I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.

We had been wandering around in the woods for some time before we found the strange beast known as Regulus. Torunka pointed the creature out to us but failed to account for why the lion had a unicorn horn and was wearing armor. Luna jumped up immediately and tried to talk to him, but he cried out against what she was saying as lies before jumping to attack her. Thankfully, I pulled her back quickly enough.

We ran for a time trying to find a safe spot again before Torunka spoke up, "Did you see what was on his leg? Some sort of anklet with the same symbol as the staves the monkeys used!"

"You're right, Torunka!" Luna added. "He must have been cursed by them somehow. Maybe they put it on him while he was asleep?"

"Perhaps we need to remove it from him before anyone gets hurt so that we can actually talk to him?" Torunka pondered, his hand reaching for a non-existent beard.

"Then I'll provide a distraction," I said.

"What? How?" Luna asked me, suddenly worried.

"I'll challenge him to a duel. Hopefully, he'll still understand the gesture and will accept the challenge. That failing, I'll try to force the guy into a position where he can't move so that you can approach and remove the thing." I loaded my deck into the disk, and not a moment too soon. Regulus jumped out of the brush into the clearing we were talking in.

"Blasphemers! Conspirators! I know what you did to the Ancient Fairy Dragon!" He cried. Then he saw my duel disk extend. "So be it, we shall end this conflict your way, wretched traitor!" Regulus began to summon forth a duel disk-like-thingamajig out of light and used the magic within his horn to shuffle a deck. In that moment, however, Luna jumped at his ankle and grabbed hold of the anklet. I don't know how she had acquired it, but somehow she had my knife and cut the thing off of the beast.

He snarled at her. "How dare you come near me with a blade! I will crush you between by jaws!"

Luna was unfazed and instead kneeled in front of him, presenting the cut anklet to him. "My Lord Regulus, I am sorry that it was necessary, but this magical charm was preventing you from hearing us properly. You heard the opposite of everything that we said, and we wonder as to whether or not you were able to recognize us at all." Regulus stopped short of snapping her head off to inspect the charm.

"Very well, child, I accept that as a possibility, but I have yet to know what lays within your hearts. The Captain here will duel me, and then I will determine what I think."

"Why does everyone keep calling me a Captain?"

"Duel me and I'll tell you, but as I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt at present, I will make the first move." Regulus floated the top six cards of his deck in front of him as I rushed to draw five and catch up.

Regulus: 4000

Wilhelm: 4000

Turn 1: Regulus

"I'll set two cards and summon Chaos-End Master," Regulus said as an angel emerged from the dazzling light in front of him. "Your move."

Chaos-End-Master: 1500/1000

Turn 2: Wilhelm

I drew another card. "I will also set two cards and summon Vengeful Shinobi!" I said as the dark ninja ascended from the ground in front of me.

Vengeful Shinobi: 400/800

"Your move, Regulus"

Turn 3: Regulus

Another card floated in front of Regulus as he said, "I summon Sea Koala, but don't worry about him for long because I'm tuning him with my Chaos-End Master to summon Magical Android!" A female android with excessively gaudy equipment and a staff emerged from the rings and stars made of the Master and the Koala.

Sea Koala: 0100/1600

Magical Android: 2400/1700

"Then my Android will attack your Shinobi!" Regulus roared. The android lunged forward with her staff before a book slammed on top of her, turning her card to face-down defense position.

"I'm sorry, but the Book of Moon disagrees, but because the Vengeful Shinobi was selected as an attack target I still get to draw a card." I laughed.

Regulus growled, "Then I'll set another card and end my turn."

Turn 4: Wilhelm

I drew another card, then smiled. "As I recall, Regulus," I said. "Your Android only has 1700 defense points. So I'll sacrifice Vengeful Shinobi to summon The Fiend Megacyber!" The golden armor-clad warrior leaped onto the field.

The Fiend Megacyber: 2200/1200

"And then Megacyber will attack your defenseless Android!" I commanded. The warrior rushed towards the face-down monster and stomped it out, shattering it into thousands of light fragments.

"I end my turn," I said.

Turn 5: Regulus

He floated another card, then set a monster with an amused look on his face.

"Why the smile?" I asked, despite grinning myself.

"It seems fitting that your deck is an army of darkness, Captain." the lion chuckled. "Your move."

Turn 6: Wilhelm

As I drew a card I had already planned my turn. "I summon Don Zaloog." The warrior leader of The Dark Scorpions burst onto the field, then stretched a bit, cracking bones all over his body before looking at me and laughing.

"How good to talk to you again, Captain." Don bellowed.

I was taken aback, "how did you, but you're…"

"A duel monster spirit in the duel monster spirit world. I can actually talk to you here, Captain. Don't worry about our lives, even here, being summoned as a monster allows us to fight without consequence." he laughed.

"But that makes no sense, psychic duels and shadow games and… We'll figure this out later. Archfiend, attack his monster!" the warrior obeyed, stomping out a helmeted cat into a thousand fragments.

"Don, charge," I ordered. Zaloog flashed a bright, wide smile as he drew his twin daggers and slashed away at Regulus. "Why don't we remove two cards from the top of the deck this time, Don?"

Regulus: 2600

Wilhelm: 4000

"Will do, Captain," Zaloog replied as he plucked the top of Regulus' deck and made them disappear.

Regulus was still smiling when I ended my turn.

Turn 7: Regulus

He floated a card and said, "I activate the field spell, Forest, which will increase the attack and defense of all insect, beast, plant, and beast-warrior type monsters by 200 points, and then I'll summon an Enraged Battle Ox!" A minotaur with an axe came charging out of the forest behind Regulus, absorbing power from the trees and plants he felled on his way.

Enraged Battle Ox: 1700/1000 1900/1200

"Battle Ox, attack Don Zaloog!" the minotaur raged towards Don, but Don just winked at me.

"I'll activate my spell, shrink, halving your monster's attack points," I said.

"But only his original attack points, not the boost he receives from the forest. I'll then activate Forbidden Chalice, which will increase his attack points to 1450, though it negates his effect for the rest of the turn." There was a twinkle in the Lion's eye, though a glare in mine as I watched don Zaloog get hacked into bits before he shattered.

Regulus: 2600

Wilhelm: 3950

"Your move, Captain."

Turn 8: Wilhelm

I drew and immediately activated one from my hand. "I'll discard my Gold Sarcophagus to activate Lightning Vortex, destroying your Ox. Then I'll have The Fiend Megacyber attack you directly." I grinned.

Regulus: 400

Wilhelm: 3950

"Then I'll end my turn." Regulus didn't look the least bit worried.

Turn 9: Regulus

He set another card right after he drew.

"Are we stalling, sir?" I asked.

"No, surviving, young one. Your move.'

Turn 10: Wilhelm

After I drew another card I exclaimed, "I set two more cards and will have Megacyber attack your monster." Once again, the warrior charged. Once again, a monster was fragmentized, but this time it was an angel with massive wings.

"I end my turn, but stop the stall tactics," I warned.

Turn 11: Regulus

"Very well, you've earned it, Captain." Regulus leaned forward and then rested his head on his front legs, seeming like he was about to take a nap as another card floated in front of him. "Your move."

Turn 12: Wilhelm

"Really?" I asked. "Just like that you're willing to give it to me?"

"Like I said, Captain. You've earned it. Now finish it quickly so that I can tell you who you are before I have to send you back to the mortal realm." the undertone to what he said was enough to terrify me.

"Then I draw my final card. Megacyber," I looked at my monster, and he turned to look back at me questioningly. "End this game."

For the final time, the golden armor-clad warrior charged, punching away the last of the lion's life points.

Regulus: 0000

Wilhelm: 3950

"Wait, Regulus, why do we have to go back?" Luna finally piped up.

"Your bodies are in danger, and I must send you back as quickly as possible in order to save you. Ancient Fairy Dragon can be rescued at a later time." the beast reached out with his horn and tapped Luna's forehead, causing her to melt into light and veer away to the mortal realm.

"Then I suppose that my questions will be answered later?" I asked.

"Not all of them. You are a Ba, just like myself, though you were given mortal form through magic. The magic meant to transport you went wrong and the Supreme King intervened in order to save both you and his plans, meaning that instead of being the alter-ego of a human whose soul happens to most resemble yours, or a human who is the reincarnation of the human whose soul gave you life, you are just as much human as monster."

I fell to the ground, "Then who am I?"

Regulus tapped his horn to my forehead. "Wilhelm Jernigan, protect Luna in the mortal world and I will do everything in my power to tell you who you are. Until then, I will provide you with a hint at least, something to help you get out. I can't give you psychic powers, but there are certain cards that will react violently with you. You will find one on the desk when you wake up."

I woke up back in my Arcadia movement robes, lying on a bed in a room that certainly wasn't my own. I heard someone yelling from the room next to mine. Turning my head to look, I saw that there was a woman with terrible fashion sense and massively ridiculous glasses in the next room over. It seemed a terrible lack of morality to have massive, clear window be all that was really separating a man and a woman, but I had slightly more pressing issues to deal with.

I got up and went looking for a desk, but the woman saw me moving first.

"You're in here too? Hey, is there any way that you can help me get out of here? They're suppressing the press!" she said.

I was silent and instead found the desk and looked at the card that was on the desk. It was an equip spell card - Metalsilver Armor. I looked back over to the woman, "Yes, ma'am, I believe that I can help you."