"We're here." Arlene looked up at the towering cliffs, and couldn't help but wish that there was an easier way of landing on the island without detection - not only would there be a long trek to get to the top of the island, there was also the heavy rain to consider. The weather hadn't been so bad until half an hour before the trio landed, and it was a good thing that it happened so close to the island, as the raft didn't seem as though it would last much longer.

"Arlene! What are you doing?" Arlene looked to see Bryon and Fay huddled in a small cave nearby, and raced towards them.

Adela looked up at the stormy weather, still not entirely sure what she should do. Just a few moments ago, she had been involved in a duel using Fate cards. Except...they hadn't been used. To make matters even stranger, immediately after the duel she had heard a voice in her head claiming to be a "Fate Soul" which had apparently initiated the Fate duel. It had told her a lot of information concerning the Fate cards, some of which she understood, some of which she was not so sure about, especially the part about the Fate cards used so far not being at their full strength.

I didn't think these cards could get much worse. But then I find out that the ones we've seen so far aren't even proper ones? It's bad enough these "fake" ones were made by killing people and putting kids in test tubes, how much worse can it get? At that moment the rain above started to intensify. Picking herself up off of the ground, Adela took a look at the spot where a few minutes ago a man had been before turning into green particles. Her eyes lingered on the spot before the rain intensified again and she forced her legs to move away from the area.

Erick and Michael were frantically looking for some form of shelter against the lashing rain. Both of them were cold, hungry and frustrated at the fact that they both no longer had any idea as to which direction they were to go. The helicopter they had been attempting to follow had been lost from sight almost as soon as they had begun the chase, and while they had been running on optimism before, that had long since worn out. As they ran, Michael stumbled and fell.

"Come the fuck on, Michael!" Erick snarled. "We need to get out of this rain!"

"Don't you snap at me!" Michael growled back, standing up. "We're both pissed off so let's not take it out on each other, okay?" Erick glared at Michael for a few more seconds before becoming aware of the weather. He shook his head and started to run, with Michael lagging behind him.

"Sir! We've apprehended Miss Britt and the others! They're being held in the cells." Hayden picked up his transceiver.

"Good work! Keep an eye on them." Hayden picked up his phone and called Hamon. "Sir? It's Hayden."

"Ah, hello, Hayden! Sorry about the background noise, I'm in a helicopter just now, I should be down on the island in under an hour! To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"Sir, we've apprehended Miss Britt and the others, they're in our cells at the moment."

"Excellent! Here's what I want you to do. Prepare a dueling area, and when I arrive I want you to bring out our prisoners. Gather all Begia members on the island to the area as well. We're going to have a little bit of fun!" Hamon gave a booming laugh before hanging up. Hayden looked uncertain for a moment before picking up his transceiver and issuing orders.

"So is this a new record?" Fay and Arlene stared at Bryon. "What?" Arlene sighed and gave the smallest of nods. Even she couldn't believe how fast they had been captured. Only five or so minutes after they had landed their cave was surrounded by members of Begia, and unlike the ones they had previously encountered, these ones were armed. Arlene sat down on the cold metallic floor and looked around at their small cell. From the looks of things it had been built recently as there was very little signs of decay and the paint on the walls looked fairly new.

"It hasn't been that long since we were gone, has it?" Fay asked the room in general. "For them to build all of this? They must have more people here than we thought."

"If by all of this, you mean this building." Arlene noted. "This is the only new building here, and it's not properly finished yet! I guess they wanted to make somewhere for prisoners as soon as they could." There was silence in the cell for a long time afterwards, before the trio heard footsteps gradually approaching. A minute or so later several guards appeared in front of the cell.

"Alright then you three! The boss has arrived and he wants to see you, so let's get moving!" The guard that had spoken unlocked the door and gave a gesture for them to move. The group moved in single file with guards separating each prisoner.

So Hamon wants to see us. What does he want with us now that he couldn't have done back at the Begia base? Arlene was brought sharply back to reality by lashing rain, and realised that the group was outside. Arlene could hear the guards grumbling but their was no change in their pace. Looking round to see where they were headed she noticed a large tent that had been used in the tournament on the island.

Something's wrong here. Does Hamon want us to duel? Maybe he's going to make us use Fate cards on each other... Arlene shuddered at the thought and kept her focus on the tent as they drew ever closer.

Inside the tent Arlene, Bryon and Fay had immediately been given their duel disks and been told to wait. The group had been inside the tent for half an hour before Hamon entered, giving a big smile and a wave to Arlene, Fay and Bryon and strolling right up to them.

"Hello there, we meet again! I have to say, I'm slightly shocked that you decided to come all the way to this island! Especially since we would know you were coming, isn't that right, Fay? Not forgetting the little tracking device we placed on you?" Fay hung her head. "Ah well! Let's get to the meat of the matter, shall we? Where's Hayden?" Hamon looked around until he spotted Hayden and signalled him over. Once Hayden was next to him, Hamon motioned the remaining guards and Begia members in the tent to gather round. "Welcome everyone! Today we're all going to witness what I hope will be something special. In order to show you, we're going to have a little duel between Hayden and one of our captives...hmmm...Bryon!" There were murmurs among the crowd.

No! Is he going to be in a Fate duel? Arlene looked at Bryon and Fay, who shared her looks of worry.

"Let me duel instead!" Arlene blurted out. Hamon gave a booming laugh and shook his head.

"Sorry, Arlene, my mind's made up! Bryon, Hayden, let's go to the middle of the tent please! Oh wait! Hayden, take out your Fate cards, I don't want you using them in this duel!" The mutterings in the crowd intensified at this statement, but Hamon quickly interjected. "Hush hush! It's all part of the surprise, you'll see! Now, Hayden, Bryon if you would? Oh Bryon, we held on to your deck, here you go! And here's a duel disk! Now, go! Go!" The two stepped into the middle of the tent and faced each other. "Without further ado, let the duel begin!"

What's the surprise Hamon's all excited about? Bryon thought to himself. Only one way to find out...

Hayden: 4000
Bryon: 4000

"Guess I'll go first then," Hayden noted drawing his card. "I'll set a card face down and end my turn." Bryon picked up his card.

"I summon UFO Turtle (1400/1200) to the field! And I'm going to get my monster to attack you directly!" Bryon's monster charged towards Hayden.

"Alright then, reveal face down, Balance Reinforcements. Because you declared an attack, I can now special summon my Balance Warrior Hyan (1800/1200) to the field. As well as this I can give him three Dark Auras." Hyan emerged out of Hayden's trap card and started glowing as three Dark Auras circled him. "Do you still want to attack?" Bryon looked thoughtful for a moment.

"UFO Turtle, attack his Balance Warrior!"

Bryon, what are you doing? Fay watched as Bryon's UFO Turtle shattered into pixels.

Hayden: 4000
Bryon: 3600

"And now my monster's effect activates! Because UFO Turtle was sent to the graveyard from battle, I can special summon a Fire attribute monster from my deck to the field, as long as it has 1500 attack points or less, so I choose my Raging Flame Sprite (0100/0200)!" Bryon paused for a moment while his monster emerged onto the field. "My monster has an effect that allows him to bypass your monsters and attack you directly, and each time he does so he gains 1000 attack points!" Fay breathed a sigh of relief in the crowd, but Arlene looked worried.

Doesn't Bryon know the other effect of Balance Reinforcements? What's he doing?

"Raging Flame Sprite, attack Hayden directly!"

"That was a poor move, Bryon," Hayden stated as Raging Flame Sprite dashed towards him. Bryon's monster was about to attack when Hyan appeared in front of Hayden, causing Raging Flame Sprite to be destroyed.

"W...what happened?" Bryon looked dumbfounded at the rapid turn of events.

"There's another effect of Balance Reinforcements that I didn't mention before. During the turn that Balance Reinforcements activated, you can only attack the monster that was summoned through the card's effect. So instead of attacking me directly, you attacked my monster and lost 1700 life points."

Hayden: 4000
Bryon: 1900

"In that case I play the magic card Level Limit - Area B! This card forces all monsters who are 4 stars or higher into defence mode and they'll stay like that until the card is off the field!" Hyan looked as though it was in pain as it was forced into defense mode. "That's my turn."

What am I doing? Bryon thought to himself. One turn and I've already lost half of my life points! I've got to be more careful...

"I'll start my turn by activating Disrupting the Balance, a magic card that allows me to sacrifice my Balance Warrior Hyan with its three Dark Auras, in order to summon Warrior of the Dark Aura - Hyan (2800/1200)." Hyan's features distorted as the Dark Auras enveloped him, creating a dark mist. When the mist cleared in place of Hyan was a monster dressed in black armour with a blood drenched sword. "Then I'll activate the magic card Darkness Rising. While this card is on the field, any magic cards that I play release Dark Auras, including this one." A Dark Aura emerged from Hayden's card and began circling Hyan. Hyan looked at the Aura and slashed at it, spliting it into two. "I should start explaining some of Hyan's new abilities, the first being that Hyan gains two Dark Auras whenever he would normally gain one. In addition to this, for every Dark Aura my monster has, he gains 500 attack points (2800/1200 - 3800/1200). My monster can also remove a Dark Aura to destroy a magic or trap card on the field, and I think I'll get rid of your Level Limit." Hyan grabbed one of the Dark Auras circling him and threw it at Bryon's magic card, causing it to explode. "Sadly your card placed my monster in defense mode this turn so I can't attack you, so I'll finish by setting two cards face down. Your move." Bryon hesitantly drew his card.

Hamon looked thoughtful at the duel's progress.

When is this duel really going to begin? I'd expected better from Bryon. Maybe I should have chosen someone else...but then again I did have to have some guinea pigs, just to make sure I didn't needlessly kill my best men! Hayden smirked. Soon everyone here is going to see the real power of Fate Duels! I wish I didn't have to use Hayden as his opponent, but none of my other men can really duel as well as him, and I needed the best. Hayden's eyes darkened as Bryon drew his card. Come on Bryon, unleash your Fate Soul and end this!

New cards...

Warrior of the Dark Aura - Hyan
ATK: 2800 DEF: 1200
Attribute: Dark
Level: 8
Type: Warrior
Image: A twisted version of Balance Warrior Hyan. His body is coated in black armour and his sword is blood red.
Effect: This card cannot be fusion summoned except by the effect of "Disrupting the Balance". This card cannot accumulate Light Auras. Whenever this card would gain a Dark Aura, it gains double the amount of Dark Auras. Once per turn you may remove one Dark Aura from this card to destroy one magic or trap card on the field. This card gains 500 attack for each Dark Aura it has.