"Chapter 19- Rebirth"
By: Agent Baron
I see a luminous field… the grass is thin, yet bushy…
There is nothing else here but grass… the luminescence presents a light, peaceful feeling…
Everything has such an angelic glow… birds are chirping, but none are visible…
I march through the grass, and while everything is so peaceful, I feel so… alone…
Something is wrong here… but I feel drawn to the center of the field…
I walk to the center… something there glows… I approach it…
A plant… I bend down to look at it… the flowers are pretty… clustered together…
Small white petals… a yellow pistil protruding from each bloom…
I recognize this… it's… a potato flower…
Baron Von Stupor slowly opened his eyes. He found himself sitting on a bench, leaning to the side. He appeared to be inside some sort of vehicle, but he couldn't identify it. In front of what appeared to be a hangar door, he found a motorcycle sitting up in a stand, as if it were designed to roll out the opened door. On the wall to his right was a door.
"You have awakened," Von Stupor heard come from a nearby speaker. He turned to see Marron on the floor in a heap.
"Was that you who spoke?" he asked.
"Yes, I am. It seems Master Dartz has been defeated."
"Dartz? Defeated?"
Von Stupor looked down at himself and realized he was now in his body again.
"I have returned! So everyone's souls have been returned?"
"If you have returned, then I would assume so."
"Why aren't you attacking me?"
Marron explained to Von Stupor about the atrocities which had been committed by the entity controlling him. Von Stupor was horrified, but happy to know that at least it had not been because of any action on his part, nor anything he could have done anything about.
"What exactly was it that was controlling my body…?" he asked, still a bit perturbed.
"I do not know," replied Marron. "and it did not seem to know, either. However, the Pharaoh managed to finally end its rampage by defeating it in a duel."
"Yami defeated it? My… he has certainly gotten stronger…"
"I definitely understand why Master Dartz wanted his soul so badly."
"Where are we?"
"We are on Master Dartz's island."
"Dartz's island…?"
"Raphael brought us here via helicopter."
"Is Engar here?"
"Yes, I believe he came here with Master Dartz to protect him."
Von Stupor clenched his fist.
"I must go after him," Von Stupor said to Marron, and exited the helicopter. "It's a good thing I have… my…"
Von Stupor's voice trailed off as he noticed that he had no deck in his duel disk.
"Damn it!" he shouted, and ran back into the helicopter, approaching Marron. "Where's my other deck?!"
"Your deck was dropped off at the Paradius headquarters shortly before Mai and I dueled you, for safe keeping in case I was destroyed."
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! I lost another deck!" Von Stupor ranted, flailing his arms about.
"You can always build another deck."
Von Stupor stamped his foot angrily. "I don't have cards for a new deck! I used all of my remaining monsters for my last deck that you stole from me!"
"Monster cards are not required for a standard duel monsters deck."
Von Stupor stopped for a moment and thought to himself.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? An all magic and trap card deck? I don't know if I have the cards for it to be any good…"
"If you want your deck back from Engar, you have no other choice."
Von Stupor dropped his arms to his sides. Seeing no alternative, he left the helicopter to look for Engar while extracting his miniscule collection from his cope and sifting through his cards, building his new deck.
Sighing at the diminutive size of his shrinking collection, he said to himself, "Well, it's not really a matter of what to put in my deck anymore. It's a matter of what to take out of it!"
As he stepped inside the elegant palace, there laid a huge corridor with many blank squares lining the walls, ceiling, and floor. At the other end of the corridor stood three mighty snake statues emitting the chamber's light and two large eye carvings on the wall. Von Stupor sat for a short while figuring his deck when suddenly he heard a familiar voice from up ahead.
"What the hell are you doing here?" it asked.
Von Stupor looked up to see Baron Von Engar stepping into the hall.
"You!" Von Stupor shot at him, surprised, and stood up. He continued ruffling through his cards and trying to build his new deck. "Give me my deck back!"
"You're still after that deck?" he asked.
"Give it back, so I don't have to work with this!" Von Stupor spat, showing him all of the magic and trap cards he was looking at.
"I thought you were gone forever," he said, ignoring Von Stupor. "…And you mean to tell me that even after you had lost your soul, you have the nerve to come chase me still and risk losing it again… for cards?"
"My heart and soul are in those cards! They rightfully belong to me! They have sentimental value!"
"Don't talk to me about sentimental value. You stole every form of sentiment I had from me. What you've lost, compared to my anguish… it's nothing."
"I didn't do anything to you, now give-me-my-deck-back!"
"Stop screaming like a little child! Shut up! You don't deserve that deck, and you're lucky you still have your soul! You're lucky you got your job back at Industrial Illusions, you're lucky your friends got saved. What did I get back from this? Nothing! I didn't even get a proper revenge against you."
"Just who the hell are you, Engar?!"
"You don't deserve to know. All you deserve is the hard boot of justice stomping on your skull, repeatedly… repeatedly, until you stop moving."
Von Stupor simply looked on at Engar in silence for a moment, then continued riffling through his cards frantically.
"Why do you hate me so much?" he asked Engar.
"I've already told you why. And quite frankly, seeing you any longer is only causing me to get angrier and angrier." Engar began pacing back and forth.
"By risking your soul in these duels… in the end, do you really have anything to lose from them?" Von Stupor inquired.
"Just a crappy solitary existence. No one to love… no one to run to… nowhere to go… I don't really have anything to lose. If I lost my soul… fate would only be doing me a favor."
"And it's all because of me?"
"Think about it. Think long and hard."
"Wait… so really, taking my deck wasn't your revenge…?"
"That was only the beginning. I wanted to bring you down to my level. Weak on the inside… scared of what's to come… no faith in the future, only blindly fighting, hoping that things will happen to fall in your favor. And so far, for you they have. Me too, in a sense."
"I must admit, Engar… your plan worked at first."
"What?"
"Well… when you first took my deck, I wasn't sure I could fight without it. After all, that deck is… well, more or less it's who I am. But I remember a long time ago, when I lost my beautiful cope. I had to duel without it, and I was so shaky."
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"I… I want my cope…" Von Stupor stuttered. "I feel so… naked…"
"Well, I'm pretty sure that thing meant a lot to you, but it's no reason to act all screwy. Come on, it's just a coat!" Joey reasoned.
"No!" shrieked Von Stupor, grabbing Joey by his jacket. Everyone became nervous.
"Does he always act like this?" Duke whispered to Yugi.
"No, he really doesn't! He's actually a nice guy!" said Yugi, not knowing what to do.
"That wasn't just a coat; it was a cope! Not just any cope; my cope, the cope of Baron Von Stupor! Without it, I am not even a baron at all…" he whimpered, letting go of Joey. "My… my trademark…"
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"My friends helped me through that difficult ordeal. I learned that it doesn't matter what trademarks I have, as long as I know who I am, I'll never lose sight of that. I have nothing to be afraid of as long as I believe in myself!"
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Von Stupor sighed and said, "My cope is my trademark. It is who I am. One cannot lose track of who they are, or one is lost. Without my cope, I—"
"No way!" Joey cut him off. "Cope or no cope, you're definitely Von Stupor! I mean, there's your deck, the way you word your sentences, and lots of other things! You don't have just one trademark! Besides, who needs a trademark to tell people who they are? As long as you know who you are, then you won't be lost at all! Who cares what other people know you by?"
"Yeah," Tristan added. "Who really cares? If you know who you are, then that's all that matters! Nobody can tell you otherwise."
"Perhaps… Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps though my cope is very near and dear to me, it is not necessary to maintain proper identity. Perhaps… it is a mere accessory and is thusly expendable…" contemplated Von Stupor, taking off Yugi's jacket. "Yugi, I shall not need this anymore. Thank you, all. I shall progress through the finals copeless, but strong."
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"I had almost lost sight of this until my friend Yugi told me something very important a while ago. He said, 'As long as you put your heart and soul into your deck, the possibilities are limitless. Just have faith in your monsters and the heart of the cards and you can defeat any enemy.'"
Von Stupor, giving up, piled his cards together, shuffled them, and loaded them into his duel disk.
"There's just one problem, Stupor. Doesn't look like you have any monster cards to have faith in."
"Even without monsters, I'll always have the liver of the cards. That is the difference between you and me, Engar. You've lost sight of yourself and who you are. You are weak and too scared to have faith in anything. Your spirit is either weak or broken, and you hide behind that mask so no one has to see the frightened child in your soul. I, however, have complete faith in my abilities and who I am. No matter what, I will always keep sight of who I am and I'll keep fighting no matter how few monsters I have if I even have any at all. Engar, your search for power and revenge has only served to make you weaker, and I will demonstrate this to you with my new deck!"
Engar growled, clenching his fists.
"Fine! If that's what you want, then let's settle the score! I'll grind you into the dirt, right where you belong!" he suddenly shouted, readying his duel disk.
I don't need monsters to defeat Baron Von Engar, Von Stupor thought to himself. As long as I put my heart and soul into my deck and believe in my monsters as well as the liver of the cards, I can defeat any opponent!
Here it comes! The long-awaited climactic rematch between Baron Von Stupor and his nemesis, Baron Von Engar! For Baron Von Stupor, it all boils down to this mighty duel! Stay tuned for his greatest battle yet!
For those who are excited enough, there is a theme for the next chapter. Just send me an email with the subject "I'm glad I'm not a beach cow." and I will forward the theme to you as I post chapter 20!