Yu-Gi-Oh!: Enter The Dark Duels

By:

Chapter 1 : Into The Shadows

Gwenhwyfar sighed and considered approaching the creature again. Maybe this time it would only singe her once-auburn hair before she explained her intentions. She was muddy, frustrated and so very tired.

“I just want to go home”, She thought, picking at her tarnished clothing for the umpteenth time,

“Go home and curl up in front of the fireplace and have a nice, long sleep.”

She knew, of course, like she knew nothing else, that she would be lucky to see her husband, or, heaven forbid, that Isis woman, ever again. Her eyes narrowed at the thought. “Isis!”, she spat the name as if it were a curse, prompting a warning snort from the dragon she had been trying to approach. Subdued by the thought of another hair-removing fire blast, she plopped her slender frame down in the dirt and began to recount the chain of events that had led her to this very spot.

Almost a year ago, the research institute that she and her husband worked for was granted funding to excavate some newly discovered ruins in Egypt. Being the institute’s leading archeologists they were automatically selected for the trip. A trip that would mean leaving their eleven year old son in the care of his aunt for at least six months.

She smiled, remembering the expression on his face when she explained that “mommy and daddy have to go to Egypt for a while”. His reaction was quite the opposite of what she had been expecting. Rather than being broken-hearted at the news, he was elated that they were going to the home of “Duel Monsters” (His joy faded somewhat when he found out that only his parents would be going). Try as she might, she couldn’t convince him that the fantastic monsters he saw every day on the television were just figments of some remarkable person’s imagination. How she wished now, that she had been right!

Work on the ruins had actually been progressing rather slowly. Normally the interior of these ruins held great treasures or tablets covered with hieroglyphics telling stories of the once-vast Egyptian empire. On the inside, the subterranean structure was empty. Not just empty, perfectly bare, there wasn’t even any dust (which was surprising considering the entrance was set into the ground itself). There were no blemishes in the wall surface, no joints to show where the bricks met each other… nothing. Its most remarkable feature was the trap door in the ceiling that they entered through.

Then had come one of the worst sand storms ever seen. Visibility was reduced to zero for exactly eight hours and when the sand finally settled, like the white foam in a snowball, there it was…

A huge depression in the sand where the ruins used to be, and in the center of it, floating half a meter off the ground, was an upside down four-sided pyramid, 15 meters in each length and covered from point to point on all sides with the strangest hieroglyphics anybody had ever seen. Naturally, it’s existence was covered up in the news, at least until they could determine what it was they were dealing with.

Soon after they began translating the glyphs on the structure, it became apparent that it was a kind of encyclopedia. It described an incredible range of otherworldly creatures in painful detail often making reference to other places in ancient Egypt or Pharos. Nobody knew what to make of the discovery especially the references to “shadows” and destruction”. The entire thing would have been written off as an elaborate practical joke – if it weren’t so unbelievable in the first place.

Two weeks after the storm, it was decided that they should once again enter the structure. The powers that be, felt that there was more to the object’s interior than stone-coloured walls and static-free surfaces. So naturally, Gwen herself had volunteered, and with her husband by her side had climbed the hastily erected scaffold and dropped into the puzzling interior of the ninth Wonder of the World.

She stopped her reverie at this point, a long sigh escaping through her barely parted lips. Standing up and once again removing what dust she could from her clothing, she spared a moment to rain curses upon this loathed place. This place that would not even let her remember her real name! Only nine days here (according to her watch, which she was sure was beginning to fail) and she couldn’t even remember the name her parents gave her – only the shadow assigned “Gwenhwyfar”! The thought enraged her!

She turned the corner and once again faced the dragon, this time though, her rage and despair lit a fire in her eyes brighter, and far more dangerous than any flames the creature could muster. She shouted a spell at the shocked creature. Too confused to react, the Serpent Night Dragon’s form dissolved into the mists that covered the shadow realm and then slowly, unwillingly, condensed into a thin, rectangular piece of parchment that bore its name and description.

“This one was fairly strong, it will require some work to bring it under my control…”, she thought, leaning against a convenient rock. At the moment, she wasn’t sure whether she was referring to the imprisoned creature or the urge that she had felt to give up and die.

A few days later, in a very different part of the Shadow Realm’s virtually unbroken darkness, Nazianzus, the husband of Gwenhwyfar, was having considerably better luck at acquiring his duel monsters - of course, his inspiration, in the form of an under-clothed Isis was considerably more graphic, and definitely more effective. His long list of monsters (already well over the required twenty) now included a Catapult Turtle three Rude Kaisers and Gaia The Fierce Knight, the last of the additions being largely due to Isis having used her Succubus Knight to break the warrior’s willpower, allowing him to be assimilated into Nazianzus’s ranks.

He removed his glasses and stretched himself out, thoroughly exhausted, on the not-quite-grass that lined one of this region’s many streams, which were filled with the not-quite-water that the Shadow Realm caused to flow through them. Isis lay beside him and in a moment she was running her slender fingers through his hair, prompting him to re-examine his new deck with great interest. She didn’t miss the fact that his hands were shaking though, and allowed herself a small smile at the victory.

She’d fallen head over heels in love (if such feelings could be described as love) with the man the day he had wandered into the little town of Aile, the Shadow Realm’s only purely human settlement. There had been something about him on that day when they first saw each other.

“His walk, his smile, his eyes?” , she mused silently, casting quick glances in his direction

“Maybe even the way his jaw dropped the first time he saw me.”

She smiled at the last thought.

“Or maybe”, she added out loud, “the look on poor Gwenhwyfar’s face when she saw your reaction.”

She hadn’t spoken loudly, but the Shadow Realm was an incredibly quite place. Nazianzus looked at her with an expression that she could not comprehend, then stood suddenly and started off in the direction of Aile. Isis lay there, trying to discern what had just transpired. It was over a minute before she realised that he was barely visible through the ever present mists of the Shadow Realm. With a start she jumped to her feet and hurried after him. She figured that somehow she had fallen out of favour with him in those few moments. Already, she was plotting how to improve her position.

In the face of Isis’s… whatever it was that she was trying to do, Nazianzus concentrated wholeheartedly on the incredible story of the settlement that he was now walking towards.

In the days before the sealing of the Shadow Games, many fine warriors, faithful to those pharaohs who participated, were sacrificed to the shadow realms dark plains in place of their warring masters. This was a necessary sacrifice, for only a few people knew of the existence of the games, and if they were to continue, the players could not afford to die when they lost.

It was here, directly below the Egyptian crossover point between the two realms, (at certain points in time and space, the two realms sometimes formed natural portals called crossover points) that the legendary woman who became known as St. Joan, rose up from the world of desolation and despair that surrounded her and banded together the groups of meandering humans to create some semblance of a civilisation. It was she too, who crafted “The Tome”. The huge inverted-pyramidal structure floating in the town center, which, endowed with some of the most advanced magic humanity had ever seen, cataloged the frequent changes in monster population across the Shadow Realm.

The Tome had another, far more important purpose though. Through its magic, it allowed the capture of monsters from within the Shadow Realm itself, a feat previously unheard of. It was this that had enabled the pitiful human settlement to survive the centuries since it’s conception. The rules were simple - so long as the humans had the willpower in them to capture, summon and fight off invaders, they would continue to survive. St. Joan did not however. She fell at the claws of a Feral Imp in the midst of a melee with invading Swamp Battle Guards, leaving her two daughters in charge of the town’s fate. Soon after, the town’s “religious” leaders, (for who could truly follow the precepts of religion in a tortured place such as the shadow realm) collectively called the “Waboku” carved into The Tome, a new inscription, placing a most powerful blight on the Feral Imps that had ended the life of their guiding light.

Predictably, his thoughts floated back to the half-dressed woman now running through the mists behind him. By the sound of her footsteps he could tell that she would be upon him in seconds. He couldn’t begin to fathom what she would stand to gain from her actions, especially in a place like this. He decided to turn and confront her, right there and then at the risk of loosing their only real guide in this place – better that than to loose himself over some sort of petty rivalry (he had a sudden feeling that it amounted to jealousy of some sort) that he didn’t even understand.

Before he could come to a stop however, a slender hand wrapped itself around his waist from behind and he felt the soft fur of Isis’s clothing pressed against him. A sudden surge of anger towards Isis overtook him and was almost immediately replaced by a sense of pity as his eyes met with the unnerving glare of the tired, frustrated, muddy, slightly burnt and generally, very displeased Gwenhwyfar.

Both women knew that it would come down to this eventually. Nazianzus stepped away hastily from Isis and reached for Gwenhwyfar. Igonoring him, she addressed Isis.

“Hello Isis”, Gwenhwyfar said, in her most sarcastic voice. Isis managed the beginnings of a small smile.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”, she asked in feigned interest. She was more concerned with how the woman had managed to survive.

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t.”, Gwenhwyfar retorted, taking a step towards her. Nazianzus opened his mouth to say something then, thought better of it and stayed quiet.

“Really? Such a shame…”, Isis said as she took two steps back, in spite of herself.

“I suppose you were confused and gave me wrong instructions to the mirror?”, asked Gwenhwyfar in her most dangerous tone. This time, both Nazianzus and Isis took two steps backwards.

“Are you sure you di-”, began Isis, trying to find some way out of the situation.

“I did exactly what you told me!!!!”, shouted Gwenhwyfar. Her skin flushed and she seemed barely able to control her rage.

“And I ended up in the Graveyard of the Cards!!!”, she screamed. In the face of Gwenhwyfar’s anger, Isis seemed to regain her composure – after all, it was a situation she was accustomed to.

“It is fortunate that you returned…”, she said mockingly, looking over her rival seemingly for the first time, “ and in such, good condition too.”

“Damn you Isis!”

“You’re welcome to try! In a duel!”

“To the dea-”

“To the depletion of four thousand life points!”, Nazianzus shouted from behind his wife. He returned her fierce glare with a look of encouragement. He hadn’t seen her this angry in years, but held his ground.

“Very well”, she conceded, comforted by the knowledge that he was trying to protect her.

“A wise decision”, boasted Isis with a wink at Nazianzus, “this duel would surely have been her last.”

A few tense seconds passed, in which Nazianzus was afraid that Gwen would forget the cards and go tooth and nail with the temptress.

“Start the Duel”, said Gwenhwyfar through clenched teeth.

The mists swirled around them, forming a translucent barrier around the two women, marking off the battlefield. A crystal hourglass, filled with some sort of purple sands appeared behind each of them, floating in mid air. Just outside the deceptively impenetrable barrier, Nazianzus watched nervously. This was after all, Gwen’s first real battle.

Both women took out their decks and dropped them. Before they could hit the ground however, the magic of the shadow realm caught them, raising the magically empowered stacks of paper to a convenient level for drawing. The both of them then drew five cards each.

“Four thousand life points,” said Isis with a not so short glance at Nazianzus, “It’s your move”

NOTE : Some of the effects of magic cards or monster cards or the rules of play may be bent or broken for the purpose of this story. If you want an explanation, it’s because they’re in the shadow realm. :P

Gwenhwyfar : 4000 / 4000 | Isis : 4000 / 4000

Gwenhwyfar drew her first card, in her first real duel - Leogun (1750 1550).

In an act of good faith to lady luck, she decided to play it. The stiff paper began to glow a soft purple – her favorite colour in her hands.

“Defense mode!” she said, throwing the card out in front of her. It seemed to find it’s own direction, instead of spiraling slowly downwards as would a normal piece of paper, the card traveled for three meters in a perfectly straight line before the glow expanded into a glowing white ball of energy and floated unmoving in mid air. Quite pleased with herself at having performed the feat correctly she motioned for Isis to make her move.

Gwenhwyfar : 4000 / 4000 | Isis : 4000 / 4000

“Quite the contented fool you are Gwenhwyfar!” remarked Isis, stealing the wind from her opponent’s sails, “If you truly knew anything about the Shadow Games you would have never challenged me… with any Magic or Trap Cards in you deck!”

Gwen’s heart sunk. The wind had gone out of her sails, and the sails began to dry-rot.

Nazianzus watched intently through the semi-revealing mists. He could hear nothing from inside the magical boundary, but he got the feeling that Gwen was already in trouble.

“I should have never let her do this alone!”, he scolded himself.

“Let me show you the power of Magic Cards!” said Isis with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. She was going to enjoy this… too bad it wasn’t to the death.

With a cry of “Harpie Lady!” she threw a glowing card (this one scarlet) out in front of her. The card expanded into a white energy ball which contorted itself into the lithe figure of a Harpie Lady (1300 1400).

Gwen tried to resist the urge to smile, fearing that if she did, she would reveal that her monster’s defense was higher than the Harpie Lady’s attack.

“Oh don’t worry Gwenny! I’m not done yet!” taunted Isis.

How Gwenhwyfar hated that woman!

Isis took another card from her hand, infused it with her scarlet glow and threw it at her monster.

“Elegant Egotist” she said with a smile.

A few seconds later, her single Harpie Lady had multiplied (like a germ Gwenhwyfar thought) into three separate Harpie Ladies.

“Introducing the Harpie Lady Sisters,” said Isis in her most formal-greeting voice,

“attack of 1950, and a defense of 2100… each! Here, let me show you!”

“What!? No!” cried Gwenhwyfar. But the mental command from Isis (commands to monsters did not have to be oral) caused the first sister to attack. The Leogun materialised only to be cut apart seconds later by vicious talons. There was no loss of life points, but there was a loss of energy, not to mention the loss of the monster itself forever, its spirit going back to the Graveyard of the Cards. Some of the colour left Gwenhwyfar’s face and seemed to be transferred into Isis.

Gwenhwyfar : 4000 / 4000 | Isis : 4000 / 4000

“That’s not all”, she said, “Harpie Ladies! Attack her life points directly!” Of course, she could have given the command mentally, but where was the fun in that?

Gwenhwyfar ducked instinctively as two Harpies swooped down over her and shattered the crystal hourglass floating behind her. It re-formed however, although she could barely see the level of the purple sand in it. Her palms became sweaty and her vision blurred.

Gwenhwyfar : 100 / 4000 | Isis : 4000 / 4000

Isis laughed and motioned for Gwenhwyfar to continue. An incredulously sweet sound to be coming from such a heartless woman thought Gwenhwyfar – though she was surprised that she could think at all through the pounding headache that had just begun in her skull. She fumbled with he cards and one slipped out of her hand.

Again, the laughter.

Gwenhwyfar retrieved the fallen card and willed her eyes to focus on it. The Cocoon of Evolution (0 2000) – ‘You may treat this card as an Equip Magic Card on a face-up 'Petit Moth' on the field. When equipped, the ATK and DEF of 'Petit Moth' becomes the same as 'Cocoon of Evolution’.

She searched her hand for the Petit Moth and was disappointed.

“Go ahead Gwenhwyfar, draw and die!”, goaded Isis.

Eyes still not completely in focus, Gwenhwyfar drew a card - Petit Moth (300 200) A smile once again graced her lips with its presence as she threw the Petit Moth onto the field in face up defense, and equipped it with the Cocoon of Evolution.

Gwenhwyfar : 100 / 4000 | Isis : 4000 / 4000

Isis wasn’t worried – much. She doubted that the foolish woman even knew that five turns from now the Petit Moth would evolve into a Great Moth. She drew a Rude Kaiser (1800 1600) from her deck, then examined her hand. No opportunity yet… but soon.

Gwenhwyfar : 100 / 4000 | Isis : 4000 / 4000

Believing that she just might be able to turn the tide of the battle, Gwenhwyfar drew and for her efforts, was rewarded with the Insect Soldiers of the Sky (1000 800). After carefully reading the effect she placed it in attack mode and attacked a Harpie Lady. Isis thought she was going insane until the insect cut apart her Harpie Lady (The damned effect increased its attack by 1000 when it was attacking wind type monsters). Looking past the fading sprit of her monsters, she could clearly see Gwenhwyfar’s smile. The magic that bonded the sisters together demanded that they live and die together – meaning that Isis now had no monsters on the field!

Gwenhwyfar : 100 / 4000 | Isis : 3950 / 4000

With yet another glare at Gwenhwyfar, Isis drew the Curse of Dragon (2000 1500). Putting it on the field in attack mode she prepared to blast Gwenhwyfar’s remaining life points away. At the last moment however, she stopped herself and considered the situation. A card from her hand began to glow.

“I equip Dragon Treasure”, she said, raising the Curse of Dragon’s attack to 2300,

“and I attack… your Cocoon of Evolution”

The fireball blasted open Gwenhwyfar’s last hope - to reveal a horrible, wretched, underdeveloped creature. Its soft, sticky white skin was hanging loosely around its writhing body and gave off a pungent odour. Isis – or at least her stomach - was almost sorry that she had though to release it, but the look on Gwenhwyfar’s face steadied her. The woman seemed on the verge of fainting. The only thing that was keeping her from slipping into unconsciousness was the need she felt to throw up first. Gwenhwyfar’s mental link with the tortured creature projected all that it was feeling, directly into her mind. It was too much to take! She wished it away, if only to save herself. She had to get rid of it! Send it back! Reject it! The monster imploded and died. Taking half of Gwenhwyfar’s life points and most of her consciousness with it.

More laughter.

Gwenhwyfar : 50 / 4000 | Isis : 3950 / 4000

Nazianzus didn’t see exactly what had happened, but he did see Gwen fall. Before he knew what he was doing, he rushed straight into the mists – and was thrown several feet through the air in the opposite direction. The rules of dueling were very clear – there was to be no interference.

It was with great difficulty that Gwenhwyfar’s thoughts collected themselves enough for her to raise her pale, trembling body off the dirt and face maybe the one person in the world that she hated with all her heart. As had often been the case in the last few weeks, anger was the only thing that kept her going.

She drew a card and tried to discern what it was through fog that seemed to have settled over her eyes.

“Does it even matter?”, she asked herself, “She has already won.”

Barely managing to mumble “Attack” she threw the new card onto the field. And was rewarded with the appearance of a Serpent Night Dragon (2350 2400). Without waiting for her command, the dragon launched a spectacular black and red fireball, incinerating her enemy’s Curse of Dragon.

Gwenhwyfar : 50 / 4000 | Isis : 3900 / 4000

Isis could hardly believe what was happening.

“Where the hell did this accursed woman get a Serpent Night Dragon? – Ah yes! The Graveyard. How Ironic”

She drew a card from her deck and summoned it in attack mode.

“Gaia the Fierce Knight!” she shouted defiantly at Gwenhwyfar, “ Powered up with Dragonic Attack”

Gaia : 2800 2600

As she was about to order the attack, Gwenhwyfar’s dragon rushed forward and in a blur of purple devoured both Gaia and his horse, with Isis loosing life points equal to Gaia’s attack and causing Gwenhwyfar to gain the same amount of life points.

Gwenhwyfar : 2850 / 4000 | Isis : 1100 / 4000

“How the hell?!”, cried a severely confused Isis, “What did you do?”

The barely coherent Gwenhwyfar could not respond. She had seen something move, then Isis had started complaining. Who’s turn was it? She couldn’t remember.

Author’s Note (Because I couldn’t find somewhere to stick this in to the storyline) : The Serpent Night Dragon is the evil reflection Gaia the Fierce Knight, formed when the spirit of a Gaia is sent to the Graveyard of the Cards. Gwenhwyfar in her dazed state could not keep control of the monster, so it simply followed its own instincts and devoured its natural prey – regardless of turn or attack power.

Suddenly, the mist around her lifted. Not just the one around her consciousness, the physical barrier of the battlefield had dissipated. More confused than before, she looked around for an explanation and saw Nazianzus standing next to a Waboku priestess with an anxious look on his face, and the biggest, blackest dragon with the reddest eyes she had ever seen, standing in the mists behind him.

End of Chapter 1 (Finally)