Chapter 16: The King of Games vs. The Racing Queen

Yugi checked on his deck one last time. He knew this next duel was going to be tough, but he also knew what he needed to do.

Leila said we need to save that girl, he said to Yami, who floated by his side. And if Monica is that girl, then we owe it to Leila to save her.

Indeed, Yami concurred.

The only problem is that we don't even know where to begin, Yugi said. We don't even know how we're supposed to save her.

If my hunch is correct, Yami mused, it may be that this duel is the only way to save her. Somehow through dueling her, we're supposed to gather the necessary means by which to save her.

I hope so, Yugi said. If not that, then we won't have anything else to go on.

Then we just need to put our faith in the heart of the cards, Yami said, placing his hand on Yugi's shoulder. Fate will decide how the events of this duel will unfold.

Yugi nodded. You're right, he said, putting the finishing touches up on his deck and setting it into his Duel Disk. Yami nodded and disappeared as Yugi left the room for the race track.

"There's the man of the hour!"

As Yugi arrived at the race track, Andrew greeted him with a warm smile. "Your friends have already taken their place up in the stands," he said, "so I thought I'd send you their good will as well as my own."

Yugi nodded. "I'm just worried about having to drive one of these Duel Runners," he noted.

"Don't worry about it," Andrew said. "We've made modifications to your particular Duel Runner to ensure your own personal safety while you Duel. Mostly to note, we've given it a more active auto-pilot feature, so it'll drive itself while you Duel."

"That's convenient," Yugi said.

"Indeed it is!" Andrew said. Then he leaned forward and said directly to Yugi, "I do hope you make it to the final round. It would be a true honor to Duel you at the very top of the tower. And between you and me, I'm not entirely sure about how well I'd do at a Riding Duel."

Yugi gulped. Suddenly a large bundle of nerves seemed to stir up inside him, and he had the strange sensation of butterflies flying around his stomach. Andrew seemed to have noticed, standing up straight and saying, "I imagine you'll do just fine though, so just have fun and do your best!"

With that, Andrew took off into the hallway behind Yugi, undoubtedly getting ready for commentating again. Yugi looked over to the Duel Runner he would be riding, a determined look in his eyes.

I have to win this Duel, he thought. Not only for the sake of the God cards but to save Monica from whatever Leila warned me about.

At that moment, a small vibration buzzed in his pocket. Yugi retrieved the buzzing PDA to see a call coming from it. Answering, Yugi came face-to-face with Andrew again.

"By the way, Yugi," he said smiling that broad grin of his, "no pressure or anything, but Matt's gonna be watching your Duel like he did mine. Just thought I'd let you know!"

And before Yugi could respond, Andrew disconnected the call. Yugi sighed as the PDA buzzed once again, and when he answered the call, it was Joey.

"Yo Yug!" he said. "Just wanted to wish ya good luck on this Riding Duel!"

"Thanks," Yugi replied. "I'm probably going to need it."

"You bet you will!" Joey sneered, then he was suddenly pushed out of the way by Tristan.

"You can do it, Yugi!" Tristan called out. "We're rooting for you all the way!"

At that moment, Joey wrestled Tristan off the camera, then after a dizzying mix of images in which the PDA must have flipped up into the air, Tea caught it and appeared on the screen.

"I hope you win, Yugi," she said simply.

"Thanks Tea," he replied.

"Do your best!"

And with that, the call ended. Yugi smiled and walked to the Duel Runner, knowing his friends were behind him all the way. He put the helmet on and cruised the Runner over to the starting line where Monica sat, all ready and raring to go.

"May the best Duelist win," Yugi said to her, but he received no response. This was a little off-putting, but Yugi understood and turned his attention to in front of him.

Just then, Andrew's voice once again came out over the speakers: "Welcome back, Duelists everywhere, young and old, highly skilled, prestigious, and honorable all! We're here again with another Turbo Duel here on the race track featuring our undefeated Turbo Duelist Monica 'DK' Toronto! Challenging her on the runway now is the renowned King of Games, fellow semifinalist Yugi Muto! This Duel will decide which of these two rivaling 'kings' will move on to the final match against the triumphant Andrew, who took down Seto Kaiba in the previous semifinal match!"

"Get on with it!" a snide comment could be overheard distantly.

"I'm getting there!" Andrew's voice responded. "Now, racers, duelists, fans, rev up your engines!"

The starting signal flashed red.

"Cause it's time!"

Another red light flashed on!

"To DUEL!"

And with that, the two Runners charged out of the starting line!

"For those of you unfamiliar with the rules of Turbo Dueling," Andrew's voice continued, "it's a race to the finish where either a player losing all of their Life Points or crossing the finish first will bring victory! And the first turn is decided on by whoever takes the first curve!"

The two Runners charged forth towards the first curve of the track. Yugi watched Monica carefully as she managed to get in front of him. He pumped a little more into the acceleration of his Runner and attempted to get inside. Then suddenly, Monica's Runner fell back behind his as they passed the curve.

"What's this? It looks like Monica's letting Yugi take the curve first!" Andrew's voice announced. "The duel will start with Yugi taking the first turn!"

Yugi: 8000
Monica: 8000

"Why'd she do dat?" Joey wondered aloud. "Dat ain't like her at all."

"Dunno," Tristan replied.

"Maybe she wanted Yugi to take the first turn?" Tea thought aloud.

"But why?" Joey continued to wonder. To this, Tea didn't have a response.

Meanwhile on the course, Yugi looked back at Monica as his Runner guided him around the track. Monica looked up towards him and called out, "Well? It's your move. I'm giving you the first turn, but don't think that means I'll give you more than that. I plan to Duel you with everything I've got."

Yugi continued to look back before finally drawing a card and announcing, "It's my turn!"

As he looked over his hand, Yugi thought about Monica. She's definitely off her game at the moment, he thought. I should play defensive for now.

"I Set a monster and a card face-down and end my turn," Yugi declared, with the cards he played appearing behind his runner.

"Is that all? I hope you're not going to hold back like that for this Duel," Monica taunted as she drew her next card.

"You're one to talk!" Yugi called back.

"Just call it strategy," Monica said. "I summon Speedy Dragon (4/1600/400) to the field in Attack mode!"

The ever familiar yellow dragon appeared wielding its signature arm blades and preparing for a strike!

"And due to his ability," Monica continued, "I'm forced to go straight into the Battle Phase and attack your monster! But now I activate the Sudden Stop card to halt my Speedy Dragon's hasty strike and end my Battle Phase!"

Just as the dragon prepared to take off and charge down Yugi's monster, the spell card took effect and barricaded the dragon before it could reach its target!

"And now I'll play Acceleration Evolution!, so that my Speedy Dragon can evolve into Turbo Dragon (6/2200/1100)!" Monica declared.

With that said, the yellow dragon disappeared and was replaced by the supercharged red dragon, which roared in triumph as it was summoned to the field.

"Next I'll Set this card face-down," Monica continued, "and then I activate the spell card Booby Trap!"

Just as Monica's card was Set on the field, her spell card appeared and triggered it, revealing Time Limit!

"Now with Booby Trap, I can activate my Time Limit card without having to wait the extra turn," Monica explained. "Of course, to use Time Limit, I need to pay 2000 Life Points."

Yugi: 8000
Monica: 6000

"Oh my!" Andrew's voice announced. "In a single turn, Monica's stopped her own attack, summoned out a strong monster, and now she's put this Duel in a bind! Now if the Duel doesn't end in 20 turns, it'll end in a Draw, meaning this Duel better be over by the time turn 22 ends!"

"Your announcer friend's right, Yugi," Monica said. "Now we have to put forth our best effort to beat the other one before the timer runs out! You can't afford to stall out on me now! Now I Set one last card and end my turn!"

(Time Limit: 20 turns)

Back in the stands, Yugi's friends watched as the screens showed the events unfold.

"Wait a sec," Joey said, "I know dat card!"

"Which one?" Tea asked.

"Booby Trap!," Joey answered. "I remember seeing it before with dat one girl I beat at da beginning of da bracket tournament."

"You mean Lucky Lynn?" Tristan said.

"Yeah, she's da one!" Joey said. "I wonder if dat Booby Trap! card's really dat popular."

Back on the track, Yugi drew his next card. "I'll Flip Summon my Queen's Knight (4/1500/1600) into Attack mode and summon forth King's Knight (4/1600/1200) to aid her!"

Yugi's Set monster flipped over and revealed the red lady knight, then the yellow bearded knight appeared by her side.

"And when King's Knight is Normal Summoned while Queen's Knight is on the field," Yugi continued, "I'm allowed to summon Jack's Knight (5/1900/1000) to the field as well!"

With that, the two knights crossed their blades and summoned forth their young blue companion.

"And now I activate Brain Control!" Yugi said. "By paying 800 Life Points, I can take control of your Turbo Dragon for this turn!"

Yugi: 7200
Monica: 6000

From the spell card appeared several tendrils that wrapped around Turbo Dragon and moved it over to Yugi's side of the field!

"Whoa! With that move, Yugi has left his opponent almost completely defenseless!" Andrew said. "If these attacks go through, Yugi will win the match right here and now!"

"Go get er, Yug!" Joey called out from the stands.

"And now, my knights," Yugi declared, "attack Monica's Life Points directly!"

The knights banded together and charged at Monica brandishing their blades!

"Not if I can help it," Monica called out. "I pay 3000 Life Points to activate the Wall of Revealing Light!"

At that moment, the knights' attack was intercepted by a magnificent barrier of light, forcing the knights to fall back!

Yugi: 7200
Monica: 3000

"With my Wall of Revealing Light in play," Monica explained, "any of your monsters with less than 3000 Atk points can't attack me or my monsters, so it looks like you're out of luck."

That card...

"Nyeh? Dat card..." Joey said as he watched on. "Dat card was in another one of my duels too."

"Yeah, you're right. That was when you dueled against that snobby rich girl, Vicky," Tristan said.

"Maybe it's a coincidence?" Tea suggested.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Joey said. "But something tells me dat something's up with dis duel."

Back on the race track, Yugi picked out another card in his hand. "You may have your Wall of Revealing Light," he declared, "but I have my Swords of Revealing Light! Now I can stop your attacks for 3 turns!"

With that said, shining swords of light surrounded Monica's Runner, preparing to hold off any of her attacks that might come.

"That's all I can do for now," Yugi announced. With that said, Monica's Turbo Dragon returned to her side.

(Time Limit: 19 turns)

"Looks like it's my turn then," Monica said, drawing her next card. "And now I summon Cure Mermaid (4/1500/800) in Attack Mode!"

The blonde-haired mermaid appeared swimming through the air, ready to aid her master. Seeing yet another familiar monster, Joey suddenly stood up and headed for the aisle.

"Where are you off to?" Tristan asked.

"Dere's just something I gotta know," Joey said. "I'll be back as soon as I can!"

And with that, Joey ran off. At that point, Andrew's voice came over the speakers: "Whoa! That's not been in her deck before! Seems Monica's made a few tune-ups to her road-rage strategy, which goes to show ya that she knows exactly who she's going up against!"

Pulling himself away from the microphone, Andrew looked back at Matt, seated behind him watching the large screen stationed in the control booth. Izzy walked up to Matt again, a new report in hand.

"Well, it looks like we found a couple more suspect duelists in the rosters," Izzy said. "That makes seven now: Lynn, Leila, Monica, Gwen, Vicky, and now Julie Vastrokov and Juliet Stromberg."

"Seven duelists?" Matt asked. "That is rather troubling."

"We're working on seeing if any of the other duelists fit in the category we're looking under," Izzy continued. "Right now, Joe Kari Spades and Leanna Warner are also being looked into."

"And if they're confirmed, that will make nine duelists total," Matt finished the thought.

"Indeed," Izzy concurred, adjusting her glasses. At that moment, Creighton and Shannon joined the two, talking about something amongst themselves as they approached.

"Hey Matt," Creighton chimed in, "can you help settle a bet? Or maybe you'd like to join in on the pot?"

"Can it wait? I'm dealing with something important," Matt said dismissively.

"Yeah, over the whole 'duelist crisis', I know," Creighton said. "We're betting on what exactly it is. Shannon here thinks it's got something to do with them all being the same person. Talk about a lack of imagination! I personally think it's more like a secret organization of aliens come to Earth in order to-"

"Wait a minute," Matt interrupted him, turning to Shannon. "You think they're the same person?"

Shannon blushed a little bit and mumbled, "Well, it just seems like they look a lot alike..."

A moment of silence pervaded through the small group. Then Matt said, "Izzy, bring up the head shots of the suspected duelists on the screen."

Izzy complied, accessing the database and bringing up the faces of all the duelists onscreen. Creighton snuffed and said, "I don't see it. They all look like different people to me."

"Actually, I can see a small sort of resemblance in the facial structure," Izzy noted, to which Creighton snorted and muttered some sort of "brainiac" comment.

"Overlay the pictures and look for similar comparisons," Matt said.

A quick set of tapping upon the keys, and the pictures of the various duelists overlaid entirely on each other. An outline of their heads appeared, showing only a single line entirely around. The screen then flashed a green sign: "100% Match"

"So their heads are the same, big deal," Creighton said.

"Actually, considering each person's head shape could be affected during growth by any number of events, not to mention the genetic structure of each human is uniquely different, the chances of so many people having the exact same facial structure is slim to none," Izzy explicated, to which Creighton once again snorted.

"Find a full cranial scan of each duelist using the footage from all the duels recorded," Matt delegated, "and also look for identifying features - birthmarks, freckles, moles, shape of eyes, ears, nose, mouth, body structure - find the patterns, and get back with the results ASAP!"

"Yes sir!"

With that, the three ran off to the tech service, Creighton shouting out, "Well you heard the man, get a move on!" Izzy walked behind and sat at a computer, working as quickly as she could, and Shannon resumed her position, though she had a distinct smile on her face.

Andrew resumed his attention back to the duel. "And now Yugi's beginning his next turn," he announced.

(Time Limit: 18 turns)
(Swords of Revealing Light: 2 turns left)

Having drawn his card by that point, Yugi looks over his hand once again as the Runners proceeded around the next bend in the track.

"I sacrifice my Queen's Knight in order to summon the Archfiend of Gilfer (6/2200/2500) in Attack mode!" Yugi declared, replacing his red female knight with the powerful and fearsome demon. "That should do it for now."

(Time Limit: 17 turns)

"Is that really the best you can do?" Monica taunted, drawing a card. "I'm not even sure if you're giving it your all in this duel."

"I should be saying the same thing to you, Monica," Yugi called back. "You seem to be talking a big game, but you're not really doing much otherwise."

"And just when did you become some sort of psychoanalytical duelist?" Monica called out.

"Since Leila Kimber asked me to help you!"

For a brief moment, Monica looked shocked. Then she put on a resolute face and said, "I don't need any help. You're probably mistaken, and that would be two things you're mistaken on: who I am and my ability to win this duel! And with Cure Mermaid giving me 800 Life Points back each Standby Phase, I'd say that I'm about to turn this duel around!"

Yugi: 7200
Monica: 3800

"Now I discard Prophecy Seeker (1/0/0) from my hand so that now I can see all the cards in your hand and any cards you should have Set on the field for me," Monica declared, sending the mage to her graveyard. With that done, Yugi's hand was-

"Not so fast!" Yugi said. "I activate the trap card Disappear! This allows me to remove from play a card in my opponent's Graveyard, and so I choose the Prophecy Seeker you just sent there."

With that said, the mage faded away into nothingness. Suddenly Monica grimaced, winced, and shouted in pain. Everyone had their eyes on her, wondering what was going on.

"I won't go back...I can't go back there..."

Then just as suddenly as she was pained, she recovered and called out, "I end my turn!"

(Time Limit: 16 turns)
(Swords of Revealing Light: 1 turn left)

I think we're finally reaching into her, Yugi thought, drawing his next card.

Be careful, Yugi, Yami said, appearing beside him. I'm sensing a lot of pain from her, but I also sense something dark and sinister.

I'll try, Yugi thought back, then he turned his attention back to the duel and said, "Now I'll use my Graceful Charity, which will allow me to draw three new cards and discard two."

After proceeding to draw that number of cards, Yugi once again perused his hand. "I think I'll Set this one card face-down and end my turn," Yugi said, ending his turn quickly.

(Time Limit: 15 turns)

Monica drew her next card without a word. Looking at her newfound card, Monica smiled. "First things first," she said, "I gain 800 Life Points thanks to Cure Mermaid!"

Yugi: 7200
Monica: 4600

"And now I play Acceleration Evolution! to evolve Turbo Dragon into the mighty Nitros Dragon (8/2800/1800)!" Monica declared, sacrificing her red dragon and bringing forth the mighty blue-green dragon, the ace of her deck!

"Seems like you won't be able to beat me for a while," Monica said, "at least not with this guy around! Prepare to meet your end!"

"I don't think so," Yugi said. "I figured you'd end up summoning out your dragon, so that's why I play my Dark Renewal trap card!"

"What?!"

Suddenly, an ornate coffin appeared and opened up, sucking away the energy from Monica's Nitros Dragon as well as Yugi's Archfiend of Gilfer!

"With this trap card, when you summon a monster to the field," Yugi explained, "I'm allowed to sacrifice it along with one of my monsters in order to bring back a Spellcaster from the Graveyard!"

"But that's not possible!" Monica retorted. "I never sent a Spellcaster to your Graveyard!"

"You didn't, but I did," Yugi continued, "with the power of Graceful Charity!"

Monica gasped, realizing what Yugi's strategy really was as her monster was sucked into the coffin along with Yugi's. Then the coffin sealed upon itself and then reopened, revealing none other than the Dark Magician (7/2500/2100)!

"What an incredible turnabout!" Andrew's voice called out into the audience. "Anticipating his opponent's ace monster, Yugi has been able to strategically use it to his advantage and bring out his own ace monster! If I were Monica, I'd hope that Wall of Revealing Light remained in place so Yugi doesn't finish her off!"

Monica grimaced again and shouted, "I switch Cure Mermaid to Defense mode and end my turn!"

Cure Mermaid (4/1500/800 - 4/1500/800)

With the end of her turn, the floating swords surrounding her and her monster disappeared, signaling the end of Yugi's card effect.

(Time Limit: 14 turns)
(Swords of Revealing Light: 0 turn left)

Meanwhile just outside of the control booth, Joey began knocking on the door. "Hey!" he shouted out. "Lemme in dere! I need ta talk with someone now!"

Eventually, one of the guards opened the door. "Sorry," he said, "we don't allow tournament participants into this room. Restricted access only."

"Ya gotta let me in," Joey said. "I know something about dat Monica girl!"

"Monica?" The guard mused over this for a moment before saying, "One moment."

He disappeared behind the door for a few minutes as Joey waited; then the door opened again, and the guard said, "You may come in."

Joey followed the guard into the control booth and up to none other than Matt Zero, who was busy getting a new report from Izzy.

"All these duelists match up perfectly," Izzy said as Joey approached. "Each one is identical in several different areas, making the statistical likelihood of them being individually different as opposed to being the same person approximately-"

"Yo Matt!" Joey interrupted, bringing the attention of the conversation to him. Matt seemed surprised. "Joey?" he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I have ta tell ya something about dat Monica girl," Joey stated.

Matt and Izzy looked at each other for a moment before Matt addressed Joey again. "Well, what is it?" he asked.

"Some of dose cards she's been playing? Da ones dat don't seem to fit in with her deck? I've seen dem before in some of my other duels with other duelists," Joey said.

"That seems perfectly normal," Izzy said. "Cards are printed in bulk, for the most part, so it's not surprising that-"

Matt silenced her with a motion of his hand. "What are the names of everyone you've dueled in the finals of the tournament?" he asked.

Joey took a moment to recollect his many opponents' names. Eventually, he said, "Well, dere was Lucky Lynn, Vicky Queens, Gwen Mitchell, and Monica herself."

Matt nodded. "It seems that you've run into our mysterious friend," he said to Joey. "We suspect that the four duelists you've dueled - and several others - may in fact be the same person."

"What?!"

"Indeed," Izzy agreed. "We've compared them on several different criteria, to which they match up perfectly-"

"It seems our theory about our friend on the race track is growing into truth," Matt said. "But who is she then?"

He reached into his pocket and closed his eyes. A moment of silence occurred before Matt opened his eyes again. "Run the names and find a common background," Matt said to Izzy.

"On it!" she said, heading back to her desk.

Matt looked back out onto the race track. If there's a connection leading back to her, he thought, Yugi is in some big trouble.

Back out on the race course, the duelists were beginning their approach to Death Mountain. Yugi drew his next card before turning back to Monica.

"It's okay to be scared, Monica," he said. "I know I have to help you somehow, but I need to know how to help you! What I'm helping you with."

"Well if you're so desperate to help me, you can start with your move!" Monica shouted back.

"Just listen to me! I'm here to help!" Yugi called out. "Leila told me that-"

"Whoever this Leila person is, you can just eat her words and your own," Monica retaliated. "All I've done is come here to win, and that's exactly what I plan on doing."

"That's not the only reason though, is it?"

"That's the only reason I need!"

"Then I guess that's all the reason I need to do this!" Yugi declared. "I activate my Dark Magic Attack spell card, which allows me to destroy all of your Spells and Traps including your Wall of Revealing Light!"

With the power of his spell card, Yugi's Dark Magician unleashed a powerful wave of dark energy at the Wall of Revealing Light, causing it to crack, break, and shatter! Monica appeared shocked and traumatized.

"Now my monsters attack! King's Knight attacks Cure Mermaid while Jack's Knight and Dark Magician attack you directly!"

With that said, the bearded knight slashed away at the mermaid, destroying her as the blue knight and the mighty magician launched their attacks at Monica directly! The force of the blows kicked up a surge of smoke, obscuring Monica in its wake!

Yugi: 7200
Monica: 200

"Looks like Yugi's taken total advantage of this duel!" Andrew's voice called out. "He's run the Racing Queen right into a corner! Will Monica be able to pull out of this? Or is it the end of the line for her?"

"...no...not yet! It's not the end yet!"

Suddenly out of the smoke, Monica's Runner charged forth and rushed past Yugi at incredible speed.

"I have one last way to win this," she said, "and that's get to the mountain before you!"

She blasted off towards the mountain, forcing Yugi to pursue rapidly with his own Runner. Then just as he went into the mountain, he was forced to stop again. Monica was now blocking his path with her Runner.

"I'm not about to let you get away from me, Yugi," she said, pulling out what appeared to be a small remote detonator. "Not yet!"

She flicked off the top and pressed the button. At that moment, several things occurred simultaneously. The monitors keeping track of the duel were suddenly shut off, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

"Hey, we came to see a duel, not a fuzzy screen!"

"What happened to the picture?"

"This reminds me of this one time where-"

"Nobody cares to hear about that!"

In the control booth, Izzy approached Matt. "I ran a background check on the duelists," she began, "and there does appear to be-"

Suddenly, all the equipment in the entire control booth blacked out. Everyone inside began wondering what was going on. Several of them attempted to turn their computers back on with no success. Andrew tried working on his microphone.

"Uh, well it appears we're having technical difficulties," he said to no one in particular.

And then everyone heard it. An explosion just right outside the entrance to Death Mountain caused the stones above it to collapse and block off the entryway. Yugi and Monica were trapped in Death Mountain!

Yugi couldn't really distract himself with the blocked off entrance, though, as he was now focused on Monica, who had fallen to the ground, moaning and writhing in pain.

"Monica, are you okay?" he asked insistently, though it was rather evident that she wasn't. She continued squirming and such before clawing and digging deep into her neck, pulling off what appeared to be her skin. Yugi was appalled until he realized that it wasn't skin that she was tearing off but a fleshy latex mask of some kind.

Tossing away the mask, Monica stood up and then pulled out of her eyes two small brown-colored contact lenses, tossing them aside as well. It became apparent to Yugi that Monica was no longer Monica anymore.

"Alright," he said calmly, "who are you? What's your name?"

"...my name? That's something even I'm not sure of."

The renewed girl turned back to Yugi, revealing a much plainer face. Each of her eyes was bright and piercing, one a cold and icy blue, the other a mellow and minty green. She removed the riding suit she wore, much to Yugi's embarrassment as he averted his eyes, but she was perfectly clothed underneath in dark and what seemed like impossibly large robes.

"All I know is my identities, my other selves," she said. "I am merely the centerfold of them all. You are probably the first to get a glimpse of the vessel beneath those masks, the avatar to each of my spirits, the one behind every alias you've encountered. I should say though that this is not without reason or purpose."

Looking back and realizing the girl's state of dress, Yugi resumed his gaze and said, "It's because I was told to save you by-"

"By Leila Kimber, the identity of prophecy," the girl interrupted. "Indeed, each of my identities is unique, but she is perhaps the only one who could have told you anything about my state of being."

"And who's state of being would that be?" Yugi asked.

"Again, you seek a name I don't seem to have," the girl said. "But if you must call me by something...perhaps Kari Asaila will do. It is the one name that I can recall that is different from my identities."

"And what am I helping you with?"

"Finding out who I am."


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Whoa. So Yugi was meant to help out Monica...I mean, Kari after all. It looks like the stakes have changed, but the cards certainly haven't:

Booby Trap! (Quick-Play Spell)
Effect: Activate 1 face-down Trap card that you Set this turn.

Queen's Knight (Normal Monster)
Level 4, 1500 Atk, 1600 Def, Warrior, LIGHT

King's Knight (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1600 Atk, 1400 Def, Warrior, LIGHT
Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned while you control "Queen's Knight": you can Special Summon 1 "Jack's Knight" from your Deck.

Jack's Knight (Normal Monster)
Level 5, 1900 Atk, 1000 Def, Warrior, LIGHT

Wall of Revealing Light (Continuous Trap)
Effect: Activate by paying any multiple of 1000 Life Points. Monsters your opponent controls cannot attack if their ATK is less than or equal to the amount you paid.

Swords of Revealing Light (Normal Spell)
Effect: After this card's activation, it remains on the field, but you must destroy it during the End Phase of your opponent's 3rd turn. When this card is activated: if your opponent controls a face-down monster, flip all monsters they control face-up. While this card is face-up on the field, your opponent's monsters cannot declare an attack.

Cure Mermaid (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1500 Atk, 800 Def, Fish, WATER
Effect: During your Standby Phase: gain 800 Life Points.

Prophecy Seeker (Effect Monster)
Level 1, 0 Atk, 0 Def, Spellcaster, DARK
Effect: During your Main Phase: you can discard this card. While this card is in your GY, if it was sent there by its own effect, your opponent must reveal all cards in their hand and any card they draw, also you are allowed to look at their Set cards.

Disappear (Normal Trap)
Effect: Banish 1 card from your opponent's GY.

Graceful Charity (Normal Spell)
Effect: Draw 3 cards, then discard 2 cards.

Dark Renewal (Normal Trap)
Effect: When your opponent Summons a monster(s) or attacks: Target 1 of those monsters and 1 monster you control; send both monsters to the Graveyard, then you can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster monster from your Deck or GY.
NOTE: This is based off the anime effect rather than the real-life version of the card. The real-world version only triggers on the Normal or Special Summon of a monster(s), it only lets you Tribute a Spellcaster monster, and you must Special Summon a DARK Spellcaster.

Dark Magic Attack (Normal Spell)
Effect: If you control "Dark Magician": destroy all Spells and Traps your opponent controls.

With the revelation of this new duelist, will Yugi and Yami be able to fulfill Leila's request and help her? Or will Kari's appearance change the entirety of the battle? There's only one place to find out!