Author's Note: Oh my, bet you didn't expect me not to actually say anything in this note of worth did you?

Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Rival Without a Name

Chizuma tapped her chin thoughtfully, looking around at the darkness all around them. "I still can't believe this plan is actually working. It seems so…stupid."

Shiro cast a glare her way, holding his left arm with duel disk active all the way out as they walked. "You only say that because it's my plan."

From slightly behind them Enzeru piped in. "You have to understand why, from our perspective, it being your plan made us less than enthusiastic about the chances of its success."

Frost nodded, her eyes closed and her features as calm as ever. Shiro's head dropped in depression at the agreement. "Nobody else would have thought to use a Yami field card to generate darkness to hide us…and still I get trash talked about it."

There was a thump and Shiro stumbled backwards and onto his butt. The others stopped, and Kaoru rushed forward to help him up. "What happened Shiro-kun?"

The prankster raised his right arm and rubbed the top of his head, which was already starting to develop a lump. "Damn…I walked into something."

Enzeru stepped past the two of them and reached out with his hands. Just like Shiro had said his hands pressed up against something, but it was completely invisible. "There's some sort of invisible wall here or something."

He followed it along for several steps, first to one side and then to the other, but his hands remained against the unseen shield. "Even if we search to one side or the other and find a break in the shield we'll have wasted too much time. Damn…this isn't good."

"That barrier in your way extends completely around you. It's called Chaos Shield, and with it in place you guys aren't going anywhere!" The group all rallied together, forming a circle so they could see in all directions.

From off to their side a duelist in an Obelisk Blue uniform appeared. He was maybe a little over five feet in height and his head was shaved completely, which set off his steel blue-grey eyes. "The only way out of here is for me to tell you where I've placed the card creating the Chaos Shield. And if you try to get rid of me and go off on your own to search for it, well then my set traps will deal with you guys."

The bald Obelisk smirked and ran a hand over his shining head. "Sorry, but there's no going anywhere. My traps will get rid of this field of darkness and send out flares, and then everyone will know where to find you. Personally though, I'd rather just do things the easy way. Have Kaoru come with me so I can help save the island and it'll be fine."

Frost and Enzeru stepped forward, blocking Kaoru from the newcomer. The blue haired Obelisk spoke first. "I am afraid that is impossible. As long as Mizuki Mitsuhiro cannot be brought before this Supreme King he will not stop kidnapping duelists. Therefore we will find a way into his castle and defeat him. For that purpose, bring down your barrier and let us pass."

With a smirk the bald duelist shook his head. "We're all duelists here, so why don't we settle this the new fashioned way. One duel, and if I win I get to take Kaoru with me. But if I lose I let you guys go. How's that sound?"

Frost and Enzeru exchanged looks with each other, and then towards the others. Everyone nodded, so Frost turned back to the duelist confronting them and responded. "Very well, we agree to your terms. Prepare your duel disk; I shall be your opponent."

The bald Obelisk made a shooing motion and then pointed straight past her. "No way, I've already chosen my opponent. I choose Chizuma!"

Chizuma blinked and stepped forward, pointing a thumb at herself. "Me? Why do you want to duel me? Heck, how do you know my name? I've never even met you before."

His steel eyes shook with fury and his head started to turn red. "That's what pisses me off! You always say stuff like that, even though we've had every class together for years! We've dueled dozens of times, and even in the Rank-Farming Tournament last year!"

The dancer blinked and scratched her cheek, looking embarrassed. "Really? I don't remember you at all…"

He snarled and flicked his duel disk open. "That's why I have to crush you! You…you always shoot me down like I don't exist! The one person who is your rival and you can't even seem to remember who I am!"

Chizuma tapped a finger against her lips, her expression one of simple confusion. "How can you be my rival if I don't remember who you are? What makes us rivals anyways?"

"Because at the prep school you graduated at the top of the class and I graduated second place! I've always been just one step behind you, through prep school and even here! But after this duel I won't be behind anymore!" He slammed his deck into his duel disk and took a stance, ready to draw in an instant.

She shrugged and activated her own duel disk, deck already in place. "Alright Baldy, I'll give you the best duel I can. But sorry to say I won't be losing her to some guy who claims he's my rival even though he doesn't have a name." (Chizuma: 4000)

Baldy screamed in rage and drew five cards, while Chizuma drew six. "I've got a name damn it, you just can't seem to remember it!" (Baldy: 4000)

Chizuma flicked her braid over her shoulder, reaching for one of the cards in her hand. "Whatever you say Baldy. Now, since you challenged me I'll go first…and I'll summon this! Come on out, Fan Dancer (1000/1600) in attack mode!"

A pretty fair skinned woman appeared in front of Chizuma. She was holding a series of feathered fans in front of her body, covering her body. There were five fans total so it was impossible to see much above her knees and below her neck. "I'll end my turn."

Her rival drew fiercely and held aloft his drawn card. "Perfect draw, Grave Life! I get to send five monsters from my deck to the cemetery in order to gain two thousand life points!" (Baldy: 6000)

"You're going to regret putting just that monster out, because with one monster I can take out all of your life points! From my hand I normal summon the mighty and powerful King of Skull Servants (0/0)!" A tall skeleton wearing a flowing purple robe appeared, a dark fog floating around him.

Baldy chuckled and motioned to his monster as the fog began to wrap around it tighter. "For every Skull Servant or King of Skull Servants in my graveyard this monster has his original attack increase by one thousand. So for the five in the grave, which gives him five thousand, attack points, just enough to blow away your life points in one shot!"

Kaoru grimaced and looked with worry at the Fan Dancer. "This guy's good, and Chizuma made a mistake early on. He must have dumped every Skull Servant and his two other Kings into the grave with Grave Life to power it up just enough for the win. Chizuma…"

"King of Skull Servants, Skull Domination!" The royal skeleton raised one bony hand into the air and suddenly a swarm of skulls appeared floating around him. He pointed at the Fan Dancer and the skulls were sent flying, pounding into the dancer one after another.

Chizuma smirked even as the Fan Dancer was tossed onto the ground, one of her feathered fans going flying into the air before bursting into dust. "Not bad, but not good enough to take out Fan Dancer." (Chizuma: 4000)

Baldy twitched as he saw her life points and that Fan Dancer was still alive. "But how? That blast should have killed your dancer and taken out all of your life points! You had no set cards to protect you, so what happened?"

She smiled and pointed at the Fan Dancer, who was now holding five fans over her body to cover herself. "It's pretty simple. When Fan Dancer is normal summoned in attack mode I can add one Fan Counter to her for each card in my hand. When she's in battle I can remove a Fan Counter to negate the damage, provided she's my only monster of course. That means you'll need four more attacks to beat my dancer!"

Her 'rival' grimaced and snagged a card from his hand. "Fine, I'll bust her down sooner or later. For now I set one reverse card and end my turn!"

She nodded, drew her next card, and then smirked at him. "Well, I guess my strategy isn't quite ready yet so I'll just end my turn."

Everyone stared at her, and her opponent laughed. "Strategy you say? I don't believe that for a second! Your hand is worthless, and I'll show you that mine is far deadlier! My draw!"

Swiftly he grabbed one of his other cards and tossed it onto his disk next to King of Skull Servants. "Time to show you the truth of my deck strategy! I summon King of Skull Servants (5000/0)!"

A second skeleton appeared next to the other, also wrapped in that dark fog. Chizuma stepped back in surprise and pointed at the second King. "But that's impossible! For your King to be at five thousand you would have to have sent all your Skull Servants and other Kings to the grave. And you can only have three copies of any monster in your deck."

Enzeru let the shock fade as he analyzed the situation. "No…that's not entirely correct. We've seen that what we accept as a rule isn't always a rule. Isn't that right, Kaoru?"

The violet eyed girl nodded, the image of towering creatures of pure flame appearing in her mind. "The only way to get around that rule of three…is with the magic card Pure Battle Soul."

Baldy thumbed his nose, looking quite satisfied with himself. "Even though you can't seem to even remember my strategy after having seen it multiple times, Kaoru is right. Within my deck exists Pure Battle Soul, and the monster of my choice that is the only one in my deck is King of Skull Servants! That lets me easily have multiple monsters with huge attack points!"

Chizuma scratched her cheek with one finger, her grey eyes lackluster and unfocused. "Sorry, you keep babbling about pointless stuff. So you've got a lot of attack points, but it doesn't matter. You can't break Fan Dancer before my strategy succeeds."

His teeth ground together as he tried to cope with his frustration. "We'll see about that! King of Skull Servants, both of you, attack Fan Dancer with Twin Skull Domination!"

Swarms of skulls pounded into the dancer, sending two more fans fluttering away. Now she was using just two very large fans to cover her body. Baldy grimaced and lowered his fists. "Fine, I end my turn."

Chizuma drew and pointed to her Fan Dancer. The monster dropped to her knees, now letting the fans cover her from head to toe. "I shift Fan Dancer to defend monster and then end my turn. Since I'm ending my turn with seven cards in my hand I guess I'll just toss this one card to the grave to lower my hand size to the maximum allowed."

Her foe drew too swiftly to notice the slight grin that appeared on her lips after she deposited the card in her graveyard. He was too busy with his move. "Alright, let's start things out! I activate Nightmare Again, which allows me to add two dark monsters with zero defense from my grave to my hand."

Two cards slid out of his grave slot and he held them up to Chizuma, showing they were both King of Skull Servants. "Next I play Armory Option, which lets me discard one card from my hand to add an equip card from my deck to my hand. However, this equip card cannot be activated during this turn."

He tucked one of the Kings back into his graveyard and then flipped through his deck, quickly settling on the card he wanted. "Next turn I'll finish you off with my chosen card. Until then…I'll break down that dancer right now! I summon King of Skull Servants (4000/0)!"

A third one joined the others, each one with as many attack points as Obelisk the Tormentor. "Here we go, Triple Skull Domination!"

This time it was a tornado of skulls that swept across the field. That skull tornado picked up the Fan Dancer and swung her around, constantly beating her with the skulls. One by one the fans fell away until finally the dancer shattered into pixels with a scream. "It's almost over rival! Just you wait and see! My turn is over, and you will be too shortly."

The dancing girl gracefully drew her next card and added it to her hand. "You wanted to see my strategy? Well here we go! I activate Monster Reborn!"

Baldy chuckled and wagged a finger at her. "That's a useless defense. You said so yourself that Fan Dancer has to be normal summoned to get her counters and you haven't got any other monsters in the grave."

Chizuma winked at him as a Latino man in tango clothes appeared on his field, clapping his hands together. "Not quite, see last turn to reduce my hand size I discarded Tango Dancer (1700/1000), and now he's back!"

His eyes widened even more as suddenly a second Tango Dancer appeared next to the first one. "But wait buddy, there's more! In chain to his summon I was able to activate Dance Rush to special summon another copy from my deck!"

Two more spots on her field started glowing and she smiled brightly as she ditched a card into her cemetery. "By discarding Partner Match from my hand I can special summon one Tango Dance Partner (1400/1300) from my deck to the field for each Tango Dancer I've special summoned this turn. That means each of my dancers gets his partner!"

In a flash each Latino man had a pretty Latina woman on his arm, all of them smiling warmly, ready to dance. "So what? Your monsters are too weak even with their effect to fight back!"

Chizuma giggled and placed a card onto her only open monster zone. "You're right, so let's fix that. I normal summon Dance Instructor (1300/1000), whose effect boosts all dancers by 300 attack points!"

All of her monsters shot up in attack points but still the bald Obelisk didn't seem worried. "Still three hundred points short at your best of even matching my monsters!"

He felt like shutting up the instant he saw the newest card to have appeared on her field. It was floating face-up, and it was a continuous magic card he recognized. "The Allied Forces….no!"

"Oh yes! The Allied Forces boosts all warriors on my field by two hundred for each warrior and spell caster I control. Since I've got five that means all five of my dancers get a bonus thousand attack points!" Her Tango Dancers rose to 3000, the partners to 2700, and the instructor to 2600.

Shiro grinned and pumped his right fist into the air. "Yes! That's our dancing girl for you!"

Enzeru merely folded his arms and gave a nod of his head, which was mimicked by Frost. Kaoru glanced at the two and sighed. "They take 'silent type' too far. But that Chizuma…she really has improved hasn't she?"

Chizuma snapped her fingers and one of her dance pairs clasped hands. "Okay Baldy, I'm giving up Tango Dance Partner's attack to combine her attack strength with Tango Dancer's for his attack. Tango Battle (5700)!"

They spun together across the field and performed a simultaneous hitch-kick that sent King of Skull Servants' skull flying off his shoulders. Baldy barely batted an eyelash. "That's not enough to take me out!" (Baldy: 4300)

In response the next pair came together, their attack power shooting up to fifty-seven hundred as well. "Your monsters may have gained an extra thousand attack, but its still not enough to stop my pair! Tango Battle (5700)!"

Once more a King's head went flying into the air, but this time Baldy thrust his hand out towards his graveyard slot. "King of Skull Servants effect activates! By removing one Skull Servant or King of Skull Servants from the game when he would be destroyed in battle I can special summon him back from the cemetery!"

The King caught his head in an open palm and then replaced it onto his head. Together his and the other King's attack points settled at an even four thousand. "I may take damage, but I keep two of my servants." (Baldy: 3600)

Chizuma nodded and grabbed one of her last two cards, placing it into her duel disk. It appeared behind the instructor, floating just barely a foot over the ground. "I'll set a card face down and then activate Specialty Reward! During my end phase I get to draw one card for each monster, not counting tokens, that I've special summoned this turn. So I end my turn and draw four cards!"

Her rival growled as she waved a hand of four cards at him, taunting him with her advantage. "You think you've got the advantage? Didn't I tell you my equip card would finish you off? Now…I draw!"

Frost's eyes narrowed as she looked straight at the card in his hand that she knew was the equip he had searched for. "My calculations state that the probability of that card being capable of letting him finish this in one attack is one hundred percent."

Kaoru's eyes burrowed into the bald Obelisk's for a moment and she squeezed her fists tight at her sides. "That card…I think it's…"

The baldy laughed darkly as he thrust the equip into his duel disk. "Despite their brutal power at the moment my Kings still happen to be level one monster. And that means they're the perfect target for this monstrous equip card! Say goodbye to King of Skull Servants, you won't see it again, because I equip it with Opti-Camoflauge Armor!"

One of the Kings shimmered briefly and then vanished from sight. Chizuma's eyes widened and she looked around, trying desperately to locate it. "Where did it go?"

The True Sin Frost closed her eyes and nodded once. "Just as I thought, the perfect equip card to finish it in one attack."

"Sorry rival, but you're finished! My armor can only be equipped to a level one monster, but it gives that monster a very special ability. It lets it attack directly, even if you have monsters in play! So now, the final blow, Invisible Skull Domination!" It seemed like nothing was happening, but everyone knew in mere moments Chizuma's life points would be gone.

Shiro braced himself for watching Chizuma go flying from an invisible attack. And continued to brace himself. "Uhh…I hate to sound like I'm complaining, but has it attacked yet?"

Chizuma smirked and pointed to her field, revealing that her set card was now face-up. "Oh it attacked alright, but it doesn't really matter since I chained my set Waboku trap card. Thanks to that all the battle damage, even direct, was reduced to zero."

"Damn it…fine, but I won't go down so easily! I set one card face down and end my turn." A second card appeared on his field, one to each side of his two Kings. Although it was a little difficult to tell because the leftmost King was now invisible.

Without wasting another moment Chizuma drew and then pointed into mid-air. "Tango Dancer, attack the invisible King with Tango Battle (5700)!"

Baldy smirked and his newest card flipped up. Instantly Tango Dancer was blown to pieces. "Sorry Chizuma, but Sakuretsu Armor destroys the attacking monster without a pause! And since you lost a monster, the bonus to your others goes down."

She didn't seem bothered by that though and her next pair stepped up. "That's fine; I've still got two more, so Tango Battle (5300) one more time!"

"You just don't give up do you? By discarding one card from my hand to the graveyard, like my King of Skull Servants, I can activate my original face down card. Go, Grave Chain!" Black chains erupted out of the front of the trap card and went straight into the ground. They back to be reigned in, and with them came…another trap card.

The second Tango Dancer was engulfed in a ball of fire and once more the attack points of her monsters lowered. "No…Sakuretsu again?"

The Obelisk smirked as he held up his two trap cards. "That's right. When I pay the activation cost of Grave Chain I get to use the effect of one normal trap card in my graveyard. It was useless up until now because I had no traps in the grave, so you weren't worried about it were you?"

There was no denying the truth in that. Not that it mattered, since she had intended to attack anyways. "You're right Baldy, but I had to take a chance one way or the other. Now...I guess I'll switch the instructor into defense mode and place two cards face down. Then I'll give the turn to you."

"I've got a name damn it! I'll show you to respect me, teach you to acknowledge who I am! Camouflaged King, attack her directly!" He made his declaration within moments of drawing his card, and almost immediately it seemed like Chizuma was being pelted by something invisible. Perhaps even invisible skulls.

"That was a pretty reckless attack Baldy, and look how much it accomplished." She jerked her thumb into the air where a holographic display lit up with her life points. (Chizuma: 3500)

"What's with your life points? If I hit you then your life points should be at zero!" Chizuma responded by wagging a finger at him. As she did so a faint yellow field of energy appeared in front of her and then faded away. Moments later it appeared again and yet again disappeared.

"Not exactly. See this little shield that keeps popping in and out isn't perfect, but it works out well enough. This is my Reduction Barrier, and during this turn it reduces all damage I would take to one-tenth of the original. So instead of taking five thousand damage I took just five hundred. Pretty neat huh?" Shiro chuckled and gave her a V for victory, which she casually returned.

"Don't get so cocky just because you were saved from one attack, because I'm not finished yet! Skull Domination, attack her first Tango Dance Partner!" The visible King made a wave of his hand and a swarm of skulls were sent flying straight at Chizuma's monster. Some of them struck the Reduction Barrier as it came in and out, but many still got through.

"Since you're so eager to damage my life points, I'll help you out with my trap card, Deux Passé! This changes the attack on my monster to a direct attack on my life points." She raised her arms in front of her face as the remaining skulls struck her one by one. To her surprise they carried a heavy degree of force, and her arms actually hurt where they were being hit. (Chizuma: 3000)

Shaking off that surprise she snapped her fingers, and the targeted Tango Dance Partner did a leap into the air. "And the monster you tried to attack now gets to attack you directly in return! Tango Battle (2300)!"

It did a graceful spin, kicking out with a pointed foot as it started to come down, striking the Obelisk boy in the gut. He coughed violently, dropping to one knee. As his life points dropped drastically the dancer did a series of back-handsprings until she was in front of Chizuma again. "Pretty cool right? Bet you wish you had a Reduction Barrier." (Baldy: 1300)

He shook his head to clear it and rose to his feet, placing his newly drawn card into his duel disk. "Shut up and take your turn. I'm not finished yet, I'll crush you in just a few more turns!"

Chizuma drew, smiling confidently at her hefty lead. Yet inside was something different. "I know I've got the lead in terms of life points, but right now my monsters can't hope to match his. I'm at a disadvantage."

"I shift all three of my monsters into defense mode. Then I'll set one monster, and lastly…well I'll reveal that monster of yours by playing Cyclone to blow away your armor!" A spinning vortex of wind shoots out of the magic card and sweeps over a seemingly empty space on the opposite side of the field. But when it had passed a King of Skull Servants was standing there.

"That's all for now." Her opponent snapped up his next card immediately, and then tossed it down.

"How about some more fun? Another King of Skull Servants (5000/0) to enter the mix!" A third of the skeletal rulers formed on the field, giving him fifteen thousand points worth of monsters.

Kaoru felt her hands shake at the sight, and a jolt of worry for her young friend went through her. "It's my fault…Chizuma, don't lose!"

The bald Obelisk smirked and snapped his fingers. "She doesn't have a choice, especially when I've got this card. Reveal continuous trap, Coffin Seller! Now whenever one of your monsters goes to the grave you'll take three hundred damage. Even defending won't save you now!"

Chizuma looked over at Kaoru and winked. "Don't you worry your pretty little head. I've got this duel in the bag."

"We'll see about that! Triple Skull Domination! Blow away her partners and instructor!" This time it was a storm of skulls so thick it was almost impossible to see through. Chizuma winced as her three face-up monsters were pelted, exploding into tiny bits.

As the smoke from the damage started to fade Baldy's trap card shook violently. "Now spirits of Coffin Seller, strip some of her life points away!"

Three ghostly white figures shot out of the card and swirled around Chizuma's body. She shuddered in pain as they squeezed tight around her, draining away some of her life points. "That sucked…" (Chizuma: 2100)

Baldy glanced at the single card in his hand and grimaced. "My ace card…I still can't play it yet. Oh well, at this rate she'll be finished without me needing it."

"Alright Chizuma, my turn is over!" Chizuma nodded and slipped a card off her deck slowly, holding it up to see what it was.

Suddenly she grinned and tossed down the card. Instantly a man with swirled dark hair wearing a white jumpsuit appeared, his arms crossed in front of him. "Let's try a new dance if the old one wasn't working! Disco Dancer (1000/1000) is summoned, and when that happens I pick one of three continuous magic cards from my deck and add it to my hand."

A card popped out of her deck and she instantly held it out to activate it. "I'll play that chosen card right now, Disco Challenge! When this card is activated I select one dancer monster on my field. When that monster is destroyed so is this card, and then it gets to activate a special effect."

Disco Dancer winked at Chizuma, and the doll-faced girl winked right back. "With that done, so am I. Guess that leaves it up to you Baldy."

"Ha! Another piece to the puzzle that is kicking your ass! Book of the Undead lets me search my deck for a level four or lower zombie and add it to my hand. Like I mentioned earlier my Kings are level one." He shifted through his deck and plucked one card free, and then returned it to its place in his disk where it was auto-shuffled.

"I summon King of Skull Servants in attack mode! And now I've got four monsters to your two! So let's see…how well they stand up to my fire power! Crush that Disco Dancer!" The king of the dancing field was struck directly in the face by a skull almost instantly. He keeled over and then blew apart.

Chizuma held her hand straight out and her continuous card shattered. "When Disco Challenge is destroyed I get to special summon the selected monster back to the field!"

She plucked a card free, and then used it to point to the space Disco Dancer had previously occupied. "Disco Dancer revives in defense mode! And I'll use his effect to grab another continuous magic card!"

Her opponent grimaced and snapped his fingers. "It doesn't matter; I'll just blow him away again! Skull Domination!"

Once more the dancer was crushed by the force of the flying skulls, leaving Chizuma with only her face down monster. "And guess what? Coffin Seller gets to deal you six hundred more damage!"

Once more Chizuma was assaulted by the spirits, and her legs shook as her life points were hit. The spirits faded as her life points dropped almost to equal her opponent's. "I've still got one more monster, so I'm safe." (Chizuma: 1500)

"Your math sucks, because I've got two more attacks! Skull Domination, blow away that set monster!" Her set card quivered under the assault by the King and flipped up. For the briefest of moments an attractive woman in just underclothes could be seen before she shattered.

Another spirit shot out of Coffin Seller, plowing straight into Chizuma and out through her back. She groaned and put a hand over her stomach. It hurt almost like it really had punched through her, even though there was no wound. "Damn…" (Chizuma: 1200)

Her so-called rival laughed long and hard, his head thrown back, his body shaking with the force of it. "It's my win Chizuma! Finally, I've defeated you!"

The only response he got from Chizuma was a scoff and a simple sentence. "I'd look again if I were you."

He lowered his head and took a step back in surprise. Standing directly across from him in front of Chizuma was…a King of Skull Servants. "What the heck? Where did that come from?"

"Simple, the monster you just destroyed was Exotic Dancer (600/700). When she's flipped I get to take control of one monster on my opponent's field for the turn. Unfortunately since I have no Skull Servants or Kings in my grave my stolen monster has no attack points. But since I took the one King of yours that hadn't attacked, I've forestalled your victory." He grimaced and looked at the one card in his hand once again.

"Just one more King and I'll be able to play my ace card. If I haven't won before then, my ace card will finish her off for sure!" He nodded confidently and lowered both of his arms.

"End Turn!" As soon as he finished his declaration the King that was on Chizuma's side floated back to him, its attack score shooting up to five thousand again.

Enzeru glanced over at Frost, who met his gaze with her own. "Do you think she can win? Chizuma is a good duelist, but I'm not sure if she has it in her to win something like this."

To his surprise Shiro cut in, his face a happy smirk. "You're wrong. Trust me…she's strong. Stronger than anybody gives her credit for. You of all people should know that you don't get to be the number one rookie just through good looks!"

Kaoru nodded in agreement, her worries faded as she watched Chizuma from behind. "He's right Enzeru. I can see it in her heart. She's happy, and she's confident. She's going to win, there's no doubt!"

Chizuma placed two fingers on the top card of her deck, and her grey eyes met her rival's with a force that shocked him. "I promised to myself. I promised to myself that I wouldn't lose a single duel! I'll win and keep winning so I can have a chance to face Mizuki-sama in a rematch and make her proud! So between me and that goal, a guy like you isn't even a roadblock!"

Her draw pulled the card free and far off to the side. She glanced at it out of the corner of her eyes, and she smiled. "I've always been a dancer. My monsters dance together, and I wanted to dance with them. For that reason I did everything I could to find as many of these cards as I could. Cards that would let me dance together with my monsters!"

She held the card up over her head and it began to glow brightly. "I managed to get three of them, and this is the card that represents my ultimate defense! I activate the player equip card Bracers of the Goddess!"

The light of her card seemed to split into two, shooting down and striking each of her wrists. When the light faded she now had long bracers that were glowing with that same light on each wrist. Enzeru's eyes widened at the sight. "A player equip? All of them are extremely rare…to think she had such a thing, and even three of them. Incredible!"

Chizuma pounded her fists together and a wave of light pulsed out from the bracers. "When I add a player equip I get treated like a monster, with attack and defense points based on what my player equip would give me. In this case, I have five hundred attack and two thousand defense."

Baldy let out a sigh of relief and then snickered. "For a second there I was worried, but if that's the kind of effect you get then I don't need to fret. I'll break through those two thousand points easily!"

The dancing girl reached up behind her and pulled a hand through her hair, slowly releasing it from its long braid. It was only then that Shiro realized that her hair was even longer than it had been the previous year. "Wow…I've never seen her with her hair down. She's even hotter than normal."

Chizuma lowered her hand and then thrust her right arm into the air. The glowing bracer expanded, forming a bladed shield of light that extended out from the right side of her arm, in the same position as her duel disk on the other arm. "I'm not defending, I'm attacking! I don't even need my other effects, I just need my attack! So here I come (500)!"

Her rival stepped back in shock as she began to barrel down the field, right arm held straight out to her side. "Are you stupid? My Kings have ten times as many attack points! But if you want to be suicidal, I'll destroy you anyways! Counter attack, Skull Domination!"

The King raises its arms up and a swarm of skulls shot out like meteors, straight at the onrushing Chizuma. Chizuma screamed out a challenge and dipped and dodged gracefully with all her dancer's training. "When I attack I can swap my attack for my defense points, so I'm not quite done! I'm still going to finish you (2000)!"

"That's nowhere near enough! You're finished, rival!" Chizuma jumped over a skull and then dived past the next volley, coming to her knees right in front of the King. He pointed a hand down at her and a group of skulls appeared behind him.

There was a flash, and the skulls clattered to the ground. Baldy's eyes widened as the King stumbled backwards and then split in two straight down the middle. As it slowly dissipated he could see Chizuma standing on her feet, right arm raised all the way above her head. Everyone stared in silence, with the only sound being Chizuma's steady breaths and a trickling noise. (Baldy: 0)

He stared in shock, and then fell to his knees. "But…how? My monster had three thousand more attack points than you did! You should have been crushed! I should have won!"

Chizuma lowered her arm and the bracers faded as did the rest of the field. "It has no defense points though. When I battle with the Bracers of the Goddess by discarding one magic card from my hand I can choose to switch the attack and defense of the opposing monster. So by discarding the continuous magic card I searched for with Disco Dancer I made it a battle of two thousand versus zero. I told you, I won't lose to the likes of you."

She started to walk towards him, and he grimaced, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a card. "A deal's a deal. Take this card. If you play it you'll get an exit from the Chaos Shield without having to search for where I put the card."

The dancing girl took it from it and noted the name. Dark Door…it made sense. "It was a good duel. What is your name anyways?"

He chuckled and looked up at her. "Finally asking again are you? My name is"

His words were cut off when his body seized up. "What…the hell?"

Nobody moved as he let out a fearful scream…and his body burst into tiny little motes of yellow light. Chizuma leapt forward, but all she caught was handfuls of air. "Baldy!"

Kaoru stared in horror at the spot that he once was standing. "What happened? Where did he go?"

The air around them shimmered, and suddenly an image of the Supreme King appeared. He didn't appear to be looking directly at them, and as Frost circled the Supreme King she saw that no matter where he was she was looking at his face. "He doesn't know where we are…it's preprogrammed."

"For the victors of the duel that just occurred, allow me to tell you the fate of those who fail to win duels while I rule this island. Those who are defeated will be instantly transported to my castle and placed in chains with the other prisoners. Through this method, defeat Mizuki Mitsuhiro and Kaoru Tsukada to bring them to me. That is all." The image flickered and vanished, leaving them standing alone in the darkness.

Enzeru stepped forward and placed a hand on Kaoru's shoulder. "We need to move on, regardless of the consequences. We can't lose any duels, that's all this means. Anyone who ends up there, we'll save them so it doesn't matter. Let's go."

She nodded and they all looked to Chizuma, who held up the Dark Door card. In front of them a pitch black door appeared, and one by one they all went through it.

Moments later a figure stepped out of the darkness, looking directly at the Dark Door even as it vanished. His jade eyes narrowed and he looked off into the distance where he knew the Supreme King's castle was. "Supreme King…to meet you again…this will be interesting."

Without another word Hitokage walked back into the darkness, swallowed up by the shadows that were his namesake.

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Author's Note: Indeed.

New Section-Secret Section! Here I'll give you all little tidbits of info that would otherwise not happen. Basically things like production notes.

Secret Two: Similarly to the previous secret where Mizuki was to be Drake's daughter, Tobias (then with a different name) was to be the child of one of Drake's 'rivals'. More accurately the first duelist he beat in Battle City, Lucas Braunhaum. Instead of that German rival, Tobias ended up split into the guy he was and is, and also Harrison who became the German rival.

Shout Out: Also I'd like to point you readers in the direction of two author's GX stories. Check out G.O.T. Nick and Viewtiful Jeff's stuff, it's all good. Trust me on this you won't be disappointed. Also, take a look at AngelofBlade's new fic, should be interesting. And of course, I still advertise the works of WolfGeneral.

Next Time: Chizuma's opponent has been beaten and the terrifying penalty for losing a duel has become clear. With this new threat the group must move quicker than ever before. However, a new opponent appears before them who is deadlier than any they could have imagined. The power of Alexei Surichev, King of North School, is unleashed!

See it all in, Terrifying Assault: Power of Devils!