AN: Hey everyone, I have the next chapter here for you. Thank you for all the support on this series coming back, I really appreciate the reviews and read them all. This chapter is a little short because the Duel Puzzle is the equivalent of a one turn duel in length. That being said, I had a lot of fun making it and got to use a fun archetype of cards in the process. Hope you enjoy this chapter, leave a review with your comments and questions, and have a nice day.

See Datasheet Chapter for cover art details.

Chapter 31 – The Golden Castle

Glynda was teaching in front of a large class of students. During her lecture, she looked down at her tablet with two field spells that were projected on the screen behind her. Both were images above and below the sea. On the right was Umi and on the left was A Legendary Ocean, "As you can see, field spells have evolved to offer more benefits to a monster than a simple stat boost. In this case, the reduction of all water monster's level allows for some single tributes to be normal summoned." She said as said before adjusting her glasses, "However, these beneficial effects apply to the opponent's field as well. If they have the appropriate cards, it can turn your field spell into a liability."

Glynda then saw the time was almost up, but she had to deliver one assignment, "This concludes our lesson on Field Spells." She said before the screen went blank, "Now, for homework tonight, please complete the newly posted duel puzzle. Your challenge, defeat the opponent with their powerful field spell in a single turn." She then adjusted her glasses, "I shall warn you; it may seem impossible to solve, but a solution can be found. While you can take the quiz as a group, the total attempts shall remain at three. You have until midnight to complete this task." The headteacher of Ra Yellow said before her grip on the riding crop tightened, "And if I discover that any of you are passing the solution onto other students, it will result in more than a detention." She said will radiating a violet aura, causing the students to shudder in slight fear.

After the bell rang and most of the class dismissed, Bastion was still packing his notebooks. He then noticed his fellow Ra Yellow's standing nearby, with Yang leading the conversation, "Hey, all four of us were thinking of taking this test together." She said with a smile, "We knock it out quickly and then can try out this new game I got online."

"Yeah, it's a fighting game," Nora commented, "I like the electric one."

"That green girl or the green gorilla-thing?" Tyranno asked.

"Yes," Nora responded with a smirk, then turned back to Bastion. "What you say?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot help you this time." Bastion answered while he still packed, "The last three duel puzzle assessments were me solving the problem while you three were already playing your games."

"That's because you're the smart one on our team." Yang answered, "And the rest of us are a mix of strong, cute, and wild card."

"Which one am I?" Tyranno and Nora asked Yang.

"Well, I could arm wrestle both of you, but that would just tell which one I am," The fiery Ra Yellow turned to them with a smirk. She then looked back to Bastion, "Come on, help us out."

"Again, I am sorry, but you're are on your own." Bastion said as he had finished packing, "The three of you are smart enough without me to solve this problem. Plus, Professor Goodwitch asked me to help with the upcoming Duel Spirits Festival preparation. With it, I have been given a pass on homework to help with the planning. As well as one other reason I do not need to take this duel puzzle."

"Why?" Nora asked as she crossed her arms, "Why do you get special privileges all of the sudden."

Bastion turned back to them with a grin, "I'm the one who made it." The posh Ra Yellow said with his three friends gasping. "It was one I created a while ago to test an old formula. I showed it to Professor Goodwitch, and she liked it for the lesson we just had."

"Oh, probably should have been taking notes then." Yang said under her voice before speaking up, "Did she solve it?"

"Of course," Bastion said before smirking, "On the third attempt." He said with the three Ra Yellow's having a look of dread, "As she said, it is difficult, but not impossible." He said while turning around and walking away, "I'll try to stop by when I have a break, good luck."

After Bastion left, Yang gritted her teeth before she turned back to the other, "Don't worry, we don't need him." Yang said with a slight red in her eyes, "The three of us can solve this no problem."

"Yeah!" Tyranno and Nora cheered.

A while later.

After dinner, the three Ra Yellow students gathered in Yang's room. She was logging into the school website and launching the program to take the assignment. While entering their student identification, she noticed the time, "Okay, we got six hours to turn this one problem in." She said as Tyranno and Nora were looking over her right and left shoulders.

"Plenty of time." Tyranno responded as Yang pulled up the program, "What's our battlefield looking like, Sarge?"

"Actually, not as full as I thought," Yang commented as she looked at the field.

On their side of the field, Litmus Doom Swordsman was at the ready. Right behind him was the face-up continuous trap card, Spirit Barrier, "Hey, that means this guy gains 3000 attack points." Nora said with a smile, the masked swashbuckler's blades glowing with a dark aura, (3000 ATK / 0 DEF).

"You remembered that from your last duel with Bastion?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, so that I won't fall for the same trick twist," Nora said with a smirk forming.

They then looked to the other side of the field, seeing a woman with a dark mahogany red dress. She wore a gold belt and matching bracelets. Her thick deep blue hair caused the fiery Ra Yellow to become envious of its quality. While purple lines ran down from her eyes, a green gem was embedded in her forehead. With the faintest smile, she had a confident gaze on Litmus Doom Swordsman, (2600 ATK / 2100 DEF).

"Hexa Trude," Yang read the card's name, "Where have I heard that name before."

"Isn't that from a fairytale?" Tyranno points out.

"Oh yeah!" Yang remembered, but her joy faded, "That one doesn't have a happy ending."

"How does it end?" Nora asked.

"Let's just say, after my Dad told me that story," Yang responded, "I never saw firewood the same way again." She said with Nora having a look of confusion, but Tyranno was solemnly nodding. She then sighed and looked at the field, "It looks like these are the only two monsters, and there is-"

"Come on, let's just attack it," Nora said as she pressed a button the keyboard.

"Hey, wait-!" Yang said but could not stop the input. Litmus Doom Swordsman rushed to battle. However, the screen went yellow as the golden light shined through taking shape was a kingdom made of solid gold, whose light glammed throughout the arena. In its brilliance, the masked swashbuckler was disintegrated. The screen then went black before a couple of lines of text appeared, "You lose." Yang read in a defeated voice, "Number of attempts left are two."

"Oops," Nora responded as she scratched her head, "Sorry."

"What is wrong with you, private!" Tyranno shouted, "You can't run out of trenches before we have fully assessed the situation." he said with Nora glaring back at him, cause the dino Ra Yellow's eyes to turn reptilian.

"Look, it's fine," Yang calmed the two as she loaded the puzzle again, "Still have two more tries, but let's take this one slow." She said with the two remained silent but scoffed as they turned away from each other. Yang sighed again before looking at the screen, now noticing the field spell in the background, "Golden Castle of Stromberg." She identified she scanned its text, "Once per turn, the owner can destroy an attacking monster and inflict half its attack points to the opponent."

"Wow, that's some effect," Tyranno commented, "How many life points do we have?"

"Just 100." Yang noticed.

"What about the computer?" Nora inquired.

"Well," Yang saw with a line of sweat run down her face, "5600 life points."

"Yikes!" Nora responded, "How do we do that much damage in one turn?"

"First things first, we have to destroy that fortress." Tyranno pointed out, causing the other two Ra Yellow's to nod, "Let's see what else we got to work with." He said before looking at their side of the field, but his attention soon went towards their hand, which was full of spell cards, "Monster Reborn, Ring of Defense, Double Spell, and Mystical Space Typhoon."

"That last one will work," Yang responded before noticing something, "The opponent's graveyard is empty, so Monster Reborn and Double Spell are useless."

"Well, if we can destroy that castle, we can get it on our side of the field with Double Spell ditching Monster Reborn." Tyranno commented, "It's like capturing a fortress."

"I call the Queen!" Nora elected as she jumped in joy.

"We still have the problem with reducing the life points to zero." Yang said before noticing a set card never to Sprit Barrier, causing her to check it, "Ring of Destruction, eh?" She said before seeing the counter card in her hand, "Never mind, we got this in the bag now!" The fiery Ra Yellow said with her friends grinning,

Tyranno went into type the commands, "Frist, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Golden Castle!" He said as a gust of wind was blowing over the walls.

However, Nora noticed something, "Uh, they have three cards face down."

"…Eh?" Tyranno froze, but it was too late.

"Activating Magic Jammer." The program responded. By discarding the sole card in its hand, the gust faded away, and the castle remained.

"Well, that didn't work." Nora responded, then crossed her arms, "Should have assessed the area better." She said with Tyranno turning back to her with grit teeth.

"Well, this run is dud." Yang spoke up, but then looked at the screen, seeing Hexa Trude smirking at her "Is she-" Yang said as her eyes were turning red, "That's it, I'm blowing her up anyway! I activated Ring of Destruction." She said as the and bomb collar latched itself around Hexa Trude, "Then, I'll chain it with Ring of-"

"Activating Royal Decree." The program responded before the castle walls got another layer of protection. With the upgrade, the effects of traps were now negated, and the bomb collar fell off. Hexa Trude threw away the collar while Yang's eyes grew redder. Her mechanic fist tightened as she reeled back her right arm.

"Hey, hold on!" Tyranno said as he and Nora tried to restrain the fiery Ra Yellow.

"If you punch the screen, I'm pretty sure we fail!" Nora said as Yang thrashed.

"At this point, I don't care!" Yang said before hearing a knock on the door, "What!?"

"Hello?" Bastion spoke on the other side of the door, "Are you three doing okay in there?"

"We're fine!" Yang said as Nora and Tyranno let go of her, "We don't need your help."

"Yeah, traitor," Tyranno added on, "You abandoned the squad!"

"Yeah," Nora continued, "And your problem is dumb anyway!"

Bastion sighed, "Just so you know. I designed this puzzle so that if I were to take it, I would fail." He said with the others going silent, "You can't rely on me to be the only smart one here. The three of you are geniuses in your own right. While it may seem difficult, I know you can find the solution." The posh Ra Yellow started to walk away.

After getting a few feet away from the door, it opened. Bastion turned around to see his three friends walking out, each avoiding eye contact with their faces slightly red, "Hey uh… we're sorry." Yang spoke up.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tyranno added on.

"Sorry," Nora responded as well, "We're just a little stressed."

"It's okay, I thought this might happen." Bastion responded with a smile, "So I wanted to give you some advice." He said with the three now looking directly at him, "The computer is not as smart as you think. It will make errors that costs the match." He said before turning around, "My guess, you three have already witnessed it make them already."

The three Ra Yellow's had a look of confusion as they reentered the room, "What did he mean by that?" Nora asked, while closing the door, "This thing has countered everything we've done."

"He said we might have already seen it," Tyranno offered, "But maybe we should reset to look at it from the start?"

"Yeah, but that means we are on our last attempt afterwards." Yang said while looking at the screen, "But as he said, we're smarter than this computer!" she said before ending the turn, causing the defeat text to pop up. As the field reset, Yang cracked her knuckles, "Okay, let's figure this out."

"Yeah!" Nora cheered, "We'll have this done in no time!"

Five hours later.

"AARRGGHH!" Nora groaned as she laid on the floor, "Nothing works! This computer can always win!"

Yang and Tyranno stared at the monitor, their eyes tired and stressed from the light, "No matter which way we look at it, we cannot inflict enough damage in one turn." Tyranno said as Yang checked her scroll.

"We only have under an hour left," Yang said as she went to the academy forum, "And from the looks of the other students' posts, nobody was able to find the solution."

"Can we go back to being angry at Bastion again?" Nora commented.

"No, he has faith we can do this." Yang said as she rubbed her lilac eyes, but had then turned red for a second, "Even if I really want to punch him right now."

"What was he even talking about, this computer is too well set up to counter everything!" Tyranno said as his eyes turned more reptilian, then pointed to at the third set card, "Even if we take down the castle, it has Mirror Force right there to destroy the swordsman."

"Actually, Litmus Doom Swordsman is unaffected by trap cards. I found that out after my duel as well." Nora spoke up, "It was part of why I was confident in just attacking at the start."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense." Yang responded, "Why would Bastion have a card set that would do nothing."

"Maybe it's a fake-out, like in my duel against him." Nora responded as she stood up, "Or, maybe it's for another monster we have."

"There is no other monster," Tyranno said before his eyes went to normal, "Except for the one we're supposed to be destroying, Hexa Trude."

"Hm," Yang said, but her gaze focused on the opponent's field, "Maybe we are looking at it wrong." She said before turning to the other Ra Yellows, "We need to inflict 5600 points of damage in total. While Ring of Destruction could give us the extra damage we need." She said before smirking, "If we had that girl on our side for an extra direct attack, we still reduce the life points to zero."

"That could work, and we do have that Monster Reborn." Tyranno said as he scratched his chin, "But the only card that can destroy Hexa Trude is Ring of Destruction."

"And that plan doesn't work because of Royal Decree." Yang said, then glared at the field spell and set trap cards, "We can't Mystical Space Typhoon anything because of Magic Jammer. Even if it lets us destroy Royal Decree and use our trap, we still can't land a direct attack because of the Golden Castle Stromberg." She said before resting her right hand in her chin.

"AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!" Nora groaned, "I'm starting to hate castles!"

"It doesn't even need that fortress to stop us from winning." Yang pointed out, "It could let it fall and we still couldn't do enough damage."

Suddenly, Tyranno had an idea, "Hold up a second," He said with the others turning to him, "In our second attempt, it did use Magic Jammer to save the castle, even though it doesn't need to."

"Yeah…" Yang said as she remembered, "Come to think of it, it didn't even let me play Ring of Defense in that attempt. It just went right for protecting the monster from destruction rather than letting it get destroyed to still win the match." She said before slightly giggling, "Heh, overprotective much?"

"That's it!" Tyranno said as he recalled Bastion's advice, "Remember, he said the computer makes errors in some way."

"So, it's playing it too safe?" Nora asked with Tyranno nodding.

"Okay, but how is wanting to keep things like the field spell up a mistake?" Yang said before she remembered what Glynda said at the end of class, "Because we can use the field spell to our advantage."

"Exactly," Tyranno said as Nora stood up, "Now, we just need to use the right card that works with that field spell." He said before coming to a realizing that caused his confidence to falter, "Expect we have already looked at every card like a hundred times over, and nothing we have works with we have."

"What about our opponent?" Nora offered.

"I think Hexa Trude has something, but we don't know how to get it on our field yet," Yang responded.

"I didn't mean the field," Nora add on as she pointed at the screen, "I meant in the hand, the card they discard for Magic Jammer. What is it?"

Yang looked back at the screen and clicked on the card, revealing it, "Iron Cage." She said aloud, skimming the effect, "You send a monster you control to the graveyard." She said before grinning, "But if The Golden Castle is out, send one of your opponent's monster instead." She said with Nora and Tyranno smiling as she turned to them, "I think we have all we need."

Some time later.

The three Ra Yellows had written out the steps on a sheet of paper. They each reread it before checking the time, seeing only ten minutes until midnight. They nodded to one another before starting the final attempt, "Okay, here we go!" Yang spoke as she led the final attempt, "First, we use Mystical Space Typhoon on the Golden Castle of Stromberg."

Events began to replay, "Activating Magic Jammer." The program responded. By discarding the sole card in its hand, the gust faded away, and the castle remained. However, Yang smiled this time as she saw the Iron Cage in the graveyard.

"Next, we reveal the Ring of Destruction!" Tyranno continued as Yang typed the action.

"Activating Royal Decree." The program responded before the castle walls grew in size.

"Heh, too quick on the draw with their counter. Now, we don't need a certain spell card." Tyranno said before looking to Nora, who nodded back.

"We play Double Spell," Nora added on, "By discarding Ring of Defense, we can now use Iron Cage." She said as Hexa Trude was imprisoned by steel bars, gasping in shock. "And since Golden Castle is on the field in general, we can send Hexa Trude to the graveyard." The electric Ra Yellow said as the cage sunk into the ground, taking the witch with it.

Yang's eyes went red as she played the last card their hand, "We use Monster Reborn to bring back Hexa Trude to our side of the field." she said as the witch returned, this time to aid them in battle, "And since Golden Castle is in a field zone, she can destroy one card on the field."

"And our choice," Tyranno said as his eyes got more reptilian.

"Is the Golden Castle of Stromberg!" Nora finished as she had a sparking aura.

Hexa Trude had a slight smirk as she raised her right hand, causing a ball of magical fire to gather. She shot the orb of flames into the castle walls, melting them into golden globes before the fortress exploded.

"With Royal Decree still up, Mirror Force is useless." Tyranno pointed out.

"Hexa Trude attacks directly!" Yang said with the witch unleashing another fireball towards the program's position on the feild, reducing the life points to 3000.

"And now, Litmus Doom Swordsman can land the final blow!" Nora declared as the masked swashbuckler dashed into the battle, landing an x-shaped scar on the program.

The three watched in silence as the life point counter ran down to zero. Afterwards, a text box showed up, "You Win." It read with the three Ra Yellows smiling. Yang shot up from her chair as she, Tyranno, and Nora engaged in a group hug. They screamed and jumped with joy, passing the duel puzzle with only a few minutes to spare.

Outside the room, Bastion leaned against the wall next to the door. He heard the cheers of this friend's accomplishment, causing a smile to form on his face. After a slight yawn, the posh Ra Yellow walked away with his hands in pockets.

AN: There you go, a fun little puzzle to mix things up a bit. Stromberg is an interesting card that I was surprised to see come out the way it did. While this is a fairytale theme archetype, it is very small. Still, Hexa Trude is a cool card and is and interesting story. I'm not sure if RWBY has referenced the Trudy Witch yet, but I do think Hexa Trude looks like a slightly older version of Cinder's first appearance design. Overall, the Ra Yellows proved that they could figure out complex puzzles without Bastion. He and Glynda are setting things up for the upcoming Duel Spirits Festival, which I will elaborate more in the next chapter's AN. The next chapter is a special one with the rematch of the two Obelisk Blue beauties. That is all for now, thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next chapter.

Now, time to answer some questions. Regarding the Danger! Archetype, I like them. They are one of the most splash-able archetypes in the game and are fun to play with either outcome. They are gamble-like cards but can still help even if you don't get the preferred outcome. Do I have a card crush… not really? I have a lot of cards I have adoration for simply for being a fantastic design. None are like a crush; they are more appreciations. However, I would say there are two cards I had a crush on as a kid. One was Soul Release, which I somehow had an uncensored version of. It is very revealing, but it was designed to be pure beauty and grace in card art form. It is hard not to fall in love with something so magnificent and perfectly drawn. The second is cliché, but its still true, The Dark Magician Girl. She almost defines the card crush in yugioh. Of all her card arts, I like the refence to her mentor's stance with the knees bent and hand on hat, (Also if you follow Kraus Arts on Twitter, he did a recent piece on Neo cosplaying as Dark Magician Girl in that same stance. I highly recommend you check him out, he has some of the best yugioh fanart out there). Also, I will have the rwby characters talk about their cards crushes eventually, because that sounds like fun. Now, I got a question about if I would attend Duel Academy or Beacon Academy. For me, it was easy, Duel Academy. I look at Duel Academy as a mix of public and private schools taught in the same location. The three classes system is fascinating to me. That you can rise or fall in the grades based on your skill is amazing. I would start as a Slifer Red, just so I could be motivated to get to that prestigious Obelisk Blue by the end of my fourth year. But I like red, so I would keep my uniform from that dorm, and that is completely accepted at the school. Duel Academy lets you be who you want to be so long as you are willing to put in the work to be that person. Beacon…does not really offer anything unique. It felt more like a college for high schoolers, just nothing interesting or unepected. I still think it is the best rwby setting and was a good starting point for the series. Still, they should have spent more time building that school as a full location rather than just certain backgrounds. Like, I have no idea what the of map of Beacon looks like, but I know most layout for Duel Academy off the top of my head. There is one thing Beacon does have in its favor, Glynda. She is the type of professor I would want to have for a course. Strong willed, wants to push you further, but cares about your wellbeing. She is the perfect person for a school setting, which is why she is a head teacher here in this fanfic. That was probably one of my favorite questions so far, so keep on asking if you have more you want to know.