"I'll place two cards facedown, and one monster in defence position. Your move Leon."

It was a summer evening. The sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, casting long shadows across the landscape. The wind blew softly, cooling off the people who were going about their daily business. In a small park, two teenagers were facing off in a game of Duel Monsters. One was a tall, thin, dark-haired boy, the other a girl of medium height with glasses and red hair. The scores stood at 700/500 in the boy's favour. He surveyed the field keenly, while looking over the cards in his hand. He looked up and chuckled at the girl.

"Interesting. Let's see how this plays out."

He drew. He considered his options, before placing a card facedown. He hesitated for a moment, before choosing to go on the offensive.

"I summon Chiron the Mage (1800/1000), in attack position! And then, I play Heavy Storm! So say goodbye to your facedown cards, Taylor!"

It'll never work.

She smiled, and passed a hand over her duel disk. "You fell for it! My Dark Coffins are destroyed, so you lose two cards!"

"What, again? Geez…."

I told you so…

"In any case, I've destroyed my Statue of the Wicked! Meaning I get a Wicked Token!"

Two Aztec coffins appear and exploded, forcing Leon to discard two cards from his hand as a golden centipede-like creature appeared on his field. He frowned, concerned, but decides to continue his plan.

"Chiron the Mage, attack her facedown monster, now!"

The centaur galloped towards Taylor's monster. Just as it's weapon rammed home, a column of white light blocked it. Leon shielded his eyes. When the glow faded, Leon saw an odd monster on Taylor's side of the field. It seemed to be a crystal of sorts, but it was coloured pure white. His Life Points dropped to 500. Taylor swept a hand through her hair and giggled softly.

"Like my newest monster?"

Leon smiled, despite himself. "I'll reserve judgement on that for now."

Taylor waved a hand dismissively. "You're far too serious, you know that? You should learn to lighten up once in a while. You know, make a joke for once? It'd do you some good".

Ooh, this girl's got spunk. I understand what you see in her now.

"Shut it!" Leon muttered angrily to himself. An odd expression swept across his face for a moment. Taylor looked a little concerned.

"Something wrong, Leon?"

Ah…strong as well as beautiful. Quite the rare exotic. I hope she was worth it for you.

"I said shut it! I haven't got time for this now…" Leon whispered fiercely. Taylor scratched her head.

"You sure you're ok? You look a little stressed out."

Stressed out? That's one way to put it. You're shaking like a leaf!

Leon ignored him. He put on a shaky smile. "Nah, I'm fine. What does your monster do?"

Taylor smiled mischievously. "I thought you'd ask that. It's called Alchemic Stone- Bravery (0/2000). When it's flipped face-up I can roll a die, and draw cards from my deck equal to the number I roll. But if I roll a number higher than three, my monster is destroyed immediately."

Bravery, eh…how appropriate. How unlike you.

"So it's luck-based?"

"Yep!"

"Go ahead and roll, then."

Taylor flicked the die. It rolled across the grass, landing between them on a 4. The Alchemic Stone shattered as she drew four cards. She gazed upon them thoughtfully. Leon scratched his chin, assessing the situation.

"I'll finish up by playing one card facedown, just in case…"

In case what? You aren't going to win, so why are you bothering to try?

Leon shook his head fiercely. "Your move, Taylor".

She drew a card. As she looked at it, the skies began to grow dark above her. A vicious wind blew up from nowhere. Leon struggled to hold onto his cards as a bolt of lightning crashed down from the heavens, striking the playing field between them. A pentagram began to form behind her, shimmering into existence softly. It shook violently, and started to break apart, as if something strained against the binding. Leon looked on in awe, as a massive, dark golden figure appeared behind the binding. Lightning surged towards it, as it absorbed all the power into itself. Gathering its strength, the figure threw itself against the binding. The pentagram shivered, one more hit and it would surely break. It was only then Leon noticed that Taylor didn't look concerned. She wore a smile on her face. A smile of victory. And that smile chilled Leon to the bone, as he realized what he faced.

"Taylor! What have you done!?"

"You played well, Leon. You always do. But even you can't win this one. For now, I call upon the Forbidden One!!!"

Now you're buggered. I'm going to enjoy watching this…

The figure heaved at the pentagram again. It shattered into a thousand pieces, as Exodia snapped its chains effortlessly and bellowed at Leon. It began its attack, gathering golden energy into itself. It grinned madly at him, the Egyptian head bearing an expression of malevolence and madness. It stood up to its full height, and screamed violently. Leon put his hands over his ears and sank to his knees, as the monster unleashed its attack, blasting a storm of golden energy straight at him.

"Exodia, end this now! Obliterate!"