Hey John, how's it going'? Good to see you again. Boy, this duel took a long while to do. It was massive, complex... particularly here toward the end, since I had a specific way I wanted it to end... and I still had unworkable kinks that I had to just workaround, lol. But I guess the unpredictablility of my duels is one of the perks that comes with the story. Considering that they're unpredictable even to me seems to emanate an aura of authenticity that I like. As if I'm not really scripting the duels, rather the duels are scripting themselves around what should happen for the sake of the story. Anyway, here's chapter 10. Stuff gets good here, methinks.

"Chapter 10: Separation"

By: Agent Baron

As hard as Von Stupor, Rebecca, and Amy have fought, they couldn't prevent the seal of orichalcos from being played. Fortunately, they managed to eliminate Lighty von Light-Light from the duel, but with the evil card now in play, Marron's brute force advantage might still not be so easily overcome.

Current state of the duel:

+Zombie McZombiefeister (LP: 4500)

--Monster(s): Mystic Swordsman LV6

--M/T: 1 set M/T

+Mecha-Dog Marron (LP: 4400)

--Monster(s): Manticore of Darkness, 4 Sheep Tokens

--M/T: 2 set M/T (both disabled by Xing Zhen Hu), Seal of Orichalcos

+Baron Von Stupor (LP: 5100)

--Monster(s): none

--M/T: 2 set M/T

+Rebecca Hawkins (LP: 7700)

--Monster(s): Guardian Angel Joan, Injection Fairy Lily

--M/T: none

+Amy Anderson (LP: 2300)

--Monster(s): none

--M/T: Xing Zhen Hu, 1 set M/T

"I will now eliminate Amy from the duel," announced the mechanical dog. "I will use my Manticore to attack her Life Points directly."

"Not so fast!" countered Von Stupor. "I activate my 'Skull Lair' trap card! By removing any number of monster cards in my graveyard from play, I may destroy a monster with the same number of stars! Your Manticore is finished!"

A large gate rose between the five remaining duelists, inviting any monster to walk through it. As the manticore charged through it to attack Amy, the gate surged with electricity and struck it down before it could.

"In response, I will shift all of my Sheep Tokens to attack mode and attack Amy directly with them," Marron complied.

The four cute sheep struck Amy from all angles until only 300 Life Points remained.

"Amy!" Von Stupor cried. She looked toward him. "You will not lose your soul!" She nodded and smiled.

"As per my Main Phase," Marron added. "I will send one beast-type monster—that is, one of my Sheep Tokens, to special summon my Manticore of Darkness from the graveyard as per its effect."

The beast shot its fist from the ground and emerged to fight once more.

"Since this match is three versus three, rather than a team having two turns in a row, we will continue to alternate between teams," Zombie informed the other duelists. "This will keep things fair."

Amy nodded and drew a card. "I will play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards. Next, I'll play 'Reload', which lets me shuffle my hand back into my deck and draw the same number of cards that were in my hand. Now, I'll set one M/T and summon the Tribe-Infecting Virus!" A strange purple haze appeared in front of her. "This monster has a special effect that allows me to once per turn declare any type of Monster and destroy all monsters on the field of that type, and I choose beast-warrior!"

The purple haze suddenly spread out appendages that struck Marron's manticore and Zombie's warwolf in their throats. Clutching their throats, they dropped to their knees, and collapsed in front of their respective duelists, fading.

"That ends my turn," Amy said, triumphantly.

"Don't forget my manticore's special effect," Marron reminded her, sacrificing another Sheep Token to revive the Manticore.

Zombie drew and ended his turn. Von Stupor drew and set one monster prior to ending his turn.

"I will attempt to eliminate Amy from the duel. I will set two M/T cards and then attack her Tribe-Infecting Virus with my manticore," Marron stated.

"I was waiting for you to try that!" spouted Amy. "I activate my trap card, 'Mirror Force'! This negates your attack and destroys all of your monsters in attack position, which includes your Sheep Tokens! Now you can't bring your Manticore of Darkness back!"

The manticore rushed Amy but was struck back by an unseen force. The manticore, from the force, exploded and it parts flew by and smashed through the remaining two sheep.

"Okay Marron, you're going down!" taunted Rebecca. "I'll set one M/T and attack your Life Points directly with Guardian Angel Joan!"

"I have a trap card," Marron stated. "It is the Ojama Trio, which special summons three Ojama Token to my field in defense position. Each one that is destroyed inflicts 300 points of damage to my Life Points."

"That's fine. I'll use all three of my monsters to attack your Ojama Tokens, then!"

Between being pummeled, stabbed, and scorched, Marron's Ojama tokens stood no chance under the might of Rebecca's monsters. Their effect reduced Marron's Life Points to 3500.

Hitting a dry spell, Zombie merely set a monster during his turn, as did Von Stupor and Marron, with Amy instead setting one M/T card.

"My turn again…" said Zombie. "and I will summon Zanji, of the Six Samurai! I order it to attack Amy's Tribe-Infecting Virus!"

"Way to go, brother!" Lighty shouted. "Take them down!"

A samurai appeared before Zombie, and twirled his sword with such might that it split the haze apart into a thin fog. It then loosed a mighty slash, which dispersed the haze once and for all, cutting Amy's Life Points to a dangerous 100.

Rebecca sweated beads while Von Stupor firmly clenched his free hand. "Rebecca shakily drew her next card. "You're going down, you stupid machine," she mumbled. "I order Joan to attack your set monster, Marron!"

Joan flew over and gave the card a fierce slash, revealing it to be a Sangan.

"Sangan's effect allows me to pull a monster with an attack of 1500 or more to my hand from my deck," Marron commented.

"That won't help you! I order my Fire Princess to attack your Life Points directly!"

Rebecca's Fire Princess shot a fierce flame towards Marron, reducing his Life Points to 1700.

"…And now to finish you off with my Injection Fairy Lily!"

"Not quite," Marron interrupted her. "Because of Joan's special effect, you gained 1000 Life Points, bringing yours to 8700. That provides a 7000 point difference between our Life Points and allows me to activate my hidden trap card."

"No, that can't possibly be—"

"I will activate my trap card, 'Self-Destruct Button'. This card reduces both of our Life Points to zero. Two souls are better than three, if it will protect one of our own team."

Marron's field then faded and he dashed into a lunge toward Rebecca. As he reached her, he then produced a massive explosion, knocking both of them across the area. The Seal of Orichalcos then fizzled, and produced a deafening boom as it broke.

Von Stupor and Amy looked about, confused as Rebecca sat up.

"In the result of a tie, neither player loses their soul," Zombie informed them. "And because Marron is eliminated, the seal of orichalcos is no longer in play… that is, until I draw it."

Marron returned to his feet and took a spot near Lighty.

"Now, I draw!" announced Zombie. "I will play the magic card 'Wave-Motion Cannon'!"

Oh, no! Von Stupor said aloud. Only one turn and then Zombie can destroy Amy at any time!

"Next," Zombie continued. "I'll sacrifice my two set monsters to tribute summon the Destruction Cyclone!"

Suddenly, the air kicked up around them as the winds swirled to form the shape of a reptilian creature.

"This monster destroys all non-WIND-type monsters when destroyed as a result of battle, so you may want to think twice before trying to attack me, heh!" gloated Zombie. "Now, I could destroy Amy here… or I could try to keep you alive long enough for me to get my 'Seal of Orichalcos' out! Not to mention you're not much of a threat, while Von Stupor here has two set monsters! I'm going to attack both of his monsters with my Destruction Cyclone and Zanji!"

The wind reptile scooped up Von Stupor's virtual card in its mouth and he watched as its contained 8-Claws Scorpion was ripped to shred in the searing winds. At the same time, Zanji has already slashed and felled Von Stupor's set Muka Muka.

"What are you going to do now, huh? Ha ha ha!" Zombie cackled. "I'll take all of you down!"

"I'll play 'The Dark Door'! Now only one monster may attack per turn!" retorted Von Stupor after drawing.

"Bwa hah… fine. I'll play 'The Warrior Returning Alive', which allows me to return one warrior-type monster to my hand from the graveyard. Next I'll send Zanji to the graveyard to tribute set one monster. Now, my Destruction Cyclone, attack Von Stupor's Life Points directly!"

The wind creature immersed Von Stupor in itself, blowing his cope all about. The cope shook him back and forth until it finally flopped over his head, knocking him entirely over and sending his Life Points plummeting to 3300.

"Your turn… Amy," said Zombie with a sinister grin.

"No…" said Amy, with a smile. "Von Stupor will be the one to take you down."

Zombie and Von Stupor both looked at her oddly.

"Von Stupor… I hope you understand that we don't know when Zombie will get that card, or if he will… and with only 100 Life Points left, it would be a huge gamble to stay in this duel…" she said to him.

"A gamble I do not wish to take," Von Stupor agreed. "I will finish this!"

"I quit, Zombie. I concede defeat."

"What?! Then I get to take my turn again! It will be uneven!" Zombie insisted.

"Then allow me to take her place. You and I, one on one!" Von Stupor proposed.

"Ha ha ha… fine. Let's go, Stupor!"

"I will summon the 8-Claws Scorpion, and attack your face-down monster! This monster's special effect increases its attack to 2400 during the damage step of the Battle Phase when it attacks a face-down defense position monster!"

A large, mechanical scorpion appeared and struck quickly at Zombie's set monster. It was his Mystical Swordsman, felled instantly.

"As per the second part of my monsters effect, once during my Main Phase, I can flip it back to face-down defense position!" Von Stupor finished.

Drawing his next card, Zombie looked at Von Stupor with malice.

"I don't understand why you keep fighting. Sure, you're taking down a pretty efficient offense of mine, but I still have my Wave-Motion Cannon, ready to fire at you at any time," he taunted.

"I still have two more turns," Von Stupor stated calmly.

"Hah… I can see why you're so powerful a duelist. Well… let's see exactly who gets the last laugh, shall we? I will play my 'Seal of Orichalcos'!"

Von Stupor's nerves tensed up as the seal made its way down once more.

I was hoping I could end this before it came out again… he thought to himself woefully.

"Now I'll order my powered up Destruction Cyclone to attack your face-down monster!" Zombie stated.

The Destruction Cyclone flattened the 8-Claws Scorpion and hurled its pieces far away with its mighty winds.

"Turn one, Von Stupor! Let's see your magic," Zombie jeered.

"I'll set one monster and end my turn."

"Is that all you do? Play defense? I set one M/T. Destruction Cyclone, crush that monster!"

Suddenly, the Princess of Tsurugi burst from her respective card and launched two diamond daggers at Zombie, striking him for 1000 points of damage. She was quickly caught by the Destruction Cyclone and torn apart.

"Turn two," said Von Stupor. "I set one monster and end my turn."

"All that deck does is defend, defend, defend! You need to get aggressive!"

"I need my damned deck back, shut up!"

"Waaah, time's up! Ass! I will now fire my Wave-Motion Cannon, which by now is ready to deal 4000 points of damage!"

"But to whom? I activate my trap card, 'Barrel Behind the Door'! This card takes any damage dealt to me as the result of an effect and inflicts it on the opponent instead!"

"What?!" Lighty roared, standing up. "Zombie, tell me you have a counter!"

"Defense, defense, defense," Von Stupor mocked Zombie as he stood, quaking.

"N… no…" he muttered as the decorative cannon before him began to shake uncontrollably. A crack suddenly burst in it, facing him, and the full charge of it shot out the other end, knocking him into the orichalcos boundary and bouncing him off of it. He made a hard prat fall and laid there, defeated.

"Your Life Points have been eliminated, Zombie. And as a result for your reckless decisions, you have now lost your soul," Von Stupor said to him, the boundary beginning to close on him and passing through Von Stupor.

Von Stupor then turned and pointed at Lighty. "As for you, your reckless decision-making has caused you to lose your own step-brother. Are you proud of yourself? Staking your souls for something so foolish?!"

The light cleared and Zombie's body simply laid on the ground. Lighty picked it up in shock as Rebecca and Amy went to Von Stupor's side.

"I believe there is a way to capture these taken souls, Lighty," Von Stupor said to him. "Surely something such as this can be undone. Join us, and I believe we can get your brother back! Come with us, Lighty. You'll be a valuable asset to out team…"

Lighty, holding his brother flashed an evil glare at Von Stupor through tear-stained eyes.

"No…" he said, pushing Von Stupor away. "Get away from me! You can't get souls back when they're taken by the orichalcos! They all become food for the great beast! They're gone! Gone! And I'll take yours, too! I'll take yours too, you bastard! You wait and see!"

Lighty loaded Zombie's body onto his motorcycle and called to Marron prior to taking off, leaving the second motorcycle behind.

"We've successfully fended off some soldiers of Dartz, but… they will undoubtedly be back…" Von Stupor worried.

"I worry, though… that if souls could be returned… wouldn't they return the souls of henchmen they had lost?" Amy postulated.

"Let us not think of that right now. Our main focus is finding out where Dartz is located."

Just then, in the distance, the three heard a car coming. As it came closer, they all recognized it to be Duke's car, returning with Yugi.

When they arrived back, they all bore a very solemn expression on their faces.

"What's the matter?" asked Rebecca. "Why do you all look so down? Didn't Yugi win?"

"No, he didn't win," answered Joey. "Yugi's gone."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Amy. "How could Yugi lose if he's standing right...?"

Suddenly, it dawned on everyone there exactly which Yugi was gone.

"Oh, boy," muttered Von Stupor.

Boy was I glad to have this over with. Though... some of the duels in the future had me racking my brain harder, I'll admit. You'll see. /

Admittedly, I miss doing these duels. It was mind-racking, but it was fun and the end results were very much worth it to me.