Yu-Gi-Oh: The Six Avatars (re-write)

[Shuppet Master]

This was a really nifty chapter, especially when Forte got shot in the foot. He should know better than to think that he's a god.

[jkBAKURA]

Hmm. I've been skimming this story before, and I can't say that I really understand it yet. I really want to though.

Some of the names are a bit distracting. The last time I saw the name Forte attached to a villain, the character was litterally and evil pipe organ.

I understand enough to know that the duels are well thought out, and the characterisation is deep, and well thought out.

I'll go back and read some more, and hopefully pick up more the second time around.

Good work though.

[Neo Arkadia]

Personally enjoyed the chapter. It was a good decent solid duel, with a few good solid swings from Forte and Karmov. The small squadron of soldiers Karmov had seemed a bit much, but the shooting of Forte's foot was relatively bold and interesting. And the choice of the Soviet Russia joke was good.

Overall, the story, despite any mechanical issues in the duel, has been a rather good yarn so far. A little weak in some areas, but I mostly leave this up to it being the 1st quarter, so to speak, but Forte's bad boy personality and Reece's snarkniness really keep the story flowing very smoothly over all, despite some occasional rough bumps.

Also, as to Machiners Force, my research says he tributes himself for the three Machiners popping back out, so MC was correct in that regard.

Covington* itself was also correct on summoning him from the deck OR Hand. It can be summoned from either location, or it'd be a frankly more horrid nomi. @@;

Oh yeah. Mystic, you were correct on Covington's name. Covington is from the Yu-Gi-Oh! R Manga, which is itself a notorious user of Intel Micro-Processor code names (Espically for most if not all of the 13 Card Professors guarding Kaiba Corp.). Covington itself takes its name from an Intel Micro-Processor, which takes its name from a town in Washington, USA. ^^;

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 11: Cruise Ship Shinobi

The corridor was dimly lit, casting a sense of uneasiness to anyone walking down it. However, this seemed to have no effect on the four people making their way down it.

“So,” Orion piped up, curiously, “Who exactly is this guy?”

Gabriel didn’t even look up as Eurydice wheeled him down the corridor.

“Have you heard of the duellist Walter Cedar?”

Orion tapped his chin in thought.

“I think I saw his name in a magazine once.”

“He was the former English champion,” the youth spoke up.

Gabriel nodded.

“That’s exactly right Lea,” he said, “Walter was the English Champion some years back. He was known for never playing the same deck twice. Whether it was drastically altering his old one, or constructing a brand new one. This element of surprise was his key to victory.”

“So, what happened to him?” Orion questioned, “You said he was the FORMER champion.”

Gabriel closed his eyes.

“He was betrayed. His own lover began selling the secrets of his decks to his opponents. They were able to find out what they were up against and adjust their decks accordingly. At first, Walter just thought that his loss was due to an inferior deck. But his losses kept stacking until it was virtually the end of his pro-duelling career.”

“Man, that’s gotta suck.”

“Yes, it did. Naturally, when he found out, he flew into a wild rage and attacked her. If he wasn't apprehended, he most likely would have killed her. He developed an almost psychotic case of Misogyny while in prison.”

“What?”

“It’s a hatred of women,” Lea spoke up.

“Correct again Lea,” Gabriel continued, “Anyway, he was transferred to a psychiatric ward tell help cure this. I managed to pull some strings and have him transferred here.”

Orion stopped.

“You mean he’s here? Why?”

Gabriel chuckled softly.

“Despite his insanity, he’s still an excellent duelist, and someone who can come in handy in a situation like this.”

The four stopped in front of an iron door. There was a small glass window, allowing them to see in. Gabriel looked up at Eurydice.

“You’d best wait out here.”

The woman nodded as Lea took over wheeling Gabriel. Orion pulled open the door and the three entered. The room was completely bare, the only point of interest being the man huddled in the corner.

His arms wear bound by a straight jacket, wearing a pair of white pants and was shoeless. His head hung forward, his long, thinning pale blonde hair covering his face.

“Hello Walter.”

At the mention of his name, the man looked up. His feral, yellow eyes meeting with Gabriel’s.

“We have a little job for you.”

--------------~*~--------------

Forte sighed with content as he laid back on the deck chair. Finally, a chance to rest and relax after a tiring day. The severe pain in his foot had died down to a bearable level, as long as he didn’t do anything with it.

Meanwhile, Reece was sitting on another deck chair next to him, talking to a bunch of Japanese girls and answering their questions regarding Australia. Originally, they were asking Forte too, but he told them to simply direct their questions to the red head next to him.

“Yes, Australia is a nice country, although it gets as hot as hell down there. No, it’s not possible to get a koala for a pet. However, there are places where you cans see them and even pet them. Oh really? Well, if you’re ever in South Australia, look us up.”

Forte chuckled softly as he closed his eyes and hoped to catch up on his sleep. All this dueling can be quite tiresome.

However, it seemed that sleep would be the last thing he was getting.

As he laid back and relaxed, their ship was passing another ship that was coming in from Hokkaido. Standing on its deck, a trench coat clad figure carefully surveyed the crowds until her eyes found what they were looking for. A sneer of contempt appeared on her face.

“This is completely absurd,” she muttered quietly, “How could such a miserable little creature hold the avatar?”

As the two boats passed each other, she made her move. Her coat was blown off in the wind as she leaped over the side of the ship, clearing the gap and landing gracefully onto the other. A number of people jumped back as this woman landed, but she paid no heed to them. She made a beeline straight for Forte. He hard flew to her katana as she skidded to a halt in front of him and drew her blade.

Forte’s eyes slowly opened to see a katana blade pointed right between his eyes. He looked up along the blade to the one holding it.

She was young woman, possibly in her mid twenties. Her face was covered by a mask, so he could only see her eyes, which were an icy blue. She was dressed in, as Forte could describe in as few words as possible, a deep purple ninja outfit.

The ninja glared at him coldly, her blade only millimetres from Forte’s face.

“On your feet,” she demanded.

Forte barely even flinched. He merely smirked.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he responded, moving his injured foot slightly to gesture to the gunshot wound. The ninja glanced at his foot before glaring at him once again.

“I don’t care about that,” she ordered, “You and I will duel right now!”

The smirk vanished from Forte’s face.

“Tell me your name.”

The ninja was a bit taken about by this.

“What?”

Forte stared up into her eyes coldly.

“You run up to me, shove a blade in my face and expect me to duel you. I don’t even know your name or haven’t even seen your face. Why should I even bother getting up to duel you.”

The ninja scowled in annoyance, fighting back the urge to ram the blade through his head.

Instead, with one swift movement, she tore off the mask covering her face.

She was definitely Asian, judging from her facial features. Her black hair was cut neatly at her chin. She would almost be considered beautiful if it weren’t for the scowl on her face.

“My name is Chiako Sakaki,” she said, “Now, you WILL duel me!”

Forte was quiet for a moment before closing his eyes.

“No, I wont.”

Chiako’s eyes widened in shock.

“What!?” she yelled. Forte lazily opened one eye.

“I said I’m not going to duel you,” he repeated, “I thought you ninjas were supposed to have good hearing.”

Chiako was seething, while most of the people witnessing this were amazed. The guy had a sword pointed at him, yet here he was refusing his demands and even insulting her. He was either very brave or very stupid.

Reece knew the truth. It was a bit of both.

“You WILL duel me!” Chiako snapped, “You are going to get up and you are going to face me you cowardly cur!”

Forte’s eyes opened as he glared at the ninja.

“Look,” he said with underlying menace, “I have been through a lot today. My flight was hijacked by a bloody wannabe wanting to duel me. I got my ass handed to me by monsters I didn’t eve know existed and only an hour or so ago, I was forced to duel at gun point and got shot IN THE FOOT! So just for once, I want to sit back, relax, and watched someone ELSE dish out the hurt.”

Chiako growled audibly as the hand holding the katana quivered in rage. Forte simply rolled his eyes.

“However,” he said with an annoyed sigh, “If you’re THAT eager to duel…”

He jerked his thumb over to Reece.

“…you can duel him.”

Reece’s jaw dropped as Chiako’s eyes shot over to the red-head.

“What!?” they both yelled in unison.

“You heard me,” said Forte, “my friend here hasn’t dueled in a while, and since you’re so eager, why not face him?”

“No!” she snapped, “I will not face your pathetic lackey! You will be my opponent!”

Forte gave an annoyed sigh.

“Look, I’ll make you a deal. If you can beat my friend, then I will duel you. If not, well, you’re not worth my time.”

He closed his eyes.

“That’s my only offer. Take it or leave it.”

Chiako was fuming now, heavily contemplating killing the arrogant man right there and take the avatar.

She shot a look at Reece.

On the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt to sharpen her blade on him.

“Very well,” she said as she calmed slightly, “I’ll defeat your little patsy, and then YOU.”

Reece sighed as he got up and prepared his disk and deck. The people moved back, giving the two duelists some room. Chiako’s disk flicked into activation.

“Let’s make this quick,” she said bluntly, “I don’t want to waste too much time on you.”

Reece glared.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to finish you quick.”

Reece: 8000
Chiako: 8000

I will let you start,” Chiako spoke as Reece drew.

“I’ll start by summoning Thunder Nyan Nyan in attack mode!”

Reece’s red-headed drummer appeared on the field. The played a small tune before giggling childishly (1900/800).

“Now,” he plucked a card from his hand, “I will discard one of my Thunder Dragons to the graveyard.”

He slipped the card into the discard slot and then searched through his deck.

“And now, I’ll add my other two to my hand.”

He added the two dragons to his hand and shuffled his deck.

“I’ll end my turn there.”

Chiako drew.

“I’ll set two cards face down and set one monster face down. That will be all.”

Reece drew as the face down cards appeared.

Not bad.

“I’ll play Luminous Spark!”

Everyone shielded their eyes was a blinding light appeared behind Reece, casting his shadow over the dueling field.

“For those at home who don’t know what this card does,” Reece explained, “All light monsters now gain a 500 attack boost, but they loose 400 defence points in the process.”

Thunder Nyan Nyan cheered happily as her attack rose to 2400, but her defence dropped to 400.

“Now, I’ll summon, Batteryman AA in attack mode!”

The sentient battery appeared. It gave a small hum as its attack rose. (0/0) - (500/0) – (1500/600)

“Now, Batteryman! Attack his face down monster!”

The monster buzzed as electricity charged in its hands.

“Oh no you don’t,” Chiako snapped, “I activate a Feint Plan!”

The trap card lifted, showing Freed the Matchless General looking over some battle plans.

“This card prevents you from attacking any face down monster for this turn!”

The Batteryman’s attack veered to the right, missing the face down monster by a good metre or two.

Reece scowled in annoyance.

“I’ll end my turn then.”

Chiako drew.

“Ok. First, I’ll activate my other face down card. Block Attack! And I will use it to switch your Nyan Nyan into defence mode!”

Thunder Nyan Nyan glowed before hesitatingly ducking behind her drum kit.

“Now, I’ll flip face up, my White Ninja!”

As the card name stated, a ninja wearing nothing but white appeared on the field. While it’s gender was difficult to determine, Reece assumed that it was male, as its eyes glared at him (1500/800) – (2000/400)

“And when he’s flipped,” Chiako stated, “he automatically destroys one monster in defence mode! So my White Ninja, destroy his Thunder Nyan Nyan!”

Without hesitation, the ninja through a series of kunai straight through her drum kit, straight into her. She shrieked in pain before slumping to the floor and fading from existence.

“Now, I’ll summon Lady Ninja Yae in attack mode!”

A green haired ninja woman wearing a purple, skin tight suit, white leggings and a red scarf appeared. She smirked as she held her blade in a defensive manner. (1100/200)

“Now, White Ninja, destroy his Batteryman!”

In what Reece could only describe as a blur, the white Ninja appeared directly in front of the Batteryman, stabbing a kunai into it. The thunder monster groaned before exploding in a bust of electricity.

Reece: 7500
Chiako: 8000

“Now, Yae, attack him directly!”

Reece stepped back in surprise when the ninja lady appeared in front of him. The wind was knocked out of him when he felt her blade sink into his stomach. He slumped to his knees as the Ninja reappeared on Chiako’s side, smirking triumphantly.

Reece: 6400
Chiako: 8000

“I’ll now set one card face down and end my turn.”

Reece slowly climbed to his feet and drew.

“Come on dude,” Forte called from his seat, “She’s kicking your ass out there. And you don’t have the “I was caught unawares” excuse this time!”

Reece rolled his eyes.

“Gee, thanks for the support mate.”

He glanced at his hand.

Nice.

“I’ll play the magic card, Battery Charger!”

Electricity coursed through the device that rose from the ground. It opened up, revealing Reece’s Batteryman AA. (1500/600)

“For 500 life points, I can bring back on of my Batterymen!”

Reece: 5900
Chiako: 8000

“So what?” Chiako asked, “Planning to destroy my Ninja Lady?”

Inwardly, she smirked.

Because if you try, I’ll have a nasty little surprise for you.

Reece nodded.

“But of course, but first…”

The batteryman dissolved into electricity and light.

“I’ll sacrifice him! In order to summon…”

Then he appeared, a large figure in white, almost ceremonial armour. A crown rests on his head as electricity charged in his large hands.

“Zaborg, the Thunder Monarch!” (2400/1000) – (2900/600)

Chiako stepped back in shock at the powerful figure.

“And now,” Reece chuckled confidently, “Since I tribute summoned my big friend here, he can now destroy one monster you have on the field!”

Thunder charged in the monarch’s hands.

“So now, I think I’ll get rid of that ninja! Zaborg, destroy the White Ninja!”

Zaborg roared as thunder fell from the sky. The ninja’s speed did not help him as he was struck full force by the blast, incinerating him.

“One ninja down, one to go. Zaborg, attack Ninja Lady Yae! Royal Thunder!”

Electricity charged in the monarch’s hands, and with a powerful bellow, fired a blast of lightning directly at the ninja.

“Activate trap card!” Chiako shouted, “Ninjitsu Art of Decoy!”

“Wha!?”

Reece was surprised to see the ninja disappear in a puff of smoke, leaving a wooden stump wearing the same clothes in its place. It was reduced to splinters by the lightning.

As the dust settled, the ninja lady reappeared, grinning in an almost taunting manner.

“As long as this card is active,” Chiako explained, “My ninja lady cannot be destroyed as a result of battle.”

“I know that,” Reece replied, “I’m just curious which you choose to activate it on HER? I mean, I know ninjas aren’t that great in attack strength, but you could have a least used it on a monster with a decent attack score!”

Chiako scowled. The truth was that she had no other monsters in her hand. If her ninja lady had been destroyed, she would have been wide open. If she had a stronger monster in her hand, she would have gladly saved it.

“and either way, you still loose life points.”

She snarled as her life points dropped.

Reece: 5900
Chiako: 6200

“Anyway, I’ll end my turn.”

Chiako drew.

[/I]Dammit! Still no monster! However, this will be useful.[/I]

“I’ll switch my ninja lady into defence mode.” The green haired ninja crouched, her arms cross in front of her to defender herself.

“Now, I’ll play the magic card, Ninjitsu Training!”

The magic card appeared, depicting a Celtic Guardian, a Jinzo and a Vampire Lord, dressed in a martial arts uniform, training.

“As long as this card is on the field,” Chiako declared, “All monster on my side on the field are treated as ninjas!”

Forte watched curiously from his deck chair.

It seems that ninjas aren’t the only monsters crawling through her deck. Most likely something to make up for the lack of strength her ninjas possess.

“I’ll end my turn.”

Reece drew.

“I’ll play Graceful Charity!”

The beautiful, shining angel of the graceful charity appeared by Reece’s side, offering him three cards. Reece accepted them with a nod, quickly looking over his hand before returning two to her. The angel, smiled before dissipating into light.

“Now, let’s see,” he mused as he looked over his hand, “First, I’ll set this one card face down.”

A face down card appeared behind Zaborg.

“And now I’ll summon Mechanical Chaser in attack mode!”

A machine with the body of a green sphere appeared. It had six arms, each with some kind of blade and a sword hanging from its underside. It’s mechanical wings kept it aloft as its faceless head looked in Chiako’s diection. (1850/800)

A number of peopled “ooohed” and “aaahed” at the sight of the rare machine. Forte couldn’t blame them, Mechanical Chaser wasn’t exactly a common card. In fact, if he was correct, there were only a hundred copies of that card in existence.

“I’ll end my turn for now, since I can’t destroy your trap yet.”

Chiako drew.

“Activate trap card!” Reece announced before Chiako could say anything, “Light of Intervention!”

Chiako gasped as the light the already bathed the field intensified. Reece smirked.

“I’m sure you know what this card does. As long as it’s on the field, no monsters can be set face down.”

Chiako snarled. A number of her ninja monsters had flip effects. Reece’s card had rendered them useless.

“I’ll summon my Crimson Ninja in defence mode and end my turn.”

A ninja in red, almost ceremonial armour and wielding a katana appeared and knelt down in defence mode (300/300)

Reece smirked as he drew. With only a few exceptions, the ninjas main relied on their effects. They were terribly weak in a full on fight.

“I’ll summon Batteryman D in defence mode!”

It resembled a thick, yellow battery, with green, stubby arms and legs and head and a large “1” on the front. It crouched into defence mode, giving a small hum. (0/1900) – (500/1500)

“This is one of the few occasions that Luminous Spark works against me,” Reece said, “However, from what I know of ninjas, there are only two types in your deck that can take it down in this situation.”

And if you’re stupid enough to attack either of them, you’ll have to deal with my other monsters.

“Now, Mechanical Chaser, destroy her Crimson Ninja!”

The ninja fought back as best as it could, but he was overpowered by the sheer force of the mechanical killer.

“I’ll now play these two cards face down and end my turn.”

Two face down cards appeared as Chiako drew.

Good. I just need one more card to turn this duel around.

“I’ll set these three cards face down and end my turn.”

She smirked as the cards appeared.

I can take my time with this. This fool can’t get past my Ninja Lady, not so long as my trap card remains on the field. Although, that third card could help if the need arose.

Reece drew and chuckled softly.

“Tell me Chiako, do you know what happens to a ninja when it’s struck by lightening?”

“Uh…” Chiako was a little confused by the question. Reece smirked.

“I’ll tell you, the same as everything else! Now-“

“Lame!”

Reece was knocked out of his moment by Forte yelling out from his deckchair.

“You stole that from the X-men movie!”

“I’m trying to be bad-ass over here!” Reece yelled back.

“And you failed miserably. Now, less talk, more duelling!”

Reece sighed. He could never win against that guy. Chiako on the other hand rose an eyebrow as she watched the exchange.

“Well, no one said you had to be kind to your servants.”

“I’m not a servant!” Reece snapped.

“Yes you are,” Forte yelled in response, “Now fight to the death for my amusement!”

Reece chose to ignore it, instead mentally noting to break one of those crutches over Forte’s head when this was over.

“ANYWAY,” Reece continued his turn, “First, I’ll summon Batteryman C in attack mode!”

A batteryman similar to D appeared, only it was a silver battery with blue arms, legs and head. It also had a big blue 2 on the front. It whirred as red energy crackled through it. (0/0) – (500/0)

“Now, while this little guy is in attack mode, all machine monsters on my side of the field become 500 points stronger!”

The red energy transferred to and surrounded Reece’s mechanical Chaser. The machine let out a deep hum as its attack rose to 2350.

Chiako took a step back, slightly intimidated by the machine.

“Now, I’ll activate the trap card, Solar Ray!” Chaiko gasped and then shielded her eyes as the light intensified.

“This card deals 600 damage for each light monster I have on the field. Since I have three, that’s 1800 lifepoints gone!”

Chiako cried out as she felt the light starting to burn her.

Reece: 5900
Chiako: 4400

“Now,” Reece smirked, “I’ll activate my second trap. Raigeki Break!”

Chiako gasped in horror as Reece plucked a card from his hand.

“I’ll send this baby to the graveyard and now…”

The card in his transformed into energy and shot into the air. Seconds a later, a lightning bolt fell from the sky, striking the Ninja Lady. She gave one final cry before exploding into pixels.

“Now then, now that that particular pain in the butt is gone, Zaborg! Attack her directly! Royal Thunder!”

Chiako screamed out in pain as the attack struck her full force, sending her to the floor.

Reece: 5900
Chiako: 1500

“And now-!”

“Activate trap card! Flash Bang!”

A small black orb appeared in front of Chiako. The ball exploded in a burst of light, causing Reece’s monster to stagger back.

“There,” Chiako growled, “That will prevent you from doing any more direct attacks this turn.”

“I know what it does. I’ll end my turn.”

Chiako growled quietly to herself as she found her hand trembling when she reached for her deck.

How could this miserable lackey be beating me? I should have crushed him long ago! I’ve come too far to loose to that boys pathetic sidekick!

She drew. A big grin plastered her face. She almost felt like jumping up and down with joy.

“I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke!”

A muscular form with lavender, metallic skin, wearing a green cloak and a red scarf appeared on the field. The two kunai in his hands glinted in a deadly fashion in the light as his slit-like eyes glared at Reece. (1800/1000) – (2300/600)

“Now, I’ll activate the trap, Ninjitsu Art of Transformation!”

Reece’s eyes widened. So that’s why she played that Ninjitsu Training card!

“When this trap is activated!” Chiako declared, “I can tribute my ninja, for any beast, winged beast, or insect monster in my deck or hand, that’s up to three levels higher than tributed ninja!”

The ninja made a number of hand signs before being engulfed by smoke. Reece took a step back when a giant, muscular purple form emerged. It was an enormous four-legged beast, with white, sharp horns, an indigo mane and a deranged look on its face.

“Meet Behemoth the King of All Animals!” The beasts roar shook the boat (2700/1500).

“Now, my powerful Behemoth! Destroy his Batteryman C!”

The beast roared and lumbered towards it. However, as it was about to bring its foots down, an electrical blast of energy knocked the Batteryman to the side and was crushed instead.

“What!?” Chiako snapped. Reece chuckled.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you about Batteryman D’s effect did I? As long as it’s on the field, you cannot attack any other thunder type monster other than it.”

Chiako scowled, mentally wishing she had chosen to attack the Mechanical Chaser.

“I’ll end my turn.”

Reece drew.

“Your Behemoth may be strong, but my Thunder Monarch is stronger! Zaborg! Destroy her behemoth!”

The monarch didn’t need to be told twice as lightening charged in his arms. With a bellow, a blast was thrown directly at the beast.

“Activate trap! Ninjitsu Art of Decoy!”

“Again!”

Much to Reece’s annoyance, the Behemoth vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by a log with purple fur glued on. The log was shredded by the attack and the Behemoth reappeared unharmed.

Reece: 5900
Chiako: 1400

“Thanks to my Ninjitsu Training card, my behemoth has the same techniques as my other ninjas, including the ability to use their traps.”

“We figured that out already!” Reece snapped, “In that case, I’ll switch my Mechanical Chaser and Batteryman into defence mode and end my turn.”

Chiako drew as the monsters braced themselves.

“Ah, just that card I was looking for,” she smirked, “I’ll now equip my Behemoth with Fuhma Shuriken!”

Reece gasped as the beast stood upright, making it appear even more terrifying. A large, four pointed shuriken appeared in its right arm as its attack rose to 3400.

“Now then, your monarch has been a thorn in my side for too long. Let’s get rid of it shall we? Behemoth!”

She didn’t need to give the order. With a loud grunt, the ninja hurled the shuriken at Zaborg, burying it into his chest. The monarch cried out in pain before exploding into shards.

Reece: 5400
Chiako 1400

“That ends my turn.”

Reece drew.

Well, these wont help, but they may come in handy later.

“I’ll set these two cards face down and end my turn.”

Chiako drew. She looked at the face down cards warily before shrugging.

“Behemoth. Attack! Destroy his Batteryman C!”

Reece could only watch as his batteryman was sliced in half by the shuriken.

“That will be all.”

Reece drew. A big grin appeared on his face.

“Halleluiah!” he cried out, falling to his knees, “I believe!”

Both Forte and Chiako rose an eyebrow.

“Care to tell us what this miracle is?” Forte asked. Reece smirked as he stood up.

“This miracle, is none other than Polymerization!”

“What could you possibly fuse together?” Chiako asked. Reece wagged a finger in a patronising fashion.

“Did you forget? At the very beginning of the duel, I moved these cards into my hand.”

He pulled two cards from his hand and showed her.

“So now, I’ll fuse my two thunder dragons!”

Two green, serpent dragons appeared before being pulled into a void of crackling energy. Out of the vortex stepped a powerful red form It only possessed two legs, a powerful tale and a single head with a long brown horn on the end of its snout. It had beady yellow eyes and a second mouth on the back of its head. It let out a deafening roar as energy crackled across its skin.

“In order to create, the mighty Twin Headed Thunder Dragon!” (2800/2100) – (3300/1700)

“So what?” Chiako shrugged, “Its still no match for me beast.”

“Not for long. Because now, I’ll equip my dragon with Electro-whip!”

A brown whip with a golden tip and handle appeared and coiled itself around the dragon’s horn. Electricity coursed through the beast as it roared and its attack rose to 3600 and its defence rose to 2000

“Now then, Thunder Dragon! Attack Behemoth!”

The dragon roared as a ball of thunder went flying from its mouth. Like before, the Behemoth quickly replaced itself with a wooden double, which was destroyed in the attack.

“Sure, my dragon can’t destroy your monster, but I can still damage your life points.”

Chiako scowled in irritation.

Reece: 5400
Chiako: 1200

Forte watched from the sidelines.

Not bad. While he couldn’t destroy her monster, he’s now got a pretty effect offensive wall. And Chiako’s already pretty low on lifepoints.

“My move!” Chiako drew, and smirked.

“I play Mystical Space Typhoon!”

Reece gasped as the whip shattered and Thunder Dragon’s attack fell. Chiako chucked cruelly.

“Sorry, but it seems my monster is still the most powerful of all beasts! Behemoth!”

The dragon cried out as it was sliced in half by the ninja beast’s shuriken.

Reece: 5300
Chiako: 1200

Chiako looked over her hand. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, that dragon of his was an unpleasant surprise, and one she would not want to happen again.

This will do nicely.

She looked over his face down cards.

This one too.

“I’ll set two cards face down and end my turn.”

Reece shakily reached for his deck. This was it. He needed a good draw here.

He drew.

He stared at the cards in his hand, then to the Batteryman on the field and then at Chiako’s face down cards.

Well, it could work. If those cards face down are what I think they are, it could work. I may as well give it a try.

“I play the magic card, Tribute Doll!”

A grey worrier mannequin with red eyes appeared next to his Batteryman.

“Now, I’ll only need one sacrifice to summon this card! So, Mechanical Chaser!”

The doll and machine melted into white energy, which shot into the air. The sky overhead darkened before a bolt of lightening struck the field. When the flash subsided, a man was visible, kneeling. He wore a black, full body suit with a blue gem on the chest, and glowing white rings around his torso and upper legs. His hair was a very pale blue and only his eyes were visible on his face. The man stood upright as thunder rolled in the background.

“Meet, the Lightening Punisher!” (2600/1600)

“Not so fast,” Chiako smirked, “I activate a trap card! Trap Hole!”

Reece smiled.

“Well, I guess I’ll activate mine then, Seven Tools of the Bandit!”

Chiako scowled.

“Than I’ll activate my other trap then. Trap Remover!”

Reece chuckled.

“Sorry, but no. I’ll activate my last trap, Counter Counter!”

“Wha?”

Reece chuckled softly.

“Allow me explain. Counter Counter is a trap card designed specifically to counter counter trap cards. Honestly, you wouldn’t believe the number of times you try to negate a trap, only to have another one stop you.”

Chiako snarled in anger as her traps both shattered into nothing.

Reece: 4300
Chiako: 1200

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Chiako spat, “my Behemoth can still destroy your ‘punisher’.”

“I’m afraid you wont get the chance.”

“What?”

Reece grinned.

“You see, I wanted you to use those traps, and do you know why?”

Chiako was confused.

“So I could use Lightening Punisher’s effect. You see, it can only be activated in a chain with three or more links. And when it does, my punisher can destroy one card on the field.”

Chiako gasped as electricity charged in the monster’s arms.

“Lightening Punisher! Destroy his Behemoth!”

Electricity shot into the air, only for lightening to rain down on the ninja beast seconds afterwards. The energy coursed through the beast before it collapsed to the ground lifeless, it’s body shattering on impact.

Chiako was rendered speechless. Her most powerful monster, destroyed. Destroyed by her own mistake. If she had not been greedy enough to try and go for a direct attack, she would have still been on top.

“Now, let’s finish this!” Reece announced, “Lightening Punisher, attack her directly!”

Reece’s monster let out a cry to the heavens as blots of lightening rained down on Chiako. She screamed as the electrical energy coursed through her, burning her. When the storm subsided, she slumped to the floor, groaning in pain.

Reece: 4300
Chiako: 0

The crowd watching cheered as Reece’s monster vanished and the light dimmed. Reece turned back tohis friend with a big grin on his face.

“How was that?”

“A bit of a gamble finish there, but overall, pretty good,” Forte responded, giving his friend the thumbs up. Reece chuckled.

Chiako on the other hand was fuming.

“Enough of this!” she shrieked in anger, “You will duel me NOW Forte Rosamund!”

She drew her sword, ready to carve into the arrogant teen before being set upon by the ferry security. They had stood by, watching her duel with Reece pan out, but now they had to step in.

“Let go of me!” she shouted, struggling to escape their grasp before her shouted degenerated into Japanese curse words. They were about to carry her off to detain her when Forte spoke up.

“If I may,” he said, climbing to his feet, “I have a suggestion as to what we should do with our little problem.”

A few seconds later, Chiako screamed as she hit the water with a splash.

Many people ran to the side to watch Chiako spluttering and flailing in the water. Forte dusted his hands in satisfaction.

“There, much better.”

“You’re not just going to leave her in the ocean are you?” Reece asked.

“In case you don’t remember,” Forte replied, “she threatened us both with a sword and was generally being a bitch. I don’t see the problem.”

Reece just glared. Forte rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Fine.”

Picking up a nearby life ring, he through it into the water. Chiako was all to happy to cling onto it as the ferry pulled it along.

“Better?”

“Much.”

The two chuckled as Forte leaned over the railing.

“Enjoy your swim Chiako!” he called mockingly before walking back to his chair. The response was a series of Japanese curses that Forte simply ignored.

“You handled yourself pretty well out there mate,” Forte said as he laid back in his chair.

“Thanks Forte,” Reece replied, sitting down, “Although next time, maybe you could fight your own battles?”

Forte chuckled.

“But you make such a good human shield.” Reece rolled his eyes.

“You know, some day all this is going to come back and bite you in the ass.”

Forte merely shrugged as he replaced the shades over his eyes.

“Whatever. In the meantime, wake me when we hit land ok?

Name: Ninjitsu Training
Card Type: Spell
Spell Type: Continuous
Image: A Celtic Guardian, a Jinzo and a Vampire Lord training martial arts in a dojo.
Effect: As long as this card is on the field, all monsters on your side of the field are treated as if they have “Ninja” in their name.

Hey Everybody, Forte here. Coming up, I have to face a demon from the foulest pits of Hell! Will I survive? Or will my skill allow me-

Who are you calling a demon asshole?

You heard me!

Ok children, play nice.

YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!

*sighs* Anyway, stick around for Chapter 12: Petals and Thorns.

[Hinoryu]

This chapter made me laugh, a lot. I loved the X-Men reference.

Some good points of note. I was pleased to see a random armed person actually get taken out by security as should by all rights actually happen. Usually they get away free, and that's always bothered me.

Second, that Summon/Trap Hole/Seven Tools/Trap Remover/Counter Counter, I believe was the longest chain I've ever actually seen in a fic. Definate points for that.

Can't think of anything else to say, so I'll just leave off with a 'good chapter'.

[Shuppet Master]

Is Lightning Punisher a real card? If it is, it was amazing to see someone use one of those chain-link cards which requires you to activate a chain - most YGO authors shy away from this sort of thing because of the fact that there are very few chains that long in a duel. Nice way to break the mold.

Great job writing the chapter.

I especially thought the part about Reece being Forte's 'servant' was hilarious.

“I’m not a servant!” Reece snapped.

“Yes you are,” Forte yelled in response, “Now fight to the death for my amusement!”

Reece chose to ignore it, instead mentally noting to break one of those crutches over Forte’s head when this was over.

Just hilarious!

EDIT: Dark Sage kicked my ass over the ninja mentality. Bad me.

[Dark Sage]

Chris, as much as I hate to disagree with you, she fits the description of the typical Ninja more than the media portrayed them. Female or otherwise, they were killers, not unsung heroes.

Yes, Lightning Punisher is a real card. I have one myself. He looks kind of like a character from a Final Fantasy game. I'll agree that using a Chain card is a big accomplishment for any writer - even I tend to stay away from those things.

It was good to see Reese duel again (how about more?). As for the actual duel... What, no Strike Ninja?

Seriously, it was a good chapter. I look forward to reading more of this story as it develops.

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 12: Petals and Thorns

Chiako was fuming as she clambered out of the water. She was furious to the point that it would come as no surprise if there was steam coming off of her.

He had humiliated her, they both had! First that arrogant bastard had turned her away, like she was some second rate duellist, and then his fool of a lackey made her look pathetic in front of a crowd.

She was sick of it! She wasn’t going to bother with games next time. She was going to hunt that obnoxious twit down, slice him to ribbons with her sword and take the avatar from his corpse.

And his friend. Oh, she was going to make him suffer for her humiliation.

“Chiako.”

The ninja jumped at the sound of someone behind her. She spun around, sword drawn.

“Oh, it’s only you.” She seemed slightly relieved. However, the figure’s eyes narrowed.

“We need to talk.”

He extended his arm, a card visible in his hand. A portal opened up behind him.

“Now.”

--------------~*~--------------

Forte sighed as he brought the steaming cup of hot chocolate to his lips. He had never been a coffee sort of person, and since they didn’t serve alcohol at this café, he had simply settled for a hot chocolate. Chocolate was always good.

Reece sat opposite to him, occasionally taking a sip of his cappuccino.

“You know Forte,” he spoke up, “I’ve been thinking.”

His friend looked up.

“Yeah?”

“Well, all these guys who’ve been after us are after the avatar right?”

“Right…” in his mind, Forte could feel that Reece had caught Menithil’s attention.

“Well, why don’t we tear it up or something?”

”WHAT!?”

Forte winced as he heard the fiend shouting in his head.

“Well, if we destroy the card, then Dogma wont be able to perform this ritual and they may just leave us alone.”

Forte thought for a moment, much to Menithil’s shock.

“That’s a good point. Now, here’s Menithil’s counterpoint.”

He leaned over the table.

“How about no! You crazy red-headed bastard!”

Reece had expected an objection, but not like that.

“But, wouldn’t destroying the card free your spirit?”

Forte was quiet for a moment as Menithil shouted his response.

“He say it might, or it might destroy him along with it. Frankly, he doesn’t want to take that risk.”

“Ah.” Reece thought for a moment.

“Well, why don’t we sell it? The card’s still tied to you right? So, if we gave it away, they still wouldn’t be able to use him right?”

“That does sound logical,” Forte responded, “However, I don’t think so.”

Reece raised an eyebrow.

“Why not?”

“Well,” Forte replied, “Magical or not, Menithil is still a very powerful monster, and one I would rather keep in my deck. I would rather not risk weakening myself.”

Reece rolled his eyes. Typical of Forte to worry about his duelling career.

As he took another sip of his coffee, he noticed something that caught his eye, something that almost made him do a spit take.

Forte noticed.

“Something wrong?”

Reece gulped and then spoke quietly. “Forte, don’t turn around, but a certain someone is sitting not too far away.”

“Who?” Forte was about to turn when Reece stopped him.

“Don’t turn around!”

--------------~*~--------------

She brought the steaming cup of coffee to her lips. She had only been in Japan for a day now, but already she was taking a liking to it. It had a certain charm you could never find back home.

A familiar voice caught her attention. She turned around, brushing same black hair out of eyes. Sitting not far from her, she noticed a head of long, lavender hair and a spiky mess of red.

“No…it couldn’t be…”

Leaving her coffee at her table, she stood up and walked over, silently hoping they weren’t who she thought they were.

--------------~*~--------------

“Shit! She’s coming!”

“Who?”

Forte was trying to think who the heck Reece was talking about. At first he thought Chiako, but if it was, wouldn’t Reece be a bit more freaked out?

Just as a name sprung to mind, her voice beat him to it.

“So it is you guys.”

Damn.

Forte leaned back in his chair and looked up at the woman standing next to him, confirming his fears.

“Hello Rose.”

Her brown eyes burned into Forte’s green.

“Hello Forte.”

Reece looked back and forth between the two, preparing himself for a fight to break out.

“Um, care to take a seat Rose?” he offered. The woman in question smiled.

“Thank you Reece,” she said as she sat, “At least one of you knows proper manners.”

Forte merely shrugged off this insult.

“I know manners,” he replied, “I just choose not to exercise them.”

Rose rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the remark.

“So, what are you two doing down here anyway?” she asked, “Shouldn’t you be up in Domino getting your ass kicked?”

Forte was about to answer when Reece beat him to it.

“Well, um,” he said, trying to find the words, “There was a little problem involving our flight and we ended up in Sapporo.”

“And we’ve had to go to Domino on foot ever since.” Forte finished.

Rose stared at the two for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Talk about one major screw up!” she laughed, “How the hell did you end up on a completely different island?”

Forte and Reece glanced at eachother for a moment. Niether were willing to explain that their plane was hijacked, since that would result in them explaining the whole avatar situation, and Rose just wouldn’t believe them.

Forte shrugged.

“Just some screw up. I don’t know what.”

Rose’s laughter died down as she wiped a tear from her eyes.

“So, you guys are travelling to Domino on foot?”

“Well, technically we’ve taken a bus and a ferry, but yeah, pretty much. Though chances are we wont be doing much walking.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

Rose then noticed the crutches leaned against the table. She looked under to see Forte’s bandaged foot.

“What happened to you?”

Forte was not willing to tell her what happened. It caused his foot to ache just thinking about it.

“I sprained my ankle coming off of the ferry,” he lied, rather unconvincingly.

“Oh really?” Rose raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Forte responded sarcastically, “I was shot in the foot by Russian militants. What do you think?”

Rose rolled her eyes. He didn’t need to get all sarcastic.

“So, you still planning on facing Yugi?”

Forte smirked.

“But of course. I’m not letting all this stop me.”

Rose scoffed.

“I bet he would kick your ass in less than five turns.”

“I’ll put money on that,” Reece chuckled, earning himself a glare from Forte.

“Yeah, well,” Forte retorted, “I could kick YOUR MOM’S ass in less than five turns.”

The trio was silent for a moment. Reece spoke up.

“Dude, did you actually just say that?”

Forte chuckled sheepishly.

“Yeah, I blanked on a good reply. Sorry.”

“And you say I’M lame.”

“Shut it voltage boy.”

Rose’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, if you’re so confident,” she spoked, “How about a match?”

Forte chuckled.

“Rose, we’ve already proven I can kick your ass, remember?”

Rose growled, and then smirked.

“How about a wager then. If I win, you have to…um…”

Rose thought about it. What could she make Forte do to utterly humiliate him? Forte was thinking the same thing.

Then Reece spoke up.

“I have an idea.”

The pair looked at him, giving Reece his cue to continue.

“I found it on the internet one time. It’s a little party idea, but I think it would work here.”

“Well, out with it man,” Forte urged. Reece smirked.

“Strip Duel Monsters.”

Their jaws dropped. Reece chuckled.

“Here’s how it goes. Every thousand life points, the player must remove one article of clothing. Now, normally, the looser ends up naked, but I think we’ll leave the looser with some dignity and let them keep their underwear on.”

The pair were speechless. Reece was expecting them to strip, in public!?

Forte was the first to snap out of it. Now that he thought of it, the thought of Rose, almost completely naked in front of a crowd of people appealed to him.

He smirked.

“I’m game if you are.”

Rose couldn’t believe it. Forte was willing to go through with it? She scowled at the smug smirk on his face. Rose wanted to break him, to humiliate him in front of hundreds. Her anger apparently won over her common sense.

“I’m in.”

Reece chuckled.

“Ok then, now, since there’s only 8000 lifepoints, each player needs eight articles of clothing.”

Rose counted her clothes. Right boot, left boot, right sock, left sock, belt, jacket, shirt and pants. Eight.

Forte counted his. Left shoes, let sock, belt, pants, shirt…

“Hey, I’m down a few,” Forte stated.

“Well, get something out of the case.”

Forte nodded and did just that. Rummaging their cases, Forte pulled out a pair of black gloves and put them on.

“Better.”

“Alrighty then,” Reece stood up, “Let’s go.”

The pair nodded, collecting their duel disks and following Reece out into the street.

--------------~*~--------------

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Reece yelled out, attracting attention, “Gather round and watch these two battle it out for honour and modesty!”

Forte was thinking of murdering Reece right there and then. He was pretty sure that Rose was thinking the same thing. However, he was willing to risk it to humiliate Rose.

“You ready Rose?” He smirked. Rose’s eyes narrowed.

“Whenever you are.”

“Let’s Duel!”

Forte: 8000
Rose: 8000

“I’ll start off this time,” Forte said as he drew, the crowd forming around the two. He looked at his hand and smiled.

Been a while since I’ve played this.

“I summon Doomcalibur Knight in attack mode!”

A knight with red skin, wearing black and white, bone-esque armour, carrying a bone shield and sword rode in from the darkness, riding a black horse with a bone-like headdress. The horse reared up on its hind legs, letting out a loud neigh as the knight let out a chilling battle cry. (1900/1800)

“And,” Forte looked over his hand, “That will be all for now.”

Rose drew.

“I’ll set one card face down, and one monster in defence mode and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll now summon Malice Doll of Demise! In attack mode!”

The deranged doll appeared next to Forte’s knight, laughing maniacally (1600/1700).

“Now, Doll of Demise! Attack Rose’s face down monster!”

The doll laughed with glee as it charged toward the card. A green, pod like plant appeared before being hacked in two by the doll. A large brown seed spilled out.

Rose smirked.

“Thank you for attacking my Seed Pod Forte,” she chuckled.

“Seed Pod?”

Rose removed her deck and began searching.

“When my Seed Pod is destroyed in battle, I can search my deck for on level four or lower plant monster and special summon it to the field.”

She pulled out a card, shuffled her deck and returned it to her disk.

“And I’ll choose this one. Floral Knight Tulip! In defence mode!”

A teenage girl with white hair appeared on the field. She wore pink, almost floral armour, including a pale pink helmet, still showing her deep pink eyes. On her hip was a bag shaped like a tulip and in her hand was a sword of an almost floral design, like her armour. She knelt down and stuck her sword in the ground (1600/1800).

Forte rose an eyebrow. Floral Knights? Now that was a new one. He was a little disappointed, hoping to get a direct attack this turn. Oh well.

“Doomcalibur Knight, attack the Floral Knight! Sword of Demise!”

The Knight let out a cry as he charged towards the knight.

However, before the attack could connect, a wall of thorns and vines burst from the earth. The knight and steed crashed into it, sending them both to the floor before painfully getting back up.

Forte scowled as Reece poked her tongue out at him, the trap card on her disk activated.

Damn that Wall of Thorns trap!

He looked at his monsters. Thanks to the trap, Forte’s knight was now 1400 attack, weaker than Rose’s knight. It was be just a target for her now.

“I’ll play Stygian Compact!”

The magic card appeared, displaying an image of Ha Des standing by the river Styx.

“In exchange for tributing one fiend monster on my field, I can search my deck for a card with Dark Ruler in its name and add it to my hand. So, I’ll choose my Doomcalibur Knight!”

The knight gave one last cry before fading into darkness. Forte searched through his deck, smirking when he found what he was looking for.

“And I’ll end it with that.”

Rose drew.

“Now then, Tulip’s effect kicks in. During my standby phase, she creates a seed token.”

The knight reached into her bag, pulling out a large, disc-shaped seed and threw it to the side (0/0)

“Now then,” Rose smirked, “I will sacrifice it!”

The seed cracked and a bright light originated from within.

“In order to summon, Floral Knight Petunia!”

A much older woman, with blonde hair, wearing purple floral armour appeared. Instead of one, she carried two swords in her hands, the same floral design as her armour. Her deep indigo eyes glared at Forte as she got into a battle stance (2300/1200)

“First, I’ll switch my Tulip into attack mode.” The pink knight stood up, brandishing her sword.

“Now,” Rose smirked, “Petunia considers herself the main attacker of the Floral Knights, so she’s trained specifically in offence. This gives her a rather interesting ability.

When she attacks a monster in attack mode, she automatically wins! Petunia, destroy Forte’s doll! Floral Rush!”

The knight let out a cry as she charged towards the doll, slicing it into four with her blades effortlessly. The doll’s remains shattered into pixels.

“However,” Rose shrugged, “Battle damage is not calculated when she does this. Not to worry though, Tulip can fix that. Tulip! Attack Forte directly!”

The young knight charged, striking Forte with her sword, causing him to stagger back.

Forte: 6400
Rose: 8000

“Now,” Rose smirked, “Since a thousand lifepoints have been taken off of you, you know what you have to do.”

Forte muttered something as he knelt down and took off his shoe.

“Will that be all?”

Rose nodded and Forte drew.

Hmmm, it could work.

“I’ll set one monster in defence mode and one card face down. That will be all.”

The cards appeared as Rose drew. Tulip reached into her bag and pulled out another seed token (0/0).

She looked over the cards in her hand. Nothing much to do this turn.

“Petunia! Attack Forte’s face down card!”

The Floral Knight charged, swords raised high. Forte smirked.

“Activate trap card! Bark of the Dark Ruler!”

Rose’s eyes widened as A demonic wall with a face appeared. The Wall of Illusion. (1000/1850)

“Now, I’ll pay 400 lifepoints to reduce your monster’s attack to 1800!”

The knight swung her sword, only to have it harmlessly bounce off the wall. The wall’s eyes widened blasting the knight with a demonic energy and sending it back to Rose’s hand.

Forte: 6000
Rose: 8950

“Well, at least you’re down another thousand,” Rose muttered, “So that means take it off!”

Forte quietly removed his sock without much of a fuss.

“My move?”

Rose nodded. It would be stupid to attack with Tulip.

Forte drew. He looked over the field. He could summon it now, but Rose would still be able to bring out Petunia next turn and destroy it.

For now, he had to clear the field.

“First,” Forte stated, “I’ll play Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your Wall of Thorns!”

Rose took a step back as the card shattered.

“Now, I’ll switch my Wall into attack mode, and summon Goblin Elite Attack Force!”

Rose growled as the familiar armoured goblins appeared, pikes ready for battle (2200/1500).

“Ah, brings back such wonderful memories doesn’t it?” Rose simply scowled in response.

“Now then, first of all, Wall of Illusion! Attack the seed token!”

The wall let out another burst of energy from its eyes, incinerating the seed token.

“Now, Elite Goblin Attack Force! Attack Pinky!”

The knight tried her best to fight off the attackers, but in the end was overwhelmed and defeated.

Forte: 6000
Rose: 7350

I’ll end my turn with that,” said Forte as his goblins knelt in defence mode.

Rose drew.

“I’ll summon Floral Knight Lily in attack mode!”

A young woman, a brunette appeared, wearing green, dress-like armour, yet still with the floral design the previous knights displayed. Unlike the others, she didn’t carry a blade, but instead a longbow made from mahogany. She gave Forte a confident smile (1800/1700).

“Not that it matters,” Rose stated, “but when Lily attacks, traps cannot be activated. Lily! Attack Forte’s Goblin Attack Force!”

Before the goblins could realise what was happening, arrows rained from the sky, putting an end to them quickly.

Not a bad move Rose. Get rid of the stronger monster instead of taking a crack at my lifepoints.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll now sacrifice my Wall of Illusion!”

The wall shrieked before being engulfed in black flames.

“And I will summon, Dark Ruler Ha Des!”

Forte’s royal fiend rose up from the flames. He took a quick glance at Rose before smiling and nodding his head (2450/1600).

“Now that I think about it,” Forte smirked, “This is the first time you’ve seen Ha Des. Well, let me introduce you. Flower Bitch, Dark Ruler Ha Des. Dark Ruler Ha Des, Flower Bitch.”

Rose snarled as Ha Des chuckled.

“Now then, Ha Des! Attack Floral Knight Lily! Flames of the Dark Ruler!”

The knight went up like a forest fire, leaving only ashes after the flames subsided.

Forte: 6000
Rose: 6700

“Hold on!” Rose yelled, “I’ll activate the quick play magic card Floral Arrangement!”

The magic card rose, depicting the image of an extravagant bouquet of flowers.

“Now, this card allows me to summon a plant monster, as long as I pay one hundred lifepoints times the level of the monster. So, I will pay 400 lifepoints!”

Forte: 6000
Rose: 6300

“And I choose to summon Floral Knight Sunflower I attack mode!”

This knight was different as it was a guy, but because of how he was dressed. He was quite flamboyant, with his armour more resembling a dress or anything, and there were some symbols painted on his dark face. He had shaggy blonde hair and cheerful blue eyes. He gave Forte a playful wink as he pulled a pose (2000/1200)

“Er…” Forte stated, unsure of what to say, “That’s…one unusual knight.”

“Yeah,” Rose agreed, “He’s always been the most flamboyant of the knights, but as you can see, he’s quite powerful!”

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, you’ve lost a thousand lifepoints, so it’s off with a piece of clothing.

Rose muttered something under her breath as she removed her other shoe.

“I’ll end my turn,.”

Rose drew.

“Well, I will now sacrifice my Floral Knight Sunflower!”

The knight took a bow as a small whirlwind of petals hid him from view.

“To bring back Floral Knight Petunia!”

A familiar purple knight appeared, her two swords drawn, scowling at Forte (2300/1200)

“Now then,” Rose smirked, “Since your Dark Ruler is in attack mode, Petunia! Attack!”

The knight let out a cry as she charged, her blades slicing through Forte’s fiend like a hot knife through butter. Ha Des’ remains faded into black, wispy smoke.

Forte scowled in annoyance.

“I’ll end my turn.”

Forte drew. Nothing.

Dammit!

“I’ll set this monster face down and end my turn.”

Rose smirked as she drew.

“Aww, doesn’t the great Forte Rosamund have any great moves for all the nice people?” Rose mocked, gesturing to the crowd, “Well, here’s a little move for you. Say hello to my second Floral Knight Tulip! In attack mode!”

The familiar white haired knight in pink reappeared, her sword ready for combat (1500/1800).

“Now then, Petunia, attack Forte’s face down monster!”

Petunia cried out and lashed out with her blades. The small form of Forte’s Second Goblin appeared before before being cleaved in quarters.

“Now, Tulip! Attack Forte directly!”

Glaring at Forte, the knight charged towards him, thrusting her sword into his torso before leaping back to Rose’s side. Forte stumbled back, but managed to keep his footing.

Forte: 4400
Rose: 6300

“That’s another 1000 gone,” Rose smirked triumphantly. Forte scowled as he removed one of Reece’s gloves.

“Your move.”

Forte drew. A small smirk appeared on his face.

“Now this is what I’m talking about!” he laughed out loud, “Now, let’s turn this thing around!”

Rose raised an eyebrow, as did Reece.

“First of all,” Forte announced, “I’ll play Monster Reincarnation, in order to bring Ha Des back to my hand, in exchange for this.”

Forte plucked a card from his hand and slide it into the discard slot. Shortly afterwards, he pulled out Ha Des.

“Now, I play Premature Burial, in order to bring back the monster I just discarded. Say hello to Inferno Hammer!”

Rose took a step back as the bulky form, and the small head, of Forte’s fiend arose from the ground. It’s clenched its hammer tightly and almost seemed to be glaring at Rose (2400/0).

“Now, Inferno Hammer, destroy Floral Knight Petunia!”

This time, Petunia’s battle skills were useless as she was crushed by the fiend’s hammer. The fiend bellowed in triumph.

Forte: 3600
Rose: 6200

“Don’t forget,” Rose countered, “You’re down another thousand!”

Forte sighed in annoyance. She was right. Forte pulled off the other glove and threw to the ground along with the rest of his clothing.

“Anyway, since Inferno Hammer destroyed a monster, your Tulip gets flipped face down.”

Rose gasped softly as Tulip vanished, replaced with a face down card.

“Now, I’ll set one monster face down in defence and end my turn.”

Rose drew as the card appeared. This set her back a bit. Tulip couldn’t summon a seed token while she was face down, and chances were she would be destroyed by the end of the turn if she didn’t do something.

She looked at her hand.

“I’ll set this card face down and flip Tulip back face up. That will be all.”

Forte drew as the knight reappeared, eyeing the face down card. He glanced at the cards in his hand.

“Inferno Hammer! Attack Floral Knight Tulip!”

The fiend bellowed as it stomped forward to bring its hammer down on the girl’s head.

“Activate trap card, Negate Attack!”

Forte scowled as the air above Tulip’s head warped, catching his fiend’s attack.

“Fine, I’ll end my turn then.”

Rose smirked and drew. Now things were going her way. Tulip pulled a seed token from her pouch and dropped it on the ground beside her.

“Now, I’ll sacrifice both my Floral Knight, and the seed token, in order to summon Floral Knight Rose in attack mode!”

In a flurry of rose petals, she appeared. A woman with black hair, brown eyes and were red, flower-esque armour. She carried a matching sword and shield. She glared at Forte as she drew her sword (2500/1700).

“Now then,” Rose continued, “I will play my own Premature Burial to bring back Tulip in attack mode!”

Tulip’s arm shot up from the ground. Rose offered her assistance in pulling her comrade out from the earth. She dusted herself off before drawing her sword (1600/1800).

Forte: 3600
Rose: 5400

“Now, Rose!” The plant duellist ordered, “Attack Forte’s Inferno Hammer!”

The floral knight let out a loud battle cry before charging. However, before she could strike Forte’s fiend, a black armour figure holding a large shield intervened.

“So sorry,” Forte chuckled, “But I’m afraid, my Dark Defender has other ideas.”

Rose scowled as the knight cleaved Forte’s defender in two before going back to her side of the field.

“And any, since you’re down another thousand lifepoints, take it off.”

Rose scowled as she removed her sock.

“I’ll end my turn.”

Forte smirked as he drew.

“Ok, first of all,” he chuckled maliciously, “I’ll play Meteor of Destruction!”

Rose gasped as the skies darkened and a flaming meteor fell from the heavens. Her knights could only watch helplessly as it crashed into her, throwing her to the floor.

As the light dimmed and the smoke faded, a still smouldering Rose climbed to her feet. She glared at Forte hatefully.

Forte: 3600
Rose: 4400

“Now, I believe that’s another article of clothing gone.”

Rose muttered something under her breath as she removed her other shoe.

“Now then, Inferno Hammer, attack little miss pink!”

The fiend bellowed and charged. However, his hammer quickly met with Rose’s shield as she pushed it back.

“Wha!?” Forte cried out, shocked. Rose smirked.

“I should have told you sooner,” she taunted, “Rose is like the mother of the group, she will defend all the other knights with her life. Which means, whenever a Floral Knight is attack, the attack will automatically target Rose.”

Forte’s eyes widened in shock. That thing was a 2500 point offensive wall!?

“Unfortunately for you, you’re fiend is a hundred points short of matching my knight, and you know what happens when you attack a stronger monster. Rose!”

The red knight struck Inferno Hammer with her sword. The fiend let out a final bellow before shattering into pixels.

Forte: 3500
Rose: 4400

“Anything else?” Rose chuckled smugly. Forte snarled.

“I’ll set this monster in defence mode and end my turn.”

Rose drew. Tulip rummaged through her pouch before pulling out and dropping another seed token.

“Now then,” Rose smirked, “I will sacrifice both Tulip and the seed token…”

Both the floral knight and the seed were engulfed in a whirlwind of white petals.

“To summon the head of the Floral Knights, Floral Knight Chrysanthemum!”

A large, handsome man in pure white, flowery armor appeared, his long, white hair whipping in the wind and his deep blue eyes fixed on Forte. He wielded a Zweihänder of pure white steel, covered in the floral designs of his armour. He pointed the sword at Forte threateningly (2500/2000).

Forte took a step back. Just great, Rose now had two 2500 point attacks, while he had a couple of weak defenders.

Ok, relax mate. You’ve got two monsters, she’s got two monsters. She’ll have to plow through those before she can get to you.

“Now, Chrysanthemum! Attack the face down monster on the left!”

The knight didn’t need to be told twice. With one mighty swing, he cleaved the card in two. The image of the Brain Jacker appeared briefly before shattering.

“Now, Rose, attack directly!”

“Wait, what!?”

Before Forte could brace himself, the red knight shot past Forte’s other face down monster and sliced him across the chest with her sword before pushing him over with her shield.

Forte: 2250
Rose: 4400

“What the crap?” Forte muttered as he climbed to his feet, trying not to put any pressure on his injured leg.

“Allow me to explain how Chrysanthemum works,” Rose smirked cruelly, “When he destroys a monster on the field, all other Floral Knights can bypass your monsters and attack you directly! Of course, when they do, their attacks are halved.”

Forte snarled. That thing was a monster form a Break Through! And furthermore, Rose seemed to be enjoying this.

Sometimes that girl could be just as sadistic as himself.

“I’ll end my turn,” Rose smirked, “But since you’re down another thousand…”

Forte scowled as he removed the hat from his head and threw it to the floor.

“Wait a minute! You weren’t wearing a hat!”

“Yes I was!”

“No you weren’t!”

“Prove it!”

“….God dammit!”

“Ah, continuity errors,” Reece sighed from the sidelines.

Forte chuckled as he drew. He looked at the cards in his hand and the situation on the field. His smile vanished and he sighed.

“I really don’t want to do this,” Forte muttered, “Nightmare Steel Cage!”

With a burst of dark flames, the round, jagged cage appeared around Forte.

He hated doing this. He hated stalling, but it worked on some occasions. Reece had given him the card telling him holding out for a bit of time did wonders. Unfortunately, it was starting to prove Reece right.

“I’ll end my turn.”

Rose drew.

“I’ll summon my second Floral Knight Lily in attack mode!”

The floral, bow wielding knight appeared on the field, ready for combat. (1800/1700).

“Now, that will be all.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll set this monster in defense mode and end my turn.”

Rose drew.

“I’ll summon my second Floral Knight Sunflower in attack mode!”

Rose’s falmboyent knight appeared and struck a pose, grinning playfully (2000/1200).

“Your last move Forte,” Rose smirked.

Forte drew s the cage around him evaporated. This was it. Either it be something good, or he was boned.

He looked at the card.

And a big grin appeared on his face.

“Jackpot!” Forte exclaimed, “I sacrifice my two face down monsters!”

Rose watched as the face down cards dissolved into a black mist. Out of it stepped a large, humanoid fiend, with golden, armor-like skin, and an old black cloak. He glared at her with evil golden eyes.

“In order to summon, Invader of Darkness!” (2900/2500)

Rose took a step back, her eyes wide.

“Now then,” Forte smirked maliciously, “It’s my turn to hurt you! Invader! Attack Floral Knight Rose!”

A gold orb of energy formed in the fiend’s hand before firing a blast at Rose. The beam went straight through, burning a hole in her chest before she slumped to the ground lifeless. The other knights could only watch in horror as she broke down into pixels and vanished.

Forte: 2250
Rose: 4000

“And now, that’s another thousand gone, so goodbye other sock.”

Rose muttered something under her breath as she removed the sock.

“And that will be all.”

Rose found herself shaking a she drew. She had nothing in her deck that could overpower that thing.

Well, she had one monster, but would she be able to bring it out in time?

“I’ll set all my monsters into defense mode and end my turn.”

Forte drew as Rose’s knight knelt. His cocky smirk ever present on his face.

“I’ll now summon Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!”

Forte’s demonic soldier appeared, brandishing his sword menacingly (1900/1500).

“Now, Invader, destroy Chrysanthemum! Archfiend Soldier, destroy Sunflower!”

Rose could only stand back and watch as her two knights were felled by Forte’s fiends.

“I’ll end my turn at that,” Forte smirked.

Rose drew.

Great! NOW I draw it! When it’s completely useless!

“I’ll set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll now sacrifice my Archfiend to summon Dark Ruler Ha Des back to the field!”

The imperial fiend rose from the flames, giving Rose a superior smirk as he took a sip from his wine (2450/1600).

“Now my fiends, destroy Rose’s remaining monsters!”

The Invader of the Dark blasted Rose’s remaining Floral Knight as Ha Des incinerated Rose’s face down monster. A monster almost in the shape of a line could be seen before being reduced to ash.

“What was that?” Forte muttered to himself, “Anyway, I’ll end my turn.”

Rose shakily drew. She quickly looked over her hand.

Yes! This could be just what I need to turn this duel around!

“I’ll set one monster face down and one card face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“Well, time to end this,” he smirked, “I’ll summon Witty Phantom in attack mode!”

The blonde, orange skinned, tuxedo clad fiend appeared, giving Roe a polite bow and blowing her a kiss (1400/1300)

“Now then,” Forte paused for a moment, looking over the situation, “How heck, I’ll be nice. Ha Des, attack her face down monster, Flames of the Dark Ruler!”

Taking a gulp of his wine, the fiend unleashed his fire breath, as the form of a small plant monster appeared before being reduced to nothing.

“I activate my magic card!” Rose announced, “My second Floral Arrangement.”

However, much to Rose’s shock, her card never lifted.

“Oh, so sorry Rose,” Forte chuckled, “But you see, as long as my Invader of Darkness is on the field, you can’t use any quick-spell cards, like your arrangement card.”

Rose paled, her last chance reduced to nothing.

“Now then, Invader of Darkness, attack Rose directly!”

Rose screamed as the beam of energy shot straight through her.

“Now, Witty Phantom, finish the job!”

The phantom nodded before running over and delivering a hard punch to Rose’s stomach, causing her to double over.

Forte: 2250
Rose: 0

The crowd cheered as the holograms vanished. Rose groaned as she pulled herself to her feet.

“Well, that’s it,” Forte declared loudly, “You lost, and you know what that means!”

Rose paled before her face went bright red.

“No bloody way!”

“Oh come on! You would have made me do it if I lost!”

Rose was fuming, but he had a point. She would have.

“Take it off! Take it off!” Forte started chanting. The men in the crowd followed suit. Rose was fuming as she started to, rather uncomfortably, strip down to her underwear.

“Aw, put on a show for the people!” Forte laughed, “How about a little dance.”

Rose’s snarled. Suddenly, the prospec of beating him to death with her duel disk seemed really tempting.

The crowd went wild as she stood there, trying in vein to cover herself with her hands.

“I know I’ve said this before,” Forte chuckled, “But you’ve got a nice rack.”

That did it. Rose screamed in rage as she charged at Forte, and he foot connected sharply with Forte’s crotch.

Forte’s eyes bulged and a small whimper crept from his throat as he slumped to the floor, holding his manhood. Every man watching wince, even Reece.

Rose quickly grabbed her clothing before dashing into a nearby alleyway and out of sight. As the crowd dispersed, Reece went to help his friend.

“I hate to be a douche,” Reece spoke up, “But you kinda deserved that.”

“Screw…you…” Forte groaned.

--------------~*~--------------

One man had been watching the duel with great interest. Keeping out of sight, he had carefully studied Forte’s strategies throughout the duel.

“A little crude, not necessarily one for planning ahead, but able to adapt.”

His yellow eyes glanced at the alleyway that Rose had run into.

“Now, all I need to do, is get him to where I want him.”


Name: Seed Pod
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level: 2
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 500
Defence: 500
Effect: When this monster is destroyed by battle, special summon one level four or lower plant monster from your hand or deck in either face up attack position or face up defence position

Name: Stygian Compact
Card Type: Spell
Spell Type: Normal
Image: Dark Ruler Ha Des standing by the River Styx. The ferryman is approaching him.
Effect: Tribute one fiend monster on your side of the field. Add one card with “Dark Ruler” in its name from your deck to your hand.

[I]Stygian Compact was created by Dark Sage and was used in "Dark Messiah". Credit goes to him.

Name: Floral Knight Tulip
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level:
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 1600
Defence: 1800
Effect: If this card is face up on your side of the field, special summon one Seed Token (Plant, Earth, 0/0) to the field. This token can not be used as a tribute other than tribute summoning a plant monster.

Name: Floral Knight Petunia
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level: 6
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 2300
Defence: 1200
Effect: When this card attacks a monster in attack position, the target is automatically destroyed and battle damage is not calculated. If this card is attack while in defence mode, this card is automatically destroyed and battle damage is not calculated.

Name: Floral Arrangement
Card Type: Spell
Spell Type: Quickplay
Image: An extravagant bouquet of exotic flowers
Effect: This card can only be activated when a plant monster is destroyed as a result of battle. Special summon as many plant monsters from your hand as you wish. Pay lifepoints equal to their total level x 100

Name: Floral Knight Lily
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level: 4
Attribute: Water
Attack: 1800
Defence: 1700
Effect: When this card attacks, trap cards cannot be activated.

Name: Floral Knight Sunflower
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level: 4
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 2000
Defence: 1200
Effect: When this monster does damage to the opponent’s lifepoints, increase your opponent’s lifepoints by 500

Name: Floral Knight Rose
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level: 7
Attribute: Light
Attack: 2500
Defence: 1700
Effect: If a monster with “Floral Knight” in its name is selected as an attack target, this monster becomes the attack target.

Name: Floral Knight Chrysanthemum
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant/Effect
Level: 7
Attribute: Light
Attack: 2500
Defence: 2000
Effect: When this monster destroys a monster, all monsters with “Flora Knight” in their name can attack directly until the end of the turn. All damage done by direct attacks caused by this effect are halved.

Forte here. There are times in your life that you just never want to remember ever again. This is most definitely one of them.

Tell me about it. This guy is pure insanity, plain and simple.

Stick around for Chapter 13: Chamber of Horrors.

[Shuppet Master]

Well that was most interesting.

I'd love to use those flower knights, Mystic_clown. And I think I can whip up a duelist for them. PM me if it's okay.

BTW, I once wrote part of a story(which never got finished and was scrapped because it turned into something out of a NC-17 movie near the end when the character acted sadistic - I still blush over what I made her do to the guy) which had the characters perform a similar duel with similar rules because the guy was trying to hit on the woman and threatened to rape her if she refused. That was really a great and humiliating experience - but Forte got his when he said that thing about her rack. NEVER say anything sexually offensive to a militant woman.

I smiled when the continuity error appeared. "You don't have a hat on!"

Please try to update more often, Mystic_clown. Seeing an anti-hero like Forte is nice.

BTW, will we see the other avatars soon?

[Mystic_clown]

Thanks Shuppet. I was originally unsure whether or not to include the whole strip duelling thing, but when I couldn't think of a decent wager for the two to have, I figured "oh, what the heck" and went with it.

The continuity joke was actually Hinoryu's idea. Credit goes to him.

Since university's over for me, I may be able to get more done on this fic.

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 13: Chamber of Horrors

Rose snarled in anger, her rage towards Forte had not subsided since their duel. She had never been so embarrassed. She had hoped to crush Forte and force him down to his underwear for the whole street to see.

Though knowing that, he’d probably just show it off and do a strip tease for them.

The plan seriously backfired. Even though she was fully clothed now, she was hoping no one who saw the duel recognised her. A part of her just wanted to just crawl into a hole and never come out.

That’s it! Next time, forget the duel, just beat him to death right there and then. It would be definitely worth the jail time. Heck, maybe telling the judge all this will make my actions justified and let me get off Scott free.

She was so caught up in her homicidal fantasies that she failed to notice the figure following her. He kept his distance, glancing at the people around them, waiting for the opportunity.

Maybe I could make it look like suicide. If I poison him and make it look like it’s his, there’s no way they’d suspect foul play.

She turned and walked down an empty alleyway, a shortcut to the hotel she was staying at.

A big mistake on her part.

She yelped in shock when she felt someone grab her from behind, their mouth quickly covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She struggled as the assailant through a blindfold over her eyes.

Then everything went black.

--------------~*~--------------

It had been one heck of a day for the duo. First duelling a Russian Militant, getting shot in the foot, then having to face a duelling ninja and finally playing a match of Strip Duel Monsters with the one woman who Forte never wanted to see again.

After Forte’s duel with Rose, the pair had just wandered around for an hour or so, taking in the sites of the place. But as the sun was setting, they decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

“This was definitely not what I was expecting when they said “Win a free trip to Domino.”

Reece muttered as they approached the hotel.

“Tell me about it,” Forte muttered in response. He did not want to go over the events of their day.

Reece chuckled to himself, “They neglected to include the hijacking, Russian militants, crazed ninjas, stripping and a free bullet to the foot.”

Forte growled. He did NOT want to be reminded about his injury. It hurt like a bitch and he just wanted to forget it and let it heal.

The two walked into the hotel lobby (well, Reece walked, Forte limped) and headed for the elevator. They had checked in before going for a drink and running into Rose, so they didn’t have to worry about booking a room.

Normally, when you stay at a hotel, it wouldn’t be unusual to find something like a mint on your pillow. However, it is strange to find a note for you, especially when there’s a knife stabbed into it and it’s addressed to you.

This is exactly what Forte and Reece found when they entered their room.

Pulling the knife from the bedside table, Forte took the letter and began reading.

You really need to keep an eye on the things you care about. You never know when one precious sheep wanders away and is taken by the big, bad wolf.

However, this wolf is going to give you a little chance to take her back. Head to the abandoned warehouse ten minutes west of here. Hurry, or there may not be much of your precious lamb to save.

Forte looked over the message again and again, trying to absorb what it was saying.

“This day just will not end for me will it?” He groaned, half thinking of just ignoring the letter. Reece had been reading it over his shoulder.

“Who the heck is this “precious lamb”?” Reece asked to no one in particular.

“I have no idea,” Forte shrugged, “I mean, I don’t have a girlfriend or anything, and there’s nobody here I know except…”

Forte trailed off.

“No…it couldn’t be,” Forte murmured to himself, “She’s anything but precious to me.”

It was quite obvious this was a trap. The only thing that could make it more obvious was if it actually said “This is a trap!”. However, Forte had a hunch he knew who the letter was referring to, and precious to him or not, he just had to find out.

“Let’s go,” he simply said to Reece, leaving all but his duel disk and deck in the room.

It as getting dark when the pair reached the warehouse. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just a place where good would be stored. The windows were boarded up and it was clear this place had not been in use for a while. A sign plastered to the wall suggested that the place may be demolished in the upcoming days.

“You really think they’ve got someone?” Reece asked. Forte shrugged.

“Who knows, but there’s only one way to find out.”

“But this is clearly a trap.”

“Yeah, so let’s spring it and get this bloody thing over with.”

He took a step towards the building and a rush went through him.

“Forte.”

A projection of Menithil appeared before the two. Forte took a step back in surprise, while Reece jumped a feet.

“What is it?”

Menithil turned to the warehouse in front of them.

“I can sense it,” he stated solemnly, “a presence I have not felt for thousands of years.”

Forte and Reece stared at the warehouse silently for a moment before Menithil turned to them.

“Be careful Forte,” he spoke, “This opponent isn’t like any we’ve faced before.”

And with that, Menithil flickered before vanishing from sight.

“Well,” Forte stated after a small silence, “I guess we’d better go in.

Reece simply nodded and the two pushed their way through the large doors.

The building was in completely blackness. Only a single light shone in the middle of the room, lighting up the steel table in the middle of the warehouse.

And the person strapped down to it.

“Rose!”

She was strapped down, spread eagle. Her eyes were covered with a black blindfold. At the end of the table a tap continued to drip water onto her forehead at random intervals. Her expression was one of both discomfort and fear, and judging from the wet hair, she had been tight down for a while.

“What the hell?” Forte muttered.

“The Chinese water torture,” Reece replied, “they strap you down at drip water on you for hours on end. It can make a man go insane.”

“Well,” came a voice, echoing throughout the warehouse, “It seems someone knows their tortures. Good, it means I wont have to explain it.

His steps echoed as he stood into the light. He was a lean man, around Forte’s high with long, pale blonde hair, which hung straight down, a pale complexion and insane, yellow eyes which stood out on his thin face. He wore a cream colours suit with a pale blue undershirt and black pants.

“Who are you?” Forte growled, much to his surprise. It wasn’t like he cared about Rose. The man’s eye twitched, as if asking that question was an insult.

“I am Walter Cedar,” he introduced himself, “Duel Monsters champion of England.”

Forte looked over him with a critical eye.

“You don’t look so tough,” Forte muttered, unimpressed.

A small flash of anger appeared on his lips, though was pushed back and hidden by a calm demeaner.

“You’ll find that appearances can be deceiving,” Walter replied simply.

Reece, who had been in thought during this, finally spoke up.

“Wait a minute, weren’t you incarcerated in an insane asylum after attacking your ex-girlfriend?”

Once again, another flash of anger appeared on Walter’s face, possibly due to being reminded. However, it was quickly replaced with a calm smirk.

“A certain ‘benefactor’ of mine made a deal. My sentence in a straight jacket is cut short if, and only if, I claim a certain card from you

Forte’s eyes narrowed. First a copycat, a Russian militant, a ninja, and now an insane asylum patient. Where the heck did Dogma find these guys?

He was surprised though when Walter pulled out a duel disk.

“Now then, let’s begin shall we?”

“Wait, if you want the avatar so badly? Why bother duelling me?”

Walter chuckled quietly.

“I had heard you were duellist,” he explained, “and what kind of champion would I be if I took the easy way out?”

Forte smirked.

“I do believe you loose your statues as champion when you get incarcerated Walter.”

Walter couldn’t hide the scowl on his face.

“Let’s begin!”

Forte simply nodded before shuffling his deck and slipping on his disk.

“Let’s duel!”

Forte: 8000
Walter: 8000

“I will start,” Walter drew.

“I’ll set one monster face down, and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“Not exactly a professional move Walter,” Forte chuckled, “If you were the champion, I can understand how you lost your title.”

Walter snarled.

“I’ll summon Opticlops in attack mode!”

Forte’s hulking cycloptic fiend appeared and bellowed, brandishing his teeth (1800/1700).

“Now, attack Walter’s face down card!”

The fiend let out a roar as he charged. A turtle with a large pyramid on its back appeared before being crushed into sand.

“A Pyramid Turtle?”

Walter grinned and chuckled.

“Not a very professional move huh? Well, thanks to you, I am now able to bring out the key to my deck, and the monster that will lead to your demise!””

Forte watched as Walter went through his deck.

”I can feel it.”

Forte could hear him in his mind.

”The power I sensed. It’s about to surface!”

Walter grinned in satisfaction.

“I will now bring out, Gale Phantom Kazard! In attack mode!”

A strong wind kicked up. Forte was almost thrown off his feet by the mini tornado that seemed to have appeared. The wind began to die, though it still whipped Forte’s hair. In front of Walter, in a small whirlwind, Forte could a wraith like figure, mainly the arms, torso and skull of a human skeleton. Its hands were claw like and a blue light glowed in its eye sockets. (0/0)

Forte stared at it for a moment. Zero attack and zero defence? How was that thing going to be a threat to him?

“That’s it?” Forte muttered, “That’s the monster that will defeat me? It can’t even attack!”

“Forte.”

Forte paused, hearing Menithil’s voice.

“Do not judge it by it’s strength. Be wary, Kazard is the avatar of wind!”

Forte’s jaw dropped.

That thing is the avatar of wind!? I was kinda expecting a bird or something, and something a hell of a lot stronger.

“Don’t be a fool. While it may be weak, it has a powerful effect, and Walter may know how to use it.”

“Hello?”

Forte jumped out of his mental conversation with Menithil.

“Wha?”

“I asked if you were done?” Walter asked.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” What exactly could be threatening about the skeletal cyclone?

Walter drew.

“Now, I will activate my Gale Phantom’s effect!”

The wind began to intensify once again. Forte tried to keep himself from being blown over, shielding his eyes as his hair went all over the place.

When the wind died down, he found that Opticlops was gone.

“What the?”

Walter chuckled cruelly.

“Behold the power of the gale phantom! Once per turn, it sends all cards on the field apart from itself back to the player’s hands. Then, we return our cards to our decks, shuffle and draw five new cards.”

Forte growled as his hand went into his deck. He had a pretty good opening hand as well.

Meanwhile, as both duellists shuffled their disks, Reece decided to take a chance and try to sneak over to Rose, who was still strapped down and blind folded.

Walter spotted him out of the corner of his eye as he drew his five cards.

“Not so fast!”

Reece yelped in surprise as a knife buried itself in a crate, just inches from Reece’s head.

Both stared at the insane blonde, who was holding a second throwing knife.

“I don’t miss twice,” Walter spoke calmly, and almost threateningly, “So why don’t you be a good boy and stay over there.”

Reece never took his eyes off of him as he backed up to Forte’s side.

“Good boy,” Walter smirked as he checked his hand, “Now then, I’ll summon Master Kyonshee in attack mode!”

A zombie in a chinese martial arts attire appeared on the field. His face was covered by a paper charm and a scimitar was in its hand. It got into a battle stance, its blade ready for combat (1700/1000).

“Now, Master Kyonshee! Attack Forte directly!”

With a cry, it charged and struck Forte with its blade, right across his torso. Forte took a step back, clutching his torso.

Forte: 6300
Walter: 8000

“Now, I will play the magic card Nightmare Steel Cage.”

Forte growled as the cage formed around Walter and his monsters.

“And that ends my turn.”

Forte drew.

“May I ask you something?” he asked.

Walter rose an eyebrow.

“Alright.”

“What did you take Rose?” Forte glared at him, “The girl had nothing to do with this. Why are you putting her through this?”

Walter chuckled.

“I needed some good bait to draw you out Forte,” he answered calmly, “And what better way to do so then with the woman you care so much about?”

Forte was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant. Then it hit him.

“Wait a minute! You think that she’s my girlfriend!?” he cried out in disbelief, “If you knew ANYTHING about us you’d know we don’t even like each other! Hell, the last time we were together, she kicked me in the balls! If you think we’re in a relationship, you truly are insane!”

Walter snarled at the insane crack, but then smirked.

“Well, it still got you out here. And if you dislike her so, why are you going out of your way to save her?”

Forte narrowed his eyes.

“Because whether I dislike her or not, no one deserves to be put through what the hell you’ve done to her.”

Rose had been silent this whole time. While she was unable to see, she was listening to what Forte was saying.

Walter chuckled, apparently finding it amusing.

“Whores like her deserve much worse.”

Forte narrowed his eyes.

“Sounds like someone’s having girl problems.”

Walter snarled. “Just make your move!” he barked.

“Temper, temper,” Forte responded as he drew.

“I’ll set this monster face down and end my turn.”

“Now who’s making pathetic moves,” Walter taunted as he drew.

“I’ll activate Gale Phantom’s effect a second time!”

Forte braced himself as the winds kicked up again. He watched as his Doll of Demise was swept back into his hand. Without much fuss, the two began shuffling their decks again and drew new cards.

“Now, I’ll set one card face down, and summon Vampire Lady in attack mode.”

A green skinned vampire in and almost gothic purple dress appeared on the field. She gave Forte a seductive wink and blew him a kiss. (1550/1550)

“It seems my undead harlot wants to get to know you better,” Walter chuckled menacingly, “well, she can! Vampire Lady, attack Forte directly!”

The vampire growled at the harlot comment before dissipating in a flurry of bats. She reappeared behind Forte, and before he could react, sank her fangs into his neck. Forte went rigid until she let go. Forte staggered slightly, but remained upright.

Forte: 4750
Walter: 8000

“Now, since she damaged your lifepoints, I get to choose one card type, and you have to discard one. I’ll choose monster.”

Forte went through his deck before finding the Witty Phantom.

Sorry mate, but it’s better you than someone powerful.

He discarded him before shuffling his deck and returning it to his disc.

“And I’ll end my turn.”

Forte drew. He looked over his hand and a small smile formed on his lips.

“Since you like wind so much,” Forte smirked, “I think it’s time I give you some. I’ll play Giant Trunade!”

Walter gasped as the wind intensified, blowing his trap card back to his hand. His Gale Phantom was now vulnerable!

“Now, I’ll summon Doomcalibur Knight in attack mode!”

Forte’s fiendish knight stepped out of the shadows. His horse reared up in its hind legs, crying out loudly a he drew his sword. (1900/1800)

“Now then, Doomcalibur Knight, destroy Gale Phantom Kazard!”

Letting out a battle cry, the knight charged towards the phantom, his sword ready to strike. He struggled with the tornado surrounding it before finally succeeding in slicing it in two. The phantom let out one last cry before fading into nothing, the constant wind finally subsiding.

Forte: 4750
Walter: 6100

Forte smirked in satisfaction. However, it quickly vanished when a scream came from behind Walter.

His eyes widened when he saw Rose writhing in pain as electricity coursed through her. She slumped back on the table when it died down, whimpering in pain.

“What the hell!?”

Walter chuckled, as if this was an amusing game to him.

“There was something I forgot to tell you Forte,” he spoke coolly, “the table Rose is connected to is wired with electrodes, which activate when I take damage. In other words, if I get hurt, she gets hurt even more!”

“You bastard!” Forte snarled in anger, though not daring to attack him out of fear that he’ll put a knife in his head, or into Rose.

Walter merely chuckled.

“Well, at least I find it a nice touch, now do you end your turn?”

Forte’s eyes narrowed.

“Sure, whatever. It’s not like you can do anything now that you’re precious phantom’s gone.”

Walter’s eyes narrowed as he drew. Forte was wrong. There were plenty of things he could do.

Little do you know Forte, that the thing about zombies, is that they will never stay dead for long!

“I’ll set one card face down, and now I’ll sacrifice my vampire whore in order to summon Il Blud in attack mode!”

The vampire lady frowned before dissipating into bats again. A fat, headless zombie in a black and white stripped bodysuit waddled onto the field. A tear in the suit revealed a ghoulish, twisting face on his belly. (2100/0)

“What the heck is that?” Forte was slightly repulsed by the creepy looking zombie.

“A little something to help me regain control of this duel,” Walter spoke ominously, “But right now, I’ll end my turn.”

Forte drew. Reece was a little worried.

Forte has to destroy that thing! If it survives until next turn, then Forte’s going to be in trouble all over again.

“I’ll summon Giant Orc in attack mode!”

The giant, bulky orc appeared, clutching its club tightly, leering at Il Blud. (2200/0)

“Now, Giant Orc, attack Il Blud!”

The orc roared before charging at the zombie. However, before the attack could connect, a wall of reflective crystal rose up between then, causing the fiend to strike that instead.

Forte growled. Mirror Wall.

“I’m sorry,” Walter chuckled cruelly, “But it seems your orc isn’t so fierce after all, what with attacking his own reflection and all.”

Forte growled as the orcs attack fell to 1100 and it slumped to the ground exhausted in defence mode.

“I’ll end my turn then.”

Walter smirked and drew.

“Now, I could simply let my wall be destroyed. However…”

Forte: 4750
Walter: 4100

Rose shrieked in pain as the electricity coursed through her. Forte snarled. Now he was damaging himself just to make Rose suffer! What was with this sadistic maniac?

Walter grinned, out of a combination of infuriating Forte and making Rose suffer.

“I’ll now summon Il Blud a second time!”

Forte rose an eyebrow.

“Wait? Summon him a second time? But he’s already on the field!”

Walter chuckled at Forte’s ignorance.

“Il Blud is what’s known as a Gemini monster. When they’re first summoned, they are treated as a normal monster, but by giving up my normal summon for this turn, I can turn him into an effect monster and use his effect.”

Il Blud glowed with a dark aura.

“And his effect allows me to special summon one zombie from either of our graveyards each turn. So welcome back Gale Phantom!”

The wind began to kick up as the whirlwind wraith appeared beside Il Blud. (0/0)

“Now, I’ll play Monster Recovery, in order to return him to my hand!”

The wind kicked up a moment before dying out completely. The Gale Phantom was gone.

“Now, I shuffle my hand back into my deck and draw the same number of cards,” Walter explained as he drew three new cards.

Forte was confused. Why didn’t he just use Kazard’s effect and get five new cards?

But Reece knew.

He’s smart. He knew that if he sent Il Blud back to his hand, Gale Phantom would go back to the graveyard. This way, he’s one search card away from bringing it back.

“Now, as much as I enjoy making Rose suffer, I don’t think I’ll keep Mirror Wall next turn, so to stop you from attacking me, I’ll play Swords of Revealing Light!”

Forte stepped back as the swords fell from the heavens, surrounding him.

“That ends my turn.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll pass this turn.”

Walter smirked as he drew. The Mirror Wall trap shattered.

Perfect.

“I’ll set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew, and smirked. He took a quick glance at Rose, who was still on the table, whimpering in pain. His smirk faded slightly.

Rose, I’m sorry.

“Well,” Forte stated confidently, “At least your blowhard of a zombie isn’t on the field, and there’s more than one way to do damage. I’ll play Ectoplasmer!”

The damaging magic card appeared behind Forte’s monsters.

“Now, since my Giant Orc is virtually useless in his weakened state, I’ll sacrifice him to Ectoplasmer!”

The orc groaned is his soul was sucked right out of him. The card charged before firing a blast straight at Walter, causing him to stumble back in pain.

Forte: 4750
Walter: 3550

Rose gave a weak cry as the electricity went through her. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as before.

Walter growled as Forte chuckled in satisfaction. That infernal boy was getting on his last nerve!

“So, what are you going to do champ?” he mocked, “You’re phantom isn’t here to stop me, and your traps can’t stop me. Looks like I’m going to get the title of best duellist in England.”

Walter barely held his rage in. However, Forte kept taunting.

“But wooing skills and duelling skills. No wonder your girlfriend left you.”

“ENOUGH!” shrieked Walter in a rage, “SHE BETRAYED ME!!!”

Forte was a little taken aback by the outburst. Walter pulled a remote from his coat.

“It seems that someone talks to much,” He snarled in rage, before his expression changed into one of a manic grin and he pressed the button.

A horrible grinding came from above. Forte and Reece looked up to see a rusty, bladed pendulum, directly above Rose. With a horrible grinding screech, it began to swing, and much to Forte’s horror, it was getting lower as well.

“You’re fucking insane!” Forte shouted. Walter simply laughed maniacally.

“Not so confident now are you?” Walter laughed, “Now it’s my turn!”

He drew sharply.

“I’ll sacrifice Il Blud to Ectoplasmer and end my turn!”

Forte groaned and stumbled back as his own card blasted him.

Forte: 3700
Walter: 3550

“How do you like that!?” Walter laughed. Forte didn’t respond and simply drew.

I don’t have time for this. If this duel doesn’t end soon, Rose will get sliced in half!

“I’ll summon Gil Garth and sacrifice him to Ectoplasmer! That will be all!”

Forte’s metallic fiend quickly appeared (1800/1200). With a groaned, the fiend’s soul was sucked out of it and fired at Walter. Walter cried out as the card struck him. Rose groaned in pain as the electricity coursed through her. The swords faded around Forte.

Forte: 3700
Walter: 2650

Walter snarled and drew.

“I’ll summon Reborn Zombie in attack mode!”

A zombie with grey hair and torn green clothes burst from the ground. (1000/1600)

“I’ll now set one card face down and sacrifice Reborn Zombie to Ectoplamser. That ends my turn!”

Forte shielded himself before being hi by the magic card.

Forte: 3200
Walter: 2650

Forte quickly drew. The pendulum was getting lower.

“I’ll summon Opticlops once again in attack mode!”

The Cyclops appeared once again on the field, bellowing over its return (1800/1700)

“Now, Opticlops! Attack Walter’s face down monster!”

History seemed to have repeated itself, for as the Cyclops charged, a second Pyramid Turtle appeared and was demolished like the first. Walter laughed cruelly.

“Why thank you, now I can bring Gale Phantom back! Come forth!”

The dreaded winds kicked up once again, the avatar of wind making its presence known. (0/0)

“Well it’s not staying!” Forte shouted, “Doomcalibur Knight, destroy Kazard!”

The knight was about to charge when the winds kicked up again.

“Not so fast,” Walter shouted, “I activate Windstorm of Etaque! This sends all your monsters into defence mode!”

Forte growled as his knight and Cyclops knelt down in defence mode.

“In that case, I will sacrifice my Doomcalibur Knight to Ectoplasmer and end my turn!”

Walter staggered back, but laughed like a maniac as the card attacked him. Rose cried out once again as the electricity ran through her.

Forte: 3200
Walter: 1700

“It doesn’t matter!” Walter laughed, “Because soon your lady friend will become two, and I’ll walk away with your card! I activate Gale Phantom’s effect again!”

Forte growled as the winds picked up and blew Opticlops and Ectoplasmer back to his hand. Walter quickly drew his new hand with a manic glee.

“Now, I’ll summon Spirit Reaper in attack mode!”

A sand coloured, skeletal spectre wearing purple robes and wielding a scythe appeared on the field. It glared at Forte with murderous glee (300/200)

“Now, Spirit Reaper! Attack Forte directly!”

Forte cried out, more in irritation than in pain, as the reaper attacked him.

Forte: 2900
Walter: 1700

“Now, because he did damage, you must discard one card from your hand!”

Forte looked at his hand, and his eyes flew open.

“This was perfect! This hand was just what he needed, and thanks to Walter, it would work perfectly.

He took a card and sent it to the discard pile.

“Your move boy!”

Forte glared at him determinedly as he drew.

“It’s time to finish this!”

“Oh?” Walter laughed, seeing this as a joke, “How?”

“First, I’ll summon Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!”

Forte’s demonic soldier appeared. It glared at the two weak zombies before it with contempt, drawing his sword. (1900/1800).

“Now, I’ll play Premature Burial to bring back Witty Phantom!”

The orange skinned phantom clawed his way out of the ground, dusting off his tuxedo before glaring at Walter (1400/ 1300).

“Now, I play the magic card Puppet Magic of the Dark Ruler! Now, I choose one fiend monster in my grave. I then sacrifice as many monster as long as their total levels equal the monster in my grave, then I can summon it to the field!

Your avatar has been on the field for most of this duel, now let me show you mine! Dark Lancer Menithil! Arise!”

The two monsters disappeared in a dark aura, before the dark lancer himself stepped out. Gripping his lance tightly, he glared at the monsters in front of him, mainly Kazard. (2700/2400)

Walter just laughed.

“You think your monster’s going to get me! Bring it on!”

“Very well,” Forte shouted, I set one card face down and attack Kazard with Menithil!”

Menithil prepared his lance to strike down the phantom. Walter laughed.

“Not so fast! Activate trap card! Sakuretsu Armor!”

“I activate my trap card!” Forte shouted, “Domain of the Dark Ruler!”

The card Forte just placed revealed itself, showing the Dark Ruler standing in a dark area of the underworld.

“What is that?”

“Allow me to explain! Domain and only be activated when you activate a magic or trap card. It negates the effect and destroy it!”

Walter cried in shock as his trap shattered.

“Now, normally, as long as this card is active, you wouldn’t be able to play and magic or trap cards. However, that doesn’t matter because this duel is ending right now! Dark Lancer Menithil! Finish this duel!”

Menithil nodded and leaped into the air. He came down upon the Gale Phantom, driving his lance through its body. The phantom wailed as the wind picked up to incredible speeds. Forte and Reece fought to keep on their feet, but Walter was thrown back, crying out as he collided with a stack of crates.

The winds finally died down and everything was gone. No Gale Phantom, no Menithil, nothing.

Forte had won.

Forte: 2100
Walter: 0

Rose cried out in shock as the blade cut across her stomach, only just deep enough to cut the skin. Forte couldn’t bask in his victory as he dashed over to Rose, putting himself between her and the blade as it swung towards them.

There was a screeching of rusty metal against plastic, metal and wiring. Sparks were flying and Forte felt a sharp pain in his arm.

Then, all went silent. Forte looked down at his arm.

The blade had cut into his arm, but thankfully, not to deep to be threatening. His duel disk had taken the majority of the blow. He pulled the blade out and threw it to the side, causing it to clang loudly against the steel table.

Reece ran up to him.

“Jesus man!” he cried out, “Are you ok?”

Forte showed him his cut arm and broken duel disk.

“We can worry about me later. For now, let’s get Rose out of this.”

The two undid the straps binding Rose. The first thing she did was cling to the closest thing to her, which happened to be Forte. He was a little shocked when she grabbed hold and him and buried her head into his chest, trembling and sobbing quietly.

What had happened to the strong, independent girl he knew?

Forte snarled. What had Walter done to her?

Walter was fuming with rage as he climbed to his feet.

Another defeat? Even with such a powerful card, he lost. And to whom? An upstart, a no name from some former penal colony.

He wouldn’t allow it. He wouldn’t let this insult stand!

Pulling a knife from his jacket, he shrieked in an insane fury, charging towards him, ready to plunge it into Forte’s skull.

Forte saw him coming and surprisingly out of instinct shielded Rose.

There was a small explosion and Walter went flying, slamming into the wall before slumping to the floor unconscious.

As the smoke cleared, Forte and Reece looked around, wondering what happened.

“Wha…what was that?” Reece asked quietly.

Forte noticed something out of the corner of his eye,

“I think someone saved us.”

The two looked up to see a man crouched on the rafters. They couldn’t seem him clearly in the darkness, but they could make out long, messy, dark hair and blood red eyes.

The two heard something move nearby and turned. Much to Forte’s surprise, they saw Karmov appear in the doorway, along with another. A young man with black hair and dressed like a punk of sorts. With very little emotion at all, Karmov strode over to the unconscious Walter and slung him over his shoulder.

The boy standing at the doorway gave Forte a cocky smirk. There was something about him Forte disliked instantly.

Then, he and Karmov looked up at the rafters.

Forte and Reece looked up there as well, only to find that whoever had saved them was gone.

“Who the heck was that?” Forte muttered to himself before turning back to the Dogma agents. Much to his irritation, they were gone as well.

What the heck was happening? Who was that man who saved them? Was he with Dogma or someone else entirely?

Rose voiced these questions for him.

“What’s going on?” Rose sobbed quietly, confused what was happening before crying out “What the hell is going on!?”


Name: Gale Phantom Kazard
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Zombie/Effect
Level: 4
Attribute: Wind
Attack: 0
Defence: 0
Effect: Once per turn, send all cards on the field other than itself to their owner’s hands. Then, shuffle your hands into your decks and draw five new cards.

Name: Domain of the Dark Ruler
Card Type: Trap-Spell
Spell Type: Continuous
Image: Dark Ruler Ha Des standing in a dark part of the underworld.
Effect: Activate only when your opponent activates a Spell or Trap Card. Negate the activation and the effects of the card, and of any Spell and Trap Card that is activated whiles this cards is face up on the field.

Domain of the Dark Ruler appeared in Yu-Gi-Oh R. Credit goes to the riders.

Forte, you are going to tell me what the hell is going on! Who was that guy! Why the hell did he strap my down and almost kill me!? Why does he want that card so badly!?

Alright Rose, I’ll tell you everything.

Stick around for Chapter 14: A Break From the Trials.

[Shuppet Master]

Neat duel! That's all I can say.

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 14: A Break From the Trials

The three were silent as they made their way back to the hotel. The three had thankfully been able to acquire some medical attention for Forte and Rose. Forte’s arm would be sore over the next week or two, but apart from the pain, it wasn’t too bad. His duel disk on the other hand was beyond repair. He would have to find a new one.

The cut on Rose’s abdomen wasn’t too serious. It would heal in a week or so, though chances were it would leave a scar. Both teens also had Tetnis shots just to be safe.

Now Forte and Reece were heading back to their hotel, Rose following close behind.

“Um, guys?”

Forte and Reece looked back at Rose, who was looking down at the ground.

“Um, is it alright if I could, um,” Rose paused for a moment before swallowing her pride and continuing, “Is it alright if I could stay with you guys tonight?”

She had expected Forte to reply with some smart-assed comment like “Aww, is wittle Rose afraid of being alone?” or maybe “I knew it. You can’t resist my hot body.”

What she hadn’t expected was Forte to simply reply:

“Ok.”

Rose looked up at Forte, surprised. She was searching for any form of sarcasm, some look of mocking on his face. Much to her surprise, there was none. Forte was completely serious. She didn’t know how to respond. She had been expecting a fight.

She looked down and meekly replied “Thank you.”

Forte silently nodded as they continued towards the hotel. Sure, it was fun to rile up Rose when he had the opportunity, but he knew this was a very bad time. The girl had probably been through Hell. The last thing she needed was to be mocked about it.

It only took them about five minutes to reach the hotel. Barely saying a word, the three made their way to Forte and Reece’s hotel room.

“There are only two beds,” Forte spoke, “So one of us is going to have to sleep on the floor. I nominate Reece.”

“What? Why?” Reece complained. A small smirk spread across Forte’s lips.

“When you’ve had a close encounter with a rusty blade, THEN you’re worthy to have a bed.”

A small chuckle emerged from Rose. That joke had helped lighten the mood a little.

Reece muttered something to himself as he grabbed a blanket, curled up on the floor and in a few minutes was fast asleep. Forte and Rose were a little surprised by this.

“Well,” Forte shrugged, “It has been one hell of a day, for all of us.” He turned to Rose. “Need anything?”

--------------~*~ --------------

Gabriel sighed as he leaned back in his wheelchair, massaging his temples. Lea stood in front of his desk, looking over the duel between Forte and Walter. Eurydice was busy talking on the phone.

She hung up and turned to her employer.

“Karmov and his mean were successful in bringing Walter back into his cell.”

“Any problems?” Gabriel asked.

“When Walter came to, he went into a frenzy, screaming out how he’ll get revenge on Forte and the girl. It seems whatever sanity Walter had before his encounter is gone. They managed to confiscate his knives before anyone was hurt.”

Gabriel sighed. “Serves him right. Getting an innocent woman involved, almost killing her and Forte. I would prefer to get through this without any loss of life. I guess this is what I deserve for relying on a lunatic like him.”

“Sir, it’s not your fault,” Eurydice spoke up, almost like she was comforting her master, “You had no possible way of knowing that he would do this.”

“I know, but I still responsible. I did approve of his release.”

Gabriel sighed.

“Did he retrieve the avatar of wind?”

“Yes sir. He managed to retrieve it before Forte managed to.”

“Excellent. Thank God Karmov and Orion were there before things got even worse.”

“Sir?”

Gabriel looked up at Eurydice.

“Yes?”

“Karmov also reported that they have started to act.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. He knew exactly who “They” were. This also caught Lea’s interest as well. Gabriel knitted his fingers together.

“I was wondering when they would get involved,” he spoke ominously.

“What shall we do?”

Gabriel looked up at Lea before turning back to Eurydice.

“Hey they actively gotten involved?”

Eurydice shook her head.

“While they stopped Walter from harming Forte, they did not actively interfere with the duel.”

“Then we will continue as we are now. We will act only when they begin to interfere with our plans.”

Both Eurydice and Lea nodded. Lea turned back to the image of Forte duelling Walter.

“You’ve been watching that over and over.”

Lea looked back at Gabriel.

“Still trying to find what’s so similar?”

Lea merely nodded before looking back at the duel. Gabriel had to admit, it too was eating away at him.

“Lea?”

Lea looked back again.

“Do you remember the night when we first brought you home?”

Lea’s eyes widened slightly.

“Um, I…know, I don’t remember.”

Lea quickly turned away. A small smile appeared on Gabriel’s lips.

“I remember clearly,” he spoke, and indeed he did. He remember how Lea had terrible nightmares that night, waking up crying. Gabriel had to stay by his side to comfort the then four year old Lea.

“Do you remember what you were dreaming of that night? Or what you said?”

“No,” Lea replied coldly, not turning around, “And I don’t want to remember either.”

Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment before looking at the image of the duel.

Forte…Is it possible? Are you…?

--------------~*~--------------

Forte tossed and turned in his sleep. His skin was drenched in sweat as he mumbled quietly, his eyes forced close as if trying to push out the images flashing through his mind.

“Mrmmh, no, g-get away! Rmmh stay back! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Forte shouted out the last part as he bolted upright, his eyes flying open. He panted as his eyes darted around the room, only calming when he realised where he was.

He sighed and shook his head. He hated these nights. Nights when his mind took a not so pleasant stroll down memory lane. Thankfully, each time they would grow fuzzier, showing Forte that he was well on his way to forgetting it. In fact, he had managed to push the majority of them out of his mind, his memories now reduced to flashes here and there.

Nowadays, they only came up when someone brought up his past, or reminded him of it.

He looked down at the still sleeping Reece, his eyes narrowing.

“Damn you Reece.”

Silently getting out of bed, he walked out onto the balcony, sitting on one of the chairs, he sighed as he looked up at the stars.

“That must have been some dream.”

Forte looked back to see Rose step out onto the balcony. He looked at her for a moment before looking back up at the sky.

“Woke you up did I?”

Rose calmly sat down on one of the other chairs.

“I was already awake. I was lying in bed when you woke up screaming.”

Forte looked down, a little embarrassed someone had seen that.

Rose looked over at him.

“You want to talk about it?”

Forte glanced at her before looking away.

“I’d rather not.”

Rose knew better than to prod. She remember how snappy Forte had gotten when she asked him about his past those days ago.

“Alright, let’s talk about something else,” she spoke up, “like what the hell is going on?”

Forte turned back to Rose, who was now on her feet.

“What?”

Rose’s eyes narrowed as she put her hands on her hips.

“You know what I mean. Why the hell did some psychopath kidnap me just to get to you? During the duel, you referred to his Gale Phantom as an ‘Avatar’, what is that? Tell me!”

Forte sighed as he stood up.

“It’s none of your concern Rose.”

Rose’s jaw dropped.

“None of my concern!? It became my concern when some fucking psycho strapped me down, torture me, shocked me repeatedly and then tried to slice me in two!” she snapped, anger rising in her.

“All the more reason not to get you involved!” Forte barked back, loosing patience, “I don’t want to risk putting you in another situation like that!”

“We went through this days ago!” Rose yelled, “I am not some defenceless little girl that needs saving! I can take care of myself!”

“Really?” Forte yelled back, “Because you sure didn’t look it when you were strapped to that bloody table!”

There was a loud crack and a sharp pain in Forte’s cheek. Rose had slapped him, hard. Forte slowly looked at Rose, surprised at what happened. He could see the anger etched on her face, yet could also see tears threatening to expose themselves.

A small tinge of guilt sprung up inside Forte.

“Sorry,” he spoke, his voice quiet, “That was uncalled for.”

Rose was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected an apology. A small tinge of guilt sprung up inside her also, but not enough to warrant an apology.

“That’s…ok…”

Forte sighed, looking over the railing.

“So…are you going to tell me?”

He looked back up at Rose, who had calmed down.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Forte answered honestly. Rose felt some annoyance returning.

“Try me.”

“Honestly, you will not believe me.”

“Which is why I will explain it.”

Rose initial confusion as to where that voice came from turned into surprise and shock when the projection of Menithil appeared before her. She screamed in surprise as she stumbled back, falling on the floor.

“It’s ok,” Forte reassured her, “He’s not going to hurt you.”

Rose just sat there, staring at the projection, still frightened slightly.

“Y-you’re that monster. Dark Lancer…erm…”

“Menithil,” Menithil finished for her.

“Menithil, yes, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Feeling a little calmer now, Rose climbed to her feet. She looked past Menithil at Forte.

“Forte, what is going on?”

“Do not worry,” Menithil spoke before Forte could, “I shall explain everything.”

--------------~*~--------------

It was late. Lea and the others were all asleep. Only Gabriel was awake, leaning on the desk in his study.

He was thinking of his next move. This incident with Walter had indeed shaken him up. He didn’t want his next choice to display such reckless disregard for life.

“Something wrong sir?”

Gabriel looked up at Eurydice. The woman never seemed to need any sleep at all, always there for when Gabriel needed her services, or just someone to talk to.

“Just wondering what to do next Eurydice,” he sighed, “After this incident, I’m not sure who I can trust to get the job done right.”

“Well,” Eurydice spoke, “Orion has been eager to challenge Mr Rosamund sir, maybe we should give him a chance, or perhaps Lea.”

Gabriel pondered this for a moment. Orion didn’t exactly disprove of Walter’s actions, but he knew the young man had enough restraint to prevent repeating them.

On the other hand, he was curious about the connection he had formed between Lea and Forte and was eager to see if he was right or not. However, was he ready to let a force like that onto Forte so soon?

“I’ll think about it Eurydice, you just get some sleep.”

She hesitantly nodded before leaving Gabriel to his studies.

--------------~*~--------------

“So, let me get this straight,” Rose spoke, “There are six monster who, if used in a certain ritual, can be used to unlock and evil dimension of shadows which will screw the world up royally and Menithil just happens to be one of them?”

Forte and Menithil nodded.

“Though, forget the evil part,” Menithil added, “While the shadow realm is dangerous, calling it evil is a little much.”

“Ok, and this organization, Dogma, want them to start the ritual, which is why they’re coming after you?”

“Yep,” answered Forte.

Rose was quite for a moment.

“Why don’t you go to the authorities? Or get rid of the card?”

“Well, to answer your first question,” Forte replied, “The authorities wont believe me. I mean, come on, “An evil organization is after me because they want my magical card!”, even I wouldn’t believe that!”

Forte leaned back in his chair.

“As for your second question, I haven’t gotten rid of Menithil because he’s powerful, and I don’t want to give him up.”

Rose sighed.

“You know, if you would swallow your goddamned pride once in a while, stuff like this wouldn’t happen.”

“Aww, but it’s one of my best features.”

Rose couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You make Lucifer look humble.”

“Hey, don’t diss Lucifer. You gotta love a guy who takes on the big guy himself and ends up ruling a world filled with infernal badasses.”

“You’re probably the only person I know who uses the devil as a role model.”

“Yep, now all I need to do is find a god to challenge.”

Rose laughed. She couldn’t help it. Forte was just something else. Even with all that was happening, he was able to make light of the situation and poke fun at even himself.

It as almost refreshing. While most people dwell on their problems, he seemed to take most of them in stride.

Most being the key word. Rose could tell there were some problems Forte had trouble with, but Rose knew not to bring them up.

She yawned, the lack of sleep finally catching up with her.

“Tired?”

“Yeah, it’s been a hell of a day.”

Rose headed back into the room, finally feeling relaxed after a hellish day.

“Forte.”

Forte looked back at Rose, who gave him a small smile.

“Thank you, for rescuing me.”

Forte nodded in response.

“You’re welcome.”

Rose quietly climbed into her bed and was asleep in only a few moments.

Forte sighed as Menithil vanished and turned back to the stars. Now, what was he thinking about?

He then realised that he had completely forgotten. His conversation with Rose had caused him to forget all about his nightmare.

He looked back at the sleeping Rose, a small smile creeping on his face.

“Thank you.”

--------------~*~ --------------

The sun rose in a few hours time and a hour or two after that, the trio were now ready to leave the hotel. Reece had only booked the room one night.

“Hey guys,” Rose asked as they stepped out of the hotel lobby, “Could we quickly stop by my hotel?”

Forte shrugged.

“Ok, sure, we’ll drop you off.”

Rose chuckled.

“I meant so I can collect my stuff and check out.”

“Oh? Where are you going?” Reece asked. Rose rolled her eyes.

“With you guys.”

“Wait, what!?”

Forte spun around so he was right in front of Rose.

“Who said you were coming with us?”

“I do believe it was the blonde British psychopath when he kidnapped me and tortured me.” Rose responded coolly.

Forte sighed. “Rose…”

“Don’t ‘Rose’ me Forte,” she interrupted, “I got put through hell because of you, and I want payback on the sonofabitches responsible. So I’m sticking with you until those Dogma guys pay!”

Forte gave a resigned sigh.

“I’m guessing nothing I say will change your mind?”

“Nope, you’re stuck with me.”

Forte mentally groaned.

“Alright, let’s get your stuff.”

Rose gleeful and triumphant smirk, clearly celebrating her victory in her mind.

Hey everybody, Rose here. Forte’s had a crack, Reece has had a crack, and now it’s my turn to take a stab at Dogma’s men!

Hey, it’s ad enough your part of the group now, if you start cutting into my screen time…

I do believe as a main character I get entitled to it.

Now, who said you were a main character?

Um, stick around for chapter 15: High Noon. Hopefully they would have stopped fighting by then.

[Shuppet Master]

This was a great birthday present, Mystic_clown. No duels, but it's a nice interlude before the next duel. Funny how a militaristic woman changes after nearly losing her life and ends up becoming a companion.

[Mystic_clown]

It's your birthday!? I never knew Anyway, happy birthday mate, and I'm glad you liked the chapter. Don't worry, even though Rose is now Forte's companion, she will still give him a hard time.

[Mystic_clown]

Sorry for the double post, but holy crap, another chapter in less than three days! That's a record for me ^_^

Chapter 15: High Noon

“And so fought a whole duel with a wounded foot?” Rose asked. Forte simple nodded as the walked along. Well, two of them walked, Forte hobbled along with his crutches.

“Let me tell you something. Some poor misguided fools thinks getting shot isn’t too bad, that you can just suck it up. Well, it hurts. It hurts a bloody lot. Enough to the point where a man can scream in pain and still retain his dignity.”

“Oh? And if a woman was the scream in pain?”

“Well,” Forte shrugged, “You’re a woman, and as a woman, you can get away with almost anything.”

Rose chuckled.

“I’m not sure whether to regard that as a compliment or as sexist.”

Forte shrugged. “Regard it any way you like. Anyway, after beating Karmov and his Russian death squad, Reece here was brave enough to face a deranged ninja.”

Reece rolled his eyes.

“Replace ‘brave enough’ with ‘forced’ and add ‘by a slack best friend who was too much of a bludger to get off his butt and duel her himself’.”

Forte put on a false expression of hurt.

“You didn’t expect me, an injured man, to duel did you?”

“Didn’t stop you from duelling Rose and Walter.”

“But you’re my servant. You’re supposed to do what I say.”

Reece’s eyes narrowed while Forte laughed. Rose looked a little confused, not getting the joke.

“Chiako, the mad ninja,” Reece explained, “Thought that I was Forte’s servant, and now he wont shut up about it.”

Rose’s eyes lit up before speaking to Forte.

“Do you think we should put him in one of those suits, like those little monkey butlers you see on tv.”

Reece’s jaw dropped as Forte burst into laughter.

“Not you too! It’s like you’re a female version of Forte!”

Now Rose laughed, though a part of her wanted to punch Reece for comparing her to Forte.

Forte wiped away a tear before mocking seriousness.

“I’m afraid I cannot allow that. There can be only one Forte. Therefore Rose, you and I must fight to the death.”

In response to the joke, Rose whacked Forte with her bag, not hard enough to hurt anyone, but it was enough to knock Forte off balance. All three of them burst into laughter.

“Fool!” Forte laughed as he tried to pull himself to his feet, “Bags cannot defeat me!”

The laughter soon died down as Reece pulled out the map they bought at a news agency.

“So, how much further mate?” Forte enquired.

“Well,” Reece answered, not looking up from the map, “if we take the subway to here, transfer to here and then to here, was should get into Domino in about three or four hours.”

“Awesome.”

“Hey, a temple!” Rose piped up, pointing at the map. Forte rolled his eyes.

“Rose, we need to get to Domino.”

“Aww, come on, I came to Japan to site see, and site see I shall.”

“Rose…”

“Please?” Rose then pulled off what every man had dubbed the “puppy dog eyes”. However, Forte seemed unmoved by the unbearably adorable expression.

“You think you can guilt me into bowing down to you?” Forte asked with a smirk. Rose’s cute expression immediately evaporated into a blank look.

“Either that or I can kick your nuts until you submit.”

“A touché.”

“So, we’re going to the temple?” Reece asked.

Forte stared at Rose for a brief moment before sighing.

“Yes, we’re going to the temple.”

Rose gave a gleeful, triumphant grin.

--------------~*~--------------

I will probably be just half an hour. We go in, take a look, get some pictures and then we’ll head for the subway.” Rose assured. Forte and Reece nodded. It seemed like a reasonable deal.

As the three entered the temple grounds, a strange feeling washed over them.

“Um, does something seem strange to you guys?” Reece asked, looking around.

“Yeah,” Rose answer, “Where are all the people?”

Normally, in such a place as the temple, there were always at least a few people who would come and look around the place, or even come to pray or meditate. However, today, the place was completely empty. Not event the caretakers of the place were around.

The three stopped in the middle of the temple courtyard, looking around the empty area.

“Why do I feel like some b grade horror movie monster’s going to jump out and attack us?” Forte muttered to no one in particular.

At the point, a deep chuckle can be heard. Although it was quiet, it could be heard clearly throughout the empty courtyard.

“Oh, don’t worry boy,” spoke an old voice, “There ain’t no horrors comin’ to get you. Just little old me.”

If he had been hiding on the temple roof the whole time, Forte, Rose and Reece wouldn’t have noticed him before he leaped down in front of them.

Before Forte could react, the man was upright, and the barrel of a revolver was pointed right at him.

Rose and Reece jumped back in shock, yet Forte remained completely still. He looked over the gunman in front of them.

He was old, with white hair and a bushy white beard to match. However, his brown eyes burned with a fire normally reserved for youth. He wore a dusty brown coat with a matching hat worn by cowboys. The spurs on his brown boots added to his cowboy-esque attire.

The old cowboy smirked, seeing that Forte wasn’t flinching.

“Didn’t even blink,” he said, slowly putting the gun back in its holster, “Impressive.”

“If you were going to shoot me,” Forte spoke seriously, “You would have done so by now.”

The old man chuckled.

“Good call. Besides, killin’ you isn’t what I want.”

“Who are you?”

A small smirk spread across the old man’s lips.

“The name’s Carter,” he replied, “And I already know about you Forte Rosamund. The famous ‘Devil Man’.”

Forte didn’t say anything. He pulled Menithil’s card from his deck and held it out in front of him.

“I’m assuming this is what you want?” Carter simply nodded before Forte replaced the card.

“Ok, I’ll make you a deal.”

Carter rose a curious eyebrow.

“Go on, I’m listenin’.”

“Well,” Forte offered, “You duel one person of my choosing. You win, we’ll duel, I’ll forfeit and simply hand the avatar over. My chosen duellist wins, you clear off without a fuss. Deal?”

Carter was quiet for a moment before chuckling quietly.

“Fair enough,” he replied, “You’ve gotta deal.”

No doubt he’ll choose that red headed boy, Reece I think his name is. Chiako told me all about his deck. I should be able to handle it.

Forte never took his eyes off Carter.

“Rose.”

Rose looked up at Forte.

“You wanted to take a crack at Dogma right?”

“Well, yeah…”

Forte smirked.

“Well, now’s your chance to do so.”

Rose was a little surprised that Forte chose her, but then it hit her.

He’s doing the same thing to me as he did with Reece!

Rose gave Forte an annoyed glare as she stepped up towards Carter. She stopped when she felt Forte’s hand on her shoulder.

“Rose.”

She turned back to him, slightly annoyed.

“You can do it,” he spoke quietly, “otherwise I wouldn’t have picked you.”

Rose felt herself blush lightly. Forte actually believed in her, he didn’t just pick her to annoy her. She gave Forte a silent nod before turning to Carter, who had prepared his own duel disk. It was reminiscent of the old west, much like the rest of his outfit.

“Are you ready Miss…?” Carter trailed off.

“Rose,” she added, “My name is Rose. And yes, I’m ready.”

“Alright then, let’s duel!”

Rose: 8000
Carter: 8000

“I’ll get the first draw miss,” said Carter as he drew. He looked over his hand briefly.

“I’ll start off by summoning Twin Gun Fighter in attack mode!”

A young man dressed as a cowboy, wearing a brown jacket and hat, with long, blonde hair appeared on the field. Like his name suggested, he was carrying duel pistols. He glanced at Rose, holding his weapons at the ready. (1600/1000)

“And with that, I’ll end my turn. Your move Miss Rose.”

“You can just call me Rose if you’d like,” Rose spoke as she drew, “Miss Rose makes me sound old.”

Carter chuckled. “I just felt like being polite.”

Rose looked over her hand.

“I’ll set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Carter nodded as he drew.

“Alright, Twin Gun Fighter, attack her face down monster. Double Barrel Blast!”

Bringing his guns up in the blink of an eye, the fighter fired. A tomato with a demonic face appeared briefly before shattering.

Rose smirked.

"Why thank you Mister Carter," she said, "Because you destroyed my Mystic Tomato, I get to summon one dark monster with fifteen hundred attack or less and special summon it to the field."

She pulled a card from her deck.

"And I'll choose this one, Spirit Demon Rose in defence mode"

What could only be described as a humanoid set of demonic roses and vinces appeared on the field, kneeling down. (0/1500)

“Well, I guess I’ll end my turn then. But first…”

A gunshot rang out and Rose stumbled back. She looked up at shock at the Twin Gun Fighter, one of his pistols still smoking from the shot.

“W-what…?”

Carter smirked.

“I forgot to tell you. When Twin Gun Fighter attacks, no matter the outcome, it will deal an additional sixteen hundred damage to the opponent’s lifepoints.”

Rose looked down as her lifepoints dropped.

Rose: 6400
Carter: 8000

“Anyway, it’s your move Rose.”

Rose quietly drew.

“It’s ok Rose,” Reece called out, “It’s only sixteen hundred. It’s not that bad.”

“Yeah,” Forte added, “You’ve taken much worse from me remember?”

Rose wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be helpful or a joke at her expense, but it did make her feel better.

"I'll pass this turn."

"Fair enough," Carter drew, "Twin Gun Fighter, attack the rose! Double Barrel Blast!"

The demonic rose was blasted away by the gunman's bullets. However, much to Carter's surprise, two more roses started to grow. Rose smiled.

"When Spirit Demon Rose is destroyed," she explained, "I get to special summon two Demon Rose tokens to the field."

(1200/1200) x2

"Well, I'll guess I'll end my turn then," Carter spoke, "but before we do..."

Rose yelped in pain as the Twin Gun Fighter shot her in the foot.

Rose:4800
Carter: 8000

As the pain in her foot subsided, Rose drew.

“I’ll sacrifice one Demon Rose token in order to summon Floral Knight Petunia in attack mode!”

The rose was engulfed in a shower of purple petals as the Floral Knight appeared on the field, her swords ready. (2300/1200)

“Now, Petunia, destroy the Twin Gun Fighter!”

The knight didn’t need to be told twice. With a vicious cry, she cleaved the gunman in two. He couldn’t even get one last cry out before exploding into shards.

“Now, normally Petunia can’t do battle damage, so I’ll let me Demon Rose take care of it. Attack him directly!”

Carter shielded himself and grunt as the token struck him, stepping back to prevent himself from falling over.

Rose: 4800
Carter: 6800

That ends my turn.

Carter drew.

“I’ll summon Grenader in attack mode!”

A slightly hunched over man in a black suit and top hat appeared. He was carrying what could be considered the western equivalent of a grenade launcher. He looked at Rose’s monsters and a small smile crept on his face. (1500/1100)

“Now, I’ll play the magic card Mirage!”

The three shielded their eyes as the light intensified. Everything seemed to grow hotter.

“What’s going on?” Rose called, shielding her eyes.

“I should have brought my shades,” muttered Forte quietly.

“You’ll see what it does soon enough,” Carter explained, “Now, Grenader, attack her Demon Rose Token!”

The Grenader loaded his launcher before firing a punch of shells into the air. Rose quickly shielded herself as the place was rocked with explosions.

As the smoke cleared, her Demon Rose was gone.

“Well, at least Petunia’s still there,” Rose muttered to herself. To be honest, she was afraid that she had been destroyed in the explosion.

“True,” Carter chuckled, “But take a look at her.”

Rose did just that and gasped as she saw how cracked and damaged her armour and weapons were. She noticed her attack score had dropped to eighteen hundred.

“You see,” Carter explained, “When Grenader attacks, all monsters on your side of the field loose five hundred attack points.”

Rose: 4500
Carter: 6800

“Anyway, I will end my turn.”

Rose drew.

Well, as long as he doesn’t put anything in defence mode or summon anything stranger than eighteen hundred, I’ll be fine.

“I’ll summon Floral Knight Sunflower in attack mode!”

The flamboyant member of the Floral Knight appeared, giving Carter a cheeky wink (2000/1200).

“Now, Petunia! Destroy Grenader!”

The Grenader tried to shield himself, yet it was in vein as he soon met the same fate as the monster before him.

“Now, Sunflower, attack directly!”

Sunflower squinted and nodded as he charged at Carter. He swung his foot out in a powerful kick, but much to Rose’s surprise, his foot simply passed through him.

“What?” she muttered to herself, surprised and hot from the heat generated by Carter’s Mirage card. Carter chuckled.

“I’m over here.”

Rose, Forte, Reece and the Floral Knights looked a little to the left to see Carter there, smirking.

“But, wait…” Rose said, “weren’t you over…there?”

She pointed to where she thought Carter was, only to see nothing there. Carter chuckled again.

“The card is called Mirage for a reason. It lasts for three turns, and as long as it’s on the field, your magic and trap cards wont target me, and your monsters will be too dizzy to land a direct attack against me,” he explained.

“In other words, apart from causing heat stroke,” Forte muttered, still shielding his eyes, “Rose can’t use any magic and trap cards that target you and can’t attack you directly.”

“That’s correct.”

“Well,” Rose muttered, “I guess I‘ll have to end my turn there then.”

Carter nodded and drew.

“I’ll pass this turn.”

Rose drew, whipping some sweat from her forehead. That mirage card was making her a little dizzy.

“I’ll summon Floral Knight Tulip in attack mode!”

The pink knight appeared beside Petunia, instantly feeling the heat from Carter’s magic card. She drew he sword, preparing herself for battle. (1600/1800)

“And I’ll end my turn.”

Carter drew, seemingly unaffected by the heat.

“Why isn’t he sweating like the rest of us?” Reece complained.

“Because he’s a cowboy. They’re used to this sort of thing,” Forte replied flatly, “Now shut up, I want to watch this.”

“I’ll pass a second time,” said Carter.

Rose drew. Tulip reached into her back and pulled out a seed token (0/0).

“I’ll pass as well.”

Carter drew. Much to the relief of almost everyone in the area, the temperature seemed to cool.

“Well, since three standby phases have passed, my Mirage fades,” Carter explained, “But no matter. I’ll set one card face down and summon my second Grenader in attack mode!”

Much like the first, a second man wielding a grenade launcher appeared on the field. He looked over the four monsters before him before cocking his launcher. (1500/1100)

“Now, Grenader, attack the seed token!” Carter ordered.

Rose and the others shielded themselves as a second hail of explosives rained down on them. Once the smoke had cleared, Rose could see her monsters attacks had dropped by another five hundred points.

“I will end my turn.”

Rose drew. Tulip pulled out another seed token (0/0).

“I’ll sacrifice my seed token, and Floral Knight Tulip…”

Both monsters were engulfed in a flurry or red petals.

“…in order to summon Floral Knight Rose in attack mode!”

Forte could recognise the rest knight clearly as she stepped out of the maelstrom of petals, her weapon at the ready for battle. (2500/1700)

“Now, Petunia! Attack the Grenader!”

She figured it would be safe. Afterall, Petunia’s effect would destroy Grenader instantly.

“Activate trap card!” Carter announced, “Dazzling Radience!”

Everyone shielded their eyes as a blinding light engulfed the field. In the light, Rose could clearly hear the sound of Petunia running her sword through something.

Strange, shouldn’t the sound be further away?

As the light dimmed, Rose gasped in shock.

Petunia’s sword had impaled Sunflower instead of the Grenader. Even Petunia was shocked at what she had done.

Sunflower looked shocked at what his comrade had done before exploding into shards.

“What the hell!?” Rose cried. Carter just chuckled.

“That’s the power of Dazzling Raidience,” he explained, “It forces your weakest monster to attack another monster on your side of the field.”

Rose snarled.

“Well, at least Rose can still attack! Flora Knight Rose, destroy Grenader!”

Angered at the loss of her friend, the knight cried out in rage before slicing the Grenader in two.

Rose: 4500
Carter: 5800

“I’ll end my turn.”

Carter calmly drew.

“I’ll play Graceful Charity!”

The beautiful angel of charity appeared next to Carter, handing him three cards. He accepted them and thanked her kindly before handing her two cards. She smiled before vanishing with the cards.

He looked over his new hand.

“First, I’ll play Stop Defence on Floral Knight Rose!”

Rose scowled as he knight reluctantly stepped down into defence mode.

“Now, I’ll summon Pierce Musketeer in attack mode!”

A young woman, dressed like in an old western dress along with a hat appeared on the field. As her name suggested, she carried a large musket. She looked at the monsters on the field, holding her gun in the ready. (1700/1000)

“Now, I’ll play Premature Burial, in order to bring back Twin Gun Fight in attack mode!”

The cowboy clawed his way out of the ground, brushing himself off before drawing his guns and taking aim at Rose. (1600/1000)

Rose: 4500
Carter: 5000

“Now, Pierce Musketeer, attack Floral Knight Petunia!”

The musketeer took aim. But much to her surprise, just before she pulled the trigger, Rose stepped in front of her, the bullet harmlessly bouncing off her shield.

“What?”

Rose smirked.

“Aww, didn’t you know? When Rose is on the field, your monsters cannot attack any other Floral Knights on the field.”

Carter scowled quietly. He had been hoping to get ride of Petunia for a while now. That monster was causing all kinds of problems with her effect.

“Oh well, Twin Gun Fighter, attack Floral Knight Rose!”

The fighter fired, and just like before, his bullets bounced harmlessly off of Rose’s shield.

“Now, we all know Twin Gun Fighter’s effect…”

A gunshot rang out and Rose screamed. She fell to her knees, clutching her head where the fighter had shot her.

Rose: 2900
Carter: 4900

“You ok Rose?” Forte called. Rose could only make a nod as she climbed to her feet.

“Your move Rose,” Carter spoke. Rose merely nodded as she drew.

“Now, I’ll switch Rose back into attack mode!” The floral knight prepared her sword for battle.

“Now, Rose, attack Pierce Musketeer!”

The musketeer tried to use her weapon to block the attack, but failed as the knight’s sword sliced through it and her.

“Now, Petunia! Destroy Twin Gun Fighter!”

Despite being weaker than him, Petunia was successful in dispatching the cowboy.

Rose: 2900
Carter: 4100

“Well,” Carter chuckled, “Someone’s fightin’ visciously.”

Rose scowled. “Dogma put me through hell yesterday. And now, I’m gonna make them pay!”

This resulted in another chuckled from the old cowboy.

“So, Dogma’s been giving you a hard time huh?”

Rose was a little confused.

“Well, yeah, but aren’t you Dogma?”

“I believe it’s my move,” Carter replied as he drew, “And I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Rose nodded as she drew.

“Now, I’ll activate the trap card,” Carter announced, “Zero Gravity!”

Rose gasped as a strange green aura surrounded her knights. They struggled as they were lifted off the ground momentarily before being forced to kneel down.

“For those of you who don’t know, this trap card forces all monsters to change their battle positions, in your case, all of them in defence mode.”

“I’ll end my turn then,” said Rose.

Carter nodded and drew.

“I’ll set two cards face down, and I’ll summon my second Pierce Musketeer in attack mode.”

A second woman, much like the first appeared, brandishing her own rifle. (1700/1000)

“And with that, I’ll end my turn.”

Rose drew.

There’s no doubt that one of those cards is a trap card, and chances are it might be another Dazzling Raidience.

She looked at the cards in her hand.

But, I think I have what it takes to risk it.

“Floral Knight Petunia! Attack Pierce Musketeer!”

“Activate trap card!” Carter called out, “Stray Bullet!”

“What’s that?”

Carter smiled.

“Here’s how it works. I choose on you’re your monsters, and I choose one of mine. So I’ll choose Floral Knight Rose.”

Rose prepared her sword.

“And now, both our monsters attack use directly!”

Rose was shocked as her knight shot past the musketeer and struck Carter with her sword. Likewise, the Pierce Musketeer opened fire, hitting Rose straight in the stomach.

“What was the point of that?” Reece asked, confused, “Rose still did more damage than Carter.”

“Because now,” Carter answered, “I activate my second trap, Attack and Receive!”

“Ok, that makes a bit more sense.”

“Now,” Carter explained, “Since I received damage, this card will deal seven hundred damage directly to your lifepoints. Not only that, but it deals an additional three hundred for every Attack and Receive card in my graveyard.”

Rose groaned as she was hit with another thousand points of damage.

Rose: 200
Carter: 1600

“Wait, Attack and Receive should only do seven hundred!” Reece cried out.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Forte replied, “He clearly discarded an Attack and Receive when he played Graceful Charity.”

“Correct Mister Rosamund,” Carter nodded.

“Well, I can still attack with Petunia!” Rose announced, “Now, Petunia! Destroy the Musketeer!”

It wasn’t long before the rifle-wielding woman went off to meet the first in the graveyard.

“That will end my turn.”

Carter drew.

“I hope you can stand that heat a second time Rose,” Carter spoke, “because I play my second Mirage!”

Rose could hear one of the two guys groan, though she wasn’t sure which one (thought if she were to guess, it would be Reece), as the light intensified and the place started to heat up again.

“And, I will end my turn.”

Rose drew.

“I’ll summon my second Floral Knight Tulip in attack mode!”

The pink knight appeared on the field, stumbling as she was immediately effected by the heat. The other knights helped her keep her balance as she readied her sword (1600/1800)

Rose: 200
Carter: 1600

"I’ll end my turn.”

Carter drew.

“I’ll place one card face down and end my turn.”

Rose drew as the card appeared in the harsh heat. An already tired Tulip pulled a seed token from her pouch. (0/0)

“Now, I’ll sacrifice Tulip and my seed token, in order to summon Floral Knight Chrysanthemum in attack mode!”

The bright light reflect off of the white armour of the knight, his Zweihänder pointed directly at Carter (2500/2000).

“That will be all,” Rose stated.

Carter drew.

“How can he be so calm?” Reece muttered quizically, “even if that face down card is a Dazzling Radience, Rse still has enough to finish him off when his Mirage card vanishes.”

“Because,” Carter stated calmly, “If you show any fear, your enemies know you’re vulnerable, that there’s nothing you can do to stop them from walking all over you.

If you give into the fear, it’s pretty much over.”

He looked at the card in his hand.

“I’ll now summon Lady Warrior of the Wasteland in attack mode!”

A young blonde woman in a murky green body suit, dusty black cloak and black hate appeared on the field. A sword was strapped to her back and a gun resting in its halster on her hip. (1100/1200)

“Now, attack Floral Knight Rose!”

“What!?”

The woman cried out as she charged the knight. However, as everyone expected, Rose simply parraied the woman’s blade before running hre through with her sword. She screamed as she shattered into nothing.

Rose: 200
Carter: 200

“Why the heck did you do that?” Rose asked, confused and surprised. Carter merely smiled.

“You’ll see. I’ll end my turn.”

Rose drew.

Forte glanced at Carter, creasing his brow in thought.

Why would he do that? He’s been playing quiet well this entire duel, there’s no reason he would make such a suicidal move like that without a reason.

He glanced at his face down card.

Could that have anything to do with it?

“Um, I’ll pass,” Rose stated, still a little bewildered by Carter’s move.

Carter drew. Much to everyone’s relief, the place began to cool as the Mirage vanished.

“Now, I’ll summon my second Twin Gun Fighter in attack mode!”

Rose couldn’t help but take a step back as the duel pistol wielding cowboy appeared on the field. She had enough of getting shot by him for one day. (1600/1000)

“Now, I’ll activate my trap card, Last Turn!”

Rose gasped as the card revealed itself, Carter’s previous confusing move now made sense.

“Now, this card will destroy all cards on the field and in our hands, except for my Twin Gun Fighter!”

As if on cue, a massive sandstorm swept through the field. Everyone shielded themselves as every card was swept away by the sands.

When the storm passed, only the Twin Gun Fighter remained.

“Now, you get to special summon one monster from your deck.”

Rose pulled out her deck and searched through it. This would be her last monster, and she had to make it count.

This will do nice.

“I’ll special summon Botanical Lio in attack mode!”

A lion like beast appeared, leaves and flowers growing all over its body, its main replaced with large petals. It gave a loud roar, preparing its claws (1600/2000).

Forte recognised the monster. It was that beasthe destroyed when he duelled Rose before.

“Attack!” they both shouted.

Lio roared as it chaarged towards the Twin Gun Fighter, who drew his guns in a blink of an eye.

A loud gunshot rang through the area and everything went still.

The next sound, after a small period of silence, was a pair of pistols being dropped to the floor.

The Twin Gun Fighter staggered before collapsing to the floor, fading into nothing shortly after.

“How?” Carter questioned, “Both monsters were equal.”

“Not exactly,” Rose smirked, “You see, Botanical Lio gains three hundred attack for every plant monster on the field, including itself.

Batonical Lio raored in triumph, its attack now ninteen hundred.

A small, weery smile spred across Carter’s face.

“I guess you’re right. Congratulations Rose.”

And with that, he turned and began to walk away.

“I’ll see you around kids,” he said, giving a small wave before dissappearing into the temple.

The three watched where Carter had dissappeared for a few moments before Reece spoke up.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going. We have a train to catch.”

Forte and Rose nodded as the three headed for the gates out of the temple. Forte placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder, getting her attention.

“Well,” a small, playful smirk appeared on his lips, “looks like you can win a duel afterall.”

A small blush appeared on Rose’s cheek as she gave Forte a punch to the arm.

“I’m wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult,” she said, “so I’ll take is both. Thank you.”

Forte rubbed his arm, smirking.

“You’re welcome.”

--------------~*~--------------

Carter watched as the three left the temple grounds, a small smile on his lips.

“What exactly were you hoping to accomplish with this?” came a voice. Carter chuckled as he turned to the figure which had materielized nearby.

“Just seeing how Forte and his little group handle themselves. We’ve seen what Forte and Reece can do, and now we’ve seen Rose.”

“And if she lost?”

Carter simply shrugged.

“Well, we get another avatar. Not a problem.”

“That isn’t the plan Carter!”

Carter merely smirked.

“Don’t yu have a job to do too? And isn’t your job currently walking away?”

The figure said nothing, but merely pulled out card and disappeared into a portal.

--------------~*~--------------

“You called for us sir?”

Gabriel turned to Orion and Lea, who were standing before him.

“Yes. From what we’ve gathered, Forte will arrive in the town of Domino in about four hours. I want the two of your to go down there and meet him there.”

“And then you want us to pound him and take the avatar,” Orion added, “about damn time.”

“That’s right. Orion, you will be the first to face him. If you’re defeated, Lea will challenge him.”

Orion chuckled arrogently.

“You may as well just send me. I’ll stomp him into the ground!”

Gabriel sighed.

“There is a reason I want Lea in Domino, apart from duelling Forte.”

“Oh?” Orion looked over at the lilac haired youth, “care to share?”

“It’s none of your concern,” Lea replied flatly, “just focus on your duel with Forte.”

“Whatever,” Orion shrugged.

“Now, both of you,” Gabriel spoke up, “Get moving.”

“Yes sir,” they both responded before leaving the room.


Name: Twin Gun Fighter
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Attack: 1600
Defence: 1000
Effect: Each time this monster attacks, after the Damage Calculation is resolved, inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the ATK of this card.

Name: Grenader
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Attack: 1500
Defence: 1100
Effect: Each time this monster attacks, after the Damage Calculation is resolved, decrease the ATK of all face-up monsters on your opponent's side of the field by 500 points.

Name: Mirage
Card Type: Spell
Spell Type: Normal
Image: The sun shining down on a scorching desert.
Effect: Until your 3rd Standby Phase after the activation of this card, you will be unaffected by the effects of Spell and Trap Cards that target a player, and you cannot be attacked directly by any monster.

Name: Dazzling Radiance
Card Type: Trap
Spell Type: Normal
Image: A blinding light blinding an axe-wielding fiend.
Effect: Activate only when your opponent declares an attack and he/she controls 2 or more Attack Position monsters on his/her side of the field. Negate the attack, and your opponent must immediately declare an attack with the monster with the lowest ATK in face-up Attack Position on his/her side of the field, selecting another 1 of his/her own monsters on the field as the attack target.

Name: Pierce Musketeer
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Attack: 1700
Defence: 1000
Effect: When this monster attacks a Defense Position monster with a DEF lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points.

Name: Stray Bullet
Card Type: Trap
Spell Type: Normal
Image: Twin Gun Fighter firing at a man, the bullet just grazing the man’s ear.
Effect: Activate only during your opponent's Battle Phase. Select 1 face-up Attack Position monster on each player's side of the field. Inflict damage to each player's Life Points equal to the total ATK of his/her opponent's selected monster. Your opponent's selected monster cannot attack in this Battle Phase.

”Twin Gun Fighter”, “Grenader”, “Mirage”, “Dazzling Radiance”, “Pierce Musketeer” and “Stray Bullet” were all used by Richie Merced in “Yu-Gi-Oh R”. Credit goes to the writer of the comic.

Name: Botanical Lio
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Plant
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 1600
Defence: 2000
Effect: This card gains 300 ATK for every face-up Plant-Type monster on your side of the field. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, control of this card cannot switch.

Botanical Lio is a Japanese card not yet released in the US.

Finally! Domino!

Home of the king himself.

And the place of Forte’s royal ass-kicking.

However, there seems to be one small matter to clear up before I can take a crack at the king.

Stick around for Chapter 16: Face of Oblivion. See you all there.

[Dark Sage]

While it was refreshing to see the Cowboy Deck that Richie used in YGO R, I must point out a few mistakes in this chapter.

One: Spirit Demon Rose is a Level Seven Monster. Rose could not have set it without sacrificing two Monsters. (If you want to use this card when it comes out, I suggest using Mystic Tomato to summon it.)

Two: Desert Sunlight can only move your own Monsters to Defense Mode, not your opponent's.

Anyway, it was a good try regardless.

[Mystic_clown]

Ok, I've editted it all, so it should work out now. Thanks for pointing it out DS.

[Shuppet Master]

I must point out another mistake. Mystic Tomato summons a dark monster in attack mode! I'm just trying to point it out before anyone else does.

Also, you have a few grammar errors that I spotted. I guess being scolded on my own grammar by Dark Sage has made me observant of that stuff.

Other than that, this was a great chapter and it was nice to see the Floral Knights again.

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 16: Face of Oblivion

Reece had often heard of how cramped Japanese subways could get. On some occasions station attendants had to pack them all in just so the doors could close.

Thankfully, today wasn’t one of those days. While there were still a good number of people on the train, it wasn’t as insanely packed as Reece had heard. The three had managed to get a seat.

Forte was currently flipping throuhg his deck, deciding what to keep, what to take out and what to replace them with. He seemed completely oblivious to everything around him.

“You’re really serious about this aren’t you?” Reece asked, watching Forte curiously.

“This is the king of games we’re talking about,” Forte replied, not even looking up from his cards, “I need to be at my best, and so does my deck.”

“Need any help?” Rose asked.

For the first time since he started, Forte looked up from his deck at Rose.

“Sure, what would you guys recommend I keep in?”

Forte’s two friends looked over Forte’s deck.

“Well, personally, I think your deck is pretty solid as it is,” Rose mused. Reece thought for a moment.

“Well, I know what you could add.”

Reece pulled two cards from his deck.

“I forgot to return this to you after the tournament, and I think this one would help you quite nicely.”

Forte looked at the two cards and gave his red-headed friend a smile.

“Thanks mate.”

Reece grinned.

“You’re welcome.”

The three friends then continued to work on Forte’s deck as their train headed for Domino. By the time they were finished, all three could agree, that Forte’s duel with Yugi was going to be a big one, a very big one.

--------------~*~--------------

“Finally! Domino!”

Forte grinned as he stepped off the train into Domino subway station. After having to put up with a re-directed flight, numerous duels, getting shot in the foot and putting up with blade-wielding psychopaths, as well as a number of transfers between trains, he was finally here.

“Alrighty folks,” Forte spoke up, “back to the original plan. Step one, track down Yugi. Step two, challenge Yugi to a duel…”

“And step three, get ass kicked by Yugi,” Reece added jokingly.

“Or I kick Yugi’s ass,” Forte added, “Whichever happens.”

“Don’t try to get your hopes up,” Rose laughed, “We all know he’ll beat you.”

“You guys worked on my deck with me and you still think I’m gonna lose?”

“Well,” Rose shrugged, “Yugi has the uncanny ability to draw whatever card he needs when he needs it.”

Forte rolls his eyes, “I bet you he top-decks or something.”

Rose simply laughed.

“Of course!” Reece spoke up, as if he just discovered the cure for cancer, “That explains everything! It’s all so obvious!”

Rose and Forte gave the red head a strange look.

“He does know you were joking right?”

“I’m not really sure.”

The three friends walked out of the station. Forte was quietly hoping that they can find Yugi and get his challenge on the road without running into any deranged maniacs along the way.

However, in a way, this was not meant to be.

“So, if it isn’t the famous Forte Rosamund?”

Forte rolled his eyes and groaned. How did they always find him? Did they stick a tracking device into him while he slept or something?

He turned. Leaning against the wall by the entrance of the station was the same punk that Forte saw at the warehouse with Karmov.

Orion smirked as Forte’s eyes narrowed.

“You’ve been causing us quite a bit of grief these last couple of days,” he spoke confidently.

“Well,” Forte retorted, “your little group has been causing me grief by sending militants and psychopaths after me and my friends.”

“Touch’e.”

Orion seemed amused by this, much to Forte’s irritation.

“But,” Orion spoke, “That’s what you get for taking what doesn’t belong to you.”

“Last I checked,” Forte’s eyes narrowed, “The card was bonded with MY soul, so I believe that makes it MINE.”

Orion’s smirk widened.

“That card is stolen property.”

“Tell it to someone who cares.”

Orion laughed.

“Uncaring as usual,” Orion smirked, “Just like me.”

Orion pushed himself off the wall, slowly circling the trio, the arrogent smirk never leaving his lips.

“We both don’t give a damn what happens to this world, just as long as we get what we want, and we both know what that is.”

“Cut the crap,” Forte interrupted, “We know you’re not here just to give us a monologue. Who are you anyway?”

Orion chuckled.

“You may simply call me Orion,” he answered.

“Orion? Who the heck names their kids Orion?” Forte questioned.

“The same people who name their son Forte.”

“Touch’e.”

“Anyway,” Orion shrugged, “Just as you said, let’s get down to business. We are going to duel, with the avatar of darkness as the prize.”

“And what makes you think I’d agree exactly?” Forte asked, “After all, why should I put what’s mine on the line, when I can simply walk away?”

Orion chuckled softly.

“The same reason you’re here, the same reason you faced Replica and Karmov, the same reson why you took on Walter instead of leaving your lady friend to rot…”

Forte’s eyes narrowed at that last bit. Orion’s smirk widened.

“Because you can’t resist the chance to pound someone into the dirt, to show that you’re better than them. Just like me.”

A small growl emitted from Forte.

“Fine,” he growled softly, “But only to get rid of you.”

Orion gave a short laugh. It wasn’t at all a pleasant laugh, rather a cruel laugh.

“Excellent. I know just the place,” he said arrogently as he began walking away, gesturing for them to follow, “Come on.”

--------------~*~--------------

“This is as good an arena as any,” Orion said as the four entered the building. Orion had led them to a construction site, so the building was even half finished. However, it seemed likea good, secluded place for a duel.

“Well, unless there’s anything you need to say, I say we get started, don’t you think?” Orion smirked.

“Sure,” Forte replied, “The sooner I beat you, the sooner you piss off and let me go about my business.”

“Oh don’t worry. This will all end when I crush you.”

Forte: 8000
Orion: 8000

“I’ll start off,” Orion smirked coldly as he drew.

Hmm, not bad, and on my first hand too.

“I’ll set one card face down and this monsters in defence mode.”

Two cards materialized in front of him.

“And that will be all.”

Forte drew.

“Activate trap card!” Orion announced, “Macro Cosmos!”

Forte took a step back as the field changed. It was like they were standing in open space, planets orbitting around them from a distance.

“Well,” Forte muttered, “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what deck you play then.”

“A D.D. deck,” Rose murmured. Reece merely nodded.

Orion on the other hand chuckled.

“Maybe, maybe not. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Whatever,” Forte spoke, pulling a card from his hand, “Why else would anyone play Macros Cosmos? I’ll summon Gil Garth in attack mode!”

Forte’s mechanical fiend appeared on the field, its scimitar drawn and ready for combat. (1800/1200).

“Now, since we know what your trap is, Gil Garth, attack his face down monster!”

It didn’t need to be told twice as the fiend charged towards the card, weapon held high. Forte’s eyes widened when he say a brown jar appear, a black creature inside it grinning insanely as it was sliced in two.

“A Morphing Jar!?”

Orion chuckled menacingly. “That’s right. And that means ten cards already removed from play.”

Forte muttered something incoherent as he discarded his hand and drew five new cards. Orion smirked and calmly did the same.

“I’ll end my turn then.”

Orion drew.

“Well, I guess it’s my turn to attack. I’ll discard one card from my hand, in order to summon The Tricky in attack mode.”

A black and white Jester appeared on the field. However, instead of a face, there was a big, red question mark. It seemed to hang in the air, like a puppet. (2000/1200)

“Now, destroy Gil Garth!”

The jester sprang to life, shooting towards the fiend before beating it to a pulp with its fists.

Forte: 7800
Orion: 8000

“That will be all for now,” Orion smirked confidently.

Fotre glared as he drew.

“I’ll set one monster in defenece mode and end my turn.”

Orion drew.

“I’ll set one card face down, and I’ll summon Legion the Fiend Jester in attack mode!”

A small toy like monster in the shape of a jester appeared on the field. Its fists were ready for a fight. (1300/1500)

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Forte spoke up, “Who plays that card?”

“Well, I do,” Orion chuckled, “Now, Tricky, destroy Forte’s face down monster!”

The Tricky shot forward. A scowl flashed across Orion’s face when its fist collided with a black, metal shield.

“Sorry Orion,” Forte smirked, “but my Dark Defender thinks your jester’s done enough damage for today.”

“Fine,” Orion muttered, “I’ll end my turn.”

Forte smirked as he drew.

“I’ll now sacrifice my Defender in order to summon Lesser Fiend in attack mode!”

The four armed fiend with the head of a leaperd appeared on the field, raoring, eager for battle (2100/1000)

“Now, Lesser Fiend, destroy the Tricky!”

The fiend raored in glee before diving for the jester.

Orion grinned.

“Activate trap, Two-Pronged Attack!”

The two jesters sprang forward, diving to the side as Forte’s fiend clawed at only air. They then dove onto it, a vicious involving punching, clawing, biting and tearing. The fight ended with all three monsters violantly shattering into pixels.

Forte’s jaw dropped.

“Two Pronged Attack!? Are you serious!? Noone even used that card when it first came out!”

“Well, it got the job done,” Orin smirked smugly, “So, is your turn done?”

Forte scowled, “I guess so.”

“Something’s not right,” Reece murmured.

“Hmm?” Rose looked at Reece curiously.

“The main objective of a D.D. deck is to remove your OPPONENT’S monsters from play. However, at this rate, Orion’s loosing more cards than Forte.

Besides, apart from Macros Cosmos, the cards are using are all wrong. They seem to do nothing but shovel as many cards out of play as possible.”

“Gren Maju De Eiza?”

Reece’s eyes narrowed.

“It seems that way.”

Orion drew.

“Well, first, I’ll set one monster face down. Then I’ll play the magic card, Different Dimension Capsule!”

A large container, resembling a blue sarcophagus appeared on the field.

“And now,” Orion pulled a card from his deck, “I will choose this card.”

He carelessly tossed the card into the sarcophagus, which slammed shut on it.

“And that will be all.”

Forte drew. He looked at the cards on the field before plucking a card from his hand.

“I’ll summon Bistro Butcher in attack mode!”

Forte’s fiendish butcher appeared on the field, his cleaver ready to chop up Orion’s cards into bite-sized chunks. (1800/1000)

“Now, destroy his face down card!”

The butcher gave a deep laugh before charging with his cleaver. Another jar appeared, only this one was covered in red markings. However, like the first, it was smashed to pieces by the Bistro Butcher.

“Morphing Jar #2…”

“Correct,” Orion smirked, “And for those who don’t know its effect, first, it bounces all monsters back into our respective decks.”

The Bistro Butcher groaned before turning into a mass of dark energy and shooting back into Forte’s deck.

“Now, we both draw until we’ve picked up the same number of monsters that were sent back to our decks. However, since none were sent back to my deck, I don’t have to.”

Forte scowled as he drew. He had picked up Rope of Life and Domain of the Dark Ruler before drawing the Winged Minion

“Now, since that monster’s level four, it’s special summoned face down. All non-monster cards though go to the grave, or in this case, out of play.”

Forte scowled as he discarded the cards before setting the minion face down.

“Will that be all Forte?”

Forte growled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Orion drew. The clock on the capsule started to move, the hands moving halfway across the face.

“First I’ll play Pot of Greed.”

The grinning green jar appeared before Orion. Two cards floated out and into Orion’s hand.

“I’ll set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew. He looked at the capsule and a small smirk spread across his lips.

Perfect.

“I play Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your Different Dimension Capsule!”

Orion scowled as the powerful winds tore the container apart. The card floated into the seemingly endless voice before vanishing.

“And that will be all,” Forte said smugly.

A small smile appeared on Rose’s face.

“Well, at least Forte got rid of one Gren Maju De Eiza.”

“Yeah,” Reece nodded in agreement, “But there’s still two more. It is an unlimited card anyway.”

Orion drew. His scowl quickly changed into a grin.

“Well, isn’t this nice. I loose one and I just draw another.”

“What!?”

“But first,” Orion chuckled cruelly, “I play the card Chaos End!”

The arena began to tremble as an orb of black and white energy churned. Everyone minus Orion shielded themselves as the orb exploded violently.

When the explosion subsided, all monsters on the field were gone, wiped out by the blast.

“Now that the field’s clear,” Orion spoke confidently, “I’ll summon the main hitter of my deck!”

“Here it comes,” Reece spoke softly.

“I summon, Necroface in attack mode!”

The three were surprised as what appeared to be an old dolls head appears on the field. However, it was cracked and what seemed to be a fleshy life form seemed to be pulsing out of the holes in it. It let out bone-chilling shriek as its cold, dead eyes fell on Forte. (1200/1800)

“What the heck is that?” Forte muttered. Orion chuckled.

“You’d assume I’d play something like Gren Maju De Eiza or Golden Homunculus wouldn’t you? Well, I can tell you something a little wrong with those cards.

They only benefit from YOUR cards that have been removed from play. In other words, you loose a chunk of your deck that you’re never getting back. And all it takes is one card and it’s all for nothing.

However, Necroface is different.

First of all, we both take ALL the cards that have been removed from play and shuffle them back into our decks.”

Forte rose an eyebrow as he and Orion reshuffled the cards into their decks. What was the point of removing them then?”

“Now, for each card shuffled into the deck by Necroface’s effect, it gains a hundred points.”

“Wait, how many cards were removed from play?” Rose asked. Orion laughed coldly.

“Well, thankfully I kept track. Twenty-seven cards were removed before Necroface made the field. Now, if you’re good at math, that would make Necroface’s attack…”

Forte’s jaw dropped as The thing living within Necroface grey, spilling out until it was a pile of writing flesh with a dolls head attached. Its attack sky-rocketed to thirty-nine hundred.

“You have got to be shittin’ me…”

Orion grinned.

“Now, since you’ve got nothing to stop me, Necroface, attack Forte directly!”

Forte tried to shield himself as he was struck hard by one of Necroface’s tentacles, right in the sternum. He moaned in pain before slumping to his knees.

Forte: 3900
Orion: 8000

“You ok man?” Reece called out. Forte groaned as he climbed to his feet.

“I just took a thirty-nine hundred point tentacle to the gut. How do you think I feel!?”

Orion chuckled cruelly, “Well, you’re going to feel worse when my Necroface finishes you off next turn!”

Forte scowled as he drew. He looked over the cards in his hand and surpressed a grin.

Idea!

“I’ll set one card face down and one monster in defence mode and end my turn.”

Orion drew.

“So, one little weakling that needs to be crushed, not a problem.”

Forte’s eyes narrowed at the comment.

“Necroface! Attack! Smash his face down monster!”

The monster shrieked before whipping a tentacle towards the card.

Forte grinned.

“Activate Shadow Spell!”

Orion gasped as dark chains shot from the darkness, binding the monstrosity before its attack could connect. Necroface shrieked as it fought its bonds in vain.

Forte smirked.

“Honestly, a face down monster and a face down magic or trap card. You could clearly tell I was setting you up.”

Orion scowled in annoyance. He couldn’t believe he fell for it.

Well, it didn’t matter. He still had a thirty-two hundred point offensive wall in front of him.

“Well, I can at least do something to you. I play Card Destruction.”

Forte growled softly as he discarded three cards and drew three. Orion discarded two and drew two. Forte had a plan, but it required Giant Trunade, which he was forced to discard.

“I’ll end it there.” Said Orion.

Forte drew. He looked at the cards in his hand.

Hmm, not bad. This could work.

“I’ll flip up my face down Brain Jacker!”

Orion gasped a the small, winged brain appeared (200/900).

“Now, I assume you know what it does, so I wont explain.”

He brain shot forward, attaching itself to the doll’s head of Necroface. The monster immediately went quiet as it drifted over to Forte’s side.

“So, what,” Orion scoffed, “It’s still bound by your trap remember. You can’t attack with it.”

“I never intended to,” Forte smirked, “You see, we’ve seen your favourite card, so now it’s time we brought out mine!”

Orion took a step back as Necroface was engulfed in black flame.

“I’ll sacrifice your Necroface in order to summon Dark Ruler Ha Des!”

The imperial fiend arose from the flame. He look down at Orion with contempt before chuckling and taking a sip of his wine. (2450/1600)

“Well, at least no Necroface’s second effect is activated,” Orion muttered.

“Second effect?”

Orion smirked.

“Why yes. Whenever Necroface is removed from play, the top five cards from both of our decks are removed from play.”

Forte muttered something as he as he and Orion removed five cards each.

“Great, now that thing as an eleven hundred attack boost when he summons it again,” Reece muttered.

“Though you have to admit,” Rose murmured in response, “It’s a smart strategy. Thanks to Macros Cosmos, Necroface will always gain a large amount of attack point, plus due to its effect, he doesn’t have to worry about decking out.”

“Anyway,” Forte announced, “since YOU have nothing, Ha Des, attack Orion directly with Flames of the Dark Ruler!”

Orion tried to shield himself and cried out in pain as Ha Des enveloped him in black flames.

Forte: 3900
Orion: 5550

“You’re move Orion,” Forte smirked as some smoke still came off of his opponent. Orion snarled as he drew.

“I’ll set one monster face down, and one card face turn. I’ll end it there.”

Forte drew, his eyes on Orion’s face down card.

It’s clearly a trap, so attacking is not an option. Though I don’t see anything wrong with stacking up my field.

“I’ll summon Giant Orc in attack mode.”

Forte’s large, grey orc appeared on the field, club in hand and teeth bared. (2200/0)

“Activate trap card, Torrential Tribute!”

Forte quickly braced himself as a large body of water slammed into him, the impact also washing away the three monsters on the field.

As water dripped from his hair, Forte looked up at the smug Orion at the other end of the room. A small scowl crossed his face. Orion was about to say something, but Forte cute him off.

“I’ll end my turn.”

Orion shrugged and drew. A cold smirk appeared on his lips.

“Well, you survived round one, let’s see how you handle round two? I’ll summon my second Necroface in attack mode!”

Rose gasped as the second monstrous doll’s head appeared on the field. (1200/1800) Forte merely snarled.

“Now, I assume you know what happens?”

As the cards were shuffled back into their decks, The monster grew once again, it’s attack rising to thirty-four hundred.

“Now, Necroface, attack Forte directly!”

Forte let out a cry of pain as the grotesque zombie struck him. He fell to his knee, clutching his torso in pain.

Forte: 500
Orion: 5550

Orion laughed as if the whole thing was nothing more than a big joke.

“This is so much fun! Watching the great Devil Man kneeling before me!”

Forte snarled in anger as he climbed to his feet.

“This isn’t over!”

“But it will be,” Orion smirked, “It will be. Now make your last move.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll set two cards face down and one monster face down. I’ll end with that.”

Orion drew.

“So you have at least one trap card face down. That will only stall for some time. I can keep this up all day, though I doubt you can. Necroface, destroy his face down monster!”

The zombie shrieked and attacked. However, unlike what Orion expected, no trap card activated. Instead, what appeared to be a demonic wall with a face appeared and was quickly smashed by Necroface.

The smirk immediately vanished from Orion’s face.

“That wasn’t…”

Now it was Forte’s turn to smirk.

“Yes it was, and now that you attacked it, my Wall of Illusion will bounce that ugly thing back to your hand!”

Orion cried out as his monster was reduced to black energy, before shrinking down to the size of a card and returning to his hand.

“Yes!” Rose cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

“And since it was never removed from play, neither Forte nor Orion loose any cards. If Orion summons it again, It will be weak as all hell!” Reece crowed.

Orion scowled.

“I can still summon. I’ll set this monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew as the card appeared.

“First, I‘ll activate the magic card Emergency Provisions, and send it as well as the other face down in order to gain two thousand lifepoints.”

The two cards vanished and Forte’s lifepoints rose. Forte looked over and gave Reece a thumbs up, as if thanking him for the card. Reece nodded as if saying ‘you’re welcome’.

Forte: 2500
Orion: 5550

“Now, I’ll summon Malice Doll of Demise in attack mode!”

Forte’s deranged doll appeared, axe ready to hack anything into little pieces. It gave an insane, gleeful laugh. (1600/1700)

“Now, attack his face down monster!”

With a shriek of delight, the doll lunged forward. A cybernetic jar with a face appeared before being hacked to pieces by the fiend.

“Cyber Jar,” Forte muttered, “Well, he did play the other two jars, I guess it would be complete without the third.”

“I assume you know what this does,” Orion spoke up, “So I guess I wont have to explain it.

Forte nodded as the Doll of Demise shrieked and dissolved into nothing. Both duellists picked up five cards.

Luck seemed to favour Forte, since he picked up Pot of Greed, Witty Phantom, Opticlops, Rope of Life and Elite Goblin Attack Force. Orion on the other hand drew Stone Statue of the Aztecs, D.D. Crazy Beast, Magic Remover, Virus Cannon and Michizure of Doom.

“I’ll summon all three of my monsters in attack mode,” Forte announced as his three monsters appeared, ready for battle. (1400/1200) (1800/1700) (2500/1500)

“I will set all of mine face down,” Orion responded as the two cards appeared.

“Now, I’ll play Pot of Greed.”

This time the grinning jar appeared before Forte, handing him two cards.

“That will end my turn.”

Orion drew.

“First, I’ll play Different Dimension Capsule again!”

The capsule reappeared on the field. Orion plucked a card from his deck and stored it away. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which card it was.

“Now, I play Michizure of Doom, which requires us to discard two cards from our hands.”

Forte muttered as he discared Great Maju Garzett and Domain of the Dark Ruler. Orion calmly discarded Virus Cannon and another copy of Macro Cosmos.

“Now, I’ll end my turn.”

Forte drew. A small smirk appeared on his face.

“I’ll sacrifice my Elite Goblin Attack Force, in order to summon Dark Ruler Ha Des in attack mode!”

The ruler of the fiends rose up once again from the flames, taking a sip of his wine as he gave a small, confident chuckle. (2450/1600)

“Now, Ha Des, attack the face down monster on the left!”

Ha des took a gulp before sending a burst of flame towards the monsters. The twisted, almost lizard like form of the D.D. Crazy Beast appeared before being incinerated.

“Well, if that’s the crazy beast,” Forte glanced at the other card, “Well, I’ll leave it then. Your turn Orion.”

Orion drew.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

Oh, this is just perfect.

“I’ll now sacrifice, both my Witty Phantom, AND my Opticlops…!”

The two fiends dissolved into darkness. The darkness then seemed to morph into a lance as a ghostly phantom resembling Forte stepped out to grab it.

“In order to summon…”

As soon as the phantom touched the lance, it reverted into its true, demon form.

“Dark Lancer Menithil!” (2700/2400)

“Now, Ha Des, wipe out the Stone Statue of Aztecs!”

Despite being stone, the statue was reduced to ashes by the fiend’s flames.

“Now, Menithil, attack Orion directly!”

The lancer nodded before diving towards the enemy, lance raised.

“Activate trap card!” Orion announced, “Power Wall!”

Forte was surprised when a wall of cards rose up before Menithil.

“With this card, I can discard as many cards from my hand or deck as I wish, and your attack weakens by 100 for each card. So, I’ll discard twenty!”

While it slowed down the attack, Menithil was able to break through and hit Orion, though not as strongly as he could.

Forte: 2500
Orion: 4850

Forte growled. Now Orion had plenty of card removed from play to use to power up Necroface.

He looked at the cards in his hand. There was one thing he could do.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Orion drew. The time capsule next to him opened, and the card floated into his hand. A maniacal grin spread across his face.

“Now then, they say third time’s charm. I’ll summon Necroface once again!”

The doll reappeared once again, before growing into the hideous monstrosity Forte was familiar with. This time it was even worse than the previous versions. (1200/1800) – (4600/1800)

“Forty-six hundred!?” Reece cried, “That’s enough to bring down the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!”

“Yes,” Orion grinned almost insanely, “And it’s more powerful than anything Forte has. Now, Necroface, destroy the avatar!”

The monster shrieked and lashed out at the avatar.

A grin appeared on Forte’s face.

“Activate trap card, Bark of the Dark Ruler!”

Orion gasped in horror as the card appeared.

“Now, I’ll spend two thousand lifepoints to weaken your monster just enough.”

Necroface groaned as its body seemed to shriek along with its attack points.

Now with it weak enough, Menithil rammed his lance through the doll’s head, smashing it to pieces. The monstrosity shrieked before exploding violently.

Orion was shocked, plain and simple.

Forte: 500
Orion: 4750

“What did I tell you about trap cards?” Forte chuckled.

Orion simply couldn’t say anything.

“Well, that’s what you get for over confidence. You could have easier discarded twenty-seven cards with Power Wall, and made Necroface stronger than what I could deal with.

But you got cocky. You wanted me alive long enough for you to destroy both of my monsters

Well, only I’m allowed to be cocky and get away with it! So now,”

Forte drew, not even bothering to discard the cards.

“I’ll make my move right now, Ha Des, Menithil, attack Orion directly!”

Orion let out a cry as the two monsters attacking him simultaneously, pain wracking his whole body.

Forte: 500
Orion: 0

“You did it!” Rose cheered. Reece crowed as he pumped his fist into the air.

Forte smirked, hiding his relief that the duel was over.

“It was nothing guys.”

“Nothing?” Reece laughed, “You got attacked by a monster with over three thousand attack twice! And those looked like it hurt.”

Forte laughed along with him.

“Just a couple of bruised ribs, no problem, I’ll still take on Yugi.”

The three of them laughed. Of course, it stopped when Rose noticed something.

“Um, guys? Where’s Orion?”

--------------~*~--------------

Orion radiated anger as he stumbled through the construction site.

“He just thinks he can humiliate me like that the bloody bastard!? Well, guess again!”

He stomped over to a cement truck, held in place by the chock on its back wheels. With one furious kick, the chock was knocked aside. With nothing stopping it, the truck began to roll towards the incomplete building.

--------------~*~--------------

“Does anyone hear that?” asked Reece as they heard a rumbling sound coming towards them.

Then there was a loud crash as the track smashed its way through the wall. Out of instinct, all three teenagers dove to the side to avoid the fast moving mass of steel. The truck slammed into the other wall, damaging it and being brought to a halt. However, one of the girders above was knocked loose and began to fall towards Forte.

“Forte!” Rose cried out. Forte looked up at the large steel mass heading towards him and tried to shield himself, readying himself for the impact.

It never came.

Forte slowly opened his eyes and looked up. The girder was floated a meter or so over his head, surrounded by a surreal green glow.

“What the heck…?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Forte saw another green glow coming from above, off to the side.

Forte looked up. Standing on a more stable area of the upper building was a slender figure, in his hand, a Duel Monster’s card glowing with a green aura. Thanks to it, Forte could just make out the card.

Zero Gravity.

As Forte stepped out from under the girder, the aura faded and the large chunk of metal fell harmlessly to the ground with a thud.

All three looked up at the figure with curiosity.

“Who are you?” Forte called out.

The figure leaped off of his perch and landed gracefully before them. Now that he was on the light, they could see him much more clearly.

He was thin with pale skin and shoulder length, messy black hair. Red eyes stood out on his face. His body was entirely covered with black leather, with a number of buckles located around his body and tuffs of white fur in places, such as his neck, shoulders, wrists and ankles. Over this he wore a black trenchcoat.

Reece’s jaw dropped.

“Holy crap is Marilyn Manson!”

This earned him a smack on the back of the head by Rose.

“No he’s not.”

“Indeed, I am not,” the man spoke in a dry British accent.

“Who are you?” Forte asked, watching the man warily. The man seemed to notice Forte’s suspicion.

“There’s no need for caution. I am not one of Dogma. My name is Nero, and I have been sent by master Dimitri to assist you,” he spoke quietly, his voice remaining level and emotionless.

Rose and Reece visibly relaxed.

“Dimitri huh?” Forte asked, “Well, thanks, but you can tell him we don’t need any help.”

And with that Forte turned to walk away.

“Well, it seems you may need some, after all, this is the second time I’ve and to save your life.”

Forte stopped and looked back.

“And I’m thankful, don’t get me wrong, but I told Dimitri I’m not interested in helping you guys, so you can just go and tell him that ok?” Forte then began to walk away, “See ya around.”

Reece and Rose gave Nero a nod of thanks before following Forte out of the construction site.

Nero watched the three leave.

“I am sorry Forte,” he spoke, “But my task is to guard your life, and I am going to accomplish that task, whether you like it or not.”

He then pulled a card from the card case hanging from his side. Dimensionhole. A mysterious aura glowed around the card and a portal opened up next to Nero. Casting one last glance at Forte, the pale man stepped in.


Name: Legion the Fiend Jester
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Spellcaster
Attribute: Dark
Attack: 1300
Defence: 1500

Legion the Fiend Jester was used by Arkana during the Battle City arc. Credit goes to the writers.

Name: Michizure of Doom
Card Type: Spell
Spell Type: Normal
Image: A robed man with his hand thrust towards him. A glowing pentagram is on his palm.
Effect: Both players show their hand. Then each player selects 2 cards from their opponent's hands and discard them to the Graveyard.

Michizure of Doom was used by Ishizu during the Battle City arc. Credit goes to the writers.

Name: Power Wall
Card Type: Trap
Spell Type: Normal
Image: A warrior standing in a burning city, his shield blocking the attack of a dragon.
Effect: Activate only when you would receive Battle Damage from a Direct Attack by a monster your opponent controls. Send any number of cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard to reduce the Battle Damage you would receive by the number of cards sent to the Graveyard by this effect x 100.

Power Wall was used by Zane in Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Credit goes to the writers.

Well, now that that’s out of the way, it’s time for what we’ve all been waiting for!

Forte’s long overdue ass-kicking!

We’ll see Reece.

Yes, we shall. Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand by for Chapter 17: The Devil and the King.

Will you stop following me!?

[Dark Sage]

Interesting. This is the first time I've seen Necroface in a fic, and it was an interesting strategy, with the constantly regenerating decks. You do tend to have a creative edge, MC.

Keep it up. I'll keep reading.

[Shuppet Master]

That was quite a chapter. One of the big bad guys duels Forte using a weird strategy. i admit, Necroface will never be used by me, because it's so simple and yet so damn complex at the same time. I might screw it up.

You know, when I thought about a Disgaea/Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic, I thought about how Laharl, a Demon Overlord, would duel, and Forte came to mind. In the game, Laharl is just as bad-ass as Forte and just as mean, putting people down and trash-talking them. And Laharl would probably duel with a fiend deck because, well, he's a demon.

Anyways, this is a great chapter, Mystic_clown, keep writing well. I want to see more chapters up soon.

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 17: The Devil and the King

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Rose asked as the three walked down the street. Reece’s head as buried in a map of the city. It was surprising he was able to avoid running into anything.

“I’m sure of it,” he replied, “The Turtle Game Shop is just down this road.”

Rose could help notice the fact that Forte’s hands were trembling, or the smile of excitement he was trying to suppress.

“It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for isn’t it?” Rose joked.

Forte merely nodded.

“I guess a part of me never really expected this to happen I guess. I mean, when I got up in front of everyone at the club and told them I was facing Yugi, I knew I would do anything in my power to make sure it happened. But…”

Rose giggled.

“Is the big bad Devilman getting scared?” she teased. Reece laughed.

“Yeah, did Orion shake you up?” he laughed, joining in. Forte’s face went red.

“Like hell he did,” Forte replied indignantly, “I’m just as confident as Yugi probably is! And I’ll prove it!”

And with that, Forte dashed down the street, the determination renewed in his heart.

“Forte! Wait!” Rose called out after him. The lavender haired teen made a good kilometre of distance before stopping and looking back.

Unable to find the words, Reece dumbly pointed at the building he and Rose were standing in front of.

The Turtle Game Shop.

Needless to say, Forte was a little embarrassed. Thankfully, nobody except Reece and Rose watched him slink shy back to his friends.

--------------~*~--------------

“Can I help you?”

The small elderly man behind the counter looked up as the three Australians entered. He had greying hair, which was tied under an orange bandana and a beard with purple eyes. He wore a white shirt with dark green overalls.

“Is this the Turtle Game Shop?” Rose asked, just to make sure. The old man nodded.

“Indeed it is.”

The three approached the counter. Reece stared at the old man, as if he recognised him.

“You’re Solomon Muto aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yes I am,” Solomon smiled, then noticed that Forte was staring at him, “Yes?”

“You speak English…”

“Um, yes I do.”

Forte crowed in joy.

“Finally! Someone who I can talk to! Reece, your services have been rendered redundant!”

The others just stared at him as if he had grown another head.

“Who’s there?”

All four looked as a woman, possibly in her forties, poked her head out of a door behind the counter. She had red hair and purple eyes.

“It’s just some customers,” Solomon explained, “Nothing to worry about Akina.”

Akina simply nodded. Reece smirked.

“Well, I didn’t know you were into younger women Solomon.”

Both their faces went bright red as Solomon took a rolled up newspaper and batted Reece on the head with it.

“She’s my daughter,” he said indignantly.

“Your daughter?” Forte asked, “So that would make her…”

“…Yugi’s mother?” Rose finished.

Akina simply nodded.

“Yugi has a mum!?” Reece exclaimed, earning himself a smack on the back of the head by Forte.

“A little rude don’t you think?” Forte muttered.

“Sorry, it’s just that, well, I had always assumed Yugi was an orphan living with his grandfather.”

Forte’s eye twitched at the mention of the word ‘orphan’.

“Anyway,” Forte spoke up, “my friend’s idiocy aside, we were wondering if Yugi’s here.”

“Well,” Solomon replied, “My grandson’s not here at the moment, but he should be back from school right about-“

The ringing of the bell above the store’s door caught their attention.

Standing at the doorway were four teenagers, dressed in school uniform. One, a male blonde with brown eyes, the second, a boy with brown hair formed into a spike, also with brown eyes. The third was a young woman with brown hair down to her shoulders and blue eyes.

The forth was someone everyone would recognise. From his tri-coloured hair to his purple eyes. There stood none other than the king of games himself, Yugi Muto.

“I’m home grandpa,” Yugi called out before turning his eyes to Forte, “oh, hello.”

Forte was pretty damn sure that his heart stopped for a second.

Forte took a step towards him.

“Are you Yugi Muto?” he asked. He mentally slapped himself in the forehead.

Of course he’s Yugi Muto! Who else has that kind of hair!?

“Yes I am,” Yugi responded. Forte gave him a friend smile and offered his hand.

“I’m Forte Rosamund,” he introduced, motioning to the two behind him, “and these are Reece and Rose.”

Yugi smiled and shook his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you. This is Tea,” he motioned to the girl, “This is Tristan,” he gestured to the boy with the spiky hair.

“And I’m Joey Wheeler,” the blonde said, with a bit of pride in his voice, “Maybe you’ve heard of me.”

“Hmm,” Forte murmured for a moment, trying to remember the blonde, “Joey Wheeler…”

He snapped his fingers in recognition.

“That’s right! Joey Wheeler! We actually have a title for you down under.”

“Oh?” Forte could almost feel the pride radiating off of the blonde.

“Yeah,” Reece spoke up, “Luckiest son-of-a-bitch in Duel Monsters!”

“What!?” This earned a laugh from Tea and Tristan, and even a small chuckle from Yugi as Joey’s face went bright red with indignation.

“Well, you do play gamble cards right?” Reece explained, “Well, it takes a fair bit of luck to pull those off as much as you do.”

“I guess so,” Joey replied in an almost sulky tone.

Forte was tempted to keep antagonising Joey just to get another hilarious reaction out of him. However, he had more important things to attend to.

“Yugi,” he spoke up, getting the shorter teen’s attention.

“I’m not really sure how to say this, so I’ll sum it up in as few words as possible.

You. Me. Duel. Now.”

“A bit blunt don’t you think?” Rose muttered sarcastically.

Yugi chuckled. He hadn’t really expected a challenge like this.

“Well, just let me put my stuff away and sure, I’ll duel you.”

“Alright then,” a small smile appeared on Forte’s face, “I’ll see you out there then.”

--------------~*~--------------

It took Yugi only a few minutes to put his school stuff away and collect his duel disk. Forte, and the rest were waiting outside for him.

“You ready Yugi?” Forte simply asked, pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning on. He was already wearing Reece’s duel disk, his deck ready for shuffling.

Yugi nodded and handed Forte his deck as Forte gave him his. After a brief moment of shuffling, the decks were returned. Without a word, the two walked away from each other, stopping and facing one another when they reached a good distance.

The friends and family concerned watched as the two prepared for battle.

“Are you ready Forte?” Yugi asked. Forte smirked.

“I’ve been ready longer than you could imagine.”

“Let’s duel!”

Forte: 8000
Yugi: 8000

“Honours go to the king,” Forte gave Yugi a mock bow. Yugi chuckled at the little joke before drawing.

“First, I’ll set one monster face down,” the face down card appeared before Yugi, “And now, I’ll play Gold Sarcophagus!”

A golden box with an eye engraved on it appeared before Yugi. He pulled his deck from his disk and searched through it.

“I take one card from my deck and remove it from play. Then, two turns later, it’s added to my hand.”

“So, it’s like Different Dimension Capsule?” Forte asked.

“Kind of,” Reece explained, “Only better. With the sarcophagus, there’s nothing you can do to stop the card from going to the hand.”

“That’s right,” Yugi responded as he pulled a card and put it in the box.

“Now, I’ll play this card, Turn Jump.”

A magic card appeared, depicting a watch half buried in the sand.

“This card allows me to fast forward this duel by three turns! This means that I’m allowed to add the card I just removed.”

Taking the card from the box, he added it to his hand. The golden box vanished into nothing.

“That ends my turn.”

Forte drew.

“An impressive first move,” Forte spoke, “one I’d expect from the king himself.”

He looked at the card in his hand.

It’s probably a powerful monsters, or maybe a magic or trap card integral to some big strategy.

Whatever it is, I’d better end this before he can bring it into motion.

“First, I’ll turn down the lights with this, Mystic Plasma Zone!”

The sky suddenly grew dark. Thick clouds formed above them, swirling around some invisible object. Dark energy crackled across them, occasionally striking the ground like lightening.

“I didn’t know Forte had that card in his deck,” Rose spoke up.

“That’s because he preferred to use Domicile of the Dark Ruler,” Reece explained.

“So why isn’t he playing it now?” Tristan asked out of the blue. Reece looked at him briefly before answering.

“It seems that Forte’s decided to go for power in this duel.”

“Now,” Forte announced, “I’ll summon Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!”

The demonic soldier appeared on the field, sword at the ready. A bolt of dark energy struck him from above and a dark aura surrounded him as his strength rose. (1900/111500) – (2400/1100)

“Now, Archfiend Soldier, attack Yugi’s face down monster!”

With a spine chilling cry, the soldier charged for it, sword raised high. Forte was surprised when a small, white mass with a smiley face appeared. He was equally surprised when the attack bounced off of it like rubber.

A small smile appeared on Yugi’s face.

“Did my Marshmallon catch you by surprise Forte? Were you expecting something a little bigger?”

A small growl escaped Forte’s lips as the little marshmallow-like creature laughed. (300/500)

“And since you attacked it while it was face down-“

“-I know,” Forte interrupted, “I loose a thousand lifepoints.”

Forte: 7000
Yugi: 8000

“Ironic isn’t it,” Solomon spoke up to no one in particular, “There monsters with defence scores up to five thousand, and yet, one of the most perfect defence monsters only has five hundred defence.”

Rose nodded absently.

“I’ll end my turn,” forte declared.

Yugi drew.

“First, I’ll play the card I added to my hand last turn, Marshmallon Glasses.”

Forte bit back a swore as a pair of comical shades appeared on the small defender.

“Now, I’ll summon Red Gadget in attack mode!”

A small red robot appeared on the field, a number of silver gears on its body, especially a large one on its back. (1300/1500)

“Now, I play the magic card, Ties of the Brethren!”

A magic card, depicting three reptilian warriors, appeared before Yugi.

“Now, I pay a thousand life points and select one monster. I can then special summon two more monsters, provided they’re level four or lower and are of the same attribute.

So now, I’ll special summon Green Gadget and Yellow Gadget!”

Two more robots appeared, and just as their names suggested, one was green, one was yellow, and they both shared the same gear motif as their red counterpart. (1400/1600) , (1200/1200)

“Now, because I special summoned them with this, they can’t attack,” Yugi explained, “So I’ll end my turn.”

Forte: 7000
Yugi: 7000

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he has planned. He’ll sacrifice one or two of his gears for a Gadgetron or Stronghold the Moving Fortress.

Forte drew. Even though his face remained blank, he was grinning on the inside.

However, this will come in handy.

“I’ll set two cards face down, and one monster in defence mode.”

Three cards materialised before Forte.

“That will end my turn.”

Yugi eyed the cards as he drew.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew as the card appeared.

“And now, I’ll activate it! Stronghold, the Moving Fortress!”

I knew it.

large, brown, mechanical giant rose up on the field. One its body were three gear shaped holes. The three gadgets jumped up and fitted themselves into the holes before slowly spinning, as if not part of the giant machine. It knelt down, shielding itself with its large arms (0/2000) – (3000/2000)

“However, it must be special summoned in defence mode, but that will all change on my next turn.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Forte smirked, “Because now I’ll flip up the face down monster I set last turn, Brain Jacker!”

Yugi took a step back as the small, brain-like creature appeared. (200/900)

“I’m guessing you already know what it does, so I’ll skip the explanation and I’ll just do it. Brain Jacker, infect Yugi’s Marshmallon!”

Yugi gasped as the brain latched onto Yugi’s smallest monster. A number of people had thought that Forte might have gone for the fortress.

Forte’s smirk widened.

“Now that I don’t have to worry about your little marshmallow, Archfiend Soldier, attack the moving fortress!”

With a loud and triumphant cry, the fiendish soldier cleaved the hulking piece of metal in two.

“And that will be all for me.”

“Come on Yugi!” Joey cheered from the sidelines, “You’ve taken on tougher than this!”

“So has Forte,” Reece responded, “the guy took two direct attacks of over three thousand and still came back and won.”

“Yugi’s taken on monsters with over five thousand attack and won.”

“Yeah, well, Forte’s better looking.”

“So what? Yugi’s better than any pretty boy!”

“Better a pretty boy than a midget!”

Yugi and Forte watched in mild embarrassment as their best friends argued over which was better.

“Well,” Forte spoke up, “While our two stooges fight, it’s your move.”

Yugi simply nodded and drew, not really bothering to say that Joey wasn’t a stooge.

“I’ll start by Playing Pot of Greed,” Yugi declared as he drew an additional two cards, “and now, I’ll play the magic card Rest and Exchange!”

A magic card, depicting a retreating army running past a charging army, appeared before Yugi.

“Now, this is a little complicated, “Yugi explained, “First, I sacrifice any number of monsters, as long as they have the same attribute. So Ill sacrifice my three Gadgets.”

Forte watched as the three gadgets faded away.

“Now, I get to special summon any number of monsters from my hand or deck, as long as they have the same attribute as the tributed monsters and their total level is equal to the total level of the sacrificed monsters.

“And so, I’ll special summon Alpha, Beta and Gamma, the magnet warriors!”

Three metallic warriors appeared on the field, all three sharing a magnet motif. One was blue, the other was a pale green and the third was pink. (1400/1700), (1700/1600), (1500/1800)

“I’ll then set one card face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“First, I’ll sacrifice your Marshmallon, in order to summon Lesser Fiend!”

Marshmallon was consumed by fire as that large, multi-armed, beast-headed fiend rose up, snarling, ready for battle. (2100/1000) – (2600/600)

“Now, I’ll activate a face down card, Ultimate Offering! I’ll pay five hundred life points to summon Malice, Doll of Demise!”

The deranged, axe-wielding doll appeared between Forte’s two fiends, laughing maniacally (1600/1700) – (2100/1300)
Forte: 6500
Yugi: 7000

“Now, attack! Wipe out all of his monsters!”

The three fiends charged and brutally tore Yugi’s magnet warriors apart.

“Not so fast!” Yugi yelled out, “I’ll activate a trap card, Mirage Ruler!”

Forte rose an eyebrow as a trap card, depicting a knight attacking what appeared to be a shadow beast.

“Well, that’s a new one,” Forte muttered.

“This card activates when all of my monsters are destroyed on the same turn. First, it allows me to bring them all back!”

The three magnet warriors re-appeared on the field, ready for another battle.

“Wait!” Forte interrupted, “Lesser Fiend would have removed one of them from play!”

“The card states that they are special summoned. It never said from where.”

“Dammit! Well, at least you still suffer the damage.”

Yugi smiled, “Not really. You see, Mirage Ruler also undoes all the damage you did to my lifepoints.”

Forte’s eyes widened as Yugi’s lifepoints went back to seven thousand.

“You’ve got to be kidding! There’s got to be some kind of downside!”

“Well…”

Before Yugi could finish, the card began to glow. The same glow surrounded him and he grunted in pain.

As the glow faded, Forte noticed that Yugi’s life points had dropped by a thousand.

Forte: 6500
Yugi: 6000

“When all is said and done,” Yugi explained, “I then loose a thousand lifepoints.”

A small smirk appeared on Forte’s lips.

“So, in theory, all I’d have to do is hit you enough times, and that card will kill you for me,” he chuckled, “Thank you Yugi.”

“Well, Yugi’s not gonna let that happen!” Joey yelled out from the sidelines.

“We’ll see,” Forte smirked, “anyway, it’s your move.”

Yugi nodded and drew.

‘You’ll find that beating me is a lot harder than you think Forte,” Yugi spoke, “Because now, I’ll sacrifice all three of my magnet warriors!”

Forte’s eyes widened as the three magnets broke up into multiple parts.

Three sacrifices!? But that could only mean…oh crap!

Forte watched as the compotants joined together, farming a humanoid machine with wings and a sword.

“Behold, Valkyrion, the Magnet Warrior!” (3500/3850)

“Alright!” Tristan crowed, “One of Yugi’s top monsters is ready to go!”

“Oh thank god!”

Needless to say, Forte’s response caught Yugi a little off guard.

“When you sacrificed your three magnets, I thought you were summoning an Egyption God or something, but this is much better, thanks mate.”

Yugi quirked an eyebrow. Sure, Valkyrion was small compared to the gods, but it was nothing to sneeze at.

“Well, I’ll show you what this monster can do! Valkyrion, destroy Forte’s Lesser Fiend!”

With a hum-like growl, energy started to form around the magnet warriors sword as it charged. With one strike and a howl of pain, it sliced Forte’s fiend in two.

“I’ll set one card face down, and that ends my turn,” Yugi said sternly.

Forte: 5600
Yugi: 6000

Forte drew.

“I’ve buried bigger monsters,” he stated before smirking, “And bigger duellists.”

Yugi’s eyes twitched as Rose rolled her eyes.

“Here come the obligatory short jokes.”

“Those started a few pages back Rose,” Reece murmured.

“Don’t break the fourth wall.”

First of all,” Forte declared, “I’ll switch my Doll of Demise into defence mode.”

The doll tried to hide itself behind his giant axe.

“Now, I’ll sacrifice my Archfiend Soldier, in order to summon…”

The fiendish soldier was shrouded in mist as a larger, more frightening form arose from it.

“…Great Maju Garzett!” (3800/3000) – (4300/2600)

Rose shuddered when she saw that monster, the memory of her first duel with Forte flashing in her mind.

“My monster’s bigger than yours,” Forte teased, grinning widely.

“Are you sure you’re not over compensating for something?”

Everything went quiet as all eyes fell on Yugi. The tri-haired teen was starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

“Yugi,” Forte spoke up, “As a master of insults, the “over compensation” line is pretty old.”

“Well, I’m not used to insulting people!” Yugi responded a little indignantly, “Besides, your monster wont stay big for long. Activate trap card, Ground Erosion!”

The trap card lifted, revealing a picture of a large fiend sinking into the ground.

“When this trap activates, I select one monster on your side of the field. That monster then looses five hundred attack points during my stand-by phase.”

Forte scowled. So much for his advantage.

“I guess I’ll do as much damage as I can! Garzett, destroy Valkyrion!”

Garzett let out a bellow before sending a blast of acidic smog at the magnet warrior, eroding it into nothing.

“Don’t forget about my Mirage Ruler,” Yugi stated as the magnet warrior reappeared, before cringing in pain as the damage was done.

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” Forte smirked.

Forte: 5600
Yugi: 5000

“That ends my turn.”

“This isn’t looking good for Yugi,” Reece murmured.

“Yugi will come back,” Tea reassured, “He always does.”

“True,” Tristen added, “But with that card, Forte’s doing more damage to him than Garzett could have.”

“My move!” Yugi drew. Garzett groaned as it sunk into the ground a little, its attack dropping to 4800.

He looked at his hand briefly.

“I’ll pass this turn.”

Forte simply drew.

Oh, this is just perfect.

“I’ll set one card face down…”

The card materialised before Forte.

“And I’ll switch Great Maju Garzett into defence mode. That will be all.”

Yugi watched curiously as Forte’s fiend shielded itself.

“And it’s your move little man,” Forte smirked. Yugi’s eyes twitched as he drew. Garzett sunk further, its attack decreasing to 3300.

“Well now, since your monster’s weak enough, Valkyrion, destroy Maju Garzett!”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Forte grinned as Valkyrion charged up its blade.

“Activate trap card, Shadow Spell!”

Yugi gasped as chains of darkness shot out of nowhere, binding the mighty monster, its sword clattering harmlessly on the ground. Valkyrion’s attack fell to 2800.

Forte on the other hand was having the time of his life.

“I can’t believe you fell for that man! I mean, come on! That’s the most obvious trick in the book!”

“Well,” Reece spoke up, “Knowing you, you’d have probably taken a hit like that. Besides, if you destroy Valkyrion, Shadow Spell will be gone.”

“Yeah, I know,” Forte shrugged, “But still, it will let me at least deal some more damage to him before Garzett is destroyed.”

“That wont happen!” Yugi spoke up, “Because I’ll separate Valkyrion back into its three separate components!”

Forte watched as Valkyrion split up, the chains falling lifelessly onto the ground before shattering. Valkyrions parts recombined into the separate magnet warriors. (1400/1700), (1700/1600), (1500/1800)

“Now, I’ll set one card face down and end my turn!”

“Why did he do that?” Rose wondered, “Didn’t he hear what we just say?”

“Yugi’s got a plan,” Solomon murmured, eyeing Yugi’s face down card, “Don’t you worry.”

Forte smirked as he drew.

“Well, first of all, I’ll summon Gil Garth in attack mode!”

The mechanical fiend arose into play, its green saber ready for a battle, or an execution. (1800/1200) – (2300/800)

“Then, I’ll switch Maju Garzett into attack mode!”

The large fiend growled as it stood up to its full hight.

“Now, attack! Wipe out his Magnet Warriors!”

“Activate trap! Yugi announced, “Negate Attack!”

Forte scowled as all three attacks were absorbed into the vortex appeared in front of Yugi’s monsters.

“I guess it’s your turn then,” Forte muttered.

Yugi smiled as he drew, Garzett’s attack falling to 2800.

“It’s time I took control of this duel!” he announced, “So I’ll sacrifice Magnet Warriors Alpha and Beta!”

The group watched as Yugi’s warriors were shrouded in swirling darkness.

“What could he be summoning?” Rose wondered out loud.

“Whatever it is, Garzett can handle it,” Forte replied, a little half confident this time.

Yugi smirked.

“I’m afraid not, for now I summon…”

A large form appeared from the darkness. A large black dragon with bright orange orbs imbedded all over its body. A rather frightening sight.

“Gandora the Dragon of Destruction!” (0/0)

Forte stared at the large monstre for a moment.

“That’s it…?” he spoke up, “Two sacrifices and it has zero attack and defence points!? What were you thinking!?”

“Don’t be stupid Forte!” Reece yelled out, “You know as much as everyone else that low attack equals a powerful effect!”

“That’s right,” Yugi smiled, “Because you see, all I have to do is pay half of my lifepoints…”

Forte watched as Yugi’s life points were cut in half.

“…And Gandora will wipe out every card on the field!”

Forte gasped in shock as the orbs on Gandora’s body glowed brightly. The dragon roared as a blast of orange energy shot out, enveloping the whole field. Forte barely managed to stay upright as the force tore his cards apart.

When all was done, only Gandora remained.

Forte: 5600
Yugi: 2500

“And there’s more,” Yugi continued, “When he does this, his attack increases by three hundred for each card destroyed!”

“Um, how many cards were on the field?” Forte asked a little nervously.

“”I think about seven,” Tea spoke up.

“That’s right,” Yugi responded, “So now, Gandora’s attack goes up to twentyone hundred!”

(0/0) – (2100/0)

“And finally, I’ve still yet to attack! Now, Gandora, attack Forte directly!”

The dragon roared as it charged up a bright orange flame before firing at Forte. Forte cried out in pain as the flames engulfed him.

Forte: 2800
Yugi: 2500

“Unfortunately Gandora s destroyed at the end of the turn.”

The dragon gave one last final roar before exploding into shards.

“Your move Forte.”

Still panting heavily, a twisted smile spread across Forte’s face as he drew.

“Thank’s Yugi,” He spoke, almost chuckling, “Because thanks to you, I’m even closer to finishing you!”

“You’re barely ahead of him,” Joey snapped.

“True,” Forte chuckled, “but that last move has left him wide open!

First of all, since you destroyed it with an effect, my Malice Doll of Demise comes back!”

With a demanted cackle, Forte’s malicious doll returned the field, axe and all. (1600/1700)

“Now, I’ll sacrifice him, to bring out the main monster of my deck!”

The doll shrieked as it was enveloped in black flame, a large , sinister from rising from it.

“Here it comes,” Rose muttered.

“Say hello, to Dark Ruler Ha Des!”

The ruler of fiend took a sip of wine before chuckling sinisterly at Yugi (2450/1600)

“Now, Dark Ruler Ha Des, attack Yugi’s life points directly! Flames of the Dark Ruler!”

Taking a seemingly harmless gulp of wine, Ha Des let out a blast of black flame, seering Yugi as Yugi’s dragon had just a turn ago.

“Yugi!” Tea cried out in concern.

“He’ll be ok,” Solomon reassured her, “He’s still in this.”

As the smoke cleared, Yugi was indeed still standing, though just barely.

Forte: 2800
Yugi: 50

“That ends my turn,” Forte spoke with a wicked grin on his face.

Yugi groaned as he drew, possibly out of pain or annoyance, Forte couldn’t tell.

“First, I’ll play Graceful Charity!”

The angel of charity appeared before Yugi, offering him three cards. Yugi looked over his hand before returning two to her.

“Now, I’ll summon Silent Magician lvl 0 in attack mode!”

A young, white haired girl in a red magician’s garb appeared on the field. Clutching her staff, she meekly beheld the fiend before her. (1000/1000)

“Did he say level 0?” Rose cocked an eyebrow, “I didn’t think monsters could go that low.”

“Don’t be fooled,” Solomon spoke up, “There’s more to her than you think.”

“And now, Yugi continued, “I’ll play Monster Reborn!”

Forte went through Yugi’s previous moves. From what he would remember, Yugi didn’t summon anything stronger than Ha Des that he could bring back.

However, Forte was shocked when a large purple warrior with a large sword appeared.

“And I’ll resurrect my Buster Blader, in attack mode!” (2600/2300).

“Wait a minute!” Forte yelped out, “When the heck did Buster Blader go to the grave?”

Then a memory flashed through his mind, answering his question.

“Graceful charity…”

“That’s right!” Yugi declared, “Now, Buster Blader, destroy Dark Ruler Ha Des!”

Unable to defend himself, Ha Des could do nothing as he was cleaved in two by the powerful warrior, the shockwave knocking Forte back a bit.

“Now, Silent Magician, attack him directly!”

With Ha Des gone, the magician seemed a lot more confident as she launched her attack against Forte, striking him clean in the stomach. Forte groaned, almost doubling over.

Forte: 1650
Yugi: 50

“Way to go Yugi!” Joey cheered, “One more attack and he’s toast!”

“Don’t be so confident Joey,” Reece retorted, “All Forte needs is something stronger than that magician and it’s bye-bye Yugi.”

“He’s survived on fifty life points before. He’ll do it again!”

“We’ll see.”

“You’re move Forte,” Yugi called out as Forte drew. Suddenly, the silent magician began to glow, becoming a little bit older. (1000/1000) – (1500/1000)

“What the heck?” Forte murmured.

“Silent Magician’s effect,” Yugi explained, “For every card you draw, she gains a level and five hundred attack points!”

“Great, so that girl gets stronger that longer it lasts.”

He looked over his hand.

Unfortunately I can’t do squat about that.

“I’ll play the magic card Nightmare Steel Cage!”

Yugi took a step back as the twisted cage surrounded him and his monsters, memories of Battle City flashing in his mind.

“I’ll also summon Wall of Illusion in attack mode.”

The fiendish living wall appeared on the field, its eery eyes looking back and forth between Yugi’s monsters (1000/1800)

“That ends my turn.”

Yugi nodded and drew.

“I’ll pass this turn,” he stated simply.

Forte nodded and drew. The magician grew older, and her attack rose to two thousand.

“I’ll summon Winged Minion in attack mode!”

The small, blue skinned imp appeared on the field. (700/700)

“Haven’t seen him in a while,” Reece murmured.

“that ends my turn.”

Yugi drew.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

The cage evaporated as Forte drew, the magician’s attack rising to twenty five hundred as she matured into a woman.

A small smile graced Forte’s lips.

“And so we enter ‘End game’ Yugi,” Forte declared.

“What do you mean? Yugi asked.

“I mean this! I’ll sacrifice both my Winged Minion AND my Wall of Illusion!”

Both fiends faded into dark energy, as a dark aura surrounded Forte.

“Now, prepare to meet the very incarnation of darkness!”

A familer humanoid form arose from the blackness. His large, claw-like arm flexing as his gothic lance appeared in his hand hand.

“Dark Lancer Menithil!” (2700/2000)

“What the heck is that?” Tristan exclaimed.

“Something you’ll probably never see again after this duel,” Rose murmured.

Yugi narrowed his eyes as he looked at the monster before him. There was something about it.

It’s like I can sense a presence from it. Not evil, but ancient.

“Now!” Forte exclaimed, “It’s time to finish this! Menithil, destroy the Silent Magician!”

The lancer nodded before diving towards the magician, his lance ready to strike.

“Activate trap card! Noble Sacrifice!”

“What!?”

Much to Forte’s shock. The Buster Blader leaped in front of Menithil, taking the lance right in the chest.

Both monsters were shocked as the warrior groaned and shattered into pixels.

“What the heck just happened!?” Reece exclaimed.

Yugi sighed, “By sacrificing my Butser Blader, my Noble Sacrifice card stops your attack. My monster may be gone, but my life points are spared.”

“Smart move,” Rose murmured, “Yugi has to do whatever he can to keep his remaining life points safe.”

“I’ll end my turn then,” Forte muttered as Menithil returned to his side.

Yugi silently drew.

“I play Swords of Revealing Light!”

Forte shielded his eyes as the radiant swords fell from the sky, sealing Menithil in place.

“I’ll now summon Blocken in attack mode!”

Forte cocked an eyebrow as a small, block-shaped robot appeared next to the Silent Magician. (100/300)

“That ends my turn.”

Forte drew. The magician’s attack grew to three thousand.

“I’ll summon Dark Jeroid in attack mode!”

The warped, black fiend rose up onto the field, letting out a mangled cry-groan sound. (1200/1500)

“And when this card is summoned,” Forte explained, I choose one monster and weaken it by eight hundred points. And I choose your Silent Magician!”

The magician groaned I pain a dark aura surrounded her. She fell to her knees as her attack fell to twenty two hundred.

“Now then, let’s deal with your swords shall we? Once per turn, I can have Menithil wipe out all your magic and trap cards!”

Yugi gasped as Menithil let out a cry and a burst of dark energy, shattering Yugi’s swords.

“However, I cannot attack with him this turn, and as tempting as it is to attack your Blocken, I don’t want to risk triggering any nasty effects it might have, so I’ll end my turn.”

Yugi drew.

“First, I’ll switch Blocken into defence mode.”

Forte mentally cursed himself for not attacking it when Blocken switched into defence mode.

“Now, Silent Magician! Attack Dark Jeroid!”

She let out a cry as she blasted a powerful wave of magic at the fiend, wiping it from the field.

Forte: 650
Yugi: 50

“That ends my turn.”

Forte nodded as he drew. The magician stood strong as her attack rose to twenty seven hundred.

“If Forte attacks, it’ll be a draw,” Tea murmured.

“Not exactly,” Forte smirked, “I’ll summon my second Winged Minion!”

A second blue imp appeared next to Menithil. (700/700)

“Now, I’ll sacrifice him, to increase Menithil’s attack by seven hundred points!”

The minion degenerated into a black mist that floated into Menithil. The Dark Lancer let out a loud war cry as his attack rose to thirty four hundred.

“I can’t believe it…” Reece muttered.

“Forte might actually win?” Rose added in amazement.

Forte grinned maniacally, “Menithil! Let’s finish this! Destroy the Silent Magician!”

Menithil grinned and charged towards the magician. The magician stood firm, ready to take the strike.

However, out of nowhere, something darted in front of Menithil.

“What!?” Forte was shocked as Blocken shattered to pieces.

“Blocken’s effect,” Yugi explained, “By sacrificing him, I can negate your attack.”

“It’s a monster version of Noble Sacrifice!?”

“There’s a little more to that,” Yugi chuckled, “When its destroyed, Blocken allows me to special summon this, Lenguard, in attack mode.”

A strange monster that almost resembled a belt appeared next to the silent magician. (300/100)

“Very well!” Forte growled in annoyance, “I’ll end my turn. But next turn I’ll wipe out your magician. She still wont be strong enough!”

Yugi drew.

“We’ll see about that Forte. I play Card Destruction!”

Forte growled as he and Yugi discarded their hands. Yugi drew two and Forte drew one. The magician’s eyes started to glow as her attack rose to thirty two hundred.

Yugi looked at the cards in his hand. He closed his eyes and bowed his head.

“I’m afraid this duel is over Forte,” he stated, “I play Level Modulation!”

Forte gasped, the realisation of what was happening sinking in.

“I’ll use it to special summon my Silent Swordsman level 0!”

A young boy, dressed in a warriors outfit, appeared next to the magician. He looked just as nervous as the magician once did. (1000/1000)

“And now, you have to draw two cards!”

Forte shakily drew as the magician was surrounded with a radiant glow. (4200/100),

It’s over…He’s won…

“Now!” Yugi began, but paused. For a brief moment, Forte disappeared, and in his place was a young man, similar to Yugi, but with a darker tan and dressed like an ancient prince.

He shook away the memory, blinking back a tear. This was lost on everyone except for Forte.

“Silent Magician! Attack Menithil and end the duel!”

Menithil bowed his head in respect to the magician. The Silent Magician did the same before firing a blast of pure white energy at him. Forte and Menithil both howled in pain as the dark lancer was blown away. Forte was thrown off his feet, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

Forte: 0
Yugi: 50

Everyone was silent, taking in what they had just seen. Yugi stood their in silence as his monsters faded into particles of light.

Suddenly, a sound could be heard, a laughing.

All eyes turned to Forte, still lying on the ground, only now he was laughing. It had started as a small chuckle but had now erupted into full on hysterics. Rose and Reece were a little afraid that he had gone insane.

“That was awesome!” Forte cried out as he sat up, “Best. Duel. Ever!”

Everyone was a little surprised. They hadn’t expected Forte to take his defeat this well.

Forte climbed to his feet, walking over to Yugi.

“You really are the king of games mate! I mean, holding onto fifty life points for five turns and winning!”

An awkward smile appeared on Yugi’s face.

“You’re pretty good yourself Forte. Though next time, maybe you could lay off the insults a bit?”

Forte chuckled before offering his hand.

“Ok mate, but only because it’s you.”

Yugi smiled and nodded, accepting his hand.

The two duellists shook hands, a new sense of respect for the other in both of them.

--------------~*~--------------

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay a little longer?” Yugi’s mother asked.

After their duel, Yugi had kindly offered the trio something to eat after learning they didn’t really have a place to stay for the night.

“We’ve taken up enough of your time as it is,” Reece answered, “It wouldn’t seem right for us to intrude any longer.”

“We’ll just find a hotel to stay for the night,” Forte added, “So you don’t have to worry about us.”

Yugi smiled and nodded. Despite his sarcastic nature, Yugi found Forte pleasant to talk to.

“Well, take care Forte,” he said. Forte gave him a cocky smile.

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself, and next time we meet there’ll be a new king of games.”

Yugi chuckled. “We’ll see.”

As Forte, Reece and Rose turned to leave, Forte stopped and looked back.

“Hey Yugi?”

“Yes?”

“During your last turn, something seemed to be bothering you. What was it?”

All eyes fell on the small king. Yugi smiled and shook his head.

“It’s nothing, really.”

Forte shrugged.

“Ok mate. It’s not my place to pry,” he turned and began walking away, “See ya mate.”

“Bye.”

“Well, I guess I was right,” Reece chuckled as the three walked down the street, “Yugi did kick your ass.”

The response was a punch in the shoulder from Forte.

“Yeah, but you’ve got to admit, it was a close duel.”

“Yeah,” Rose said, smiling, “For a few turns I had actually thought you’d won.”

“Oh dear lord no!” Reece laughed dramatically, “If Forte had, it would usher in the apocalypse and hell on earth!”

The three burst out laughing.

“Ah, there’s no job like being the harbinger of the end of the world,” Forte chuckled, “Now, onward my minions! We must wreck havoc and destruction throughout this world!”

Little did the trio know, they were being watched from nearby. In a nearby alleyway, a pair of poisonous green eyes were watching them.

Lea’s eyes narrowed as he focused on his target.

“Forte…”


Name: Turn Jump
Card Type: Magic
Spell Type: Normal
Image: A watch half buried in the sands of Egypt.
Effect: Move the turn count forward by 3 turns. All cards on the field are treated as having had their effect(s) active for three full turns for both players. The turn in which this card is activated continues as normal.

Name: Ties of the Brethren
Card Type: Magic
Spell Type: Normal
Image: An army of reptilian soldiers preparing for battle.
Effect: Pay 1000 Life Points, and select 1 Level 4 monster on your field. Special Summon 2 Level 4 monsters from your Deck that have the same Attribute as the selected monster. The Summoned monsters can neither attack nor be offered as Tributes.

Turn Jump and Ties of the Brethren were used by Yugi during the Memory Arc, credit goes to the writers.

Name: Rest and Exchange
Card Type: Magic
Spell Type: Normal
Image: A group of retreating soldiers passing a group of charging soldiers.
Effect: Tribute any number of monsters, as long as they are the same attribute. Special summon from your deck any number of monsters as long as their total level equals the same as the total level of the tributed monster(s) and are of the same attribute as the tributed monster(s).

Name: Mirage Ruler
Card Type: Trap
Spell Type: Continuous.
Image: A knight slicing through a grinning shadow monster.
Effect: Activate only when your opponent destroys all your face-up monsters this turn. The monsters that were destroyed are Special Summoned back to the field in the same Battle Position and any Battle Damage you took this turn are restored to your Life Points. After this card resolves, inflict 1000 points of damage to your Life Points.

Name: Ground Erosion
Card Type: Trap
Spell Type: Continuous.
Image: A powerful fiend being pulled into the crumbling ground.
Effect: Select 1 Monster Card Zone on your opponent's side of the field that is currently occupied by a Monster Card. During every one of your Standby Phases, the monster in the selected Monster Card Zone loses 500 ATK.

Mirage Ruler and Ground Erosion were used by Yugi during the Memory Arc, credit goes to the writers.

Name: Gandora the Dragon of Destruction
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Dragon/Effect
Level: 8
Attribute: Dark
Attack: 0
Defence: 0
Effect: This card cannot be Special Summoned. Pay half of your Life Points to remove from play all cards on the field except this card. For every card that is removed by this effect, this card gains 300 ATK. This card is sent to the Graveyard at the End Phase of the turn it was Summoned.

Gandora the Dragon of Destruction is a Japanese only card available in certain promos.

Name: Silent Magician LV0
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Level: 3
Attribute: Light
Attack: 1000
Defence: 1000
Effect: For each card your opponent draws, increase this card's ATK by 500 and "LV" by 1.

Silent Magician LV0 was used by Yugi during the Memory Arc. All credit goes to the writers. The popularity of this card eventually lead to the creation of its real life counterparts.

Name: Noble Sacrifice
Card Type: Trap
Spell Type: Normal
Image: A warrior taking a powerful blast in order to protect a fair maiden.
Effect: This card can only be activated when your opponent declares an attack. Tribute one monster on your side of the field to negate it and end the battle phase.

Name: Blocken
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Machine/Effect
Level: 3
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 100
Defence: 300
Effect: When another monster on your side of the field is selected as an attack target, you can switch the target of the attack to this card. When this card is destroyed by battle you can Special Summon 1 "Lenguard" from your Deck.

Name: Lenguard
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Machine/Effect
Level: 3
Attribute: Earth
Attack: 300
Defence: 100
Effect: When your opponent attacks with a monster whose ATK is greater than the ATK of the attack target, you can destroy this card to make the Battle Damage inflicted to your Life Points 0.

Name: Silent Swordsman LV0
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Warrior/Effect
Level: 3
Attribute: Light
Attack: 1000
Defence: 1000
Effect: During your Standby Phase, increase this card's ATK by 500, and the "LV#" in its name by 1.

Blocken, Lenguard and Silent Swordsman LV0 were all used by Yugi during the Memory Arc. All credits goes into the writers. Silent Swordsman was eventually made into its real life counterparts.

Well, that was probably the best duel ever.

Don’t forget Yugi, we’ve still got You-Know-Who to deal with.

Oh please, who could they possibly throw at me?

How about me?

Prepare yourself for Chapter 18 Light and Dark. Prepare for the end Forte.

[Dark Sage]

Okay, first the mistake:

You messed up on Malice Doll of Demise's effect. It is only Special Summoned from the Graveyard if it is sent there via the effect of a Continuous Spell Card (like "Ectoplasmer" or "Continuous Destruction Punch". Basically, it was designed to combo with "Ectoplasmer". Gandora is a Monster, so it does not qualify.)

Anyway, this chapter intrigued me. First, we are reminded that Yugi does indeed have a mother. I believe she appeared once in the Manga, and once in the anime, where her scene was cut for the American version. However, despite the fact that she is never seen, she is quite alive and well. It was nice of you to remind us of that.

Second, it was refreshing for Yugi to use the deck that he used during the Memory Arc, rather than the more familiar one, although I likely would have upgraded to the true Silent Swordsman and Magician myself. One thing though: Level Modulation summons from the Graveyard - was that where the Swordsman was?

Good job. I'll keep reviewing. Why don't you take a look at my new fic when you have time.

[Mystic_clown]

Dang. I had a feeling the Doll of Demise was wrong.

I'm glad someone like me including Yugi's mother. Reece's small outburst at the beginning was actually a reference to the fact that she never appeared in the American version.

I figured that since this was set after the series, it seemed only right to give him the deck he beat the pharoh with.

[Shuppet Master]

Well, nothing can be done to fix the Doll of Demise effect without rewriting the duel from scratch, so I'd let it go for now.

Also, the Swordsman was sent to the graveyard via Graceful Charity, right?

This was the turning point of the whole fic, where Forte finally gets his dream to duel the King of Games. Of course, the outcome was predictable, because after all, Yugi has a title to defend. It's nice he used his own deck to defend it instead of the Dark Magician deck. After all, the Dark Magician family was Atem's, not Yugi's.

Glad you finally updated, Mystic_clown, I can't wait to see where the fic goes from here.

[Houndoom_Lover]

Honestly, the card effects arn't as important as the story. Though its really cool when a duel with out flaws takes place, however the original Yu-gi-oh had all sorts of stuff that doesn't match the cards at all in real life- GASP! A YGO comercial is on as I type THIS!

^_^ Okay, whoot- my input of the day!

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 18: Light and Dark

Forte sighed happily as he stretched his arms up, the joints cracking loudly.

“Well, today was a good day wasn’t it?” he chuckled softly. It had been an hour or so after his defeat to Yugi and the sun had begun to set.

“I haven’t seen you this cheerful over loosing to someone,” Rose smiled.

“Well, in a duel like that, winning or loosing didn’t really matter. What matters is I went toe to toe with the King of Games himself, and almost came on top.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Reece chuckled, “Last we need is a tyrant of games.”

Forte shook his head.

“Not the greatest joke in the world mate,” he replied, “But if you have as much power as he does, you can’t help but become a little power mad. Heck, I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to start a new world order.”

Rose laughed.

“World’s shortest dictator. I can just see it now!”

That got a good laugh out of everyone. Forte looked up at the sky.

“It’s getting late guys,” Forte spoke up, his laughter subsiding, “Reece, you did call ahead and make the arrangements right?”

“Yeah,” Reece sighed, “Next time, one of us has got to be fluent before going to Japan.”

Forte merely replied with a chuckle as they headed to the subway station. After all that happened, Forte was happy to just find a bed and sleep. It was one heck of a day.

Little did Forte know, the day was not going to end any time soon.

--------------~*~--------------

Lea was close by, following the trio, one goal on his mind.

He was, however, stopped when his mobile phone rang.

Lea was mildly curious as he brought it to his ear. He knew who it was, but why would he be calling?

“Gabriel?”

”Lea.”

“What is it?”

”I’m just calling to tell you that Forte’s connection to the avatar was severed by his defeat against Yugi. There’s no need to duel.”

Lea was quiet for a moment.

”Lea?”

“I will duel him Gabriel.”

”Why?”

“We’ve both watched Forte defeat Karmov, Walter and Orion. I wish to face him myself, and I will not take the easy way out by simply stealing the avatar.”

”Are you sure?” Lea detected a hint of concern in Gabriel’s voice.

“I am sure. You do not need to worry. I will return with it.”

Gabriel was quiet for a moment.

“Gabriel?”

”I understand Lea…just be careful ok?”

Lea quietly nodded before hanging up.

--------------~*~--------------

Gabriel sighed as he leaned back in his wheelchair.

“I am sure Lea will be fine,” Eurydice reassured him. Gabriel looked up at her before sighing again.

“I’m sorry. I guess even after all this time I’m still a little protective of him.”

“It’s natural sir. But you must remember Lea is more than capable of protecting himself.”

“You’re right.”

He looked up at the image of Lea following Forte.

“Still, take care brother…”

--------------~*~--------------

Forte tapped his foot impatiently as he, Reece and Rose were waiting for a train. The subway was eerily quiet and empty.

“Am I the only one creeped out by the complete lack of people?” Reece spoke up.

“Yeah,” Rose muttered in agreement, “Usually this place is packed. It just seems…wrong.”

A small chuckle came from Forte.

“If this were a horror movie, this is the part where a monster would jump out from nowhere.”

“Forte!”

The sudden voice caused Reece to yelp in surprise, Rose and even a small jump from Forte. All three turned to see a young man walking towards them.

He seemed younger than all three of them, though if Forte took a rough guess, he was around the ages of fifteen or sixteen. He had lilac hair, falling unevenly to his shoulders, some of it falling over his green eyes. He wore a black long sleeves shirt, left partially unbuttoned, grey jeans and sneakers. On his right arm was a duel disk, designed to look half demonic, half angelic.

Forte’s eyes narrowed as they met his. The teen stopped a few metres away from him.

After a moment of silence, a small smirk appeared on Forte’s lips.

“And who are you?” Forte asked confidently. The boy’s serious expression never changed.

“My name is Lea,” he spoke coldly, “And I’m here for the avatar.”

Forte chuckled as he pulled the card in question from his deck.

“Well, I’m guessing you know the drill. Win, and it’s yours, though I’m sure you know what happened to everyone else who tried to get this.”

Lea nodded silently before activating his duel disk.

Forte put on a cocky smile as he readied his disk. While he acted confident, there was something about Lea that troubled him. The almost emotionless way he challenged him, his glare, and more importantly, how he looked. A strange feeling welled up inside him. Forte couldn’t put his finger on it.

Suddenly, a dark aura began to surround Lea’s body, catching the devil man’s attention.

“What the?”

The area around them began to get darker, colder. A sense of foreboding filled the air.

“Get ready Forte,” Lea spoke, a small smile cracking on his lips, “Because this is a game like no other.”

--------------~*~--------------

Nero had been watching Forte since their meeting at the construction site. Despite what Forte said, he’d keep observing him, protecting him. That was the mission Dimitri had given him, and he will fulfil it.

However, this time, it was not to be. As he headed down the subway stairs, a swirling mass of black materialised almost completely out of nowhere, stopping him dead.

“What’s this?”

Nero cautiously reached out to the darkness. He quickly pulled back when the blackness lashed out violently, confirming his worst fear.

“Shadow Magic…”

Nero’s eyes widened. There was only one person he knew who could harness shadow magic.

“Please be careful Forte…”

--------------~*~--------------

“What the heck is this?” Forte asked as the two stood off.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Lea smirked, disturbing Forte a bit, “But for now, Let’s get the duel started shall we?”

Forte: 8000
Lea: 8000

“I’ll allow you to go first.”

Forte silently nodded and drew.

“I’ll set two cards face down, and I’ll summon Opticlops in attack mode!”

The two face down cards appeared as Forte’s muscular Cyclops appeared before him. (1800/1700)

“Your turn Lea.”

Lea silently drew.

“First, I play the magic card Gold Sarcophagus!”

A golden box appeared briefly on the field, a single card floated up from Lea’s deck into it before being sealed.

“I’ll now set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte eyed the facedown monster as he drew.

No doubt it’s an effect monster. But, apart from that, he’s open. Time to do some damage!

“I’ll summon Archfiend Soldier in attack mode!”

Forte’s fiendish soldier rose up next to the Opticlops. Both monsters nodded to each other before glaring hungrily at Lea’s face down monster. (1900/1500)

“Now, Opticlops, attack Lea’s face down monster!”

The opticlops bellowed as he pounded his chest before leaping onto the face down card. A large, circular purple mass appeared before the fiend’s fist sank into it. It burst violently, covering everything in puss, some of it splashing onto Forte’s arm.

“A Giant Germ!?” Forte yelped, a little disgusted by all the puss.

“That’s right,” Lea smirked, “And you know what that means.”

Forte cried out when the puss started to burn his arm. Forte felt like someone had dumped acid onto it.

Forte: 7500
Lea: 8000

“What the hell?” Forte growled, “Five hundred points of damage isn’t THAT painful!”

Lea’s smirk widened.

“I guess I’d better explain. You see the darkness surrounding us?”

“Well duh, it’s kinda hard to miss.”

Lea’s eye twitched at Forte’s sarcasm, but continued.

“This dark place is known as the Shadow Realm, a home to monsters and powerful magic a-like.”

“The Shadow Realm?” Forte spoke up, remember what Dimitri had told him, “But I thought it was sealed up, cut off from this world.”

“You know of it?” Lea asked curiously.

“Only the basics,” Forte replied.

“Well, you’re right for the most part. The ritual involving the avatar did seal off the Shadow Realm from our world. However, there have always been those who have been able to harness the Shadow Realm’s power, able to call forth powerful monsters from its darkest depths.

My family has ancient ties with the shadows, the power to wield them lying dormant in their veins for generations.

Until now.”

“What, you’re some kind of shadow sorcerer?” Forte murmured.

“In a way, yes. But anyway, with my powers, I’ve made this duel far more than just a card game.

This has become what is known as a Shadow Game, where the monsters are real, and the stakes are much, much higher!”

Forte was surprised by this. Real monsters? And just how high were these stakes?

“But anyway, back to the duel. Since you destroyed my Giant Germ, I can now special summon two more from my hand or deck.”

Forte growled slightly as two more large orbs of puss appeared. (1000/100)

“Fine then, Archfiend Soldier, destroy the germ on the left!”

The archfiend howled before slicing the germ in two, sending more puss everwhere. Forte growled as it seared his skin, thankful that Lea was forced to summon it in attack mode.

Forte: 7000
Lea: 7100

“That ends my turn,” Forte muttered.

Lea simply nodded and drew.

“I play Pot of Greed!”

The grinning green jar appeared on Lea’s side of the field. Reaching in, he pulled out two cards and added them to his hand.

“Now, I’ll switch my Giant Germ into defence mode and set another monster face down. That will be all.”

Forte eyed Lea’s second face down as he drew.

Another effect monster I assume. Well I guess I’ll just have to see what it is. The sooner I get to his life points, the better.

“I summon Elite Goblin Attack Force in attack mode!”

The small platoon of armour goblins appeared on the field, pointing their spears at Lea’s monsters. (2200/1500)

“Now, Opticlops, destroy his last Giant Germ!”

Forte braced himself this time as the acidic puss his him, burning him again.

Forte: 6500
Lea: 7100

“Now, Elite Goblin attack Force!” Forte shouted, “Destroy Forte’s face down monster!”

With a loud war cry, the goblins charged. Forte was a little surprised when something resembling an orange wreath with angelic wings appeared before being impaled and destroyed.

“What the heck?” Forte muttered.

“That was my Nova Summoner,” Lea explained, “And when it’s destroyed by battle, I can special summon a light fairy from my deck, as long as it has fifteen hundred points or less. So, I’ll special summon my Shining Angel in defence mode!”

An angel with blinding wings and a white toga appeared on the field before shielding himself with his wings. (1400/800)

“Well, I guess I’ll just blast that thing away as well! Archfiend Soldier, destroy the Shining Angel!”

The angel’s wings did nothing to stop the fiend’s sword from slicing him in two. Lea seemed completely unaffected by it all.

“Well, since you destroyed my Shining Angel-“

“I know what it blood does!” Forte snapped, “It lets you summon a light monster as long as it has fifteen hundred points or less!”

“Correct, so I’ll special summon my second Nova Summoner in defence mode.”

Forte growled as the same orange wreath with wings appeared. He was starting to get annoyed by all this. (1400/800)

“That ends my turn then. And since they attacked, my Goblins fall into defence mode.”

The goblins fell to the ground exhausted.

Lea smirked and drew. The gold sarchophagus opened and the card flew into his hand.

He looked at the card in his hand and grinned.

“I’ll summon Majestic Mech Ohka in attack mode!”

A white, slender, wolf like machine appeared, with pink designs all over its body and angelic wings. It radiated some sort of holy light as it let out an intimidating bark. (2400/1400)

“Twenty four hundred attack!?” Rose yelped out in surprise. Lea gave an unnerving chuckle.

“This card can be special summoned without a tribute. However, if it is, I’ll have to destroy it at the end of the turn. So, I’ll just have to make do with the time I have! Ohka, destroy Forte’s Goblin Attack Force!”

An orb of light began to form in the mech’s mouth, ready to fire upon the Goblins.

Forte smirked.

“I’ll activate my trap card, Shadow Spell!”

The mech gave a cry of surprise as the black chains sprang upon it, tying it to the ground.

“So sorry, but it looks like you’re Mech’s doing nothing for it’s brief existence.”

This didn’t seem to bother Lea in the slightest.

“I’ll end my turn then.”

The Majestic Mech roared before exploding in a flash of light, the dark chains falling the ground with a clatter before shattering.

“Fairies versus fiends,” Rose murmured as Forte drew, “I had a feeling something like this would happen sooner or later.”

“Except it’s not just fairies,” Reece spoke up, “At the beginning, Lea played the Giant Germs, fiend monsters.

What could his deck be? Apart from Ohka, his deck seems to be comprised of monsters that special summon themselves when destroyed, but if that was the case, he’d have Mystic Tomato, Giant Rat, and others in their as well.

It just seems to be made up of fairies and fiends, beings of light and beings of dar-“

Reece’s eyes bugged open in realisation.

“Oh crap crap CRAP!” He cried out, almost in panic.

“What’s wrong?” Forte asked concerned.

“Forte!” Reece cried out, “You’ve got to take him down as quickly as possible! He’s using-“

Reece couldn’t finish because he felt like someone was crushing his windpipe. Rose and Forte were shocked to see a tendril of darkness warp around Reece’s throat.

Lea was standing their calmly, his arm stretched out as if he was choking Forte from a distance.

“Naught naughty,” Lea chuckled coldly, “You should know it’s not nice to reveal people’s cards.”

The darkness seemed to throw Reece across the platform, slamming him into one of the concrete supports.

“Reece!” Forte and Rose cried out as Rose ran over to help his friend.

Forte shot Lea and angry glare, while Lea had an amused smirk on his face.

“I believe it’s your turn.”

Forte drew, still glaring.

Whatever Lea’s got, it’s got to be something dangerous if it’s got Reece spooked. I may as well take his advice and bring him down now!

“I’ll sacrifice my Elite Goblin Attack Force and my Opticlops in order to summon the Invader of the Dark in attack mode!”

Darkness engulfed the two monsters before Forte’s golden fiend stepped out of the blackness. (2900/2500)

“Now,” Forte smirked, Let’s get rid of your fairy shall we? I play Tribute to the Doomed!”

Lea’s eyes widened slightly as the card appeared.

“I discard one card from my hand, and your Nova Summoner goes byebye.”

Bandages sprung up from the ground, binding the fairy before pulling it into the ground.

“Since it wasn’t destroyed in battle, no special summon for you! Now, Invader of the Dark, attack Lea directly!”

Golden energy began to charge up in the fiends claw before firing a blast towards Lea.

However, much to Forte’s anger, a small brown puffball appeared to take the blast.

Lea smirked as he showed Forte the card.

“I’m afraid my Kuriboh says no,” he chuckled as he sent it to the graveyard.

“Well,” Forte growled, “I can still hit you with my soldier. Archfiend Soldier, attack him directly!”

This time, Lea could no nothing as the fiend struck him. He cried out in pain as the sword hit him, falling to one knee.

Forte: 6500
Lea: 5200

For a brief moment, a strange feeling washed over Forte. It was almost a combination of guilt and an urgent desire to help Lea.

As quick as it came, it was gone, leaving a confused Forte.

What the heck was that?

Lea grunted as he stood up.

“My turn?”

Forte quietly nodded as Lea drew.

“I’ll play Graceful Charity!”

The beautiful angel of the card appeared, handing Lea three. Lea barely even though before handing her two from his hand.

“Now,” a small smirk appeared on Lea’s face, “It’s time to end this.”

He stretched both his arms out. Forte was a little disturbed when an orb or light and an orb of darkness appeared in each hand.

Though he was more disturbed by the insane grin forming on Lea’s face.

“Now, but removing two light and two dark monsters form my graveyard, I can call forth the two most powerful monsters in the game!”

He slammed the orbs together, engulfing the platform in white. Forte shielded his eyes before everything became clear again. Standing before him were two great beasts.

The first was a powerful warrior, wearing green and blue armour. Forte’s eyes widened, recognising the beast.

The second was a hellish dragon, similar to the warrior, letting off a dark and fearful aura.

“Behold, the envoys of the beginning and the end! Black Luster Soldier and the Chaos Emperor Dragon!” (3000/2500) x2

Forte was in complete shock. He had heard of these monsters, but had never expected to seem the used again them.

“What a minute!” Rose cried out, “Chaos Emperor Dragon’s illegal isn’t it?”

“Only in tournament play,” Reece groaned, still sore from before, “But in a regular duel, it’s fair game.”

“That’s correct,” Lea spoke, his grin unnerving everyone in the area, “However, due to its incredible rarity, Black Luster Soldier is still legal.

Speaking of which, did you know how the dragon came to be illegal?”

“I heard Kaiba had something to do with it,” Forte answered.

“Correct. Seto Kaiba banned the card after using it in the Grand Prix Tournament. He claimed to have done so to make the game more even for others.

However, there’s a rumour stating another reason.”

“Another?”

“He did it out of fear,” Reece groaned, getting everyone’s attention, “He did it so nobody could use the card against him.

That dragon truly is the envoy of the end, because when it appears, the end is close at hand.”

“Exactly!” Lea continued, “When Kaiba played that card, he saw a power more frightening than even the Egyptian Gods. He knew he would have little to no chance against such a powerful creature, so he made sure noone could use it!”

“But you seemed to have found a way around that,” Forte growled.

“Yes, I have. I wonder how Kaiba would react if I used it against him. Oh well.”

Lea chuckled almost insanely, his expression now completely opposite to the almost blank look he had before.

“I guess you’ll have to suffice for now! Black Luster Soldier, destroy his Invader!”

Forte shielded himself as his powerful fiend was utterly destroyed.

“Now, due to my soldier’s effect, he can attack a second time! Destroy his soldier!”

Forte let out a cry as his fiend was slain like it was nothing. He couldn’t believe it, a monster that powerful capable of attacking twice!?

And what’s worse, the dragon was still there.

“Now, Chaos Emperor Dragon, attack Forte directly!”

Forte couldn’t hold back any more. He let out a loud cry of pain as the dragon’s flames engulfed him, searing his body, causing Forte to think he was going to die from that single attack.

Forte tried not to cry from the pain as the attack subsided, the smoke still lingering across his body.

Forte: 2400
Lea: 5200

“And now,” Lea said almost gleefully, “I’ll activate my dragon’s effect, which will destroy every card on the field and in our hands, and deal three hundred damage to you for each card!

Forte’s eyes widened in fear as the dragon began to glow brightly. But it wasn’t the dragon that frightened him. It was the look on Lea’s face, the look of manic glee, knowing his opponent was finished. It so…

…like me…

“Destroy him! Chaos Nova!”

The platform was engulfed in light, and an explosion rocked the place like thunder. Yet, over it all, Rose and Reece could hear Forte scream out in pain.

A scream that would haunt Rose for the rest of her life.

“Forte!!”

As everything cleared, everything was gone, and Forte was sprawled on the ground, his eyes wide open, yet lifeless.

Forte: 0
Lea: 5200

Reece and Rose ran over to their fallen friend.

“Forte! Are you alright! Say something!” Reece cried as he shook his friend, yet to no avail. Forte just laid there, his eyes stuck in a blank stare.

Lea’s manic grin regressed back into a satisfied smirk as the darkness around them faded.

“That was satisfying,” he mused as he began to stroll over to Forte’s comatose for, “And now to take what’s mine.”

Reece and Rose snarled at him hatefully.

“Like hell you’re getting it!” Reece barked, prepared to fight the shadow wielder for it.

Lea gave a small grunt before waving his arm, an invisible force throwing Rose into the wall and almost throwing Reece onto the tracks.

Kneeling next to Forte’s body, he ran through his deck before plucking out the card of interest.

“Well, now that that’s done with,” Lea murmured quietly as a swirling portal of darkness appeared behind him, “I bed you farewell.”

Lea stepped into the darkness before it vanished into thin air.

Reece snarled angrily, staring at where the portal once was before scrambling over to his friend. Rose was already there, holding him tightly in her arms, trying in vein to wake him.

“Wake up! Please! Wake up Forte!”

Nero had dashed down the stair as soon as the darkness cleared. A sad sigh escaped his lips when he saw the lifeless Forte.

“Forte…”


…

…next up, Chapter 19: The Flames of Vengance…

…Forte…

[Houndoom_Lover]

Will he stay dead?! o.o! He's of unaliveness?! Gasp! The boxes got bigger!! Keep up the good work ^-^

[Shuppet Master]

Aw s***, Forte lost Menithil.

I knew something like this would happen, and now Reece and Rose have got to beat up the bad guys alone to make them pay. Well, that's what usually happens.

That was a short and brutal duel.

[Mystic_clown]

Thank you everyone. Yes, htis duel was short. But it was never meant to be. It was just to have Forte get stomped into the dirty, and we all know duels like that aren't very long.

I'm glad you guys liked the chapter. ^_^

[Dark Sage]

The end of the duel came as sort of a surprise to me. Not because Forte lost, but because of the Envoys. Since Lea was specifically using a combination of Fiends and Fairies, I was kind of expecting the Sky Scourges.

But anyway, we all know the Lea is going to appear again, and I have no idea how anybody is going to stop him. There's a reason those two cards are outlawed. Whoever ultimately brings him down will have to think up one heck of a strategy to defeat them.

Keep writing. I'm thinking that next chapter might have a duel involving a Fire Deck from the sound of it, but we'll see.

[Mystic_clown]

Chapter 19: Flames of Vengance

“That avatar of darkness is now in our possession,” Lea spoke as he leaned against the wall of Gabriel’s office. The man in question nodded as he sat at his deck, looking over the card in his hand.

“Yes,” he spoke quietly, “Now we’re back to where we started. It’s time to focus on them once again.”

A short silence fell over the room before Lea spoke up again.

“Gabriel?”

The blonde looked up from the card at his little brother.

“Yes?”

“Who was he?”

Gabriel was a little curious by the question.

“What do you mean?”

“Who was Forte?” Lea asked. This confused him slightly. What did he mean “who was he?”

“I don’t understand.”

“When I faced him, there was something about him. Something familiar. It’s been bothering since I first saw him face Replica a few days ago.”

Gabriel’s mind fell into deep thought as he laced his fingers together. He had a sneaking suspicion about just who Forte was, and now Lea’s gut feeling was enforcing it.

He was removed from his thoughts when the door suddenly opened.

The large form of Karmov strode into the office.

“Sir.”

Karmov? Is there something wrong?”

“It’s Orion,” the Russian spoke up, “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” Lea looked up, curious. Karmov nodded.

“My men reported him leaving the building ten minutes ago. A few minutes later we discovered he took “it” with him.”

Gabriel and Lea’s eyes narrowed. They had a basic idea of what “it” was.

“I’ll go after him,” Lea spoke up, pushing himself off of the wall.

“There’s no need master Lea,” Karmov spoke up, “I’ll send my men after him. He wont get far.”

“There’s no need for that.”

All eyes fell on Gabriel as he spoke.

“I know where he’s going, and what he intends to do.”

Both Lea and Karmov nodded, getting as feeling they knew what Gabriel meant.

--------------~*~--------------

Forte almost seemed peaceful, laying there in the bed.

Rose looked down on his prone form sadly from the chair she was sitting on. She hadn’t left Forte’s side since they got Forte’s body to the hotel room. It was still hard for her to take in, seeing Forte so lifeless after he seemed so full of it just hours ago.

Reece stood behind her, leaning against the wall. His mind was going a hundred miles an hour as he looked at his friend’s prone form.

Dogma now had the avatar of darkness. What were they to do now? They couldn’t just leave Forte like this, but was there any way to restore him? Did Lea know of some way? But how were they going to get him to help? Would it result in another shadow game?

And what about the rest of the world? Now that they had the avatar, would that mean they can reopen the Shadow Realm? Forte may not have cared enough about the world to do something, but Reece wasn’t enthusiastic about his home being turned into monster central.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a sound coming from outside. Something sounding like…

“A motorcycle…?” he murmured quietly, not exactly sure why that particular sound caught his attention.

Quietly pushing himself off of the wall, he made his way over to the window and looked out.

His eyes narrowed at what he saw.

Down on the street in front of the hotel was Orion.

As the black haired teen stepped off his bike, he looked up, his grey eyes meeting with Reece’s electric blue.

A small growl escaped from Reece’s face. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why he was here.

“What is it?” Rose asked, looking over at Reece from where she sat.

“Orion,” Reece growled, pulling away from the window. Rose’s eyes narrowed that the mention of that name. She was drawing the same conclusion as Reece.

The red head walked over to the nearby table, picking up his duel disk and deck.

“What are you…?” Rose started before Reece cut him off.

“Stay here with Forte,” he spoke solemnly, “I’ll handle this.”

Rose wasn’t sure what to do as Reece left the room, an almost uncharacteristic determination and seriousness burning in his eyes.

--------------~*~ --------------

“So, I guess it’s true.”

Orion leaned against his bike as Reece stepped out onto the street.

“Lea did manage to take Forte out.”

Reece leered at the black haired teen.

“I guess you’ve come to gloat?”

Orion growled, “Are you kidding?”

Reece was a little surprised by this as Orion reached for his deck holding, which hung from his hip. Pulling out a deck, he held it up for Reece to see.

“I spent plenty of time and energy building and refining this after Forte beat me, and just as I get this finished, that shadow wielding freak gets rid of him first! He stole my chance for revenge!”

Orion’s snarl softened and a cruel smirk spread on his face as his eyes fell on the duel disk on Reece’s arm.

“Well, I came all this way, and I wouldn’t this to go to waste.

So, instead of standing here and fuming, I’ll take my frustration out on you!”

Reece glared as he readied his duel disk.

“Well, whatever you cooked up, let’s just see how good it is.”

Orion smirked.

“Try not to get scorched.”

“Let’s duel!”

Reece: 8000
Orion: 8000

“I’ll go first,” Reece spoke up as he drew.

“Be my guest,” Orion replied smugly. Reece’s eyes narrowed as he looked over his cards.

An ok opening.

“I’ll set one card face down and one monster in defence mode. That will be all.”

“A pretty weak opening don’t you think?” Orion chuckled coldly as he drew. He looked over his hand, his cruel smirk widening slightly.

“I’ll summon Volcanic Rocket in attack mode!”

As the name stated, a monster that resembled a cross between a tridactyl and a rocket appeared, with cream, bone like armour and red flesh. Reece could feel a small bit of heat coming off of the monster. (1900/1400)

“Now, when my rocket is summoned, I can bring the main card of my deck to my hand.”

Reece watched as Orion went through his deck.

Volcanic Rocket. I’ve heard of these cards. They’re new, but are pretty powerful. What was their main card again?

“Now, I’ll play it! Blaze Accelarator!”

With a burst of flame, a weapon resembling a gattling gun mounted on a tripod appeared in front of Orion.

“And now for the fun part,” Orion smirked, “Because I discard one pyro monster, as long as it has five hundred attack or less, and my Blaze Accelarator wipes out one of your monsters!”

He then plucked a card from his hand.

“So I’ll choose this one. Volcanic Shell!”

A small metallic creature appeared before loading itself into the gun.

“Fire!”

Reece shielded himself as the cannon blasted a stream of searing flame at him, incinerating his batteryman.

“Now, since I can’t attack when I’ve used its effect, I’ll end my turn, but first.”

Orion reached into his deck and pulled out a card.

“I can pay five hundred lifepoints to add another Volcanic Shell to my hand. Now it’s your turn.

Reece: 8000
Orion: 7500

Reece scowled as he drew.

Time to wipe that smirk off of his face.

“I’ll start by playing Graceful Charity!”

The pure angel of charity appeared, handing Reece 3 cards. The red head quickly accepted them before handing two over to her.

“Now, I’ll play Battery Charger, to bring back the Batteryman AA I just discarded.”

The small batteryman appeared on the field, its body crackling with power. (1000/1000)

Reece: 7500
Orion: 7500

“Now, I’ll chain it with Inferno Reckless Summon! This will let me special summon my other two Batterymen AAs to the field!”

Two more batterymen appeared. Energy coursed between the three as they hummed loudly (3000/3000) x3.

“Of course, it allows you to special summon any more Rockets in your deck, but that wont be much of a problem.”

Orion said nothing as he pulled two more volcanic rockets from his deck and special summoned them (1900/1400) x2.

“Now, My Batterymen, attack Orion’s rockets! Battery Charge!”

The three batterymen hummed loudly as they sent a charge of electricity at the three monsters, frying them before they exploded violently. Orion growled and shielded himself from the attack.

Reece: 7500
Orion: 4200

“That ends my turn.”

Orion drew and smirked.

“Now, let’s get rid of your batteries shall we? I’ll tribute the monster Volcaic Scattershot!”

Another metallic creature, this time a redish hue with two head appeared and loaded itself into the blaze accelerator. Reece shielded himself as another blast from the gun wiped out the central Batteryman. The other two groaned as their attacks dropped to two thousand.

“Now, this is where it gets interesting. When my scattershot is in the graveyard, it deals five hundred damage to you.”

Reece groaned and winced as an intense heat washed over his body.

Reece: 7o00
Orion: 4200

“Now, when my scattershot goes to the graveyard by Blaze Accelerator’s effect, I can send the other two in my deck to the grave.”

He plucked two cards from his deck and grinned.

“And when I do, ALL of your monsters are destroyed!”

Reece shielded himself as a massive burst of flame suddenly engulfed the field, taking the rest of his monsters.

“And don’t forget, they’re in my graveyard now, so here comes the damage!”

Reece groaned again as the heat washed over him.

Reece: 6000
Orion: 4200

“Now, I’ll summon the monster Volcanic Slicer!”

A metallic monster, resembling a larger version of the Volcanic Shell, but with a tail, appeared on the field, letting out a metallic shriek. (1800/1200)

“Now, I can’t attack on this turn since I used Blaze Accelerator, so I’ll use Slicer’s other effect, which lets him deal another five hundred damage!”

With another screech, the slicer let out a blast of fire, scorching Reece.

Reece: 5500
Orion: 4200

“I’ll now set one card face down and end my turn.”

Reece growled and drew. He was getting sick of that Blaze Accelerator.

He glanced at the card.

Perfect.

Reece smirked.

“It’s time I got rid of that bloody cannon of yours, AND deal some damage at the same time.”

Orion rose an eyebrow, a little curious.

“I’ll now remove Batteryman D, which you destroyed, and Batteryman C, which I discarded, from my graveyard.”

The two Batterymen appeared briefly before degenerating into crackling energy.

“And now, I’ll special summon the most powerful Batteryman currently in production, Batteryman Industrial Type!”

Out of the maelstrom of electricity rose what could be best described as a giant living battery, the kind used in industrial machinery. It had a single wheel in place of legs and in its hands held jumper cables as if they were weapons. With a deep growl, electricity jumped between its two weapons. (2600/0)

“Now, it’s time for me to show you something interesting,” Reece smirked, “Because you see, by removing one batteryman from my graveyard, my industrial type can wipe out one monster and one magic or trap card you’ve got!”

Orion’s eyes widened, realising what was happening.

“So, I’ll remove one of my Batterymen AAs and I’ll have Industrial Type wipe out your slicer, AND your Blaze Accelerator!”

The small batteryman appeared briefly before degenerating into electricity, which crackled violently around the bigger battery’s weapons. With a loud growl, two arcs of electricity were fired at Orion, one striking the slicer, the other hitting the gun. Orion et out a cry of shock as they both exploded.

“And it gets better,” Reece grinned, “Because unlike your monsters, I can still attack after I use his effect! Batteryman Industrial Type, attack Orion directly! Industrial Strength Current!”

Electricity charged in the battery’s arms before firing an arc towards Orion.

“Activate trap card!” Orion shouted, “Firewall!”

Before the attack could connect, a wall of flame erupting in front of Orion, blocking the attack.

“By removing one fire monster from my graveyard, I can negate any attack you throw at me,” Orion sneered as he removed his slicer.

Reece growled, “I’ll end my turn then.”

Orion seemed a bit relieved as he drew.

“First, I’ll pay five hundred lifepoints in order to maintain my firewall.”

Reece: 5000
Orion: 3700

“Now I’ll play my second Blaze Accelerator!”

A second gun, identical to the first appeared on the field.

“I should thank you. If you didn’t make me special summon those other rockets, I wouldn’t have this.

Or this for that matter. I‘ll sacrifice my Blaze Accelerator to give it an upgrade! Behold, Tri-blaze Accelerator!”

The gun was consumed by flame before forming another weapon, this time with three barrels instead of one.

“Now, like I said, this card is an upgrade, so, as well as destroying your monster, it also deals an additional five hundred damage!”

Orion smirked as he plucked a card from his hand. A second Volcanic Shell appeared and loaded itself into the gun.

“And, fire!”

Reece groaned and shielded himself as the flames engulfed his monster before scolding him.

Reece: 4500
Orion: 3700

“Now, I’ll pay another five hundred to add my last Volcanic Shell to my hand and end my turn,” Orion chuckled coldly.

Reece: 4500
Orion: 3200

Reece drew.

Not much I can do. I’ll need to buy some time.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Orion eyed the card as he drew.

Hmmm. I should play it safe for now.

“I’ll pay five hundred lifepoints to keep my firewall active and I’ll end my turn.”

Reece smiled as he drew.

“I’ll flip summon my Batteryman Button Cell into attack mode!”

A small, flat battery with a face and limbs appeared on the field, giving a small squeak as it let off a small charge. (100/100)

“When this card is flipped face up, it allows me to special summon one Batteryman from my deck! So I’ll bring out Batteryman C!”

Reece’s Batteryman appeared on the field next to the Button Cell, charged with energy. (0/0)

“Now, I’ll tribute my Batteryman C, in order to summon Charge Batteryman in attack mode!”

Batteryman C dissolved into shards and a new one, with a pink head and a blocky metallic body appeared, crackling with energy ready to be unleashed. (1800/1200)

“And finally, since he was normal summoned, he lets me special summon a Batteryman from my graveyard, so I’ll bring back my Batteryman AA!”

The familiar site of Reece’s first Batteryman appeared next to charge, crackling with a renewed vigour. (1000/100)

“Now, since I can’t attack you with that Firewall in place, I’ll end my turn.”

Orion eyed the three Batterymen as he drew.

Dammit! Still not it. Where the heck are you!?

He looked over his hands.

Well, I can use this later if I have to.

“I’ll pay five hundred to keep Firewall and I’ll set one card face down. Your turn.”

Reece: 4500
Orion: 2700

Reece drew.

“I too will set a card face down and it’s your move.”

At this rate, he’ll kill himself with that Firewall card of his.

Orion drew, and a big smirk stretched across his face.

“I think it’s time we heated things up don’t you think?” Orin chuckled. Reece rose an eyebrow.

“What the heck do you call that last few turns?”

“That was warm at best, but now things are going to get hot! Volcanic hot!”

Reece took a step back as the room began to grow hot.

“First, I’ll destroy my Firewall, since I no longer need it.”

The firewall died out, but it did nothing to cool the temperature.

“Now, I will sacrifice my Tri-blaze Accelerator, to bring out one of my deck’s most powerful cards!”

The gun violently burst into flames, the inferno growing until a large and sinister form could be seen.

“Now, behold, Volcanic Doomfire!”

Reece could only describe it as a fiery demon. With red flesh and black, bone-like plates covering parts of its body, a fiery mane ran down its back as it exhaled intense heat. (3000/1800)

“Now let me explain how this tower of fire works,” Orion explained smugly, “First of all, you MUST attack it. There’s no choice in the matter!”

Great, so I can’t defend myself against that thing!

“And secondly, when he destroys a monster, ALL monster on your field are destroyed!”

Reece growled, unable to say anything.

“Now, Volcanic Doomfire, destroy his Button Cell! Molten Fury!”

Letting out and Earth-trembling roar, the beats spewed forth a stream of pure heat, engulfing Reece’s batterymen effortlessly. Reece cried out as the head singed his skin.

Reece: 1900
Orion: 2200

Orion gave a cold chuckled which caused Reece to seethe in anger.

“I guess you weren’t as good as Forte after all,” Orion chuckled, “Then again, I never really expected you to be.

After all, all you are is his little sidekick, someone for him to kick duty onto when he doesn’t feel like doing it himself.”

“Shut up,” Reece seethed angrily.

“Why? You know it’s true. He’s no hero, just someone with a lot of power and not afraid to use it to crush anyone who gets in his way.

That’s why we’re a lot alike he and I, we don’t give a damn who we step on and destroy, just as long as we get what we want, who gives a damn?”

Reece snarled with rage, tempted to charge over there and slug him one. However, the more rational part of his mind kept reminding him of the giant fiery monstrosity that was looking to tear him apart.

Unbeknownst to them, Rose was watching the duel from above.

Her hands clenched into fists, trembling slightly to Orion’s comments.

Forte was not like that. Sure, he wasn’t a saint, but he was nothing like Orion.

She wouldn’t believe it.

“Make your last move Reece,” Orion chuckled, “I’ll wipe you out with my Doomfire no matter what you do.”

Reece drew, glaring at Orion before looking at his hand.

He couldn’t suppress the small smile that appeared on his lips.

“I’ll activate the trap card Travel-Type Battery!”

A trap card raised, depicting a large battery charger of some kind.

“This will allow me to special summon two Batterymen from my graveyard, as long as they’re level four or lower, so I’ll choose to bring back my AAs.”

The two batterymen appeared, energy jumping between the two of them. (2000/2000) x2

“So there’s two of them, big deal,” Orion scoffed, “They’ll get destroyed when they attack anyway!”

“You’re right,” Reece smirked, “So I’ll attack you with this instead! I’ll sacrifice one of my batterymen…”

A large, mechanical form began to appear behind the batteryman.

“In order to summon Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon in attack mode!”

The large, mechanical dragon rose up, letting out a metallic roar as its eyes glowed with life. (2400/1000)

“And since I sacrificed Batteryman AA for it, it gains an additional thousand attack points!”

Orion stepped back in shock as the batteryman hoped into the dragons back, sending its attack power soaring. (2400/1000) – (3400/1000)

“And as soon as you summoned it, it’s gone. Voltech Dragon, wipe out Volcanic Doomfire! Batteryman AA, attack him directly!”

With a powerful roar, the mechanical dragon began to pump intense voltage into the volcanic beast, causing it to explode in a violent, fiery manner. Orion cried out in a combination of rage and pain as the second attack struck him.

Reece: 1900
Orion: 800

Orion let out growl of rage, glaring at Reece hatefully.

“For a sidekick, I seem to be giving you quite some trouble,” Reece chuckled, giving Orion a smug expression.

Are you done?” Orion seethed, trying to control his anger.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Orion drew rather violently.

He gazed at the card he drew and his body slumped slightly. Reece assumed Orion had made a bad draw, until he heard a strange sound coming from Orion’s lips.

It sounded almost laughter. And indeed it was. Orion howled with laughter as he threw his head back in the air.

Reece thought for a moment that Orion had lost it before his expression of glee turned into a deranged smirk.

“It’s time to finish this,” Orion chuckled manically.

“What the heck did you draw?” Reece asked.

“First, I’ll activate my trap card,” Orion spoke, as if he didn’t hear, “Volcanic Recharge, which will bring three volcanic monsters back from the grave to my hand.”

He plucked three cards from his grave.

“Now, I’ll discard them,” He grinned, “For you see, in order to bring out this beast, I must discard three pyro fire attribute monsters from my hand.”

The air began to heat up as he discarded the cards.

“No, behold the essence of heat and flame itself! The avatar of fire!”

Reece stepped back as it arose onto the field. Its body was composed of flame, only fragments of black, iron armour defining its arms, ands and face. Its eyes burned with raw power as it looked down upon Reece.

“Behold, [B]Inferno Incarnate Eragos[/I]!” (2500/1200)

Reece and Rose’s eyes widened as they stared at the living being of flame on the field.

“It still only has twenty-five hundred attack,” Reece stated, trying to calm himself down, “My dragon can still beat it!”

However, something told Reece that wasn’t going to make his situation any better. Orion chuckled.

“That doesn’t matter. Because you see, this monster has a really nasty effect!”

Orion pulled out his graveyard. Eragos let out a deep growl as the air heated up.

“You see, after this effect, he wont be able to attack for three turns, but that doesn’t matter.

Because by removing every pyro monster from my graveyard, he deals five hundred damage for each one!”

Reece’s eyes widened in fear as he quickly did the calculation in his head.

“B-but that means…!”

“That’s right! Forty-five hundred damage! Inferno Incarnate Eragos, finish him now!”

Reece didn’t even get time to scream as the avatar let out a deafening roar, followed by a violent explosion. Flame engulfed the field. Rose was forced to pull back from the window and shield herself from the heat.

When the flames finally died down, Rose peered cautiously out of the window. Orion was still standing, and while the avatar looked like it had died down a bit, it was still there.

The notable difference was that Reece was flat on his back, unconscious.

Reece: 0
Orion: 800

“Reece!” Rose cried out before running off to get down there.

Orion smirked confidently as the avatar vanished.

“What amazing power.”

The black haired youth then looked down at the unconscious Reece. An idea formed in his head.

We’ll, I’d need something to bargain with Gabriel. No doubt he’s a bit peeved I took the avatar.

Lifting up the unconscious redhead with a grunt, Orion slumped him over the back of his bike, tying him down.

“Get away from him!”

Orion turned to see Rose strike him in the face, with a growl of annoyance, he grabbed her and shoved her to the ground.

“Go back and cry over your dead boyfriend,” Orion smirked cruelly before climbing onto his bike and speeding away.

Rose could only watch him leaving before pounding her fist into the ground.

“Damn you,” she said with a cracking voice, fighting back the ears welling up in her eyes.


Name: Inferno Incarnate Eragos
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Pyro/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Attack: 2500
Defence: 1200
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can be special summoned by discarding 3 pyro-type FIRE monsters from your hand. Once per turn, remove all pyro-type monsters from the graveyard from play. Deal damage to your opponent by 500 x the number of monsters removed by this effect. If this effect is used, this card cannot attack for 3 turns.

…
…
…
…Next up…
…Chapter 20: Darkest Memories…
…It’s so dark here…

[Shuppet Master]

Oh no, first Forte loses and goes into a coma, not Reece!? Rose is on her own now! This is not good! I hope that she doesn't lose a duel as well, or this story ends in a bad ending!

[Dark Sage]

It is a widely believed misconception that Volcanic Doomfire (and Evil Hero Malicious Fiend, a Monster with a similar effect) can force your opponent to attack it. The truth is, it isn't that powerful.

That effect only comes into play if your opponent actually enters his Battle Phase on his turn. Doomfire does not require him to enter his Battle Phase. He can avoid being required to attack Doomfire simply by skipping that Phase of his turn.

Anyway, it is getting interesting. I have a feeling that Forte will eventually challenge Lea to a rematch. (I know of several counter strategies to deal with the Envoys that Forte could use if he's smart. If you want to know about them, just ask.)

[Shuppet Master]

Sorry for sounding scared and panicked, Mystic, but I tend to be that way when the bad guys are winning. I know Orion had his own agenda. Needless to say, poo poo is gonna hit the fan when he gets confronted by his bosses for stealing the Avatar of Fire.

We still have to see the Avatars of Water, Wind, and Light.

[Mystic_clown]

[I]Ok, before I begin, I should let you all know, the place mentioned in this chapter does not exist. If there is indeed a Clare Valley orphanage, then it was purely coincidental.

Chapter 20: Darkest Memories

All Forte could see was black. A fog so thick and dark that the lavender haired teen could barely seen an inch in front of him. With his arms stretched out in front of him in case he walked into anything, Forte cautiously stumbled through the blackness that was the Shadow Realm.

To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t exactly what Forte had expected. He figured the place would be dark, judging by its name, but from what he heard, he was surprised that some random monster hadn’t attacked him yet.

But for now, the seemingly endless fog of darkness was enough to put Forte on edge. What were happening to Reece and Rose? Did they escape Lea? Or did something happen to them.

He wanted to yell out in frustration. For all he knew, they could be in trouble, and he was stuck her, wandering around in circles for all he knew.

His frustration levitated slightly when he saw something in the distance. He couldn’t make out what it was through the fog, maybe a building of some kind.

For all he knew, there could be a monster in their that would rip his heart out, but risking it seemed much better than simply wandering around in the dark. Forte broke into a run towards the building.

However, as the fog cleared and the building came into full view, Forte screeched to a halt, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him.

“No…”

It was a large, two story building, red brick, clearly built years ago, but still liveable.

To the average person, this was simply a building. To Forte however, it was a nightmare come true.

The Clare Valley orphanage, where Forte had spent twelve years of his life.

“No…no no no no!” Forte repeated, shaking his head as if doing so would make the building in front of him go away. Images began flashing in his mind. Memories, memories he thought were long buried, memories he would rather forget.

“NO!” He cried out, tearing his eyes and running in the opposite direction. Walking around in the dark was much better than going through this again.

He stopped, struck with horror was the building was once again in front of him.

He tried to turn and run, but wherever he turned, it was there, staring him in the face, almost mocking him.

Forte’s face paled. He couldn’t escape from it, and this time, there were no authorities to get him out.

Left with no other choice, he slowly, and shakily walked towards the building, pushing through the big wooden doors.

It was all the same, every small detail. As Forte walked through the silent, empty halls, memories of this terrible place flashed in his mind. The smallest tear in the wallpaper, the smallest imperfection in the doors, everything. This only seemed to scare him even more. A part of him wished that some of these details had been skipped over, something to tell him this wasn’t real.

The logical part of Forte’s mind tried to tell him this couldn’t possibly be real, that there was no way this was the same place as the orphanage he grew up in, but the fear he was currently going through was currently overriding any logical thought.

It was then he heard sounds coming from a nearby room. Taking a deep gulp, Forte reached for the doorhandle, his hand trembling lightly as he turned it.

Inside was a bare room, filled with children playing. They didn’t seem very enthusiastic, but they were playing none the less. Slowly, Forte stepped in, looking over the small and sullen children.

One particular child caught his eye.

A small boy, around fiver years of age, with lavender hair and green eyes. He was sitting with a smaller, three year old with similar features, clutching a teddy bear.

Forte stared at the five year old in shock.

That was him.

That was him when he was five years old!

This wasn’t merely a reconstruction of the place, these were his memories!

At the point the door behind Forte swung open and the teen felt like fainting.

She looked around her mid thirties, with black hair tied back into a braid and blue eyes that just showed malicious intent. She wore a plain, cream gown and black high heels.

Forte didn’t know her actual name, but that didn’t matter to him. All that he knew was that she had been the bane of his existence for twelve years.

The Matron.

The children looked up at her in fear. The Matron smirked cruelly at their expressions.

“Alright you little brats,” she said coldly, “To bed, now!”

Unwilling to go against the woman who frightened them, the children scrambled to their feet and slowly walked out of the room.

A cruel smirk spread across the Matron’s face when she saw the teddy bear the three year old was carrying.

“Give me that thing you little runt!” she snarled as she grabbed the bear. A scowl washed over her face when the little boy wouldn’t let go.

“I said let go!” he growled, grabbing the child by his hair, forcing a scream of pain from him.

“Let him go!” The younger Forte shouted, grabbing the Matron’s arm and kicking her shin.

Forte visibly winced when The Matron gave his younger self a sharp kick, sending him crashing to the floor.

Forte couldn’t take this. Not this. Not having to live through the hellish time again! Nobody should have to go through this!

“Leave them alone!” Forte barked out suddenly, unable to hold back anymore.

A part of Forte’s mind had reasoned that this was one of those situations where they couldn’t see or hear him.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Forte’s blood ran cold when the Matron turned and looked right at him A thin smirk spread across her lips.

“Well, well, well,” she murmured, “If it isn’t little Forte. All grown up and still a waste of space.”

Forte didn’t reply. He merely stared at her, clearly afraid as he took a step back. However, Matron simply took a step forward.

“What? Even the outside world didn’t want you, so they brought you back here?” she taunted coldly.

Forte remained silent, unable to say anything.

“Well, don’t you have anything to say to the woman who’s looked after you for most of your life?”

This time Forte tried to say something, but all that came out were a set of strangled squeaks. Matron’s smirk widened before her eyes fell to Forte’s side.

“So, you’re playing that little card game now huh? Well, how about a little game with your old Matron?”

Forte looked down to see the duel disk on his right arm. He had no idea whether he was always wearing that, or whether it just appeared now. Either way, there was no way he was going to duel her.

However, his disk had other ideas as it began to activate on it’s own.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Matron smirked as a duel disk appeared on her arm. Forte gulped, there was no way out.

“Now, what was it you would say? Oh yes. Let’s Duel!”

Forte: 8000
Matron: 8000

“Mind if I start of?” Matron spoke as she drew. Forte wasn’t in an real position to argue anyway.

“Alright, I’ll start off by summoning Dark Valkyria in attack mode!”

A fairy which can only be described as the evil sister of Dunames Dark Witch appeared on the field. She spread out her black, metallic wings before giving Forte a sinister smile (1800/1050).

“Now, I’ll simply end my turn for now.”

Forte found his hand trembling as he drew. He didn’t know why, Dark Valkyria didn’t seem to be that strong.

Maybe it was the embodiment of pure evil using her.

“I-I’ll set one card face down, and one monster face down and end my turn.” Forte spoke meekly as he set the cards.

“Ah, so you can talk after all,” Matron chuckled as she drew, “Well, first, since my Dark Valkyria is a Gemini monster, I’ll use my normal summon to activate its effect.”

The dark fairy began to glow with a dark aura as she smiled maliciously.

“My valkyria’s virtually a monster destroying version of Breaker, the Magical Warrior. First, I place a counter on her, and her attack increases by three hundred.”

Forte gulped as Valkyria’s attack rose to twenty one hundred.

“Now, I’ll remove that counter, and valkyria automatically destroys one of your monsters!”

The fairy’s eyes widened as a blast of darkness was fired at Forte’s face down card. The card shattered to tiny pieces.

“Now, Dark Valkyria, attack Forte directly!”

Forte paled as the fairy charged at him, laughing maniacally. It took him all his willpower to snap out of it.

“Activate trap card!” Forte cried out, “Shadow Spell!”

The fairy yelped out in surprise as the chains shot out from the darkness, enveloping her.

Forte sighed with relief as Matron growled softly.

“I’ll end my turn then.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll,” he hesitated as he looked at his hand, “I’ll set one card and one monster and end my turn.”

He sighed. He could have easily summoned something to destroy Dark Valkyria, so why didn’t he?

Because he was afraid.

All his life, whenever someone went up against the Matron, they were punished, severely. It was that fear of reprisal that had been beaten into Forte for most of his life, and it was still present within him.

The Matron could tell this and she smirked cruelly as she drew.

“I’ll sacrifice my Dark Valkyria, in order to summon Dark General Freed in attack mode!”

Forte took a step back as the fairy faded and a dark, fearsome warrior appeared. He bore the resemblance of the legendary general Freed, but there was a twisted malice in his red eyes (2300/1700).

“Now, Dark General Freed! Destroy Forte’s face down monster!”

With a dark laugh, the general struck Forte’s card. The teen cringed as the armoured form of the Dark Defender appeared briefly before shattering.

“That will be all,” Matron spoke, satisfied.

Forte trembled as he drew. He was now in deep trouble and there wasn’t much he could do.

“I’ll set one card face down, and one monster in defence mode,” Forte sighed.

Matron chuckled coldly.

“Getting a bit repetitive aren’t we?” she chuckled, “Very well. My turn. I’ll use my dark general’s ability to search my deck for on dark monster and add it to my hand. In exchange, I can’t draw this turn.”

Pulling her deck from her disk, she searched through it. With a satisfied smile, she added a card to her hand and replaced the deck.

“Now, I’ll summon Dark Grepher in attack mode!”

Another dark, yet familiar face, this time resembling the old vanilla warrior De Grepher, only this warrior looked a lot more deadlier than its regular counterpart (1700/1600).

“You know, I once heard that De Grepher went to the dark side, I guess this card is proof.”

Forte didn’t bother correcting her. While it was true Warrior De Grepher turned to evil for power, he didn’t turn into that.

He turned into something much worse.

“Now, Dark General Freed, attack Forte’s face down card!”

Eager to slaw another beast, the general charged. However, he was shocked when, at the last moment, a fiend resembling a wall appeared before him.

The Wall of Illusion shrieked as it was cleaved in two and Freed found himself being thrown back into Matron’s hand.

Matron snarled.

“Fine! Grepher! Attack Forte directly.”

With a look of manic glee, Grepher plunged his sword into Forte’s chest. The eighteen year old cried out in pain before almost falling to his knees.

Forte: 6300
Matron: 8000

The Matron laughed with sadistic glee. Forte was visibly trembling as he kept himself upright.

“Your turn.”

Forte found it difficult to grasp the card in his trembling hand.

“I-I’ll play Nightmare’s Steelcage!”

Forte sighed with relief as the devilish cage surrounded the Matron. At least now there was something between him and her, some time to pull himself together.

“I’ll set one monster face down, just incase.”

Matron, seemingly unaffected by the cage drew.

“Now, the true punishment’s going to pay,” she chuckled cruelly.

A dark form began to rise up behind her.

“You see, since I have three dark monsters in my graveyard, I can now special summon this monster!”

It was large, a vicious dragon, covered in black steel armour. Forte managed to recognise its form.

“Now, fear the powerful Dark Armed Dragon!” (2800/1000)

“Now, I’ll sacrifice my Dark Grepher, in order to summon a monster known as Darknight Parshath!”

Forte knew about the famous fairy Parshath, and this monster was a dark, twisted parody of it. The knight grinned as it drew his blade (1900/1400)

“Now, this monster gains a hundred attack points for each dark monster in the graveyard, and since I have four, the makes his attack twenty three hundred points.”

Parshath chuckled coldly as his attack rose to twenty three hundred.

“Now, my armed dragon’s ability allows me to remove one dark monster from my graveyard, and he can destroy one card on field. So, I’ll remove two, and have him wipe out your cage, and your face down monster!”

The dragon roared with an intense fury. A powerful force almost threw Forte off of his feets as the cage and his monster was shattered to pieces. He was no open, defenceless against this ferocious onslaught. A small positive however was that Parshath’s attack fell back down to twenty one hundred.

“Now! Dark Armed Dragon, Darknight Parshath! Attack Forte directly!”

Forte screamed out in pain as the two attacks struck him hard. He found himself crumple to the floor, his body shaking from fear and pain.

Forte: 1500
Matron 8000

Matron laughed out loud, “Even after all this time, you’re still that pathetic little boy that first came here.”

Forte didn’t say anything as he struggled to climb to his feet.

“You were a little pest at first, but it didn’t take long to turn you into the cowardly little puppy you are.”

Forte found a scowl spreading across his lips, and before he could stop himself hissed out:

“Shut up…”

“What a shame your parents had to go through all the trouble to give birth to a pathetic little thing like you,” Matron continued, as if she didn’t hear him.

“Shut up…!” Forte found anger boiling deep inside him.

“But then again, your mother was probably some shameless whore anyway. She probably abandons little rejects like you all the time!”

“SHUT UP!!” Forte shouted, all the pent up hatred and anger he had for her boiling over, “JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Angrily he drew.

“I’ll summon Elite Goblin Attack Force, in attack mode!”

Forte’s armoured goblins appeared, pikes ready to attack (2200/1500)

“Attack!” Forte barked out in anger, “Destroy Darknight Parshath!”

With a loud cry, the goblins charged, catching the dark fairy by surprise. Parshath cried out in pain and shock as he was impaled, before exploding violently.

Forte: 1500
Matron: 7900

At that point, Forte realised what he had done. Fear quickly replaced his rage as he shielded himself from what painful punishment was coming his way.

But none came.

Daring a glance over at Matron, he saw her standing there, a bit annoyed, but otherwise harmless. She hadn’t turned into some horrid demon like he first thought.

Then it hit him. She wasn’t some great evil that would rip your apart for merely talking back to her, she was just a sadistic woman cowardly enough to only attack children.

And all these years, he had been afraid of her, afraid of nothing.

He was virtually an adult now, stronger than her, better than her.

A small smile spread across his lips as the fear faded.

Payback time.

“Now, I play Tribute to the Doomed! Say goodbye to your Dark Armed Dragon!”

The Matron yelped out in shock as dark bandages shot out from the ground, binding the dragon and dragging it into the earth.

Forte smirked as Matron snarled at him.

“That will be all.”

“You’ll pay for that you little bastard,” Matron snarled as she drew.

“Says you.”

The Matron was a little surprised. She had always expected everyone cower before her and simply shut up, so why the hell was he now standing up to her.

When did this little bastard grow a spine!?

She looked at her cards and scowled.

“I’ll remove 2 dark monsters from my graveyard, in order to send this card to the graveyard.”

Forte raised and eyebrow as she discarded the card. What could it be?

“Now, I’ll set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll play pot of greed!” he announced as the grinning green pot appeared, “and add two more cards to my hand. Now, I’ll sacrifice my Goblin Attack Force!”

The goblins were submerged in dark fire, as a familiar form rose up from the flames.

“In order to summon Dark Ruler Ha Des!”

The royal fiend chuckled as he took a sip of wine (2450/1600)

“Now, Ha Des, attack her face down monster!”

Taking a sip, Ha des let out a breath of dark firing, engulfing the unfortunate monster. Forte didn’t even bother to see what it was.

“I’ll now set two cards face down, and it’s your move.”

Matron’s scowl deepened as she drew.

“Well, since I discarded it last turn, I can now special summon it to the field! Come out Dark Nephthys!”

In an inferno of black flame, what appeared to be a phoenix made of black steel rose up, letting out a powerful shriek (2400/1600)

“And now, when Nephthys is special summoned by her effect, she can destroy one magic or trap card you have!”

“Not so fast!” Forte smirked, “I’ll activate Emergency Provisions, and I’ll sacrifice my other two face down cards!”

Matron snarled in anger as a set of jaws devoured Forte’s cards.

Forte: 3500
Matron: 7900

“I’m afraid your little birdy has nothing to destroy, and she’s too weak to beat Ha Des.”

Matron growled. He was right, she hadn’t expected him to summon Ha Des when she discarded Nephthys.

What the heck happened? She was in complete control a few turns ago, how did everything go so wrong?

“My move?” Forte drew, “Well, I’ll no summon Doomcaliber Knight in attack mode!”

Forte’s fiendish knight appeared beside Ha Des, sword drawn, ready for battel (1900/1800).

“Now, Ha Des, roast her little bird! Flames of the Dark Ruler!”

The phoenix shrieked as Ha Des’ flames engulfed. However, this was one phoenix who would not rise from the ashes.

“Now, Daoomcaliber Knight, attack her directly!”

The matron cried out when the knight charged passed, striking her with his sword.

“Yeah, it hurts doesn’t it?”

Forte: 3500
Matron: 5950

The Matron let out a loud growl of anger and irritation as she stood up.

“My turn you little prick!” she barked as she drew. She looked at her cards and frowned.

“First, I’ll play Nightmare’s Steelcage!”

Forte watched as the cage formed around him.

“Now, I’ll set one monster face down and end my turn.”

Forte drew.

“I’ll pass.”

“Fine!” Matron drew again, “I’ll set another monster face down and end my turn.”

Just one more to go.

Forte drew.

Nice, this could come in handy.

“I’ll set one monster face down, and leave it to you.” And with that, the cage entrapping Forte began to evaporate into nothing.

Matron drew and glanced at her card. A deranged smile spread on her face as she began to laugh uncontrollably.

“Want to tell me what’s so funny?” Forte asked.

“Why, this is,” Matron laugh, “I play Brain Control!”

Forte took a step back in surprise as a brain with claws appeared, seizing Doomcaliber Knight.

Forte: 3500
Matron: 5150

“Sure, it costs me eight hundred lifepoints, but it will be worth it. Now I’ll flip of Newdoria and Kuriboh!”

A gangly pink fiend wearing spiked armour, and a small ball of fur with green claws appeared (1200/800), (300/200).

“Now, since I have three dark monsters, I’ll sacrifice all three!”

Forte watched as the fiend fiends melted into a dark substance, which began to meld together to form something else, something large.

Forte stepped back in surprise as it rose up infront of him. It had two large, dragon-like heads on its shoulders, a featureless human-sized head between them. It had no visible legs, but two thick arms. The whole beast seemed to have been made from a mysterious purple alloy.

“Behold, Arcana Force EX-The Dark Ruler!” (4000/4000)

Forte’s eyes widened in surprise and shock as a coin appeared in the Matron’s hand.

“Now, when it’s summoned, I have to flip a coin. Whichever side it lands on depends on which effect my monster gets.”

Flipping the coin into the air, she caught it carelessly and checked.

“Tails. Alright, now, when my Dark Ruler’s destroyed, it takes out ever card with it,” Matron shrugged, “Not like you could destroy it anyway. Just consider yourself lucky I didn’t get its other effect.”

Forte figured this was one of those things he didn’t want to know, so he kept quiet.

“Now, Arcana Force EX, show him who the true Dark Ruler is! Destroy Ha Des!”

The beast’s twin dragon heads roared and let loose a torrent of flames, incinerating Forte’s top fiend effortlessly. Forte could almost feel the flames searing his skin.

Forte: 1950
Matron: 5150

“Make your move Forte,” Matron laugh, “Because I’m about to give you the beating you deserve!”

She was surprised however when Forte started laughing.

“What’s so funny!?”

“You know,” Forte smirked, “If I wasn’t so scared of you, I would have realised how stupid you were sooner.”

He snapped his fingers and his face down monster revealed itself.

“Go, Brainjacker!”

Matron gasped in shock as the small brain latched itself onto the Dark Ruler’s central head. The monster struggled for a moment before falling limp and floating to Forte’s side.

“But don’t worry, I’m not someone to take someone’s toy and beat them with it,” Forte’s eyes darkened, “Not when I have something much worse!”

A dark mist began to shroud the dark ruler as a large form began to appear.

“now, I’ll sacrifice your dark ruler, in order to summon Great Maju Garzett!” (8000/8000)

Matron staggered back in terror. Eight thousand attack points!? That was too much!

“Twelve years…” Forte murmured darkly, his expression quickly shifting from an arrogant smirk to something else, “Twelve years you put me through hell, beating us, tormenting us, mocking us whenever we weren’t adopted.”

Forte scowled.

“I know you’re probably not real, a mere illusion created by this place, but at the moment, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass.

I’ve had a good deal of pent up anger over the years, and now I have someone to take it out on!

Great Maju Garzett! Attack her directly!”

That matron screamed out in terror as the giant fiend brought its fist down onto her, crushing her into the ground.

Forte: 1950
Matron: 0

The Matron groaned as she tried to get up. Her eyes widened as Forte slowly walked towards her, quickly trying to scramble across the ground to get away from him.

Is green eyes were blazing, his face contorted into a sharp frown, and more importantly, a dark aura was now surrounding.

“W-wait! Please! You wouldn’t hurt a defenceless woman would you?”

Forte stopped, his hate-filled eyes still locked onto her.

“I’ve always considered myself better than you. I know that I am nothing like you!”

Matron almost felt a bit of relief at those words.

“So I’ll tell you what,” Forte continued, “I’ll give you just as much mercy as you gave me.”

Matron paled as Forte snarled.

“None!”

Suddenly, the darkness around him lashed out, seizing Matron as she screamed and struggled. Everyone stood back and watched as the dark tendrils pulled her thrashing form into the ground.

And then there was silence.

Forte stood there for a moment. He had no idea how he did that, but a sense of satisfaction and relief washed over him. No longer did he have to fear her, no more did have to deal with the nightmares that came with his past. He could finally move on.

He looked around at the children in the room. They had watched the duel, and were now all staring up at Forte. Forte’s eyes scanned the room until his found what he was looking for.

Quietly, he walked over to his younger self, he was trying to comfort the three old boy, who was now sobbing in the corner. The young Forte looked up at his older counterpart, not saying anything. The younger child looked up at him with teary green eyes.

“Thank you…”

And then, the memories all came back, every last one.

Forte’s eyes widened in recognition.

“Lea…”

And with that, everything went white.

--------------~*~--------------

Rose sat silently next to Forte’s bed, looking at his prone form.

She still couldn’t believe it. He looked like a corpse now, completely devoid of life.

He had saved her from Walter, and she couldn’t do the same. She was thrown aside by Lea, and then again by Orion. She felt useless.

It was becoming to much for her. She gave a small choke of a sub as a tear run down her cheek.

Suddenly, a dark aura began to surround Forte. Rose jumped back in fright, unsure of what was happening.

Her eyes widened as Forte’s opened.

“Lea…” a soft whisper escaped his lips, Rose was barely able to hear it. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Was this all a dream?

“Forte…?” Rose spoke up softly, her voice unusually timid.

Slowly, Forte’s head turned, till his green eyes stared into her brown.

“Rose…”

Rose almost felt her heart jump in her chest as a happy smile spread across her face.

“Forte…”

--------------~*~--------------

Lea’s head jolted slightly. Where did it come from? It appeared so suddenly, a strange power, a presence, so similar to his own.

His head turned to face the direction in which he felt it, and although all he saw was a wall, he knew, somewhere a new power had been born.

A single name sprung to his mind.

“Forte…”

We’ve got to save Reece, but where can we find him? He could be anywhere by now?

I know where he is.

You do? But how?

Trust me. On the way, there’s something I have to tell you…

Stick around for chapter 21: [/B]On the attack[/B] I’ll tell you then.

[Dark Sage]

Classic. Lea's Shadow Game forces Forte into a nightmare where he faces the demons from his past, but he overcomes them, and comes out having conquered them.

And now it's payback time.

One small issue: In the anime world, "Arcana Force EX: The Dark Ruler" was a unique card created by Nightshroud, which he gave to Sartorious in Season Four. It represented the corruption of his usual cards when he was blackmailed into serving Darkness. I'm willing to let that small glitch go for sake of story, however. (Who knows? Maybe whatever caused Forte's nightmare had ties to Nightshroud before the whole GX storyline started.)

I hope you post the next chapter sooner than you did this one. This is getting interesting.

[Shuppet Master]

Yep, this is getting very interesting. Nice that you finally updated.

[Mystic_clown]

I apoligize for how long I took with this chapter, as well as the length. I suffered from a temperary lack of motivation when writing this. I know that's no excuse, but once again, I'm sorry.

Chapter 21: On the Attack

Rose was experiencing mixed emotions right now.

On one hand, she wanted to run up and hug Forte as tightly as possible. I mean, how often did someone who you thought was dead just suddenly wake up.

On the other hand, there was something, different, about him. Rose couldn’t put her finger on it, but it sent a chill of sorts down her spine.

Forte quietly looked at Rose before looking around the room.

“Where’s Reece.”

Even though she expected Forte to ask that question, it didn’t make answering any more easy for Rose.

“It was Orion,” she replied, “He came while you were unconscious. Reece tried to fight him off, but…” Rose wasn’t sure how to finish. She really didn’t want to say he’d gotten utterly destroyed by Orion’s avatar.

“Anyway, he took Reece and now I have no idea where he is.”

Forte’s face went serious, though strangely enough, he didn’t say anything. Rose had half expected him to get angry or something.

Instead, he turned his head, his eyes gazing off in some seemingly random direction.

“I think I might know where he is.”

Rose was a little confused.

“You do? But, how?”

Forte turned back to Rose, his green eyes staring into her brown.

“Trust me. I know.”

There was something about his eyes that made Rose believe him, but what was it?

Forte pulled his eyes away from Rose and quickly scanned the room. Spying his deck on the bedside table, he quickly scooped it up and slid it into the deck holder on his belt.

“Come on, we’ve got to go.”

Rose was almost about to ask “Go where?”, but managed to stop herself. To find Reece of course.

She quickly grabbed her deck and followed Forte out the door. Something told her she was going to need it.

--------------~*~--------------

“Are you sure?” Gabriel asked as he and Lea walked down the corridor, Karmov walking a meter or so ahead of them.

“I’m positive brother,” Lea replied, “a source of shadow magic just appeared almost out of nowhere. Even now I can sense it.”

“But can you be sure it’s him?”

Lea’s green eyes locked onto Gabriel’s.

“Trust me,” he spoke, “I know it’s him.”

Gabriel sighed as he sat back in his wheelchair.

“Forte was dangerous enough on his own,” he murmured quietly, “But now, if what you say is true…”

The three stopped when they reached an iron door.

“Is he here?” Gabriel questioned. Karmov nodded.

“Orion brought him here when he returned.”

Gabriel nodded and Karmov began to unlock the door.

“I don’t like having to do this,” he murmured sadly, “But it seems we would need all the help we can get.”

Karmov slowly opened the door and bowed his head. Gabriel nodded as he, Lea and Eurydice entered the room.

In the middle of the room, tied to a chair, was Reece.

The red head looked up as the door opened, his eyes fixing on Gabriel.

“So,” he muttered in a low voice, “You’re the boss around here…”

Gabriel merely nodded. “Mr. Armaverick.”

As Gabriel was wheeled into the room, Reece snarled as his eyes locked onto Lea.

“You son of a bitch!” he snarled, struggling against the ropes that bound him, “I’ll make you pay for what you did to Forte!”

A small smirk spread across Lea’s face as Gabriel sighed and shook his head.

“Mr. Armaverick,” Gabriel spoke up, to get the red head’s attention, “I know this may seem a bit unorthodox, but it seems we may need your help.”

Reece stared at him as if he had just asked him to assassinate the pope.

“Are you kidding!? After what you did!? After you put him in a coma, or killed him, or whatever the fuck shadow boy over here did, you want me to help you!?”

Gabrield sighed.

“I had a feeling you’d say that. But just so you know, it’s about your friend that we need help with.”

Reece was confused.

“With Forte? What about Forte?”

Gabriel said no more as his eyes began to glow.

--------------~*~--------------

Rose and Forte sat in an almost unsettling silence as the Shinkansen tore through the night. The two were lucky to get to the station before it left.

Rose wasn’t sure why Forte chose this particular train. The two seemingly had no idea where Orion went.

But for some reason Forte seemed so sure. That seemed to be more than enough for Rose.

Now the two were sitting in silence before they reached their destination.

“Rose,” Forte spoke up, getting her attention and breaking the silence.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Back at the uni a few weeks ago, when you asked me about my parents…”

“It’s ok,” Rose spoke up, “I know you don’t like talking about it.”

“No…I want to talk about it now.”

Rose remained silent, listening to what he had to say.

“My parents died when I was about five. I was sent off to live at Clare Valley orphanage.”

“Clare Valley…” Rose murmured before realisation dawned on her, “I heard of that place. It was in the news a year or so ago.”

Forte nodded.

“Authorities discovered the sub par living conditions of the place, as well as the horrendous cases of child abuse that was taking place. The orphanage was shut down and all the children sent off to foster homes. Those old enough were given enough money to find accommodation and live on their own. I was one of them.”

Rose watched him. She never thought he would have gone through something like that.

“It was horrible there. The matron there, she didn’t care about us. I think she only took the job just so she could torture those smaller than her, those that couldn’t even fight back.”

Forte’s head hung lower as he shuddered at the memory.

“Every day. I had to put up with it every day. Even as I saw the other kids get adopted, while I was stuck there. She’d mock me about it when nobody was around.”

“Oh my god…” Rose murmured.

“I tried to forget when I left. Every last bit. But it was hard. I had nightmares for days after I first left, and even now I have nightmares occasionally.”

Forte then looked down at his deck holder.

“Duel monsters helped me I guess. It allowed me to be the one in control for once. I could have others in MY mercy instead of the other way around.”

He sighed.

“When Lea sent me to the Shadow Realm, I was forced to face those memories, to face HER, again.

I guess I should thank him. Because of that, I can remember everything.

Including one very important thing.”

“What’s that?” Rose asked curiously. Forte paused, trying to think of how to say it before sighing.

“You’ll find out someday.”

Rose figured she’d drop it there.

“I’m sorry about all of this Rose,” Forte spoke up, “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to come with me. I don’t need to be involved in this any longer.”

Rose was quiet for a moment. Forte was a completely different person now. The sarcastic, arrogant Forte she knew had been replaced by this serious, sombre man in front of her.

And now he was giving her the chance to just walk away. And from what she figured, she could. Dogma had the avatar now, so why would they need to come after her? She could just drop all this and get back to her life.

However, she found that that was impossible.

“Forte…” she said, getting his attention, “I’m sticking with you till the end.”

“Are you sure?” he murmured.

“I’m sure,” Rose smiled, “Besides, I still need to get back at Dogma for what they did to me, remember?”

A small smile appeared on Forte’s face.

“Thank you.”

--------------~*~--------------

“Master Dimitri…”

The image flickered momentarily before Dimitri’s face appeared.

“Nero.” The man in question bowed.

“Have you heard?”

“Indeed I have.”

“It’s incredible isn’t it,” Nero spoke up hopefully, “Who would have thought someone was able to escape from the Shadow Realm on their own. And further more, he now appears to have-“

“I know,” Dimitri interrupted, shaking his head. Nero noticed something was wrong.

“You don’t sound too thrilled master.”

“Indeed I’m not Nero.”

“But why?”

“I fear that things may have gone a bit out of our control.”

“But sir,” said Nero, “Forte is currently on his way to face Dogma, surely this is a good thing for us.”

“Indeed. But the way he is now…”

“You fear that he might?”

Dimitri sighed and shook his head.

“It’s only a matter of time Nero.”

Nero was quiet for a moment before bowing his head.

“What shall I do master?”

--------------~*~----------

A good half hour later, Forte looked up at the tall building in front of him. It resembled a couple of towers joined by a couple of walkways.

“Are you sure he’s here?” Rose asked, still a bit unsure.

Forte was quiet for a moment. Out of the corner of Rose’s eye, she could see a feint, dark aura surround Forte momentarily before disappearing.

“I’m sure,” he spoke up before looking over at Rose, “You ready?”

Rose nodded silently, a little unsure of what she just saw. Forte’s green eyes fell back on the building ahead.

I’m coming for you…

--------------~*~--------------

“He’s here.”

Gabriel looked up from his desk to see Lea standing at the doorway. Gabriel nodded solemnly.

“I guess it’s time. Is Reece ready yet?”

Lea nodded.

“Everyone’s in position. Karmov’s headed down to intercept him.”

“And Orion?”

“He hasn’t left his room since he brought Reece back. But I’m sure he’ll be ready.”

--------------~*~--------------

The room caused the air to ripple in the small room, distorting everything around him.

Yet, despite this, Orion didn’t seem phased one bit. He simply sat there, eyes closed.

“So, you survived after all Forte,” He murmured, before a small smile crept onto his face.

“Good. I guess I didn’t waste my time after all.”

His eyes opened, now showing a burning quality to them.

“We’re going to have some fun.”

As a deep, sinister chuckle escaped Orion’s lips, the dark, burning eyes of the Inferno Incarnate stared back at him.

I had a feeling I’d face you again.

As did I. It was brave of you to come here. However, I’m afraid I cannot let you pass.

I guess we’ll have to settle this like before.

Indeed. Prepare yourself for Chapter 22: Ever change Battle. Come, let’s fight!