (6/2200/2500 - 6/2800/2500)

"Oh, but it seems the fiend was too greedy and ate too much of the house's candies," Leanna continued. "With its Attack power going above 2500, the Gingerbread House's candy causes the fiend to explode with delight!"

And just as she announced this, the Archfiend of Gilfer inflated and exploded with little pieces of confetti!

"And then the Gingerbread House blesses its creator with a reward of 500 Life Points," Leanna concluded.

Leanna: 6300
Yugi: 6000

"Not bad," Yugi said, "but there's one thing you did forget! Archfiend of Gilfer's ability allows him to equip onto an opponent's monster and reduce its Attack by 500 points!"

A phantasmic specter representing the Archfiend of Gilfer arose from Yugi's graveyard and surrounded Rumpelstiltskin, who began to look somewhat weary due to the haunting.

Rumpelstiltskin (4/1700/0 - 4/1200/0)

"Next, I activate the Graceful Charity spell," Yugi continued. "With this, I'm allowed to draw three cards and discard two from my hand." After doing so, Yugi declared, "And now I'll summon forth Queen's Knight (4/1500/1600) in Attack mode!"

A blonde haired knight in red armor decorated with the various suits of a playing-card deck appeared on the field brandishing her sword and shield.

"Now go, attack her Rumpelstiltskin!" Yugi announced.

The knight charged forth at the diminutive troll! And then suddenly she froze up, right before the slash would have landed! And there was Rumpelstiltskin, holding up his gnarled hand and smiling devilishly.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be careful of Rumpelstiltskin," Leanna said, wagging her finger. "He likes to play guessing games with the people who challenge him. In fact, he'd like to play a game right now!"

Rumpelstiltskin then ran up to Leanna's shoulder and pointed to a card in her hand. Leanna withdrew the card and held it up. "And now for the game," she said. "Rumpelstiltskin has picked out a card in my hand, and now you'll have to guess the type of card it is. Only by guessing it correctly will your attack go through."

In the spectator booth, the others looked on in shock at this recent development.

"That wasn't in Leon's deck before, was it?" Tristan asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Joey answered.

"Didn't Yugi's grandpa play a similar card to this in your duel?" Tea asked Joey.

"Yeah, Ordeal of a Traveler," Joey noted. "At least from da sound of it, dat card can only negate attacks if he gets it wrong."

Back on the field, Yugi made his guess. "I will guess a Spell card!"

Leanna smiled as she revealed the card to be Seven Kids, a monster card. "It seems Rumpelstiltskin's trickery endures the force of your blow," she said. Rumpelstiltskin then sidestepped the attack, much to the dismay of Queen's Knight.

"I'll end my turn with a face-down card," Yugi announced.

"And we gradually rise up to the climax," Leanna said drawing her next card. "Rumpelstiltskin, cursed by a fiend, is weakened but not powerless. He decides it best to call upon some help! And so he calls out to the lowly Forest Wolf (3/1800/300) to save him!"

With that, a wolf dressed in an apron and a nightcap, both the shade of pink, and wearing spectacles appeared, hungrily licking its lips.

"The wolf charges into the fray," Leanna declared, sending the wolf to attack Queen's Knight.

"And gets stopped by my trap card, Dark Magic Retribution!" Yugi countered. "With it, I can bring back a Spellcaster from my Graveyard when you declare an attack."

"But to my recollection, there's a serious error in continuity," Leanna replied. "I never sent a Spellcaster to your Graveyard, nor have you summoned a Spellcaster during this game."

"True, but I already sent a Spellcaster to the graveyard thanks to my Graceful Charity," Yugi countered again.

Leanna gasped. "A plot twist!" she exclaimed.

"And now I summon forth from my graveyard Dark Magician!"

The purple mage appeared on the field and intercepted the wolf, destroying it with its signature Dark Magic Attack!

Leanna: 5600
Yugi: 6000

"Very good," Leanna said. "I commend you for helping to write a stellar chapter. And now I will end my turn."

"And because of Dark Magic Retribution," Yugi added, "my Dark Magician gets sent back to the Graveyard."

Just as he said it would, the Dark Magician vanished from the field.

"And now it's my move!" Yugi said, drawing his next card.

"And now the Queen's Knight takes her time to visit the Gingerbread House," Leanna noted. With that, the house stuck its tongue out filled with goodies and fed the Queen's Knight, boosting her power!

Queen's Knight (4/1500/1600 - 4/2100/1600)

"Fortunately, the Queen's Knight is much better about her sweet tooth," Leanna smiled, "and so she is spared from the curse of the Gingerbread House."

"And she won't be alone on the field much longer either," Yugi said. "I summon forth King's Knight (4/1600/1200)!"

A bearded knight armored in orange appeared next to the Queen's Knight! The two knights crossed their blades together, and a bright light shone!

"Thanks to the power of my King's Knight," Yugi continued, "when I summon him onto the field while Queen's Knight is in play, I can summon out Jack's Knight (5/1900/1000) from my Deck!"

With that, the light grew and transformed into a young knight armored in blue, who stood proudly by his fellow knights.

"Suddenly, two brave knights joined the fray to assist their comrade," Leanna commented.

"And now I'm going to take out your Rumpelstiltskin!" Yugi declared. "Go, King's Knight, strike down Rumpelstiltskin!"

With that, the bearded knight charged forth at Rumpelstiltskin, only to be stopped by his power. The troll then crawled up to Leanna and pointed to a card in her hand, which she picked out.

"As per Rumpelstiltskin's power," she said, "you need to guess the type of card I'm holding before you can continue your attack."

"Well then the card type I guess this time is Monster!" Yugi declared.

Leanna smiled and revealed the card: Gold Moon Coin, a spell card. "It seems I'll be saving Rumpelstiltskin from another of your attacks," she said.

The King's Knight's sword slashed right by Rumpelstiltskin!

"But not for long," Yugi said. "Now go, Jack's Knight!"

As the King's Knight headed back, Jack's Knight charged towards Rumpelstiltskin! The troll halted the attack and picked a card out of Leanna's hand once again.

"The attack was repeated, and Rumpelstiltskin protected himself for the third time," Leanna said, holding up the card.

"Not this time," Yugi said. "I know the card you're holding up, and this time it's a Monster card!"

Leanna smiled and revealed Seven Kids, much to Rumpelstiltskin's surprise. "The magic is broken," she said, and Jack's Knight continued his attack right into a now-frozen Rumpelstiltskin!

Leanna: 4900
Yugi: 6000

"And now, Queen's Knight, attack her Life Points directly!" Yugi continued, and with that the lady knight slashed at Leanna.

Leanna: 2800
Yugi: 6000

"The knights' onslaught comes swiftly and surprisingly, even overwhelming the mighty Rumpelstiltskin," Leanna noted.

"And now I'll fuse my Knights together with the Polymerization card," Yugi announced. "Come forth, Arcana Knight Joker (9/3800/2500)!"

The red, blue, and orange knights became one large knight, equipped with a long blade and a tri-tip hat. Its armor was blackened, embellished by silver and the various suits of its predecessors.

"That ends my turn," Yugi said.

"And now the final chapter begins," Leanna said, drawing a card. "I'll summon Seven Kids (3/700/700) from my hand in Attack mode!"

A collection of seven small goats appeared on Leanna's field, bleating away.

"And when the Seven Kids are brought to the meadow," Leanna continued, "they become ravenous and eat away at a monster, destroying it and dealing its summoner damage equivalent to its strength!"

The kids charged at Arcana Knight Joker, their mouths wide open!

"I activate Arcana Knight Joker's special ability," Yugi announced. "Now by discarding one card from my hand, I can negate the effects of the same type of card I discarded that targets my Arcana Knight Joker for its own effect! So by discarding Dark Magician Girl, I can negate the effect of the Seven Kids!"

Arcana Knight Joker's arm rose up, and the spirit of the Dark Magician Girl appeared, forming a shield that blocked off the Seven Kids!

"Very good!" Leanna exclaimed. "I have no other choice but to end my turn."

"Huh?" Yugi asked. "But you have the Gold Moon Coin card in your hand. You could send the rest of your hand to mine and draw a new card."

Leanna simply smiled. "It's safe to say that stories are based off of what the writer knows most," Leanna said. "I already know the outcome of the duel at this point, so I don't need to do more."

Yugi stood there for a moment before drawing his next card. "My turn then!" he announced.

"The last bit of magic from the Gingerbread House envelops the Arcana Knight Joker," Leanna said, just as the house stuck out its tongue filled with candies.

"I use Arcana Knight Joker's ability," Yugi countered, "and discard Necromancy to negate the effect of your Gingerbread House."

Arcana Knight Joker then created a green shield from the spell card to deflect the tongue of the Gingerbread House.

"The magic proved ineffective against the knight," Leanna said, "and it prepared for its final strike."

"Now go, Arcana Knight Joker!" Yugi declared.

"His sword rose upwards to the sky..."

Arcana Knight Joker held its sword above its head.

"...and then came down upon the kids..."

It then swung its mighty sword at the Seven Kids!"

"...and their lives were ended..."

The Seven Kids were destroyed as Leanna's Life Points dropped to zero.

Leanna: 0
Yugi: 6000

Leanna smiled at Yugi. "And now the story is complete," she announced, and she turned away and headed out of the arena. Yugi looked after her thoughtfully as the others came to him from the spectator booth.

"Way ta play, Yug!" Joey said, wrapping his arm around Yugi's neck much to the latter's surprise.

"Yeah, you da man!" Tristan cheered.

"Uh, thanks guys," Yugi said cheerfully.

"Yep, well done there!"

The gang turned to see Andrew, clapping his hands together.

"Yep, a mighty fine duel there," he said. "Leanna's always a treat to watch."

"Thanks," Yugi said.

"Now," Andrew continued, "there's just one tiny little problem."

The others looked at him rather confusedly.

"Apparently, Matt's pushing the tournament forward without hesitation," Andrew said, "and Yugi, your match-up is in about ten minutes on the other side of the aircraft!"

"WHAT?!"

"Move it or lose it!" Andrew yelled out. "With the time limit Matt's setting up, we'll get locked out of the arena and the spectator booth, and you'll automatically forfeit the match if you don't make it!"

"WELL WHAT'RE WE STANDING AROUND HERE FOR?!" Joey shouted. "LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!"

And so with no time to waste, the others followed after Andrew down the corridors to the next arena.


"...hmm..."

Matt Zero looked at the various monitors being operated by his team of diligent workers. He could see all the duels in all the locations on the airship, and the staff were keeping an eye out for any signs of cheating. So far, no one had been caught in the act, yet that did not rid Matt of his mysterious unease.

"There's got to be something going on," he muttered to himself. Even he had seen that there were few duelists at the initial reception, far fewer than the 64 he had predicted to take up the ranks. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, but Matt couldn't shake the feeling that something else - or someone else - was behind this mysterious anomaly.

"I just hope this isn't his doing," he murmured before drawing out a card from his deck. The card was a dragon that appeared mechanical and appeared to be screeching towards him, its blue armor shining back up at him.

"In the meantime," he said, "I need to make contact with a certain duelist."

With that, he took one last look at the monitors and turned away, exiting the room.


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Well that was an interesting duel. I wonder if all of these duels are going to play out like this? Time to check out some of the cards from this chapter's duel!

NOTE: There are a couple of mishaps that occur due to misinterpretations of the card texts. As such, I have made note of these in the cards section here:

Tom Thumb (Normal Monster)
Level 1, 300 Atk, 500 Def, Warrior, EARTH

Globerman (Effect Monster)
Level 8, 2600 Atk, 2000 Def, Warrior, EARTH
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned with "Giant's Training".

Rumpelstiltskin (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1700 Atk, 0 Def, Fiend, EARTH
Effect: When this card is attacked by your opponent's monster: pick 1 random card from your hand. Your opponent guesses that card's Type (Monster, Spell, Trap), and if they are wrong, the attack is negated.

Dark Magic Retribution (Normal Trap)
Effect: When your opponent's monster declares an attack: Target 1 Spellcaster monster in your GY that was destroyed in the previous turn; Special Summon it, and if you do, redirect your opponent's monster's attack to that monster, also destroy it at the end of the Battle Phase.

Arcana Knight Joker (Fusion Effect Monster)
Level 9, 3800 Atk, 2500 Def, Warrior, LIGHT
"King's Knight" + "Queen's Knight" + "Jack's Knight"
Effect: A Fusion Summon of this card can only be done with the above materials. Once per turn, when a Spell/Trap card, or monster effect, is activated that targets this face-up card on the field (Quick Effect): You can discard the same type of card (Spell, Trap, or Monster); negate the effect.

Seven Kids (Effect Monster)
Level 3, 700 Atk, 700 Def, Beast, EARTH
Effect: When this card is Summoned: you can destroy 1 Beast monster your opponent controls, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster.
NOTE: This is a misinterpretation on my part, given that Leanna attempts to target Yugi's Arcana Knight Joker with this effect, even though Arcana Knight Joker is a Warrior-Type, not a Beast-Type. Regardless, Leanna would lose the duel at this point whether her monster's effect activated or not, as if it did then Yugi would negate it with Joker, and if she didn't, Yugi could summon a new monster to destroy Seven Kids, as she would have played it in defense mode. The effect activates for dramatic purposes, even though there would be no proper target on Yugi's field to use it on.

Matt's getting suspicious of something? What could be going on in the background? And what duelist is he planning on meeting with? And more importantly, will Yugi be able to make it to his next match on time?! Keep up to find out!