"Chapter 4: Night"
By: Agent Baron
Suddenly, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Duke, and Amy felt rumbling all around them.
Detecting a purple glow emitting from the door frame, Joey spouted, "Guys, I don't think we wanna be standing here!"
The group jumped to either side of the door as it suddenly exploded from the frame in pieces. Von Stupor burst from the room, erupting dark energy as he plowed through the walls and out of the building. They watched in shock through the hole he made as he shot to the ground and landed on his feet. A purple aura swirled about him as the ground beneath cracked under his raw power.
"Engarrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!" he bellowed furiously.
Afterwards, the aura died and he slumped a tad. He paced around in a circle for a while in the grass, then shortly dropped to his knees.
Yugi and company hurriedly made their way to the building's exit and upon reaching Von Stupor, he was lying on his back, sprawled out in the grass.
"Von, what the hell happened back there??" Joey asked him incredulously.
"Baron Von Engar... the bastard stole my deck..." he replied lowly.
"On top of that, my guess is that you'll be paying for what you did to the building, too," Kaiba snidely mentioned.
Ignoring him, Von Stupor added, "He led me to believe that the building was laced with plastic explosives, but as I later learned, it was simply a farce to beat me in a duel and take my deck as the ante."
"What??" Yugi interjected. "Von Stupor, how could you ever agree to that??"
"I didn't! He used the fear of the plastic explosives against me and left me with little choice... I also could have defeated him, but I would have been risking your lives... The man is completely mad, and he mentioned that he was unafraid to bring the building down on himself if it meant my life as well... I perhaps could have saved myself, but I was unsure of you all, so I played it safe and ultimately lost. And yet... it was all simply a facade, a trick. I had been duped, made a mockery of, and I have even lost a prized possession, my dueling deck. All of my monsters are gone, my Relinquished... my Thousand-Eyes Restrict... The Fiend Megacyber, La Jinn, all of them are gone!"
"That rotten bastard..." Tristan commented, his fist clenched.
"Von, you just leave this jerk to me!" Joey declared. "I'll teach him never to mess with the friends of Joey Wheeler ever again!"
Von Stupor then sat up.
"I appreciate the intention... but 'tis my duty! You're already on a quest for the world. My monsters yearn to avenge the ones who have been taken from me."
"Do you have other cards?" asked Yugi. "I can let you borrow some of mine..."
"Not many, but I shall use what I have to overcome that damned thief and claim what is rightfully mine! A true duelist fights with his or her own sword."
"And his name is Baron Von Engar?" Tristan verified.
"Indeed, or at least 'tis what he says it is. Could be something different."
"Just like Baron Von Stupor is what you say your name is, right?"
Von Stupor stopped and thought for a moment.
"My name is Baron Von Stupor!" he said sternly, causing a laugh amongst the others.
"We don't have much time to stick around though, and we don't even know where to go next!" Téa reminded everyone.
"Yeah, and we need to hurry up and save Mai!" Joey commented.
"Allow me to grab my collection, 'tis not big," Von Stupor agreed. "I'll construct my new deck along the way to the next destination."
"What is our next destination?" Duke asked. "And where the heck did Kaiba go?"
Just then, everyone turned to see Kaiba taking off in the Blue-Eyes White Jet.
"Damn Kaiba can't even give us a lift," muttered Joey. "Ah, who needs him?"
"It wasn't long ago that Yugi gave that strange stone to Professor Hawkins. Maybe he's learned more about it since? He doesn't live too far from here, I don't believe."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" chirped Yugi. "Let's go!"
OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO
Duke drove the car with Téa in the passenger seat. Von Stupor, Amy, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan piled in the back while Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, still barely acknowledged by the others, rode in the trunk.
Von Stupor, with what little room he had, shuffled through his cards.
"What are you doing there, Von Stupor?" Yugi asked him.
"I am sifting through here, examining my monsters. I really haven't much here, less than I thought... I am looking for similar themes amongst my monsters, and then contemplating a strategy to use them with. Not enough room here to do any constructing, and such."
"Gah!" Téa gasped, lifting herself up a bit. "There's something in my butt!"
"Oh, heh heh!" laughed Joey, adjusting his foot. "I thought that was the armrest!"
"Von Stupor," Amy asked him. "I've been saving this question for the next time I came across you, since we really haven't been able to talk since I was brought into this world, but... how...?"
"Eh?"
"How in the world was I summoned? It... doesn't make any sense..."
"Oh, I could have answered that for you, Amy!" Yugi jumped in. "You see, during a shadow game, monsters that are summoned are actually real. There is a Sailor Moon trading card game here, and Von Stupor played a Sailor Mercury card during his duel with Majora, instead of a regular Duel Monsters card. Then, somehow, you were summoned. But since you weren't a Duel Monsters card, he removed you from play and drew a replacement card from his deck."
"But then why would you have a Sailor Moon card in a Duel Monsters deck?"
"Gauge enemy reaction," Von Stupor commented, still sorting through his cards. "Though the ensuing effect in the shadow game resulted in my equal confusion."
"This whole thing is so weird..."
"Well, Joey sure ain't complaining!" Tristan butted in.
"Hey!!" Joey shouted. "You're lucky I can't move!"
Just then, they had arrived at the Hawkins' estate to find that it had been completely burned to the ground. Shocked, everyone leapt out of the car and began to search for the professor and his granddaughter, Rebecca.
Then, Rebecca approached from the wreckage, a saddened look on her face. She was a very young girl, but very gifted mentally. At the mere age of 12, she has already become the proud U.S. champion of Duel Monsters and entered college. She sports long blonde hair, glasses, and a small hint of freckles.
OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO
Fortunately, the Hawkinses owned an RV in which Rebecca had been living out of. Everyone decided it best to settle down for the night and take a while to absorb everything that had happened so far. While Duke, Tristan, and Téa helped to prepare dinner, Joey raided the fridge and Von Stupor sat down to construct his deck. When dinner was ready, everyone sat down to eat. They learned from Rebecca how the house met its disastrous end. Rebecca had been coming home with some food in time to see her grandfather being guided into a helicopter by helmeted men with guns. As she raced toward the departing helicopter on her horse, the house suddenly exploded, leaving nothing behind. There she stayed until Yugi arrived.
"I wonder what Doma wanted with the Professor," Von Stupor wondered aloud.
"It might have something to do with the stone that I gave him to examine," Yugi said.
"Fortunately, I still have the stone. My grandfather told me to take good care of it, just in case," Rebecca said, taking off the necklace and giving it back to Yugi.
"I fear this deck may not be as powerful as my original deck..." Von Stupor lamented.
"As long as you put your heart and soul into your deck, the possibilities are limitless," Yugi told him. "Just have faith in your monsters and the heart of the cards and you can defeat any enemy."
"We shall see," Von Stupor said uneasily, and loaded his completed deck into his duel disk.
Dinner soon ended, and everyone prepared to sleep.
Potatoes... potatoes... potatoes... Von Stupor dreamt.
I like potatoes, yes I do...
I will name them all... just for you...
Potaaaaaatooooooooeeessss... coming out the wiiiiindooooow...
Potaaaaatooooooes... iiiin the daaaark!!
Love... love the potato...
Kiss... kiss the--
Suddenly, Von Stupor was awakened by the others' rustling.
"What is the matter?" he asked them.
"Yugi's missing! He left to go duel one of those biker punks, we have to go get him!" Joey said, rushing out with Duke. "Von, stay here, we'll take care of Yugi! Just in case, right?"
"Eh..." Von Stupor grunted in tired confusion.
"I'm going too, Joey!" cried Tristan as he rushed out the door.
Von Stupor plopped his face down on the pillow again. He heard talking, but didn't try to listen. Looking up from curiosity, he saw Amy step out of a room and look around. Suddenly, Professor Hawkins stepped into the trailer, and Von Stupor got up with a jump.
"Professor... you're back?" he asked, surprised.
"Yes... Raphael, one of the three horsemen of Doma, stayed true on his word to let me go if Yugi came to duel him... It was a long walk, but I made it back..." he replied, breathing heavily and sitting down on a dinner bench and leaning against the wall. "Joey has already left with your other two friends to go after Yugi."
"Where is Weevil and Rex?"
"I... don't even know who they are. I only saw Joey and the other two boys."
Suddenly, a shrill voice shouted from outside.
"Exit the trailer, and meet your doom!"
Amy began to open the door when Stupor suddenly grabbed her by her arm.
"If we stay inside, will doom go away?"
There was a brief silence, and then the voice spoke once more.
"Uh... no, it won't! Your doom will linger around until you come outside to meet it!"
"Can it come back later? This isn't a good time!"
"That's merely a matter of perspective! To your doom, what better time is there, since the stronger of your duelists aren't even around? It's much more preferable if you met your doom now!"
"I am a strong duelist too, though! I stayed here, just in case our doom came to meet the others while no one was around!"
"Uh... gr... Your doom promises it won't be here for very long, if you only come outside for a minute!"
"This is getting stupid," Rebecca growled and opened the door. Outside stood Baron Von Engar.
"You!!" Von Stupor shrieked and lunged out the door, tackling Engar. He and Engar rolled to the ground and wrestled shortly before Von Stupor was knocked off by a mechanical hound that had obviously accompanied him.
Up in a flash, Von Stupor shouted at Baron Von Engar, "Give me back my deck!!"
"What? Deck? I have come to duel you for your soul!"
"I want my deck back!"
"I want your soul!"
"Give me my deck back!"
"I am Baron Von Engar, and I challenge you to a duel!"
"Give him his deck back!" Amy commanded Engar.
Engar looked at all the angry duelists and back at the mechanical dog, who merely stood in place.
"I'll duel ya for it!" he said.
Von Stupor looked between the mechanical dog and Baron Von Engar and clenched his fist.
"Why do you hate me so much?"
"I'm just doing my job, man. Besides, you called me weak one day... I'll show you how powerful weakness really is!"
"I have heard enough! I will trounce you with the power of my... backup deck."
"I will duel you," spoke the dog from an unseen speaker to Amy.
"Me? You want to duel me?" she asked back, unsure if it was really the dog talking.
"Yes, we will duel."
"Wait just one moment!" Rebecca shouted at it. "Duel me instead!"
"I will duel the blue-haired girl, not you."
"He won't duel you, Rebecca. If he had any intention of dueling you, he would have approached you. He has a reason for selecting me," Amy observed.
"He knows who I am," Rebecca guessed.
"The odds are in my favor to duel the blue-haired girl. I will not accept any other opponent at this time," Marron said.
"I don't have a choice, Rebecca… cheer for me?" Amy asked.
"Of course I will! You better come back safe or I'm going to make this mechanical mutt regret it!"
Marron merely walked a short ways away and a duel disk folded out of its back. Different mechanical arms manipulated and shuffled the cards, preparing them for the duel.
"It is my duty to return to Master Dartz with souls for his god. I will not fail," it buzzed.
Von Stupor readied his duel disk, not entirely confident of what will happen.
Believe in the liver of the cards... he thought.
You know, Baron Von Engar's existence in this story is very interesting and the entity of Engar bears a lot of significance to me. That's because this is the seed that gave birth to Baron Von Engar in the Baron Syndicate. Yes, not only are Stupor's origins in The Masked Duelist, but so are Engar's! Coincidence? I first started thinking about doing a sequel some time into my senior year of high school, which meant that the first story had to have been approaching endgame by then. I figured it woud be pretty cool to introduce another Baron into the fray, but as an enemy instead of adding to Stupor's ever-growing list of allies. Besides, Baron versus Baron? Talk about a clash of the titans that everyone hopes to see! Especially if the 'rival' of sorts is stalking Stupor the entire way.
- For those of you who don't know about the Baron Syndicate, it is the name of an original series of adventures featuring Baron Von Stupor and his company, the Baron Syndicate. Featuring an original cast of characters (some not-so-original, inspired by various cultural references), it centers around Baron Von Stupor, his damn evil mask, and how it affects the life of everyone around. Humor-based, with plenty of action to keep the fight-lovers happy. For a more comprehensive example of the Baron Syndicate, see my other fanfic, 'Kingdom Hearts: Trial of the Syndicate'. The entire Baron Syndicate crew is used in that story.