"Chapter 16- Casualties"

By: Von Stupor

Marron slowly lowered himself and landed on top of the Doma headquarters building and began a swift descent towards the bottom floor, looking for Dartz. Reaching the bottom floor, he ran into Mai Valentine.

"Mai, there is a very severe problem," Marron said to her.

"I'm sorry Marron, but I'm not a pawn of Doma's anymore. I'm not going to let them control my life anymore and I'll cut down anyone who stands in my way!"

"There is an immediate threat to the both of us that will arrive soon. We must work together to take it down."

"What are you babbling about?"

"Not long ago, Lighty managed to defeat Baron Von Stupor in a duel."

"Von Stupor, defeated? That's a real shocker, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Von Stupor has risen again, without a soul. His mask is black, and his demeanor has very much changed. He claims not to be Baron Von Stupor, as if something else has awakened in him. He has defeated Lighty von Light-Light. I planted a bug on Lighty so his body can be later retrieved. Even though he has defeated Lighty, he possesses the ability to cheat by playing any card he wishes at any time and actively uses this ability."

"That doesn't sound like him at all."

"He is creating his own cards, and can readily use a corrupted version of 'Seal of Orichalcos', called 'Shadow of Orichalcos'."

"You're sure this is Baron Von Stupor?"

"I don't know who it is, but he is currently targeting me, and is following me. I need your help in order to defeat him and protect Master Dartz. If you do not help, he will destroy me and possibly come after you next."

"Well… if he's going to come after me, I guess I don't have a choice then, huh? Let's work together to take him down."

"How can we defeat someone who has the odds stacked so firmly in his favor?"

"That's easy. We'll just even the odds… or stack them in our favor, if we can."

"How?"

"First off, we'll need a strategy, and I happen to have the perfect idea. I hope you don't mind stacking your deck for this duel. It's not like our opponent is playing fair, either…"

OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

Just inside the building, Baron Von Stupor stepped into the main hall. Mai Valentine and Marron both stood there, waiting.

"We were waiting for you to show up, Baron Von Stupor," Mai said to him, a sly grin on her face. "I heard you've been doing some bad stuff… is that true?"

"Stop calling me that…" Von Stupor said to her. The sound of his voice alone startled her.

"What are you, if you're not Baron Von Stupor, then?"

"Hah… wouldn't you love to know? Duel me…"

"If a duel is what you want, honey, then a duel is what you'll have! But of course, you'll have to duel my friend here…"

Marron stepped out from behind Mai.

"That dog… I want the dog," Von Stupor said earnestly.

"Duel us," she said. "Show me you've got the guts."

"Both of you? Ha ha ha… I will defeat both of you. Let's duel…"

The three duelists readied their duel disks and prepared for battle.

Suddenly, Baron Von Stupor raised his hand in the air and a dark fog erupted from his mask. "Shadow Game…" he said.

"A what?! Sh-Shadow Game…?" Mai sputtered. Don't worry about it, Mai… just go with your strategy and you should cripple him so bad he can't recover!

"I'll go first," Mai declared quickly. "I'll set one M/T and end my turn! Your turn, Marron!"

"I set one M/T and I will play 'Card Destruction'," Marron announced. "This forces us to discard our hand and draw the same number of cards from our deck."

"I'll chain onto that my 'Forced Requisition' continuous trap card!" Mai cut in. "For every card I discard from my hand, my opponent must discard the same number of cards from his! That means while Marron and I both have a full hand, you're forced to discard your entire hand and the next five cards you draw from your deck as well!"

Von Stupor growled and complied with the trap card.

If my prediction is correct, Von Stupor will now go on the defensive with only one card in his hand, Mai thought. That means that as long as he defends himself from us with monsters, he won't have the opportunity to play any tricks for now. I only need this one turn…

"I set one monster… end of turn…" Von Stupor grumbled.

"Excellent!" Mai exclaimed. "Now I'll draw—"

"I will activate my trap card, 'Royal Decree'. This is a continuous trap card that negates all trap cards except for itself," Marron interrupted. "Now we are unable to use any trap cards."

"Good job, Marron," Mai congratulated the machine. "And now I'll play 'Seal of Orichalcos', which will increase the attack of all of my monsters by 500, as well as taking the soul of the loser! Now I'll summon the Cyber Harpie, and play my magic card, 'Elegant Egotist'! Since there is a face-up Harpie Lady on the field, I can now special summon the Harpie Lady Sisters! Next I'll play 'Premature Burial'! By sacrificing 800 of my Life points, I can bring back a monster from the graveyard and equip this card to it! I'll choose my Spell Canceller!"

A harpie materialized in front of Mai, wearing metallic armor. Beside it materialized a machine with legs, as well as a claw on the front. It opened its claw, and a large force field surrounded all of the duelists.

"As long as my Spell Canceller is on the field, no magic cards can be activated, and it negates the effects of any face-up spell cards!" Mai explained. "And yes, this means that if you somehow destroy my 'Premature Burial' card, then the second part of its effect is negated and my Spell Canceller stays anyway. Even more unfortunately for you, since 'Seal of Orichalcos' can't be negated, it however, is unaffected by my Spell Canceller! Now, I enter my Battle Phase! I order my Spell Canceller to attack your face-down monster!"

Ha! This means that now Baron Von Stupor is busy defending himself with monsters, and in addition to this, he can't use any magic or trap cards! Mai thought to herself.

The Spell Canceller crawled over to Von Stupor card when a Man-Eater Bug leapt from it. It gouged the Spell Canceller, but wound up electrocuting itself in the process and dying.

"Man-Eater Bug, I get to destroy any one monster as per its flip effect," Von Stupor commented.

I had just a plan for this kind of contingency, Mai thought to herself. "First, my harpies will attack your Life Points directly!"

All of Mai's harpies gave Von Stupor a fierce slash, dropping his Life Points to 4750.

"Last but not least, I'll play 'Monster Reborn' to revive my Spell Canceller!" Mai finished. "Looks like you're limited to monsters, Von Stupor!"

"I will summon the Berserk Gorilla, and I'll attack your Life Points directly," Marron announced.

A mighty gorilla burst forth from nowhere and punched Von Stupor clean in his face, knocking his Life Points down to 2750.

Von Stupor growled, drawing his next card. He paused for a moment to thnk, then chuckled. "Ahaha… I'll set one monster and end my turn…"

"Face it, Von Stupor! It's all over for you! I order my Cyber Harpie to attack your face-down monster!" Mai declared, and her harpie began its flight over to Von Stupor's set card.

Suddenly, the Cyber Jar burst from it. I was large and metallic, with a jar shape. The metal on the front of it was designed in a way to resemble a smiling face with a toothy grin.

"What?!" Mai cried. "The Cyber Jar?! That card destroys all monsters on the field, and makes us draw five cards, summoning all monsters drawn that are level four or less!"

"The odds for us have suddenly sagged," Marron observed.

"I summon Cyber Harpie Lady and Amazoness Chain Master," Mai declared.

"I special summon a Berserk Gorilla, Mad Dog of Darkness, and Bazoo the Soul-Eater," Marron added.

"I set one monster, summon the Dark Blade and two Zombyra the Dark," Von Stupor decided.

Mai suddenly bore a surprised expression.

"I didn't expect him to do that…" Mai muttered.

"The odds are now in Von Stupor's favor," Marron commented.

"Shut up, Marron! Right now, we need support! First I'll play Amazoness Spellcaster, which allows me to switch the attack values of an enemy monster with one of my Amazons!"

An old tribal witch appeared and used her magic to create multicolored orbs of light that surrounded Zombyra, and then her Amazoness Chain Master. Zombyra then became thin and wiry while the Amazoness Chain Master bulked up in size. Then, swinging its mighty claw about, it struck Zombyra in his chest, felling him and reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 1950.

"Draw," Marron stated. "I will play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards. Next, I set one monster and I order the Berserk Gorilla to attack your set monster."

Marron's frenzied gorilla ran over and ripped the monster out of Von Stupor's card. It was a Nimble Momonga, a creature that resembled a flying squirrel, and was easily squeezed until it popped.

"I gain 1000 Life Points, and can now set up to two more Nimble Momongas in face-down defense position from my deck," Von Stupor stated. "Of course I'll choose two…"

"This isn't looking good," Mai said out loud. "I didn't count on him using something as old as Cyber Jar…"

"My turn..." Von Stupor continued. "I can now play magic cards, thanks to my Cyber Jar destroying the Spell Canceller… but no traps yet. We'll see… First I'll play 'Change of Heart' on Marron's Berserk Gorilla, to gain control until the end of this turn…"

"Remember that as per Berserk Gorilla's effect, even though it has 2000 attack, it must attack whenever possible," Marron reminded him.

"I don't need to…" Von Stupor replied. "I sacrifice it for Great Maju Garzett…"

"Oh, my god!" Mai exclaimed. "No…"

The Great Maju Garzett stepped forth, powered all the way to 4000 attack thanks to the Berserk Gorilla.

"One Zombyra to attack the Cyber Harpie Lady… one to attack the Amazoness Chain Master…" Von Stupor stated.

The Cyber Harpie Lady flew into the air to escape Zombyra, but Zombyra was able to leap up and catch it by the feet, dragging it down. Landing, Zombyra slammed the harpie down and stomped its head in. Meanwhile, the amazon was busy fending off the second Zombyra with her chain. Zombyra finally caught it and yanked the amazon to him where he clutched her by her throat until she stopped moving.

"Now… Great Maju Garzett attacks you…" Von Stupor said, a slight joy detectable in his voice.

Maju Garzett stomped over to Mai and stared her down prior to punching her on top of her head, slamming her to the ground fiercely. Her Life Points plummeted to 2300.

Mai laid for a moment prior to standing back up. "I'll summon the Unfriendly Amazon and attack Zombyra with it!" Mai declared, standing strong.

Her amazon warrior drew her sword and plunged it deep into Zombyra's chest, destroying him and reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 2850.

"I must protect Mai's soul," Marron stated. "I will remove two of my destroyed Berserk Gorillas from play to increase the attack of Bazoo the Soul-Eater by 300 points per monster, and I will use him to attack your second Zombyra."

Marron's baboon consumed two ball of light that came from Marron's duel disk and glowed with a yellow aura of power. Beating its chest, it jumped onto Zombyra and bit his head off, reducing Von Stupor's Life Points to 2550.

"Ahaha… futile…" Von Stupor chuckled. "I'll sacrifice my two set Nimble Momongas to summon the Cosmo Queen. Cosmo Queen, attack the amazon… Maju Garzett… finish her… you can't activate traps, ha... ha... ha... ha…"

Mai looked in horror as Von Stupor's Cosmo Queen blasted apart her amazon while Maju Garzett approached her.

"You're… unstoppable…" Mai quivered as the Maju Garzett backhanded her against the seal's border.

"I have failed," Marron stated as the seal closed around her and extracted her soul.

"Your turn, dog…" Von Stupor said to Marron.

"There is no possible way I can win this duel, and I have failed to protect Mai. I shall concede defeat to you."

"Good… now you will be destroyed."

The fog dissipated, and the purple sphere housing Mai's soul vanished into the shadows

Before Marron could react, Von Stupor, black aura glowing, shot across the dissipating field and delivered a savage chop to Marron's neck. The mechanical hound was slammed to the ground and clacked across the floor. Marron tried to move, but was rendered completely immobile.

"Gahahaha…" Von Stupor chuckled as he aimed his palm at the robot to finish it off.

"Baron Von Stupor!" shouted a familiar voice.

Von Stupor turned around to see Yami standing behind him, looking on in total disbelief.

"Von Stupor, what has happened to you?" Yami asked him.

"You… you know him…" Von Stupor said to him.

"Who, Marron? I have heard about him from Amy. Baron Von Stupor, what is the matter with you? Your mask is black… your voice…"

"He is no longer Baron Von Stupor," Marron buzzed. "Von Stupor was defeated by Lighty von Light-Light, and has lost his soul. Whatever is controlling the body is not Baron Von Stupor."

"What?"

Von Stupor chuckled and stepped toward Yami.

Yami stepped back, watching Von Stupor.

"Something about you is definitely different. I detect something about you… something completely rotten, and evil… You're not Baron Von Stupor anymore, are you?"

"Nope… ha ha ha…"

"Then what are you?"

"Hmmm… just a spawn… I guess…"

"From the mask?"

"Duel me…"

"He is an unstoppable dueling force… he is able to cheat," Marron warned him.

"Cheat? How?" Yami asked.

"He has no deck. It has been created, and he can use any card he wants, anytime."

Von Stupor simply chuckled.

"If he can use any cards, then how can anyone defeat him?" Yami asked.

"Enough…" Von Stupor said. "Duel me…"

"We tried restricting the cards he could use with other cards such as 'Royal Decree', but we failed. Mai has been taken by him as well," Marron continued.

Yami stroked his chin for a moment, thinking to himself.

"Duel, now!" Von Stupor impatiently shouted, a black aura erupting from him.

Whatever that thing is, it's using the mask's power… Dueling is the only chance I have of defeating it, Yami thought to himself. Baron Von Stupor, forgive me… but it seems I have no choice but to take you down!

Whatever Stupor is, he's definitely a veritable engine of destruction. Taking down two duelists at once who were even cheating themselves... and now he's set his crosshairs on the King of Games! Can Yami take down this creature, or could Stupor be too much for even the heart of the cards to handle? Find out Wednesday! ;)

By the way, there is a chapter theme for the next chapter as well. Just send me an email with the subject "pretty pretty lilacs" and I'll get the theme right to you before I post the next chapter! By the way, if you can't find my email, you can always contact me via messenger, information of which is found on my profile. Ciao!