Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

Chapter 14: Hidden Connection

The ten minutes break between duels had almost elapsed. Already, the people in the stands were returned to their seats after getting more refreshments or using the restroom. Hikari meanwhile had been using that time to try and explain to Shane why she had blacked out during their duel. The dark-haired machine duelist seemed to partially believe Hikari's story, yet found much of it very hard to believe. Meanwhile, Thomas had been pacing around the dugout somewhat nervously as he waited for his duel with Samantha.

"You okay man?" Shark asked Thomas.

"I think so." Thomas answered. "I just… I didn't expect things to turn out this way."

"Hey, all you had was a one-night fling with Mitaka. It's not like you actually knew what she really was." Shark pointed out. "Look at how Vector fooled us all in the beginning."

"I know. It's just… I haven't exactly had the best luck in the romance department lately." Thomas replied, glancing over in Cleo's direction. "Besides, you'll probably think this sounds stupid, but I can't help but feel like Samantha… I mean Mitaka and I have some kind of connection."

"You're right, that is stupid." Shark flatly replied. "Look, just put that out of your head. Remember, Mitaka and her two friends want to kill us so they can take the Numeron Code and revive that Zorc guy they keep talking about. That's why we have to come at them with everything we've got."

"Don't worry. I know what I have to do." Thomas assured him. "Once I get up on that stage, I'll be totally focused on the game."

"Will both Thomas Arclight and Samantha Warren please step up on stage?" the referee requested.

"Well, here we go. Showtime." Thomas spoke after taking a deep breath.

"Good luck!" Yuma told Thomas as he walked out of the dugout.

In moments, Thomas had arrived on the stage. Samantha was already on the stage looking at Thomas with a hate-filled look in her eyes.

"Things would be so much better if you didn't look like… him." Samantha spoke.

"Like who?" Thomas asked.

"…It doesn't matter." Samantha spoke after a moment. "In the end, you having his face will make it all that easier to destroy you."

"The next duel is between Thomas Arclight and Samantha Warren!" the referee announced. "Let the duel begin!"

With that, Thomas activated his duel disk and D-Gazer tattoo. Meanwhile, Samantha's left eye changed from gold to green. Her left forearm changed to its Barian form and a gold blade-like duel disk appeared on it. The audience members activated their D-Gazers to watch the duel and in an instant the color of the surrounding area changed.

"Ladies first!" Samantha declared as she drew her first card. "I set one card on the field. Then I summon Midnight Raven in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Samantha's side of the field was a dog-sized raven with glowing red eyes. On the front of the raven's black-feathered chest there was a white symbol resembling a crescent moon.

"While Midnight Raven is face-up on my field, my opponent can't target any other cards for attacks or card effects." Samantha announced. "That ends my turn."

Thomas drew his first card. "I summon Gimmick Puppet Egg Head in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Thomas's side of the field was a creepy-looking marionette with a red egg-shaped body and a face on the front. It had slender white arms and legs with hinged joints, and on top of its body was a piece of brown hair that could be considered a fancy wig.

"I activate Egg Head's effect!" Thomas announced. "By discarding one card from my hand, Egg Head can inflict 800 points of damage!"

Egg Head's mouth opened and a small cannon barrel inside shot a small orange fireball across the field at Samantha. The redhead crossed her arms to try and protect herself from the attack, but her life points still took a slight drop to 3200.

"That cheap shot the best you can do?" Samantha asked.

"For my next move, I activate the Spell card, Junk Puppet!" Thomas announced. "Using this card, I summon the Gimmick Puppet monster I just discarded for Egg Head's effect! Say hello to Gimmick Puppet Dreary Doll!"

A large black chest resembling a coffin materialized on the battlefield next to Egg Head. The lid of the box came off, and sitting up inside it was a doll that looked like a little girl with curly blonde locks wearing a blue dress.

"I activate the Spell card, Level Doubler!" Thomas announced. "With this card I double Egg Head's level from four to eight! I now overlay the level eight Egg Head and the level eight Dreary Doll to Xyz Summon Gimmick Puppet Noble Prince!"

A large blue vortex appeared in the center of the field and pulled in Thomas's two puppet monsters as balls or orange energy. Rising out of the vortex moments later was a large marionette built to resemble a young man. He had curled blond hair and top his head was a small golden crown. The puppet wore a sparkling red coat over a white shirt with frilled sleeve cuffs and a collar. He also had on long white pants and black shoes with gold buckles, and in his right hand was a large rapier. Orbiting around the puppet were two balls made of gold light.

"2500 ATK, huh? Not bad." Samantha admitted. "Of course it's not like you can really do anything with all that power."

"That's where you're wrong!" Thomas declared. "I activate Noble Prince's effect! By detaching an overlay unit, Noble Prince can destroy one monster my opponent controls and inflict damage equal to its ATK or DEF, depending on which is stronger! That raven of yours had 1000 ATK and 1600 DEF, which means you take 1600 points of damage!"

One of the balls of light orbiting Noble Prince entered the small crown atop his head. The prince's ventriloquist dummy-like mouth opened up to reveal a small cannon barrel inside. Noble Prince shot an orange ball of light down at Midnight Raven, causing it to explode in a flash of fire and smoke. Samantha's life points dropped down further to 1600.

"I activate Midnight Raven's effect!" Samantha announced. "When Midnight Raven is destroyed, I can summon a Spellcaster from my deck. I summon Blood Red Witch in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the field where Midnight Raven once stood was a woman with long black hair that grew down to her waist. She had on a red dress with long sleeves and a long skirt that completely obscured her legs. Atop the woman's head was a large red conical hat, and covering her face was a featureless white mask with two round eyeholes. The little bit of skin of the witch's neck that was visible looked as though it had been burned.

"When Blood Red Witch is special summoned, I can summon a second Blood Red Witch from my deck!" Samantha announced. A second masked witch identical to the first materialized on the field. "And since I just special summoned a second Blood Red Witch, I can summon a third from my deck!" A third masked witch appeared on the battlefield.

"Mitaka now has three monsters on the field for an Xyz Summon." Kotori observed up in the stands.

"True, but all those monsters are level three." Cathy pointed out. "You said that Number of hers was a rank five, right? Mitaka will need more than those three monsters to summon it."

"She probably has a card lined up to increase the level of those three witches somehow." Droite assumed.

"Maybe. But Thomas still has an attack left." Rio pointed out. "Unless Mitaka can block it, her plan will be totally derailed."

"If you think I'm just going to stand by and let you do an Xyz Summon on the next turn, you're dense!" Thomas declared. "Noble Prince, attack the Blood Red Witch in the middle! Valiant Thrust!"

"I activate my Trap, Magic Cylinder!" Samantha announced as Noble Prince charged across the field. "This card redirects your puppet's attack right back at you!"

Two decorative purple and yellow cylinders appeared in the air behind Samantha. Noble prince ended up charging into the cylinder on the left and came out of the end of the cylinder on the right, charging back across the field towards Thomas. The marionette thrust his large sword at Thomas, striking him in the chest and nearly knocking him onto his back. Thomas's life points took a heavy drop to 1500.

"Are you done?" Samantha asked.

Thomas scowled and got back to his feet. "I set one card on the field and end my turn!"

Samantha drew her next card. "I activate the effect of all three Blood Red Witches! Each one can increase her level by one for every other Blood Red Witch on the field! Which means each of my witches becomes a level five!" The masked witched glowed briefly with a crimson aura. "Using my three level five monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate monster! Arise, Number 665: Witch Queen Agatha!"

A red galaxy-like vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Samantha's three witches as balls of orange energy. Rising out of the galaxy seconds later was a large ornate black sphere with what appeared to be a black and grey pin sticking through the top and bottom. On the front of the sphere in grey was a face consisting of two eyes and a jagged smile, and orbiting around it were three orange fireballs. The object quickly burst into flames to change form.

The flames quickly died down to reveal a woman with light-green skin wearing a black dress with long sleeves and a long skirt that completely covered her legs. She had long flowing dark-blue hair, and her fingers ended with sharp black nails that were like claws. The skin that showed on her neck looked like it had been burned, and a mask covered her face. The right side of the mask was white and looked like the face of a beautiful woman, while the left side was black and had a red eyes with half of a jagged red smile. On her head head the woman wore a large black conical hat with a wide brim and a yellow band with the number 665 written in red alien writing on the front.

"So that's Mitaka's Number." Shark observed. "It looks as badass as Kotori described."

Suddenly Astral's eyes went wide as his whole body briefly throbbed. The energy being then noticed that Agatha seemed to be giving off a very feint white light.

"Something wrong Astral?" Yuma asked.

"I am not certain." Astral answered.

Astral held out his hand and a ball of white light rose out of his palm. The light quickly took the form of three Duel Monsters cards. Each one was glowing with a white aura that seemed to be pulsing.

"Whoa! Where did those cards come from?" a startled Shane asked. "And how are they floating in the air?"

"That's the doing of Yuma's friend, Astral." Hikari explained.

"You… you mean that alien you were talking about?" Shane asked. "So why is he doing that little card trick for us?"

"Hey! Those are the Gimmick Puppet Numbers that Thomas used." Shark observed.

"Why'd you take those out, Astral?" Yuma asked.

"I don't know why, but these Numbers seem to be resonating with Mitaka's." Astral answered.

"But why would that be happening?" Michael asked.

"Is this because Thomas and Mitaka slept together?" Yuma asked.

"Wait, WHAT?" a stunned Michael exclaimed.

"Seriously?" an equally shocked Hikari asked.

"Yuma, you dumbass!" Shark cursed.

"That was something we were supposed to keep to ourselves!" Kaito told him.

"Oops. Sorry." Yuma sheepishly responded.

"I do not know the reason why these Numbers would be reacting to Mitaka's, but I suspect that Thomas is somehow the cause." Astral theorized. "These three cards have the forms they do because of Thomas. I believe there's a strong possibility that there's some kind of connection between Thomas and Mitaka. Something we don't know about."

"Agatha, burn that stupid doll to a crisp!" Samantha commanded back in the duel. "Vengeful Witchfire!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Thomas quickly announced.

Agatha took aim at Noble Prince with the palms of her hands and unleashed a massive storm of red flames at him. Before the attack could hit though, a large vortex appeared in front of the puppet monster and sucked the maelstrom in.

"Nice try." Thomas told Samantha with a cocky smirk.

"…I end my turn." Samantha announced.

"Guess Thomas has this in the bag." Anna assumed up in the stands. "All he has to do is activate Noble Prince's effect and Mitaka's finished."

"No. That's the last thing he should do." Kotori told her.

"That's right. You told us about Witch Queen Agatha's effect." Durbe recalled.

"If Thomas tries to use Noble Prince's effect to destroy Agatha, he's done for." Kotori responded.

Thomas drew his next card. "It all ends here! I activate Noble Prince's effect and detach an overlay unit to destroy Witch Queen Agatha!"

"No don't!" Kotori called.

Samantha's lips curled into a grin. "You've just killed yourself. I activate Agatha's effect! By detaching an overlay unit when a monster effect is activated, Agatha can negate the effect, destroy the monster and deal damage equal to that monster's ATK!"

"What!" a shocked Thomas exclaimed.

As the remaining ball of light orbiting Noble Prince entered his crown, one of the fireballs orbiting Agatha entered the red eye on the black side of her mask. A large red fireball formed in the witch's hand and she threw it at Thomas's marionette prince. Upon being struck in the chest, Noble Prince was set ablaze.

"Yes! Burn as I once did!" Samantha laughed madly. "Burn and know the same pain and agony that I was made to feel!"

As Noble Prince's body burned, the three Number cards that Astral was holding began to pulse faster. At the same moment that Thomas's monster exploded and brought his life points to zero, the Number cards gave off a blinding explosion of white light that washed out the entire stadium.

Author's Note: I apologize for the somewhat short chapter. If it's any consolation, the next chapter will likely be a long one since it's going to be mostly flashback. I also apologize if the duel in this chapter wasn't the best one I've done. It was kind of a hard duel to write, since I've never used a Gimmick Puppet deck. I don't have any desire to use one either.

Please review and let me know what you think.