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]

26. The Masked Duelists: Part I

Yuri - Yami Yugi's Noctix

Tel. XVIII, Year 18, 4AOS

---

Not long after he fell asleep, Yuri found himself sitting by a pond under the shade of a willow tree with Yami Yugi himself examining his cards with a smile. Yuri hated to admit it, but Yami didn't seem so bad now that he wasn't summoning an army of powerful magicians to mow him down tonight. It seemed like he just wanted to have a little chat. And Yuri, even though he got blasted almost on a nightly basis because of him, didn't seem to mind. He hoped a little diplomacy would ease the tension he felt with Yami.

"You've assembled a powerful deck, Yuri," Yami said, setting the deck down on a table carved into a stone by the spot Yuri sat.

"But will it be enough to stop them? The Rare Hunters I mean." Yuri wrapped his arms around his legs and set his chin on his knees. "I don't exactly have the all-powerful cards you, Jaden, and the others seem to have when you visit me."

Yami merely chuckled and picked up the deck again, flipping it over to see the bottom card. The Black Tyranno. "Sometimes there's nothing left to do than to believe in the deck you've created. I have sensed you feeling a powerful force whenever you are in your darkest moments in battle, Yuri. Have you sensed it, too?"

"Always. Whenever I clear my mind and focus on what's important, I feel warmth and a sense of joy overpowering me. You know, I've even been emboldened enough to talk about to my opponents."

"As much as I glad to hear you say that, Yuri, it is unwise to disrespect your opponent. Trash-talking and comebacks only fuel anger and anger always leads to hatred. Now is not the time to be making enemies. Believe me, Yuri, you have more than enough."

"So these guys, these Rare Hunters, are they...from your world, too?"

"Yes. Yuri, these Duelists are unlike any challenge you have ever faced."

"Right."

"The fate of the world — our world — and possibly even this one depends on you becoming the High King. It is your destiny."

"High King. No, no, there is no such thing. I know I'm going nuts. The blast hit my head harder than I thought."

"Is that so? Then how is it that they know so much about you? Where you're from? Who I am, and what you could one day become. If I am nothing more than your dream, how do they know so much about me?"

Yuri breathed out of his nose. He knew Yami was right. "This feels so unreal. A year ago, I never would have even thought there were other worlds out there. It's like a multiverse or something from those superhero comic books I like to read."

"Yes. I am glad you are beginning to understand, Yuri."

"Does that mean the Duels can stop?"

Yami closed his eyes and sighed too. "No. I am afraid there is something inside of you that requires me and the other heroes to visit you in your dreams and Duel the darkness out of your heart. More heroes are needed for this task, so expect to see more."

"Oh, great." Yuri raised his hands and slapped them on his knees. "More assholes are going to ruin my night. Why do they have to do this to me?"

"I wish there was another way to do this my young friend, but I'm afraid the only remedy for this is Dueling. You see, Yuri, a great evil cursed you when you were a baby. The night before we left you here, the Witch-King of Azulbinazar. But you know him as Bakura."

Yuri gasped, feeling a chill run through his body. "I knew it. What happened to those kids — no imaginary friend could do that."

"Yes. Bakura is very real and the damage he has caused you is real, too."

"I know all about it. Kaiba told me the whole story when he kicked my ass a few nights ago. About the nightmare world that has attached itself to my heart and feeds me fear. I felt a lot of it today, but some powerful voice told me to stay calm and that I must fight whoever did this head-on."

"And?"

"And that if I don't face my fears, the nightmare world will get stronger and eventually drive me to madness. And something about a knight who wanders there, too. I saw the way he suffered for me. I see his quest in my dreams some nights, too. I guess that's what really motivated me to grow a pair and join the fight."

"Hmm," Yami said with a nod. "Then you know what you must do, don't you?"

"I do. But...but I'm still scared."

"It's natural to fear the unknown, Yuri. But you must show great strength and courage against your foes, Yuri. Only then will the darkness that was placed inside you falter. When it does, your true potential will be unleashed and you can show the world that you are not a flower as they call you."

"Ugh, had to bring that up," Yuri said with a laugh.

Yami chuckled and nodded, glad to finally get some humor out of Yuri. "You have shown tremendous improvement, Yuri. Not just in your skills but as a person. The cruse of the Witch King is slowly washing away."

"I guess I should say thanks."

"No, Yuri, thank yourself. Thank your friends, for it is they who encourage you to face the darkness. Especially, Crystal."

Yuri looked up at Yami. "You know about her, too?"

"There is much we know about you, Yuri. And I know for a fact that you are Crystal's light — a light that helps her wake up each morning with the strength to fight through the misfortune she has of being with that fool."

"Can't you do anything to stop him?"

"That is not a task for me, Yuri. Brett is a dragon you must slay on your own. Jaden and Kaiba and I can only give you a little nudge out of the door. So fight for her. Confront the Rare Hunters not for me, not for Jaden, not even for yourself. But for Crystal. Be the shining beacon of hope she needs so she can find the will to free herself from the people that bind her."

"All right. Then that's what I'll do."

"Good. Now that you are beginning to understand who I am and that the land where I come from is real, I must ask that you refrain from speaking of this to your friends. The less they know about our world the better."

"I...I understand. I can't relay any of this to them anyway. They think I'm crazy enough as it is."

"I'd prefer it stays that way," said Yami. "I must leave you now, my friend. You've had a terrible night because of the Rare Hunters. And tomorrow, you must make them pay for what they've done."

"I will. Goodnight, Yami."

Yami smiled. "Goodnight, Yuri."

---

Joey - Mellow Fields Tournament Day 1

Tel. XIX, Year 18 4AOS

---

"You have fought a valiant Duel, Ser Joey! But I'm afraid my mighty Gem-Knight Zirconia is the strongest monster on the field!" called the valiant, Ser Mergreen of the Pineworth Family.

"Yeah, you've got me beat it looks like," Joey said rather smug. "You put up a good fight, Ser. But it ain't good enough. I draw. I sacrifice Litte Winguard, Rocket Warrior, and Swordsman of Landstar to summon Gilford the Lightning."

Joey's swordsman appeared on the field from a column of lighting. He wore massive pauldrons and a small chestplate made of platinum-steel. Except for matching grieves and a scarlet red cloth around his waist, he was naked. He raised his massive sword and automatically destroyed Ser Megreen's monster, defeating them instantly. After that, Joey attacked his opponent's Life Points directly. Gilford the Lightning launched himself toward Ser Mergreen and slashed him across the chest.

"Yeah!" Joey shouted. "I. Am. Da. Winner!"

On the next round, he faced another brash opponent. "At last, I will take down the mighty Ser Joey!" he shouted, posturing in over-the-top poses to make the sun catch his emerald armor chased with gold. "And with your Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field, destroying him to defeat you will only sweeten my victory. I will Tune my Tri-Horned Dragon and Dragunity Corseca to create the mighty Giganticastle!"

The two monsters turned into two bright orbs. They spun and then shot themselves into the ground. The earth shook. A great fissure opened behind him and from it emerged a rock giant that doubled as an impregnable fortress. He was over 400 feet tall and covered in moss. Seagulls flapped around his massive head, which was a cave with flashing red-eyes.

"The brash green knight bowed. "At twenty-nine-hundred attack points, Giganticastle is a formidable foe. But with his special effect, he'll gain an extra two-hundred attack and defense points."

ATK/3300

"Attack his Red-Eyed and end this Duel, my beast!"

Giganticastle let out a loud bellow like a trumpet. It raised its fist, ready to crush Joey's ace monster. The green knight laughed, thinking victory was only a punch away.

"I don't think so!" shouted Joey. "I activate my face-down card! Skull Dice. Now yer monster will lose attack points equal to the roll of the die."

A mischievous black fairy with a red hat sniggered as he was rendered on the field. He rolled the red dice he was holding. The crowd held their breath as they watched the dice rattle around on the ground. Finally, it came to a stop.

"YEAH!" Joey shouted. "A two! Now that means yer monster's attack gets cut in half! But wait, I ain't done yet. I reveal my second face-down card, Graceful Dice. This card will increase my Red-Eyes Black Dragon's attack based on the roll of the die like last time. Here we go."

Now, a more benign fairy appeared and dropped a blue dice. Again, the crowd watched with anticipation as the dice rolled across the ground before finally coming to a stop.

"LADY LUCK'S WITH ME TONIGHT!" shouted Joey. "A perfect six. Now my Red-Eyes Black Dragon's attack increases to three-thousand. Knock him outta the tourney, old buddy! Inferno Fire Blast!'

Red-Eyes Black Dragon took flight, missing the castle's punch by a mere foot. The fist smashed on the ground, rocking the fairgrounds and creating a fierce dust cloud. Red-Eyes Black Dragon, fully powered by Graceful Dice, fired his signature attack, blasting Giganticastle's head off, along with the rest of the knight's Life Points. He stood where he was, flabbergasted, as pieces of his monster rained down all around him.

He smacked both hands on the sides of his head. "OH NOOO!" he shouted. "NOOOO!"

Joey held up his fist and soaked up the admiration of the crowd. He heard a commotion coming from the field next to him. It was Rex Raptor going against a knight in black armor with flame decals using a Laval deck.

"LAVAL STENNON APPEAR!" shouted the knight, Synchro Summoning his mighty monster. A giant with rock-hard, blue-colored, flesh in bronze armor. His left hand was a massive magma cannon.

ATK/2700

"ATTACK!" shouted the knight. "Destroy his Dark Tyranno with your Laval Cannon!"

"I think not!" laughed Rex. "I activate the trap known as Survival of the Fittest! This card will boost the attack power of my Dark Tyranno by one-thousand!"

Rex's super predator, and common version of the Black Tyranno, roared, feeling the power of the trap surge through his body. Unlike Black Tyranno, Dark Tyranno appeared natural beast, with dark brown scales banded with peanut-butter-colored stripes.

ATK/3600

Dark Tyranno ducked out of the way of the magma and then charged at Laval Stennon. He smashed his head against his chest, knocking the giant on his back. He then walked towards Stennon and ripped his head off his shoulders with his teeth. The crowd cheered and Rex laughed, holding up his fist victoriously.

"That knocks your Life Points down to zero and you out of the tournament."

"Competition is getting stiff," said Joey. "But I'll pull through."

---

Alexis and Alicia - House of Parliament, The Principality of Polonia/Termnnia

Tel. XIX, Year 18 4AOS

---

It was day two of the session Princess Pharmellica worked so hard to assemble. Even though there was still much bickering, Alexis was still content with the fact that everyone showed up. Because of how young Pharmellica was, and the fact that she was on the losing side, many did not take her pleas seriously. It had to take video presentations of Prince Michael, Zane, and Prince Ryon fighting the armies of robotic knights themselves for everyone to understand there was a threat going on finally.

"Nobody in our kingdom has the power those boys have," said a representative of the royal family. "We need them here to defend our lands."

"But they are so far away in other kingdoms," said another. "They'll never come here in time should King Forrest attack. The Princess is right. We need those airships."

"The airships belong to the League of Five," said a representative from the Heartstone Party, referring to the organization in Domino City consisting of the top five ruling companies (Kaiba Corp, Leo Corp, Industrial Illusions, Truesdale Industries, and the Kanemitsu Corporation). "And in this kingdom, the monarchy rules us not corporations."

"How many of our people must die for you all to take this threat seriously?" Pharmellica cried out. "King Forrest does not care if we are traditionalists or advocates for the use of technology. He will strike us down with all his might just to get my friend Alicia, the last Arva. My scouts have reported a large army of mechanical forces heading this way and my father's allies in Elleria reported a fleet of flying ships heading this way."

The delegates began to look at one another and murmur with worried whispers.

"I say we give the Arva to him," said one of the representatives of the Heartstone Party. "If King Forrest wants the winged girl, I say we give her to him to avoid any war."

"You can't be serious!" Pharmellica cried out.

"It will not be that simple," said Lady Jane Heartstone said, surprisingly being the voice of reason in the matter. "We all know King Forrest's demeanor when it comes to women. It will not stop at the Arva. Despite the...lack of usefulness her family has, Pharmellica is a princess and King Forrest will come to claim her. And it won't stop there, friends. King Forrest will move in to take the whole country and enslave all the pretty girls in sight so he can sell them to his friends in the House of Flowers, there's no doubt about that. So as much as I hate to say it, Princess Pharmellica speaks with great wisdom. We must allow the use of the Alliance's new airships in our lands."

Booooo! Traitor! Many people shouted. "Lady Jane is no traitor!" someone else from the Heartstone Party cried out. "My son owns an estate near the borders of the principality. And he has six beautiful daughters. I shudder to think what will happen if King Forrest marches in here with those mechanical menaces and takes them. The Princess is right."

"Thank you, Lady Jane," Pharmellica said with relief.

"Hmph, do not thank me, Princess, I have done nothing for you. My only interest is in keeping this country and its traditional values safe. So that is why we must sacrifice our values momentarily and have the Alliance bring their ships into our lands."

"You mean it?" Pharmellica asked.

"I do," said Lady Jane. "If King Forrest conquers our kingdom, he will enforce the use of technology on us. And they will mostly serve his needs, not ours. Thanks to the recordings of their battles provided to us by Princess Alexis, it seems the Princes of the Alliance and the heroes of the Kingsblades are our only hope in stopping those mechanical monstrosities. If King Forrest makes his move on our land, and he is, we are going to need them post haste, for there are no Wayshrines into our kingdom. I propose we allow the use of airships until we can guarantee King Forrest is evicted from our lands once and for all."

The head of parliament stood up and smashed his gavel. "A voice vote is required. All in favor of allowing the use of Alliance Airships in the kingdom say aye."

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

Many Ayes followed.

"All oppose?" the head said.

"Nay!"

"Nay!"

"The Ayes have it!" said the head, smashing his gavel. "Princess Pharmeliica, this was your proposal. See to it that you begin negotiations with your friends in the Alliance so that this matter is resolved at once. I know that Arva girl, Alicia. The orphans in my city adore her very much. I must admit, I've grown a soft spot for her as well. See to it that no harm comes to her or Fara. This is your future kingdom after all."

"Yes, sir! Thank you!" Pharmellica bowed.

Up in the balcony seats, Alexis and Alicia watched the whole thing. "Well, that was easy," said Alicia.

"A little too easy," Alexis said, eying Lady Jane suspiciously.

---

Nick, Los Angeles Rojas, Underneath Aquarius/The Standard Dimension

Tel. XX, Year 18 4AOS

---

Nick scratched his head in frustration. Even though his body was pretty sore, he was a tough kid. The doctors said he needed some more rest but he demanded to be let out of the hospital after getting some sleep. And he was released. Now he found himself sitting in his room, a bandage over his cheek, and his pride shattered to pieces. "How could I let that Rare Hunter get the best of me!?" he shouted at the iron plate above him holding up the great metropolis of Phobos Island. "Arrrggh!" He fell backward on the floor and gazed at the roof of his small room. "Even those sleaze balls have Duel Disks on them. How can I help Yuri and the gang with those Rare hunters if I don't have a Duel Disk? I just gotta get a Duel Disk. But man, those are so damn expensive. I can't afford to get the coins needed to get one of those. I just spent a month's pay on those new cards." He balled his fists. "Arrgh, and that damn Andre has one. So that means he's of more use to the gang than I am. Arrrghhh! I'll show him!"

Sam slowly opened the door to Nick's room. "Dude, when you're openly narrating your inner monologues, can you keep it down."

"Hey!" Nick sat up and pointed at him. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking you little rat!"

"No. But if you're looking for a Duel Disk you might have some luck with that girl Penelope in the junkyard."

"Penelope? Doesn't she fix cars or something?"

"Yeah, but her dad's shop managed to secure a few Duel Disks and they're selling them off for cheap."

"Oh yeah? So why aren't you getting one?"

"Heh. Are you forgetting who you're talking to? I've got my own way of getting a Duel Disk. Oh, by the way, my friends and I managed to get some nice shots of Patty sunbathing on the beach. You can have a pic for two silver coins."

Nick laughed. "You nimrod. You can have your pictures cuz I'm gonna get the real thing soon."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You really think you've got a chance with her? She's my crush and even I know I've got no chance. My money's on her and Yuri tying the knot."

"Patty and Yuri!?" Nick shouted. "Come on, man! Be serious."

"I am serious. Or maybe even Andre. I saw them getting lunch one time."

"Oh yeah!?" Nick grabbed his jacket hanging on the wall and ran out of his house with great speed to the junkyard.

Penelope! He thought, of course, she would have Duel Disks in hand in her shop. He heard a lot of good things about Penelope If you needed a car fixed or if your air conditioning or fridge broke down, she was the one to call. Consuelo definitely needed her services a lot, so he heard. That didn't surprise him. The stove, the fan, and even the generator in the back always shut down every week or so. She must have been very resourceful, too, for how in the world was she able to acquire Duel Disks down here in the slums underneath Aquarius? Well, he was about to find out now. Nick reached the junkyard at last. The sound of hammers smashing car frames and impact drivers removing lugnuts from tires was loud and constant, drowning out the sound of the cars driving over their part of town on the highway.

"Hello?" he called out. There was nobody around. "Hello!?" he called out again. "Hello?!" he stopped in front of a gunmetal 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. It seemed so out of place in the shop, for it shined like a new Penelope. And the one keeping it in shape was fixing the engine. Penelope Alejandra Rodriguez was making her own tweaks to the engine as she shook her posterior around to the beat of the bachata blasting from her phone and echoing across the shop, drowning out the noise from the power tools and the tough-looking men shouting orders and insults at one another. She wore a dirty white tank top stained with grease from when she wiped her fingers on it, and skin-tight jeans ripped in very clever places. Before Nick could have a chance to stare, a muscular Guatamalen man walked in front of him with a giant wrench over his shoulder.

"Can I help you?" he asked. He looked like he was ready to swing the wrench and knock Nick's head off his shoulders like a game of softball.

"Uh...I came to check out the Duel Disks you got..."

The man whistled. "Penelope!" he called and said something in Spanish.

"Coming, coming!" Penelope grabbed a bottle of coke sitting near the car's engine and chugged it down with a few gulps.

Penelope Alejandra Rodriguez

She tossed it into a nearby trash can and pulled her jeans up, for they were really low, exposing Nick to the good ol' plumber's crack as Sam and Tyson called it. She then grabbed a towel and wiped her hands with it. "What's up?" she said.

"Nothing, just trying my best not to piss my pants. Big guy looked like he was about to knock me into next year."

Penelope laughed. "Forgive him. That's my friend, Enrique. He and his brothers are highly protective of me."

"I see. Wow, nice car!" Nick said, very impressed with the Boss 429. He walked passed her to examine it. "Is it yours?"

"Ha! I wish," said Penelope. "No, it's the grand prize for the upcoming tournament on Enron Island."

"Enron?" Nick said. He scratched his chin. "Uh, isn't Enron Island just a port for the city's supplies and stuff? There aren't any Dueling Arenas out there"

"Nope. That's what makes it a great place to host an unofficial tournament."

"Unofficial? You mean it ain't a legit event?"

"Of course not. See, the topsiders don't want to share their Solid Vision tech with us, Stowaways, down here. So me and a few others down here have taken the liberty of getting a few Duel Disks for the good people of Los Angeles Rojas."

"The gear isn't hot is it?"

Penelope frowned. "You think I'd be here if they were? RAPTOR would have been here faster than lighting to arrest my ass. No, we got these with our own money."

"Must have cost a fortune."

"Well, we had a lot of help from the other businesses down here, so it was no big deal. Anyways, we got enough Duel Disks to set up our own little event in a warehouse on Enron Island. They don't mind us going over there to have street races so long as we pay and clean up our mess."

"I see, any chance that I can enter this tournament?"

"If you want, but it costs two gold coins to enter."

"Two coins?"

"Yup. That's the way the cookie crumbles. If you can muster up two gold coins by Friday, I can add you to the bracket."

"Man, that's a lot of money to get in."

Penelope shrugged. "Hey, we gotta make money, too. And you're Yuri's buddy, aren't you? I'm sure you can come up with the money by then."

"Easier said than done, but you can bet on it. Now, do you have any Duel Disks left that I can use?"

"Sure, but that's going to cost you five gold coins."

"Aww, man!" Nick groaned. "Nothing's ever simple is it."

"Sorry, bro, this isn't a charity. You want the Duel Disk, you gotta fork up the gold."

"Well...I don't have any gold. I would have had five gold coins but my guardian Consuelo: she runs this chicken restaurant down there by the harbor."

"I know. El Pollo Rojo. Mmm-mmm! I always head over to her place for lunch. She makes the best chicken."

"Yeah, but it costs money to get those chickens and what little we have left goes to you. I know she contacts you to fix the generators and stuff."

Penelope scratched her chin. "Yeah, that she does."

"We're running low on money, too," said Nick.

"You? Mr. Montgomery pays for your healthcare and education. How can you be low on money?"

"Because Mr. Montgomery's generosity has its limits."

"What an asshole. You'd think he'd give you a little more for saving his boy's life."

"What can you do? Anyway, if I can get one of those Duel Disks, I can join in on the action going on up there. There's a lot of money going around now that we have Duel Disks. I promise I can work to pay this off."

"Well..." Penelope tapped her lip with her nail. "I suppose I could lend it to you until you pay it off. But, you've got to pay what's due by the tenth of October, okay? If I don't get my gold by that time, I'm getting my Duel Disk back. And God help you if you decide to run from me, otherwise, my Pop and his boys will come after you. Don't force us to have to do that."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Only because you're Yuri Montgomery's friend. If you make it big in those fancy Dueling Clubs or Indy League Circuits, you gotta promise me you'll give me a shoutout."

"I can and will."

"All right, you just need to do one thing."

"Name it. What do I have to do?"

"You face me in a Duel."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I can't just loan this to just anybody, Nick. I need to see if you're worthy of wielding this beauty of a machine. And no offense, chico, but I haven't heard good things from you up top. Yeah, it seems Yuri and the rest of the crew are kicking ass while you're always getting yours kicked."

"But things are different now. I got a new deck on me right now. My friends helped me build it. It is leagues better than what I used to run."

"If that's the case, then this Duel should be a piece of cake for you, right? You want the Duel Disk, then you have to beat me."

"Well, all right."

"All right, wait here," Penelope said heading into her office. She came back moments later with two black carrying cases. She tossed one of them to Nick and carried hers outside.

"Wow!" said Nick. He couldn't wait to open it. He followed Penelope outside to an area she separated from the rest of the yard with walls of scrapped cars and walls of junk and the field was marked with white paint. "Aw, man, I can't believe I'm going to get to use one of these."

Penelope opened her case. It was covered with 3D stickers of roses, cute cartoony dragons, skulls, the Mexican flag, La Virgin de Guadalupe, and her favorite rock bands. She placed her Duel Disk over her wrist, grinning at the high-tech beeping sound it made when it powered on. She then took her deck out of a secret compartment of the carrying case and placed it in the deck slot of the Duel Disk. Nick did the same. He showed off the red holographic sleeves of his new cards, to which Penelope rolled her eyes and gave him a thumbs-up.

"You ready, chico?" she said. She took a cherry lollipop out of her pocket, unwrapped it, and stuck it in her mouth.

"Yeah, I'm ready when you are."

Their 4000 Life Points were displayed, the drones took off, and the match was set. "DUEL!" they both shouted.

T1

"I'll start first," said Penelope. "I summon Overdrive in attack mode!" she placed her card down and summoned a huge military jeep with 1600 ATK points. "Then I'll set a card face-down and end my turn. Your move, chico."

T2

"Nice opening move," said Nick. "Now I'll show you what I can do. Yuck, this hand sucks. Luckily, I have a mulligan card that can help out. Card Destruction! Now, we discard our hands and draw the same amount of cards we had before. Next, activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Aww, yeah! Now this is a hand! I summon Panther Warrior in attack mode!" The anthropomorphic panther appeared on the field snarling and waving his giant curved sword around. "And now I'm gonna play Scapegoat. It allows me to summon four sheep tokens."

Nick's little sheep manifested over the ground causing Penelope to clasp her hands and croon. "Awww, they're so cute!"

"Well, I'm glad you like them, but they're not gonna stay for long. See, in order for Panther Warrior to attack, I need to tribute a monster. And that's where my sheep come into play. I'll tribute one of my tokens and have Panther Warrior attack your Overdrive!"

Panther Warrior snarled then jumped up high, ready to cut Overdrive in half. Penelope laughed. "Sorry, Nick, but you activated my spell card, Reinforcements. It will increase my Overdrive's ATK by 500, making him stronger than your Panther Warrior."

The chaingun mounted on the top of the jeep made a 360-degree turn and aimed at Panther Warrior, who was coming closer. The chaingun spun and fired thousands of rounds per second. Panther Warrior surprisingly was deflecting them all with his sword and his shield.

"Sorry, Penelope, but from my hand, I activate the quick-play spell, Rush Recklessly. It will increase Pather Warrior's ATK by 700, so now he's the stronger monster in this round."

Panther Warrior gave a mighty shout, bringing his sword down on Overdrive, and cutting it in half. Overdrive scintillated for a moment and then exploded, blasting Penelope with 600 points of damage.

"Arrgh!" Penelope turned away and shielded her face with her hands. "Yo, that was sick!"

"Thanks, Penelope. Now, I play one card face-down. It's your move."

T3

Nick - 4000 LP

3400 LP - Penelope

Penelope smiled and pulled her pants up before she drew her card. "Yeah, you spanked me that round, Papi. But I've got more creatures ready to pwn you. Like this one. First, I play Double Summon, so I can play two monsters this turn. First, I summon Gadget Soldier in defense mode, and then I'm summoning Launcher Spider!"

Penelope summoned a giant cyborg in gleaming white armor carrying a rocket launcher over his shoulder and then she summoned a colossal robotic spider with 2200 ATK points. Gadget Soldier's DEF was 2000, meaning it was going to be harder for Nick to wipe out her Life Points.

"Get ready, Nick! My Launcher Spider has way more attack points than your Panther Warrior. Say goodbye!" The missile launchers on Launcher Spider's back opened and then a salvo of missiles took off into the sky before they arched downwards back to earth directly for Panther Warrior.

"I reveal my face-down card!" said Nick. "Inspiration! This will increase Panther Warrior's ATK by 700 points." Panther Warrior dodged each of the missiles and jumped high enough that he soared over Launcher Spider. He brought his sword down and stuck it into the spider's head. He then dislodged his sword and jumped off with an elegant backflip before Launcher Spider exploded, the blast dealt 500 points of damage, reducing Penelope's score to 2900.

"Yes!" Nick pumped up his fist. "I've almost got you down to half your Life Points.

"I hope you enjoy your lead while it lasts," said Penelope.

T4

Nick - 4000 LP

2900 LP - Penelope

"Oh, you bet I've got more planned for ya, Penelope. Say, I'm seeing a pattern with the monsters you've been summoning. You like machine cards, don't you?"

"I sure do. And just like that Boss in the garage, I like to keep my best ones well-oiled and maintained when in battle."

"You haven't been doing such a good job of that, Penelope."

"Maybe not, but those weren't my best machines. I got even shinier babies in his deck and when they come out, they're going to make you wish you never set foot into my shop."

"Oh, we'll I'm shaking in my boots." He looked at the card he drew. "Well, I can't attack your Gadget Soldier since his DEF points are evenly matched with my Panther Warrior's ATK points. So I'm gonna give you a moment to breathe and end my turn."

T5

"Give me a moment to breathe, huh? Please, you're going to regret that pretty soon. First, I activate Graceful Charity and...what's with that face?"

"Uh, nothing," said Nick, remembering that the Rare Hunter he face a few nights ago used that card to summon Exodia against him. "Nothing. You go ahead with your turn."

"All right, you know the drill with Graceful Charity. I draw three and discard two. Now I'm summoning Fiendish Engine Omega in attack mode!"

A cloud of smoke blew out of the ground, enveloping Penelope and concealing her completely. Nick heard the loud whirrs and mechanical movements of a very large machine as it rose up over the smoke and stared him down. It was colored candy red with shiny silver steel arms, legs, claws, and horns. Four large exhaust ports stuck out of its back, releasing a noxious purplish-gray smoke into the air.

ATK/2800

"Oh man, that's one big monster!" said Nick.

"And he's about to get even stronger," said Penelope. "First, I activate the spell, Fairy Meteor Crush. Now Fiendish Engine Omega will deal damage to your Life Points even if your monsters are in defense mode. And your little sheep are going to make the perfect targets for me to wipe out your Life Points with ease."

"Oh no!" Nick cried.

"Oh, yes! Fiendish Engine Omega, attack his yellow Sheep Token!"

Her gigantic red robot raised one of its sharp blades mounted on its forearm and sliced the sheep in half. Then, missiles shout out of its back and pulverized Nick, sending him flying back a few feet. "Oh, man! That thing almost wiped me out!" Nick said, his Life Points now at a dismal 1200.

"I told you not to underestimate me," Penelope said with a laugh. She started swinging her hips around and raised her arms over her head in a sensuous victory dance. She spun, slapped her derriere, and laughed. "This bad boy has never let me down. Never!" She blew her robotic monster a kiss. "And you've just seen why. Having those little sheep around may have been able to give your Panther Warrior the tributes he needed to attack, but their pitiful DEF points, or lack thereof, have proven to be your downfall. One more attack from my tricked-out machine and you're done for. I set a card face-down end my turn."

Fiendish Engine Ω then summoned a smaller version of itself to the field with only 200 ATK and DEF.

"What is that?" Nick asked.

"During the end phase, Fiendish Engine Omega summons an engine token in attack position. You're welcome to attack it, but then my face-down card would just activate, wouldn't it?"

T6

"Don't think you can psyche me out, Penelope," said Nick. "I've got lots of cards raring to turn that hunk of junk into scrap. Draw! Aww, yeah! Check this out. It's a little something my buddy Carter gave me! Mystical Space Typhoon! With this, I'll destroy your Fairy Meteor Crush spell card."

A tornado flew out of Nick's card and shattered the Equip Spell.

"You probably expect me to fall for that face-down card of yours, but my friend Yuri told me never to jump in without considering the face-down cards on the field. So I'll set a trap of my own and end my turn. Now it's time to see which one of us has the better strategy."

T7

"Not gonna lie, this is getting me excited," said Penelope. She drew. "It looks like that new deck of yours really is doing wonders for you, Nick."

"Thanks, but my friends helped me build, so I can't take all the credit."

"You're lucky to have friends like them, Nick. Your friends remind me of Enrique and his brothers. They took me in and helped me during my darkest hour."

"Is he your brother?"

"From another mother," Penelope said, thumping her chest with her palm. Ever since Brett Martinetti dumped my ass here, they've been the only family I got."

"Brett Martinetti? He's that asshole who's after Yuri. What did you do to mingle in affairs with him?"

"It's a long story, Chico. See, I'm not from here originally. I was born in a small city in Mexico called La Puerta — not a nice place. Cartels pretty much ran the joint. Every day when I woke up for school, I always heard my mama and the neighbors talking about how someone they knew got chopped up or taken to the desert to get goosed. And each time I went to bed, instead of counting sheep, I would always count the gunshots in the night to help me get to sleep. Los Angeles Rojas is paradise compared to La Puerta."

"Man, and I thought I had a rough life," said Nick. "How did you survive all the violence?"

"The only reason the cartels left my family alone was because my dad and my Abuelo were the best mechanics in town. If their rides broke down, and they always did, they always came to my dad's shop to get their vehicles back in tip-top shape. My dad was the best mechanic I knew. He could make a bullet-ridden car look good as new in a couple of days or your money back." She winked.

"And they seemed to have taught you a thing or two, huh?" Nick said.

"Hell yeah, man. I've been fixing and customizing cars since I was in first grade. But by the time I got to high school, all hell broke loose. A rival cartel came riding into town one day, and these guys were absolute savages. When they knew my father and Abeulo were fixing cars for the rival gang, they attacked our house in the middle of the night. But my father and my gramps were fighters. As they hunkered down and fought them off, my mama took me and my sisters away in this underground tunnel and we escaped. We traveled across the desert for miles until we reached this city on the coast."

"So how did you end up here?"

"Aquarius was passing by the Gulf of Mexico that summer. Instead of paying to sneak us into America, Mama wanted us to live there. But Aquarius has strict laws, and those who don't follow them either get sent back to where they came from or live under here." She pointed to the plate holding up Phobos Island. "She found some guys from the Martinettis who came by to scout for girls for some club they opened up. But I was too young to be selected by them. Heh, got to hand it to the Martinettis. At least they have morals."

"So what happened next?"

Penelope crossed herself and blew a kiss to the sky. "I must have been blessed that day because one of their jeeps broke down. Since I was right there, I got to work and fixed their ride in no time. Needless to say, they were impressed."

"And they took you and your mom in, right?"

Penelope shook her head. "No. Just me. They didn't want my mom."

"Wait a minute! They just forced you to leave her?"

"No, they said I could have stayed if I wanted to. They didn't really care if I went with them or not to be honest. It was my mom who told me to go. She didn't care what happened to her. She just wanted me to be safe. Before we left, I promised her I'd come back for her. I swore I was going to make it big here. For a moment, I thought things were going well. The scouts introduced me to the head of the mafia itself, Lucio Martinetti. I worked on his limos, his collection, you name it. Lucio started paying for my education and I earned myself a nice little apartment in the underwater condos of Gondolin Island."

"So what happened? Sounded like you found the land of milk and honey."

"It was until I saw the way Brett was treating Crystal."

"I've seen how he treats her, yeah," said Nick. "Makes me sick to my stomach."

"Same. I couldn't bear to work for scumbags like them. One day, Brett orders me to customize his Lambo. So I told him to fuck off. The next thing I knew, his boys got all up in my face and started beating the shit out of me. When I came to, I was in the middle of the wharf on Enron Island without a stitch of clothing on me."

"Man, that's sick!"

"Tell me about it. But that's when Enrique and his boys showed up and found me. They gave me some clothes and offered me a home on their little boat down here in the slums. And I've been here ever since."

"So what do you plan to do now?"

"Hopefully, I'll make it big in the Dueling world," said Penelope.

"You think you can"

"I've got the skills, not gonna lie. I don't only accel with cars but I'm good at Duel Monsters, too. I won some local tournaments around here thanks to him." She held up her Fiendish Engine Ω card. "My dad wasn't much of a Duel Monsters fan but Fiendish Engine Omega was always his favorite card."

"That's your pop's card, huh?"

'Yeah. He bought it for the sake of having it. It became sort of a good luck charm to him and he gave it to me when I fixed my first car. This card...it's all I have left of my dad. Thanks to this card, I've been able to pay RAPTOR the money they ask for every month to allow us to stay down here and pay to keep our business up and running. Those guys over there on Enron are always coming down here looking for workers to lend a helping hand with vehicle maintenance and shipping."

"I bet you fix all their trucks and stuff, right?"

"Damn right, and RAPTOR even calls me to fix their Humvees, so money's been good." She sighed. "But it's not enough to get us out of here. One day, me, Enrique and the boys are gonna be living large up there. When I'm up there, Nick, I'm gonna find myself a nice guy to settle down with, and then I'm heading back to Mexico to look for my mom."

"A nice guy to settle with huh?"

Penelope giggled and shrugged. "Even a tough girl like me needs a guy to cuddle with at the end of the day."

"I wish you the best, Penelope, really, I do."

"Thanks. Oh! Look at me rambling on about my sad past. Boo-hoo. We've got a Duel to finish."

"No, Penelope. I think it's fascinating. I know your mom's out there waiting for you, too. And your dad and your gramps: the best of them are inside of you since you've inherited their skills and continuing their life's work. Fixing cars and helping people, you go girl! You made it, you survived."

"Yeah, I survived, but I don't think you'll survive this Duel. I drew this!" She flipped over a spell card. "Monster Reborn!"

"Huh? You gonna bring back Overdrive or Launcher Spider or something?"

Penelope smiled. "Worse."

"Worse!?"

"Oh yeah. Remember the two cards I discarded with Graceful Charity? Well, one of them was this guy. Rise up, Machine King!"

"Machine King!?" Nick cried out in shock.

A fountain of lights sparkled behind Penelope and out from it emerged a giant robot with a red and blue paint job. The red lens on its head flashed red as the ATK window displayed 2200 ATK Points.

"Machine King is another one of the rarest and most powerful monsters in my deck. And you're about to find out why, chico. See, for every Machine-Type monster on the field, Machine King gains 100 extra ATK points, including himself. And I count four. Machine King, Fiendish Engine Omega, the Engine Token he summoned last turn, and the Gadget Soldier I summoned earlier. So that means he gains 400 ATK points, raising him to 2600. "Time to make sure your Panther Warrior doesn't get to make any more attacks! First, I switch Gadget Soldier to attack mode and I'll have him destroy your third Sheep Token."

Gadget Soldier got on one knee. He aimed his rocket launcher at the sheep and unleashed four rockets. They whistled across the air and dove down on the sheep, blasting it to smithereens and shrouding Nick in a cloud of dust.

"Now, Machine King will attack your last Sheep Token! Destroy it, Machine King, Rocket Punch!" Machine King raised his fist. Vrrrr, went his arm as it rose. Machine King's fist then launched itself out of his arm with a rocket. It flew across the field and destroyed the last Sheep Token.

"All right, Nick, time to kiss your Panther Warrior goodbye! Fiendish Engine Omega, attack and destroy Panther Warrior!"

"Hold it right there, Penelope! I activate my trap card, Armory Call!"

"What's that?"

"Armory Call allows me to add an Equip-Spell to my hand and then, I can equip it to a monster that can use it. And the card I choose is Bashing Shield! This card was a gift from my buddy Tyson! And thanks to this, Panther Warrior gains an additional 1000 ATK points, raising him to 3000, making him stronger than your Fiendish Engine!"

"That's what you think, Nick! I activate Fiendish Engine Omega's special ability."

"Special ability?"

"Yes! Once per turn, I can increase Fiendish Engine Omega's ATK points by 1000, so now his ATK rises to 3800, making him far stronger than your Panther Warrior."

"OH NO!" Nick cried.

Fiendish Engine Omega sliced Panther Warrior across the stomach with the blade on its forearm. Panther Warrior screeched loudly and shattered to pieces and Nick lost 800 Life Points, reducing him to a mere 400 Life Points.

"Uh-oh, Nick, your Life Points don't look so good. Why don't you quit now while you still have the chance? You weren't going to get one of those Duel Disks."

"Yuri says that so long as I've got Life Points, the Duel's still on. And I'm not gonna give up! My friends need me up there!"

"I admire your passion, Nick. I set my Engine token to defense mode and end my turn."

Suddenly, Fiendish Engine Omega exploded as soon as Nick drew his card.

T8

Nick - 400 LP

2900 LP - Penelope

"What happened to him?" Nick shouted over the blast.

"When Fiendish Engine Omega uses his special ability, he gets destroyed at the end of my turn. But lucky for me, I've got this trap card. Call of the Haunted! Now, Fiendish Engine Omega returns."

Smoke clouded Penelope's field once more. Like before, Fiendish Engine Omega rose out of the ground behind her and loomed over her proudly, acting as her fierce guardian.

"No, he's back!" Nick said sadly.

"Yeah, too bad, eh? You came really close to beating me."

Nick wiped the sweat from his forehead and examined his options. Let's see. Faustian Bargain and Ghosts from the Past. I think I can use these to clear the field of Penelope's two monsters, maybe even clench the match. And here's Aurora Draw, the card Sam keeps insisting I add to the deck. Heh, well, I guess his tips came through for me after all. But it can only work if I have no other cards in my hand so that means I gotta set these down first. All right, then, here's goes something

"First, Penelope, I'm gonna set these cards face-down, and then I'm gonna activate Aurora Draw. If I have no cards in my hand, I can draw two cards." Nick drew. When he saw what he got, he had to do all he could to keep from bursting into tears. "All right, Penelope, time to clear the field of those two monsters of yours."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"With this card. First, I reveal the face-down card I played. It's a spell called, Faustian Bargain! I can send one Special Summoned monster on the field to the Graveyard and then I can Special Summon a Normal monster from my hand."

"What!? That's not fair!"

"That's the way it goes, Penelope. Since your Fiendish Engine Omega can increase his strength once per turn, I'm gonna send him back to the Graveyard."

Fiendish Engine Omega was enveloped in a neon green glow and then he was dragged back underground.

"You're going to pay for that, cabron!" Penelope shouted.

"Heh, I ain't done yet, Penelope! Remember, I can still Special Summon a monster of my own. Here comes Kanan the Swordmistress!"

The beautiful brown-haired woman elegantly made her grand appearance and swung her sword around.

"Since your Fiendish Engine Omega is gone, your Machine King loses 100 ATK points. And now, from my hand, I activate the spell, Arms Regeneration! This card lets me add an Equip Spell from the Graveyard and equip it to a monster I control, obviously it's going to be Kanan. And I give her the power of Bashing Shield, which boosts her ATK by 1000, raising her to 2400! Finally, I'm gonna set a card face-down and attack your Gadget Soldier!"

Kanan sliced the cyborg in half, dealing 600 points of damage to Penelope, dropping her score to 2300.

T9

"You're not getting away with this!" Penelope shouted. "I activate the spell, Water of Life, now I can bring back a monster from my Graveyard in attack position, so I bring back Fiendish Engine Omega once again!"

Nick gulped, once again watching the giant red robot rising over Penelope's shoulder. "And this time, I'm going to end you, Nick! I increase Omega's ATK by 1000 with his special ability. ATTACK!"

"I reveal my face-down card!" Nick cried. "Ghosts from the Past! Now, all I've gotta do is banish two monsters from my Graveyard, and your Fiendish Engine's ATK gets reduced to zero!"

"NO!" Penelope yelled.

Kanan spun gracefully out of Fiendish Engine Omega's way. She landed on his arm and then ran up the arm towards his head where she jabbed her sword into it with all her might. Fiendish Engine Omega roared and started sparking with electricity. Kanan then jumped to Machine King and sliced his head off with one swipe. She landed in front of both the machines and walked back towards Nick as they collapsed to the ground and exploded.

Penelope collapsed on her knees and slammed her fist on the ground. "Mierda! I lost."

Nick walked up to her and helped her back to her feet. "Well, Penelope, a deal is a deal. The Duel Disk is mine."

Penelope snickered. "It's only yours so long as you can pay it off. If I don't get the gold for it by the deadline, I'm taking it back."

"It's not gonna happen, Penelope, I swear it."

"Good because you're one hell of a Duelist, Nick. You definitely deserve to hold on to a Duel Disk. And, you really should sign up for the tournament in Enron. You like that car in my garage, right? Well, that tournament's your big chance to earn it. What do you say?"

"I say I'm in. My friend Yuri's evolving day by day and I'm gonna evolve with him. And there's no way I'm gonna let that Andre jackass one-up me."

"Who's Andre?"

Nick rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Don't worry about it, just topside drama."

"Oh, I see. Well, good luck up there, Nick. I hope everything goes well for you. And if you're up for another round, me and Fiendish Engine Omega are always ready here at the shop."

They locked hands together. "I look forward to another Duel, Penelope. And thank you!"

---

Crystal and Annabelle - Gondolin Island

---

"Can I have some more ice cream, please?" Annabelle said.

"What the hell, girl, do you have a black hole for a stomach or something?" Patty asked. She, Natalya, Annabelle, Crystal, and Sabrina were enjoying lunch by the ocean, relieved that the lockdowns had died down and everyone could be free to roam the streets again. However, more soldiers were on patrol since the bombings outside the Ruby Dragon, which was still closed at the moment.

"Crystal, can I have some more?" Annabelle asked.

"It's fine," said Crystal. There were some stitches on her forehead but they were covered by her long bangs and there was a light bruise under her eye. "I could use one last helping myself. What about you, Patty?"

"Oh me? Nah, no thanks. My stomach doesn't handle ice cream all that well anymore. Last time I shared a sundae with Yuri, heh, I was in the bathroom for half an hour."

"Ew," said Annabelle.

"Hey, where is Yuri?" Crystal asked. He was supposed to be here an hour ago. She looked at the sun setting behind the ocean on the horizon. The sky to the west was getting dark with mountains of black clouds, as Aquarius was heading into another storm for the night. "It's getting dark. The curfew is about to go into effect."

"He probably went to check on Nick again," said Sabrina. Thunder rumbled across the ocean.

Crystal whimpered and covered her ears.

"What's with her?" Sabrina asked.

"My cousin suffers from Astraphobia," Annabelle said smugly.

Patty wagged her head from side to side expecting an answer. "Meaning..."

"She's afraid of thunder and lightning," said Natalya.

"Great," Crystal groaned. "Now you guys know my little secret. If Yuri's not here before the restaurant closes, I'm heading home. I hate thunderstorms."

"And what about Tyson and Carter?" Annabelle asked.

"They're go-karting in Paradiso Prima," said Patty. "So besides Yuri, I guess a day for us girls."

"Sounds good to me," said Natalya. "Most likely all the guys are going to want to do is Duel. I like Duel Monsters as much as the next guy, but after what happened to Nick and the explosions at the shop, I think we need a break."

"So did they ever capture the guys who attacked Nick?" Annabelle asked.

"I'm afraid not, sweet pea," said Crystal. "That guy Andre said Nick was beaten up by that Exodia Duelist. He then challenged the guy to a Duel."

"Did he win?" Annabelle asked.

"Not like it made a difference," said Patty. "The Rare Hunter escaped and he's still out there. I say it was him and his goons who set up those bombs in front of the store. Most likely they were after Yuri."

"Yuri is the real target, I have no doubt about that," said Sabrina. "And as his friends, I say we keep a close eye on him and deal with any of these Rare Hunter jackasses that try to get in his way."

"I wanna help!" said Annabelle.

"No, baby, you can't," said Natalya. "It's too dangerous."

"I can handle myself!" Annabelle protested. "I'm a good Duelist, too!"

"No!" Crystal snapped. "You saw what these guys are capable of, Annabelle! I can't have you running around the city looking for them."

Annabelle hung her head sadly and hugged her teddy bear. "Aww, but Crystal...I wanna help."

"Your cousin is right, Annabelle," said Sabrina. "You should stay away from these guys at all costs. They could really hurt you."

Crystal's phone suddenly rocked on the table. "I got it," she said. "Oh, it's Yuri." She answered at once. "Hey, where are you? You missed the food. Uh-huh. No, we'll be right here. Oh, you mean your security team is tailing you? I see, well, it's no big deal. After what happened last time, I don't mind a few security guards watching us. All right, stay safe, and be alert, okay!? All right, see you in a bit. Bye." She set the phone down. "He's coming, but expect to be followed by his security team. His father insisted more agents from the estate follow Yuri until this Rare Hunter stuff ends."

"I have no problem with that," said Patty. "Now that we know these guys are capable of using bombs on us, I think a few more security guards are just what we need."

All of a sudden, smoke grenades that seemed to be thrown from out of nowhere rolled all over the patio and cloaking everything in a veil of gray smoke. Crystal grabbed Annabelle and took her under the table to shield her. All around them, the other patrons screamed in fear.

"What's going on!?" shouted Sabrina.

Patty coughed, trying to respond. "I...I don't know, I can't see!"

Then...as fast as it appeared, the smoke disappeared. The patrons looked around, wondering what was happening. Were the attackers going to strike again? Some didn't want to find out. They grabbed onto their loved ones and ran out of the patio to safety.

"What was that all about?" Patty asked.

"I...I don't know," said Natalya. "Is everyone all right?"

"Augh," Crystal answered, rubbing the top of her skull. "Ugh, I think I bumped my head. You okay, Annabelle? Annabelle?" Crystal scanned the underside of the table over and over again. Annabelle wasn't there. She was gone. "Annabelle! Where's Annabelle?"

"She's gone?" Patty said looking under the table. "Annie! Annie where are you? Oh, God! Oh, God, no!"

"Annabelle!" Natalya called, cupping her hands over her mouth.

"Excuse me, have you seen a little girl with blonde hair and a black school uniform?" Sabrina said asking a few people.

"Where is Annabelle!?" Crystal cried out in horror. "Annabelle! NO! THEY TOOK ANNABELLE!"

"Crystal!" Yuri shouted from across the street. When the cars and security vehicles cleared, He came running toward them as fast as he could. "I saw the smoke from over there. What happened? Was there a fire?"

"No, Yuri!" Crystal yelled. "Those were smoke grenades."

"Someone threw them at us!" Sabrina said frantically. "It was a ruse."

"A ruse?"

"It was a trap!" said Natalya. "It had to be! They hunted us like prey."

"Hold on!" said Yuiri. "Everyone calm down."

"Yuri, they took Annabelle!" Crystal said.

"Who took Annabelle? Where is she?"

"I don't know!" Crystal paced back and forth, pulling her hair frantically. "One moment she was in my arms, the next thing I knew I felt like a brick dropped on my head, and then she was gone!"

"Who would take her?" Yuri asked.

A hideous laugh answered his question. Yuri and the others looked up at the ceiling and saw a short hooded man in a black cloak standing at the very top of a boutique overlooking the street. The man jumped off the roof, performing all sorts of athletic flips and jumps until he landed in front of Yuri and his friends.

"Greetings, Yuri," said the hooded man. "I trust you and your companions are searching for a lost friend."

"Just what do you know about that?" Crystal asked. "Where is my cousin!? Where's Annabelle?"

"She's fine...for now!" said the hooded man, followed by a cackle.

"GIVE. HER. BACK! If you so much as touch one hair on her, I will send the entire Aquarian mafia after you, asshole! Don't you test me!"

The hooded man laughed. "Your empty threats will get you nowhere, my dear. But there is one way to save her." He pointed to the top of the Bustamante Tower, the second-largest skyscraper in Aquarius. "Meet us at the top of that building, Crystal. You are needed for a very special Duel."

"A Duel?" Crystal asked. "Up there?" The thunder was getting louder as the storm came closer to the city. "You want to Duel up there? In this storm?"

The hooded man cackled, for he could see the fear in her eyes. "Awww, what's the matter 'Dragon Queen', afraid of a little lighting? Don't worry, you won't be going up there alone. Yuri, your presence is required as well. Crystal is no doubt going to need your assistance with getting her cousin back."

"Oh, I'll be there!" said Yuri. "You can count on it!"

"You had better," sneered the hooded man. "Or you will never see little Annabelle again! Remember, meet us on the roof!" The hooded man laughed and jumped all the way back up the ceiling of the boutique, where he disappeared from sight.

"I guess we have no choice," said Yuri.

"Yeah," Crystal agreed.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Sabrina. "This might be a trap. We should get RAPTOR to go up there and deal with those guys."

"And what are the Rare Hunters going to do to Annabelle if it's a security team who shows up and not us?" said Crystal.

Sabrina went quiet after that.

"I have a gun in my pack," said Patty. "We don't have to Duel these guys. I can just blast their asses to hell and then we can save Annabelle."

"Sounds good to me," said Yuri. "Once we get up there, you show them you're packing, and they'll definitely back out of this sick little game of theirs."

"Okay, let's go!" said Crystal.

By the time they reached Bustamente towers, the storm had come and the whole city went dark. The rain came down, peppering the city with powerful torrents and curtains of water so thick, you could barely see in front of you. It was now so dark that all the city's lights were turned on. Yuri, Crystal, and the others dashed inside the massive lobby of the Bustamante Tower and headed straight for the elevator, which took them up to the viewing deck. Once the doors opened, they dashed to a door, which led them up a long flight of stairs up to the roof. They were so high up that they were above the storm itself. Only the tops of the five tallest in the city could be seen, as well as the massive Phobos Tritowers standing right next to them. They were surrounded by a forest of neon orange spires that were placed on top of the building for the sake of display.

The stormy winds blew all around them, peppering their skin with tiny icy raindrops that bit like a swarm of mosquitos. The air was awfully cold, even worse of Crystal since she wore a white summer dress that barely reached her thighs.

"So you've arrived," said the short hooded man. "And I see you've brought some guests. Good, this Duel could use an audience. I wouldn't want them missing out on quite the show." He pressed a button on a remote control with his thumb. A crane suddenly came into view, and dangling from it was Annabelle. "HELP!" she cried, tears pouring down her cheeks. "HEEEELLP! CRYSTAL! YURI! HELP!"

"ANNABELLE!" Crystal shouted. "What are you doing!? I'm here, okay! I'll play your little game and give you whatever you want if you win. Just bring her down from there, this isn't necessary!"

"Oh, it's very necessary," said the tall hooded man. "Annabelle is not only the collateral we needed to get you two here, but she's also there to ensure you all cooperate and don't try anything sneaky."

"Please, let her go!" Crystal begged them. "Can't you see she's scared!? Let her go!"

"I'm afraid not, Crystal Anderson! Until you defeat us, she isn't going anywhere!"

Patty boldly stepped forward and took her Baretta Px4 Storm out of her waistband and aimed it at the Rare Hunters. "LET HER GO!" she ordered. "LET HER GO RIGHT NOW!"

"You see, that is what we mean!" laughed the tall Rare Hunter. "I suggest you put that gun away, young lady. If anything happens to us, the bombs planted on that crane will go off and little Annabelle will go plunging to her doom. Don't think we're not serious! Put the gun away, right now!"

"Patty do as they say!" said Crystal.

"No...they're...they're bluffing!"

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Yuri asked. "Put the gun away, Patty."

"I can end this right now."

Crystal didn't want to argue anymore. "If anything happens to my cousin because of you, Patty, I'll KILL you!" Crystal shouted. "PUT THE GUN AWAY! NOW!"

Patty grunted in defeat and did as she was told.

"Set it on the ground!" ordered the short one.

Patty let the gun dangle from her finger as she held her hands up. "Okay...okay," she said, slowly kneeling. She pulled the clip out of the gun and set them both down before she kicked them away.

The short one laughed. "Good. Now that that's over, the fun can begin. But first, allow us to introduce ourselves."

The short one took a step forward and revealed himself, raising his head up so the orange lights of the rods could reveal his face. Half of it was hidden behind a white smiling mask with red crescent moon designs resembling the face of a mage.

"I am Lumis!"

Then the tall one took a step forward, cackling as he did. He then lifted his head so the lights could reveal his face as well. Like his partner, half his face was concealed behind a mask. His mask was colored black and red and it was bulkier and more aggressive looking with the face of a warrior ready for battle.

"I am Umbra!"

"So...Lumis and Umbra," said Crystal.

"So can we guarantee you will hold your end of the bargain and release Annabelle if we win this Duel of yours?" Yuri asked.

"But of course, we will," said Lumis. "Let me explain the rules. This is a Double Duel: us against you two. Each Duelist will start with 4000 Life Points. And we'll be dueling according to the new rules."

"What new rules?" Yuri asked.

"The new Master Rule 2," said Crystal. "They're really not that complex. The only thing that has changed is that we can attack each other's Life Points directly."

"What does that mean?" Yuri asked.

"It means that if you have no monsters on the field to defend yourself, your opponent is free to attack your Life Points with their monsters for more damage."

"What? So my Life Points can get attacked and I have to sacrifice weaker monsters to summon stronger monsters?"

"I'm afraid that's the way is going to be played now," said Crystal. "So you can't just toss out your bosses and aces from the get-go as you do in your casual matches."

"Really? So I have to sacrifice monsters to summon bigger ones now?"

"That's right. Phobos Corp is going to start enforcing those new rules in a couple of weeks before your big birthday tournament."

"You seriously didn't know, Yuri?" Patty asked. "I've already gotten my deck prepared for the new rules."

Yuri sighed heavily. "Well... okay. I understand. It's just that I'm going to miss bringing out the big guns for free "

"Times change, babe," Crystal said with a shrug. "Besides, there was no skill in bringing out big boss monsters at no cost. This will make it so there's more strategy involved with the game. The game has evolved and you must, too."

"She's right," said Lumis. "Now let me get back to explaining the rules of our game. As I said before, this is a Double Duel. You Must defeat both of the other team's Duelists in order to win. And as for the losers, well, take a look at your feet. We are standing on the thin glass surface of 150 story light shaft that reaches all the way down to the ground floor. Each of our Life Points will be displayed on those bombs on the floor beside you. When your Life Points reach zero, the bombs will go off and send the both of you plummeting to your doom. And then, our team of Neo Rare Hunters down below will be waiting to take your rarest cards from your mangled corpses. And of course, the greatest prize of them all, Yuri. Your head."

"That Denethon guy is one messed up person," said Patty. "Not only will Yuri fall to his death, but he's going to get his head taken off as well."

"You murdering creeps!" shouted Natalya. "How could you take a great game like Duel Monsters and twist it into something so vile? It's a game! It's supposed to be fun!"

"Fun!?" Lumis blurted out. He looked at Umbra and they both laughed. "No, young lady, that's where you're wrong. Duel Monsters is much more than a simple game. But I don't expect you plain folk from the Standard Dimension to understand what it truly is."

"Standard Dimension?" said Sabrina. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid I can't say anything more on the matter," said Lumis. "As little as I care about the rules of our worlds, some things are better left unsaid."

"Worlds? Standard Dimension?" Natalya laughed. "Wow, these guys really are insane. I guess this is what happens when games get taken too far."

"It can happen," said Sabrina. "Remember those psychopaths who took Dungeons and Dragons so seriously they actually killed a girl as a sacrifice to some dragon god? Maybe they need Yuri's head as a sacrifice or something."

"Well, they're not going to get away with this," said Patty. "Yuri, Crystal, beat their asses."

---

Joey - The Blackbrute Inn, Mellowfields, Thara/Termnnia

---

Joey, Tristan, and Duke watched with eyes wide open as their order came out of the kitchen with three carts pulled by the pretty barmaids who worked at the tavern.

"Your order, milords," one of them said. She and the other three placed plates of chicken fried, baked, or roasted and seasoned with herbs and honey. Then there was a platter full of fish, shellfish, crawdads, shrimp, and a swordfish baked to perfection, and soups of all kinds: salty, sweet, or spicy. Joey wrapped a white napkin around his neck and picked up a fork and knife.

They were also celebrating another successful hunt. After Joey cleared out of the first rounds of the tournament, he and his companions marched to the Monster Hunter Guild for some work. This time, it was another goblin hunt, and being the legendary warriors they were, they cleared it out while drunk and singing a merry song about a maiden fair and her Red-Eyes Black Dragon. At the end of the cave where the goblins lived was a throne room where a giant, fat, goblin king made his home. He wore a crown of gold and jewels on his head and carried a golden scepter with the power to shoot fire from a red crystal on the top. He was sitting on a throne of polished maple with gold embellishments and statues carved to look like dragons. And all around the throne were piles and piles of gold coins, gemstones, old paintings from the Caroldon Empire, exquisite furniture, and bronze statues of Arvan women. There were chests full of gold Caroldondolic coins, enchanted weapons, staffs infused with magic spells, and so much more. The goblin king's head was already a bounty of 10,000 gold Star Chips, and the rest of the treasure gave them a great fortune. Throughout the rest of the day, Joey and the others picked what pieces of treasure they wanted to keep and the rest they sold to museum curators, archaeologists, and mages from the arcane university in the city, who paid them handsomely for the treasures they found.

"Congrats on making it out of the preliminaries, Joey!" Duke said. He raised his tankard of mead mixed with juniper berries.

"Eeeeey!" Joey cheered, holding up his tankard, one that he looted from the goblin king's horde. It was crusted with gemstones and enchanted to keep his beer as cold as Riftgaardian snow forever. "That last catch was a blessing!" said Joey. "With all the gold we made today, we can turn Yuri into a millionaire!"

"So why continue with the tournament?" asked Tristan. "I mean we got enough gold to help him, don't we?"

"Are you kidding?" said Joey. "Why stop now when we can make our boy even more money? And don't forget, we gotta pay that hotshot submarine pilot her money to get Serenity into the Stormcoasts seas and find the Pendant of the Kings."

"With the amount of money that pilot is charging for the expedition, she better be as good as she says she is," said Duke.

Serenity came barging into the tavern, her face was pale and creased with a panicked expression. "Joey!" she shouted. She ran to their table.

"What happened, sis?"

"It's Yuri!"

"What happened?"

"The Rare Hunters! They're back!"

"What?"

"And he's Dueling two of them right now. Come on!"

Joey yanked the napkin off his neck and ran to join her outside. "Hey, wait!" Duke called, struggling to get out of the booth. Tristan took one last bite of his turkey leg and ran out to join them. They were surrounding Mai, who was holding a Seeing Stone in her hands. A puck projecting a static blue hologram of Yami Yugi was in Téa's hands so he could see too.

"Mai!" Duke said. "Is it true?"

"I don't want to believe it," said Mai. "But it's true. The Rare Hunters found Yuri."

Joey took his own Seeing Stone out of his pocket and turned it on by whispering the magic Elvish phrase needed to activate it. "Aww, no! Rare Hunters? And they dragged Crystal into this, too? It can't be! Marik was supposed to be on our side?"

"This isn't Marik's doing," Yami said, his hologram and the audio for his voice were distorted with static. "Ishizu assures me Marik is with her at the museum right now. Someone else is behind this."

"Didn't you face those two guys before Yugi?" Téa asked.

"I have. Back when Marik was our enemy in the Battle City Tournament years ago. They are called Lumis and Umbra, and it doesn't surprise me they'd be working together to lure Yuri into this Duel."

"But how?" Téa asked. "The Gates are supposed to be closed off. Black Luster Soldiers and the Kingsblades guard them all day and all night, how could the Rare Hunters have found a way in?"

"Whoever it is must be someone with access to great power," said Yami. "Lumis and Umbra were supposed to be in the Shadow Realm. The one they're working for must have gotten them out."

"Who's powerful enough to get souls out of the Shadow Realm?" Serenity asked.

"I don't know," said Yami. "And just yesterday Declan Akaba contacted me and told me Andre had a clash with a Rare Hunter that defeated Yuri's friend Nick the night before. Apparently, this Rare Hunter was one I faced before as well. The one with the Exodia cards."

"What!?" Joey shouted. "You mean that creep that took my Red-Eyes is back!? And he's out there hunting Yuri?"

"What the hell is going on?" said Mai. "Weren't those Lancer guys supposed to be stopping this? This is like the fourth time Yuri and his friends had encounters with these creeps."

"We weren't anticipating Rare Hunters," said Yami. "None of us could. Until now I thought those portals Declan and Kaiba built were the only means to get into another Dimension without a Gate. But it seems someone else has the same capabilities to send their minions to other worlds as well. But who?"

"Who cares?" said Mai. "Oh, look at poor Crystal. She's begging them to release her cousin."

"Well, knowing these Rare Hunters, they aren't gonna do that," said Joey. "No doubt Yuri and Crystal have to Duel to get her outta this mess."

"Come on, Yuri..." Téa whispered.

---

Yuri and Crystal - The Top of Bustamante Tower/Standard Dimension

---

"Crystal it's no use!" said Yuri. "They're not going to let Annabelle go unless we beat them."

"Your partner is right!" said Lumis. "Make another outburst like that again, young lady, and I'll drop Annabelle myself." He held up the remote with the red button in the center. "If you want her back, then shut up and DUEL!"

"Fine!" said Crystal. "Fine!" Patty threw Crystal her backpack, containing her Duel Disk. Yuri took off his backpack to get his Duel Disk out as well. The holoprojector drones took off into the sky and they were all set.

Yuri - 4000 LP

4000 LP - Crystal

VS

Lumis - 4000 LP

4000 LP - Umbra

T1

"I will start things off. If you two don't mind," said Lumis.

"Very well, Rare Hunter," said Yuri.

"For my first move, I set two cards face-down on the field. Ending my turn. It's your move, Yuri."

T2

"I know!" Yuri shouted and drew his card. "I activate Graceful Charity. I draw three cards and discard two. Next, I summon Uraby in attack mode and place one card face down. And that will end my turn." He summoned Uraby, usually colored in a shade of dark brown, because they were surrounded by the glowing orange rods, he appeared in a blazing tan color.

ATK/1500

T3

"Oh, we'll see about that!" said Umbra. He drew slowly. "I activate Spellbook Inside the Pot. This allows us all to draw three cards. But I assure you that nothing in your decks will be of any use to you. We specifically built our decks to counter yours. Especially yours, Crystal. Now, I summon my Shining Abyss in attack mode." He summoned a strange metal fairy with orange wings and long arms with huge fingers, it's natural light blue colors were dominated by the orange lights flooding the battlefield.

Shining Abyss

ATK/ 1600 DEF/ 1800

"Very nice monster Umbra," said Lumis.

"Why thank you, Lumis. And now let's see if one of those cards you placed face-down can help me make it stronger."

"Why, yes, they can, Umbra."

"What are you talking about?" said Yuri.

"This is Double Duel, isn't it?" said Umbra. "Therefore, I'm allowed to use any cards my partner placed on the field." Lumis's three face-down cards appeared in front of Umbra's face via a holographic interface so he could check to see if there was anything he could use. "And I choose this one.

"What is it?" Crystal asked.

Lumis laughed. "It's an Equip Spell card called Mask of Brutality." A hideous mask with arms magically materialized and fit into the face of Umbra's Shining Abyss.

"Ah, a perfect fit," said Umbra. "This mask will increase the attack of our Shining Abyss by one thousand."

"Oh, shit!" said Sabrina. "That's not good!"

"No shit, that's not good!" said Patty. "They've already got a monster out with 2600 ATK points!"

"But doesn't that require you to pay one thousand every turn?" Crystal asked.

"Yes, it does young lady," said Umbra. "But watch as I activate my Masked Doll! With this spell card in play, I don't have to pay the cost to keep my mask out. But I'm not finished yet. I use the Ritual Spell known as Construct of Mask. Now I will sacrifice Masked Clown and Masked Sorcereror! So I can Ritual Summon the all-powerful Mask of Shine and Dark!"

Mask of Shine and Dark

ATK/ 2000 DEF/ 1800

Umbra summoned a giant mask the size of a full-grown man. One half was dark blue with a crescent to represent the moon and a red stripe going down the eye. The other was glowing gold with spikes to resemble the sun.

"Beautiful," said Lumis, admiring the monster.

"This is awful," said Natalya. "Now they have two strong monsters out."

When Annabelle saw how strong Lumis and Umbra's monsters were, she began to fear for her life. "Crystal. Yuri. Please! Help me! I'm scared."

"We'll get you down, don't worry!" Crystal said urgently. "Just hang on sweet pea, everything's going to be okay."

Lumis laughed. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Crystal."

"Now, I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

T4

"My turn!" Crystal said. She started shivering and clasped her arms with her hands. "It's so c-c-cold."

"Here," said Yuri. He took off his jacket and gave it to her. "I hope this will help."

"My legs are still freezing, but this is an improvement," Crystal chuckled.

"If you two are done with the theatrics, can we continue?" Lumis demanded.

"Don't rush me, asshole!" Crystal said. "Draw!" She examined her hand and smiled.

Yes! Lord of Dragons and I have a Flute of Summoning Dragon to use so I can bring out my Seiyaryu and Pandemic Dragon to the field. But for now, I'm going to play it safe. I still have to wait until everyone's had their first turn before I attack. And even though Lord of Dragons will keep my dragons safe and sound from any of their card effects, there's no guarantee he'll be on the field on my next turn and my dragons will be exposed to their traps. So I think I'll just start by summoning something a little weaker. That way they'll have a false sense of security thinking they have the two strongest monsters on the field, thereby leaving their pathetic masked monsters in attack mode and leaving them wide open for an all-ought dragon blitzkrieg. Beating these two should be really easy once I get these babies out on the field.

"All right, Rare Hunters, time to make you pay for what you've done to my cousin. First, I set three cards face-down. And then I summon Dragon Knight of Creation in attack mode!"

Slap! She placed her card down hard on her Duel Disk. The holo-projector drones spun in circles and rendered a tall Dragonborn warrior clad in golden armor and greaves and a skirt of gold with white cloth. He wielded a large sword with runes engraved on the blade. A long mane of red hair protruded from underneath his golden helmet.

ATK/1800 DEF/600

"That does it for me. Now it's time to see which one of us has the superior strategy."

T5

"Indeed," said Lumis, drawing his card. "First, Yuri, I'm going to render your Uraby useless with my face-down card, Mask of the Accursed!"

The mask appeared and quickly hovered over to Uraby and consumed its face. The dinosaur snarled and hissed trying its best to shake the mask off, but it was stuck.

"I am glad that this mask fits," laughed Lumis. "This mask makes your monster completely useless. Mask of the Accursed makes it so Uraby can no longer attack or defend and with every standby phase, you lose five hundred Life Points. Now it's your turn, Crystal! It's time to render that ace of yours useless with this spell card! Prohibition!"

"This is bad," said Natalya. "Now Lumis can choose a card in Crystal's deck and it cannot be used throughout the entire Duel so long as it's in play."

"And I have a feeling I know what he's going to pick," said Sabrina.

Lumis laughed. "If you guess Crystal's Chaos Emperor Dragon -Envoy of the End, then you guessed correctly, my dear. Now, so long as Prohibition is in play, Crystal cannot play her dragon, rendering it absolutely useless! Next, I place my last card face down and end my turn. Which means you go, Yuri. And don't forget about my mask. Because of it, you lose five hundred Life Points."

T6

Yuri looked at the Life Point counter and watched as his score dropped to 3500. He grew worried, that was until he drew one of his newest monsters. Dark Driceratops. It was a six-star monster, meaning it only required one tribute to be summoned. He smiled, knowing that if he Tributed his Uraby, he'd rid the field of the mask Lumis gave him. He'd also be doing his dinosaur a huge favor, for it desperately tried to take Mask of the Accursed off.

Lumis and Umbra laughed as Uraby tried removing the mask.

"Don't worry, Uraby!" Yuri cried out triumphantly. "This will all be over soon as I sacrifice you to summon…"

"I don't think so Yuri!" shouted Lumis. "I activate the Trap Card; Mask of Restrict!"

Lumis activated his face-down card which was a giant hideous mask that sent out an eerie purple glow.

"Thanks to this trap card, not only will your Uraby be staying with us on the field and deduct Life Points each turn, but you and Crystal can no longer sacrifice your weaker monsters to summon stronger monsters!"

Lumis and Umbra both let out a loud awful laugh.

"Hold on!" said Crystal. "That card affects you two as well. So that means you guys can't tribute monsters either."

"Not so fast, Dragon Queen," said Umbra. "I've got just the card I need to protect us from our mask's effect. Behold, the continuous spell, Mask of Preservation! This spell card immediately activates when Mask of Restrict comes into play."

A giant iron mask with red tribal markings formed next to the Mask of Restrict and began to shine with a blue aura.

"Our iron mask will protect me and my partner from the Mask of Restrict's effect."

Lumis reared his head back and laughed. "Well done, Umbra. Now only Yuri and Crystal are affected by the mask."

"That's not fair!" shouted Natalya. "That means Yuri and Crystal can only Duel with weak monsters!"

"So this is why they wanted to play with the new Master Rule 2," said Patty. "They set Yuri and Crystal up with those Mask cards this whole time!"

"Oh no," Annabelle shivered. "Yuri and Crystal can't summon strong monsters anymore."

Yuri gulped. "Well, it's still my turn. So, I guess I summon Black Stego and place a card face down. That's it for me." Yuri summoned a Stegosaurus Duel Monster that was as big as a tank. It had tough leathery green scales, red plates, glowing red eyes, and sharp teeth, which Yuri thought was an odd thing to do to the creature's artwork since Stegosaurus was a herbivore with teeth specialized in eating plants. He shrugged and didn't think much of it since it was a monster after all.

Black Stego (Shatterfoil Rare)

AKT/1200 DEF/2000

Lumis narrowed his eyes and spoke to Umbra with the headset inside his mask. "Umbra, Why would Yuri play that card in attack mode when its DEF is higher than its ATK?"

"It must be a trap, of course. Or, he's probably trying to get us to focus our attacks on him instead of Crystal. It only makes sense that he would. Crystal has a deck of very powerful dragons so odds are he's trying to get us to focus on him while she prepares her arsenal. But don't worry. I have the cards I need to make sure she doesn't bring them out to the field."

"All right, you focus on keeping her from bringing any dragons out on the field, and I will do what I can to weaken Yuri's Life Points each turn."

"Excellent, now it's my turn to inflict some pain," said Umbra. He drew his card.

T7

"Ah, just the card I needed! Card of Demise! It allows me to draw five cards but I lose them in five turns. Ha! Though I predict Lumis and I will destroy you both in five turns." He refreshed his hand and examined the cards he drew. Then his gaze returned to the field. "Hmm. I could attack your Uraby, Yuri, but seeing as how you lose five hundred Life Points every turn that would be a big mistake. Then there's your monster, Crystal! Its attack is weaker than my Mask of Shine and Dark, and I could attack, thus leaving your field open for a direct attack by my Shining Abyss. But there are those face-down cards of yours that worry me."

"Just attack, Umbra, I've got you covered," said Lumis through a headset inside their masks.

Umbra sneered and nodded his head. "Alright, I set one card face-down, and then I'll attack with Mask of Shine and Dark. Destroy Crystal's Dragon Knight of Creation!"

"You activated my trap!" Crystal pressed a button on her Duel Disk and the card flipped over revealing her trap. "Inspiration! Now my Knight's ATK will increase by 700 points."

"That's what you think!" said Lumis. "I activate a trap card of my own! Curse Transfer!"

"Oh, that's just perfect!" Patty yelled. "Now Lumis can negate Crystal's card and its effect can be used against her."

"Very perceptive!" said Umbra. "Now it's my monster who gains the 700 ATK boost. Mask of Shine and Dark, attack!"

Mask of Shine and Dark blasted Crystal's knight to pieces and she lost 900 Life Points. Crystal tried to hold on but the blast knocked her off her feet and sent her flying two feet. She landed hard on her back, grunting from the pain.

"Now, you're wide open for a direct attack!" said Umbra. "Shining Abyss, attack!"

Shining Abyss charged up an iridescent beam of light from its fingers.

"I activate my trap!" shouted Crystal, still laying on the ground. "Den of Dragons!"

"What does that do?" Umbra cried.

"If a Dragon-Type monster I control is destroyed, I can special summon a Level 4 Dragon-Type monster from my hand. And I choose, Rare Metal Dragon."

Crystal summoned a quadrupedal drake covered in thick layers of gunmetal-colored steel scales and spikes and a horn of ivory on its nose. Though it was a Level 4 monster, it was quite a formidable beast with 2400 ATK points.

But Umbra was not discouraged from attacking. "As impressive as your monster is, Crystal, it's still far weaker than my Shining Abyss!"

Shining Abyss's beams were now within inches of Rare Metal Dragon. "Say goodbye to your dragon, Crystal!"

"I think not! I've got one last trap card to play. Dragon's Endurance! Now, Rare Metal Dragon's ATK gets cut in half."

"Foolish girl!" shouted Umbra. "Why would you do something like that?"

The rainbow beams from Shining Abyss's fingers just bounced off Rare Metal Dragon's scales and into the sky.

"What's this?" Umbra remarked in disbelief. "My attack is being deflected and your Life Points aren't going down."

Crystal chuckled and stood up now that she had a chance to catch her breath. "Cutting my dragon's ATK in half was a small price to pay to keep it safe. Not only will it prevent my dragon from getting destroyed, but we don't take any damage from this battle."

"Argh!" Lumis snarled. "A clever move, but a desperate one at that." He then spoke to Umbra through the headset. "Umbra, we have to get rid of that dragon she summoned. It could spell trouble for us."

"Heh, don't worry, Lumis. I already played just the card I needed to render all of Crystal's dragons useless." He looked at Crystal. "Well played, young lady. Now, I end my turn."

The storm clouds eventually reached the rooftops, blotting out the Phobos Tri-Towers from view. Rain poured all around them, soaking their clothes. But Lumis and Umbra were dry and warm in their cloaks. They merely laughed as Crystal shivered. Crystal saw them sniggering at her misery. Though she was cold, the fact that she was about to summon two strong dragons warmed her up. She drew and prepared to make their evening miserable.

T8

"All right, I've been waiting for this. Just so you guys know, Tribute Summoning isn't the only way to bring out strong monsters. Watch as I summon Lord of Dragons."

"Yes!" Yuri exclaimed, proudly holding up his fist.

"All right, Crystal!" Natalya cheered.

"Finally!" Patty said with relief. She cupped her hands over her mouth and called to Annabelle. "Annie! Don't worry, baby, Crystal is about to bring out the big boys."

Annabelle sniffed and didn't say a word, for she was still terribly frightened. Still, she smiled briefly, knowing full well that when Lord of Dragons was in play, Crystal had a Flute of Summoning Dragon waiting to bring out her best beasts.

"Hang on sweet pea!" Crystal cried out to her. "I'm about to kick their asses. I play Flute of Summoning Dragons. When Lord of Dragons is on the field, I can use this card to..."

"I know what it does!" Umbra laughed. "Which is why I activate this card! Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell."

"NO!" Sabrina yelled. "Not that card!"

Umbra sneered when he saw the fear on their faces and proceeded with the activation of the card. "Now, by discarding a spell from my hand, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell will negate the activation of your spell card and destroys it! And that's not all it does. Now any spell with the same name cannot be used for the rest of this Duel."

"What?! I can't use Flute of Summoning Dragon anymore?"

Lumis and Umbra laughed together. "That's right," said Lumis. "I told you before. Our Decks were built solely for taking your dragons down, Crystal. We know all about your Lord of Dragons/Flute combo."

"Yes, Lumis and I have watched your matches carefully. And thanks to Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell, you can no longer use said combo to bring out your dragons."

"Indeed," said Lumis. "And don't forget, thanks to my Prohibition spell, you can no longer use Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End, so don't count on him to save you, Crystal. Now, the only way you can bring out your strongest dragons is by Tributing Summoning them, which you cannot do since Mask of Restrict prevents you from Tributing your monsters for stronger ones."

"Shit!" Crystal said in disbelief. "How could I let this happen?"

"You've got to do something, Crystal!" Yuri said. "At least you can still take out their Mask of Shine and Dark."

"Right! Rare Metal Dragon, attack Mask of Shine and Dark."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Crystal," Umbra said, unveiling the last card of his strategy to weaken Crystal's Deck. "Behold the all-powerful Dragon Capture Jar."

A golden jar with a dragon's face carved on the front formed in front of Umbra. The eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the dragon face carved on the front began to glow bright yellow and released a mist that covered the arena up to their ankles. Rare Metal Dragon tried to fight back the dark magic from the Jar but couldn't. It then fell to its knees.

"Dragon Capture Jar will force all of your dragons into defense mode and they will remain that way so long as it's out on the field!"

"No, now my dragons can't attack!"

"Yes, indeed," said Umbra. "So not only can you not summon more powerful dragons to the field, but any dragon that you do bring out will be weak and can't attack. You're finished, Crystal!"

"I don't believe this!" said Patty. "They've rendered Crystal's deck all but useless now."

"I know!" said Sabrina. "Almost all the cards she has in her deck are high-level dragons."

"That's one target down!" said Umbra. "And now it's time to inflict the same agony on Yuri."

"Leave Yuri to me, Umbra," Lumis said through the headset. "You've already rendered Crystal obsolete. I will handle the prince."

"You?" Umbra replied in agitation. "Why should you be the one to take down Prince Yuri?"

Lumis snarled in his mouthpiece. "Don't give me that! You've already had your fun with Crystal, Umbra. Now let me take over."

Umbra narrowed his eyes. I can't let him do this again. The last time he acted this selfishly, Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba defeated us and got us sent to the Shadow Realm. Master Denethon gave us a second chance at life. I can't let Lumis destroy us again! I can't go back to the Shadow Realm, I just can't!

T9

"My turn!" said Lumis. "Draw!" He sneered. "Perfect. I will summon Grand Tiki Elder in attack mode!" Lumis summoned a strange masked ghost with a Haitian voodoo theme to its design.

"Attack Yuri's Black Stego!" Lumis shouted.

Grand Tiki Elder waved it's hands around creating a translucent ring. It then thrust its hands toward Yuri and the ring released. Just as it was about to hit Black Stego, it switched to defense mode." The ring bounced off Black Stego's red plates and dispersed.

"What's this!?" Lumis yelled. His Life Points went down to 3500. "How was your monster able to switch into defense mode during the middle of out battle?"

"It was Black Stego's special ability," said Yuri. "When Black Stego gets attacked, he switches to defense mode. And with a DEF of 2000, he was strong enough to withstand your monster's attack and making you lose some Life Points."

"You will pay for that!" Lumis roared over the fierce winds. "I set one card face down and end my turn "

"Way to go, you fool!" Umbra scolded Lumis. "In your eagerness to take down the Prince, you made yourself look stupid and lose Life Points."

"Oh, yeah?" Lumis retorted. "And do you think you can do better?"

Patty snickered at the way they argued. "Sounds like these guys have a lack of trust."

"You think so?" Sabrina asked.

"Yeah, just look at them. Now that they've neutered Crystal's ability to play her best dragons, Yuri is the target. And it seems they want to go home to their boss with the glory of boasting over who was the one who did it. Hopefully, Crystal can use their lack of trust to their advantage."

T10

"My turn," Yuri declared. His Life Points went down to 3000 because of Make of the Accursed. "I set a card face down. That will be it for me."

T11

"Good!" yelled Umbra. "Now it's time to correct my partner's mistake. Tremble as I activate the power of my spell card, Curse of the Masked Beast!"

"What is that?!" Yuri and Crystal shouted at once.

"This ritual spell will allow me to unleash a force upon you the likes of which you've never seen!" He sacrificed Shining Abyss and Lumis's Grand Tiki Elder.

"Hey, that's my monster!" shouted Lumis.

"A small price to pay for the creature that will bring the downfall of Prince Yuri! Behold the power of The Masked Beast!"

Umbra held up his fist I triumph. "No creature in your decks can match his awesome power! It's over for you, Yuri. Hahahaha!"

To be Continued