SC: Hello again. Sorry this came so late. I actually got a lot of it done, then got stuck, and had no time to work through the sticky spot because of band camp. Yep, that's right, I'm a Band Geek, and I'm proud of it, mateys. I am a mighty brass player, too, so you can't make any wimpy woodwind jokes about me. (sticks out tongue, totally ruining any image of profession she had)

School has started, and all the blah-blah that comes with it, which means I'll be busy. I'll still write, but chapters will probably be less frequent. It all depends on how the cards are stacked.

Man, there's that card pun again.

Strategy

With the southern farms freed, the resistance now controls the western half of Vaxi Island. But Kepulia, ruler of Tsughut, has re-established order in the island capital and plans to subdue the resistance. He has put his trusted marshal Granus in charge of a large force and dispatched them to the west. Granus's enormous army is moving steadily west along the Central Way, leading straight for Makhad.

Tristan's arrival spurred hope in the resistance. Another member meant more strength to face the Empire with. Yugi relayed everything that had happened so far on the island to Tristan. He did the same of his adventures on the mainland.

"Honestly, Kaiba thrashed us. His underlings were easy enough to defeat, but by then we were too weak to beat him. He trounced all of us… He beat Joey worst of all." Tristan shivered. "I just hope I don't see him again while we're here. Although, I feel a bit better knowing I'm with you, Yugi."

Yugi shook his head. "Don't be. If he beat Joey as you say he did, then Kaiba must have grown a lot stronger while in this game. Usually Joey can hold his own until the very end." He caught Seiyaryu's solemn gaze. "I might not stand as good a chance as you think."

"Don't say that!" Tristan cried.

"At least I know I'll stand a better chance than you will, Tristan," Yugi added with a smirk, "considering that you only have two monsters." True, Tristan had only two monsters to do battle with. Of course, Gazelle, and his second monster turned out to be a powerful one, Machine King.

Tristan crossed his arms and looked away. "Yeah? Well, it's not like it's my fault. The ship I took to get to the island turned out to be loaded with bandits. At night they stole one of my monster gems without me noticing. I watched the boat sail away before I realized it was missing." He sighed heavily.

"Yugi!" Fizdis's bright voice sailed down to them from the watchtower above. The resistance had decided to stay in the Imperial fort until they could depart the next day. "Shimon's back!"

"Good." Yugi looked to the opening in the wall just as Shimon came through. The evening sun was visible beyond him. "So?" he asked. "What have you found out from your intelligence? Is the Empire planning a counterattack?"

Shimon's eyes were grave. "Not only that, Lord Yugi. The Empire has finally dispatched a large unit to hunt us down. They've decided to crush us before we stir up too much trouble and reach the mainland."

"How large is this unit?"

"Seven marshals," he said grimly.

Yugi flinched. "The resistance will suffer severe casualties if we try to fight them head-on," he said. "Do you have any suggestions, Shimon?"

"Hmm…" Shimon looked down at the ground. "The Imperial forces don't consider us a serious threat yet and are not being as cautious as they should." Fizdis climbed down from the watchtower and approached the three other resistance members. Shimon looked back up. "Therein lies the opportunity."

"What do you mean?" asked Tristan.

"There is a fort along the Central Way," Shimon explained, "and the enemy plans to move its main force there on its way to Tsughut. The fort is completely empty right now. We might be able to spring a trap on them there."

"Interesting…" Once again the setting sun's glow enraptured Yugi's eyes. He flashed a smirk. "We can attack them with fire."

Shimon caught his drift. "Exactly. I'll get started on the preparations immediately." He bowed himself out of Yugi's presence and hurried off to his work.

A wave of fatigue washed over Yugi's shoulders, and he found himself unable to restrain a yawn. "I'm beat," he said. "Fizdis, I think I'm going to steal your spot up in the watchtower…"

"Oh, you don't want to do that, Yugi," she said with a frown. "You'll wake up stiff as a board. You should find someplace here on the ground." She giggled slightly. "Although I don't know how you could be so tired. I'm wide awake!"

"That's because you slept all day," Yugi muttered. "Me, I've been awake since yesterday."

"Actually, me too," said Tristan. "Gazelle and I spent all night getting to Sebeckal's castle, only to find that Yugi had done the job already."

"Speaking of Gazelle…" Yugi wandered over to the bag containing the resistance's meager supplies. Most of it was filled with the gold taken from the farmer, but there was one thing in particular Yugi was looking for. On top of everything rested two glimmering gems, one a bright white, and the other a dark, almost gray green. He picked up the green gem and tossed it to Tristan, whom caught in with both hands. "Take that," he said. "It'll take the place of your lost monster."

Tristan stared at it, dumbfounded. "You mean you actually carry around spare monsters?"

"No. I just happened to pick that one up somewhere." Yugi smiled. "And don't worry; I know from experience that it's a tough one." Tristan gave him an incredulous look as he turned away. "Now, I'm for going to bed."

Everyone used that night to readjust to being diurnal. Morning dawned the next day, a bright sun commanding the eastern sky. As tired as he had been the night before, Yugi found himself up with the sunrise. He sat up from his spot on the ground (thankful there wasn't any hay) and blinked. It took a few moments for him to remember what today's plan of action had been. He groaned when he remembered the traveling they had in store to get to the Central Way. Traveling was so boring, and they always did it in one go, with no stops.

Yugi turned around to look at Seiyaryu. His dragon blinked its beady eyes back at him. "You know, I think you must sleep with one eye open, Seiyaryu," Yugi said quietly, reaching a hand forward to stroke the dragon's neck. "You always seem to get up at the same time I do." Seiyaryu purred happily. The roborant sound illuminated the very air around them with energy. Yugi felt suddenly wide awake, and ready to depart.

He stood up and stretched his arms over his head. His eyes spotted the top of Shimon's cylindrical hat, moving around on the other side of the fort. Yugi walked over to him, and found him pouring over his parchment maps.

"You're up early, Shimon," Yugi said. Shimon didn't seem surprised by Yugi's presence.

"As are you, Lord Yugi." He waved at the map in front of him. "I was just going over everything one last time, to assure that all is well." Yugi moved beside him and peered down at the paper. It was a map of the Central Way, the main road for travel across the island. The road linked two major castles in the eastern and western provinces. A single fort stood watch over the road's halfway point.

"This fort here is the key to our current plan," Shimon explained, resting his finger on the drawing. "We've rigged the fire to go off at nine o'clock tonight. Any teams in the fort when the fire starts will suffer heavy damage."

"Wait – we already rigged it? When?" asked Yugi. "I thought that was our task for today."

Shimon nodded. "It was, but it would have put us too close to the enemy for comfort. We've received news that the enemy is headed straight along the Central Way towards this fort. Setting the trap that late could have risked revealing everything to the enemy."

"That doesn't answer my question. When was it rigged?"

"I set out last night while you were asleep. I took care of everything," Shimon replied.

Yugi gaped at him. "Shimon! You didn't have to do that! In fact, you shouldn't have – what if the enemy had already been there? You would have been trapped without backup!"

"Forgive my presumptuous manner, Lord Yugi. I simply wanted to assure the safety of our other members, and not worry you." Yugi let out a sigh.

"That's fine. But next time, try asking me first."

"As you wish, Lord Yugi." Shimon looked over to the slowly rising sun. "But now, I think it's time we depart. We need to reach our destination before the enemy makes too much headway."

"Right. You take care of the supplies; I'll wake up the others." Yugi turned and walked over to the watchtower. He found Fizdis asleep beneath it, curled up with a contented look on her face. He saw that she was still holding Uraby's gem tightly in her hand. Yugi knelt beside her and gently shook her shoulder. "Fizdis," he said quietly. "Fizdis, wake up."

Chocolate eyes eased open. Blearily they focused on the figure above them. "Yugi…?" She blinked a few times and pushed herself upright, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Is it morning already?"

Yugi chuckled. "Yes. We're getting ready to leave. And," he added, "I'll bet that Uraby has recovered from last night by now." Fizdis smiled happily and looked down at the gem in her hand excitedly. A flash of amber light shone over Yugi's shoulder as he turned to wake Tristan. He laughed again, hearing Uraby's annoyed growl as Fizdis hugged him around the neck.

Tristan was sprawled out on the ground, snoring. Yugi rolled his eyes. He didn't bother to kneel: instead, he nudged his friend's shoulder with his foot. "Hey, Tristan! Get up!"

The taller youth rolled over. "Five more years," he mumbled. He let out another loud snore.

"Honestly, you're worse than Joey sometimes," Yugi muttered under his breath. An idea jumped into his mind. "Hey Tristan, you might want to get up," he began craftily. "Serenity's coming, and she said she really wanted to see you today."

"WHAT?" At this, Tristan sat up so fast he could have given himself whiplash. He looked around wildly. "Where? Is she here yet? Why didn't you tell me!" He looked to Yugi and found him laughing. "What? What's so funny?"

"Sorry," Yugi said, stifling more laughter. "I can't believe you actually woke up to that."

"Yugi, what do you…? You mean Serenity's not coming?" Tristan looked on the verge of tears, making it harder for Yugi to quell his laughs. "How could you trick me like that?"

"Easy. But now's not the time… We need to get moving."

"What time is it?"

Yugi answered brightly, "Just after sunrise." Tristan groaned.

"Dammit, when I was with Joey we didn't get up until the middle of the day," he grumbled.

"That's because you were bandits," Yugi reminded him. (1) "You worked better with the cover of night. Now come on; get your lead monster ready so we can pull out." Seiyaryu flapped over and offered its reins to Yugi. He patted his dragon's head and slipped them on.

Tristan sighed and summoned Gazelle. The lion-like monster was alert, looking not in the least bit tired. "I think I liked it better when we were with Joey," he told his monster quietly. "At least he wouldn't try any Serenity tricks like that one."

The resistance left the fort at not much later after than. The cool air caressed Yugi's face as he flew on Seiyaryu's back. They moved quickly, and reached their destination before the sun had risen very far in the sky. Their target was the castle at the western end of the Central Way. Even though the Empire passed by it constantly, the castle had avoided occupation. It was the perfect, safe place for the resistance to hide in for the day. Yugi and Seiyaryu found a way in through the roof and came down to open the front gates.

"That's weird," commented Tristan. "If this castle isn't occupied, then why hasn't the Empire taken control of it yet?"

"They simply haven't gotten around to it," explained Shimon. "No one has put up a fight here, so why send troops in when they could be better used elsewhere?"

"Ah. That's a good point."

"Wow!" Fizdis said in awe as she walked through the entrance. "It's huge!" The wide stone entryway was large enough to hold the entire fort they had been in last night, with room to spare. Even Uraby seemed amazed at the castle's grandeur. An expression of intrigue replaced his usual irritable manner.

"Don't get used to it," said Yugi sternly. "We'll be moving along soon enough." Fizdis's smile faded. She patted Uraby's side and turned to face Shimon.

"So… do we just wait here?"

"Yes and no," Yugi cut in before Shimon could respond. "You two will." He motioned to Fizdis and Shimon. "Tristan and I have an errand to run."

"We do?" Tristan inquired, a confused expression bedecking his face.

"Yes, we do. And until we get back, your job is to hold up here. You two can take care of that. Keep watch from the woods near the fort if you have to. Tristan and I will meet you there."

"What are we doing?" asked Tristan again.

Yugi led Seiyaryu back towards the open door and climbed on its back. "I'll show you when we get there," he said with a grin. Seiyaryu flapped into the air and flew outside.

Tristan stared after him for a moment before clambering onto his monster. "What's he up to?" he wondered aloud as Gazelle sprinted after Seiyaryu.

Yugi led Tristan north, towards steely mountains that loomed over the lower lands.

"Now will you tell me what we're doing out here?" Tristan cried over the roar of the wind. Harsh gusts swept down the side of the slope they were climbing. Gazelle was forced to slow down a bit as the ground beneath them turned increasingly rockier.

Seiyaryu eased its pace as well, flying beside Gazelle so Yugi could speak. "We're here to train," he answered. He hunched over on Seiyaryu's back as another breath of wind threatened to knock him off.

"Train?" Tristan repeated. "Why?"

"You want to get used to your new monster, don't you? Better to do so through training than in a fight against the enemy, where things could go wrong."

"But did we have to come up here to do it?" Not only was the wind harsh, but the temperature was starting to drop as well. The pair reached an area of flat rock, carved from the mountain face. Yugi directed Seiyaryu to land.

"Here is the best place. I can give you three reasons why. One: In case you didn't notice on the way up here, the land surrounding the road is flat. We could be seen by anyone, friend or foe, that traveled down that road." Gazelle crested the lip of level rock. Tristan slid off his monster's back.

"Fair enough," Tristan said.

"Two: I thought the extremeness of the conditions here could make up for the tension that would come from being in an actual battle. And three: your new monster is a Dragon-Type. It's well-suited to this type of terrain, and would benefit by being trained here." Tristan did a double take at this.

"You gave me a dragon?" The words slid off his tongue with awed disbelief.

"Of course. The resistance could use more brute force under its belt," Yugi replied.

"Which one!"

The resistance leader smirked. "Why don't you see for yourself?" He gripped the two gems of his monsters that hung around his neck. In twin flashes of lime and purple, Celtic Guardian and Magician of Faith appeared. "I'll face you in a match here, to test your monsters' strength."

A tremor ran down Tristan's spine. Yugi wanted to battle with him? He'd be creamed in seconds! "Y-Yugi, are you sure?" he stammered. "Is it a good idea to beat each other up before we face the Empire?"

"Don't worry; I already thought of that. I brought enough Blue Medicines to bring ourselves back up to full strength afterward." Tristan cursed to himself. Fighting Yugi would just bring him humiliation. Oh, and don't forget pain for his monsters. Tristan was sure that Yugi's monsters would be tough opponents.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder. Tristan turned and saw Gazelle behind him, eyes shining with encouragement. "Well… all right, fine. You've got yourself a match, Yugi!" Tristan declared.

Yugi smirked. This would work well for both of them: each would gain experience for their monsters, and more practice at face-offs. But Yugi could gain something else from participating in this fight – observing and learning Tristan's battling style. It would be a good asset to know how well he fought, so Yugi could plan attacks against the Empire more aptly.

Tristan raised the bright cerulean gem of his second monster, Machine King. Yugi was familiar with this monster, as it was a monster he had seen in two duels now, one of which he had merely watched. It was obviously a machine type, not the strongest of its kind, though with its metallic build it surely possessed a formidable defense. The Machine King stood stiffly erect, steel fingers curled into fists at its sides. It didn't seem to be the type of monster bothered much with emotions like anxiety or nervousness.

The dark green gem lay ominously in Tristan's outstretched palm. He glanced at it nervously. He wasn't sure if he could handle a dragon on his own. Heck, Tristan didn't even consider himself a duelist – he only even knew how to play because he had watched Joey and Yugi so many times. On any normal occasion, he would have left the higher level monster to someone whom he thought could handle it. But Yugi had trusted him with this creature, so… He held the jewel aloft by its chain.

Light matching the gem's color spilled down from it in a wave. Color splashed on the rock below as if the light had turned to water, yet left no trace of itself on the ground. More and more light poured out, and slowly, it began to take shape. First all Tristan could identify was the thick tail, but soon he could see claws, and a massive body. Wings unfurled from its shoulders while its head raised up on its long neck. In a flash the light turned solid, into scales, muscles, and bones. Tristan gazed at the dragon before him, jaw slightly ajar. "Whoa…"

"This is a Blackland Fire Dragon," Yugi said, waving at the forest-scaled beast. "A fine dragon, and a formidable fighter." Blackland Fire Dragon gave a prideful growl. Honor for being chosen as a resistance monster filled its fiery veins. "I'd like to see him battle under a skilled marshal. The one I won him from left much to be desired."

Yugi thinks I've got skills? Holy crap. Tristan swallowed. "Okay, let's do this," he said. His three monsters moved to stand in front of him, Gazelle taking the middle. Yugi's monsters did the same on his side.

"Now remember, fight your hardest, even though we're friends."

"Right." A gust of chilled wind surged past the pair, stirring the air above them to form the familiar status windows. Each studied the data for the other's monsters. Tristan's monsters were of average strength, each with HP resting comfortably around fifteen hundred. Yugi noted the number of action points his monsters had – three for each monster. At the same time, Tristan stared in awe at Yugi's monsters. If the sheer number of action points they possessed wasn't enough to daunt him, the look of experience in their eyes did the trick. Yellow light signaled that Machine King had received the privilege of first strike.

Tristan scanned Yugi's monsters. Based on their Attack ratings, Seiyaryu was easily the strongest. But the ratings didn't take into account any of the monster's own effects, such as an adeptness to certain types of terrain. Tristan wasn't sure of what tricks Yugi's monsters possessed. For now, he decided it was best to stay on the defensive, at least until he could get a better understanding of Yugi's strength. "Machine King, defend!"

"Defend?" Yugi repeated to himself, with slight interest. Machine King raised his arms before his head, so that the gleaming red armor on its forearms acted as a barrier between it and the enemy. The word 'GUARD' flashed briefly in the status window above the monster. (2)

A vague curiosity overtook Yugi. He had wondered about the defensive command for awhile now, and if it held any advantages on the battlefield. Yet he had been hesitant to try it, fearing that using it so blindly in an important match may swing things to the opponent's favor. Here, though, was a safer place to try it out… In fact, Tristan had done the favor for him. Now, all he needed to know was what happened when the defending monster was attacked. Before him, Magician of Faith stood ready to do the testing.

"Magician of Faith, attack his Machine King!" Almost before the resounding words left his mouth, she acted on them. A blaze of varicolored light shot forward and plowed into Machine King's arms. The much larger monster took a step back from the force of the blow. He held his defense strong against the force of the light, and managed to prevent its advancement. Eventually the attack died down. Yugi watched Machine King's HP. To defend had been a good effort: his HP fell by exactly fourteen points, a huge difference from the usual amount of damage Magician of Faith usually caused.

"Well, well…" murmured Yugi in amusement. Defending was not at all a bad strategy.

Machine King lowered his arms, exposing his face again. At this, Yugi quirked an eyebrow; did the defense only last one turn? Letting his curiosity reign again, he cried, "Celtic Guardian, follow her lead!" A look of smug eagerness commanded the elven warrior's countenance. Enthralled by the thrill of battle, he leapt forward, the chilled steel of his blade gleaming. He brought the sword across his mechanical adversary with such force sparks flew from where the metals collided. Yugi had worried that the attack would be weaker, because of the Machine King's metal body, but his worries left him when he saw the monster's HP fall at the rate expected.

Tristan watched his monster take the hit and grit his teeth. So, Yugi's an offensive player, he thought, not like I didn't already know that. He knew just defending wouldn't be able to hold Yugi off for long, not with the strength his monsters had. If he didn't attack back, he'd be defeated before he ran out of Action Points. "Okay Gazelle, let's show them not to mess with our buddies anymore. Attack his dragon!"

Gazelle pounced forward. A pause, then with lightning fast motions in its arms the beast slashed at Seiyaryu. Hardened claws tore through rosy scales, drawing crisscrossed trails of blood. The dragon's HP dropped by over two hundred points. "Yeah! That's the way!" Tristan cheered.

Yugi smiled. "That was a good hit, Tristan." The turn shifted to Seiyaryu. Though now, I'll have to repay you. Machine King had already taken some damage, and so Yugi decided to concentrate his fire on it. "Go, Seiyaryu! Attack Machine King!" Seiyaryu flapped up into the air, focused its energy on forming a fireball, and then released its mass of flames. Dazzling flames of pearl and orange struck Machine King hard in the stomach, knocking the towering monster back a few paces. He shook off the attack and moved back into line with his fellows.

Blackland Fire Dragon uttered a determined roar. Now that it was his turn to attack, he wanted to prove to both Yugi and his new master that he was worthy of his post as a resistance member. He looked to Tristan eagerly. Tristan looked back at him, hesitated for a moment, then grinned. "Okay, let's see what you can do. Attack Seiyaryu!"

Blackland Fire Dragon roared in compliance. He flapped his wings down hard and reared up on his hind legs. His neck swung back as far as it would go. With another roar he brought his neck around and released an intense rush of flames. Seiyaryu was familiar with the attack and shielded the main part of its body with its wing. It still took full damage, but at least the wound was in a place that wasn't as vital.

Tristan watched the HP bar, and was amazed to see how much damage he had done. Blackland Fire Dragon's attack had done more damage than Gazelle's had! From what Yugi had told him, Tristan knew that Gazelle had more experience than his new dragon did, and still, he had been stronger! Tristan was suddenly thankful that Yugi had given him such a powerful monster. Now the Empire would have something to watch out for! (3)

Yugi smiled. He had been right, in that Blackland Fire Dragon would perform well. Now the turn moved back to Magician of Faith. "Okay, Tristan, let's keep going."

The pair kept fighting. Eventually Tristan had to switch targets to Yugi's other monsters, for fear of accidentally kayoing Seiyaryu. Yugi did the same against Tristan's monsters, only he had a harder time with it. His monsters were a lot stronger, and could wipe out Tristan's much faster. He even had some of his monsters guard, to use up Action Points without hurting Tristan. In the end, both teams had just about the same amount of HP, but Yugi had held back considerably. The windows faded and both boys sighed.

"That was fun," commented Tristan. "Although, you should have creamed me."

"Should have, but didn't," Yugi said with a grin. He tossed Tristan one of the bottles of Blue Medicine that he had brought with him. "Here, heal your monsters. We need to start getting back." Their side of the mountain had turned dark, as the sun was hidden from them on the other side.

Once Tristan and Yugi had brought their monsters back up to full strength they left the mountain, heading back to Shimon and Fizdis.

Yugi and Tristan made it back quickly, and found Shimon and Fizdis waiting beyond a line of trees as promised. They had to move carefully around the fort, for fear of being seen. Uraby was present as well and standing beside Fizdis, wary eyes positioned on the fort.

"So how've things been?" asked Yugi.

Fizdis shook her head. "Boring. At one point we were worried that they might move on to the castle. The men looked like they wanted to do that, but Granus held them back. They've been in there all day." The two of them peered down at the fort. The Imperial monsters were spread around its center with their marshals presumably resting somewhere covered. Enemy movement was minimal.

Tristan sidled up to Yugi. "Hey Yugi, how are we supposed to know when the fire'll go off?"

"You have a watch, don't you?"

"Yeah, but it's way off." He glanced at his wrist with a frown. "It says it's one o'clock in the afternoon right now. It hasn't moved since we got into this mess, I think."

"Time must flow at a different speed here," Yugi observed, "if it hasn't moved in four days. However, I presume that Shimon has a way of knowing when it will happen. Until then, let's not worry about anything except the battle at hand."

Night came. By now many of the enemy monsters had curled up on the ground and fallen asleep. The resistance members hidden on the forested hill called their own monsters forth, in anticipation of the coming fight. Anxiety and eagerness lingered on all of their features. Even Shimon, usually reserved in his emotions, seemed a bit tense. "It's almost time…" he murmured at one point.

The Imperial marshals were starting to follow their monsters' leads. Many of them turned in for the night, including Granus himself, leaving two men on guard duty. None of them knew of the strange mechanism that had been planted among their ranks. In an unused room of the fort, hidden from view, a small device rested on the ground next to a pile of dried leaves and sticks. It consisted of a wooden frame with metal components interwoven inside of it. At its center was an hourglass. Grains of sand slipped from the top half in a steady stream, yet instead of filling a second glass container the sand fell onto a scale. As more sand ever so slowly moved to the scale, it began to tip. As the approaching time grew near, the scale held still for a brief moment, almost quivering. Then the last of the grains cascaded upon it and it tipped. The counterbalance to the scale was a stick with a metal instrument on the end. When the scale tipped the stick tilted up and the metal at the end scraped against another metal device. A shower of sparks fell from the meeting and landed on the leaves surrounding it. At first, the leaves just smoldered, then the smolders grew to embers, and then into tiny flames. Soon the bits of fire grew large enough to lick at the pile of wood beneath the leaves, lapping at the sticks and twigs like lollipops. (4)

The fire spread to the surrounding walls. It wasn't long before one of the guards, patrolling his way down the hallway, noticed the charcoal scent and saw smoke curling up from under the closed door. He paled and sounded the alert: "Fire! The fort is on fire!"

Those who were sleeping were instantly roused awake, either by the yell or by the commotion that followed shortly afterward. The fire had grown considerably larger in such a short amount of time, as the fortress was composed of wood. Everywhere marshals and monsters rushed about, frantically trying to stop the spread of the fire. The monsters, which were working closest to the flames, bore burn marks and other injuries upon them. Their movement, back-lit with the glow of flames, was visible to the encamped resistance.

Almost asleep from waiting, the four resistance members jumped to their feet. "The teams in the fort are taking heavy damage!" cried Shimon.

Seiyaryu swooped down from its perch in a nearby tree and landed in front of Yugi. Effortlessly he climbed on its back. "Then now is the time to strike!" With a roar Seiyaryu flapped up and flew down the face of the hill toward the fort. The others followed suit moments after.

"Hurry! Move the supplies to the center! Keep them from burning!" an Imperial soldier hollered over the choking blanket of smoke in the air. The few others not devoted to holding back the fire moved to obey his command.

Granus himself was trying to keep everything together. "No! Don't use wind!" he yelled at a flying monster that had been flapping at the flames. "Use dirt and sand to smother it! – What happened to our water monster?" he demanded of one of the soldiers beside him.

"Sir! It was moved into the unit that the rebels destroyed!"

"The rebels!" Anger rose in heated wisps on Granus's face. "They are behind this! Those dogs continue to howl and bite at our heels, and their daring grows with each glance of attention we give them!" In his head he knew that the rebels would grow stronger too, not just more daring. If they were not stopped now, they could become a threat to the whole Empire. He turned and declared to all men and monsters present: "Keep your guard up! This is all a diversion! The rebels must be planning to attack us!"

"'Planning,' you say?" a confident voice called from above. Granus's eyes darted upward in time to see a mass of flames come down at him. He jumped out of the way, but the supplies that had been moved safely away from the burning walls were now lit ablaze. An orange-red dragon drifted in the purple-black sky.

"I'd say we've planned this pretty well." A figure leaned forward on the dragon's back, with eyes the color of blood. "For a bunch of howling dogs, that is."

All the blood in Granus's face left suddenly, then worked its way back up in churning spite. The taunting nature of the resistance leader, though somewhat known after his several attacks, had gotten to him. "You!" he seethed. "How dare you show your face here! I'll set your body to flames once I'm through with you!"

Sonorous laughter, dark and tainted with flames, rolled down to him. "Really? And what shall you use to get at my body? Your monsters, perhaps?" Granus heard a roar and turned to look. His eyes caught flashes of fire and blood. Limber, powerful beasts, distorted by the heat, ripped into the form of an Imperial monster. It returned to its gem not seconds later.

"Or maybe," the resistance leader spoke again, his voice this time the color of midnight, "you'd rather have some of your soldiers do the job?" That's when Granus realized he could hear screams. Cries of anguish from his men: glistening burns on their arms finally took effect; great gashes across their backs, as administered by the ghastly beasts. Some of them fell to the ground under the weight of their wounds and didn't get back up. Soon Granus found that he was very much alone in the fire-ravaged fort, his monsters and men defeated.

He found he could do nothing but look back up at the glowing dragon, and the blood-eyed figure atop it. His mouth opened but no words came out, as the resistance leader got there first.

"I hope you enjoy Hell, Granus. Tonight has only been a preview."

The last thing he felt was the fire.

The mists of dawn were filled with a slate-blue haze. Fine threads of smoke still curled upward from the charcoal wreckage of what had once been a fort. The resistance had already picked through it, looking for anything of value that had survived. All they found were a few lone monster gems kept safe beneath layers of dirt. The others had been destroyed with everything else.

In the aftermath, everyone seemed shaken. Fizdis hadn't spoken a single word since the fire had first gone off. Shimon paced around the ruins without the smooth gait and posture he usually held. Even Tristan seemed distant with everything occurring around him. Only Yugi appeared to be unaffected by last night's events. Everything was silent; no crickets chirped, and no birds piped their renewing melodies.

It was after a few moments that Fizdis broke down and fell to her knees. "Wh-Why," she stammered in a feeble voice, "why did we have to do that?" Thin tears fell from her eyes and cut trails through the ashes smeared across her face. "All this destruction, all this killing…?"

No one answered her. Tristan took a daring look at Yugi. He was almost angry with him, yet he knew that what they did had to be done for the sake of the war. He expected Yugi's expression to be hard, rigid, neutral. What he found instead were the gray swirls of guilt in his eyes, and the heart that knew they had done the right thing behind them.

(One) – Tristan told him the story; therefore, Yugi knows what he's talking about.

(Two) – I said it was in the window… because it would look weird if the word just appeared over the monster. After all, this is real life, at least for them.

(Three) – This is a true story. My Blackland Fire Dragon was only level fourteen, and my Gazelle, thirty-five. Blackland had more attack points, even though they both started at the same number (1500).

(Four) – You guys have no idea how long it took me to think of a way to start that fire. I mean, there's really no indication of anything in the game, and since the technology is somewhat limited in that realm, you can't just walk in with a flame-thrower, can you? This was part of the reason I was stuck: I had to think of something to do with the fire.

SC: Wow. Was that last part dark or what? (whistles) That's pretty awesome, says I. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Now is a good time to remind all you wonderful readers out there that this is indeed a war story, so things may be more like that from now on. And it'll get much cooler later. (weird eyebrow movement)

This is my first "one-game-chapter-per-chapter" chapter. All my previous ones are multiple parts. I just didn't want this one to be bogged down. There may be more of these, maybe. (shrugs)

And now, responses to the lovely reviews I have received:

Meowth's Toon Dragon – Thanks for the review! I hope you can understand the story, even without playing the game (that's my goal). I really recommend the game, though; it's one of the best games, in my opinion, since it has such an awesome plot. Plus it's just fun!

DragonBoy178 – Sorry to not answer your question at the beginning of the chapter: I just wanted to keep things uniform. At one point I was going to do all three, but after replaying Kaiba's half I have determined that I don't like it, and therefore I don't want to write about it. I might do Joey's (and that is a big "might"), but really my only focus right now is good ol' Yugi. And don't worry about long reviews, I like it when people have a lot to say about my story (good or bad!). I tend to leave long reviews as well. Also, I hope you enjoy the length of this chapter. It's fifteen pages, size twelve font in Word. (thumbs-up sign)

Blackcat16200 – Thanks for the compliment! Of course the game doesn't have any detail, it's there just to make my life hard. Even though I sort of like it because it lets me use much more creative license than normal, it still makes me think, and in places I get stuck. I've never seen game fanfiction around here either, not even DoR stuff. (shrug) It's nice to know that I'm "blazing a trail" of sorts. Thanks again for the lovely review… Knowing that someone who has the game likes my story makes me grin! See? (takes a picture of self and shoves it through computer screen)

Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you leave another review to make me happy! (does the happy author dance)