Chapter 39

From the moment the redhead had told him he was Crovell's chosen opponent for her, he knew exactly why. The little brat knew he would choose Piper's deck, which meant the little brat knew why he would choose Piper's deck. But it wasn't like he had a whole lot of choice in the matter; Crovell had singled him out which meant Crovell was testing him personally. And it probably wouldn't take the others long to work out why either.

With both decks shuffled and slotted neatly into their respective dueldisks, he took up a position opposite the girl.

'You can go first if you like,' Kaiba met the redhead's gaze as he skilfully drew the top five cards from his deck.

'Thanks,' she smiled as she drew a sixth card and added it to her hand, 'then I'll start by playing my Mountain Field Card, just to give my dragons a two hundred attack and defence point boost.' As she slotted the card into her dueldisk, the area around them dramatically changed to resemble a mountain top. 'And then I'll play my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, in defence mode.' A giant green dragon appeared before her, its two thousand defence instantly increased by two hundred points. 'I end.'

'Draw,' staring down at his hand, he briefly contemplated his opening move. 'I lay one face down, then play Injection Fairy Lily in attack mode.' A cute fairy dressed in a nurse's uniform, holding a novelty sized syringe, appeared in front of him. 'I'll then pay two thousand life points in order to raise her attack to three thousand,' the syringe the fairy was holding swelled to three times its original size, as Kaiba's life points dropped to two thousand, 'and I think I'll use her to attack your defensive dragon.'

Riding atop the syringe, the fairy flew across the field towards the dragon destroying it.

'Interesting,' the word rolled out of her mouth, 'I can already tell the Master was right about you.'

'Whatever,' he rolled his eyes, 'I end my turn.'

'Good, then I guess it's time for me to draw again.'

'So who exactly is Piper?' Mokuba shuffled closer to Duke as he watched Tristan duel. 'And what were you doing with her deck?'

'That's what I was about to ask you,' Duke gave an edgy laugh. 'I am you at the moment, remember, so you were the one with her deck, not me.'

'But that doesn't make any sense,' he shook his head, 'I don't even know anyone called Piper, why would I have her deck?'

'Because Piper's not a real person, obviously,' he gave a strange sigh.

'What do you mean?'

'Well at first Cat thought she was Téa's onchasen, but now…' he shrugged.

Frowning in confusion, Mokuba turned his attention back towards the field. The redheaded girl had just played Lord of D. along with Flute of Summoning Dragon, in order to bring out her Luster Dragon #2 and Koumori Dragon. Giving her three monsters to Tristan's Lily and with a combined attack of five thousand three hundred staring down at him, things weren't looking good.

'Kaiba really missed a trick in choosing that deck,' Joey rolled his eyes.

'I wouldn't count him out just yet,' Duke pressed his lips together, 'Cat and I have seen Piper get herself out of tighter spots than this with those cards.'

'Yeah, but that's Piper, this is Kaiba.'

'So?' Mokuba found himself glaring at him. 'My brother is the best; that could be the most amateur deck in the whole multiverse and I still recon he'd find a way to win with it.'

'I'm sure he must be pleased someone has faith in him.'

As they continued to watch, the redheaded girl ordered her Lord of D. to attack Injection Fairy Lily. Almost instantly Tristan flipped his face down card. To Mokuba's relief, it was Negate Attack; his life points were safe, for this turn at least.

'Draw,' Tristan swiftly pulled the top card from his deck. 'Well would you look at that,' a smug smile tugged at his lips. 'I play Cost Down, this allows me to lower the level of my monsters, making them easier to summon. I then sacrifice my Lily, in order to summon my Guardian Angel Joan in attack mode.'

As the winged maiden in a white, almost medieval style dress appeared on the field, Mokuba's heart almost stopped dead in his chest. He'd seen that card before; it was in the deck his brother had given him to destroy.

'Duke,' he swallowed hard, as he turned towards him, 'you said you're me right? So technically I was the one carrying that deck, right?'

'Yeah,' he nodded.

'When did you find it?'

'Last night, why?'

'And... and are you certain that it's Piper's deck. I mean... absolutely sure.'

'I've seen her play enough times Mokuba, it's hers alright.'

Mokuba could feel the blood draining from his face.

'Are you okay?' Duke's face filled with concern.

'I… I'm fine,' he stammered, 'I... I'm just trying to figure something out.'

'Yeah, like how your arrogant older brother always seems to have some trick up his sleeve in order to get his best monsters out,' Joey rolled his eyes, 'even when he's using some stranger's deck.'

Ignoring Joey's comment and feeling unexplainably worried, Mokuba turned his attention back towards the duel. Tristan's Angel Joan had just destroyed the redhead's Luster Dragon #2, reducing her life points to three thousand eight hundred.

'Of course my monster also has a pretty beneficial special effect,' Tristan smirked. 'Beneficial for me that is.' As he said this his life points increased to four thousand four hundred. 'Well I think that's enough punishment for this turn. I lay two cards face down and end.'

'You know you really are pretty good,' the redhead grinned, as she drew the top card from her deck. 'I really need to up my game a little and to start with I think I'm going to play my Pot of Greed,' as the smiling pot appeared and disappeared from the field, she drew two more cards into her hand. 'Next I activate Mystical Space Typhoon in order to rid the field of my Mountain Field Card,' the mountain area around them dissolved. 'Don't worry, I've not gone mad, I'm simply changing the field,' she slipped a new card into the slide out field zone. 'I activate Mystic Plasma Zone,' the sky above them swirled with threatening purple clouds, 'and finally I sacrifice my Lord of D. and Koumori Dragon, in order to summon the Dark Magician; with Mystic Plasma Zone in effect, its attack is three thousand,' she laughed. 'Bet you know what's coming next.'

'You're planning to attack my Guardian Angel Joan, right?' Tristan rolled his eyes.

'Got it in one,' she grinned. 'Dark Magician, Dark Magic attack.'

As her Dark Magician aimed its hooded staff at Tristan's monster, one of his two face down cards rose in activation. Before Mokuba could see what it was, the field was covered in a cloud of dust created by the connecting attack. When the dust settled Tristan's monster was gone, but his life points were still intact.

'The Sanctuary in the Sky,' Tristan smirked. 'You didn't think you were the only one who could play a field spell card, did you?' As he spoke her Mystic Plasma Zone was sent to the graveyard and her Dark Magician's attack decreased to two thousand five hundred. 'This may not give my monsters a nice power boost, like your cards did, but it does reduce battle damage to my fairy monsters to zero. And trust me; there are a lot of fairy type monsters in this deck.'

'Wait... how does rich boy know that?' Joey frowned. 'Did you show him the deck last night or something Duke?'

'No,' Duke shook his head.

'Then…?'

'You lot know I'm not deaf, don't you?' Tristan glared at them.

'And your point is?'

'My point is; if there's something you want to know, then just ask me.'

'Okay, I have a question for you,' Mokuba focused his gaze on Tristan, 'are you Piper?'