It was during this time that I started to focus on studying the Shadowchasers a whole more than I had ever done, even more than when I was actually a member. You see, Jalal had always been a man that I – and indeed many rilmani – could never figure out.

You see, while the young and ignorant among mortals may envy someone like him and consider immortality a priceless gift, others consider it a curse, and wonder how any mortal could possess the will he had.

The ones who are most confused are those who belong to species with lifespans already unnaturally long. Such as my own.

You see, beings who do not die naturally, especially ones native to the Outer Planes, have views on mortals that share a common thread. Lower Planar natives, like fiends, consider them tools at best and cattle at worst. Beneath contempt, but still useful. Angels and other Upper Planar residents see them the way mortals see infants, as fragile, vulnerable creatures who need to be nurtured and cared for, but still ignorant and oblivious to the universe at large.

You see, to beings who use calendars with a whole century of our time making up a week of theirs tend to lack humility when dealing with mortals, often coming across as haughty egotists who are far superior to the "mere mortals". (And in many ways, some of them are.)

Most who envy Jalal are unscrupulous types, who would wonder why he even cared about Sofia, especially so much as to personally intervene in the crisis. More knowledgeable scholars tend to admire his willpower and self-restraint.

Eh? Oh.

As for the rilmani view on it, I'll have more to say next chapter.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight

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Like a Rock

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The tension in the elevator shaft as it descended was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Of the three of them, Hood, the evil-looking Dark Magician Girl and Antoine, only the last seemed to be in any sort of good mood, tapping his foot and humming the melody to the Trammps' "Disco Inferno".

"Burn baby burn...disco infer – " Antoine started to sing out loud before the business end of BW's wand was suddenly shoved into his face. Without even looking in his direction Antoine could tell from the furious scowl on her face that this would be an excellent time to be very, very quiet.

Hood simply stood in the corner still dressed in her torn clothing from the factory, her trigger finger occasionally flinching in a slight spasm as she brooded over her recent humiliation, taking little comfort in the fact she had even been able to escape alive.

After all, that could change very quickly.

The elevator finally lurched to a stop as the door opened into a vast dark chamber, echoing with the sound of machinery in constant motion. Gears turned, pistons pumped, and the floor beneath their feet thrummed as the entire chamber seemed alive with purpose.

The elevator door opened. The three of them gulped.

The dark room beyond had the faint smell of axel grease and the low hum of machinery. Large gears and pistons moved in the background, moving large chains and winches, while strange lights flickered. It was hard to see this strange machinery clearly… Or the dark figure standing among them.

"Uh, your excellence…" said BW. "We, uhm…"

"Quiet," said a voice that made their hair stand on end. It was sort of like Diogenes, but deeper.

BW knew when to shut up, and this was definitely the time. The voice continued as the figure moved forward.

"I told all three of you how vital this task was," said the figure, "and that it had three parts, which I needed three individuals to do.

"To eliminate Cattivo's henchmen, to break his spirit by humiliating him, and then to bring him alive for interrogation.

"I had serious misgivings about your disciple's ability to accomplish the second part, but your insistence that the situation warranted it convinced me.

"Ironically, he was the only one to succeed at his task."

A narrow slit of light appeared where the being's head would be that suggested eyes.

"My lord, please…" said BW, her voice starting to break.

"Honest we can…" begged Hood.

Then they held their chests. It was like they skipped a beat. A light came on at the far wall. They slowly turned towards it…

Two sets of numbers had appeared on the wall, each one measuring 14:00:00:00. Then they each started to count down. 13:23:59:59, 13:23:59:58…

BW and Hood didn't answer, despite the fear they felt, knowing that it could have been worse. He hadn't killed them – yet. But they realized why their hearts had skipped.

"B.B. Hood," it said. "The Pan Dimensional Homing Device is nearly repaired, which means you are certainly replaceable. And you…" It turned to BW. "You were not the first one to hold your position, and it would not be hard to find another successor.

"In fact, if Eden does return, she may well be easier to convince, eventually…"

It turned to the two clocks.

"You have until then, and until you avert your own count on the Meleager Timepiece, if you can, your own access to it is suspended."

The light went out, but they knew the clocks were there. The reminder was in their chests, and it was impossible to ignore.

Two weeks, thought BW. Not… Not too hard.

"Uh, s… sir?" said Antoine. "Not to sound rude, but…"

The shadowy figure stopped and turned. Sweat started to bead on Antione's brow.

"We, uh… She and I, uh, we had a deal… Uh… If I won that duel… Well, uh…"

"Indeed you did," he replied. "Welcome to the organization, Mr. Dunn."

The being's hand reached out and handed him something. Antoine's own hand shook as he took them.

Three cards. Fusion Monsters.

"Sweet…" he whispered.

"Just take what became – and what may become – of them as a reminder," he said.

As the being stepped into the shadows, the Damned Magician Girl looked at him with pure rage, clenching her fist.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing…" she hissed. She got up, still angry.

It's not like she didn't know that he wanted Eden to replace her eventually. Eden was a tough case, but the toughest ones were the best. She herself had been a tough one.

But does he really have to say it? she thought.

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A night went by. But most Shadowchaser who Jalal had recruited for the mission – to say nothing of Jalal himself – found it hard to sleep. Sofia was both a colleague and a friend, and the thick cloud of worry and doubt hung over them.

After hours dragged out into what seemed like years, it was ten AM in Bloomington, Minnesota, two hours before the deadline demanded by the kidnapper.

The Mall of America was indeed a landmark. Built on the site of the long-demolished Metropolitan Stadium, the building had since grown to a size so large that eight buildings the size of Yankee Stadium could fit comfortably inside. Minnesota residents called it "the Megamall", "Sprawl of America", "Hugedale", and sometimes simply "the Mall". This was not the place for casual shopping.

Jalal himself was in the Apple Store on Level One. He had traded his usual attire for a formal business suit, and appeared to be typing on a regular laptop. It was a ruse, of course. The true computer he was using was the Google Glass he was wearing. It was kind of obvious to him when he got this thing why the fad had died off; why would anyone pay $1,500 to look like an idiot? Still, he wondered if those new D-Gazers would let it start a comeback.

"Heaven forbid," he muttered. He tapped the side of it. "Alright Hank, I've had every single woman working here and at least three of the men try and pick me up twice by now. It's gone from flattering to mildly uncomfortable so please tell me you have something on your end."

In the Hard Rock Café, also on Level One, the archeologist Shadowchaser was sitting at a booth trying to hide his face with a menu. He waited for a pause in the incredibly high-volume music and answered.

"Sorry, chef," he answered, trying to clean out his ear with his middle finger. "Right now the only crime on my end I see is having to charge twenty-five bucks for a burger unless it's gonna leap off my plate and play 'Stairway to heaven' with a burning guitar. Not that I'd be able to hear it in this ruckus."

"Like I told you earlier Hank," replied Jalal, "if you're going to eat at somewhere that doesn't have a drive through but serves the exact same food, you're going to have to expect some discrepancies in the cost.

As he switched to another line, he turned his head to try and avoid making eye contact with a particularly aggressive middle aged woman running tech support who kept winking at him. "How about you Francis?"

Taking up an entire wing of the Mall was the SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium, a complex onto itself with numerous marine life attractions. Francis was sitting on a bench between Jellyfish Discovery and Seahorse Kingdom, the second and third parts of the linear tour, watching as rather eager children rushed by with their parents in tow.

"I'm here boss," he said. "Nothing too fishy yet, but…" He rolled up his sleeves, exposing the two tattoos. "Just say the word and I can start it any time."

"Not yet, Francis," said Jalal. "Just don't go into the Tunnel unless you have to. We don't know what these guys are planning, and once you go in you have to go out the other end."

Again, he changed frequencies.

"Dante, you there?"

In the LEGO store on the other side of Level One, a Halloween theme (as the night in question was only a few days away) decorated the place, and literally millions of Lego blocks had been used to construct a replica of Dracula's castle, along with goofy, life-size models of Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, and a witch. Dante was sitting below one of the large sculptures, keeping an eye on everything as best he could.

"I'm here, chief," he said. He quickly lifted his feet to avoid another kid stepping on them. "Remind me again, this is a school day, right?"

"Be glad it is Dante," said Jalal, with a slight smile. "Or even worse, be glad Black Friday isn't for another month. I'd wager even your namesake would Abandon All Hope. Over and out."

Then he turned on a telephone receiver and spoke into it. "Jabels, how's everything at your end?"

"We seem to be okay," said Jabels' voice. "Mr. Dugan has the Bubba Gump covered, Douglas is at the Dick's Last Resort, Ophelia is at Marshalls, and Karl and Jeb are patrolling the parking lots. Other than the one where Mr. Lupin is."

"Could Red Feather make it?" asked Jalal.

"I'm afraid not," replied Jabels, "Maskent needed her for that, uhm… Thing he told us not to talk about. But Nichole should be able to handle it.

"Oh, and as planned, Edgar and Maddie are in Nickelodeon Universe. If the true goal of these creatures is to lay a trap or ambush for Philip, or renege on their side of the deal, we should be able to see a trap from a mile away."

"Let's hope so," said Jalal. Again, he switched frequencies.

"Okay, Wells, let's go."

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If one thing made the Mall of America unique, besides its size, it was the star attraction, the largest indoor amusement park in the country. Of course, it didn't have much competition in that area, but Nickelodeon Universe (originally Knott's Camp Snoopy, then the Park at MOA before Nickelodeon got the rights to it) was unique even for them.

A glass ceiling covered a wide area with natural foliage and an uneven floor of hills. There were small rollercoasters (the Avatar Airbender being the most popular one) and the BrainSurge, a unique type of thrill ride defined as a "unicoaster". (The park staff advertised it as a "rather peculiar ride".)

Maddie was listening to Edgar in a picnic area in a wide open area in front of a coffee shop with some other vendors.

"He was always rather… stubborn," said Edgar. He took a long drink from his latte. "Axel 'the Axe' Austen. A man who boasted that he was better at killing via decapitation than anyone else…"

He paused to sip his latte again.

"…and the worst part is, he was right. You could always tell when a body was one of his victims, due to the cleanness of the cut. In fact, when he was finally cornered, he proved it. He swore we would never take him alive, and we didn't. He actually used that axe of his to decapitate himself."

He noticed how she was looking at him. "Well, uh," he said. "You'd have had to be there…"

"Well, I," she started.

She lifted her cup to take another sip of coffee only to pause and give the fish eye to someone wearing a Spongebob Squarepants costume waddle by.

"Ever get the feeling cartoons got really, really weird somewhere down the line? I mean, back when Nickelodeon was just starting things like Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life were practically ground-breaking but now, well –"

"Now it feels like most cartoons play like bad acid trips without any of the inside humor or depth?" Edgar finished, chuckling. "Times change and so do people's tastes. I can't say I don't miss the classics, but to kids who have grown up with the new stuff they obviously see something in it.

"Besides I know a certain young lady who never missed an episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and I've certainly never held it against her now have I?"

Maddie gave Edgar a withering stare over the edge of her coffee cup. "Maybe because a certain old man would always stay up at night to watch those same episodes when he thought she was asleep?" She said in a fierce whisper.

"I...have no idea what you're talking about," Edgar mumbled into his cup as his face turned beet-red.

"How cute," said a familiar male voice.

Edgar turned. Then he jumped out of his seat.

"Ramón?" he shouted.

It was him all right, wearing a sweatshirt with hoody and jeans, both of which seemed to fit him rather badly, and no shoes.

"We were looking for you two!" yelled Maddie.

"Ah, jump on this and spin," he threated, accentuating the remark with an easy to interpret gesture. Then he took off towards the center of the park with the two Shadowchasers pursuing. Edgar flipped the communication device on his Duel Disk.

"Jalal, you there?" he shouted. The signal was a little weak with a lot of static.

"What's going on?" said Jalal's voice, which he could barely make out.

"Wait, hold that thought," said Maddie.

Ramón was shoving his way past tourists through a line and towards the Dutchman's Deck, and then cut in line, through the starting point of the huge complex.

"Relax," said Maddie. "He's not going anywhere."

Indeed, the Dutchman's Deck was a high ropes course, a very unusual attraction for an amusement park. It was safe (at least, there had never been any serious accidents), but likely not something you could do barefoot. And Edgar doubted that Ramón would be stupid enough to try.

But then they heard another familiar voice. "Here baby, here! Jump!"

To their shock, it was Yolanda, standing two platforms from the entrance stairs. She had gotten rid of the gypsy outfit and was wearing a midriff-bearing white shirt with long sleeves and slacks (also ill-fitting) and had her hair in a ponytail. She had shoes, however, battered tennis shoes with the laces missing. However, she was wearing the attraction's obligatory safety harness.

"Don't try this at home, kids!" laughed Ramón. He didn't even bother with the tightrope, but leapt, grabbing hold of a hand rope, and swung sideways towards the platform, where his mother grabbed him.

To make it worse, all the kids watching broke out in applause, even as Yolanda kissed her son on the forehead.

"You two must have just broken every safety regulation the park has," said Edgar.

"Nice clothes," said Maddie. "Got them 'five-finger discount', I assume?"

"Had to," replied Ramón. "We spent most of the money we could get on a little, uhm, surprise for the two of you. Meet us as Arcade Maximus if you want to see it."

"I really hate surprises," sighed Edgar.

Then the two fugitives grabbed hold of each other and Yolanda stepped off the platform, the harness slowing their descent as they fell. Fire covered Ramón's hand as they did, and as they touched down, he burned through the rope with the callus of his hand, and the two took off running towards the juice bar at the other end of the Dutchman complex.

"Arcade Maximus?" said Maddie. She scratched her head.

"I've heard of that place," said Edgar. He tapped his Disk again. "It's a new activity center for televised events. You know, tournaments, award ceremonies, game shows…"

Maddie rolled her eyes. Most game shows in Nickelodeon's history were for children, but not the type for prodigies…

"Edgar, what's going on?" asked Jalal. "Hank and Dante just told me they had to deal with the park security."

"It's complicated, but we'll have to tell you on the way," replied Edgar, as he and Maddie rushed down the stairs.

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Outside the mall, an old pickup truck was parked in the lot in front of the main entrance. Garth Brooks music was playing on the radio as Philip fidgeted, checking his watch every five minutes and checking over his equipment the rest of the time.

Where is this guy? he thought. He was supposed to…

Then he was startled as his mobile rang. He cautiously looked at it.

Odd. He didn't recognize this number. He hit the Enter button.

"Hello?" he said into it, still looking around.

"Hello Mr. Lupin," said a voice that he didn't recognize, that seemed to be made through a synthesizer. "We haven't spoken directly yet; suffice to say I'm an acquaintance of someone you don't like."

"What do you want?" demanded Philip.

"You think you're quite clever," said the voice. "There's a large rig with a black cab and trailer, I think you can see it."

Philip looked out the window, and saw the large truck parked way back at the end. "Yeah, I see it."

"Come over there now. Alone."

"That wasn't what I agreed to, buster," said Philip, his voice a conversation of angry and annoyed.

Then he was interrupted by a voice he recognized only too well.

"Philip!" it pleaded.

"Sofia!" he gasped.

"It's me, lover, it's me!" she said, sounding like she was saying it through tears. "I'm here, just do what he wants, please! He…"

Then she was cut off, and the more familiar voice came back on. "I'm changing the deal, Mr. Lupin. You have twenty minutes."

He hung up. Philip's hand tightened around the mobile, and he nearly crushed it before realizing he still needed it.

Slowly, he put it down. He checked his watch.

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"Uh, Edgar, you aren't going to believe this," said Jalal.

"Try me, chief," replied the veteran Shadowchaser, "it would take a lot to surprise me."

He and Maddie leapt over a guardrail as they ran towards the large stadium-like building known as the Arcade Maximus.

"Well, I just looked up the schedule for that place," replied the leader of the Shadowchasers. "Today is they're hosting the TeenNick Duel Monsters Invitational. It's happening right now."

"Very interesting," replied Edgar, "but I doubt we have time to watch it."

"Actually," said Jalal, "you two are scheduled to be in it."

"Say WHAT?" shouted Maddie. Both of them stopped. "Uh, boss, even if we were invited – and we weren't – isn't there an age limit for that?"

"According to this, there's a team duel exhibition match happening in fifteen minutes," he replied. "Apparently, they're adding that into the official I2 tournaments next year. And you'll never guess who your opponents are."

"This must be that 'surprise', they promised," sighed Edgar.

"Just play along for now," said Jalal. "We've only got ninety minutes before noon and the place is too crowded to risk a fight."

Edgar looked at his Duel Disk. Then he looked at Maddie. They both nodded, and looked up at the large coliseum.

Indeed, their names and faces were on a large digital screen, one which quickly changed to show Yolanda's and Ramón's.

"They've got some explaining to do," said Edgar. The two rushed in.

As the mentor and former student entered the large arena from the long, dark hall, large fireworks erupted from both sides of the door. Cheers erupted as colored spotlights illuminated the arena.

"Welcome, one and all," said a booming, commanding voice. "Prepare for a melee the likes of which you've never seen!"

"Why is the announcer a giant floating bald head in a tube?" asked Maddie.

"Shh," replied Edgar, "just go with it."

As they walked to the circular dueling platform in the center, more fireworks erupted at the opposite entrance. It seemed Yolanda and Ramón had changed to better fitting clothes. A rather horrid style, but better fitting. Yolanda was wearing a black leather catsuit with a dangerously plunging V-line in the front, sunglasses, and her hair loose, while her son had a leather jacket with no shirt underneath, leather pants with metal studs, and her own sunglasses.

Naturally, there were a lot of catcalls from the audience (and plenty of pictures being taken, in defiance of the "no flash photography" rule), to which Yolanda simply smiled and waved. Maddie, on the other hand, just held her head and shook it as the two criminals climbed up on the platform.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," she said. "Weren't you the guys who were trying to convince us last week that you weren't crazy?"

"Maddie please," said Edgar. He looked at Yolanda, who had a shit-eating grin as she looked back at him.

"Spill it," he said. "How on earth did you two set all this up? I doubt you could have ever saved up enough money to arrange this."

"Well truthfully, we didn't," replied Ramón, "we asked, UGH!" The exclamation came as his mother gave him a sharp elbow in the side. "I mean, we had help from, AGH!" She gave him an even sharper one below it.

"Shutting up now…" he said.

"Listen," said Yolanda. She took her sunglasses off, her expression turning serious. "It took about two minutes after swan-diving into the biggest pile of garbage you could ever imagine before we considered turning around and giving ourselves up, but it was a one-way portal. When we finally got back here, you don't want to know how long it took to scrub that… stuff off our skin."

"And those prison uniforms we were wearing?" added Ramón. "We had to burn them. We are never doing that again. Since we went through all this trouble, the least you can do is duel us before you read us our rights, okay?"

Maddie looked at Edgar, and he nodded. "Guy has a point…"

The two teams backed away from each other, Maddie across from Ramón, Edgar across from Yolanda.

"So," asked Maddie, as she adjusted her Gazer, "how do you set this thing for a team duel?"

Before anyone could answer, the virtual reality interface set up, with a significant difference. The dueling grid showed four Monster Zones and four Spell Zones, one for each player, before it turned and rose to the corner as it usually did.

"Well, that's convenient," she said.

"Let the battle begin!" commended the strange announcer. "It's time to duel!"

(Maddie & Edgar: 16,000) - - - - - - - - - - (Ramón & Yolanda: 16,000)

The room darkened, and a spotlight fell on Maddie. "Uh… Guess that means I go first…" she said. She grinned, nervously, then drew.

"Here we go… Seeing as I found out last time you clearly aren't a dog person, Ramón, I'll summon my Panther Warrior!"

The monster card appeared in front of her, and the savage Beast-Warrior leapt out of it, drawing his scimitar and snarling as he saw Ramón. (2,000 ATK)

"Cats I'm okay with," he said. "Cat owners on the other hand…"

"Uh huh," said Maddie. "I'll set one card, and then play Shard of Greed." First the set card appeared, then a Continuous Spell, which produced a large piece of broken pottery resembling a chunk of the Pot of Greed.

"Your move, space cadet."

"So, Maddie," said Yolanda, as Ramón drew a card, "that set card wouldn't happen to be Scapegoat?"

"Maybe, maybe not," replied the Shadowchaser.

She was trying very hard to sound serious as she said that, because she knew it was rather obvious that it was.

Not like I'd set anything else with Panther Warrior… she thought.

"I activate Warlord's Standard," said Ramón. He fit a card into his Disk, and a Continuous Spell rose on his side, one that produced a war flag on a pole, one with a rather familiar symbol…

"Looks just like the Banner of Courage," said Maddie.

"It is," replied Roland. "Well, it's not the Banner of Courage, but it has an effect that's better. See, once per turn, any player can use this card's effect to add one Arms Counter to it, and then Special Summon a Warrior from his – or her – hand.

"So here's mine…"

There was another loud snarl, and a brute with green skin, a wolf-like face, horns on his head, and hair on his muscular chest, rose from an apparent squatting position. He wore a ragged pair of purple trousers, and carried an iron-shod club. (1,800 ATK)

"Swamp Battleguard?" exclaimed Edgar. "You don't see that card around much these days."

"I know, but trust me, it's making a comeback," replied Ramón, "especially seeing as I have the Spell Card, Vow of the Battleguards. It costs 1,000 Life Points, but nothing's ever free these days, eh?"

He played the card, and as his score dropped slightly, a twin of the first monster with red skin appeared next to it. (1,550 ATK)

"With his partner Lava Battleguard here, they both gain a small bonus…"

Lava Battleguard growled and hit the business end of his club against his left hand. (Swamp Battleguard: 2,300 ATK, Lava Battleguard: 2,050 ATK)

"Amazing what these guys can accomplish with simple clubs. You know, I once read how a guy named George Carlin once said that a baseball bat is the perfect murder weapon."

Lava Battleguard groaned a little, but his master went on. "You can buy it in any sporting goods store, it's perfectly legal, and hey, it's the national pastime!"

The whole arena went dead. "You know, Ramón," said Maddie, "that was before my time, but… I'm pretty sure the joke was much funnier when he told it."

"Tough crowd…" he said. "Lava Battleguard, you first! Attack with Magma Smash!"

Lava Battleguard perked up a little and roared as he lifted his club. The attack was anything but subtle it came down upon Panther Warrior hard, and he was blown to shards, his sword and shield falling with a clatter before they vanished too.

"She's defenseless, get her Swamp Battleguard! Bog Bash!"

"I activate Scapegoat!" replied Maddie, as her Quickplay Spell lifted. The four fluffy, colored sheep started to float out…

"Actually, you do not," said Yolanda. She turned two of the cards from her hand around. "I'm discarding Herald of Green Light and one other Fairy."

As she ditched the two card, an odd, green, spherical creature with legs and wings appeared above her, and a green sunbeam fell from above, reducing the Spell Card to dust and turning the four sheep to vapor.

"Sorry, Bo Peep, you just lost your sheep," she said with the same grin as before.

Maddie could barely turn around before Swamp Battleguard's club, which she really didn't expect, hit her solidly in the torso. She didn't have time to brace for it at all, and had been caught off balance, and the impact made the fall rather rough.

And given how much cheering from the crowd she heard, rather undignified.

(M&E: 13,650) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 15,000)

"Edgar…" she groaned. "I'd say we're off to a bad start…"

As much as I'd like to disagree, thought her elder. Yolanda actually countered her move without having one turn!

"I'll set one card, then play Supply Squad," said Ramón, as the face-down card and Continuous Spell appeared. "Your move, old man."

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Slowly, but steadily, Philip moved towards the rig, his hand on his holster inside his jacket. He looked back and forth.

"I'm here, whoever you are," he said.

He heard the back of the trailer opening he drew his weapon and moved to put his back against the side of the truck.

"Drop the weapon, Mr. Lupin," said the same voice.

"Show yourself," demanded Philip.

"Philip, baby, run!" screamed Sofia's voice.

Philip turned around towards the front of the cab, just in time to see Sofia being pistol-whipped by a man holding her. She looked just like she did in that video, except without the muzzle, and her look of anger and defiance was replaced by absolute panic.

As for the man holding her with a gun to her head, Philip had never seen him. He looked kind of generic, however. He was very tall, with black, spiky hair, a long, black overcoat, black gloves, trousers, books, sunglasses, and an odd… contraption covering his mouth and nose.

The gun he was holding to Sofia's temple was pretty serious heat: probably a P-32, or some other semi-automatic.

"Drop it now," he ordered, his voice muffled by the thing he was wearing.

Philip hesitated.

"Philip lover, please!" begged Sofia. Still, Philip didn't move. He didn't relax his grip on the gun. Yet. Sofia's lip quivered.

"Philip, drop it please!" she begged again. "This is big! It's not worth it!"

"You heard her, Mr. Lupin," he said.

Still, Philip said nothing.

"I saw who they work for," she cried. "You have no idea what he's like!

"Please…"

"You're right," said Philip, softly.

Then he fired his weapon. Not at the man holding Sofia, but at her, in the forehead.

As he expected, she collapsed into a pile of sand.

He was about to turn the gun on the man who had been holding her, but he faded away, like a shadow does in sunlight. There was a far friendlier chuckle behind him.

"Not bad, Mr. Lupin," said the voice, which was pleasant with a slight Southern drawl. "Didn't exactly expect that, but…"

Philip turned around, and saw a man who had apparently come out of the truck's cab, a portly-looking man with strong arms, laugh wrinkles, bushy hair with sideburns, and cloudy grey eyes, wearing a red flannel shirt, overalls, and a trucker's cap. The mark of the Shadowchasers was clearly visible on his chubby face.

"How'd ya know?" he asked. "Lemme guess, Sofia ain't the type who'd give up so easily?"

Philip didn't lower the gun yet.

"Well, that…" he said, slowly. "And the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who's seen 'who they work for'. Or at least someone who'll admit it. We've been trying to find that out for over a century. I kind of doubt he – or she, to be honest – would have let her see him."

"Ah," said the man. He lifted his hand. "Name's Wells… Wells W. Dawes.

"Wait…" said Philip. He lowered the gun. "Aren't you the guy who caught all those, uhm, at that…"

Wells laughed again. "Folks tend to exaggerate that…" he said.

"Uhm…" said Philip. He extended his hand. "I was kind of expecting someone uhm…"

"Thinner? Younger? More articulate? Better dressed?" laughed Wells, as they shook. "How many times have I heard that?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Edgar stepped up as Maddie stood up. He quickly put his opening hand of five cards in his shirt pocket.

"Time to give you two clowns a lesson in Reality 101," he said. He cracked his knuckles. "Taught by Professor Edgar McDonald."

He retrieved his five cards, and drew a sixth. "First of all, it's my Standby Phase, so the Shard of Greed becomes a shard more complete."

Indeed, another piece of pottery appeared, welding itself to the first one, forming a piece that resembled half of the actual Pot of Greed.

"Now then, I'll use the effect of your Warlord's Standard, Ramón, to Special Summon Noble Knight Medraut."

The sound of trumpeting filled the arena as the banner fluttered, and a man in silvery armor and a crimson cloak stepped forward, a handsome young man with long, blonde hair and a sword glowing with radiance. His expression, however, was grim and stern. (1,700 ATK)

Screams erupted from the audience, this time from the teenage girls watching, mixed with fawning and gushing.

"Lovely," said Maddie, "we walked right into hormone central."

"If I recall, you were like this once," said Edgar, with a smirk.

"Don't remind me."

"Ahem," said Edgar, as he chose another card. "As of right now, Medraut is considered a Normal Monster, but that will chance once I equip him with Noble Arms of Destiny."

Medraut's normal weapon disappeared, and one that was dull, resembling unforged iron, including the hilt, replaced it.

"Like several other Noble Knights, using an Equip Spell changes Medraut's Attribute from Light to Dark and upgrades him from Level 4 to 5. It also lets him use his effect, which lets me summon another Noble Knight from my deck in Defense Mode, like Noble Knight Gwalchavad."

Medraut lifted the sword, and it gained a dull shimmer as another Knight appeared next to him, a slightly older one with longer blonde hair, a moustache, and silvery armor. He also had a shield that glowed with brilliant light. (1,800 ATK)

More fawning screams came from the teenage girls in the bleachers, and given the slight smile on Gwalchavad's face (a small smile, as if he didn't like to smile, but a smile nonetheless) he appreciated it more than Medraut. As for Medraut, however, he lifted the sword in two hands, as if to hand it to someone. Then it shattered like glass before vanishing into pixels of light.

"WHAT?" shouted Ramón, startled by the strange move.

"Because Medraut used that effect, he had to break his weapon," explained Edgar. "By it's only a minor inconvenience, because the Noble Arms all share one effect. Once per turn, a Noble Knight can recover a destroyed one, and not necessarily the one who lost it.

As he said so, Noble Arms of Destiny reappeared in Gwalchavad's hand, point-side down.

"This, of course, means that Medraut is once again a Light, Level 4 Normal Monster, but that also means I can sacrifice him to Special Summon the Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn."

Medraut started to glow with a potent brightness until it seemingly consumed him entirely, and then the light turned to an inky black cloud. Another knight emerged, this one darker and scarier, wearing black iron armor, with long, raven-black hair and piercing eyes. He held a long, steel sword with a hilt the same material as his armor. (2,000 ATK)

"And to join him, Noble Knight Borz."

He played a card from his hand, and a large outline of a chalice appeared, then vanished as a new Knight, this one with shorter brown hair, a boyish face, very fancy armor, and a crimson cloak much like Medraut's stepped into place next to Laundsallyn. (1,700 ATK)

"This going to take much longer?" asked Ramón.

"Honey, shush!" snapped his mother. "Let him take as long as he wants!"

Edgar couldn't help but smile a little. Clearly, Yolanda was more than a little relieved that he had changed decks since last time.

"Moving right along," he continued. He played yet another Equip Spell, and Laundsallyn's regular sword vanished, replaced by one with a brighter sheen. (3,000 ATK)

"Noble Arms Gallatin raises his Attack Score by 1,000 points!"

"Attack Swamp Battleguard! Severing Blade!"

Laundsallyn lifted the sword and threw himself at the brutish Warrior. The Battleguard lifted his mace, and sparks flew as the two weapons clashed.

Then, to Edgar's shock, Laundsallyn's sword fell to the ground with a clatter, skidding towards Borz's feet.

"What?" he said.

"Yeah, yeah, you made him strong, but I had this," said Ramón. His Trap Card had lifted up. "Battleguard Howling, and it makes Swamp Battleguard even stronger."

(3,050 ATK)

"But don't worry, it also means that your monster didn't go to the Graveyard, he went back to your hand!"

Edgar looked at his right hand and indeed, Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn's card had appeared next to the other one.

"That may be so," he said, "but while he didn't go there, his weapon did, and in case you forgot what happened when a Noble Arms is destroyed…"

Borz slipped his boot under the flat of Gallatin's blade, flipped it up with an upward kick, and then caught it. (2,700 ATK) He turned for Lava Battleguard. The barbarian tried to shield himself as his partner had, only for the club to fly from his hand, and the weapon to cut through his center. The two halves of him dissolved quickly, and the crowd cheered again.

(M&E: 13,600) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 14,350)

"With Lava Battleguard gone, Swamp Battleguard loses 500 points," said Edgar.

(2,550 ATK)

"Yeah, well I get to draw once due to Supply Squad," said Ramón. And he drew a card.

"Now, I'm done," said Edgar.

Yolanda drew, bringing her hand size up to one less than she started with. Indeed, Maddie had been taken by surprise by that move because not many duelists were willing to do that.

"I summon Gale Dogra," she said.

As she used the card, an odd bug – sort of a nasty-looking leech with a stinger and bat-like wings – appeared hovering in mid-air. (650 ATK)

"Gale Dogra?" asked Maddie. "I don't think that card has ever been used much. What does it do again?"

"It lets me take a monster from my Extra Deck and send it to the Graveyard," replied Yolanda. "Sure, it costs 3,000 Life Points…"

(M&E: 13,600) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 11,350)

"…but here's where it starts to get interesting. The card I'm choosing to discard is Herald of the Arc Light."

Even Edgar flinched a little when she said that. If this was a full-blown Herald Deck…

"You see," said Yolanda, as she pushed the card into her Graveyard, "when Herald of the Arc Light goes to my Graveyard, I get a Ritual Spell or Monster from my deck."

In a silver twinkle, a new card replaced that one. "I use Advanced Ritual Art!"

Thunder flashed in the large auditorium, and a stone monolith appeared behind her with standing stones to her left and right and a pentagram on the ground in front. Two golden spheres flew out of her deck, turning into Dunames Dark Witch and Mystical Shine Ball. Then, they dissolved and the monolith crumbled.

Edgar watched nervously as the ceremony unfolded, and Maddie trembled a little. The both knew about Perfect Herald – especially Maddie, seeing as she lost to a duelist using that thing before – and it that showed up…

The thunder and darkness gave way to incredibly bright light, and a huge, muscular, angelic being with a wise-looking, draconic head, blue, gold and white skin, a long, reptilian tail and glorious, feathered wings flew from the ether. (2,500 ATK)

They both breathed a sigh of relief. This monster was definitely not Perfect Herald. In fact…

"Beautiful…" gasped Maddie.

"I see you're impressed by Saffira, Queen of Dragons," said Yolanda. "We'll get into what she can do it a minute. First off, I use Silent Doom to raise Dunames Dark Witch from the Graveyard."

The familiar Spell appeared, and the Fairy rose from the ground, kneeling in Defense Mode, shyly hiding behind her wings. (1,050 DEF)

"Then I can use the effect of Buten, the other Fairy I discarded when I used Herald of Green Light."

Despite what Karl has previously said about Fairies in the game of Duel Monsters, the one that floated over the field as she took the card from her Graveyard was one of the weirdest Maddie had ever seen. It was a pig. A large, fat pig's head with a smiling face, a halo, and small wings.

"What in the…" said Maddie.

"It looks funny, but it can be powerful now," said Edgar. "By banishing it, Yolanda can use a Level 4 or lower Light Fairy as a Tuner. And Dunames Dark Witch fits the criteria."

"Exactly," said Yolanda. "So I Tune together her and Gale Dogra…"

What happened was different from most times a Synchro Summoning was done. The stars and rings were still there, but with an ominous, grim feeling in the air, like a sticky film that you couldn't wash off.

(*4 + *2 = *6)

"I Synchro Summon Diabolic Merchant Renon!" she shouted.

There was a small column of black smoke and soot and the smell of brimstone, and a sinister-looking man appeared wearing a… rather cheap suit. Indeed, his suit, while formal, seemed gaudy, and clashed. He also had goat-like legs, a diabolical goatee, and small horns in front of what was obviously a toupee. He also carried a briefcase, the one pricy-looking item he seemed to have.

He knelt, defending, placing it in front of himself. (3,000 DEF)

"Now there's a guy I really wouldn't buy a used car from," noted Edgar.

"Oh, Renon is perfectly safe to buy from," replied Yolanda, "within limits, of course. But for now, Saffira attacks Noble Knight Gwalchavad!"

The huge draconic Fairy breathed a wave of blue. That could describe it. Sky-blue brilliance that hurt the two Shadowchasers' eyes towards the Knight… Only for Gwalchavad to stand up with his sword held high and parry the lethal flames effortlessly.

"How?" asked Yolanda. Gwalchavad stared the Ritual Monster in the eyes without blinking, steam still rising from his sword's blade.

"Dramatic, yes," said Edgar, "but the simple explanation is, Noble Arms of Destiny prevents him from being destroyed once per round. And because he was in Defense Mode, I – uhm, I mean we – take no damage."

Maddie gave him a smarmy smile and a thumb's up.

"I have one more Spell Card," said Yolanda. She closed her eyes as she used it. "Dark Factory of Mass Production. I'll use it, and take Dunames Dark Witch and Mystical Shine Ball back from my Graveyard."

The two cards floated towards her hand, and her fingers closed around them.

"You see, to use Renon's effect, I have to discard a card and pay 800 Life Points, and the Life Point cost goes up by 400 points every time I decide to do that."

She discarded Dunames Dark Witch again, and Renon flipped the clasp on the briefcase. He smiled evilly.

(M&E: 13,600) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 10,550)

"Now I get to look at the top card on my deck," she continued, "and if it's a Spell or Trap, I get to set it."

Ramón took a card from the briefcase and looked at it, then turned it forward, the purple border confirming it was, indeed, a Trap Card. Then he tossed it over his shoulder, and a set card appeared behind him.

"Of course, there's one other small drawback, but… Well, we'll get to that later… I'm ending now, and that means I can use one of Saffira's three effects. I think I'll use the first."

"I don't follow…" said Maddie.

"Well if memory serves correctly," said Edgar, "one of Saffira's three effect can be used at the turn it's Ritual Summoned or any turn a card is sent to the Graveyard from the user's hand. The first allows two draws."

"So long as I then discard one," added Yolanda. She looked at the two cards, considered for a minute, and then discarded the Mystical Shine Ball.

"Your move, short stuff."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Will you quit squirming and hold still?" snarled Fanciullo. "I have to test it, don't I?"

He was in his personal shooting range in the basement of his manor house, aiming a sniper rifle at a target. Of course, the "target" was the guy he had just scolded, his gunsmith Freddy, who was tied up and gagged in front of a standard target.

Fanciullo aimed carefully. Freddy mumbled something. Sweat started to pour down his face.

The mob boss fired and Freddy screamed. The bullet had nicked his right ear.

Fanciullo frowned, and looked at the weapon. "Mmm, you were right," he said. "The scope is six inches off to the left. My apologies, Freddy."

As he turned around, handing the gun to Drago as he did, the gunsmith let out a moan and fainted.

"Boss, seriously," said the bodyguard, "you can't let this get to you! The… the guy got a lucky draw, that's all!"

Fanciullo stopped. He looked at Drago. "C'mere…" he said.

"Boss?" said Drago. He leaned over, only to get punched in the face.

"OW!" shouted the henchman. Then he groaned, "I deserved that…"

"Two of my best men are dead," growled Fanciullo. He started trudging up the stairs where Tormento and Uomo were waiting. "Some freakshow is after us, I'm humiliated on camera by a walking anachronism, and now my best bodyguard has become a bootlicking yes-man."

He shoved past the other two, and through the door to his office.

"All because of… this."

He saw the strange journal on the side of his desk. The one Eden had given him, thought he didn't even know her name yet, and was no closer to finding out why she had given it to him than he was when she did.

"Well, we could always, y'know, get rid of it," said Tormento.

Fanciullo sighed sadly, and slumped down on the swivel chair. "Once I start something I always finish it," he said. "My father was the same way. Still, this time…"

"Yeah, my grandfather was like that too," mumbled Tormento. "Way back in World War II, he…"

He was interrupted as the phone rang. Fanciullo sat up. Fortunately, it was just Nitro's mobile, so he answered it.

"Where'd the little genius go, anyway?" asked Drago.

"Some library or museum I think," replied Uomo. "He said something about talking to an expert or something…"

Fanciullo hung up. "Get the car ready you three," he ordered, "apparently, this library is the type where you can't actually check the books out."

"You mean…" said Tormento. He was looking even more afraid now than Freddy had been.

Fanciullo nodded. "Yes, Tormento, and before we leave… Do I have to remind you this time how stringent Althea is about her 'no food and drink allowed' policy and what she does to folks who ignore the rules?"

Tormento shuddered a little…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

In the Copek building, Dunstan hurried into the warehouse, where Addams and Oswald were waiting, the latter sitting on a work bench casually tossing a football and catching it with one hand, and the former next to a large, wooden crate.

"I take it that's special delivery from our, uh, client?" asked Dunstan. He straightened his gig-line as he spoke.

"Uh-huh," replied Addams. Dunstan tossed him a hammer and then took a key from his pocket. "He wants it available as soon as the Concordant Gear is, which means he wants you to start fixing it now."

As he started to pry the crate open with the hammer's claw, Dunstan opened a safe above another workbench. Inside was a small strongbox with a latch.

"You do realize how deep in it we'll be if he doesn't recover the Concordant Gear by the time I finish doing that, right?" he asked.

He opened the strongbox. Inside were several gemstones much like the type that were inside Domino.

"These cost a small fortune, you know, and it's not like buying emeralds is as easy as going to a deli and asking for a pound of salami."

"That's what I told him," said Addams, nodding, "but he said to just start on it, and he should have it by then. He specifically mentioned it's the last one added." One side of the crate fell to the floor with a clatter. "Frankly, I think he's a little too overconfident."

Oswald peeked into the crate, which held the strangest device he had ever seen, bar none. It was a vaguely cylindrical device made of copper (or something similar) with dials, switches, and oddities of unknown purpose jutting out of the sides and making it look awkward. It was about four feet by three feet in size, the outcropping parts adding another half a foot to each dimension.

"So do you plug it in or wind it up?" asked Oswald. "It looks like something Dr. Robotnik built when he was blind stinking drunk."

"Watch it, Oswald," answered Addams, "rumor has it this thing was, indeed, an ill-conceived creation of some god of the forge, who might have been drunk when he designed it, built it, or both. In fact, some have even suggested that the powers everyone uses it for aren't its true purpose, but an unintended side effect of its intended function when used. Whatever the hell that is. But the fact remains, the power it can unleash is almost limitless."

"Uhm…" said the much younger man. "It's that dangerous?"

"Don't worry," groaned Dunstan. He was trying to move the weird – and very awkward – device out of the crate. "Without the five gears in place, it's nothing more than a novelty." He stopped, and wiped the sweat off his brow. "Probably why those guys decided to hide the gears in Maagardium and the rest of it in Byopia… Will you give me a hand with it, Oswald, this thing is heavy!"

Oswald shrugged and hopped off the bench as Addams covered his eyes with his hand. He was really starting to wonder if the real reason Diogenes wanted them to repair was to "get someone else's fingerprints on it", so to speak.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Short stuff, thought Maddie, rolling her eyes, must mean me…

She drew. Then stopped.

"Uh…" she said.

"Problem?" asked Edgar.

"Uh, never mind!" she said, quickly.

A third shard fit into the broken pot beside her, and fused with the other two, forming a complete Pot of Greed. The cracks disappeared. Then Borz held his chest with a slight look of discomfort. (2,500 ATK)

"He lost points?" asked Ramón.

"A small side effect of using Gallatin," replied Edgar. "But don't worry about that now."

"Right," continued Maddie. "Now that Shard of Greed is complete, I can send it to the Graveyard to draw twice.

The Pot vanished and she made two draws. "Mmm, well Ramón, fortunately for you, I'm going to be a little quicker… I'll set these three cards, and then you go."

She used three of her six cards, and one monster and two other cards appeared, all of them reversed.

"My move!" he laughed. He drew. "So let's really start the show! I'm using The Warrior Returning Alive. That's pretty self-explanatory, I guess."

With the Spell Card in play, he took Lava Battleguard from his Disk and held it face towards them. "And don't forget, I still have my Warlord's Standard. So it seems we're back where we started."

As Lava Battleguard appeared again, bringing Swamp Battleguard's Score up to 3,050 again and his own to 2,050, Edgar started looking closely at that Spell Card.

It has to do something else… he thought.

"Now, let's see…" said Ramón. He looked at Borz and Gwalchavad, and then at Maddie's set monster.

"Attack her set monster, Lava Battleguard!" he ordered.

However, as the barbarian lifted his club, three robed, hooded priestesses appeared, holding their hands up in a silent order to halt.

"Waboku?" he said, shocked.

"You got it," replied Maddie. "Although while your attack was rendered harmless, it wasn't truly stopped."

The Monster Card flipped up, and a beautiful, yet sad-looking maiden in a fancy blue dress and hood with golden ringlets appeared, kneeling on the card. (1,400 DEF)

"Who's that, the Bluebonnet Girl?" he asked.

"She's Blue Shepherd," answered Maddie. "And while Pink Shepard can call sheep from my deck, Blue Shepard can save them from the Graveyard. As in, by banishing that Scapegoat your mom negated earlier, I can activate it now."

The Quickplay Spell appeared, then burst, and the four little lambs appeared next to Blue Shepherd. (0 DEF x4)

"Looks like you were right about us being back where we started. Thanks a lot. Especially since that Flip Effect wouldn't have activated if I had to use that Trap to protect Edgar's Warriors just then."

There was some snickering and guffawing from the spectators; Ramón was understandably angry, and his mother was giving him a look that Maddie recognized only too well. It was the same one her mother would give her for doing something dumb.

He slammed another card in his Disk and it materialized in his Spell Zone. "There!" he yelled. "Just go…"

"Ramón, please, you're embarrassing me," said Yolanda in a loud whisper.

"I have yet to meet a parent who hasn't said that at some point," said Edgar. "That's why I'm still single. My draw."

I'll be fine, he thought. He looked at Borz again. If fancy pants over there attacks one of my Battleguards, the Trap Card mom set will make him sorry.

Edgar drew a card, and as he did, Borz groaned again, his Attack Points falling to 2,300.

He's getting even weaker, thought Edgar. Better fix that.

"It's time to use Gwalchavad's effect now," he said, as the blonde Knight stood up. "And like Medraut's, he has to break his weapon to do so."

Indeed, that was exactly how it happened. Gwalchavad took the Noble Arms of Destiny in both hands, and it shattered into little shards of light. Medraut's card slid out of his discard slot.

"As a result, Medraut returns from my Graveyard. Of course, Destiny now equips to Borz. And I'll also equip Noble Arms Arfeudutyr."

Borz held out his left hand, and the Destiny sword landed it, as a third sword, one resembling Laundsallyn's, appeared over his head and slid into a scabbard on his back.

"Next, well, remember how I summoned Laundsallyn, the last time?"

Indeed, it was the same as before. Gwalchavad disappeared in the brilliant aura, and was replaced by the darker Knight. (Unarmed this time – evidently, Arfeudutyr was his weapon.) (2,000 ATK)

"Would this be a good time to run and get a hamburger?" asked Ramón, with a rather sarcastic tone. "I mean, it's not like mom and I are doing anything here…"

"Ramón, maybe if you planned your moves better, you'd make less mistakes," said Edgar, who wasn't all-too pleased himself. "As a wise man once said, patience is a virtue."

"Didn't another wise man say, a rolling stone gathers no moss?" asked Ramón.

Edgar was about to reply, but stopped.

"Those old wise men can be pretty hard to follow," said Maddie, with a chuckle. There were a few more laughs from the spectators. "You didn't hear this from me, but I once saw one of his opponents forfeit when he used those guys because he was having too hard a time pronouncing their names."

"My best student, folks," grumbled Edgar. "I have no-one to blame but myself. Getting back to what we were doing… By decreasing his Attack Score by 500 more points, Borz can use Arfeudutyr's effect to destroy one of your set Spells or Traps."

"Wait, hold it…" said Ramón.

Borz jabbed Gallatin into the ground and then drew Arfeudutyr's much darker blade. Sharp, javelins made of black crystals fell diagonal-wise from the ceiling, piercing Ramón's Trap Card. (1,800 ATK)

"Damn…" he said.

Battleguard Howling? thought Maddie. Yolanda set that? These two were more prepared than I thought. He's providing most of the offense, while she's backing him up with most of their Traps and Quickplay Spells.

"Now I'll summon the Tuner monster, Lady of the Lake," said Edgar.

There was a lovely, enchanting melody, as a slim, sylph-like woman with blonde hair in a blue dress, holding a sword wrapped in cloth, appeared in a spray of water. She chanted a beautiful, haunting melody that flowed over the whole auditorium. (200 ATK)

And finally, I'll Tune together Lady of the Lake and Noble Knight Borz…"

The Knight offered his hand to the Lady and she graciously took it. He kissed it on the palm, and the two rose towards the ceiling as the glowing stars appeared.

"Pain and loss in a soul darkened by forbidden desire forms a champion with strength fueled by rage!"

(*1 + 4 = *5)

I Synchro Summon Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn!"

With an even darker mist that predated the first arrival of Laundsallyn, a duplicate of him appeared, one wearing fancier armor with a scowl on his face and tangled, unkempt hair. (2,100 ATK)

The regular Laundsallyn looked at him, appearing a little on edge to see this Synchro version of himself…

"First of all, because Noble Arms Arfeudutyr and Noble Arms Gallatin, were both destroyed, they activate, and equip to him."

The darker Laundsallyn lifted his arms, and caught both of the swords fell from the ceiling. (3,100 ATK)

"Plus, when he's Synchro Summoned, he gets another Noble Arms from my deck, like Noble Arms Caliburn."

Like Arfeudutyr had with Borz, a sword appeared, sliding into a scabbard on the Synchro Knight's back. (3,600 ATK)

"Enough preparation! I think my Warriors are as eager to fight as yours are!"

The Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn looked at Swamp Battleguard in a way that suggested madness. The barbarian trembled.

"Or rather, was eager." Indeed in the next second, Gallatin had skewered Swamp Battleguard. The cruder Warrior fell to his knees as Laundsallyn gave him a kick to free his blade. The Battleguard shattered, as did the Battleguard Howling card, and Lava Battleguard's Score fell to 1,550.

"Yeah, yeah," said Ramón. "I still draw once from Supply Squad."

"I get a card as well," said Edgar. "When Laundsallyn slays a foe, I get a Noble Knight or a Noble Arms from my deck."

A card flipped from his deck, and he took it, and reviewed it quickly. "Now I'll attack Lava Battleguard with the regular Laundsallyn!"

He barely had to. As soon as he lifted the weapon, Lava Battleguard, screamed, dropped his club, and ran in the opposite direction, only to slam into an iron support beam, fall over and shatter.

More laughter came from the spectators as Ramón covered his eyes. "Who's smart idea was this?" he asked.

"Ahem," said Edgar. "For the final part of my turn, I'll use Caliburn's effect to gain 500 Life Points."

(M&E: 14,100) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 9,050)

"All right, my move…" said Yolanda. She stepped forward as she drew. "Like I said before, Renon's price rises by 400 points every time I use it. But I might as well."

She discarded one of her three cards, and the Diabolic Merchant flipped open his briefcase again. He lifted a card out, then turned it around – it was indeed a Spell, so he tossed it over his shoulder, and it stuck set behind him.

"I'll use… I'll use the Swing of Memories…" she said.

The look on her face became sadder and glum as she played the card, and Dunames Dark Witch rose onto the field. Then she played another card, producing a second Dunames Dark Witch. (1,800 ATK x2)

"I build the Overlay Network!" she shouted.

Strangely, as the vortex appeared, the accompanying noise was anything but the usual. It sounded like…

Rallying music? thought Edgar.

As the vortex disappeared with the two Fairies, another Fairy – a far more energetic one – ran in from offstage, doing a fancy somersault before landing in front of Yolanda spectacularly. This one had a blue dress, boots, and hair, butterfly wings, and, well, orange pom-poms. (1,900 ATK)

"What the…" said Edgar.

"I'll show you," said Yolanda. "Since sending him back to your hand didn't work, Saffira, will have to do it the old fashioned way. Attack Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn!"

Again, the brilliant bolt of blue flashed, and this time, its intended target couldn't withstand it. Laundsallyn was consumed by the burning wave quickly.

Then the Xyz cheerleader laughed, and flipped towards Medraut, hitting him, amazingly enough with her posterior, and knocking him on his back.

"Fairy Cheer Girl, Final Crush!" ordered Yolanda.

The Fairy made a leap upwards as Gwalchavad lifted his head up. Then time seemed to slow to a trickle, as everyone in the auditorium realized what "Final Crush" entailed.

She landed hard, with both boots, on the Knight's face, causing the whole platform to shake.

(M&E: 13,200) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 7,850)

Everyone in the arena was stunned for a few seconds at the horribly brutal move. Then the spectators got up and cheered loudly, as Fairy Cheer Girl lifted her arms and drank it in.

I'm definitely getting too old for this, thought Edgar.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Wells looked at his watch. "Ten minutes to eleven," he said. "Don't leave much time for dilly-dallying. In here."

"What in the world do you have in there?" asked Philip, noticing he was moving towards the back of his truck.

Then he nearly fell over in shock when he saw what he did have in there.

The rig's trailer was set up like a military survival bunker. A very modern computer console was set up next to shelves of cans, radio equipment, a portable generator, modern and magical weapons, a cot, refrigerator, and other high-tech and enchanted devices.

A young woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail wearing glasses, a sweatshirt with a hoodie, and jeans was at the computer.

"Hey there, Karen, whatcha got?" asked Wells.

"Not much at the moment," she answered. "I've got this set to Sofia's vital signs, but she's not in the mall or anywhere within five miles of it."

"Where'd you get all this stuff?" asked Philip, looking around. "This is a practical bomb shelter."

"Yup, the walls are reinforced too," said Wells, nodded. "Radiation proof and magic proof. As for where I got most of this 'stuff', well, a lot of it I found at yard and garage sales in the spring of 2013."

"Wait…" said Philip. "That was right after…"

Karen giggled. "Wells is always there when the latest batch of nutty survivalists have to face reality," she said.

"My folks found a bunch of cheap stuff like this in the summer of 2000," laughed Wells. "Right after the Millennium Bug turned out ta be a big dud!"

He guffawed and slapped Philip on the back, maybe a little harder than the elf might have liked. Still, Philip was intrigued.

Now why didn't WE think of that? he thought.

"Seriously," said Wells. He cleared his throat and started looking over Karen's shoulder at the screen. I'd assume they'd just zap in, but this ain't the best place for a trade."

"That's what I told him," said Philip. "He said I had to find the place where I'd 'expect to find this sort of thing'. But I don't know of any place in the mall that sells coffins."

"Wait a minute…" said Karen.

As she typed on the computer, a computer-generator map of the mall appeared on the screen, and she zoomed in on a store on the mid-level of the west side.

"The Noble Collection?" asked Philip.

"Yeah, I know that place," said Wells. "It's that place that sells all sorts of fancy sculptures, chessboards, replicas of stuff in movies and books…"

"Like the Evenstar Pendant of Arwen," added Karen, "the sword of Godric Gryffindor, the Da Vinci Code Cryptex, chessboards with pieces shaped like Star Wars characters, comic book characters…"

"An', seriously," added Wells, "if you buy one of those, good luck finding someone who wants to play chess using the side with the bad guys. The place is like a movie souvenir shop, but pricier."

"And the stuff in their VIP catalogue is even more expensive," replied Karen, "not to mention only available via special request, but they do display a few of them in this store. Here's the newest offering."

A digitized picture of a display podium in the store behind a velvet rope came up on the screen. It was three life size models of Egyptian pharaonic sarcophagi, two made of wood, and the one in the center a realistic model of the one that held Tutankhamun's mummy.

"Nice work!" said Philip.

"Actually, I'm not done," replied Karen. She started to type. "Bingo. The center sarcophagus there has a slight aura of transmutation magic on it."

"Probably an anchor for some method of teleporting," said Philip.

Wells picked up a Duel Disk, and slid it on his left wrist. "Then let's roll," he said.

"Good luck," shouted Karen, as the two hopped out of the trailer.

"You did bring what we need, right?" asked Philip.

"Ya mean a deck with a Water Attribute them?" asked Wells. "Hell, I got something better 'n that."

He dug into his pocket, and then withdrew something that looked like a test tube, only it was made of metal, with a stopper that also seemed to be made of metal.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Philip.

"Yup, and Iron Flask," said Wells. "An' it's got a live water elemental inside."

For the first time in days, Philip smiled broadly. He was starting to like this guy already.

"That's… that's brilliant," he exclaimed, "it will melt that Elysium red crystal like it was made of tissue paper. Let's go!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"To end my turn, I'll use Fairy Cheer Girl's effect," said Yolanda. "By giving up an Overlay Unit, I can draw once."

She discarded one Dunames Dark Witch, and drew a card. "Eh…" she said. She set it, and it appeared in her Spell Zone with the others. Then another of her cards emerged from her Graveyard.

"Via another of Saffira's effects, because it's the end of my turn, I can take Dunames from my Graveyard."

"Then it's my turn," said Maddie. She drew, and nodded.

Time to bring out the big guy.

"By sacrificing all four of my Scapegoats," she said, "I can summon my Black Sheep."

The four sleeping lambs dissolved into colored mist, and a large, black ram with white horns appeared where they had been. (1,400 DEF)

"Also, Special Summoning it allows for the summoning of a Mystical Sheep from my deck."

"You're going to Fusion Summon?" asked Ramón.

"Huh?" asked Maddie. "Oh! Well, that might make sense if I were summoning Mystical Sheep #2. But I'm actually summoning Mystical Sheep #3."

"Number three?" said Ramón, with a dumbstruck look. "There's no such thing!"

Then a ram with green wool and two tails, each with a coin on the end, appeared next to Black Sheep. (1,550 ATK)

"Then again, maybe there is…"

"Now I Overlay my three Level 3 monsters," she announced, as Mystical Sheep, Black Sheep, and Blue Shepherd were drawn into the spiraling Network. "I Xyz Summon Divine Shepherd Baathanius!"

The Overlay Network fell in on itself to produce a now Xyz, a Spellcaster – it seemed – who was a head taller than even Edgar. At first, he seemed like a friendly old shepherd, one with a sky blue cloak, robe, and hood, a long beard, and a shepherd's crook. But then, at second glance, his beard wasn't just long, it was flowing, and his eyes shone with a powerful light that made him look anything but friendly.

Most importantly was the medallion around his neck, a sun with a stern face inside. (2,000 ATK)

"That's the Orb of Pelor!" whispered Yolanda.

"Yes, that's what Jabels called it," replied Maddie. "And it looks like Renon recognizes it too."

Indeed, the Diabolic Merchant was shivering a little, clearly, Fiends weren't all too fond of folks who wore that symbol.

"Before we get to him, there's Mystical Sheep #3's effect to deal with. Because I used him in an Xyz Summon, I can take a Quickplay Spell from my deck, and banish it."

The images of eight cards floated in front of her, including one Mystical Space Typhoon, her other two copies of Scapegoat, and Hippo Carnival. However, the one she wanted was the eighth, meaning it had been near the bottom of her deck.

Good thing I used that, she thought. She touched the card, and it disappeared.

"In just two turns, I'll be able to get that card. Now to show you what Baathanius here can do I'll detach one Overlay Unit, and…"

And orb of light flew from Baathanius' chest and was absorbed into his crook, which he pointed at Renon. Then the demon screamed as a wave of holy light crashed from above…

Smoke rose from the spot, and everyone looked. Renon had been replaced by, of all things, a white sheep. It bleated at Baathanius and Maddie angrily.

"What did you do?" screamed Yolanda.

"As Pegasus might say, made him cuter," replied Maddie. Everyone in the auditorium laughed for a few seconds, and again, several cameras started to flash. Even Fairy Cheer Girl was chuckling a little. Yolanda looked ready to explode with rage.

"All right, here's the skinny," said Maddie. "So long as Baathanius is on the field, a victim of his effect can't attack us or defend you, nor can it use its effect. Him, on the other hand…"

His crook pointed at Fairy Cheer Girl, and she stopped laughing. "Okay, show off, this is for Gwalchavad!"

Now Fairy Cheer Girl was the one shivering as the Divine Shepherd readied a spell of a far more destructive type.

"I use the Spell Card, Overlay Evolution!" shouted Yolanda. As her Quickplay Spell lifted up, a familiar backdrop appeared behind her. Baathanius paused.

"How can you Xyz Summon during my turn?" asked Maddie.

"This is a special Xyz Summon," replied Yolanda.

Indeed, the Overlay Network grew, transforming the entire auditorium into a digital grid. Fairy Cheer Girl floated off the ground, binary symbols covering her skin and clothing and turning her into an odd silhouette of herself.

"See, Overlay Evolution lets me use an Xyz Monster to Xyz Summon one with the same Type and exactly one Rank higher. Thus, Fairy Cheer Girl becomes something better. CXyz Dark Fairy Cheer Girl!"

The silhouette landed and then shattered like a shell covering what was underneath. With the added Rank, Fairy Cheer Girl seemed to have gotten about ten years older, and more mature, and it seemed she had given up the cheerleading in favor of majorette dancing. Her dress was a fancier spandex stage costume in lavender and red hues, bellbottoms, and no sleeves, her hair was platinum blonde with a dyed lavender streak, and her wings were black and serrated. She held a long, slim baton with a gold tip. (2,500 ATK)

"Okay… This is… Different…" said Edgar.

"The attack is called off," said Maddie. "I'll set this card, and end."

She fit the card in her Spell Zone, and looked up. She did not like the look on Ramón's face as he drew.

"Oh, this is gonna be great!" he said. "First off, because my Warlord's Standard now has three Counters on it, I can send it to the Graveyard to take any Warrior I want from my deck with up to 2,000 total Attack Points."

I knew it, thought Edgar.

The Spell vanished, and Ramón got what he wanted rather fast. "And I'll use it in a minute. For now, I use the Spell Card, Feast of the Wild LV5!"

"What?" asked Maddie.

"Unfortunately, that's a new one for me too," answered Edgar.

"This rather unique Spell Card summons not one but two Warriors from my hand or Graveyard."

The floor below him cracked, and the two Battleguards started to rise from below, clubs first, howling war chants almost as soon as their mouths were free. (1,550 ATK, 1,800 ATK)

"However, neither can attack nor use their effects. But I can use the Trap, Battleguard's Curse!"

As the Trap lifted, there was a horrid cackling, and an older, sinister looking Battleguard appeared behind him, chanting.

"What in," asked Edgar. Then Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn started to look confused, and started to stumble over to Ramón's corner of the platform.

"WAIT, what are you," started Edgar.

"He can't hear you, old man," replied Edgar. "In fact, he can't do much of anything because of the curse. But I don't intend to keep him long. But we'll get to that in a minute. First, I sacrifice CXyz Dark Fairy Cheer Girl for Battleguard Champion."

Still smiling slyly, the Fairy Xyz winked at Edgar before she disappeared, and new Battleguard, this one wearing crude armor and holding two long spiked maces, appeared in his place. (2,000 ATK)

"I know, I know, you're thinking 'Why in the world did he sacrifice a monster for one with a lower Attack Score?', right? Well when she goes to the Graveyard, I get one more draw."

He did so, then put that card aside as he turned to the other monsters. "I sacrifice Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn, Swamp Battleguard, and Lava Battleguard," he said, as all three disappeared.

"Three sacrifices?" yelled Maddie.

"That's right," he replied, by sacrificing three monsters, at least one of them a Battleguard, "I can Special Summon Battleguard Mad Shaman!"

Ominous tribal drums started to play, and the auditorium got darker as a nightmarish-looking witch doctor appeared, dancing in front of Ramón. He clearly had a different sense of style than the other Battleguards, the fur pelt, cloak, and harness he wore decorated with small bones, and two small skulls acting as cloak fasteners. He also wore the mandibles of some carnivorous beast over his own mouth like a grotesque mask, and wore a skullcap made of cured leather. He had blue skin and lacked the horns of the other Battleguards, and held another skull that of some other predatory beast, making threatening gestures with it as he danced. (2,000 ATK)

Then Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn screamed, dropped his swords, and staggered over to Ramón's side of the field as he clutched his head.

"Not again…" said Edgar.

"Oh yeah," said Ramón. "Sorry, but if I want to pull this one off, I'm gonna need all the Warrior Type monsters I can get. Fortunately, Battleguard Champion can help with that too. See, by banishing him, I can also Special Summon Battleguard 3 and Battleguard 4!"

The larger Battleguard vanished like sand blowing in the wind, and two more of the horned Warriors appeared where he had stood. One was muscular, had indigo skin, black hair, very large horns, and held a very long, spiked club. (1,000 ATK) The other was shorter, heavy set, older, had a fur toga, beige skin, green hair and a beard, shorter horns and a bone club. (1,200 ATK)

"How many of these guys are there?" asked Maddie, making a face.

"Oh, I've saved the best for last," said Ramón. His reversed card lifted, and he made a taunting motion with one of his cards.

"I use the Trap Card, Decoy Guerillas, which I can use to Special Summon a high-Level monster. But, the cost is even a little more stringent than a Tribute Summon." High Laundsallyn and Mad Shaman disappeared. "Not only do I need the same number of sacrifices, I need the same Type on monsters.

"So here's the big cheese himself, Battleguard King!"

The monster that appeared next was really pushing the limits of what could be defined as a Warrior. He stood head and shoulder above his subjects, nearly ten feet tall, with sharper features and his maroon skin having nearly a metallic sheen. What's more, his armor was more modern than the primitive clothing used by his underlings, being well-made and clean plate armor of a dark blue color. He held a crafted club with a metal band around the business end, the weapon as big as he was, but held in one hand as if it were light as a feather. (3,000 ATK)

"What's that?" he said. "Maybe you two would like to apologize now for making us look like idiots?"

"You know, flyboy, the ironic thing is, your monster is a lot cooler than you are," replied Maddie. "Handsomer too."

Battleguard King seemed to like that given the grin on his face, and Ramón just closed his eyes and smirked slightly.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere with this guy," he said. "Of course, another side effect of Decoy Guerillas is, King here is the only monster that can attack this turn. But that doesn't mean he can only attack once."

Then Battleguard 3, Battleguard 4, and Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn turned into pulsating orbs that were absorbed into the much larger Warrior.

"You see, for each Warrior I sacrifice, he gets an extra attack! Attack Divine Shepard Baathanius with Frenzied Rage!"

The command seemed to be a switch. Battleguard King didn't just get mad, he became infuriated, howling in rage fueled bloodlust and turning almost feral in the process.

"He's going berserk!" shouted Maddie.

"Exactly," replied Edgar, who was just as frightened, though trying not to show it. "This is exactly how a berserker's enchanted battle rage works."

Before he could say anything else, Maddie felt a bad sting as the club clobbered Baathanius and blew him into tiny shards. As that happened, there was a loud "BAMPH" as Renon's true form replaced that of the sheep. The Diabolic Merchant felt his chest in a few areas, to make sure everything was there.

"I've been waiting a week for this," continued Ramón. "Battleguard King, attack Maddie directly!"

"Oh no you don't!" interrupted Edgar. He pressed his palm against his Duel Disk, and the Call of the Haunted card appeared. Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn appeared again, scowling and threatening Battleguard King with his weapon. (2,100 ATK)

Unfortunately, the King merely paused for a second or two, then the sword fell in two large pieces and countless small shards, followed by even more shards from what remained of Laundsallyn.

(M&E: 11,300) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 7,850)

"Just for that old man," said Ramón, pointing at Edgar, "the next one has your name on it!"

Edgar had taken a lot of hits in his day, and while many had been from even stronger opponents than this, few were as brutal. When he was knocked over, it was far more from the shock then from the pain.

"While you're picking yourself up," said Ramón, "I'm using the Spell Card Sebek's Blessing, which means I get Life Points equal to the amount I just inflicted.

Of course, Maddie barely heard him. "Edgar!" she shouted. "Edgar!"

"I'm fine…" replied her mentor, holding his ribs. "I just had the wind knocked out of me. Don't worry, that was his last attack…"

"You wish," replied Ramón. "He still has his regular attack, remember?"

Battleguard King turned to Maddie. Unfortunately for her, she had not fought anyone this strong, let alone this brutal.

The powerful blow knocked her on her side, holding her shoulder.

(M&E: 5,300) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 10,850)

Even worse than the attacks was the crowd's reaction. They were cheering. Ramón's move was obviously going to give Nickelodeon one of their best ratings nights of the fall season.

"You know, Edgar," groaned Maddie. "I hear Hollywood has this problem a lot…"

"Problem?" he asked.

"Why fans sympathize with the bad guys a lot," she panted. "They always manage to make them ten times more awesome than the good guys."

Meanwhile, Battleguard King was leaning on his club and breathing hard while sweat poured down his brow, that sudden burst of rage clearly having taken a lot out of him.

"Okay big guy, okay," said Renon. He fit his last card into his Duel Disk causing a new reversed card to appear in front of him. "Take a breather for now. It's his turn."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Damned Magician Girl was sitting in a dark room – this place was always dark – and could still see that clock counting down. Indeed, some folks who worked for the boss claimed you couldn't avoid seeing it, that even if you managed to sleep while you were "on the clock" as they said, the infernal thing would haunt your dreams.

Working for him wasn't that bad. He could be generous at times. She was a hundred times stronger than she had been when they first met, and she loved her work. Most of the time.

But the clock, well, she knew the reason her heart had skipped when the countdown started – her pulse was beating in time to the seconds, at sixty per minute, and was in complete synchronization with that clock.

When it ran down to zero and stopped, so would her heart.

The worst part was, this punishment was his idea of a second chance. It was possible to survive, so long as you corrected the mistake. Or made up for it. If you didn't by the time that clock reached zero, it was over.

Still, she kept reminding herself it could have been worse. She had two weeks, although he had never promised this time that the deadline was written in stone. She looked towards another room.

In that room, the big man himself was brooding, the darkness slightly illuminated by monitors and flickering lights. One set of monitors was focused on the mall, a large one keeping an eye on the team duel.

It zoomed in on Yolanda for a brief few seconds, then to her deck. The top card glimmered for an instant.

Then he turned towards several other monitors, each of them showing different duels in different locations, which all had one duelist in common – Eden.

He watches as Tortured Skull, Tortured Black Dragon, and Tortured Chimera struck down Vanity's Fiend, Master Gig, Black Brutdrago, and other powerful monsters, each one reducing her opponent's score to zero and ending the duel in a victory.

Then he turned to the central monitor, which depicted one occurring at this moment. The two hour time difference made it about nine o'clock in Los Angelis, about an hour before her shift at Pandora's Box.

There was the number 88 under the monitor, and under that, a timer with far more than two weeks on it.

Finally, Eden ordered a direct attack with Tortured Imp, reducing her opponent's Life Points to zero. The number clicked up to 89.

The dark being didn't move, focusing on the clock.

Sixty-two days, it thought, five hours, nine minutes…

The monitor shut off.

…eleven seconds.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Seems Ramón is actually smarter than he looks, thought Edgar. He knew he had to steal my monsters and not Maddie's to get Noble Arms of Destiny out of the way.

He looked at the other card Maddie had set. It was tempting, but too risky now. He made his draw.

"I activate the Spell Card, Last Chapter of the Noble Knights!" he shouted.

And if this doesn't work, he thought, that name is going to be literal.

"Because you have monsters and we have none, I can summon a Noble Knight from my Graveyard and equip him with a Noble Arms from there. So I'll take Borz and equip him with Noble Arms of Destiny."

Borz appeared, in a ghostly, phantom-like state, unarmed and looking depressed and morose. Then the Lady of the Lake appeared in front of him, looking him in the eye with a stern face. She threw the Noble Arms of Destiny to him and he caught it, his body solidifying as he did. (1,700 ATK)

"Took a lot of liberties with the story there, but it's not like we have many options. Next seeing as I didn't get a chance to last time, I'm using Borz's effect. So listen up, Ramón!"

"Huh?" asked the genasi. Then three large cards appeared in the middle of the arena, back ends to him.

"Via Borz's effect, I get to take three Noble Arms cards from my deck. Observe…" The three cards flipped around to show him. Two looked like standard Equip Spells. But…

"Wait, that one's a Monster Card!" he snapped, pointing to one.

"Did I ever say all Noble Arms were Spells?" asked Edgar. The three cards concealed themselves again, combined, then spread apart again. "Now, you choose one. I get to keep the one you choose, the other two go to the Graveyard."

"Ugh, I hate cards like this," muttered Ramón. "Okay… Left."

The card turned around revealing one of the two Spells. The other two disappeared. "Bad choice," said Edgar, with a sly smile.

He paused for a moment to put that card with his others. "You see, that strange monster you just saw was Gwenhwyfar, Queen of Noble Arms, and when she's in my Graveyard, I can equip her to one of my Knights just like an Equip Spell."

Borz held his weapon with both hands and changed his stance slightly. Another phantom, this one a lovely woman in a pink dress, came into view behind him, her hand gently stroking his cheek. (2,000 ATK)

"Big deal, his Score got 300 points higher," said Ramón with a shrug. "All three of our monsters are stronger."

"Well, he's going to give it a go anyway," said Edgar. "Attack Battleguard King!"

The King grunted in surprise as Borz lifted his weapon and charge. "What the?" gasped Ramón. "Take him down, big guy!"

The King tried to, but as he swung his club, Borz ducked, and jabbed his sword directly between the seams of the huge Warrior's armor. Battleguard King's eyes bugged out as he dropped his weapon and fell on his face, then turned to dust.

"You see," said Edgar, Gwenhwyfar's effect on a Noble Knight depends on whether he's Light or Dark. Because Borz was Dark, due to him holding an Equip Spell, his attack destroyed your monster automatically.

"Of course, I did have to get rid of Gwenhwyfar, at least for now."

(1,700 ATK)

(M&E: 5,300) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 10,850)

"Well I still get one draw due to Supply Squad," replied Ramón, as he drew once.

"My turn isn't over yet," said Edgar. "I'll summon Noble Knight Peredur."

A new Knight appeared, a younger one with shoulder-length blonde locks and a boyish face, wearing decorated leather armor with flared shoulders and holding a longsword with a fancy hilt. (1,900 ATK)

Again there were squeals and screams from the girls in the audience. Peredur actually blushed a little.

"Kids," sighed Edgar. "I'll equip Peredur with the Spell Card you gave me, Noble Arms Excaliburn."

The sword that appeared, hovering in the air in front of Peredur was rather, well, mysterious-looking. The blade seemed more like two blades stuck together lengthwise, one dull red and the other dull blue, with a dull brown hilt. The metal didn't seem to be steel at all. In fact, whether it was even metal or some odd, frictionless substance couldn't be determined.

Peredur reached his hand out to take it, then stopped, and seemed to think about it for a minute.

"Well?" asked Yolanda.

The Knight looked at her, then gripped his hand firmly around the hilt. "This weapon renders him impervious to all opposing card effects," explained Edgar. "It has another effect, but we'll get to that later. It's your move Yolanda."

"Those swords are trouble," said Ramón, as Yolanda drew.

"Just leave it to your mom, kid," she assured him. The reversed card he had set opened, and a fancy, double-winged crest appeared with blue orbs orbiting it.

"I use Xyz Reborn!" she exclaimed.

The card fell on the field flat, and CXyz Dark Fairy Cheer Girl rose out of it, spinning her baton. (2,500 ATK)

"So that sword protects him from being destroyed, huh? Well chew on this! I use Spell Shattering Arrow!"

"What?" said Edgar. "Wait a minute…"

The Spell Card appeared, and a burning arrow fired from the center, shooting high towards the ceiling of the arena. Everyone looked up as it started to crash down. The two Knights covered their eyes with their free hands as it hit, and the two swords shattered.

"You two also take 500 points of damage per card."

(M&E: 4,300) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 10,850)

Edgar was clearly a little angry now, and so was Maddie. "I use the effect of my Noble Arms of Destiny," said Edgar, slowly. Again, Noble Arms of Destiny appeared in Borz's hand.

"Thought you might!" laughed Yolanda. Saffira breathed its lethal breath again, and Borz still withstood it, but he was clearly not totally undamaged.

"See, I knew you could only use that effect once per turn," she said. Dark Fairy Cheer Girl started to spin her baton. "So let's see him block this!"

The Fairy Xyz hurled it, and it spun like a flaming pinwheel, striking Borz and consuming him in a cloudof fire and smoke.

(M&E: 2,700) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 10,850)

"Yes! I've still got it!" she laughed. Then she turned to Maddie. "Your move kid, let's go. I'd really love to go see the aquarium while we're here."

"Lady, you are nuts," said Maddie, making a draw.

And I have to wonder just how in the world she ever had the foresight to put Spell Shattering Arrow in her deck, she thought. Not a very useful card unless you know your opponent is using Equip Spells.

She looked at Edgar, and he looked a little suspicious too.

"It's been three turns, so I can get back that Quickplay Spell I stowed away with Mystical Sheep #3's effect."

The green ram hopped up to her from behind, holding a card in its mouth. She took it and pet the animal on the head before it disappeared.

"I'll set it and one other card," she said, as two cards appeared reversed. "Then I'll junk this one to summon the Tricky."

She tossed one of her three remaining cards, then played one, and the mysterious, cloaked, masked Spellcaster wearing a foolscap floated onto the field. (2,000 ATK)

"Then I have my own Equip Spell, Sacred Sword Thanatos!"

She used her last card, and an even stranger-looking weapon, a long cutlass with as hilt-guard shaped like a fanged skull appeared in the Tricky's hand. (2,300 ATK)

"Ugh," said Yolanda, "you know, there was once a time when Equip Spells were easy to understand. Legendary Sword was easy to figure out. Horn of the Unicorn and Black Pendant were easy to figure out. Axe of Despair, well it did have another effect…"

"But nobody cared about it," added Ramón.

"Exactly!" continued Yolanda. "These new Equip Spells are just creepy!"

"Yeah, uh sure," said Maddie, who had seen the old artwork for that card, which was as creepy as hell. "Your move, Ramón."

Ramón drew a card. Then he laughed. He laughed very, very heartily.

"Ramón, seriously," said Edgar. "Evil laughs really get on my nerves these days!"

"You guys are no fun," sighed the genasi. "Still, you two are really gonna get it now."

As he played his Spell Card, the spectators gasped.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Made it there with twenty minutes to spare!" said Philip.

"Careful son," said Wells, "if we break anything in here, we may have ta buy it."

Indeed, the Noble Collection store had lots of expensive-looking – though most of it gaudy – stuff for sale. None of it was truly useful, but if you were a big enough fan to spend $35 for a replica of Hermione Granger's wand or $125 for a replica of the Goblet of Fire or even $295 for a 13'' sculpted and hand-painted scale model of Hogwarts itself (and that was just Harry Potter stuff) well, here they were.

The podium were the three sarcophagi replicas were displayed was easy to find. "Think this guy will mind us coming early?" asked Wells.

"Well, better early than late," said Philip. "Now we'd best be prepared for…"

He didn't finish. The lid to the Tutankhamun sarcophagus opened, revealing a dark void inside, and a powerful, magical suction drawing the two of them towards it.

After a minute, the lid slammed shut, and both Philip and Wells were on the wrong side of it. Although, Wells was really only drawn through because he tried to grab hold of Philip.

Whether he had even tried to keep the two of them from being drawn in or whether either of them had wanted to avoid it, well, it was hard to tell.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Edgar had a little system for dealing with bad situations, and it worked pretty well, given his long career in the Shadowchasers.

He'd simply bring to mind the really bad situations in his career (as in, ones where there was a risk of death or permanent injury involved) and then the current bad situation didn't seem so bad. And a minute ago, that was exactly what he was doing.

Now, however, he was considering adding this duel to his list of really bad situations to think of in bad ones. Assuming Maddie and himself got out of this one.

The single Spell Card Ramón had used had lowered his Life Points to 5,850, but it was a bargain considering what it gave him. Lava Battleguard (1,550 ATK), Swamp Battleguard (1,800 ATK), Battleguard 3 (1,000 ATK), Battleguard 4 (1,200 ATK) and even Battleguard King (3,000 ATK) were all facing him and his apprentice, all of them very angry.

And to make it worse, the crowd was cheering so much that it was giving him a headache unlike any he'd had in years.

"Soul Charge lets me summon all the monsters I can for a cost of 1,000 Life Points apiece," he said. "I've got enough here to pound you two into…"

"A bloody mess on the ground..." moaned Maddie, looking at the army.

"Mmm, yes," replied Ramón.

It was starting to become obvious to Edgar why these two had wanted a tag duel. Starting with 16,000 Life Points was enough to cover the most astronomical Life Point costs.

"Then finish it," he snarled.

"I can't, old man," said Ramón, still keeping the snarky grin, "I can't attack this turn because I used it, so I'll just have to savor it. Just keep one thing in mind – if you try to attack one of them, Battleguard #4 can block one attack against himself or any other Battleguard once per turn.

"But just in case…"

He used the card he had drawn, and Diabolic Merchant Renon was surrounded by a cloud of steam, vanishing into the floor.

"Mystik Wok will restore 3,000 of the Life Points I just spent, and avoid Renon's nasty's side effect. Wouldn't want that to happen.

(M&E: 2,700) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 8,850)

"So let's go. Next turn, we'll give this crowd a dramatic finish."

Edgar drew a card. He looked at Maddie. She nodded. He nodded back.

"You want a dramatic finish?" he asked. He made his draw. "Allow me!

"As you recall, I recovered Medraut's card when Gallatin shattered, and now it's time for him to make his return."

Indeed, that's exactly who appeared, taking his place next to Peredur as the Overlay Network opened again.

"And because they're both Level 4, I can Overlay them both," he continued, as the two Knights dematerialized, "to Xyz Summon Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights!"

Stepping out of the portal was a powerful-looking man in gleaming armor with fur accents. He had brown hair and a beard, and fierce, blue eyes that reflected off his sword, a larger version of Caliburn. (2,000 ATK)

"I'm so scared," said Ramon.

"Notice that the Overlay Network hasn't closed yet?" asked Edgar. "I'm not done! I'm using him to summon to summon the mightiest of the Noble Knights…"

Artorigus was consumed into the portal, and auditorium lit up as a blazing silver fire came from Edgar's corner.

"Let the legend live again! It is my honor and privilege to introduce his royal majesty, the Sacred Noble Knight of King Artorigus!"

The Warrior wasn't as tall as Battleguard King, but his presence was even more overwhelming. His shining plate mail was accented by furs and blue crests exuding strange mist, and he held both Noble Arms Excaliburn and Caliburn. His short brown hair was held back by a steel headband set with a sapphire, right above his commanding blue eyes. (2,200 ATK)

The audience was silent. Then they cheered even more.

"Quiet!" said Edgar, making a sweeping motion with his hands. The auditorium fell silent again. "That's nothing. You see, simply by Xyz Summoning him, he gets three Noble Arms from my Graveyard."

He took three cards and held them in front of his face, front-side forward. "So I'll give him Gallatin, Destiny, and Caliburn."

(3,700 ATK)

"Uh…" said Ramón.

"Now I'll give his majesty a fourth weapon," said Maddie. Both her Quickplay Spells popped up. "First, Tailor of the Fickle!"

The Tricky hurled Sacred Sword Thanatos to Artorigus, and the Knight deftly caught it. (4,000 ATK)

"Four-thousand?" gasped Yolanda.

"Not even close," said Maddie. "Because my other card is Tricky Spell 4. Inappropriately named, because with all the monsters you have, I can use it to summon five Tricky Tokens!"

The Tricky faded into a blur, turning into five copies of himself, kneeling in Defense Mode. (1,200 DEF x5)

"And when a monster has Sacred Sword Thanatos, well, Tokens don't tend to last long."

Indeed, all five Tricky Tokens exploded violently.

"What's the point to all this?" demanded Yolanda.

"Uh, mom?" said Ramón. She turned to him and saw that he was nodding towards Artorigus.

She looked, only to see the Knight with raw fury in his eyes, a rage greater than any Battleguard could ever reach. (14,000 ATK)

"Please tell me that's a scoring error," she squeaked.

"Afraid not," replied Maddie. "When Sacred Sword Thanatos destroys a Token, those Tokens' Attack Scores are added to the Attack Score of the monster holding it."

"You wanted to give this audience a show?" asked Edgar. Artorigus lifted the blade, and prismatic light flowed into and through him.

"We're happy to oblige! Attack CXyz Dark Fairy Cheer Girl! Glory of the Legacy Blade!"

It was the most shocking moment in the whole duel. The crowd was silenced in a combination of excitement and fright.

Still, that was nothing compared to what the mother-son team was experiencing. Right now, it seemed, maybe a small moment of sanity made them want to apologize for that brutal and cruel attack on Noble Knight Medraut that had seemed so funny then…

But they didn't get a chance.

The sword cut through the Xyz, bisecting her, and two genasi felt like they had been cut in half with the same blow, a crushing, horrible strike that had torn them apart…

(M&E: 2,700) - - - - - - - - - - (R&Y: 0)

Edgar wiped his brow. For once, he was glad that the applause from the audience was so deafening. If it hadn't been, they might have heard the incoming message on both their Duel Disks.

"Maddie," he said, pointing to the two genasi, who were both out cold. (At least, he hoped.)

Maddie went and lifted up Yolanda, who was lighter, while Edgar did the same to Ramón, and started carrying them towards the exit – not as easy as it seemed. (Exactly why fire genasi were so heavy when at least one member of their family was made of fire was a mystery, but then, so was a lot about their origins.) If someone tried to stop them, they would say they were bringing Yolanda and Ramón to a doctor (which would actually be the God-honest truth).

Once they were clear, they set the two down, and Edgar was relieved when he found a pulse.

"What's going on, Jabels?" asked Edgar, wiping his brow again.

"What's going on?" asked Jabels. "What isn't? There was a dimensional surge a minute ago, and both Wells and Philip just, well, disappeared."

"Disappeared?" asked Edgar.

"Well, we figured that it was a portal," replied Edgar, "but now that coffin replica is just inert. Wherever they are, we can't locate them."

"Well, if what you want to know is 'did we find anything out', I'm afraid not," answered Edgar. "Yolanda and Ramón didn't tell us anything, and they aren't in a talking mood now, but I'm pretty sure this was a distraction, but…"

"Wait, hold that thought, Edgar," said Jabels.

Edgar looked at the Duel Disk. "Can't believe it, the man put me on hold."

"I hate stakeouts," groaned Maddie.

"Yeah, well, I'm starting to realize what the point of this whole setup was," he replied. "Uh, Maddie, question: Why on Earth is Tailor of the Fickle in your deck?"

Maddie's expression turned sullen. She took the cards from her discard pile and leafed through them until she found it.

"To be perfectly honest," she said, "I have no idea…"

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BATTLEGUARD #3 (Monster Card)

Warrior/Earth/Effect/Lvl3/1,000/1,200

Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Battleguard #4" from your hand.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

BATTLEGUARD #4 (Monster Card)

Warrior/Earth/Effect/Lvl3/1,200/1,000

Effect: Once per Battle Phase, when a "Battleguard" or "Barbarian" monster you control is targeted for an attack, you can negate that attack.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

BATTLEGUARD'S CURSE (Trap Card)

Normal Trap

Image: Battleguard Mad Shaman standing behind a terrified Goblin of Greed, casting an evil spell.

Card Description: If you control a "Battleguard" or "Barbarian" monster and your opponent controls 2 or more monsters: Target 1 of those monsters; take control of that target.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

BATTLEGUARD MAD SHAMAN (Monster Card)

Warrior/Dark/Effect/Lvl10/2,000/2,000

Effect: You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by Tributing 3 monsters, including at least 1 "Battleguard" or "Barbarian" monster. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster your opponent controls; take control of it. (You can only control 1 monster at a time with this effect.) When your opponent summons a monster(s) with a higher ATK than the monster you are controlling with this effect: You can target 1 of those monsters and the monster you are controlling with this effect; switch control of both monsters. While you control a monster with this card's effects, your opponent cannot target this card for an attack.

Note: The proceeding four cards all appeared in various episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

SACRED SWORD THANATOS (Spell Card)

Equip Spell

Image: A goblin with a helmet and shoulder-guards on his armor all shaped like rams holding the eponymous sword.

Card Description: Increase the ATK of the equipped monster by 300. Whenever 1 or more Tokens are Special Summoned, destroy them and place 1 Spell Counter on this card per Token. (Max 5). Increase the ATK of the equipped monster by the combined ATK of all Tokens destroyed by this effect. If this card has 5 or more Spell Counters, banish the equipped monster at the next End Phase.

Note: This is a fanmade version of a card that first appeared in the Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds manga.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

OVERLAY EVOLUTION (Spell Card)

Quickplay Spell

Image: A scene showing Inzektor Exa-Stag in the process of an agonizing change in several stages, the final stage showing him standing triumphantly, having evolved into Inzektor Exa-Beetle.

Card Description: Select 1 Xyz monster you control and 1 Xyz monster in your Extra Deck that is the same Type and 1 Level higher. Use the first selected monster as Xyz material to Xyz summon the selected monster. (Any Xyz materials currently attached to the first selected monster become Xyz materials for the monster Xyz summoned by this effect.) During the turn this card is used, you may not Normal Summon or set, and you may not Special Summon any monsters other than the one summoned by this card's effect.

Note: This card was designed by Metal Overlord 2.0; kudos to him.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

DIABOLIC MERCHANT RENON (Monster Card)

Fiend/Dark/Synchro/Effect/Lvl8/0/3,000

Effect: You may use this card's effect once per turn by discarding 1 card and paying 800 Life Points, plus 400x the number of Merchant Counters on this card: Excavate the top card from your deck; if that card is a Spell Card or Trap Card, set it face-down in your Spell Trap Zone and place one Merchant Counter on this card. (Max: 4) You may not activate a card set by this effect on the turn it was set. If this card is destroyed, you take 2,000 points of damage per Merchant Counter. If this card has 4 Merchant Counters, destroy it during your End Phase.

Note: This card is based on a character that first appeared in Castlevania 64, and is copyrighted by Nintendo.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

BATTLEGUARD CHAMPION (Monster Card)

Warrior/Earth/Effect/Lvl5/2,000/1,000

Effect: You may banish this card you control to Special Summon up to 2 Level 3 or lower "Battleguard" or "Barbarian" monsters from your hand or deck. Monsters Special Summoned via this effect cannot attack or use their effects, and are banished during the End Phase of the turn. You may only use the effect of "Battleguard Champion" once per turn.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

BLUE SHEPHERD (Monster Card)

Fairy/Dark/Effect/Lvl3/1,000/1,400

Effect: FLIP: Select 1 "Scapegoat" or "Stray Lambs" from your Graveyard and activate it, disregarding the required timing of the card, then banish the selected card. You may banish 1 "Pink Shepard" from your Graveyard to add this card from your Graveyard to your hand.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

BLACK SHEEP (Monster Card)

Beast/Dark/Effect/Lvl3/800/1,500

Effect: You may Special Summon this card (from your hand) by Tributing 3 or more "Sheep Tokens" or "Lamb Tokens" you control. If Special Summoned in this manner, you may Special Summon 1 "Mystical Sheep" monster from your hand or deck in Attack Position; banish it during the End Phase of the turn.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

MYSTICAL SHEEP #3 (Monster Card)

Beast/Earth/Effect/Lvl3/1,550/700

Effect: If this card you control is used as Synchro Material for a Synchro Summon or Xyz Material for an Xyz Summon, select 1 Quickplay Spell from your deck and banish it. On your second Standby Phase after using this effect, add the banished card to your hand.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

DIVINE SHEPHERD BAATHANIUS (Monster Card)

Spellcaster/Light/Xyz/Effect/Rank3/2,000/1,800

3 Level 3 monsters

Effect: There can only be 1 face-up "Divine Shepherd Baathanius" on the field. Once per turn, you may detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to place a Cursed Sheep Counter on a face-up monster controlled by your opponent. A monster with a Cursed Sheep Counter cannot attack, cannot use its effect, and cannot be targeted for an attack; if your opponent only controls monsters with Cursed Sheep Counters, he or she may be attacked directly. If you do not control a face-up "Divine Shepard Baathanius", the effects of Cursed Sheep Counters are not applied.

Note: This card is an updated version of a card that first appeared in "The Mandate of Heaven".

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

VOW OF THE BATTLEGUARDS (Spell Card)

Normal Spell

Image: Swamp Battleguard and Lava Battleguard in a dark castle corridor fighting a mob of skeletons.

Card Description: You may activate this card when the only monster you control is 1 "Swamp Battleguard" OR 1 "Lava Battleguard". Pay 1,000 Life Points. Special Summon from your hand, deck, or Graveyard 1 "Lava Battleguard" (if the card you control is "Swamp Battleguard") or 1 "Swamp Battleguard" (if the card you control is "Lava Battleguard").

Note: This card first appeared in "Power Primordial".

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

WARLORD'S STANDARD (Spell Card)

Normal Spell

Image: Freed the Brave Wanderer holding the Banner of Courage on a hill as Marauding Captain, Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, and several unidentified Warriors defend the hill against Goblin Attack Force.

Card Description: Once per turn, if there are less than 3 Battle Counters on this card, the turn player may Special Summon 1 Warrior-Type monster from his hand, and then place 1 Battle Counter on this card. (Max 3) You may send this card to the Graveyard with 3 Battle Counters to add 1 Warrior-Type monster with an ATK of 2,000 or less from your deck to your hand.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

DECOY GUERILLAS (Trap Card)

Normal Trap

Image: Sword Hunter in the foreground, hiding behind a rock on a hellish looking battlefield and watching as Warrior Lady of the Wasteland stands up to Terrorking Archfiend, with Marauding Captain behind her, wounded and pulling himself up.

Card Description: Select 1 Level 5 or higher monster from your hand which may be Tribute Summoned. Tribute monsters you control of the same Type as the selected monster of a number equal to the number required for a Tribute Summon of the selected monster, then Special Summon the selected monster. If you do, the selected monster is the only monster that may attack this turn.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Jemorille: Indeed, Edgar, along with most senior members of the Shadowchasers were beginning to understand why the Mall of America, a rather public and busy place to say the least, had been chosen for this exchange. Their unknown enemy had counted on Philip getting help in some way, and had realized that Jalal would watch it this way, hoping to either catch the kidnapper on the way in, or failing that, on the way out.

And Jalal knew that a portal into the mall was a possibility, as Karen discovered. But it seemed the portal was something of a type they were unfamiliar with. A strange type of magic that was rarely seen in mortal worlds for a variety of reasons.

But technicalities aside, one fact remained. The mission to recue Sofia was, for the moment, completely in Wells and Philip's hands.

"Bat Out of Hell" is coming soon.

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Shadowchaser Files: Althea

"Knowledge is a treasure more precious than gold. But like most treasures, the most valued of such is kept hidden by greedy misers. I feel such things should be shared."

So says Althea, curator of the Musée Arcane, a compilation of research in eldritch archaeology.

Those who have actually seen Althea in person rarely forget the sight. She prefers the traditional tunics and stolae of Ancient Greece to more contemporary attire, the only modern feature she uses is her dark glasses. She makes no effort to hide the fact that she's a gorgon; the writhing snakes on her scalp tend to make many terrestrial natives uneasy.

Who is Althea? Some say she is indeed an archaeologist, as well as an explorer, historian, and chronicler. To others, she's an eccentric at best, and a charlatan at worst. Kesto Brighteyes has publically claimed she is a sensationalist who has made absurd claims without providing proof (although Althea, in turn, has made quite a few negative statements about him having an ego bigger than he is).

Of course, Althea doesn't deny being eccentric, saying that you'd have to be a little crazy to willingly enter the Ninth Circle of Hell (which she claims she did in her essay Deepest Darkness, where she presents a theory stating that the Great Old Ones were once the mightiest of the abominations that inhabited – or were imprisoned in – Hell before Lucifer's fall; according to Althea's theory, Lucifer destroyed most of these beings, but inadvertently released the strongest ones). Nor does she mention that she presents most of her theories without much to back them up: Almost all her published essays include the disclaimer, "Sadly I cannot prove one word." And occasionally, "It doesn't matter, so long as you believe."

Why does anyone listen to unproven hypothesis? Maybe because everything she writes is so engrossing.

Indeed, Althea makes claims that challenge known concepts on a cosmic scale. She claims in her essay The Day the Angels Fell that, to summarize, the concepts of Good and Evil were defined by the Prime Mover Creator God by his opinion of what he approved of and what he did not. In her essay The Ancient Dimensions, she speaks of how the multiverse used to be differently structured eons ago, and how elemental entities that she calls the "Quintessentials" used them to provide raw materials for the current ones (quite possibly exterminating all life in them when they did; she hints that these beings are still around – possibly being worshipped under more familiar identities, but again, she isn't naming any names – and could do it again.)

Indeed, many would say that Althea is ruffling some very big feathers, and that the whole reason she provides no proof is to keep her findings purposely vague to avoid drawing attention. If a lot of what she says is true, she's exposing secrets of some of the most powerful entities in the cosmos, and it may be only a matter of time before divine or infernal mercenaries start calling

Not that she's helpless if someone challenges her. She's always accompanied by three banshrae she employs as bodyguards – again, more on them later – and if anyone tries to get near her in a threatening manner, that's when she doffs her tunic, revealing scanter clothing underneath designed for freedom of movement, along with the sunglasses. Foes then have a choice between looking at her and taking their chances with her gaze – which she has been known to use more liberally than most gorgons in the public eye – or trying not to look, which is actually the worse option. Althea has a black belt in Kung Fu, and many would-be assailants trying not to look at her have found themselves at the receiving end of a fist to the teeth.

It's even rumored that one of the three banshrae carries a hand mirror later, and she plans to turn her own gaze upon herself if it's very likely she'll be killed. (Indeed, in one essay where she mentions fossils, she claims she finds the idea of being immortalized in stone "strangely comforting". Again, she doesn't deny her eccentricities.)

Still, it seems there are at least some influential people interested in her work. Admission to her museum – again, more on that later – is free to guests. She claims she gets funding from anonymous donors who seek to profit from her discoveries. Rumored identities of these donors include Estevan, Mr. Yoshitsumo, and according to one source, Red Shroud.

Why does Althea do what she does? She claims she simply believes everyone has the right to know the secrets the multiverse keeps hidden. Although, there have been witnesses that claim she's a member of a small cult devoted to Shekinester, a very powerful and complex deity of reptilian creatures.

Of course, all groups devoted to Shekinester tend to be small, as it's not a very popular faith. She's a very complex deity with three aspects devoted to creation and destruction. His darkly evil Weaver aspect destroys to make room for new creations, but also forms the bonds between different schools of knowledge to create new understanding. Her Empowerer aspect symbolizes growth and learning, and can either provide safe passage for one who is doing so, or make it a harsh and difficult task. Her benevolent Preserver aspect is something of a mother goddess who is said to maintain – but not create – all existence, her blessings bestowing sustenance as and plenty.

Some see Shekinester as a World Serpent on a universal scale, while others compare her to Jaziran (possibly identifying them as the same being, or maybe as siblings). As far as Althea is concerned, her queries into the mysteries of the universe might be her way of following the dogma of her faith.

Still, while there are many opinions of her goals, no-one is able to prove them any more than she can.

Story Ideas: Althea's museum is a cornucopia of bizarre information, but will be covered in its own entry.

As far as Althea herself is concerned, how much of what she says in her works is true, embellished, or blatant lies is up to the individual author. Again, her essays make very potent claims which, if true, could reveal several universal truths as eternal lies. Much like Nostradamus, who purposely made his predictions vague to avoid being arrested for witchcraft, Althea may just have self-preservation in mind when she refuses to provide proof.

Ways to use Althea are many and varied. Any story that involves something hidden that someone wants to stay hidden might involve her trying to find it. She can be portrayed like Indiana Jones (which would be an honest explorer with good intentions, but one who tends to be rather reckless in the actual approach) or one like Lara Croft (which would be a darker sort of antihero who isn't afraid to push the limits of what is morally acceptable to reach her goals; whatever they are.) Her anonymous donors might well play a role too although Althea has explicitly stated she isn't doing this for money. Whether any of it ever can be profitable, only time will tell.

Deck Ideas: While she prefers to handle problems the old-fashioned way, Althea is fully capable of the more modern style of "combat", and has an odd "system" when it comes to deck themes. She claims that the deck she uses has something to do with whatever project she's currently working on. For example, before publishing The Day Angels Fell, she used a Sky Scourge deck for several months, and she used the Prophecy cards for a while before publishing what she claimed was a journal by an scholar/prisoner studying at the Great Library of Thoth (apparently, anyone who makes the pilgrimage to study there becomes a prisoner as a result of doing so, as the journal claims). Currently, her deck uses the Raidraptors, and one can only guess what strange endeavor inspired such a deck.