Ice Queen Cometh

by Nox Barian

Rio Kamishiro never expected her life would become so chaotic in such a short period of time. First her brother, Shark is set on fire and put in the hospital by a psychopath. Then, she is dragged into the War of the Number Cards alongside her friends. but when familiar faces from the past arrive on Earth, she will begin to question whether she is even human at all. (REMAKE)

5. Kotori's Catastrophe

Welcome Back Everybody!

Hope Everybody is Enjoying the year so far, and I hope I can make it better with the first chapter of the year!

I dedicate this chapter to my Good Friend, Donjusticia, who is quite the fan of the character who makes her debut in this chapter!

You're Welcome, Donny!

Enjoy!

---

Chapter 5: Kotori's Catastrophe

While Yuma's friends were grateful to hear of Shuta's defeat, and even more relieved that everybody survived the airship disaster, the sudden realization of what Number holders were truly capable of had put everybody on edge. If something as serious as a plane crash could happen from the actions of somebody possessed by a Number, then the next duelist they encountered could very likely do something much worse. Even Yuma, riding high off his victory against Shuta, reluctantly admitted to them that the duel was close. Had he not seen the truth behind Shuta's fortune telling scam, he would have lost the duel, and the lives of both Astral and the passengers on that airship would have been lost with it.

However none were more rattled by these sudden revelations than Kotori. In the days to follow, it was business as usual for Yuma and his friends. They would go through the motions of attending classes, and they would dedicate at least an hour after school to continue practicing their dueling. Normally, Kotori was content to watch Yuma duel first, take notes, and then take her turn, playing passively and casually as the intricate nature of the game slowly grew more natural to her. Today was a different story. She insisted she duel Rio first and asked Yuma to watch her. Rio was both surprised and delighted to hear her friend take the initiative, but the positive mood in the air gradually shifted as Kotori demanded rematch after rematch with each consecutive loss to the Ice Queen, playing more aggressively and growing more frustrated as time passed.

"Ice Princess Zereort, attack her life points directly!"

Kotori: 2500 - 2500 = 0 (LOSE)

Winner: RIO!

With one final strike of Zereort's pickaxe, Kotori fell to the ground, landing on her back, but she didn't stay down for long. In an uncharacteristic show of frustration, she struck the ground with her fist and sprung back to her feet.

"Again! Let's go again!" Kotori demanded without hesitation, only this time Rio was growing worried over Kotori's eagerness. This was the fourth duel they'd had today and it seemed to Rio that Kotori's sudden out of nowhere requests for more lessons were driven more by a sense of panicked desperation than either eagerness or passion. Given what they had all learned, Rio couldn't blame her friend, but it was still concerning all the same.

"Uh, no offense, Kotori, but shouldn't you take a break?" A concerned Tetsuo asked. "You look exhausted."

"And I've been standing here for hours waiting to duel Rio!" Yuma complained, clearly more concerned about his own need to duel, which earned him a glare from both Tetsuo and the Ice Queen.

"Yuma! I need the extra practice!" Kotori scolded. "If you're that desperate to duel, then you and Tetsuo can duel!"

"I've already dueled Tetsuo twice!" whined Yuma. "And Astral doesn't let me use my Numbers whenever I duel somebody who doesn't have one."

"Not like it would make any difference," Tetsuo replied with a mocking smirk.

"Even with one of your Numbers, I'm still more skilled than you, and Rio's out of both our leagues."

"HEY!"

"Come on, Rio. Back me up here!" Kotori pleaded. "One more round! Please!"

"Actually, I'm going to agree with the guys on this one," said Rio, putting her foot down. "Sorry, Kotori, but you need to take a break."

"No! I can keep going. I promise!" the green haired teen protested, her voice growing more desperate.

"Four duels back to back isn't good for you, Kotori, nor anyone, really," said Rio, standing her ground. "You can't overexert yourself like this. It's clearly stressing you out, and it certainly isn't helping you get any better as a duelist. Do you want to stay a novice?"

Kotori's toughened exterior instantly dissolved, and she looked away, clearly hurt by Rio's comment. Rio instantly regretted her harsh tone of voice.

"Kotori, no. I didn't mean it like that." She put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "You're still a beginner, yes, but you're not weak. Hell, you learn quicker than Yuma does, and you make fewer mistakes. Right now though, you're letting your frustration get the better of you, and that's going to cause you to make more mistakes as you duel."

"Alright, Rio. You win," Kotori sighed as she raised her hands in defeat, before a playful smirk appeared on her face. "Is that the fifth or sixth time you've won, or are we only counting duels?"

"Why are we counting? I always win, both duels and arguments. Just ask my brother," Rio played along, allowing a brief moment of levity to ease the tension.

"Anyway, you just sit and watch for the next round. Yuma, you're up!" She pointed at Yuma, before locking eyes with Astral. "And before you say anything, I don't intend to use any of my Numbers in this duel. It's just practice, and Yuma needs to learn how to better utilize his other cards anyway instead of becoming overdependent on summoning a Number to bail him out of trouble."

It had been two weeks since Astral first arrived, and Tetsuo was still finding it bizarre to see Yuma, and now Rio, talk to something or someone that wasn't there. Kotori seemed to have no trouble going along with it, but at this point, with all the weird occurrences throughout the city thanks to these Numbers, Tetsuo felt he had no choice but to believe in Astral, whoever he was.

"So Astral really doesn't like the idea of you hanging onto the Numbers?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Even though you clearly haven't gone crazy…" he then paused. "Well, no more crazy than it is to talk to something invisible."

"No, he doesn't," Rio replied sternly, and Tetsuo grew unnerved at just how serious Rio's tone of voice was.

Tetsuo of course, couldn't see or hear him, but in response, Astral said nothing, and turned his stoic face away from Rio. Meanwhile, Yuma leaped to his feet, excited to duel, but then he saw Kotori's face grow sour again as she walked over to take a seat on the park bench. Rio noticed it as well.

"What's wrong? What did I say?"

"Yeah, Kotori. It's not that big of a deal," Yuma tried his best to console his closest friend. "Heck, usually I'm the one who needs to be told to take a break from dueling. Just sit and watch one round, and then you can go next."

Unfortunately, Yuma's attempt at comfort only seemed to make Kotori even more upset.

"That's just it. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching!" she confessed, fighting the urge to tear up in front of her friends. "Yuma, do you have any idea how I felt when I found out what happened between you and Shuta? About the airship? How much trouble your sister and all those people were in? These Number holders are getting more and more dangerous. What am I going to do if the next one shows up and we aren't as lucky as the other times? What if one of us gets hurt?"

"Nothing too bad has happened yet!" Yuma fumbled, attempting to reassure her. "So far, we've won every duel, and we're going to keep winning whenever the next Number Monster shows up."

"That's not the point!" Kotori snapped, growing frustrated at Yuma's nonchalant attitude.

"Do you have any idea how worried I get when you duel against a Number monster, especially since you told me if you lose even once, Astral dies? I want to pull my weight too! I want to defeat a Number Monster and help Astral's cause."

"But you don't have a Number Monster of your own." Yuma pointed out. "Only a Number can destroy a Number by battle, remember?"

"Yuma!" scolded Tetsuo. "Kotori's already down in the dumps. You're making her feel worse!"

Kotori wilted again, but then her eyes darted towards Rio. The Ice Queen reacted immediately, noticing a rather strange glint in Kotori's eyes.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well…." Kotori tried to find the right words. "I mean…. You have three Numbers already, and when you duel, there's no risk to Astral's life, right? Well…. Uh…. maybe you could just…. Give one of your Numbers to me?"

The Ice Queen's response was an immediate, "NO! Out of the question."

"But…. " Kotori stuttered. "I mean…. Think about it! If Tetsuo and I had Numbers, then all four of us could collect them. You could give the crab to Tetsuo, and maybe I could have the three headed dog. I'm not going to ask for Justice."

"I'm not taking that risk!" Rio insisted. "I don't want to risk the idea of the two of you not sharing my resistance to the Numbers."

"But how will we know whether or not I have your Number resistance unless I take one of the Numbers." Kotori pleaded, not intent on backing down. "Tetsuo, back me up here!"

"Uhhhh, no offense Kotori." said Tetsuo, trying to avoid the awkwardness of the situation Kotori dragged him into. "But I'm on Rio's side. I really don't want to touch those weird cards and take the risk of getting possessed. I have no idea why you even want to mess around with those creepy things. Besides, I'm comfortable with my own deck just the way it is."

All this debate over the Number cards gave Yuma an inquisitive idea. "Hey Astral." He asked. "You don't suppose you could…. I don't know. Lend whatever protection you're giving me from the Numbers to Tetsuo and Kotori."

"I am afraid not." Astral answered firmly. "Should any of the Numbers you have acquired leave your possession, then they will become capable of corrupting others once again. I still do not understand what gives Rio immunity to the Numbers, but unless Kotori and Tetsuo somehow share that immunity, then giving them any of our Numbers would likely result in immediate possession."

"I was afraid you'd say that," said Yuma despondently. "Yeah, sorry Kotori, but Astral says 'no way.'"

Kotori grew even more depressed. "But…." she made one last feeble attempt. "I just want to help…"

"Hey, Kotori, it's okay." Yuma tried his best to console his childhood friend. "You have a strong deck already, and I mean really strong. You just need more practice in using it, and then you won't even need a Number to become a pro-duelist."

"But I don't want to become a pro-duelist." Kotori argued back, catching Yuma by surprise.

"You… You don't?"

"No! I love the game, sure, and what we do together is fun, but I don't want to make a career out of it. I want…." she paused, before frowning and turning away from Yuma. "Nevermind. It's stupid."

"No way! It's not stupid." Yuma reassured her. "I'm not going to think any less of you if you don't want to be a pro-duelist."

"Yuma's right." agreed Rio. "Actually, I'm really curious to hear what you want to do with your life after you graduate."

"Well…" Kotori hesitated, as she had never shared this with anybody. "I want to go to culinary school, and after that I want to open my own restaurant."

"Really?" gasped Yuma. "That's awesome! I'd eat there every day if you actually do it."

"You know, you do make us lunch all the time." added Tetsuo. "It makes sense to me. You're a great cook."

"Yeah… thanks…" Kotori blushed. "I don't know, I just…. The look of happiness on other people's faces when they love what I made, there's no better feeling in the world for me. My parents don't have time to cook dinner for me since they both work long hours at their jobs, so I just ended up cooking for them. The first time they came home and found out I made dinner for them….."

The memories forced Kotori to release the tears she was holding back, which she immediately brushed off with her arm. "Sorry."

"Hey speaking of which." Rio changed the subject. "The lunch you brought today has just been sitting in your bag getting cold. Why don't we just take a lunch break for now?" She hoped distracting Kotori with an excuse to continue complimenting her on her cooking skills would take her mind off dueling and finally stop her from pushing herself too hard.

The four friends agreed, but when they walked to the park bench and looked in Kotori's bag, they were in for a nasty surprise.

"GOOD LORD! What happened?!" Rio shrieked, while Yuma and Tetsuo held their noses and covered their mouths. Kotori merely stared at the horrible sight. The food she worked so hard to make was completely ruined. Three of the four boxes had been opened and torn into. Anything that wasn't partially eaten was scattered all over the place.

"It looks like an animal of some kind raided your bag." Yuma groaned, unable to hide his disappointment.

"No wait, that's…." Tetsuo paused, taking a closer look at a strange object next to Kotori's bag. It was black, slimy, and covered in hair. "Is that a hairball?"

"So a cat did this?" Rio questioned before darting her head from left to right to check if the cat was still there. The other three teens immediately noticed the uneasy look on Rio's face.

"I hope it's not still here. I'm not a fan of cats."

"Why not?" asked a bewildered Tetsuo.

"They're creepy!" she protested. "And moody! One minute they want you to pet them, and the next they have personal space issues, and suddenly your arms are covered in claw marks."

"I take it that happened to you?" Tetsuo asked, to which Rio gave a resounding and loud "YES!"

"I've never heard of a cat doing this." said Yuma, before smiling as a funny thought popped into his mind.

"Maybe it's the work of another Number Monster." he joked. "Our latest villain is conspiring to ruin our lunches so we'll be too hungry to duel, and then they'll defeat us and take our Numbers. Oh what a diabolical plan."

"Then you must find something else to eat at once so this new Number Holder's plan is immediately foiled." Astral commented, causing Yuma to roll his eyes.

"Astral! I was joking!" Yuma then noticed the box with his name on it was seemingly untouched. "Oh, well at least one of us gets to eat today." he mused, but when he opened the box, he was met with another surprise.

"Uh…. Kotori, did you make this?" He showed the contents of the box to his friends. Instead of the traditional bento contents, inside the box was an expensive looking full sized lobster dish, the kind Yuma only saw at five star fine dining restaurants.

"First the lunches get trashed, then somebody leaves a cat's hairball in Kotori's backpack, and now a gourmet lobster dish magically replaces Yuma's lunch." Tetsuo counted the weird sequence of events on his finger. "This is so weird that maybe there is a Number involved. At this point, I'm willing to believe anything is possible."

"No, if there was a Number nearby, I think we would have detected it." said Rio, dismissing the theory. "Somebody is just pulling a prank on us, and we're lucky they just messed around with our lunch. Come on. Let's just go out to eat."

"Uh…. no thanks." Kotori replied despondently. The sight of the food she worked so hard to make being ruined seemed to be the final straw that permanently ruined her day. "I'm just going to go home."

"Kotori, wait…." Yuma called as the green haired teen began walking away. "It's alright. We can help you make some more lunch at your place if you want."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Yuma. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow."

"But, Kotori!"

"Let her go, Yuma." Rio suggested as she watched Kotori depart. "She has a lot on her mind. I think it's best we leave her alone."

---

Day turned to night as Kotori spent the rest of the day alone before diverting all her focus towards toiling away at the stove to get dinner ready for herself and her parents, only to receive a phone call that both her parents would be home late, meaning dinner would be cold by the time they got home. She tried looking for a recipe that would take a long time to make so she could spend more time focusing on dinner and not on dueling, but in the end it didn't work. Her mind drifted back to the temptation she felt that day.

Her very own Number, the thought of having one gnawed at her mind. She knew Rio was just protecting her by refusing to give her one, but what was the harm in trying? If she got possessed, Rio could easily defeat her and take it back. If she didn't, she could finally be useful. No more spending her days as a glorified cheerleader. She could finally help.

Maybe if she did, then Yuma would finally….

A knock on the door brought Kotori out of her depressed stupor. Assuming it was Yuma or Rio coming to check on her, she turned the stove off and walked to the door to greet whoever it was, but when she opened the door, there was nobody there.

"Huh?" she looked around, seeing only what was illuminated by her porch lights and the street lamp across the road, finding nothing but empty silence.

"Who's there?" she called again, growing anxious. "If you're the one who ruined the lunch I made today, you've got a lot of nerve coming here. This is your only warning. Stop pranking me!"

She allowed several seconds to pass before deciding she was talking to nobody, and whoever knocked on her door already ran away. She turned around to go back inside, when a small shape darted between her legs, black and covered in fur.

"Huh? Where'd you come from?" Kotori kneeled down to inspect the cat, who stared at her with wide, golden eyes and meowed. Kotori couldn't resist a cute animal and started to reach out to pet the cat, when a chilling thought entered her mind.

She remembered the hairball in her backpack. It was black.

She stood up immediately, panicked and ready to face the intruder, but she didn't get the chance. Before she could act, the iron grip of the intruder's arm wrapped around her waist, and the intruder's other hand covered her face with a rag.

Breathing in the smell of chloroform, Kotori could only give a muffled scream as her mind drifted into unconsciousness, the last thing she saw was the black cat grinning at her.

---

Yuma was getting ready for bed, settling into his hammock on the top floor of his house and staring up at the ceiling, pondering the afternoon's events. For some odd reason, he couldn't stop thinking about Kotori.

"Astral, are you sure there isn't a way to… I don't know, share the power of my key?"

"Unless we can find more keys just like yours, then I highly doubt it." answered Astral, placing his hand to his chin as he floated next to Yuma's bedside. "Unfortunately, I suspect your key is one of a kind. I understand your desire to help Kotori grow stronger as a duelist, but suffice to say, the only safe way we can test if she can resist the influence of the Numbers is if she stumbles upon one naturally and it chooses her as her host, the same way Number 21 chose Rio as its host."

"I guess you're right." Yuma answered before rolling over to get comfortable.

"Why is she so desperate to keep up with us, anyway? It's not a big deal if she's taking awhile to get stronger as a duelist. I mean, look at me. I was a complete novice. No, actually, I was worse than a novice. I was a novice who thought he was a champion before you came along and started helping me out. It's the same thing for Kotori. She'll get better soon, so why is she pushing herself so hard?"

Astral's only reply was another one of his observations, which made it appear to Yuma he knew the answer, but didn't seem interested in telling him.

"Observation Number Nine: Human Males seem to have great difficulty understanding the minds of Human Females, and vice versa."

Yuma rolled his eyes, deciding he would just check on Kotori and worry about everything else going on in his life in the morning. He was just about to close his eyes and drift off to sleep when a loud scratching noise coming from his window disturbed him.

"Oh, now what!" he grumbled, getting out of bed and opening the window. He was rather surprised to see a small gray tabby cat waiting there to greet him. With Yuma's face so close to the window, the tabby was able to reach out and rub its face against Yuma, purring as it did so.

"Awww, hey little guy. What are you doing here? Are you hungry?"

The kitten leaped into Yuma's room, meowing loudly, and before Yuma could figure out what to do with it, four more cats of different sizes and breeds jumped into Yuma's room.

"What the… hey!" Yuma shouted as the cats ran playfully around his room. "This is my bedroom, not an animal shelter!"

The cats merely ignored him and continued jumping on the furniture like his room was their personal playground while an annoyed Yuma tried in vain to catch them.

Astral, on the other hand, had no idea what to make of these animals, but just watching them filled him with an increasing sense of dread.

"What are these strange creatures? What is that awful sound they are making? It is making my spine tingle!"

Yuma, unable to believe what he just heard, took his attention off the cats and back towards Astral.

"Are you serious? Don't tell me all it takes is a few cats to scare you."

"I am not scared!" Astral protested. "They are simply not in my observation reports."

Unable to resist the chance to mess with Astral, Yuma played along with the sprit's irrational fear.

"Well, let me tell you everything you need to know." Yuma spoke mischievously, waving his fingers in the air like he was telling a campfire ghost story. "Cats have a strong connection to the world of spirits. In fact, not only can they see spirits like you, but they prowl the earth at night looking for unsuspecting spirits to gobble up for breakfast! That's why they're all staring at you!"

"Actually, Yuma. It appears they are staring at you."

Yuma turned around and noticed the cats had suddenly become disturbingly quiet and well behaved, having stopped their little rampage around Yuma's bedroom. The original, the gray tabby, held an envelope in its mouth, which was tied up in a red ribbon.

"Wait, that ribbon. It kind of looks like the ribbon Kotori wears." Yuma picked up the envelope and opened it, but soon discovered its contents were horrifying. A chill went up his spine, which only increased as he continued to read the threatening message.

"Your little pet mouse is caught in my trap. If you want her back, you had better hurry, and bring your Numbers. If you don't, your little pet mouse will be cat food!"

The message was unsigned, but an address was at the bottom of the envelope. A panicking Yuma wasted no time and immediately took out his phone to call the one person who could help.

"Rio! It's Yuma! We've got an emergency!"

---

The first sound to return Kotori to the waking world was the chorus of several cats, chattering away with each other, staring at the strange human lying down in their territory. Dazed and confused, Kotori's blurred vision corrected itself as she raised her head, trying to recall her last memory. Somebody attacked her, and now she was…. somewhere…

"What…. What happened to me? Where am I?" her eyes darted around the room, searching for clues as to where she was. The room was spacious, and off in the distance she could see a door, and in the opposite direction, she could see a large flight of stairs with an ornate rug draped on top of them and its railings appearing to be solid gold.

Kotori shifted her body, checking to see if anything hurt. As the minutes passed without anything happening, her body began to relax. Her situation at least didn't seem to be too dire. She was uninjured. Her arms and legs were not bound, so she had freedom to move around, and based on the layout of the building, she seemed to be in the foyer of somebody's house and not a dungeon. No, calling it a house was a massive understatement. It was a mansion.

"Hello?" Kotori called out, her voice creating a loud vibrating echo in the vast space of the foyer. "Anybody there? HEY! Hello?! What's going on? Why am I here?"

No answer. The room returned to a state of silence as Kotori's echo finished.

The gears in Kotori's mind began to turn, sorting out the confusing details. Whoever owned this mansion was likely the one who ambushed her and brought her here. He or she had to be incredibly wealthy, meaning the motive for kidnapping her was likely not financial.

Then a dark thought entered her mind. "Numbers?"

After the stunt Shuta had pulled while under the influence of a Number, this seemed the most likely explanation, and now Kotori grew fearful. If the person who brought her here was possessed by a Number, there was no telling what her kidnapper had planned for her.

The lights came on, forcing Kotori's eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness of the room. What she saw next was more bizarre than anything she had expected to see. The room was heavily decorated, and she noticed the memorabilia had a recurring theme, cats, cats, and more cats. On tall pedestals lay cat statues, on the walls rested beautiful cat paintings which looked like they belonged in the louver. Even the doorknobs contained little cat faces.

"Okay…. I'm starting to realize why Rio thinks cats are creepy." Kotori muttered to herself, slowly making her way towards the front door as if the eyes of every statue and painting in the mansion were staring at her.

Unfortunately, Kotori didn't get very far. She only made it a few steps, when a small shape darted out from one of the pillars in the hallway and stood in between Kotori and the door. It was a tiny black cat with beautiful green eyes and a red collar around its neck. The feline inquisitively looked up at the teenage girl, giving a friendly meow as its tail twitched behind it.

"Awwwwww." Despite the urgency to leave, Kotori's weakness for cute animals momentarily got the better of her.

"Hey I'm sorry, I can't play with you right now. I have to go."

She only took one step, when the cat suddenly arched its back and hissed at her, causing the green haired teen to jump back.

"HEY!" She yelped. "That wasn't nice. I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to get past you. Go on! Shoo! Let me through."

The cat responded with a threatening growl, and as if on cue, the situation only grew worse as more cats emerged from the shadows to join their friend in standing against the intruder in their territory. Kotori's mouth gaped open.

"Uh…. nice kitties….…. Good kitties…." Kotori attempted to placate them as she backed further away from the door, but the cats only seemed to grow angrier by the second, arching their backs and swiping at the air in front of them with their claws.

"That's enough!" a soft spoken female voice behind Kotori commanded, and the cats immediately stopped. "I think our guest understands the message. It's rude of a guest to abandon the festivities without introducing themselves to the host."

The cats immediately stopped, sitting upright and rigid like soldiers standing at attention, awaiting the call of the person Kotori could only assume was their owner. She turned around and saw a young teenage girl her age descend the magnificent stairs. She wore a gothic black dress with a wide skirt that stretched outward at the knee area. A white fur belt wrapped around her waist and trailed down the back in a way that resembled a cat's tail. Black and White striped leggings and black ankle boots decorated her legs and black elbow length gloves with long red nails at the fingertips decorated her arms. As she descended down the stairs, eyeing Kotori the same way a hungry lioness would approach a wounded gazelle, she concealed her face behind a blue masquerade ball mask with gold encrusted lines surrounding it, held up by a rod which she carried in her right hand.

"Are you scared?" the strange girl asked. "Are you wondering where you are? Hard to say what manner of place this is, little mouse. Is it a path to redemption or a road to damnation? The mouse smiled brightly, thinking she outfoxed the cat, but down came the claw, and that, little mouse, was that."

"Who the heck are you?" Kotori asked indignantly, finding her courage again as she faced who she assumed was her kidnapper. The girl responded by moving the mask away and revealing her face. Her hair was long and gray, but tied back in the front by clips to resemble cat ears. To compliment her cat-like appearance, a necklace with a round gold bell attached to it was wrapped tightly around her neck, resembling a domestic cat's collar. Striking green eyes glared at Kotori behind a pair of thick black glasses, but the most striking feature of all was the glowing mark of a blue 29 on her forehead.

"I was right! A number!" Kotori gasped under her breath.

"Recognize me now, little mouse?" the girl asked.

Kotori's brow furrowed, attempting to search her memories for a name to associate with the face, but she ultimately failed.

"I mean…. You look familiar." she answered, praying she didn't offend the possessed girl and give her a reason to turn hostile. "I think I remember your name. Katie? Carly?"

Sure enough, Kotori's inability to recall the girl's identity sent the girl into a rage. Crushing the mask in her iron grip and breaking it, her face turned bright red.

"My name is Cathy, you green-haired poacher!" she shrieked. "I've been attending the same classes as you and your friends all semester, and you still can't get my name right? Am I really that invisible? Cathy! Cathy Kyashi! Hello!"

"Oh yeah, that's the name…." Kotori answered awkwardly as Cathy took several deep breaths and calmed down surprisingly quickly.

"If you can't remember my name, then perhaps my darlings should give you something to remember you by?" said Cathy, her voice shifting to a dark growl, the Number pulsing on her forehead, and the telltale hissing of the army of cats told Kotori she was one second away from following through with her threat.

"Wait a minute! What's this all about?!" she pleaded. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Of course you don't know what you did to me." Cathy growled bitterly. "How could you know what you've done when hardly anybody at school even knows I exist. It's my own fault really. I used to be so shy, such a wallflower, such a scaredy cat that I could never approach anybody, not even…. Well….

The mark of the Number pulsed again, and Cathy's anger returned. "But that didn't give any of you the right to treat me like I didn't exist, and then you crossed a line by stealing the boy who was rightfully mine. I saw him first, you thieving pack-rat! Yuma Tsukumo is MINE!"

"Oh? Ohhhhhhh!" Now it was Kotori's turn to blush, and it took several seconds for her brain to recover from the shock of seeing the subject of dating Yuma out in the open.

"This is about…. Ah…. well…. Uh…. I mean…. Cathy you've got it all wrong. Yuma and I are just good friends. You have just as much of a fair shot with him as any girl in the school."

Cathy wasn't buying it, and much as Kotori tried to hide it, she felt a pain in her chest from even attempting to say that about Yuma.

"Don't give me that!" Cathy snapped. "You have him wrapped around your little finger. Meow did you do it? Tell me right meow! Is that why you make him lunch every day? What kind of drugs did you put in his food to make him ignore me and go for somebody as worthless as you? You need to up the dosage, by the way, since you've been doing it for years and he still only sees you as just a friend."

"I did no such thing!" The word, worthless, got under Kotori's skin all too easily. "If you had just worked up the courage to talk to Yuma, he'd welcome you into his group of friends with open arms. Yuma's way too friendly to alienate anybody who's alone, so anything involving some conspiracy where I somehow tricked or forced Yuma into ignoring you is just that Number card of yours doing the talking. That thing is messing with your head, Cathy! You need help!"

The mark seemed to glow brighter in response to Kotori's attempt to reach Cathy, and the cat lover's dark laughter all but confirmed it was pointless. There was no reaching her anymore.

"Nya, Ha, Ha, Ha… but I have already been helped." she explained, stroking her forehead as if the mark was the most precious thing in the world. "Once I found this Num-Purr card, all of my purr-oblems vanished just like that. I no longer felt so shy. Meow, I feel I can have anything and everything I've ever wanted. Meow, I won't wait around for Yuma to notice me. Meow, I will take what is rightfully mine, and eliminate the competition along the way."

Cathy walked past her, seemingly done talking. "Now, you just stay here like a good hostage until the Ice Queen shows up. If you try to make even a step towards that door, my little furry friends will tear you to shreds."

The cats surrounding the two girls gave a collective hiss to confirm Cathy's threat.

"Once I defeat her and take her Num-Purrs, my widdle Yuma-Wuma will see that I'm the best duelist in Heartland City, and the only one worthy of standing at his side."

"Yuma's not going to stand for you having all those Numbers." Kotori warned her, before a random twinge of anger forced her to continue baiting her, especially after hearing Cathy's pet name for Yuma. "And he's not your Yuma! You can't force him to date you! Romance doesn't work like that!"

"I'm not going to force him, little mouse." Cathy explained. "I just need to make him understand what's best for him, that's all. I can't have my widdle Yuma-Wuma running around like a lost stray looking for Num-Purrs. That's too dangerous. After I take his Num-Purrs, he can stay safe and sound here in my Meownsion."

"You mean your mansion?"

"Yes that's what I said, my Meownsion." Cathy continued, completely unaware of the mispronunciation. "Here, he will be kept safe and sound, far away from where any of the other Num-Purrs could do him or his friends any harm. Meanwhile, I, Cathy, his beautiful savior, will go and collect all one hundred Num-Purrs for him. I'll present them to him as a token of my affection, and then….."

She wrapped her arms around herself, completely lost in her fantasy. "Then we'll get Meowied!"

"That's it! I've had enough!" Kotori shouted, snapping Cathy out of her lovesick dream in the process.

"Why bother waiting for Rio to get here if you think I'm the one responsible for every bad thing that's happened to you? If you have that much of a grudge against me, then duel me!"

"Duel you?" Cathy raised an eyebrow before reacting to Kotori's offer with mocking laughter.

"Nya, Ha Ha! That's a good one! You don't even have a Num-Purr for me to take, and even if you did, you wouldn't last three turns against me! I've been watching you duel, you know. You can't even last a few turns in a practice round. After all, your heart's not in it. We both know you don't actually want to play because you love the game. It's all just a means to an end to get with Yuma, so what chance do you think you have?"

Despite maintaining her resolve, Kotori had to admit the crazy cat lady had a point. She didn't have a Number. She didn't possess Yuma's boundless confidence or Rio's aptitude for strategy, and she was still quite inexperienced compared to her friends. Even Yuma, despite his tendency to act without thinking and make ridiculous mistakes, held the advantage of his invisible spirit partner giving him advice and helping him correct his bad habits. What could she do that her friends couldn't? The word, useless danced in the back of her brain like a parasitic worm.

And Yet…..

"You know what, Cathy." Kotori answered. "I think I have a pretty good chance. I can handle you just fine, and even if I don't, then I'll buy plenty of time before Yuma and Rio show up. Even if I lose, one of them can pick up where I left off, but I don't plan on losing. I'm going to beat you, Cathy and get that Number out of you!"

"Ha… are you hoping Yuma is going to come and watch you fail?" Cathy taunted. "Do you think you can win Yuma's affection by having him take pity on you like a lost little stray?"

"I'm not doing this for Yuma!" Kotori declared. "I'm doing this for me, so I can finally call myself a proper duelist, so I can actually pull my weight in my friend's mission to stop these Numbers from causing all this chaos, and most importantly, I'm doing this to help you, Cathy!"

Cathy paused, puzzled and briefly shaken by Kotori's bold speech. "For… for me?"

"I don't know you all that well, but I can tell you're not a bad person. Everything you're saying right now is that Number doing the talking."

Cathy's sudden moment of clarity disappeared, and her eyes sharpened into angry slits. "Don't lie to me, little mouse. I hated who I was, and I'm not going back. If you want to help anybody, then worry about yourself. I accept your challenge, Kotori, but I hope you realize you've made the biggest mistake of your life. When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left for Yuma to rescue.

Cathy activated her duel disk, while Kotori did the same, and the Number seemed to grow on her forehead, almost excited for the duel, seeing Kotori as nothing more than prey for her host to hunt and devour.

"And now…. " Cathy announced, her once soft voice now deep and threatening, the Number in full control.

"Now… Down comes the claw!"

Duel Gazer Set

Augmented Reality Vision Online

Kotori Mizuki: 4000 LP

Cathy Kyashi: 4000 LP

DUEL!

Before they could determine who would go first, Cathy beat Kotori to the punch.

"Worthless little mouse who's going second says what?"

"What?"

"Okay, thanks! I'll go first!" she quickly answered with a mischievous grin on her face.

"HEY!"

"I draw, and I already know what move I want to make! I will summon the first of my adorable army of kittens, my Stray Cat!"

Kotori was expecting something more threatening for Cathy's opening move. What appeared instead was a tiny white kitten. It had its back turned to Kotori, so she couldn't see its face, only its upright tail, which twitched from side to side like a metronome.

Stray Cat: Level 1/EARTH/Beast/100 ATK/300 DEF

"Oh no, but it looks like my poor little stray cat is all alone, so I'll activate its effect and special summon a second stray cat from my hand to keep it company, not that any of you understand what it's like to be alone!"

A black kitten appeared next to the white one, its back also turned.

"Two Level One Monsters." Kotori noted quietly. "Is she going for her Number already?"

"I set one card face down and end my turn." Cathy answered Kotori's question and left the green haired teen quite confused. She didn't even attempt to Xyz Summon. She just left two monsters with only one hundred attack points on the field, in attack position, on purpose.

"Wait. That's it?"

"Yes, that's it." Cathy replied.

Kotori's eyes darted from the field to her hand, and then back again, cursing under her breath as she couldn't make heads or tails of the logic in Cathy's move. One of the first things Rio taught her was how not every move was as straight forward as it appeared, and every duelist should assume their opponent is making each of their moves for a specific goal and purpose. If she couldn't figure out the purpose right away, then test the waters. Even so, this was her first duel with serious stakes. All it would take was one mistake, and Cathy could easily defeat her. Worse still, there was a Number on the line, and who knows what Cathy would do to her if she lost? Judging by the piercing eyes of the cats who seemed trained to not like her, she doubted she would make it through the night without getting covered head to toe in painful claw marks.

"What's wrong?" Cathy taunted, taking pleasure in the anxiety on Kotori's face. "You're not scared of two innocent, defenseless little kittens, are you? "

"NO!" Kotori snapped defensively. "I draw, and I'll start this duel by summoning Madolche Butlerusk!"

Madolche Butlerusk: Level 4/EARTH/Spellcaster/1500 ATK/800 DEF

Kotori's first monster appeared on the field, taking the form of a handsome young man with short brown hair wearing a black and white butler's uniform. In his left hand was a teapot and he appeared to be pouring a cup of tea for himself as if this was a fancy dinner party instead of a duel.

"When Butlerusk is summoned, I can add any field spell I want from my Deck to my hand. I choose Madolche Chateau, and I'll activate it right now. This card gives all Madolche monsters I control an extra five hundred attack and defense points."

As soon as Kotori placed the card on her duel disk, the entire interior of the mansion transformed before her eyes. The floor tiles were now puzzle piece shaped platforms made out of cookie dough, and behind Kotori arose something straight out of a Children's Fairy Tale, an entire castle made out of cake, gingerbread, and dozens of different sweets. The butler seemed quite at home here, and took a stance on one of the puzzle piece platforms. Meanwhile, every single one of the cats in the mansion stared at the castle with awe, collectively wondering if they could eat it.

Madolche Butlerusk: 2000 ATK/1300 DEF

Before Kotori could make her next move, the doors to the mansion burst open. The cavalry finally arrived and through the door raced another group of cats and a frantic looking Yuma with Rio following close behind.

"Alright, where are you?!" Yuma shouted, sounding angrier than Kotori had ever heard him before. "Show yourself and tell me what you did with….. OH!" He stopped mid-rant when he saw who was dueling, and his eyes lit up with excitement and relief. "Kotori, you're okay!"

"YUMA! RIO!" Kotori called out to her friends. "Don't worry, I'm fine!"

"Did you finally discover the location of our latest Number?" Astral inquired as he floated out of the key. "I sensed its presence a mere moment ago, and I….."

Astral's train of thought stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the audience of the duel did not consist of only humans. Immediately, the entire crowd of cats turned and looked at Astral, their beady unblinking eyes making the spirit dreadfully uncomfortable.

"More of those…. Creatures…. Yuma, why have you brought us here? I had no idea the Number would allow its holder to command an army of them. Perhaps we should retreat and…."

"Astral, I was joking earlier about cats! They can't hurt you!" Yuma chastised his partner, but Astral had greater concerns as he noticed there was already a duel in motion.

"Yuma, why is Kotori dueling the Number holder?" the spirit inquired. "I would have thought of her to wait until you arrived, seeing as she does not have a Number of her own. Surely she is aware that only a Number can destroy a Number. Without one, she is at a severe disadvantage."

"Kotori, what are you doing?" Rio asked, sharing Astral's sentiment. "Are you actually dueling the Number holder?"

"I've got it under control. The duel just started." Kotori tried to reassure her friends, but was convincing nobody.

"Hey, whoever you are, leave Kotori alone!" Yuma's anger at Kotori's kidnapping was still getting the better of him. "I'm the one you want! Duel me instead!"

"YUMA!" Kotori snapped at Yuma to silence him, although Yuma realized Kotori sounded less angry and more like Yuma personally hurt her feelings, which was much worse for him. "I'm the one who challenged her! I can do this!"

"But it's too dangerous!" Yuma protested. "You don't know what this Number holder is capable of, or what she might do to you if you lose."

"See, what did I tell you?" Cathy taunted from the other side of the room. "Your friends don't have much faith in you. They expected you to be begging for a rescue while they do all the work."

"I do have faith in her! She's a great duelist!" Yuma tried to renege on his statement, realizing he put his foot in his mouth. "It's just…. Well…. I don't want to see her get hurt because…. Well…. You know…."

"Your face is changing color, Yuma." Astral noted. "Are you ill, or is that a normal bodily function for humans?"

Yuma ignored Astral and desperately tried to find the right words. "Uh, I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I wasn't looking out for her?"

Rio stifled a chuckle before answering in a hushed whisper. "Oh, it's more than friendship that's causing Yuma to change color."

"RIO!" Yuma hissed, praying Kotori didn't hear what Rio said, and Yuma's reaction caused Rio to release her laughter all at once. Oblivious to Yuma's embarrassment, Astral treated the whole scene as another fascinating lesson on human nature.

"Interesting. Observation Number Ten: Some humans seem to display an unwillingness to admit that they are more than just friends with someone. Yuma, what does it mean to be more than friends with someone? Does the fact that we work together when we duel make us friends, or more than just friends?"

"ASTRAL!" Yuma screamed, unable to handle the embarrassment coming from two different people.

"What? What did Astral say?" Kotori wondered. "I hope he said you should stop worrying so much about me and let me duel. He is the smarter of the two of you, after all."

"What is this, pick on Yuma day?" An incredulous Yuma said, pulling his hair in the process. "At least let one of us join you. That way you can have a Number Monster backing you up against hers."

"Actually, I say we should let her finish the duel by herself." Rio interjected out of nowhere, causing Kotori's face to beam with gratitude and Yuma to stare at the ice queen as if she had lost her mind.

"If she wins, she can celebrate, and if she loses, she can learn from her mistakes and try again next time." Rio explained. "Isn't that how you handle defeat, Yuma? You don't fear losing, you just get back up and try again, and if Kotori loses, she should do the same thing."

Kotori could barely contain herself. "Rio….. thank you…." but the tender moment did not last. While everybody was debating amongst themselves about Kotori's capability as a duelist, Cathy's rage and envy were reaching explosive levels, until finally she could tolerate it no longer.

"Kotori this, Kotori that! Why does everybody keep ignoring me? Why can't you just forget about her and pay attention to me!"

Cathy's screaming finally diverted the attention of the three teenagers back to her.

"You know, I was wondering when you would come out of your shell, Cathy, but it's a shame it took a Number of all things to get you to boost your confidence instead of hiding every time I try to talk to you," said Rio.

"After I'm done teaching Kotori a lesson, you're next, Ice Queen." Cathy hissed vindictively. "Especially since you have Num-Purrs of your own to add to my collection. You think just because you're the best duelist in the school, you can get Yuma to worship the dirt you walk on? Well, after Yuma sees how strong I am, he'll change his opinion real quick."

"Wait, you know this crazy girl?" The name of the duelist was completely lost on Yuma, which sent Cathy flying into a rage once again.

"I am not crazy!" She shrieked. "You're crazy for not remem-purring my name!"

She stomped her feet like a child throwing a tantrum. "Wait until I beat this thieving little mouse. Then you'll be free from the spell she put you under and finally notice me!"

"How could I notice you if I've never met you before?" Yuma asked, earning an annoyed groan from Rio.

"You really need to pay more attention at school, Yuma, and I'm not just talking about your grades. I'm talking about the other students in your class besides Kotori, Tetsuo, and myself. Cathy has been in our class all semester. Yes, she's really quiet and sits in the back, but we see her every day."

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Yuma defended himself. "I just hang out with you guys every day and don't really get the chance to talk to anybody else very often."

"You mean you follow that evil witch, Kotori around as she bribes you with food and attention. It's like she's training you to be her dog. Fetch the Numbers and she'll reward you with treats! Not like me! I would treat you like a king!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Kotori shouted, regaining Cathy's attention. "If we're all in agreement that you're going to let me finish the duel, then can I please finish my turn?"

"I was about to say the same thing." Rio agreed. She walked forward to get a better view of the field.

"You're off to a good start, Kotori. Build up your field presence. Maintain an ability to recover and protect yourself, and you'll do fine. Don't let the fear of her Number Monster get to your head. Just figure out what her strategy is and adapt your own strategy accordingly."

"You make it sound like she's going to have an easy time against me." Cathy sneered. "I bet she would have never challenged me if she knew I was in last year's Nya-tional Championship Tournament!"

That was the last thing Yuma and Rio expected to hear, and it had the intended effect. Both Number holders felt their confidence waver and grew concerned for their friend once again.

"Wait, you actually qualified for the National Championship? You're that good?" Kotori asked.

"Of course I am! I may not have won the Nya-tionals, but I'm certainly out of your league."

Kotori seemed more confused than intimidated, although it appeared Cathy wasn't attempting to lie.

"But….. we all watched the Nationals on TV. We watched every duel. You weren't there, otherwise we would have seen your face and recognized you."

Cathy turned away and looked down at her shoes, blushing with embarrassment. "Well… it's… um…. It's a long story…."

"Wait, didn't your brother mention how his opponent in the first round of the nationals didn't show up?" Yuma asked the Ice Queen.

"Actually, he did!" Rio confirmed before putting two and two together. "Wait, that was you, Cathy?"

Cathy's face was now completely red. She growled and stomped her foot in frustration.

"I got stage fright, okay! Purr-forming in front of a large crowd turned me into a scaredy cat, so I forfeited the duel and ran home."

The Number on her forehead pulsed once again, adding fuel to her anger.

"But that's in the past. Thanks to my Number, I feel more confident than ever. Shy little Cathy is gone, and I'm done hiding in the shadows waiting to be noticed. Now I'm going to take what I want by force, so make your move, little mouse. Like any hungry cat, I want to play with my food before I devour it."

"You want food, then eat this!" Kotori shouted. "Butlerusk, attack her stray cat!"

The butler calmly poured more tea out of the pot, but then his eyes began to glow, and the tea water telekinetically rose from the cup and into the air, where it formed a swirling ball of boiling liquid.

"SCALDING SERVICE!" Kotori cried. If this attack connected, then Cathy would lose more than half her life points, but the mischievous grin on Cathy's face only grew wider.

"Oh? You want to do something so monstrous as to attack one of my poor defenseless little kittens? Fine! Go ahead with your act of animal cruelty…. If you can…."

The butler prepared to fire his attack at one of the cats, but suddenly it stopped. A look of confusion appeared on the butler's face as it attempted to aim its attack at one of the cats, but couldn't decide which one. Aimlessly, it pointed its attack at the white one, but then suddenly switched to the black one, and then back again. Confused beyond reasoning, the butler canceled his attack, and the tea floated back into the pot.

"Huh? What just happened?" Kotori asked, equally confused as her monster was. "You didn't have any trap cards to protect your cats, and you didn't activate an effect. How did you stop my attack?"

"Oh Nooooooooo! It's an attack lock!" Rio groaned. Having figured out Cathy's strategy, she covered her face with her hands, understanding just how difficult it would be for a beginner like Kotori to break a defense like that.

"An attack lock? What's that?" asked Kotori.

"I'm kinda stumped as well." Yuma confessed. "Why is that so bad?"

"It's quite simple." Cathy explained. "Stray Cat's effect states that as long as it's in attack mode, you cannot attack any of my other monsters, except itself. However, I have two stray cats on my field. The first one is protected by the second one, and vice versa. In other words, since I control two stray cats, you can't attack at all!"

"WHAT?!" shrieked Kotori.

"You need to take a few more lessons from the Ice Queen before you duel someone like me." Cathy taunted. "Run back to your little hole in the wall, little mouse."

"Not a chance! I'll move to my second main phase and activate the continuous spell, Madolche Ticket. You'll find out what it does later, but when I need it, this card will be my ticket to victory. Finally, I'll lay one more card face-down. Turn end."

"My turn again! Draw!" Cathy immediately played the card she drew. "You know something, I think two Stray Cats just isn't enough. These two little fur babies need another friend, so I'll activate the Inviting Cat spell card to add House Cat from my deck to my hand and then summon her to the field. She may not be cut out for the streets like my stray cats, but she more than makes up for it by being twice as adorable."

A third cat appeared on the field. This one was much larger than the two stray cats, its white fur coat longer and glossier. A red collar with a bow was wrapped around its neck and another red ribbon was tied at the end of its tail. Although this cat was facing towards Kotori, its face was covered with its paws, as if it was trying to hide.

House Cat: Level 2/EARTH/Beast/100 ATK/1000 DEF

"House Cat's effect activates. She can make one of her furry friends a little bit more comfortable by changing its level, so I'll change one of my Stray Cats into a Level 2 Monster."

"Okay, now she's definitely going to summon her Number." Rio affirmed, and Yuma agreed.

"Hang in there, Kotori!" He called. "Even if she summons her Number, you can still win this duel!"

"I meow overlay my Stray Cat and my House Cat! With these 2 Level 2 Monsters, I build the overlay network! XYZ SUMMON! NUM-PURR TWENTY-NINE! MANNEQUIN CAT!

The two cats leaped into the overlay network, and the sealed form of Cathy's Number appeared in the form of a black and white cube with a red ribbon wrapped around it like a christmas present. The box opened and reconfigured itself until it resembled a porcelain doll with short brown hair wearing a black leotard with white buttons and a red bell on her neck. A white tail protruded out of her back and swished gracefully from side to side, while a pair of black cat ears nestled top of her head, and a blue 29 lay glowing on her left thigh. The young girl raised her gloved hands into the air, her black gloves and boots resembling the fluffy paws of a cat, and began pawing the air like she was playing with an invisible butterfly, seemingly unaware of the duel going on.

Number 29 - Mannequin Cat: Rank 2/LIGHT/Beast/Xyz/2000 ATK/900 DEF

The bizarre appearance and behavior of the Number baffled the three teenagers.

"Wait, that's her Number Monster?" Rio exclaimed.

"Uhhhhh…. I was expecting something a little bit more… uh…. Threatening?" Kotori admitted, and both Cathy and the Number monster tilted their heads in confusion.

"What are you talking about? My Mannequin Cat is the scariest Num-Purr of them all! Just look at how fierce she is."

"Ha Ha Ha… fierce as a marshmallow maybe." Yuma laughed. "Hey, Rio. It's a good thing you didn't duel her. Your deck is full of birds!" Astral on the other hand had no intention of judging this Number at face value.

"This monster is just like her stray cats. Its non-threatening appearance makes it seem harmless, but I'm certain it has an effect that will make this already difficult battle even harder. Kotori cannot afford to underestimate whatever power this Number possesses."

Sure enough, Cathy did not hesitate to demonstrate what her Number was capable of.

"Summoning an Xyz Monster allows me to activate this card, the trap, Stray Curse! Since a monster was special summoned while I control Stray Cat, I can send one monster on the field with less original attack points than the special summoned monster straight to the Graveyard."

Her lips curled upward as she continued her explanation. "And I'm well aware of how your Madolche monsters work. They return to the deck when they are destroyed, but this card sends it straight to the Graveyard without destroying it, so you don't get to recycle your monster. Fur-thermore, you meow take damage equal to half your Butlerusk's original attack points!"

The tiny cat turned to face Kotori, and she soon realized why it had its face hidden before. The seemingly innocent cat sported nightmarish looking red eyes along with predatory jaws that belonged to a tiger instead of a normal cat. Growling like a demon, it unleashed a sinister wave of dark energy towards the butler, who dropped his teapot in surprise, recoiling from the pain of the curse before shattering. The shadows continued forward to strike Kotori in the chest, who winced as her life points dropped.

Kotori: 4000 - 750 = 3250

"Oh no! Now she's wide open for a direct attack!" said Rio, a fearful sentiment Yuma shared.

"Actually, my Stray Curse prevents me from attacking during the turn I activate its effect, so instead I'll use my Num-Purr for something more interesting than just attacking like a mongrel dog. Mannequin Cat's effect activates! By detaching one overlay unit, I can special summon one monster from your Graveyard back to your field, so I'll be a good little kitten and give your Butlerusk back to you!"

Mannequin Cat extended her paws forward, and ten puppet strings extended from her fingers and into the ground, pulling Butlerusk out of the ground, who seemed quite surprised to be alive and on the field.

Kotori raised an eyebrow, and then turned around to look at Rio, hoping her mentor could figure out why Cathy would resurrect her opponent's monster, but Rio was equally confused.

"Don't look at me! I have no idea what's going on." she admitted. "You removed Kotori's monster from the field, just so you could bring it back? What are you planning, Cathy?"

"Watch and learn, and I'll show you!" Cathy replied. "I activate Mannequin Cat's second effect. When a monster is special summoned to my opponent's side of the field, I can special summon any monster I want to my side of the field, as long as it has the same type or attribute as my opponent's monster. Since your Madolche Butlerusk is an earth monster, I can special summon another Stray Cat from my deck since Stray Cat is an earth monster as well.

As a small gray tabby appeared next to the porcelain cat girl, Kotori groaned at the mere sight of it.

"Oh No! Now the attack lock is back on."

"Yes, and as long as I have my precious little darlings protecting me, you can't even touch me, little mouse. I set one final card face-down and end my turn."

"Kotori needs to get that Number off the field as soon as possible." Astral advised. "It may have below average attack points for a Number, but the longer it stays on the field, the more opportunities Cathy will have to build up her field with more monsters. On her next turn, it is quite possible she will use Mannequin Cat to summon something even more dangerous."

"But Kotori can't destroy that thing by battle since she doesn't have any Number monsters in her deck." added Yuma. "So how can she get rid of it?"

"If she has learned anything I taught her, then she will figure something out." Rio reassured them.

"My turn!" Kotori announced. "Draw! I summon Madolche Anjelly to the field."

Kotori's next monster emerged from the chateau behind her and took the form of a beautiful young girl with long brown hair and a white petticoat dress. Several molds of gelatin orbited around her body like the moons of a planet.

Madolche Anjelly: Level 4/EARTH/Fairy/1000 ATK/1000 DEF

"Anjelly's effect activates! I tribute her to special summon one Madolche monster from my deck, so say goodbye to Anjelly and say hello to Madolche Hootcake."

The young girl vanished, and another puzzle piece platform carrying a sweets themed monster emerged from the doors of the chateau, a brown owl dressed in a blue tuxedo and a red bowtie. The flat brown hat on its head vaguely resembled a pancake.

Madolche Hootcake: Level 3/EARTH/Beast/1500 ATK/1300 DEF

"And now Hootcake's effect activates! I can banish one monster from my Graveyard to special summon another Madolche monster from my deck, so I'll banish Anjelly to special summon Madolche Messengelato."

Once again, another puzzle piece emerged from the doors, and a more human looking duel monster entered the battlefield, positioning himself next to the owl. He was dressed in the attire of a postal worker with a brown suit and cap, and a green delivery bag strapped on his back. Quite fittingly, a mailbox made out of gingerbread and gelato ice cream stood on the corner of the puzzle piece.

Madolche Messengelato: Level 3/EARTH/Spellcaster/1600 ATK/1400 DEF

"Messengelato's effect activates! I can add one spell or trap card with the word, Madolche, in its name from my deck to my hand. I will choose the continuous spell card, Madolche Salon! This card lets me conduct a second normal summon this turn, as long as I summon a Madolche monster, so I'll summon Madolche Baaple."

The doors of the chateau opened one final time, conjuring another puzzle piece. On the platform rested a large sheep whose wool appeared to be made of white vanilla paste and its orange head and limbs resembled the color and texture of sweet caramel.

Madolche Baaple: Level 3/EARTH/Beast/0 ATK/1800 DEF

"And don't forget! Thanks to Madolche Chateau, all of my monsters receive a five hundred point bonus to their attack and defense points!"

Hootcake: 2000 ATK/1800 DEF

Messengelato: 2100 ATK/1500 DEF

Butlerusk: 2000 ATK/1300 DEF

Baaple: 500 ATK/2300 DEF

Cathy was unimpressed. "What could you Paw-sibly do with three weak monsters like that?"

"I'll show you! Baaple's effect activates! It can change itself to defense mode, and then it can switch one of your monsters to defense mode as well. I'll target the gray stray cat."

As the sheep assumed a defensive crouching position, a cardboard box appeared behind the gray tabby. Sensing a place of refuge, the cat hopped inside, leaving only its swishing tail exposed.

Cathy's eyes widened in surprise, causing Kotori to smirk. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"I figured out your attack lock. Stray Cat's effect only works if it's in attack mode, so if one of them is in defense mode, it can't protect its little friend, meaning I can attack it!"

"YES!" Yuma cheered. "Finally, she can make some progress in this duel, and that cat only has one hundred attack points, so this attack is going to hurt!"

"I am impressed." Astral admitted. "Kotori discovered a flaw in Cathy's seemingly impenetrable defense entirely on her own."

"BATTLE! Messengelato, attack the white stray cat! SPECIAL DELIVERY!"

The mailman picked up a suspicious looking package from his mail bag and tossed it at the white cat. The stray turned around, revealing its demonic face once more. It snarled at the incoming package, which exploded on contact like a grenade.

"MY KITTY!" Cathy screamed as her life points took a massive hit from the attack. The blue 29 on her forehead seemed to react with the same level of anger, and a dark aura surrounded the cat duelist.

Cathy: 4000 - 2000 = 2000

"You've done it now!" Cathy growled. "Now you're going to pay for hurting one of my babies! Stray Cat's effect activates! When you destroy Stray Cat by battle, I'm allowed to special summon Monster Cat from my deck!"

From the ashes where the stray cat once stood, a sinister purple flame appeared in the ground. The flame grew larger, engulfing Cathy's entire field, until it took the shape of a gigantic purple cat with glowing red eyes and a transparent body which flickered like a candle.

Monster Cat: Level 1/DARK/Beast/0 ATK/0 DEF

"WOAH! What kind of cat is that?" Yuma exclaimed.

"A surprise hidden behind a surprise." Rio commented, in awe of the monster and visibly disturbed by its frightening appearance. "Damn it." she cursed. "I should have known this would happen. I was thinking so hard about the attack lock, I didn't warn Kotori to be careful about any floating effects those stray cats might have."

"Rio, it's okay!" Kotori called back to her. "You said you'd let me do this on my own. It was my mistake, so whatever this monster does, I'll pay the consequences and pray I survive."

"Oh, you're going to pay for it alright." Cathy taunted, her lips sprouting a cruel smirk. "And then you'll pray for mercy! Monster Cat's effect activates. When it's special summoned by the effect of Stray Cat, I can destroy every level four or lower monster on your side of the field, and then you take eight hundred points of damage for each monster you lost. Last time I checked, all four of your monsters fit that Cat-egory, so that means you lose all of them."

"OH NO! KOTORI!" Yuma cried. He then attempted to calculate in a panicked state just how bad of a hit this would be for his friend.

"Wait, so four monsters were destroyed, and eight hundred damage for each, so she loses….. uh…"

"Thirty-Two hundred life points." Rio answered for him, causing Yuma to lose his composure completely.

"THIRTY-TWO HUNDRED LIFE POINTS? WHAT?!"

The ghostly cat loomed over the four Madolche monsters and let out a frightening roar, sending sound waves out of its mouth which shattered all four monsters and forced Kotori to the ground.

Kotori: 3250 - 3200 = 50

"She reduced Kotori's lifepoints to fifty and completely cleared her field with a single move." whispered Astral in awe. "Cathy really is a powerful duelist."

"Agreed." Rio admitted. "She could have given my brother a run for his money had she actually chosen to duel him in the Nationals."

Cathy was reveling in her success and couldn't resist the urge to mock Kotori even further.

"Awwww, what's wrong, little mouse? Is my Monster Cat too Meow-erful for you to handle?"

"I can handle your stupid cats." Kotori rebuffed as she regained her balance.

"What I can't handle is you constantly spouting off cat puns! Cut it out!"

"Awww, but I can't help it! It's part of my Purr-sonality!" Cathy taunted.

Kotori rolled her eyes, choosing to simply ignore her horrible sense of humor and push herself forward.

"Even though you destroyed my monsters, my three spell cards activate their effects. The effect of Madolche Chateau returns all of my destroyed monsters to my hand. Madolche Ticket adds a new monster from my deck to my hand, and then Madolche Salon lets me set a new Madolche spell or trap card directly from my deck. I'll end my turn with one more card face-down in my back row."

"Awwww, poor little mouse." Cathy continued to rub salt on Kotori's wounds. " All that effort to destroy just one of my kitties, and you've lost all your monsters and most of your life points. Are you sure you don't want to give up?"

"I'm never giving up! Now make your move you crazy old cat lady!" Kotori snapped.

"Fine! My turn! I activate Monster Cat's second effect! Once Purr turn, I can target a Stray Cat that's in my Graveyard and add it to my hand. Next, I'll summon the Stray Cat I just added back."

Kotori's annoyance reached new heights at the sight of yet another stray cat on the field.

"COME ON! The attack lock, again?!"

"Next, I activate the continuous spell, Cat Meeting! Once Purr turn, this spell card allows me to special summon one beast type monster with five hundred or less attack points from my deck as long as I control Stray Cat. I think I'll special summon another copy of House Cat, and this time I will use her effect to change both herself and my Monster Cat into Level Four Monsters."

"Another Xyz Summon?" Kotori immediately went on edge as she saw the House Cat return to the field. As if Cathy's Number Monster was bad enough, now she was going to support it with something just as dangerous.

"I meow overlay my House Cat and Monster Cat! With these 2 Level 4 Monsters, I build the overlay network! XYZ SUMMON! SHOW YOURSELF, CAT GIRL MAGICIAN!"

The two felines disappeared into the summoned portal, and from the overlay network emerged not another cat, but a beautiful woman with long black hair tied in a ponytail. While the witch appeared mostly human, she possessed the golden eyes and whiskers of a cat. She was clothed in a black minidress with red thigh high boots and an oversized red witch's hat which possessed two points on top to resemble cat ears and gold eye marks on the rim to resemble cat eyes. She twirled a long staff in her hands with a golden crystal ball at the tip, and then sat on it, allowing it to float in the air and serve as a traditional witch's broom.

Cat Girl Magician: Rank 4/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Xyz/2000 ATK/1200 DEF

Not wanting to take any chances, Kotori immediately moved to solve the problem of her field being empty.

"I activate my trap card, Madolche Palooza! This lets me summon as many Madolche monsters as I want from my hand, but they go back to my deck during the end of my turn. Next, I'll chain my second set card to the activation of Madolche Palooza! I activate Emergency Provisions! This lets me get rid of as many spell or trap cards as I want to gain one thousand life points for each of them. I send Madolche Ticket, Madolche Salon, and Madolche Palooza to the Graveyard to gain three thousand life points."

Kotori: 50 + 3000 = 3050

As the two monsters materialized to defend Kotori, and her life points skyrocketed back up to a healthy level, Cathy grew visibly annoyed.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you? I'll just have to play more aggressively then to put you in your place. I activate the equip spell, Catnip Turbine! I equip this to my Mannequin Cat to increase her attack points by twelve hundred. However, she cannot attack your monsters."

A sudden gust of wind carrying a cluster of green herbs spiraled around Mannequin Cat, and as soon as the Number monster smelled the herbs, her pupils dilated, her cheeks blushed with heat, and she collapsed to the ground, rolling around on her back, completely consumed by the narcotic euphoria.

Mannequin Cat: 2000 + 1200 = 3200 ATK

"Just when I thought she would stop making really weird moves, she does that." Yuma exclaimed, growing frustrated at how hard it was to follow what Cathy was doing. "Why power up a monster if she can't attack Kotori's monster with it? It makes no sense."

"Yes it does, Yuma." Rio assured him. "I do it all the time with my Blizzard Falcon. Attack points can be used for other things besides destroying monsters."

"True!" Cathy confirmed. "You are a good teacher, Ice Queen. It's just too bad you chose such a worthless student. Now let me show you what I have planned. Cat Girl Magician's effect activates! By detaching one overlay unit, I can target one of my monsters and cut its attack points in half for the turn, but now it can bypass your monsters and attack directly."

"WHAT?!"

Mannequin Cat: 3200 / 2 = 1600 ATK

Battle! Mannequin Cat, attack Kotori directly! PURR-PLEXING POUNCE!"

Cathy's Number Monster suddenly rose to her feet, her innocent and nonthreatening demeanor gone. Eyes red with malicious fury, and with dagger like claws protruding from her gloves, she dropped on all fours and charged forward before knocking Kotori to the ground and swiping at her face and chest. Kotori screamed in pain from the aggressive mauling, and once the Number Monster was satisfied with her work, she backflipped over to Cathy's side of the field like an acrobat.

Kotori: 3050 - 1600 = 1450

"Kotori, are you alright?" Yuma cried out in fear.

Rio merely stared at the field, silently praying her student would recover from the assault.

"I'll be fine!" Kotori grunted, her breath heavy as she struggled to get up.

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet! I forgot to mention my Cat Girl Magician's effect is not once per turn, so I will detach her second overlay unit to use her effect on herself. Now she can attack you directly as well.

"NO! Not again!" cried Yuma.

"Battle! Cat Girl Magician, attack Kotori directly! DARK CAT-ACLYSM!"

The witch cackled with laughter and fired a blast of dark energy from her staff, sending Kotori back to the ground mere seconds after she recovered from the first attack.

Kotori: 1450 - 1000 = 450

"Just admit it, little mouse. Without a Num-Purr of your own, you're nothing! You'll never be as strong as Yuma, and you'll never be worthy of standing by his side the way I am. I end my turn, and since I have done so, both of your Madolche monsters return to your hand, leaving your field empty again."

Kotori staggered back to her feet and stared at the two feline Xyz Monsters, along with the two stray cats protecting them. She may have survived this round, but the odds she could turn the duel in her favor seemed overwhelmingly low. Even if she managed to summon a monster strong enough to overpower one of them, the stray cats prevented her from attacking. Worse still, her desperate attempt to stay in the game forced her to get rid of her Salon, meaning it would be much more difficult to get enough monsters on the field to perform an Xyz Summon. She couldn't live with herself if she quit, but she had no idea what to do.

"Kotori, listen to me!" Rio's command snapped Kotori out of her stupor, and she turned to face her mentor. "You don't need to destroy a monster by battle to remove it from the field."

"Quiet, Elsa!" snapped Cathy. "Nobody likes a backseat duelist."

"I don't need to be a backseat duelist." Rio argued. "Kotori can do this all on her own, and she won't need a Number to do it."

Yuma was still worried, but he knew Kotori needed his support more than ever. "Rio's right! The duel isn't over until it's over

"I can do this…. KATTOBINGU DAZE ORE!" Reciting Yuma's motto, she drew her final card.

"Alright! I'm about to take away all nine of your Number Monster's lives, Cathy, so get ready! Since I control no monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand, Madolche Petingcessour!"

Another humanoid of the kingdom of sweets emerged from the doors of the chateau on a puzzle piece platform, resembling a little girl no older than five with short blonde hair, wearing a white and brown dress with a green bow around her waist. Several heart shaped cakes and pastries surrounded her on her platform.

Madolche Petingsessour: Level 4/EARTH/Fairy/1400 ATK/1400 DEF

"Madolche Petingsessour's effect activates. When she is special summoned, I can summon another Madolche monster from my deck. Meet Madolche Puddingcess!"

A second puzzle piece appeared next to Petingcessour and the two connected together as a second female monster appeared on the field. She resembled Petingcessour in appearance, almost like an older sibling. Her blond hair was much longer and her dress was much more regal looking, the frills of the dress on her shoulders and skirt area resembling the frosting of a vanilla cake.

Madolche Puddingcess: Level 5/EARTH/Fairy/1000 ATK/1000 DEF

"Finally, I'll use my normal summon to bring a furry friend of my own to the field. Meet Madolche Cruffsaint."

A third puzzle piece connected to the other two as the third Madolche joined the battle, taking the form of a King Charles Spaniel puppy wearing a pink collar and a green top hat. The puppy let out a few playful barks, while the four cats and Cathy herself immediately hissed in anger at the sight of a dog."

"Typical you would use a mongrel dog to bail you out of trouble." Cathy sneered. "But all your monsters have different levels. No Xyz Summoning for you."

Madolche Cruffsant: Level 3/EARTH/Beast/1500 ATK/1200 DEF

"That's where you're wrong! Madolche Cruffsaint's effect activates! I return Madolche Chateau to my hand in order to increase its level by one and its attack points by three hundred. Furthermore, since I have no monsters in my Graveyard, my Puddingcess gains eight hundred attack points as well."

Madolche Puddingcess: 1000 + 800 = 1800 ATK

Madolche Cruffsant: 1500 + 500 = 2000 ATK (Level 4)

"I now overlay Cruffsaint and Petingsessour! With these 2 Level 4 Monsters, I build the overlay network!"

"XYZ SUMMON! APPEAR, MADOLCHE QUEEN TIARAMISU!"

The candy castle disappeared, returning the duelists to the interior of Cathy's mansion as the girl and dog transformed into overlay units. From the portal arose a beautiful older woman with short gray hair sitting on an ornate golden throne. Her dress was gold like honey, and her cloak brown like chocolate. The collar of her attire was ruffled and high in the back. She twirled a small scepter in her hands, its rod chocolate brown with two golden horns curved at the tip.

Madolche Queen Tiaramisu: Rank 4/EARTH/Fairy/Xyz/2200 ATK/2100 DEF

"Finally, I will re-activate my Madolche Chateau Field Spell, giving my queen and princess with five hundred extra attack points."

Madolche Queen Tiaramisu: 2200 + 500 = 2700 ATK

Madolche Puddingcess: 1800 + 500 = 2300 ATK

"Go ahead and make them as meow-erful as you want." Cathy taunted. "My stray cats are on the field, so you still can't attack."

"What a coincidence." Kotori replied with a triumphant smirk on her face, causing Cathy's arrogant bravado to waver. "I just so happen to have a way to get rid of your stray cats once and for all! Madolche Queen Tiaramisu's effect activates! I detach both of her overlay units, and then I return both of the monsters I detached to my deck. After that, I can return any two of your cards to your deck, so I'll get rid of both of your stray cats and shut down that attack lock once and for all! GO! JUST DESSERTS!"

Standing up from her throne, the queen waved her scepter in a spiral motion, conjuring a gale of rose colored wind around the two stray cats, sending them flying into the air where they disappeared out of sight.

"Now, battle! Madolche Puddingcess, attack her Cat Girl Magician! SWEET BLAST!"

The princess grabbed one of the cakes resting on her puzzle piece and tossed it at the witch, where it exploded on contact, turning the witch to ash.

Cathy: 2000 - 300 = 1700

"Alright, not bad." Cathy confessed through bitter, gritted teeth. "Maybe you're not as weak of a duelist as I thought you were. The Ice Queen taught you well, but without a Number, you'll never be strong enough to make a difference. Look! My Number's still on the field, and she's not going anywhere."

But Cathy's taunting only made Kotori's smile grow wider. "Don't you get tired of being wrong all the time, Cathy?"

"What….what are you talking about?" stuttered Cathy, growing worried that Kotori actually possessed the means to destroy her Number.

"Madolche Puddingcess now activates her effect! After she battles a monster, she can destroy one card on the field, and the card I choose to destroy is Number 29: Mannequin Cat!"

"NOOOOOO!" Cathy wailed. "MY NUM-PURR!"

The princess tossed another cake in Cathy's direction. Her Number yelped and tried to run away, but it was no use. The explosive pastry struck the porcelain doll in the back, shattering her on impact, and reducing Cathy to a state of pure panic. The gray haired girl was sweating bullets and shaking like a leaf from witnessing her precious Number reduced to nothing.

"Now…. wait a minute, Kotori. Let's talk about this! Hear Meowt! I Purr-Pose a Cease-Fur! If you just Fur-Feit the duel and let me take Rio and Yuma's Num-Purrs, I'll gladly give you one so we can share! Wouldn't you like that? Your very own Num-Purr? Just… call off your attack! Please? Purr-etty Please?"

Kotori was having none of it.

"No! More! Cat! Puns!"

"BATTLE! Madolche Queen Tiaramisu, attack Cathy directly and end this duel! SWEET STORM!"

The Queen conjured another gale and sent it billowing towards Cathy.

"NOOOOOO! YOU'VE GOTTA BE KITTEN ME!" Cathy screamed as the gale sent her flying into the air, where she tumbled to the ground and fell unconscious.

Cathy: 1700 - 2200 - 0 (LOSE)

WINNER - KOTORI

"She…. she did it…" Yuma whispered in amazement before losing his ability to contain himself.

"KOTORI, YOU WON! That was amazing! You were amazing!"

Rio maintained her composure, nothing more than a small proud smile on her face. "I never doubted her for a second. She just needed to have more faith in herself."

Kotori blushed from the attention and praise she received. "Well, I did have a good teacher." she complimented Rio, to which the Ice Queen gave an exaggerated bow. Kotori's blush deepened as she made eye contact with Yuma. "And… well…. A good source of inspiration."

"Oh no! Don't get inspired by me and start doing what I do!" Yuma jokingly pleaded. "Then you'll never win another duel ever again and just make a fool of yourself, and unlike me, you don't have an invisible spirit partner bailing you out of trouble."

All three friends shared a laugh together.

Meanwhile, the impact of the fall forced a glowing circular object out of Cathy's chest, the blue 29 on her forehead disappearing and reappearing on the orb.

Kotori noticed the glow and turned around to face Cathy again. Her eyes fixated on the Number, temptation entering her heart once again. It was right there, right for the taking. If she took it, she could finally have her own Number. Surely she was strong enough to resist its effects if she defeated its previous owner without possessing a Number of her own. Surely it wouldn't hurt to try to take it?

Would it?

"Oh no! It's going back inside Cathy" Rio shouted, snapping Kotori out of her trance. "Astral! Grab it!"

Astral wasted no time and extended his arm, causing the Number to float towards him, where he caught it in his hand. The spirit shot Rio a suspicious glare.

"You allowed me to take the Number? Why? I am surprised you did not attempt to take it for yourself."

Rio returned the glare, annoyed with the spirit's attitude. "I'm not going to take the Number for myself if I didn't earn it myself." she explained. "Besides, I'm not really a cat person."

Astral did not expect an answer like that and was left unsure of how to respond, so he simply focused on the Number and studied the memory. What he saw greatly unnerved him. He saw it once again, his home, the Astral World, but soon the peace of the spiraling blue galaxy in his mind was disturbed by a barrage of red missiles, creating several violent explosions. One final vision depicted a strange humanoid figure pointing at him, and just like that, the memory ended and Astral returned to the waking world.

Yuma immediately noticed his friend's distress. "What's wrong, Astral? What was in the memory?"

"This memory inside the Number….. Astral World…. My home…. It is in grave danger. Either it is under attack or suffering from some sort of disaster, but once again the memory is incomplete. I do not know who or what is responsible, nor do I know how much time I have left to complete my mission and save my home."

"Did you see anything else?" Yuma asked.

"Yes, a man covered in radiant golden armor. I believe he is the leader of my people, the ruler of the Astral World. The memory did not tell me his name, but I believe he was the one who sent me on my mission to save the Astral World from…." he paused. "... whatever is threatening it. I wish this memory could tell me more."

"Well, we'll just have to find more Numbers so you can learn more," said Yuma supportively.

A groaning noise alerted everybody to Cathy's condition. Several of her cats had circled her, meowing with worry and rubbing against her face. They backed away as Cathy woke up.

"What…. What happened?" she whispered. She picked up her glasses and put them on, and as she regained her vision, she took notice of the people in front of her, particularly Yuma.

"Oh, I'm having that dream again." a blissful smile sprouted on her face, only to immediately disappear when Kotori rushed over to her, extending her hand to help her up.

"Cathy, are you okay?" the green haired girl asked. Cathy gave a very confused nod and reluctantly took Kotori's hand. Feeling the touch of the girl she envied, her mind became more focused, and as she took one final look at Yuma and it suddenly dawned on her.

"I'm not dreaming!" She gasped, and her face turned bright red, her body shaking like a leaf.

"Y-Y-Y-Yuma's in my h-h-h-house! Yuma's in my house!" she shrieked, her introverted brain overloading and reducing her to a state of complete panic. Her immediate instinct was to run and hide, and so she let go of Kotori's hand and sprinted up the stairs.

"Wait, Cathy! You don't need to run away! You were awesome tonight!" Yuma called out to her, stopping the girl in her tracks. Cathy's heart was beating too fast for her to handle. Yuma was actually talking to her. He knew her name. He knew she existed.

He thought she was…..

"What? What do you mean?" she asked, too stunned to believe what she was hearing.

"You and Kotori had one of the best duels I've ever seen!" Yuma explained, grinning from ear to ear. "You almost beat her, and after what I saw, I guarantee you had a shot to win the nationals!"

"R-R-Really?" tears began streaming from Cathy's face. It was too good to be true. It had to be.

"No I mean it!" Yuma continued. "If I had known you were that good of a duelist, I would have invited you to join us for dueling practice months ago!"

"Yuma, are you sure this is a good idea?" Kotori whispered in Yuma's ear.

"What are you talking about?" Yuma asked, having no idea why Kotori would have a problem with Cathy joining their group. "She can totally hang out with us!"

"Actually, I agree with Yuma." Rio gave her vote and cast a knowing smirk at Kotori. "I'm more than happy to welcome Cathy into our friend group. Besides, if Cathy is with us, then she might encourage Kotori to finally do something she's always wanted to do."

"Yeah, become so strong of a duelist that even the pros will be scared of her!" Yuma replied, completely oblivious to the truth and the growing blush on Kotori's face.

"RIO!" she screamed, causing the Ice Queen to burst out laughing. Meanwhile, Cathy could no longer contain herself and she descended the stairs to join her new friends, tears of joy cascading down her face. Even the cats seemed to be interested in socializing, as they began rubbing against the legs of Cathy's new friends, purring with approval.

Astral watched the entire spectacle from afar, a small smile of his own creeping onto his face.

"Observation Number Eleven: Cats are quite misunderstood. On the surface, they appear to be selfish and make poor companions. They are quite slothful, gluttonous, and they never do as they are told, only acting in accordance to their own desires. However, it seems that if one earns their trust, gets them to open up, and tries to understand them, even if it takes a long time to do so, one can discover that cats can make excellent companions."

"I wonder if Yuma was a cat in a past life?"

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Author Made Cards:

House Cat: Level 2/EARTH/Beast/100 ATK/1000 DEF

Effect: Once per turn, You can target 1 Beast Monster with 500 or less ATK; declare a Level from 1-4, and if you do, both this card and the targeted monster become that level. You cannot special summon monsters from the Extra Deck the turn you use this effect, except Beast or Spellcaster Xyz Monsters.

Stray Curse: Normal Trap Card

Effect: If a Monster is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck while you control a Beast Monster with 500 or less ATK, send 1 Monster your opponent controls to the GY with equal or less ATK than the Special Summoned Monster, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half that monster's original ATK. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase during the turn you activate this effect.

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And there you have it! Another Chapter wrapped up and a new character introduced!

Yes, for those of you who remember Kotori's old deck in the original Ice Queen Cometh, I'm afraid she won't be using Storm Warriors.

Blame Duel Links. Using Madolches in Duel Links with Kotori as the character of choice felt so right to me.

Also, since Kotori follows the same tropes as Anzu/Tea in the original Yu-Gi-Oh, giving her a passion for cooking the same way Tea had a passion for dancing also felt right. Not every Yu-Gi-Oh character should have dueling as their only hobby, right?

So what did you think of the chapter? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Whatever your opinion is, feel free to leave a review and let me know!

Until Next Time! This is NOX, SIGNING OUT!