A Song from the Divines

by TheSingingSword

[Rewrite] The story of a boy named Yuri, who is taken from all that he knows and loves into a world where he must rule as High King and wield the God Cards to bring peace to the continent of Termnnia. But his task will not be an easy one, for he is surrounded by foes looking to take away his crown by any means necessary. [AU-Fantasy]

22. House of the Grizzly

King Forrest - The Holy Kingdom of Naralia

Tel. XV - Year 18 4AOS

---

Even though it was two in the afternoon, King Forrest Ungard III of the House of the Bear and King of the Northern Realms opened his eyes, which felt like they were weighed down by a horrible burden. He saw a glint of sunlight peek through the opening of his curtain, and shined directly into his eyes. He seethed like an angry serpent and blocked out the light with a large, hairy forearm. He cursed Sol with all his might and groaned. If he had the ability to summon the mighty Star Eater, he would have commanded it to eat that blasted star hovering above the world in the Void and cast Keya in the eternal night so he could host his parties under the light of the moon and stars forever.

But Forrest knew better than to mutter such a thing out loud. It was unreasonable for one; for if the sun were to go out, Termnnia would be doomed. What's worse was that he would be in trouble with the Scarlet Priests, who walked about the castle at their leisure, no thanks to his uneasy alliance with the Covenant of Yeyu. But his troubles went away, and he smiled greedily when he felt his beefy hands touch the warm and soft skin of the women sleeping all around him. His bed was oversized, lavish in design, and blocked out the sun with its wine-red curtains.

Twenty women, he said, remembering how to count through the drunkenness that impaired his memory. Forrest smiled and listened as his harem inhaled and exhaled softly. Some cooed like puppies at the foot of his bed and tossed and turned as they felt the morning creep through the painted window. The women were scattered all around his bed in various stages of undress; all from different races. Elven girls, Norman girls, Eldori, and even a Nymph he captured dancing near the rivers of silver tracing through the Lionheart Forest outside the city walls, which kept the trolls, ogres, and giants away.

But the jewel of his collection, as he brazenly called it, was a girl from House Dragonheart, whom he kept as a ward when he conquered the Scarlet Isles. She lay next to him. Her reddish-blonde hair was strewn all over her wine-red pillow. Forrest smiled and ran his hand down her scalp to feel her silky hair running through his sausage-sized fingers.

Dalaris Dragonheart. Daughter of King Antilles of Dragonrock. And King Forrest's prisoner of war.

"You have work to do," Dalaris said softly.

"You don't think I know that?" Forrest said, still petting her. He kissed her shoulder, then lifted a leg, and greeted the day with flatulence. "Ahhh," he sighed with satisfaction.

"Lovely," Dalaris groaned, burying her face in her pillow.

Forrest laughed, but he did so briefly when a grim memory came to him. The warmth in his belly chilled, and he felt his heart turn to stone in his chest.

He remembered the news of the Princes of the Alliance once again halting the advances of his regular and mechanical forces. But as usual, he figured he could just make more robotic knights and make more gains somehow. Forrest sat up and made his way out of bed. Any poor woman in his way hollered and squealed when his horrible weight crushed them. He slowly hobbled to a nearby window to stare out into the city. Red roofs and smoking chimneys as far as the eye could see.

The Great Chapel of Yeyu stood in the center of town. Its gothic arches and size were a masterpiece to behold. The shimmering mithril bells rang to awaken the people of the city for the Morning Prayer. Forrest paid them no heed.

He was a Yeyunist, but not by choice. He needed the aid of the Covenant of Yeyu to stay unchallenged and achieve his goal of total Termnnian conquest, which was his dream since he was a small boy. He scratched his chin, buried under a thick, classic beard of messy red hair as he basked in a make-believe glory he felt was right at his fingertips.

All his life, Forrest wanted to be like the heroes of the First Age. None more than Norman the Conqueror, the first supreme ruler of the world after the War of the Giants shattered Termnnia into five continents. And using his powerful Divine Beasts and Ancient Beasts, Norman brought the entire planet to its knees and established the first ruling kingdom, bringing the races of men and beasts together for an alliance that lasted thousands and thousands of years, only to be broken during the Zorc Wars of the Second Age.

Forrest knew that the world's most ancient enemy, Orcs, was amassing their forces across the Black Sea. If he did not bring this world together, everything he loved would be destroyed. He had to bring Termnnia together under his mighty rule, but the other kingdoms did not wish to be conquered and were fighting back.

Two long years of fighting and nothing ended well. He could not take Feldia; for House Delgado protected its lands with prehistoric dragons that the Dragon Summoner Avi helped them uncover two years ago before she was captured and then vanished. His campaign in the Province of Katina, the realm of magicians, was also at a grim standstill because the Katinians were using a weapon the Church heavily despised. Magic. The Royal House of Balor controlled an army of mages and magical Duel Monsters. And of course, their Prince of Power, Ryon, the Prince of Many Colors, who easily destroyed 1500 robotic knights and his new flying battleship all alone. Recently, he launched troops into the cold and unforgiving mountainous kingdom of Riftgaard, home of the Berja. He so longed to capture those ancient lands, and steal the runes of power said to dwell in ancient vaults of crumbling mountain ruins. More than anything, he desired Jon's sisters, the twelve warrior princesses of Clan Jahangir, known as the Jewels of Riftgaard.

He grinned and picked up his jeweled cup from the nightstand. He poured the last bit of wine into the ewer.

"They'll be perfect for my collection," he whispered, looking back at the women in his bed. "Prince Jon and his Gearfried will prove to be a nuisance to deal with, but if the Church is correct, our large army should be enough to deal with him. He's a fool if he thinks he can protect his sisters from the might of King Forrest Ungard III of the Holy Naralian Kingdom! All the beautiful women of this world belong to me! Dalaris."

"Yes, your grace," Dalaris replied with an attitude.

King Forrest then pouted like a little boy too impatient to wait for his presents on Christmas day. "Where is my present?! That damn Lord Ballister taking his sweet time to get here! I should sue the House of Flowers for making me wait so much."

Dalaris grinned. "Do you think Lord Ballister could get his hands on such a thing? I highly doubt he could. I think he's using you."

"That's where you're wrong, Dalaris, my sweet. He has what I want. And soon, your title as the crown jewel of my harem will go to another."

"Do you know something I don't know?" Dalaris asked, insulted that King Forrest would even think she enjoyed such a title. I'm a daughter of House Dragonheart, you fool!

"Yes. And when I have that incredible power, the whole continent, and its armies will bow to me. Soon, they will name me THE Conqueror," Forrest groaned. "When I defeat Prince Daveed and win those Divine Beasts, I will have what I need to begin my campaign to unite this world under my banner. And when all the armies of the world bend the knee to me, we will sail to the Black Continent and destroy the Orcs. Termnnia will be at peace, and I will establish a dynasty that will last for ages to come. I would be in Rassay right now if the other kingdoms were not so...difficult."

"Did you give them that much of a choice?" Dalaris asked, fluffing her mangled hair with her hands as she sat at the edge of the bed. "After all, you didn't ask very nicely, My Lord."

"Your Grace!" Forrest shouted, pointing a sausage-sized finger at her. He poked her on the chest, though it didn't phase her one bit, adding more to his frustration. "I am the king, remember?"

"My father said that any man who must shout I am the king is a complete fool not worthy of the crown."

Forrest looked towards her with a frightening scowl on his face. Dalaris was not intimidated in the slightest. "Your father is nothing more than a speedbump on the road to fulfilling my dreams!" snapped Forrest. "Aside from Thara, the next province that is ripe for the taking is Elleria. Prince Talion has led a noble campaign to stop me, but with my new army of robotic knights now on the board, his heroics will come to an end. Once I defeat him, Elleria will have no choice but to bend the knee."

A rhythmic thudding rasped against the iron door of King Forrest's bed chamber. He growled and rubbed his eyes. The rhythm of the knocking was all too familiar to him. It meant the person behind the door was Friar Carson Dunhall. Without permission to enter, the friar stepped inside.

"Your Grace," Friar Dunhall said waddling into the room as fast as his chubby legs could carry him.

Dalaris screamed, covering her nakedness as she darted back into bed to hide from his view. The other women were alerted to his presence and quickly shut the drapes to conceal themselves. Friars were not allowed to indulge in pleasures of the flesh, but Friar Dunhall had the look of a madman when he saw the pile of beautiful flesh upon his bed.

"Oh, so sorry, my ladies," Friar Dunhall said with a chuckle.

He was short and stout. His wiry brownish-black hair cut into a tonsure. He wore robes of brown wool that reeked of his body odor, for he wore those same robes for more than two years now, only washing them when he remembered to, which was once or twice every two months. A rope belt was fastened around his bulbous waist to carry his tome. Over his chest hung a leather holster for his scrolls, a lantern, and the keys to various rooms across the castle from the library to the dungeons.

"And, Dunhall, what is it now!?" King Forest grumbled, putting on a mahogany robe.

"Apologies, Your Grace," Dunhall hung his head begging forgiveness. "But there are urgent matters at hand that require your attention. His Holiness wishes to speak with you in the chapel post-haste."

"His Holiness is here?" Forrest asked. "In Naralia? What of the Festival of the Harvest Moon back in your homeland? Was that not a matter requiring his supervision?"

The friar shook his head. "A mere festival does not matter to His Holiness. Your campaign against the southern kingdoms has brought you to quite a standstill. The faith is still rejected in many countries, many of our priests have been killed in Riftgaard, and now these Princes of the Alliance everyone is talking about are pushing your forces back with their incredible power. This war is costing His Holiness a fortune in gold, and there are no results."

King Forrest's face became a mask of quaking fury. He stomped towards the Friar and went nose-to-nose with him. "If he would stop being so stubborn and lend us his machines of war, perhaps we could make quicker progress."

"I fear His Holiness and the Emperor of Balodrum will not lend you their Navies. There is fear amongst them about this exiled prince. This, Daveed, or Yuri as everyone has grown accustomed to calling him. The boy is close to coming back to Termnnia and claiming the Heart-Earth Crown. If Yuri gets his hands on the Divine Beasts, Termnnia will have what it needs to expel the faith, and you, from these lands."

"I will stop him!" Forrest assured him, holding up his fist.

"I wish His Holiness shared your optimism, Your Grace," the monk replied mockingly. "The bards in the south sing of his return and the Legionnaires of Aurelia prepare for his training day. Ah, ah, yes, and not to mention Master Yu-Gi-Oh has acquired two princes for his alliance. An alliance, His Holiness assures, is to stop you."

"We'll just see about that," King Forrest said.

He dressed into his finest robes, put on his crown, and hurried out the door. His guards slammed it shut. He took a golden key from his pocket and locked the women inside.

"Good morning, your grace," said King Forrest's court cleric, Donald of the Yellow Honey. He was a short man with a humped back, a long neck, and a crooked hooked nose, which is why some have grown to call him The Vulture. "Did you sleep well?"

King Forrest laughed. "When you sleep with dozens of beautiful women every night, that goes without saying."

Donald laughed alongside him. "Very good, your majesty, very good. Ah, I have some good news, sir. Sir?"

King Forrest wasn't listening. He smiled and said: "You know Donald, I'm getting awfully tired of noble girls and daughters of dukes, barons, and whatnot."

"Oh, are you?"

"Yes! Hahahahaha! Yes, Donald, I want something more! Something...regal. I want a princess! Yes! My birthday is tomorrow, and I wish to add a beautiful princess to my collection. But which one? There are so many in Termnnia to choose from. Alexis Rhodes of Lorin. Satellina von Herrezar the Bullet Princess of Katina, Princess Evelyn Alteria of Elleria. Oooooh, lovely. Which one? Which one?" He snapped his fingers and held one up in the air as an idea came to him. "Ah, wait! I know just the one." He led Donald to a room nearby where there was a war table with the map of Termnnia on it. He placed his beefy finger on a country called Fara.

"There!" he said. "Tell the troops to assemble. We're going to take the Principality of Polonia."

"Whatever for?"

"To claim some land and my birthday present, of course. Princess Pharmellica of House Valeska. Yes, I want to add her to the harem. She's young, sweet, and powerful. And...still flowered, heh, heh. The Crystal Princess they call her. She helped Maximillion Pegasus acquire the Crystal Beasts that boy Jesse Anderson uses. Fara is a small little kingdom, too. I think it's high time I make my march on it. She'll do until I get the Dragon Summoner in my hands."

"Very well, sir. I will send word immediately."

"Yes, but make sure to spread our little princely friends thin. Send three hundred thousand robotic knights in the territories of these kingdoms here, here, and here. Yugi Muto will no doubt send his heroes to these theatres to stop them. And while they focus on protecting their battlefields, I'll send in my Holy Knights with their CUIRASS mechs and a force of fifty-thousand men to take Polonia. By the time they realize we are in Tharanese territory, it will be too late. My Holy Knights will have claimed Thara as Naralian territory and the little princess will be sent to me in time for my birthday wrapped in a bow. Heh, heh, heh. I do hope the bow is all she has on."

"Wonderful, your majesty, wonderful! Excellent planning! And how fortuitous your plans involve moving into Thara. Do you remember that story we heard? About a girl with wings."

"The Last of the Arva!" King Forrest rubbed his hands together greedily. "Yes, tell me more. Is she real?"

"Oh, she is real, all right. Scouts from the House of Flowers report that her name is Alicia, the same one that once traveled with Princess Alexis Rhodes when she was questing for the Gems of the Light Goddess. When the quest ended, Alexis sent Alicia to Polonia of all places where she has been kept under the watch and care of Princess Pharmellica."

"DAMN I'M GOOD!" Forrest shouted. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!"

---

Yuri - Ruby Dragon Gaming, Aquarius/Standard Dimension

---

"Well, it's almost time for the big match," Patty said. Max was sitting on her lap, wagging his little tail as if he, too, was anticipating the big Duel between Yuri and Cornelius.

"Is your deck ready, Yuri?"

"Ready as it will ever be," Yuri replied. "I can't wait to beat him at his own game."

Tyson blinked a couple of times in confusion and placed his hand on Yuri's forehead. "Hmm, no sign of a fever so he's not sick. That can only mean one thing. Okay, bud, who the hell are you, and what have you done with Yuri?"

Natalya couldn't help but laugh as she came by with their food and drinks. "I know! Where did this sudden boost in confidence come from, Yuri? You seem so bright and radiant. You're almost glowing."

"You really are," said Sabrina. "Man, I hope this is a brand new Yuri! One that we can count on every day. I summon my Cosmo Queen, Nick. And since my Life Points are lower than yours, I will equip her with Megamorph. This will double her ATK since I have fewer Life Points than you. That's 5800 ATK points. I'll attack your Bean Soldier and finish you off."

"Man, not again!" Nick slouched in his chair and tossed his cards at the table. "Why can't I ever win?"

They heard Sergei merrily shouting: "Eeeeeey!", forcing the group to turn around and see what was going on. Nick started drooling like a dog upon seeing a lovely young lady with dark skin and long reddish-brown hair, wearing cargo pants, a leather bolero, and arm pads. "Oh ho! What a babe!" Nick said at once.

"Oh my gosh!" Yuri said. "Sukari Winters?"

"Sukari?" Patty said. "Wow! I haven't seen her since the fourth grade." She stood up, holding Max in one arm, and started waving her free arm around to flag her down. As soon as Sukari spotted her, she screamed and came running across the shop to see her.

"Damn, look at that thang-thang!" Tyson said. "Oooooo! Yuri, you knew a fine ass honey like her and never told me!?"

"Yeah, Yuri, what gives!" said Nick. He licked his palm and slid it down his hair.

Patty left the Duel Table and ran to hug the girl.

"Patty! Is that you!?" the girl said. "Oh my God, look at you! What did you do to your hair?"

"You don't like it?" Patty asked.

"No, I love it." She squeezed Patty even harder. "Awww, it's so good to see you."

"Arf! Arf!" barked Max.

"Awwwww!" Sukari screeched. "Patty he's so cute!"

"Thanks. This is my baby, Max."

"Arf! Arf!" Max barked again. He waved his little paws around, anxiously waiting for Patty to hand him over to Sukari.

"Awwww," Sukari went again, holding him close to her chin. He climbed on her chest and reached up his neck so he could lick the bottom of her neck. "I wish I could have one of these!" she said giggling, from the tickling Max's tongue caused her. "Oh, my!" She saw Yuri and gave Max back to Patty so she could greet him. "My, my, my! Who is this handsome devil? Yuri? Baby, how are you!?"

"Hi, Sukari. It's good to see you, too."

They bumped fists together. "Yeah, and here I thought I was never going go to see you two again."

"What brings you back to Aquarius?" Patty asked.

"Oh, I dunno, a certain special birthday party for a very special boy."

Yuri chuckled. "I'm not surprised. A lot of familiar faces seem to be coming back because of that party. I'm just really glad it's you, Sukari. After you move to New York with your dad, I thought we'd never see you again."

"Aww, I missed you, too, Yuri. It's definitely been too long. And I suppose these guys are the group I've been seeing on Instagram. Your...Misfits."

"Yeah! These are my best friends in the world, Sukari. Carter Kim!" Carter said hello and lifted his fedora. "This is Tyson Washington the Beast Master as they call him." Tyson greeted her and boasted about himself a bit. "And this is Nick Rogers, our group's rising star."

"Pleasure to meet ya!" said Nick. He looked at her exposed waist, admiring the black thong straps that were coming out of her pants and hugging her hips. He whistled. "Very glad to meet you."

Yuri ignored him and proceeded to introduce his friends to her. "Guys, this is Sukari Winters. Her father is a Duel Monsters legend. Any of you heard of Braxton 'The Rhino' Winters? Well, she's his daughter."

"NO WAY!" shouted Tyson. He slammed both hands on the table and stood up. "The Rhino is your father!? I just knew it! I just knew I remembered seeing you on TV somewhere. You were playing in that all-girls league, TRINITY! You were so phenomenal. You really are your father's daughter, Sukari. "

Sukari laughed. "I see my dad has a big fan."

"Are you kidding?" Tyson said, trying to contain his excitement. "How could anyone not admire the sixteen-time Duel Monsters United States Champion? My dad and I saw him in action in Washington DC many years ago when we opened a restaurant down there. I knew he had a little girl with him but I didn't think you knew Yuri."

"She sure did," said Patty. "Before Nick came along, Yuri and I always counted on Sukari to beat the bullies away. She was so little but damn was she strong."

Tyson was at a loss for words and continued marveling at Sukari like she was a princess from a fantasy world. "Girl, you have no idea what this means to me. You are like my new best friend right now."

"Aww, thanks, Tyson. Hey, my dad's in town. If you'd like, you can meet him."

"Oooooh, man! You have no idea how much I'd appreciate that."

Sukari smiled and looked at Yuri's group one last time. "I wish I could stay and Duel with you guys, but I really need to go. I have some...business to take care of in the gardens. Yuri, Patty, let's have dinner sometime."

"You bet," Yuri said. "See you, Sukari."

Nick still had that annoying grin on his face as he leaned back on his chair to watch Sukari leave. "Wow, I'd love to Duel her! What a babe!"

"You don't wanna play her, Nick," said Patty.

"Oh, do let me guess, she's really good and is going to kick my ass, right?"

"Well, given your skill level anyone can kick your ass," said Tyson. "But yeah, Sukari is good. She's a five-time state champion, winner of two presidential invitational tournaments, she's the rank eight Duelist in the United States, and was one of the first players to receive her invitation to the Millennium Tournament. I could go on, baby. Oh yeah, one more thing. A lot of Duelists call her Dragon Slayer, you know why?'

"Educate me."

"She's defeated Crystal three times," said Yuri.

Nick bolted upright from the shock. "Wait a minute. Crystal? As in Crystal Anderson!? The Queen of Dragons?"

"Damn right," said Tyson. "Sukari is the only Duelist Crystal can never seem to beat."

"Well, damn, man, talk about power! Hee, hee, hee, hee!" He still had that grin on his face. "Man, that just makes me wanna know her more."

"And what about Patty?" Tyson asked.

Nick bobbed his head. "She's still my number one, but hey. Who's to say they both wouldn't want a piece of me? There's plenty of me to go around."

"Grrrrrr!" Max growled as if he understood that.

"You sicko!" Patty said repulsed.

"Nyeh, ha, ha. I'm only kidding, Patty. You're the only girl I want."

They were suddenly approached by a group of three duelists from Delphine Academy, the same group who told Yuri and his group that they didn't belong in the new store, Paradise Gaming. The leader of the group was a short boy with domed teal-colored hair and his two friends were tall, one bulky and buff and the other skinny but strong.

"Grrrrrr!" growled Max.

"Keep that mutt on a leash!" said one of the boys.

"Man, so this is the best St. Augustus Senior High School has to offer?" the short boy said.

"Hmmm," said Patty, placing her fingertip on her lip as she examined the boys. "White jackets. You made a wrong turn boys. The insane asylum is down that way." She pointed out the window.

"They're from Delphina High School, Patty," said Carter.

"What's the difference?" Patty joked, to which her friends burst out laughing.

"Hilarious," said the short boy. He and his friends walked to the end of the table to get a better view of Yuri's group and their cards. "We'll see who's laughing at the end of the day. So, you guys are the 'famous' Misfits of St. Augustus."

Patty leaned back on her chair while giving them a defiant look. "Let me guess, not impressed?"

"Oh, on the contrary, we're very impressed. With you especially, Yuri." As he spoke, the bigger companion looked at Patty and raised his eyebrows at her, to which she rolled her eyes and looked away. "We heard all about that epic win against Randall Lawson at the Duel Dome. Heh, then again, who hasn't? Our class president, Cornelius Landow, seems to have taken an interest in your skills as well, seeing as how he challenged you to a match today. That's why we came all the way here to see if you guys are as good as they say you are. What do you say, Yuri? The three of us against you and two of the best in your group. Best two out of three?"

"Let me in on this one, Yuri!" Nick said, hurrying to the edge of the table.

"Nick..." Patty said tapping his wrist with her fingertips. "Come on now. We all know you've got a long way to go before you can run around proving anything to anybody."

"Patty, I love you and all, but I'm going to have to tell you to piss off. I won't lose. Not against these guys."

"Fine," said Yuri. "He's in."

"Yuri, you sure about this?" Patty asked. "I think Tyson would be the better choice here.

Yuri leaned close to Patty so he could whisper in her ear. "Let him learn the hard way," he said, to which Patty lightly giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. "It's settled then. Me, Patty, and Nick against the three of you."

"Perfect," said the short boy. "The name's Seth by the way. And this is Gordon and Mick. Now, Yuri, since you and I are the leaders of our groups, you and I will face off against each other."

"Sounds good to me. Patty will take on Gordon and Nick will go first against your boy, Mick."

"I see what you did there," Nick said, getting his deck out of its old and wrinkled deck case.

The two players sat down and then Gordon and Seth set up cameras around the table so they could Livestream their games. Seth held up his phone, doing the usual introduction for his channel, Echelon Dueling, and bragged about how he and his group were ready to take down Yuri and his two friends. That was the last thing Yuri wanted, of course. As soon as he said Livestream, fear coursed through his body, making his palms sweaty and his toes curled inside his sneakers.

Stage fright. The fear of being looked at by thousands. Why did he have such a fear, being the son of the world's richest man and heir to the most powerful company in the world? Patty could see Yuri trembling beside her as Seth went on to promote the companies sponsoring his channel.

"It's all right," she said. "Focus on the game and not the cameras. And everything will be all right."

"It's going to be hard focusing on the game with those cameras watching me like that," Yuri whispered. "Damn, why did this have to happen?"

"Suck it up, princess," Patty teased him softly. "You're going to be king of the world one day. We can't have you shivering like a kitty in the cold every time a camera focuses on that cute face of yours."

"I...I don't know, Patty."

Patty grinned that mischievous grin of hers and her right eye twinkled, making Yuri even more nervous. He knew that look. "Then...maybe this will get the cameras off your attention." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Lord have mercy, you always know what to do to make me feel better, doc," Yuri said, to which Patty almost laughed out loud.

"Doctor Patty? Hmm, it's got a nice ring to it. We need to set up an appointment so I can give you a checkup, little Yuri."

Yuri turned away as quickly as he could to watch Nick's match against Mick. Of course, the game did not go in his favor. Try as he might, Nick was just outclassed and outplayed the entire time. He tossed random monsters on the field, hoping their ATK would be enough to withstand anything Mick could throw at him. It was no use. He was completely overwhelmed by the boy's incredible warrior deck.

With cards like Marauding Captain, they came out fast and had their attack points increase past 2000 with all the equip spells Mick gave them as well as the power bonus for Warrior-Type monsters from his Command Knight. It was all over when he summoned a warrior known as Sword Hunter and used United We Stand to boost his attack to 4200.

"Aww, man!" Nick started sinking into his gamer chair. "Aww, man, aww man, aww man!" he slammed his fist on the table.

His opponent mocked him as he shuffled his deck. "Nothing to it," he said. "If these two Duel like him, I don't think we're gonna have any problems."

That was certainly not the case with Patty. Gordon sat down expecting an easy win the way his friend Mick had played against Nick. But the hordes of fiends and legions of the undead lurking in Patty's deck caused him to babble in terror and confusion. Like all of Patty's opponents, they expected her to play with cute monsters or a deck full of female monsters. But monsters like Swordstaker, Zera the Mant, Zoa, and Summoned Skull forced him to play defensively the whole time until he was eventually defeated.

"Arf! Arf!" Max barked victoriously.

Finally, it was Yuri's turn to play. It all came down to this match. If he could beat Seth, he and his group would win their little game. He sat down and already was overwhelmed by the cameras.

That was until Patty sat next to him and winked at him. "Good luck," she said.

All of a sudden, he saw the knight from his dreams. "Yuri..." he whispered.

Yuri placed his hand over his heart. "You..." he whispered back.

LP 2000

"You may start the duel first," said Seth, not bothering to roll the dice.

"Okay. I summon Tomozaurus in attack mode."

A theropod roared as it stomped into the Colosseum. Its scales were the shade of chewing tobacco and it had glowing yellow eyes. Despite its fearsome presence, the dinosaur had mere 500 ATK points.

"What's this?" said Seth. "I wanted to fight Black Tyranno not that pathetic little wimp of a monster."

Patty's once confident expression faded in a matter of seconds as soon as Yuri played the card. "Wow, Yuri. Why not surrender the game while you're at it?"

"He's not pathetic," Yuri insisted. "I know what I'm doing. I set a card face-down and end my turn."

T2

"Ah, trying to bait me into a trap," Seth said as he drew.

"No, you're just not worthy to face my Black Tyranno."

"AUGH!" Seth cried, absolutely insulted by that remark. Yuri's friends seemed to back away from him for a second. Never had he challenged someone or mocked them in such a way.

Patty's smile couldn't have gotten any wider. She absolutely loved the new confidence Yuri had. Not worthy? Who was this guy and what did he do to the real Yuri, indeed.

Seth seemed to calm down for a moment. "Heh, trying to push my buttons, eh? Nice try. I use Mystical Space Typhoon to blow it away."

Yuri discarded his trap. It was a Draining Shield card, which could have increased his Life Points if he attacked with a monster.

"I play Polymerization, fusing Monster Egg and Hinotama Soul together to create the mighty Charubin the Fire Knight."

A wall of flames appeared before Tomozaurus. From them emerged a tall and lithe knight wearing silvery-steel armor and a ragged red cape. His weapon of choice was a massive spiked ball and chain, which he wielded with a long handle that required him to use both his arms.

ATK/1100

"Attack him, Charubin!"

The Fire Knight spun his massive weapon and struck Tomozaurus in the gut. The dinosaur growled and shattered to pieces.

Nick cringed from the impact. "Ouch, that had to hurt."

Yuri's Life Points fell to 1400.

Seth chuckled, amused by the devastation his monster had caused. "That will teach you to make fun of me, Yuri! I set a card face-down and end my turn. Your turn, dear boy."

T3

"Okay, that was a lucky shot," Yuri admitted. "I summon Armored Lizard in attack mode. With an attack of fifteen hundred, your Fire Knight will be torn to shreds. Attack!"

"I think not," said Seth. "I reveal my face-down card. Reinforcements. This will boost my monster's attack by five hundred points."

Charubin smashed his spiked ball into Armored Lizard's chest, cracking the thick armor that gave the creature its name. Yuri was now down to 1300 Life Points.

"Attacking without considering your opponent's face-down cards is a childish move," said Seth. "Fool. As the heir of the game and your father's company, you should know better than that."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Yuri. "I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"Yuri what are you doing?" Tyson wondered to himself. "He's talking big but making amateur mistakes like crazy."

"Maybe he's up to something," Carter whispered.

T4

"Very good. See, you're learning now. But that won't do you any good. I use Heavy Storm to clear your face-down cards."

"No, you won't. I counter with Magic Jammer. By discarding a card from my hand, my trap will negate your spell."

"Okay, so you managed to counter my moves. But it won't do you any good. I use Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Next, I use the effect of Monster Reborn to bring back your Tomozaurus in attack mode."

Yuri blinked. "Huh? What would you do that for?" He then realized the purpose of that play. "Oh, shoot!"

"That's right. But that's not all. I use the magic of Polymerization once again, fusing together Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox to create the mighty Rabid Horseman!"

His fusion conjured up a minotaur with the body of a centaur. The Rabid Horseman roared, pounding his boulder-sized fist on his chest. His right frontal leg clopped on the ground eagerly for battle.

ATK/2000

"And with this attack, I end the Duel."

"That easy, huh?" Yuri asked.

"What?"

"Didn't you say it was childish to attack when your opponent had a card face-down? I still have one left if you haven't noticed. Wall of Disruption. This will cause your monsters to lose eight hundred for each one you control."

"Oh, drat!" cried Seth. "No matter, my Rabid Horseman is still stronger."

The horseman slashed Tomozaurus in half and dealt more damage to Yuri.

"I know," Yuri said calmly. "But I'm still standing. Can't say the same for you after this turn."

"You bluff? I don't lose to rookies like you."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Why you — you will not defeat me. I set Charubin in defense mode and end my turn."

T5

"I draw," said Yuri. "I play Pot of Greed. Next, I use the spell, Stop Defense. This will force Charubin back to attack mode."

Seth gasped. "No! He has only zero attack points."

"That he does. He'll be of no help against this. Big-Tusked Mammoth! Attack!"

His giant mammoth appeared on the Duel Screen, shaking its head wildly before charging at the weakened Charubin. He smashed his tusks on Charubin's chest, cracking his armor and shattering his rib cage. Charubin screamed before he shattered into a thousand pieces. With that attack, the game was over. Yuri and his team won.

"I...this can't be."

"So how come it is," Patty taunted him.

"Arf! Arf!" Max barked in agreement.

Seth sighed heavily. He picked up his cards and stood up. "Next time you guys won't be so lucky. We'll be back, Yuri. This isn't over. Come on, guys. Let's go and let the plebs have their victory. Let them enjoy it while they can. Cornelius will wipe that smirk off your faces later." He and his friends picked up their things and left the shop.

Patty gave them the finger as they left and even though he lost, Nick was glad he at least had a team victory on his belt with Patty and Yuri. Natalya ran out of the stockroom and told them to hurry, for it was time for Yuri's Duel with Cornelius. They stuffed their cards and binders into their backpacks and headed out the door, running merrily to Paradise Gaming. They were all going with their heads held high from their victory against the Delphina Academy students. If it wasn't for Nick's loss, it definitely would have been a solid victory. Regardless, they beat the crap out of those guys, and the Misfits of St. Augustus were keen on seeing Yuri defeat the best player of their rival school.

Axel was watching Yuri and his friends from the roof of the Ruby Dragon, smiling as he stood with his hands behind his back.

"So, Axel, what did you think?" Sukari said approaching him.

"I think Yuri's made a merry band of brothers and sisters. As for his Dueling skills, they could be a bit better. They HAVE to be better. Neo Rare Hunters have found their way into Aquarius and they're going to go after him. If Yuri's going to want to have any chance against them, he needs to take Duel Monsters a little more seriously. To him and these Standard Dimension kids, this is nothing but a game, a tool for street creds and popularity points. But it's more than that, Yuri. Much more. This is war, boy! And you need to start manning up a bit."

"He's still recovering from the curse," said Sukari. "That newfound courage and confidence we saw in the shop was something he never had before. If I had walked in that room and saw Yuri acting the way he was against those punks, I wouldn't have believed that was him."

Axel looked at her from the corner of his eye. "It messed him up that badly, huh?"

"More than you know. When I knew him as a kid, he was afraid of his own shadow. He pissed his pants when he saw Duel Monsters in those old Battle Boxes they used way back when. He always stuck by his mother's side, never letting go of her. But now...heh, I don't know. The way he toyed with that Duelist earlier was...kinda refreshing to see."

Axel softly chuckled. "It must have been. When I got here, he was a coward. I mean, he still is, but because of Master Yugi's work in the Noctix, I think he's grown up quite a bit."

"Yeah, so let him grow up some more," said Sukari. "I don't want the Neo Rare Hunters to get within an inch of him. They'll use tactics to try to break his spirit and make him afraid of Duel Monsters again. And all that hard work Master Yugi, Jaden, Yusei, and the others did for him will go to waste. He's not ready to take on such foes yet."

"All right. I'll tell Regal Squad to keep a close eye on him. I'll monitor the area around Paradise Gaming. My team and I did a little recon on the place and discovered the owner does deals with the Duel Gangs."

"Something should be done about him."

"That's not our job. Our job is to protect Yuri. And the best thing we can do is make sure those Duel Gang assholes stop supplying jerks like Cornelius and Brett with cards they stole from other people after hurting them. Are you up for some action, Sukari?"

"Hell yeah, I am. So Neo Rare Hunters want a piece of my future High King. Well, unfortunately for them, Declan Akaba's Lancers are in town. So now the hunters have become the hunted."

"Hoorah!" Axel said, pounding his chest. "Let's go snag us some Rare Hunters."

---

Alexis Rhodes - The Principality of Polonia/Termnnia

---

Alexis Rhodes's winged stallion soared out of the clouds and galloped across a field of multicolored flowers, she then rode her stallion through a city and back into the field, following a winding road towards a white tower of colored glass topped with a golden statue of a Rainbow Dragon, the legendary dragon that once protected these lands long ago. The guards in the tower recognized Alexis at once and called for the gate to open and let her in as her stallion came to a stop in front of a fountain to drink. Alexis dismounted from the winged horse and kissed her head, thanking her for getting her here safely. A man in colorful robes encrusted with colorful crystals walked out and greeted Alexis. "Your Highness," he said bowing. "You wish to see Pharmellica?" he asked.

"Yes, please, it's very urgent. And if you could, send word to every Black Luster Soldier in the city. Tell them all to gather here and protect the tower. King Forrest might be sending his forces down here. The House of Flowers knows about...about...her."

"The Princess?"

"No. The...the Arva."

The man nodded. "I see. I see. Then our biggest fears have been realized. I just knew having the Arva here would put a target on the Principality. All right, Princess Rhodes, come. She'll need to hear this."

Alexis pressed on a brilliant bright diamond on her chesplate and it dematerialized until she was garbed in her royal gown. She followed the man up to the highest point of the tower where Princess Pharmellica Valeska was watching the endless field of colorful flowers from her window. When she heard Alexis's heels clapping on the floor, she turned and greeted Alexis with a smile.

"Alexis. What an unexpected surprise. If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared that tea you like so much."

"I'm afraid I'm not here for tea," said Alexis. "I have grave news."

The princess's smile faded quickly and she looked back out the window. She sighed sadly. "I'm not surprised anymore. It seems like all news these days is grave. What ill fate has befallen me this time?"

"It's about the Arva. Alicia. Is she here?" Pharmellica nodded. "She's down there in the orphanage playing with the children." Pharmellica led Alexis to one of the balconies overlooking the vast field of colorful flowers and the blue snow-capped mountains surrounding them. Down below was a cozy three-floored manor surrounded by a wooden fence. It was a home Pharmellica opened for children who were orphaned by the war King Forrest started. Alexis's heart broke when Pharmellica told her the orphanage was rapidly losing vacancy. She would have liked to build another one, possibly a palace that could function as a school, but with King Forrest's troops slithering through Western Katina and into Elleria, Eredas, and Thara, she had to invest her gold in mercenaries to protect her lands and possibly a small garrison of Black Luster Soldiers.

Pharmellica then pointed at some children surrounding a lone figure near the playground built to look like a castle with styrofoam and cardboard towers and walls. In the middle was a girl with four massive white wings that shimmered in the sunlight. She was playing hide and seek with the children, helping a poor little girl with a broken leg find her friends in their hiding places. Some would jump out of their spots to mischievously yank the winged girl's wings before zooming off into another hiding place. And some were so sneaky they managed to snatch a feather from her wings. But the game was such good fun that she didn't care.

Her name was Alicia, and she was the last of the Arva, the legendary race of fair-faced, golden-haired, people with snowy-white wings. They were sadly hunted down by the Covenant of Yeyu thousands of years ago, and the handful of survivors that endured their malice went into hiding in the clouds, never to be seen again. Even though Alexis had traveled with Alicia for many months on her quest, seeing her down there with those magnificent wings still filled her with a sense of unbelief. All her life, she thought the Arva were extinct. But now...here was one of them, laughing and playing with children as though Arva had always existed and had never gone extinct.

"Alicia," Alexis whispered. "Without her, I would have never found the Gems of the Light Goddess. How I hoped she would be safe here."

Pharmellica sighed again. "Come," she said. "I could use some tea right now." Even though Alexis did not ask for tea, she still followed Pharmellica to a garden outside her bedroom, where they sat down and awaited the tower maids to bring them tea and cakes to hopefully ease their anxiety and help them think. Alexis licked her lips when the sweet smell of the beautiful, freshly baked cakes was served to them. They were coated in different colored frosting and decorated with flower-shaped sugar crystals that made them sparkle like pieces of jewelry. And the sound of the tea being poured from Pharmellica's kettle was just so rich and enticing that she changed her mind.

"Uh...well...I suppose I could do with a bit of tea and some cake."

"Of course, you would," Pharmellica said with a hoarse chuckle. She poured Alexis some tea and set the kettle down, handing her a sugar cup. "Even on that winged stallion of yours, it must have been a long journey. So tell me, Alexis. Why does Forrest march here?"

"Zane and I intercepted some Duelists trying to sneak through a Gate in Eredas that was discovered by Jaden Yuki and his friend Della last year. One of them said that they had information on the whereabouts of Alicia. Given to them by the House of Flowers. And we all know who's the House of Flowers's best customer."

"And you are certain King Forrest sends troops to the principality."

"I cannot confirm this but knowing the sick nature of King Forrest, it's best not to take any chances and prepare your lands for an attack. King Forrest has gone to great lengths to collect beautiful girls for his pleasure. Not even the Dragon Summoner was safe from him."

Pharmellica set her teacup down slowly, feeling an icy chill go up her frame. "The Dragon Summoner was taken captive by him years ago?"

"Yes. Not even she was safe from him. She was captured during her expedition into the temple where the Dragon Ruler of Boulders was sleeping. She collected the creature but she could not celebrate her victory, for the Holy Knights of Naralia flew in with their CUIRASS armored suits and overpowered her. Her company was wiped out, save for Ser Gerhalos, her knight champion. After that, Avi was taken north and we never saw her again."

Pharmellica was so scared, she wanted to throw up. For the longest time, she thought the Dragon Summoner was the key to keeping Termnnia safe until the High King's return. But with the grim news that Alexis gave her...she just didn't know what to think anymore. "So it is true," she said. "I didn't want to believe it because she was so powerful. But if Forrest can even subdue her, then no woman in Termnnia is safe from him." She buried her face in her hands. "Oh, goddesses, this is awful."

"You have to start deploying your troops, Pharmellica," Alexis said, reaching over and patting the princess's knee to soothe her. "You have to keep Alicia safe. And you, of course. Forrest is no doubt viewing you as a prize to claim if he conquers these lands."

"Then I shall do so, but I also need supplies to last the battle. He produces a thousand for every one robotic knight he loses. And they are many. Without supplies, I'm afraid we cannot hold them for very long. I would rely on one of the Alliance princes but they are fighting valiantly in different theatres of war across the continent. I'm alone, Alexis."

"I'll send you supplies as soon as I can," said Alexis. "My mother can make the arrangements. We've been supplied with airships that could —"

"Oh no, I'm afraid that will be of no help," Pharmellica said standing up. "Fara is a very traditionalist country. They don't want airships or Eredian technology in our country."

"But, Pharmellica, have you not heard? The Termnnian Senate voted to pass an emergency bill proposed by Seto Kaiba to allow the use of warships in the battle against Forrest and the Confederacy growing in Southern Emboldor."

"Yes, I heard about the bill. But it won by a small margin. I'm afraid the representatives of my country voted against it."

"Who cares?" said Alexis. "Pharmellica, are you the ruler of this principality or not?"

"I am, but my power is hanging by a thread. My country, I'm sorry to say, is on the verge of civil war with delegates from my House and the House of Heartstone butting heads with one another in the House of Parliament. My family fights to modernize Fara along with the rest of the world. But the House of Heartstone wishes to keep us living with traditional values and technology."

"What makes the Heartstone family such a threat that your country will be threatened with civil war?"

"It's a complicated matter, Alexis. Behind my family, the House of Heartstone is the most powerful noble family in Fara. You see, the head of the family, Lady Jane Heartstone, her lover is Lord Gansley of the Big Five, one of the heads of the Termnnian Bank."

"No!"

"I'm afraid so. She's good with business and has strong ties with the Bankers Guild of Fara. Add one of the Big Five to the mix, and you've got the most powerful couple in the kingdom. Their private ventures and business partnerships that were created under their relationship over the years have caused her family's finances to grow. They have far more money in their vaults than my father's kingdom does in its treasury. With all that money and power, they've gained favor with the people. A new party has been formed in the House of Parliament, one that favors the motions of my family and one that favors House Heartstone. Pfft, guess which one is the most popular right now, Alexis. Augh, even my father has to come to the Heartstones for loans. I beg him not to because it makes us look so weak. But what else can we do? We can't let our people starve or go undefended."

"I'm so sorry."

"That is why I must respectfully decline any assistance with advanced technology. The Heartstones practically fund my family's ventures right now. Even though my father is the one wearing the crown, it feels like the Heartstones are the ones running things here. Each loan comes with a new term and each term gives them more power. As I said, even though the Senate passed the emergency bill, the Heartstones, as well as a huge majority of my people, want nothing to do with it. Lady Jane threatened to pull any funding from the royal family if we even suggest the use of technology, Alexis. If we lose money, we cannot pay to maintain our military or provide food for our people. If our citizens starve, they could side with the Heartstones and revolt against us. I have to take this threat seriously lest we suffer the same fate the Wyvernhearts did when House Martin took control of the country's finances. In fact, House Wyvernheart's downfall started when House Martin made business dealings with the Big Five."

"Your family will not suffer the same fate, Pharmellica. You won't suffer the fate of Belladonna Wyvernheart. It won't happen. I will NOT let that happen. I lost a friend to a traitorous family once, I will not let it happen again. But someone has to take a stand. If not your father, then you. I can help you. We need to convince both the representatives of your House and the House of Heartstone to extend an olive branch to one another. They might come to an agreement and negotiate some kind of deal that can allow the use of technology. They will help, the airships I mean, you have no idea how much. We can send troops and supplies in a matter of hours. They have to see the reason in that."

"Well, then, let us hope they're up for it. As a representative of the Kingdom of Fara, I'll order a session of parliament. Hopefully, it can be arranged soon we can come up with a solution that can benefit us all."

"I know we will," said Alexis.

Pharmellica smiled. "Well, it's going to be a rough day tomorrow, seeing as how I have to set all of this up. In the meantime, I'll have my rangers scout the mountains for any signs of the Naralians. And since you'll be staying with us tonight, why don't I show you to your room? I'll have the maids prepare a bath for you. You really need it, dear."

Alexis sniffed herself and blushed. "Whoops, haha. Yeah, I flew so close to the sun and broke a sweat. Thanks, Pharmellica."

---

Andre - Aquarius/Standard Dimension

---

"Damn that Axel!" Andre muttered as he ran, he dodged and weaved through people in his way. "Excuse me! Comin' through!" He checked the time on his watch and sprinted faster. "Man, I can't believe I'm going to be late for Yuri's Duel against Cornelius. The guy finally warms up to me and I'm late for one of his most important matches."

He turned down an alleyway to a shortcut and suddenly found his progress arrested by two funny-looking individuals standing right in front of him. One was short and bald and the other was tall and skinny and he had spiky wild teal-colored hair.

Andre stopped. By the sinister grins on their faces, he guessed they were waiting for him. "Yeah, what do you guys want?"

"Hello, Andre Martin!" said the short one. "We've been waiting for you."

"How do you know my name?" Andre demanded. "Wait...you...you wouldn't by any chance be Termnnians, would you?"

"Oh, indeed we are," said the tall one. "We've traveled a great distance to get here and annihilate the future High King. But first, we have to take care of a little pest control problem and we're talking about you and those Lancers."

"Who told you about them?"

"The one we work for is a very resourceful person," laughed the short one. "But as for who he is, you needn't worry about it. Your biggest threat right now is the two of us. So get ready Andre Martin. We challenge you to a Duel." The two Duelists revealed black Duel Disks

"You two against me?"

"Yes, and if we win, we take your entire Dueling deck. And without a deck, you can't hope to possibly help Yuri or his pathetic friends."

"We'll see about that!" said Andre. "I think I know you you two are. You're the Neo Rare Hunters that Axel told me about. How did you find the location of the world the High King lives in? And how did you know he was here in this city?"

"As if we'd tell you, Andre!" shouted the short one.

"Fine," said Andre. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck from Termnnia, but tweaked it to match the rules of the Standard Dimension. "My old dragon deck should be more than a match for you!"

"Use whatever deck you want, boy!" shouted the tall one. "It makes little difference. Now, let's Duel! I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."

"My turn!" said the short one. "Hmm. Not bad. I'll set a monster face-down and end my turn."

"My turn!" Andre said. "Draw! I activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards. Then I summon Lord of Dragons! And I'm going to use not one but two Flute of Summoning Dragon so I can call on four dragons to the field!"

"Four dragons!?"

"Yes! I call on White-Horned Dragon, Rare Metal Dragon, Kaiser Glider, and Hyozanryu!"

"You better have a plan!" the short one said to his tall companion. "If we lost against this pathetic wannabe, our master will be furious."

"I do," said the tall Neo Rare Hunter. He looked at the card in his hand with a smile. This Mirror Force trap card will destroy all of his attack position monsters if he even thinks about coming at us. Once we clear the field of all those dragons, we'll pulverize him with our own monsters next turn. "I set another card face-down and summon a monster in defense mode!"

"I can't do much," said the short Neo Rare Hunter. "So I'll set another monster face-down and end my turn."

"My turn!" said Andre. This next card better be something good. Even if I attack with my dragons, they might spring their face-down cards at me. All right, Heart of the Cards. Show me that power Yugi kept preaching about. "I draw!" Andre shouted. Come on! He looked at the card he drew. "Well, well, well. Look at this. Graceful Charity. Now we each draw until we have six cards in our hands. And I'm going to blow away both your monsters and your face-down cards."

"How?" asked the short one.

"With these! Heavy Storm and Raigeki!"

"AAAAAAHHHH!" both the Neo Rare Hunters shouted.

Heavy Storm was a card that could destroy all spell and trap cards on the field. And Raigeki destroyed all their monsters, leaving them wide open. Andre attacked the short one with Kaiser Glider and Rare Metal Dragon and the tall Neo Rare Hunter was blasted by White-Horned Dragon and Hyonzanryu. The two Neo Rare Hunters screamed as they were knocked backward and remained motionless. Andre had a mind to interrogate them but someone approached him from behind. Sukari was watching the whole thing.

"You knocked them out, dude. I don't think you can ask them any questions."

"Did you know about them?"

"Yeah, I've been following them since yesterday but when I heard they were planning to ambush you for a Duel, I stood back and watched to see if you're as tough as you claim to be. Not bad."

"Thanks," said Andre. So, you're that new girl Axel was talking to earlier."

Sukari crossed her arms. "New girl? Dude, I was a Lancer before Master Yugi even recruited you. He's got a big heart to do something like that after what your family did to the Wyvernhearts."

Andre looked away. "Yeah, well, I'm not my family. I didn't want them to invade their lands and take their kingdom."

"But you did nothing to stop them."

"I know. Belladonna tried to warn me. Look, I've got a lot of things to do and I don't want to have to explain myself for the hundredth time. So if you've got something you need to tell me, say it."

"I don't have anything to say. Just wanted to see your skills for myself. I'd say it was impressive, but then again, I still need to see some more matches before I can give my honest opinion. These two clowns look like they couldn't hold their own against my own mother, and she's dead."

"Yeah, these guys weren't so tough," said Andre. "Well, Sukari, hopefully, we can talk on a more professional level next time."

She smirked. "Maybe this Friday. But for now, we've got Neo Rare Hunters to find and Duel Gangs to put down."

"Good luck with that. I've got to head to Paradise Gaming and cheer on my buddy, Yuri."

"What did you just say!" Sukari said before Andre could begin his sprint. "Your buddy Yuri? I don't think orders mean anything to you, boy. We're not supposed to be making friends. We're supposed to be watching him and taking care of him from the shadows so that his little friends don't know about what's really going on."

"I know, and trust me, they won't. I know what I'm doing. Yuri and I are starting to understand each other. I don't want anything bad happening to him or his friends. I really like those guys."

Sukari raised an eyebrow. "You don't plan on telling Yuri you're from Termnnia, too, do you?"

"No, I know better than that. I'll let Kaiba, Yugi, and the others take care of that."

"Good that's what I want to hear. But unfortunately, you can't join Yuri wherever he is right now."

"Why not?"

"Because we've got a job to do. If you think that getting chummy with the future High King means you can just sit around and play with him, you've got another thing coming. There are threats all over this city looking to take not only his rare cards but his life. See to it that they stay off his back."

"But..."

"Declan's orders, Andre. You either follow them or we'll have Leo Corp's Executive Board boot you out of Aquarius. And don't think you can just run from us by jumping into another Dimension with your powers. You're in the Standard Dimension, boy. Your powers don't exist here."

"I know, I know. All right. Lead the way, Sukari."

He followed her out of the alley. When they were gone, the two Neo Rare Hunters stood up, chuckling menacingly. "It worked!" said the tall one. "Did that chump really think he could knock us out so easily? What an idiot!"

"Yes, indeed," said the short one. "The master was right. His overconfidence truly is our greatest weapon. Thanks to Martin, we know now that Yuri does have friends he holds dear. We could use this to our advantage."

The tall one put two fingers on his earpiece. "It's me. Yes, the boy fell for the trap. Yes, he said exactly where they're at. Yuri and the gang are at Paradise Gaming having some fun. Send one of our agents down there to profile his friends. I think we found the bait we need to lure Yuri out and hunt him down!"

---

Yuri - Paradise Gaming/Standard Dimension

---

"Well, here we are," said Patty. She looked around the plaza outside the shop. "No sign of those Delphina Academy idiots anywhere."

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Max said as he hung by her arms.

"Then let's make our way inside," said Tyson. "Yuri, kick his ass, man."

"Yeah..." Yuri replied nervously. He and his friends walked through sliding glass doors where a female employee awaited them and took them to the elevator. When the doors opened, Cornelius was awaiting them with a box full of booster packs. "Well, well, Dr. Livingston and friends, I presume," he joked. "Come on in, guys. Your chariot awaits."

They stepped into the elevator, which was big enough to fit twenty people. As they went up, they passed glowing terrariums with tropical plants.

"So glad you could come, Yuri. I must say, I was surprised by the way you spoke to me over the phone."

"What do you mean?" Natalya asked.

"You should have heard him," chuckled Cornelius. "Threatening to kick my ass in my own game shop. Ha! I sure hope you can back up all that talk, Yuri. But first, I think I should settle things with my first victim. Nick."

"NICK!?" Yuri and his friends cried out.

"Yes. This hotshot came by my shop the other night and challenged me to a match."

"You did, Nick?" Sabrina asked.

"Yeah. He should have known better than to set up a shop down the street from a well-known and beloved establishment like Ruby Dragon Gaming. You're going to cost Sergei his business and I can't allow that! So I challenged him to a match. If he loses, he has to close his shop for good."

"And you just accepted this?" Carter asked.

"Of course, I did," said Cornelius. "I'm not one to back away from a challenge. However, I set up a certain condition for our match. First, if Nick loses, he has to do whatever I tell him to do for the whole day. And we make a deck using the cards we acquire from these booster packs."

"Wait, really?" Yuri said. "That's not good. If it's not your own deck, the game's just pure luck at that point."

"Don't worry about me, Yuri," said Nick. "Some of these booster packs are from the newest set. So I'll be getting some sweet cards at this guy's expense. Heh, heh, and with my skill and these new cards, I'm sure to win."

"It's not the cards I'm worried about," said Natalya. "It's your skill, Nick."

"Rrrrrorrr," Max made a sound like he was cringing at Nick's overconfidence.

"Forget about it," Nick chuckled and dug into the box. There were 100 packs inside and both he and Cornelius opened fifty each. As the elevator took them to the sixth-floor arena, they chose the cards they wanted to use and built their decks. As soon as the decks were assembled, the doors of the elevator opened, revealing a massive Dueling Arena complete with all the systems needed for a Solid Vision Duel. The girls who surrounded him the other day were here in the arena sitting on green-colored rafters, helping themselves to snacks from the food stand at the top of the stairway that led to the main doorway of the arena. The girls were talking amongst themselves, laughing, giggling, taking selfies, or having small Duels of their own on the rafters.

"Wow, this place is massive!" said Sabrina.

"Actually, this is the guest arena," said Cornelius. "It's the smallest arena in the shop, but it comes with all the bells and whistles. You can use the red platform there, Nick. Good luck."

Nick eagerly ran to the red platform. He was so excited to see all the complex interfaces and computer screens. It looked like the cockpit of a spaceship. "Wow, this is way cool! My first ever Solid Vision Duel! Watch me, Yuri! You're going to be so proud of me."

"I sure hope you know what you're doing, Nick," said Tyson. "You lose, you have to do whatever this guy says for a whole week."

"It's not gonna happen. All right, Cornelius! Let's do this!"

"With pleasure," Cornelius said. He looked to a crew viewing the arena from an observation post. "Are all the cameras in position?"

"Cameras are rolling, sir!" said a technician.

"What's all this?" Patty asked.

"Well, my dear, I like doing things big. So I'm going to broadcast our games in front of the city on Dueling Network."

"Oh, really?" said Nick with that wide toothy grin of his. "Well, then. I guess I can have the honor of having everyone on Aquarius see a Stowaway like me beat a hotshot like you and force your shop to close down."

"You're confident in that, aren't you? Well, then, as a friend of the city's hottest rising star, Yuri Montgomery, I expect you to be quite the challenge. Now, if you don't mind, I'll start first."

"Whatever you say, chump," said Nick.

LP 4000

"All right, Nick, get ready. I activate the spell, Unexpected Dai. With this card, I can summon a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from my deck. Behold, Oni Tank T-34!"

He summoned a giant green tank with a face of a giant red Oni on the front, a demon from Japanese folklore. At 1400 ATK, he seemed like a very capable creature to contend with.

"And now, I play the spell, Double Summon! Now I can summon two monsters to the field. I call upon Dark Assailant and the 13th Grave, both in attack mode!"

The 13th Grave was a tall skeleton draped in a torn teal garb and carrying a massive rusty claymore. "BWAH! HA! HA! HA!" the skeleton laughed, and Dark Assailant was a skeleton assassin wearing a green suit with belts carrying daggers, rapiers, and bombs. Both of them had 1200 ATK points.

"Arf! Arf! Arf! Grrrrrr!" Max growled at the three giant holographic monsters standing before him.

"And I'll lay a card face-down and activate the ultra rare card, Graceful Charity. It allows us to draw until we have six cards in our hands. But you need only draw one. As for me, I get a fresh hand. And that will do it for me." Cornelius flung some of his jagged locks away from his face.

"Wow," Sabrina said. "He summoned three monsters on his first turn."

"Pfft, don't get your panties in a bunch Sabrina," said Patty, holding Max tightly against her chest. "They're not even strong monsters."

"You're exactly right," said Natalya. "So that means that Cornelius is not as tough as he says he is, or he has something planned. And with a fresh new hand of cards, it's safe to say he probably already has Nick where he wants him."

T2

"Draw!" said Nick. "Heh, well thanks to you, I have some extra resources to use this turn. But how about a little more with this baby? Bam!" He showed off Pot of Greed.

"Nice card, Nick!" said Tyson.

"My first ultra-rare, you guys!" said Nick. "And I'm gonna use it to draw an extra two cards. But why stop there? I'm going to use Trade-In to send Sengenjin to the Graveyard and draw two more cards."

"Wow!" Carter cried out.

"Nice!" Tyson cheered again. "Now you're getting the hang of things, Nick!"

Cornelius closed his eyes and tilted his head downward. "Ah, so it looks like my little condition has done wonders for your card collection, Nick. Let's see what you've got."

"You sure about that?" Nick said. "Okay, your wish is my command. I activate a Double Summon card of my own! And I'm summoning Sword of Soul and Total Defense Shogun, both in Defense Mode! Now, I'm paying 800 of my Life Points to activate Premature Burial. This lets me Special Summon a monster from my Graveyard in attack mode, and I choose to bring back the mighty Sengenjin in attack mode!"

Nick now summoned a giant blue cyclops with red hair and wielding giant golden weapons. It had 2750 ATK points, making it the strongest monster Yuri and the others had ever seen Nick play. The giant beast-warrior swung his golden battle axe around and roared so loud he shook the stadium.

ATK/2750

"Did...did Nick summon that thing?" Patty asked. "Wow!"

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Max barked happily.

"Go, Nick!" Yuri cried. "Now you got him!"

"Battle phase!" Nick declared. "Sengenjin, attack his Oni Tank T-34!"

"RRRRRAAAARRR!" The giant roared. He chose to attack with a golden bommy-knocker, smashing it on Oni Tank T-34's face, causing it to blow up.

"Arrgh," Cornelius groaned. Nick got far better cards than he thought he would. His Life Points plummeted to 2650 and his fangirls started screaming from the rafters, worried that he would lose the Duel.

"If you thought that was devastating, wait till you see this!" said Nick. "Total Defense Shogun, attack the 13th Grave!"

"He can't attack!" said Cornelius. "Your monster is in defense mode. Boy, are you dunce."

"You're the dunce one hotshot! Total Defense Shogun can attack your monsters even if he is in defense mode."

"Huh!?"

Total Defense Shogun drew a large diamond-shaped sword from his back and charged across the field, then slashed the 13th Grave across the chest. "BWAH! HA! HA! HA! HA! GYAAAAAH!" BOOM! He exploded, and the arena shook as though someone had set off a bomb.

"Rrrrggh," Cornelius hissed through his teeth as he took 350 points of damage, reducing him to a mere 2300 Life Points.

"Awesome!" Patty cheered. "I can't believe it. It's only his first turn and yet Nick's brought this guy to almost half his Life Points."

"Wow, I guess Nick can be good," said Carter. "If gets the right cards, of course."

Nick did his best to hide the confident smile that was trying to force itself on his lips. His friends had never given him praise before, and seeing Patty getting excited about a potential victory was like a dream come true. "All right, Cornelius. That's enough punishment. So I'll set one card face-down and then I'm activating the spell Weapon Change. As for what it does...well, you're the bigshot game shop owner, so you figure it out. I end my turn."

T3

Cornelius drew without announcing his turn. "Your little spell card means nothing. I hope you enjoyed that round, Nick. Because I assure you that won't happen again. First, I'm going to switch Dark Assailant to defense mode. And then I'm going to activate the spell, Tribute to the Doomed."

"What!? Not that!"

Cornelius laughed. "Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't have to explain what it does then."

A thousand burial bandages came out of the ground and wrapped themselves all over Sengenjin. Then a giant red hand came out from beneath Sengenjin's feet and clutched him tightly before dragging him into the Graveyard.

"That was scary!" Sabrina said shivering. Solid Vision Systems truly showed no bounds when it came to realism and special effects.

"Don't worry, my little cheerleader-in-waiting," said Cornelius. "Sengenjin won't be gone long. Because I'm activating Monster Reborn and bringing him back to MY side of the field!"

Sengenjin slowly rose out of the ground, snarling and blowing steam through his teeth, which were the size of axe blades. "Rrrrrgggh!" he went, starting at Nick venomously with his one eye.

"Next, I'm going to summon Steel Ogre Grotto #2 in attack mode!" He conjured a giant made of black metal and bronze trimmings that held the joints together. It had one big green eye on its helmet. The eye started glowing brighter as the holographic window displaying 1900 ATK showed up beside him.

"That's a big monster!" Tyson cried out, marveling at the size of the beast.

"These Solid Vision Holograms are unreal!" said Patty, squeezing Max as though he were a teddy bear. "I mean look at that thing. The very room is reflecting off his armor. I can see every nut and bolt and some scratches. I can see us reflecting on the surface, too!" She waved at her reflection on Steel Ogre Grotto #2's body and to her shock, the reflection waved back. "I don't believe it!"

"That's the power of Leon Caldwell's genius, my dear," said Cornelius. "This is the way how Duel Monsters should be played. Now, I'm going to set a card face-down and then I'll attack Total Defense Shogun with Sengenjin!"

"RRRRRRAAARR!" Sengengin roared, reaching for a golden sword. He bulldozed across he the field, salvia oozing from the corner of his mouth, and his eye mapped with red veins from his rage. He raised his sword over his head and brought it down on Total Defense Shogun. PANG! His sword fell on Total Defense Shogun's massive shield. Total Defense Shogun grunted, holding his shield up with all his might.

"Wait, what's going on!" shouted Cornelius. "Why isn't he destroyed yet?"

Nick started laughing.

"What the hell did you just do, Nick?"

"I activated a little spell called The Reliable Guardian!" Nick confidently held up the card to show him.

"Oh, in your face!" Sabrina cheered, pointing at Cornelius. "The Reliable Guardian increases the DEF points of a monster by 700 points. Total Defense Shogun now has 3200 points, more than enough to withstand Sengengin's attack."

"And deal damage to that jerk's Life Points!" Natalya added, laughing as Corenlius's Life Points trickled down to 1850. The fangirls were now sobbing and crying for Cornelius.

"It seems these new cards have raised your skill, Nick," said Cornelius.

"Hah! Skill-schmill. I had what it took to play like a pro all the time. I'm a natural. This just proves that so long as I have the right cards, I can win any game and take on anyone. Even egotistical game shop owners like you."

"A natural, huh?" Yuri said. "So that's why you've been playing with nothing but monster cards since our freshman year of high school."

"Yuri, don't ruin my moment. Now, Cornelius, it's my turn."

T4

"Don't get cocky, Nick," said Yuri. "You've got him on the ropes but don't underestimate him. He could turn things around."

"Him? Turn things around? And just how's he gonna do that?"

Patty leaned forward with a bland expression on her face. "Because he's got a beat stick with 2750 ATK points on his side of the field and all you've got is a sword and a guy with a big shield to defend yourself."

"He ain't got nothing," said Nick. "Watch this. Remember my spell card, Weapon Change? Well, during my Standby Phase, I can pay 700 Life Points to switch the ATK and DEF points of my monsters for the duration of the turn. So now my Total Defense Shogun's ATK switches from 1550 to 2500."

Cornelius chuckled. "Smart move. So now your Shogun can attack from the defense position with an ATK of 2500. But your eagerness might have caused you to make a slight miscalculation. His ATK points are quite formidable now, but they're still way too low to take out my Sengejin."

"Boy, you just love hearing yourself talk, don't you? I know my Shogun's ATK points can't match up to your monster's. So I'm going to activate this spell card. Share the Pain! This card is just like the Tribute to the Doomed card you just played, only we both have to sacrifice a monster. I'll tribute my Sword of Soul." Nick's sword howled and vanished from the field.

"Hah, I see what you're trying to do," said Cornelius. "You think I'm just going to tribute my Sengejin, huh? Have you forgotten about my Steel Ogre Grotto? I'll just tribute him instead."

Steel Ogre Grotto #2 vanished as well.

"That's exactly what I wanted you to do, hotshot. When Sword of Soul gets sent to the graveyard, I can target one monster on my field and increase its ATK by 1000!"

"What!?"

Now with an attack of 3500, Total Defense Shogun charged across the field and sliced Sengenjin across the chest. The monster blew up and Cornelius's Life Points plummeted again, bringing him to 1100.

"Nick, way to go!" Carter cried out.

"Your Life Points don't look too good," said Nick. "And neither does the future of this shop."

T5

"We'll just see about that. Draw!" Cornelius swiped the card off the top of his deck. "Ha! This will be a big game changer for me. First, I activate Upstart Goblin. This card lets me draw 1 card and you gain 1000 Life Points."

Nick sneered, watching as his Life Points went up to 4200. "Heh, I hope that card was worth putting me even further in the lead."

"Enjoy it while you can Nick. I summon Invitation to a Dark Sleep in defense mode!" He summoned a cloaked figure shrouded by a neon green mist. Glowing green eyes pierced the darkness of his hood and one veined red eye in the center of the hood looked around wildly.

"When Inivation to a Dark Sleep comes out into the field, he casts a spell on a monster, forcing it to go to sleep."

The shadowy figure waved his skinny arms around and forced Total Defense Shogun to fall asleep. He fell on one knee, and his armor and swords fell to the ground with a clang as his head drooped forward.

"Ha! Now your monster can't attack so long as Invitation to a Dark Sleep is out on the field! Just try to break from his spell, Nick."

T6

"Man, you sure are confident your creepy hooded guy can keep my Shogun snoozing, don't you? Well, sorry to break it to you, Cornelius, but I'm gonna free him from this spell right here, right now."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. With this card." He kissed the card feverishly and grinned. "Hee, hee, hee! I've always wanted to get my hands on this card. I summon the bodacious, the beautiful, the delicious, Kanan the Swordmistress!"

Nick summoned a beautiful female warrior with long chestnut-colored hair and brilliant golden eyes. Her armor was a dark shade of green and revealed her arms, her long legs, and her toned midriff. She carried a shield with the sigil of a dragon's head on the front and carried a long sword of shiny silver steel. "Yah!" she screamed, swinging her sword around before she posed and her 1400 ATK was displayed on the window hovering next to her.

"Wow, she is beautiful!" said Yuri, leaning forward on the railing to get a better look at her.

"And she looks even better rendered in Solid Vision!" drolled Tyson. "Dayum! Look at those legs."

"Ugh, you guys really need to grow up," said Patty.

"What?" chuckled Yuri. "Jealous that he's hotter than you?"

"You're asking for it!" Patty snapped.

Cornelius laughed again. "Well, she's certainly cast a spell on your friends with her beauty. But she hasn't done anything to beat the spell my Invitation to a Dark Sleep has cast on your Shogun. Invitation to a Dark Sleep has 1800 DEF points and your Kanan the Swordmistress only has 1400 ATK points. She's way too weak to take him on in a fight."

"Blah, blah, blah," said Nick. "That's all I'm hearing from you, Cornelius. I supposed you've never heard of an Equip-Spell card before. Watch this! I activate the spell, Legendary Sword! This will increase Kanan's ATK by 300 points." Kanan's blade started glowing blue and grew twice as long. "But wait, there's more. Now I play the spell, Banner of Courage! With this card in play, my monsters will get a 300-point boost."

"Attack his goon, Kanan!" Nick commanded.

Kanan ran fast across the field, looking like a green blur. Her long boots caused dust to rise behind her and her hair waved wildly. She jumped with her sword up and spun elegantly.

"You amateur!" shouted Cornelius. "You activated my trap card, Negate Attack!"

Invitation to a Dark Sleep waved his arms around to form a protective barrier that stopped Kanan's attack. She screamed and was tossed back to Nick's side of the field. She fell to the ground and rolled to a stop.

The fan girls on the rafters cheered and danced around but Nick scoffed and didn't care. "Whatever. So you saved yourself this round. I'll still take out your creepy goon with Kanan and free Shogun from its spell."

"Punk, did you really think you had the lead against me? I had that all-powerful trap card in my hand the whole time. I could have sprung it anytime I wanted and taken you down, but it was more fun making you think you had a chance against me."

Nick was so shocked by what he said that his cards dropped out of his hand. "What? You were holding out on me this whole time?"

"Yes, when Graceful Charity came into play, I already had the cards I needed to devise a strategy to take you down. I could have beaten you many turns again, but watching you think you could beat me was just something I couldn't pass up."

"So he was toying with Nick," said Yuri.

"Figures!" said Tyson. "Only a low-life bastard would hold out against an opponent!"

Cornelius laughed while twirling a lock of his hair around his finger. "You should have seen the looks on your faces! Did you guys actually think Nick, this...this filthy Stowaway stood any chance against me in this Duel? It was priceless. I had everything I needed in my hand to end this Duel long ago. And now you guys are about to see my plan to bring Nick down!"

"Oh no!" Nick cried.

"Oh, yes, Nick," teased Cornelius. "Even with the best cards in your deck, you're still a nobody. You're still a loser no matter what card you have in your deck. Now watch as I summon, Curse of Dragon!"

He summoned a giant golden dragon with burning red eyes and 2000 ATK points. The dragon's serpentine body undulated in the air like a serpent before it flapped its wings creating a fierce gust. Curse of Dragon made a roar that sounded like a screeching falcon.

"And now, I'm going to weaken your Kanan the Swordmistress with this card. Curse of the Dragon Lord!"

Curse of Dragon's eyes started glowing hellish red, then he let out a horrendous snarl that caused steam to blow out of his mouth. Kanan the Swordmistress stared into the dragons' eyes and fell into a trance. She wobbled around in a drunken manner, moaning and groaning. Saliva oozed from the corner of her mouth and then her shield and sword fell to the ground with two loud clangs. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her mouth opened and her arms drooped forward, making her look like a lifeless zombie. Her life force came slithering out and soared into Curse of Dragon's mouth.

"What's happening?" asked Yuri.

"I'm so glad you asked," said Cornelius. "If I control a dragon monster, my spell will drain the ATK of one monster of my choosing to zero and then, I can draw a card." So he did. He burst out laughing louder than ever. "And I've drawn just the card I needed. Behold, United We Stand! This powerful card will boost the ATK of my Curse of Dragon by 800 points for each monster I have in play and since I've got two monsters, his ATK increased by 1600 for a grand total of 3600 ATK points. But I'm not done yet! I'll activate Megamorph! Since my Life Points are lower than yours, Megamorph will double my dragon's ATK points to 7200!"

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Max barked nervously.

"His dragon's ATK points are off the charts!" cried Yuri.

"Oh no!" cried Patty. "With Kanan's ATK points at zero, Curse of Dragon can wipe him out!"

Cornelius pointed at Nick. "Curse of Dragon! Destroy him now!" Curse of Dragon screeched like an eagle and showered both Kanan and Total Defense Shogun with white-hot flames that burned them to cinders in seconds.

"Nooooo!" Nick cried. His Life Points dropped to 0. "I lost."

The fan girls jumped from their seats and cheered.

"I can't believe it...I...I lost. I was so close to winning."

---

Joey - The Forests of Askar, Emboldor/Termnnia

---

"It's right through here," said the town castellan's chamberlain, holding a torch over his head. The sun was setting behind the mountains, and even though there was still enough light, it was getting awfully dark, and his eyes were aged and worn out from myopia. He stooped fifty yards away from a cave up ahead with two torches on either side of it. Two goat skulls were ornamented on both sides of the entrance as well. "This is it, Ser Joey. The goblin cave. Thank goodness you came when you did. These vermin have grown to be a thorn in the side of our citizens for months. We sent in some warriors from the Fighter's Guild but the moment I saw them, I knew their mission was doomed. Four green ones; teenagers, still just children in my eyes. They entered the cave and only their healer came out." He shook his head. "She survived physically, but mentally. She was gone. We had to submit her to the asylum in the mountains, for she lost her mind from the fear. We found the remains of her companions dumped outside portcullis the next day. Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, damn shame what they did to that fighter-class girl."

"All right, thanks, Jeeves," Joey said, drawing both his sword and his black battle hammer from his back. His dragon-shaped helmet, knowing when it was time to fight, lowered its visor to conceal Joey's face. "Be ready to pay up when I get back. I'll be back before ya know it."

The door in front of him wasn't really much of a door. Actually, it was just a few planks of really thin wood tied together with rope from the harbor, weakened after being exposed to sea salt and harsh weather for many years, some animal skins, and a rope cord. So when Joey Wheeler the Black Dragonknight kicked it with all his might, it shattered into a thousand pieces. Wood, rope, skin, and cords were trusted in all directions, startling the goblin guards sitting by a wooden table near the entrance.

"KNOCK! KNOCK!" shouted Joey, slamming his hammer down on the first goblin, crushing its skull, and turning its brains to mush. With his free hand, he sliced the head off the second goblin with his sword. Some goblins heard the commotion and the squeaks of their dying companions, then took positions behind barrels and tables with rapid-fire crossbows they looted from some mercenaries they killed a week ago. They saw Joey, a mass of black armor bulldozing through the tunnel, his glowing red patterns lit the darkness, making him appear awfully menacing. The goblins fired their crossbows. The iron heads of their bolts cracked as they bounced off the surface of his armor, made from rare Elennanian Steel, a metal used by the people of the sunken continent many ages ago. The armor flashed red each time the bolts smacked against the surface. Joey caused both his hammer and his sword to be engulfed in flames with just a thought and just to add more to the goblin's fear and hopelessness, he summoned a mighty warrior called MAX Raider to help him slaughter them.

"Let's go, pal!" Joey said, his voice sounding deep and metallic through his helmet. MAX Raider dodged and weaved around the hail of crossbow bolts coming his way. He found a group of goblin snipers hiding behind a boulder. He jumped and slammed one of his golden axes on the boulder, shattering it to pieces and sending the goblins flying to the walls, the impact killed them instantly. Joey jumped into the air and spun around and around until he became a tornado of flames and black metal. Any goblin who was unlucky enough to get caught in his path was sucked into the vortex and burned. Joey stopped spinning, and when he did a rain of charred goblin bodies slumped all over the floor of the cave. MAX Raider went down another tunnel that led to an underground pool, not caring one bit about the crude weapons his foes were carrying. There were two ogres, no doubt the leader of the goblins, sitting in the pool and taking a bath. They saw MAX Raider sprinting down the winding path to the pool and heard the gold chains hanging from his axes rattling around. The two ogres snarled and picked up their giant crude hammers made of cinderblocks they found in the ruins of a castle. They admired the golden armor and the golden axes he was carrying and vowed to loot them off his dead corpse when they defeated him. The ogres jumped out of the pool roaring and holding up their hammers. MAX Raider swatted goblins away with swings of his axes and punted a few with powerful kicks, sending them splattering against the wall.

One of the ogres charged. MAX Raider slid across the dirt and sliced the ogre's legs off with his axe. The ogre bellowed in agony before falling into the pool with a splash, turning the dirty water red. MAX Raider then fought with the last ogre just to toy with him. When he had his fun, he sliced the ogre's belly, spilling his purple-colored intestines on the ground. MAX Raider waited for the ogre to fall to his knees and then punted his head off with one mighty kick.

The chamberlain shivered outside the cave as he heard the painful screams of goblins getting massacred deep within the cave. Deep down, he began to feel sorry for them. Moments later, Joey came out of the cave, his helmet dematerialized to reveal his face, soaked with sweat. He had a bag of goblin ears in his clutches.

"Here ya go," he said. "That's a hundred 'n' fifty goblin scum taken care of. I believe that's 5000 gold coins."

"At once," said the chamberlain. "Follow me back to the city and we can head for the bank for your money. Thank you for your assistance, Ser Joey. You're not much of a Duelist, but you are one powerful knight."

"I guess I should say thanks," said Joey. The Seeing Stone in his cloak started vibrating. "Hey!" he said happily. He searched around his cloak until he found the compartment with the orb.

"A Seeing Stone!" said the chamberlain.

"Yeah!" Joey replied. "Awesome! Yuri's about to have a Duel."

---

Yuri - Paradise Gaming, Aquarius/Standard Dimension

---

Nick picked up his deck and slumped out of the pod, head down in shame as he joined his friends. Joey saw him walking sadly and slowly from the Duel Pod. "Aww, man. Looks like Nick lost again. Poor chump. But who did he lose to." He saw Yuri and the others gathering around Nick, doing their best to make him feel better but Cornelius quickly came to ruin their afternoon even further.

"Who's Mr. Moneybags here," said Joey. "Must be the opponent Serenity told me about."

"So, Nick, I hope you're a man of your word," said Cornelius. "You have to do whatever I want for a whole week. First off, I'd like the cards you used back. I did purchase them after all."

Nick grunted in his throat. He was hoping to at least keep the new deck he made with the cards he got from the booster packs. Still, a deal was a deal. And Consuelo taught him to always honor his vows no matter what. He reached into his pocket and handed Cornelius the cards back. "Here," he said sadly.

"Good," Cornelius. He put the deck in his back pocket. "And now for the next order of business. You are to remain in the slums underneath the city and are never to return to the surface with us TRUE citizens ever again!"

"What!?" Sabrina shouted.

"Hey, man, that's going too far!" Tyson hollered. "Nick deserves to be up here! He saved Yuri's life!"

"Yeah, Mr. Montgomery lets him come up here with us!" yelled Natalya.

"That's yesterday's news," said Cornelius. "And when last I checked, Nick isn't doing so well even with the favor Mr. Montgomery gives him. I know everything there is to know about you, Nick Rogers. Your grades are low, you mooch off your friends like the leech of a Stowaway you are! And let's not forget that you're a pathetic excuse for a Duelist. So if you're not going to make use of the opportunity and blessing Mr. Montgomery gave you, do us all a favor and stay in the slums where you belong!"

"You can't do this!" Patty demanded.

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Max barked in agreement.

"Nick, come on. Let's go," said Yuri. "You don't have to put up with this shit!"

"No, Yuri," Nick said. "Back off, man. I lost the match. I'm a man of my word and all my life I've been taught to keep my word. Even if it's to scumbags like him. Besides, he's right. I'm a failure, Yuri. I don't deserve to be up here with the rest of you. I need to go."

"No, you're not!" Yuri shouted. "Because once I beat this asshole, you're staying up here with us!"

Cornelius twirled a lock of hair around his finger and scoffed. "Our terms were that you got a horde of rare cards if you win."

Yuri did the unthinkable. He stomped forward and grabbed Corenlius's jacket by the collar and dragged him to his face. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID CARDS!" he yelled, spraying Cornelius with spit. Cornelius's friends jumped down the rafters but then Carter and Nick ran to get in their way, getting them to stop. Yuri, realizing he took things too far, let him go. "I don't care about the cards. Nick stays if I win."

"Are you sure?" Cornelius asked. "You could really use those cards, Yuri. Your friends are counting on you to be the best, are they not."

"What's the point of becoming the best if my best friend isn't there to share the journey with me."

Cornelius fixed his suit. "Careful, Yuri. This suit costs more than your buddy's education. But if you want to change the terms of our Duel, then by all means. Do so. It makes little difference. But, if I win, not only does Nick stay underneath the city where he belongs but you will hand over the Black Tyranno to me and you will swear on your father's grave that you will never play Duel Monsters again!"

"Hey, that's going too far!" said Patty. "You can't just make him do that! Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Cornelius Landow, the son of the owner of Phobos Corp's biggest rival LanTEK. That's who I am. My father also lent a helping hand to build this city so that gives me the power to command whoever I want."

"What a creep," said Natalya. "Yuri, kick his ass."

Cornelius snapped his fingers. One of his pretty shop employees came down the stairs to the arena with his deck placed on a red velvet pillow. The cards were protected in handsome gold and sleeves. When the decks were shuffled, they took their places on the Duel Pods. Cornelius snapped his fingers and had the red pod replaced by a gold engraved with scrollwork.

"Look at that," said Tyson. "The guy's so pretentious he had a gold Duel Pod built for him."

"It doesn't matter how fancy his Duel Pod is," said Patty. "Yuri's taking him down!"

"Arf! Arf! Grrrr!" went Max.

LP 4000

T1 - Cornelius

"Watch out, Yuri! You're setting yourself up for a fall!" Cornelius said. "First, I'm going to activate the field spell, Dice Dungeon!"

White grids formed over the field.

"Dice Dungeon?" said Yuri. "What in the hell is that?"

"It turns our match into a game of dice," said Cornelius.

"A game of dice?" said Joey, watching the game through his Seeing Stone. "Man, he's the Standard Dimension's version of Duke Devlin!"

"Now here's how my field spell works," said Cornelius. "Each time our monsters do battle, a dice is thrown and our monsters will either gain or lose ATK points depending on the roll of the die. Understand?"

"Sure, I get it," said Yuri. "Piece of cake."

"We'll see," said Cornelius. "Now, Yuri, I summon Ansatsu in attack mode!" He summoned a stealthy black ninja with 1700 ATK points.

"AYAH!" Ansatsu hollered.

"And now, I'll set a card face-down. Your turn, Yuri."

T2

"I draw!" Yuri announced. He smiled broadly at the monster he drew. Awesome! Gagigigo! He's more than a match for his ninja, he thought. "I summon Gagagigo in attack mode!" shouted Yuri. The holographic systems whirred and buzzed then the humanoid lizard monster was rendered on the field in front of him. "Gagagio, attack him Ansatsu!"

Gagagigo snarled and brandished his claws, then sped towards the ninja.

"Have you forgotten about my field?" said Cornelius. "My Dice Dungeon activates because our monsters have engaged in battle. A die will roll for my monster first."

A gold dice dropped out of nowhere and rolled on the ground. He pressed a button on his Duel Pod. The die stopped at 2. "Yes! A two!" Cornelius cheered.

"Hey! I saw that!" Joey yelled at the Seeing Stone. "This rotten son of a bitch is cheating!"

"Now Ansatsu's ATK points will increase by 1000! Now let's see what your monster gets, Yuri."

"Go, dice roll!" shouted Yuri. He got a dirty black die. Cornelius pressed the button again forcing the dice to stop rolling. It came to a stop and revealed a 5. "Five!" cried Yuri. "That's a high number so it has to be good, right?"

Cornelius replied with an obnoxious laugh. "No, it's not! Sorry, Yuri, but a five cuts your monster's ATK points in half. Now your Gagagigo is reduced to a pathetic little salamander. Ansatsu, counterattack!"

Anstasu grabbed five daggers from his robes with his fingers, then tossed them at Gagagigo, each one piercing deep into his flesh. Gagagigo roared in midair and shattered into a thousand pieces. Yuri lost 1775 Life Points.

"Aaggh," Yuri cringed.

LP 2225

"Oh no, Yuri's Life Points have been reduced to almost half!" Carter cried over the rumble of the explosion.

"You see, Yuri!" Cornelius leered. "You and your little friend stood no chance against me. So why don't you give up now while you still can and spare yourself the humiliation?"

"I'm not quitting!" said Yuri. "I set a card face down and end my turn."

T3

"Not going to quit, eh? What exactly are you trying to prove, Yuri? Well, if Ansatsu can't make you quit, maybe this will. I summon Cuben in attack mode! And then, I'm activating the spell Dimension the Dice, which was added to my hand when I played Dice Dungeon. Now, I'm going to play it and summon the mighty Orgoth the Relentless!"

The little cube monster he summoned was encased in a gold die. After a moment of flashing lights and loud rumbling, the die opened revealing a blue-skinned giant in purple and gold armor wielding a giant sword made of diamond.

"Behold the ace of my deck, Yuri! When Orgoth's on the field, I'm all but unstoppable! Now here's what he can do. Once per turn, I roll a die three times and this card gains ATK and DEF equal to the total of the rolls I made times 100. Now, let's see what Lady Luck has in store for me! GO DICE ROLL!"

Three golden dice materialized and fell to the ground in front of Orgoth. Having the dice rigged, he had them all roll six. When they stopped the arena was filled with a mix of cries of triumph and sorrow. The sorrow was from Yuri's group as they helplessly watched Cornelius get three sixes from his rigged dice. "YES! All my rolls came out as six! So now Orgoth's ATK points will increase to 4300! And get this, Yuri. If Orgoth gets all sixes during his dice roll, he can attack your Life Points directly."

"NO!" cried Nick. "YURI!"

"Come on, Yuri, do something!" Patty cried.

"There's nothing he can do, Patty! Orgoth, attack Yuri's Life Points directly and finish this Duel!"

Orgoth stomped toward Yuri's field, reaching his Duel Pod with just three mighty steps. He roared and raised his sword over his head. "YURI!" His friends shouted.

"I activate my trap card!" Yuri shouted. "Counter Gate!"

A metal rectangular-shaped monolith formed in front of Yuri, stopping Orgoth's attack.

"What's that?" Cornelius shouted. "My Orgoth's attack didn't go through?"

"When you declare an attack, my Counter Gate can stop that attack and draw a card. And...if it's a monster card, I can summon it to the field." Yuri placed his fingers on the card on top of his deck. His eye began to glow even brighter. "I call upon, Black Tyranno!"

Yuri's friends jumped up and down and cheered when the Ace of Yuri's deck made his grand entrance. The strange crest that appeared last time formed behind Yuri and was emblazoned in Black Tyranno's green right eye.

There it is! Cornelius said to himself. The card that Brett wants!

"Wow!" said Natalya, hands clasped in prayer. "That had got to be the luckiest draws I've ever seen!"

"Luck had nothing to do with it!" said Tyson. "I'm telling you, Yuri and that beast have a bond! And he came when Yuri needed him most!"

"Phew," Patty breathed. "Oh man, that was close. Don't ever scare me like that again, Yuri! Augh, I was so nervous, my panties got stuck up my ass." Her joke lightened the mood of her friends. They all found themselves laughing and horsing around. Even Nick felt great joy and stood up in his seat, cheering for Yuri and his beast.

"Wooo," said Sabrina, clutching her rump with both hands. "You don't wanna know what my ass just did."

"Can I take a guess?" joked Tyson.

More laughter and fist-bumping from the others.

"What is with these weirdos?" Cornelius muttered to himself. He clapped his hands and told his friends to stop. "Quiet! All of you! Man, you all need serious help, for real! Anyways, lucky move, Yuri. But let's see I can still change things around. I'll attack Black Tyranno with Ansatsu!"

"He what?" said Sabrina.

"That's one serious gamble," said Natalya. "There's no guarantee he'll be successful with his dice game."

"Yeah, well, he's up against the Black Tyranno now," gloated Tyson. He crossed his arms confidently and grinned. "He's got no choice but to gamble if he wants to get it off the field. Once Yuri and the big man are together, there's no stopping them."

Oh, we'll just see about that! Cornelius sneered. You fools forget this is my arena. And in my arena, I always win! "Go, dice roll!" he shouted. The gold dice fell and rolled. "Awesome! Luck's still on my side! It's a six! Now, Ansatsu's ATK is doubled to 3400! All right, Yur, let's see if the same luck that helped you draw your Black Tyranno is still on your side, Yuri!" The black die rolled. And it rolled. And it rolled. Because that's what Cornelius wanted. He wanted to savor the anticipation on the faces of Yuri's friends. Finally, it stopped at five. Cornelius laughed again. "Sorry, Yuri, you got a five again so your monster's ATK gets reduced in half."

Black Tyranno - 1300 ATK

3400 ATK - Ansatsu

"This dice game doesn't make any sense!" shouted Patty. "Augh, what a stupid card!"

Ansatsu drew a sword from thin air and sliced Black Tyranno across the neck. Black Tyranno roared in agony and then blew up, the blast shook Yuri's Duel Pod, and his Life Points plunged to 150.

"No, he's gone!" Carter wailed as Cornelius's fan girls cheered.

"And Yuri's down to his last 150 Life Points!" yelled Nick.

Cornelius closed his eye and tilted his head down arrogantly as he locked a lock of hair around his finger. "Awww, what's the matter?" he boasted. "Did you all expect Yuri's Black Tyranno to help him win this game? Well, now look at him. I just defeated Yuri's so-called Legendary monster with no sweat. Now all that's left to do is take Yuri down as well."

Patty looked at Yuri, hoping to console him to make him feel better. That was...until she saw the big smile he had on his face. Why is he still smiling? she wondered to herself. He just lost his Black Tyranno and yet he looks like he's just won the damn lottery. He doesn't seem nervous at all. Could he have something planned? She gulped. No way. He couldn't...he couldn't be toying with Cornelius...could he? That's not the Yuri I know.

"Stop with that stupid smirk!" shouted Cornelius. "I'll lay a card face-down and end my turn."

T4

"I draw," said Yuri. "Well, things are going according to plan."

"You're bluffing"!" said Cornelius.

"Am I? Well, these three face-down cards might beg to differ." Yuri confidently placed three trap cards down.

"You dare lay a trap for me!?" shouted Cornelius.

Now it was Yuru's turn to laugh. "Well, if laying trap cards is so offensive to you, now's your chance to destroy them. But then again, it doesn't matter what you do. Black Tyranno is coming back and he's going to destroy you. I end my turn."

"Yuri what are you doing!?" shouted Nick.

"Stop it, Nick!" said Patty. "I think Yuri knows exactly what he's doing."

T5

"Draw! Ha! You think you can scare me, Yuri!"

"This one should. I activate Call of the Haunted! Now, I can resurrect a monster from my Graveyard! So let's say hello to a friend who just hate's saying goodbye."

There was a bright flash from the ground and Black Tyranno returned with a mighty roar.

"Him again! Ha! No matter, I got rid of him once, and I can do it again! I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your Call of the Haunted!"

"Oooooo, I think not!" said Yuri. "My trap card activates!"

"What's this?"

The second trap was revealed.

"FAKE TRAP!" Cornelius roared.

"When you try to target one of my traps, Fake Trap activates and it gets destroyed as a substitute. So, Cornelius, looks like you got one card left to worry about. You sure wanna take the chance and attack me?"

"You think I'm scared of your traps! Watch this! You forget about my Orgoth the Relentless's special ability! He will gain effects and ATK points based on the roll of the dice."

"Yeah, it'll be a real shame if your Orgoth got all those attack points and could attack me directly. My face-down card is primed and ready to ruin your day."

Cornelius sneered. Yuri thinks my Orgoth will be destroyed if he activates that trap. Unfortunately for him, Orgoth can be protected from being destroyed by card effects. So long as the dice roll all twos, he can be safe. Unfortunately for Yuri, I always get what I want in my house. "Go, Dice Roll!" he shouted and pressed the hidden button on his Duel Pod. The golden dice rolled and came to a stop. Cornelius again reared his head back and laughed. "Sorry, Yuri but I got all twos in my roll. So not only will Orgoth's ATK points increase to 3100 but he cannot be destroyed by card effects or by battle!"

"No fair!" shouted Patty. "Something's going on here! I smell a rat. You can't be that lucky, Cornelius! How the fuck do you get all the rolls you want and Yuri keeps getting the shaft?"

"Yeah, I smell a rat!" said Natalya.

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Max barked.

"How dare you accuse me of cheating!" he shouted. "I'll make you all regret that by destroying Yuri and ending his career as a Duelist. Remember if he loses, not only will his Black Tyranno be all mine, but he will never play Duel Monsters again! Now, Yuri, prepare to lose it all! I'll attack your Black Tyranno with Orgoth the Relentless! And don't forget my Dice Dungeon field activates."

They're on to me, so I better make this look legit. The golden die rolled and stopped at a four. "No!" Cornelius cried. "Now his Black Tyranno's ATK increases by 400 points! Let's see what I can get out of this! Go, Dice Roll!" The die appeared again and stopped at a 2. "NO! Now my monster loses 1000 ATK points!"

"Say goodbye to Orgoth!" Sabrina teased.

"I think not! Let's have another go at this roll with my face-down card. Dice Re-Roll!"

"That's not good!" said Nick. "Sam used that against me lots of times. Now, Corny over there can re-roll his die for another go."

"How perceptive!" said Cornelius. "Now, let's see what I got...Yes! A six! Now Orgoth's ATK points double!"

"NO!" shouted Patty.

"Damn, it!" cried Sabrina. "Not only is Orgoth immune to getting destroyed by card effects, but his ATK points climb to 6200!"

"It's over, Yuri!" Cornelius roared. "Say goodbye! Orgoth the Relentless, destroy his Black Tyranno and so I can claim him! Diamond Blade Strike!"

"I activate my trap card!" said Yuri.

"YOU IDIOT!" Cornelius shouted, spraying spit everywhere. "DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I SAID!? ORGOTH CAN'T BE DESTROYED BY YOUR CARD EFFECTS!"

Yuri smiled. "Sure, he can't be destroyed by card effects, but he can still be affected by them. My face-down card doesn't destroy your monsters, but it will force them all into defense mode! Reveal, Windstorm of Etaquas!"

"OH NO!" Corenlius cried.

A fierce gale blew around the field. Both Orgoth and Ansatsu knelt down.

"All his monsters are in defense mode!" Patty squealed.

"You know what that means!" said Carter.

"Don't celebrate just yet, you guys," said Tyson. "Remember, he's got a field spell in play. Black Tyranno's effect will only work if Cornelius controls nothing but defense position monsters."

Patty laughed. "Don't worry, Tyson. Something tells me Yuri's already got things figured out."

T6

"My turn! Draw!" Yuri drew Uraby but he didn't care. Everything he needed was right in his hand. "I activate De-Spell!"

"NOOOO!" Cornelius shouted.

"Now, I can destroy a spell card you control. Say goodbye to your annoying Dice Dungeon!" The white grids faded on and off and then vanished. "That takes care of your field spell. Now all that's left is to attack your..."

Cornelius burst out laughing again. "You fool! I know your Black Tyranno can attack me directly, but what good will that do you? He has 2600 ATK points and I've still got 4000. Even if you did attack me directly, you'd still lose. You want to know why? Because on my next turn, I'll just activate this." He flipped over a card in his hand. Another Dice Dungeon.

"He had another one in his hand the whole time!" said Sabrina.

"So even if Yuri destroyed the first one, Cornelius would have just activated that backup field spell anyway," Natalya said.

"Go ahead, Yuri. Make your pathetic attack and end your turn so I can finish you off."

Yuri started to laugh. "Oh, man. Nick's right. You do love to hear yourself talk. There is going to be no next turn for you."

"Huh?"

"You should be familiar with this card, Cornelius. You used it against Nick in your last Duel." Yuri flipped it around.

Cornelius's heart felt like it skipped a beat. He dropped his cards and slapped both his hands on the sides of his head. "NO! NOT MEGAMORPH!"

"Yeah, it's Megamorph. And since my Life Points are lower than yours, it will double Black Tyranno's ATK points to 5200! Black Tyranno, attack him now!"

Black Tyranno's eyes flashed and he roared feeling the power of Megamorph increase his power. He savagely swayed his head backward and forward. He pawed the ground with his right foot three times and blew steam out of his nose before roaring once more and charging across the field. He knocked both Ansatsu and Orgoth into the air with his incredible power. Both monsters roared in pain and shattered to pieces in midair. Black Tyranno stopped in front of Cornelius's pod and breathed flames from his mouth. The fire was colored in the same acidic yellow-green color as the background of his card artwork and was so thick nobody could see Cornelius, but they could hear him screaming. When the flames subsided, he fell to his knees and slammed his face on the game mat as his Life Points dropped to 0.

---

Winner: Yuri

---

"YOU DID IT!" cheered Patty. "You did it! You did it! You did it!"

In Termnnia, Joey cheered and jumped up and down, still holding the bag of goblin ears in hand. "Yeah! Way to go, Yuri! You beat that cheater!"

Cornelius was motionless. Even as Yuri and his friends left the arena, he just stared blankly at the ceiling. His fangirls didn't bother to check on him and walked out to leave him to his wallowing in sorrow.

After they left the game shop, Yuri and his friends had dinner at the Ruby Dragon to celebrate the victory. Patty was showing him the comments and the likes they were receiving on their new profile on Instagram and the news of his victory continued to spread across the island. After round after round of Ruby Dragon Cheeseburger Sliders and a mountain of fries, the group thought it best to go home and rest. They didn't know what tomorrow would bring. A new challenger? A new card? A new friend? Who knew? But they were all anxious to find out.

Yuri said goodbye to his friends and told them he would be walking home.

But upon reaching the park, it started to rain. Yuri drew the hood of his jacket over his head and stuck to following the orange glow of the iron lampposts that were leading the way to the other end of the park. He saw Sabrina's coffee shop across the lake and the lights started to turn off. Her mother and the workers must have been closing up for the night so there went any hopes of getting a caramel late to drink on the way home. He continued down the path when a car stopped at the other end of the park. Three boys stepped out. Judging from the white blazers, Yuri guessed they were students from Delphina Academy. But what were they doing out here in the park at this time of the night?

They started heading straight toward him and as they got closer, the lights of the lampposts revealed that it was Seth, Gordon, and Mick, the boys who Dueled them before Yuri's match against Cornelius. He noticed they all had Duel Disks in their arms. Well, too bad for them, he thought. I don't have one. But that didn't look like it was going to stop them from confronting him.

He stopped about twenty feet away from them and they also stopped. They stared each other down for a moment. "Yes," Yuri said breaking the silence.

"You made our school look like a joke today!" said Seth.

"And do let me guess, you're going to make me pay for it with a Duel, right? Not tonight, guys. I'm sorry you had to go through all the trouble of following me and making your grand entrance and what-not, oooooh," he wiggled his fingers around. "But I'm tired and I really need to get home."

"You're not going anywhere until you face us!" Seth demanded. "We want a Duel and that Black Tyranno. Now! Before things get ugly."

"You going to mug me or something?"

"If it comes to that."

"Well, I can't Duel. I don't have a Duel Disk."

"So then we'll just have to use the platform at the Duel Dome."

"Guys, it's another island away. I really want to get home."

Seth narrowed his eyes. "Mick, show him we mean business."

Mick punched his palm and slowly walked to Yuri. He looked like he was about to hurt him but then he stopped. "Hey, who's that?" he said.

Yuri looked over his shoulder and saw someone approaching them from the darkness. As the figure came into the light, they realized it was a girl with a Duel Disk. She was wearing a white dress under a leather jacket and was slowly coming their way. She came close enough that Yuri recognized the blue and green eyes on the girl's face. It was Crystal. She stopped next to Yuri, hands in her pockets, and giggled.

Gordon gulped. "It...it's the Queen of Dragons!"

"C-C-C-Crystal!" stammered Mick.

"What's the matter, boys?" she asked in a mocking tone. "Can't beat him yourselves one-on-one so you want to gang up on him? That's really sad. And here I thought you clowns from Delphina Academy were supposed to be the best."

"We are!" said Seth. "Get out of our way, Crystal. This doesn't concern you."

"Yuri is my best friend in the whole world. So it does concern me. If you idiots want to Duel someone so bad, Duel me. Beat me and Yuri's all yours. Oh yeah, and the special prize Brett offered to anyone who beats me."

"And that is?" Seth asked.

Crystal smiled. "Any guy lucky enough to beat me gets 5000 gold coins and three rare cards of their choosing from his collection."

"Ooooh!" the three boys hooted. Seth nodded. "All right, Crystal. You're on. With our combined skill, there's no way you can take us down."

Crystal powered on her Duel Disk and so did Seth and his group. Drones flew out of the Duel Disks, soaring a hundred feet above them and forming a perimeter.

"Wow, way cool!" said Yuri.

LP 4000

"I guess I'm going first," said Crystal. "I summon a monster in defense mode and set a card face-down."

As the leader of the group, Seth went first. "I don't like that smile of yours, Crystal. So I'm activating Card Destruction. Now we discard our entire hands and draw a new one."

Crystal shrugged. "Awww, that's too bad." She had a hand of powerful dragons to summon. Seth and his friends saw this and laughed at her.

"I saw some of your best dragons going to the Graveyard," Seth said. "So now I'm activating this. Soul Release! Now I can banish five cards from your Graveyard. Say goodbye to your Darkflare Dragon, Lightpulsar Dragon, Tyrant Dragon, and your Magna-Slash Dragon!"

Crystal merely glared at him as she took the cards out of the Graveyard and put them in her pocket.

"Ha! Looks like you won't be showing off those monsters this time. I summon Beast of Talwar in attack mode!" he said summoning a fiend with two curved blades and 2400 ATK points. "And then I set a card face-down and end my turn."

"My turn!" said Gordon. "I summon Neo Aqua Madoor in defense mode. With a DEF of 3000, your monsters can't hope to get to our Life Points."

Mick's turn. "I summon Cyber-Tech Alligator in attack mode! Now it's your move, Crystal."

"You're lucky nobody can attack until everyone has had their first turn," said Gordon. "Otherwise, we would have beaten your ass already."

Crystal drew. "I end my turn."

"Aww, wot's wong?" taunted Gordon in a babyish voice. "Can't summon a dwagon to beat us?"

"My turn!" said Seth. "Yes, here's another powerful creature to throw into the mix, Crystal! Behold my Judge Man."

Crystal yawned even though the giant brute of a warrior standing before her had 2200 ATK points.

"Oh, not impressed, huh? We'll just see about that! Attack!"

Judge Man sprinted across the field, his large boots splashed in the puddles. He raised one of his clubs and smashed it on a cute pink dragon the screeched in agony before vanishing.

"Ha!" laughed Seth. "Did you see that, guys? Crystal thought that pathetic pink dragon was going to stop us! Ha!"

"Don't laugh at it," said Crystal. "You just popped one of the most dangerous cards in my deck."

"That pathetic monster?" Gordon mocked.

"This so-called 'pathetic' monster is Kidmodo Dragon. When it's destroyed, this cute and cuddly dragon allows me to Special Summon a dragon from my hand."

Seth got nervous. "He lets you summon a dragon!"

"Yes, indeed. I summon Grandtusk Dragon!"

Crystal placed the card on her Duel Disk, the holoprojectors whirred even louder for the dragon she summoned was the size of a mountain. Grandtusk Dragon finally formed into the world. It lowered its head and looked down at the boys. Crystal was Dueling.

"He only has 1400 ATK points!" said Mick. "He can't take on our powerful monsters!"

"Not now, but when he's summoned to the field, he can destroy two cards. So I'm targeting Gordon's face-down card and Mick's Cyber-Tech Alligator!"

POW! POW! Gordon's Mirror Force trap card was destroyed and so was Mick's Cyber-Tech Alligator.

"And now," said Crystal, "Grandtusk Dragon's ATK points will increase by 600 for each card I destroyed, raising him to 2600. I end my turn."

"My go!" said Gordon. "Uh...oh man, that's a big dragon. I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"My turn!" said Mick. "Ha! I activate Monster Reborn and bring back Cyber-Tech Alligator from the Graveyard. And now, I'm equipping him with Malevolent Nuzzler, increasing his ATK by 700, so now his strength is 3200!"

"Way to go, Mick!" said Seth. "Teach her dragon a lesson!"

"Indeed I will. I attack your Grandtusk Dragon with Cyber-Tech Alligator!"

"You've activated my trap!" said Crystal. "Wal of Disruption. Now all of your attack position monsters will lose 800 ATK points for every monster you control. And you all have enough monsters to reduce their ATK points to 0.

Grandtusk Dragon blew fire from his mouth and burned Cyber-Tech Alligator to a crisp, all the while dealing 2600 damage to his Life Points. "Aww, man! I screwed up!" he said.

"My turn!" said Crystal. "I'm going to end you guys by summoning five dragons this turn."

"Five dragons?" said Yuri.

"You're bluffing!" said Seth.

Crystal laughed. "Just watch. First, I'm activating Ancalagon's Delight!" A beautiful gem appeared before her, glowing as bright as the sun.

"With this spell, I'll discard Tri-Horned Dragon and add two Dragons from my deck to my hand whose levels are equal to or lower than his. Next, I activate Graceful Charity. I'll draw three cards and then discard two. Lightpulsar Dragon and Darkflare Dragon."

"Oh no!" Gordon cried out in horror. "Those are Light and Darkness attribute monsters. That means..."

"Yes," said Crystal. "I banish them both to summon this bad boy." She brought the card to her lips and kissed it. "I summon Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End."

A pillar of flames burst in front of Crystal. They quickly dispersed and revealed the King of her Dragon Deck. Chaos Emperor Dragon roared and the rain poured down even harder.

"She summoned it!" cried Mick. "Seth...do something!"

"I c-c-can't!"

"There's nothing you can do," said Crystal. "Now, I'm going to tribute Grandtusk Dragon to summon Strong Wind Dragon in attack mode!" She summoned a muscular green dragon with thin, wrinkled wings and 2400 ATK points.

"When Strong Wind Dragon is tribute summoned, he gains half of the original ATK points of the monster I Tributed, so his strength is now at 3100!"

"Oh man, this is bad!" said Mick.

"Oh, it's about to get worse. Because now I activate Dimension Fusion. At the cost of 2000 of my Life Points, I can special summon as many banished monsters as possible."

"Oh wow," said Yuri. "She's actually going to do it."

Crystal held her arm up in the air. A wall of fire formed behind her releasing the dragons she chose. "I call upon Tyrant Dragon, Lightpulsar Dragon, and Darkflare Dragon!"

"Ugh, oh no!"

"So much for the 'elite' Duelists you guys claim to be!" said Crystal. "I knew all that hype about you guys was false. My little cousin can play better than you guys and she plays with a structure deck. And since all of your monsters have zero attack points thanks to my Wall of Disruption card, it's safe to say you guys are done for."

Crystal ordered the attack and then Seth and his friends were pummeled by an onslaught of dragons. A giant mushroom cloud burst into the sky and their cards scattered in the wind. The power of the Solid Vision Holograms proved too much for Seth and his friends. They lay on the ground knocked unconscious.

"Wow," said Yuri. "These new holograms are not for the faint of heart."

"Yeah, I'll say," said Crystal. She tilted her head to the west, signaling Yuri to follow her. So he did, leaving Seth and his friends behind as they lay on the ground.

"Thanks for the help," said Yuri. "I think I might have myself a celebrity stalker."

Crystal laughed. "Hey, I was in the neighborhood."

"Does Brett got anything to say about that?'

Crystal rolled her eyes. "Not unless the beer keeps flowing and the strippers are dancing."

"Ew," said Yuri.

"Yeah. But you oughta be careful, Yuri. I heard there's some creep out there beating people with Exodia cards."

"I heard about this Exodia Duelist, too. Do you think it's the Red Sparrow?"

"No, I don't think so. They say he's supposed to be a hero or something. I dunno. Someone who dresses up in a costume and plays the hero with card games clearly has issues."

"Well, you and I both know Duel Monsters is no ordinary card game. Not now with the Solid Vision Cards."

"I know," said Crystal. "I have a feeling playing with lifelike Solid Vision monsters is just going to make things worse around here. Anyway, mind if I ask you for a favor?"

"What's up?"

"See...my little cousin Annabelle is coming from Monaco this weekend."

"Oh, what for?"

"For that big party of yours. She's been looking forward to coming since last winter. But the thing is, she's really, really young and I don't want Brett or his goons to pick her up. So I...had to beg Brett for a favor. Well, believe it or not, Brett gave me permission to pick her up with you."

"With me? What did it take to convince him to do that?"

"You don't wanna know," Crystal said, slowly shaking her head. "Anyway, I've got her staying in her own suite downtown with her nanny."

"Well, that's nice," said Yuri.

"Yeah, and I want you and your friends to be the very first people she meets here. I mean, if that's cool with you."

"Sure, I bet they'd love to meet you and your little cousin. You said she has a structure deck, right? Is she a Duelist?"

"Well, she's learning to be one anyway. Maybe you guys can give her some pointers."

"Sounds good," said Yuri. "I think it'll be fun."

He walked with Crystal deeper into the park, not knowing that they were being watched. And how could they? The strange figure was so still, they barely even saw him. A voice spoke inside the man's head.

Yes, little Yuri. Go have your fun. Soon, your little dream island will turn into a nightmare beyond your understanding...Hahahahaha!