FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Slade arrived at the city the next day around noon. He had earned himself plenty of points and planned on finding a vendor as soon as he found Jason. That was easier said than done, however. The place looked huge. It kind of reminded him of the skyscraper field card. He wouldn't be surprised if it carried the same card effects, too. What struck him as the strangest thing, however, was the number of non-duel monster people there were. There were obviously plenty of duel monsters that he recognized, but it almost seemed like a majority of the population was from his world.

Slade tapped his deck to bring up the holos before summoning Kage in front of him. "Greetings, Emperor," Kage said as he was summoned. "How may I assist you?"

"I have more questions," Slade said plainly as he continued to walk the streets in hopes of finding his boyfriend. "Why are there so many people from my world here and why couldn't you have them be duelists for you?"

"That's a very reasonable question," Kage said. "The people you see before you are those who've lost shadow duels and had their spirits sent here. They do have the ability to duel, but their spiritual energy is very low. I doubt but a few could stand for a single duel, let alone go through the gauntlet that is ahead of us."

"And I have that power?" Slade asked still unsure of his abilities.

"We're certain," Kage answered as he walked with the serval.

"That explains why there are card vendors," Slade mused. "It wouldn't make much sense to have people selling them when there are only a very few number of duelists who can use them. Or... can the people from this world use them too?"

"It's not impossible for people here to use cards, as well," Kage explained. "The more powerful the cards are, the stronger the will of the caster needs to be. There have been many strong duelists that are from here as well, but they aren't interested in helping us."

"And what exactly is it that you're trying to do anyways?" Slade asked as he looked around to get a view of everything. The place was very inner-city like, yet surprisingly clean. Lots of food carts, lots of apartment buildings, and lots of people, both recognizable "monsters" and anthros from Slade's world.

"My sincerest apologies, my emperor," Kage said with a genuine tone. "I suppose with all the excitement of the successful ritual and with more things to prepare, I forgot to tell you the peril we face. They call themselves the Shadow Liberators. We aren't sure how they started, but they're searching for a way to break open the shadow realm and get into your world."

Slade gave Kage a quizzical look. "That doesn't sound so bad," he replied. "They want to go back home; is that such a horrible thing?"

Kage nodded, both in agreement with the sentiment and to answer the question. "We understand that their goal might sound peaceful, but it isn't as simple as that. The people from your world who are here cannot leave. They're souls are here as the price for losing their shadow games. Their offspring are just as bound. They cannot leave without doing irreparable harm to the veil separating the worlds. I'm sure that you're smart enough to know how dangerous that would be."

While Slade didn't know exactly what would happen in this circumstance, he'd read and watched enough fantasy books and shows to know that breaking barriers like that never lead to anything good. In most cases, it would end in the destruction of one or both of the worlds. Slade nodded, "I get the picture. But... does that mean that we're trapped here as well?"

Kage was quick to respond. "No, no, of course not. You aren't shadow bound like the rest of the people here. We brought you here through a ritual. We can reverse it when these 'liberators' are dealt with."

Slade let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear," he muttered. He scanned the place again, still unable to locate the ferret he was looking for. "It's going to take forever to find Jace."

"Well, you do have a monster who is adept at locating people," Kage suggested.

"I do?" Slade asked rhetorically. He didn't wait for an answer to bring up the cards he owned in their holo forms. He scanned through them before his eyes landed on the one he assumed that Kage was referring. Sniffer Dragon was a card that he wasn't quite familiar with, but with the word "sniffer" in his name, it certainly sounded as if he could track down the ferret. Slade tapped the card and called out the summon. The cards vanished as the dragon type monster shimmered to life before him. It was the first time Slade had multiple monsters out at the same time, and he could definitely feel the extra strain. It was nothing he couldn't handle, though.

The dragon was a deep red with a yellow underbelly and black armor, helmet, and visor. It had a slim, lanky build that was actually pretty attractive. "Can you find my friend for me, dragon?" Slade asked. "He's a ferret, if that helps any." The dragon turns his nose up and sniffs the air for several seconds before starting to head off down a different street. "I guess so," Slade mumbled as he quickly followed the dashing dragon, Kage quick to keep up.

The dragon dashes down street after street, stopping every so often to sniff the air. Slade feels as if he'd been running around the city for over an hour before he has the dragon stop so he can rest a bit. "Does he even know where he's going?" Slade asked Kage as he leaned against one of the brick walls.

Kage shrugged. "I'm sure he's doing his best," he replied. "Even the best scent trackers would have difficulty in such a densely populated area. Perhaps you should bring forth his spirit and see if that helps."

"Right," Slade said, "I've been meaning to ask about that." He turned to look at the warrior. "What happens if I try to do that with a card I copy off of someone who's not so friendly?"

"I suppose I didn't give a very good explanation before," Kage admitted, "for that, I apologize. The only way for spirits like myself, that is those that retain the original personalities, only can be brought by those who willingly allow you to create a copy of them. Otherwise, their personalities and memories will shift, essentially creating a new version of them."

"Well, that's good to know," Slade replied. "I wouldn't want to try to bring back the spirits of those savage wolves that tried to eat me." He chuckled a bit, glad to not have to worry about that. He also realized that it wouldn't make sense for the cards he had came with to have their original personality since they wouldn't have had one.

"In that case," Slade said as he turned to the dragon, "Sniffer Dragon, I want you to become cognizant. Tell me what you would like to be called."

Slade could sense a difference in the dragon as soon as he gave the command. The visor seemed to glow brighter and his stance became more relaxed. The dragon raised its hand casually and said, "Yo, call me Ryn. Glad you decided to let me out to play."

"Uh, right," Slade said taken slightly aback from the stark difference of personalities between Kage and Ryn. "So, any luck with catching Jason's scent?"

"Pretty tough to sort out all the scents," Ryn admitted. "I've been tracking all the scents that smell similar to ferrets, but they all turned out wrong so far. I'm happy to keep trying for as long as it takes, though." Despite having been failing for an hour on his task, Ryn seemed pretty up-beat and happy about the situation. It was comforting for Slade to know that Ryn was determined to find his boyfriend no matter how long it took.

Slade smiled at the red wingless dragon. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Ryn patted Slade on the back with a kind smile. "Happy to help ya," the lanky dragon replied. "Feel free to repay the favor sometime, though." Slade blushed as he felt Ryn's claws tickle at his neck. "If you're up to it, that is."

"I- uh, well, maybe," Slade stuttered in embarrassment. "I need to find Jason first, though." Ryn didn't seem to mind at all about that. In fact, he seemed a bit excited. He sniffed the air again and his visor lit up more. "Did you locate his scent?"

"I think so," Ryn answered. "Smells like a ferret at least. This way, kitty cat." He rushed off with Slade and Kage following close behind him. They dashed down several more busy streets, barely avoiding bumping into several people who they had to sidestep.

Slade scanned the streets for the very recognizable ferret, hoping that his dyed fur would have him stand out against the crowd. It was harder than he'd thought considering how many brightly colored monsters there were out and about. Ryn suddenly stopped hard, causing Slade to bump into him. The dragon's tail seemed to swish about a bit in a playful manner after getting bumped like that. Ryn looked back and smiled at Slade before pointing out the fire-colored ferret.

"That's him!" Slade exclaimed. "Thanks, Ryn. The two of you return to your cards. I'll summon you later."

"You got it, boss," Ryn said. "Just don't forget about me." He and Kage disappeared in lights as they obeyed the order.

"Jace!" Slade called out as he started running towards him. Jason's turned around and saw the eager feline running towards him. A wide smile spread across Jason's face as the spotted cat ran at him. "Finally found you!" Slade practically tackled Jason with a hug.

Jason chuckled and hugged him back. "I missed you, too, my frisky feline," he teased. The teasing tone softened to a more concerned one as Jason hugged him tighter. "You doing okay?"

Slade nuzzled against his boyfriend's cheek as he answered, "Yeah, I'm alright. Still not sure if this is real or not, though."

"Yeah, no kidding," Jason agreed as he broke the hug to look Slade in the eyes. "Thought I was dreaming at first. Figure that it'd be over after I went to sleep. I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is real, as unrealistic as it seems." He moved back a bit and caressed the serval's cheek. "I'm glad that we managed to find each other here. This place is huge."

Jason nodded. "I'm just glad I ended up with a monster that's good at tracking. I doubt I would've been able to find you otherwise. Definitely gonna need more cards if we're gonna deal with these 'liberators.'" His hand instinctively went to his card holder. "I don't even have a third of a proper deck."

"I take it the monster that met with you told you everything, too," Jason said rhetorically. "The one I met with was Hiita, the fire charmer. Who was yours?"

"Kagemusha of the blue flame," Slade replied with a grin. "Anyways, we should try to find some vendors to get some more cards. Plenty of monsters here to make copies of, too. We'll have full decks by the end of the day, even if they're not the decks we're used to."

The duo spent the rest of the day running around the city, checking out the vendors in search of magic and trap cards while keeping their eyes out for monsters they want to copy. They were unable to find a vast majority of the cards they had truly wanted. It was like trying to find forty needles inside a massive haystack with no guarantee of any needles being in it. They eventually had to settle for decks that weren't what they were used to. The city seemed to lack a majority of the archetypes that they loved so much. They spent nearly every point they'd earned out in the wild on the trap and spell cards and had to rely on their limited capture cards to fill up their monster rosters.

They ended up using the rest of their points to buy themselves a hearty meal and a room at an inn. They sat at the table as a human-like duel monster served them their meals of soup, fresh fruit, and some breaded mystery meat. They compared their meager collection of cards, helping each other form strategies, both for single duels and team duels, which they had done both many of times. With their old decks, they were nearly unbeatable in team duels, but they felt like they were starting over. And it wasn't even with a standard starting deck but cards they had to scrounge together with a relatively meager amount of money.

"I suppose this'll do for now," Jason said as he gathered up his cards and placed them in his own card holder, which looked identical to Slade's. "So, how was your journey here. It seems like it took us about the same amount of time to get here, and I know that I had to fight against a bunch of monsters."

"About the same," Slade answered. "Aside from a stray Darkworld Thorn, the forest was filled with a fuckton of Silver Fangs, which make sense when you think about it, being wolves and all."

"Right," Jason nodded in agreement as he dug into his meal. "My most common one was Flame Tiger. Had to use an equip card with my strongest started in order to beat it." His words were a bit muffled from having his mouth full of food, but Slade didn't mind.

"And what was that monster?" Slade asked. He'd seen every card in Jason's deck, but didn't know which ones he started with, aside from Hiita. Jason pulled out a single card with two fingers and turned it to show Slade. The card was "Fencing Fire Ferret," a fire monster with seventeen-hundred attack points, just one-hundred fewer than Flame Tiger. Slade couldn't help but chuckle. "That card is so you," he said as he looked between the ferret on the card and the one eating his meal.

Jason chuckled a bit, nearly choking on his food before gulping down some water to help it slide down his gullet. "Well, I dunno about fencing specifically," he said after catching his breath. "I do prefer kendo. But yeah, if any card was based after me, it'd be this one." He placed the card back in the holder. "He's a pretty great guy, too. Feisty as fuck and always ready to fight, but a great guy. Calls himself Fae."

"Fae the fencing fire ferret?" Slade teased, a smirk on his face.

"Hey, I didn't name him," Jason replied, raising his hands innocently. "Besides, you don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to alliterative names, Slade the serval samurai."

Slade chuckled a bit. "You're just jealous cuz your name doesn't work with catchy fire names. Had to use your species name instead."

"Yeah," Jason said, "definitely would've loved to have a name that started with 'f' instead of 'j.' Would've been better for my competition title."

An armored hand suddenly smashed against the table, causing the table to shake and startling the pair who had been minding their own business. They both looked over to see an angry-looking doberman woman glaring at them. She had some sort of silver-colored armor on, covering everything but her head. "I heard there were a pair of hot-headed newbies gallivantin' around the city with a bunch of capture cards and hittin' up the vendors." Jason glared at her and was about to tell her off, but she cut him off. "I don't know where you're from, but around here, we don't go making copies of citizens without so much as a greeting."

"Hey, look-" Slade tried to explain, but he was cut off.

"Don't 'hey' me, pussy cat," she snapped. "I don't know who you think you are, but this ain't some lawless shit town that you're probably used to. People here deserve the respect of not being seen as potential cards by third-rate hacks like yourselves."

"Who the fuck even are you?" Slade demanded, starting to get pissed off at the unrelenting rant.

"I'm in charge of sorting troublesome duelist wanna-bes like you." The canine poked a finger into Slade's chest to emphasize her point.

Jason was just about to get up to start a fight with the doberman despite her clearly having the advantage of armor, but Slade gave him a look that told him that he'd handle it. He stood up quickly, making the woman back up. She put a hand on a sword she had sheathed at her side. "I don't know what you're problem is, but you have no reason to harass us like this. We weren't hurting anybody, we just needed to build our decks."

"I don't care what your reasons are," she said, "we don't allow tourists to use capture cards inside the city. I should cart you down and have the cards confiscated."

"That's not going to happen," Slade said firmly. "We just spent everything we had on them." His hand shot down possessively over his card holder.

The canine smirked, seeming to be happy that Slade was resisting. "In that case," she said, "I'll just have to duel you for them."

"And why should I duel you for something that's already mine?" Slade reasoned. "They're already mine, I shouldn't have to fight to keep them. If you want me to bet my cards, you'll need to put up your own. I used nine capture cards today; so unless you plan on putting up an equivalent amount, then I don't see a point to battling you."

"You're a cocky, little cat, you know that?" the dog growled. "You have yourself a bet. Let's take this outside." She starts to head outside.

Jason stood up and placed a hand on Slade's shoulder as he asked, "You sure you wanna do this? You don't have to prove yourself to this crazy bitch."

Slade nodded. "Yeah," he said, "you know me; I'm not one to back down from a challenge. And since when do you suggest not to duel to solve a dispute?" Whenever there had been an argument, whether it was against a jerk at school or who would get the last soda, Slade and Jason enjoyed dueling to decide the winner.

"Usually, I'd be all over that," Jason said, "but I get the feeling that things are going to be much different here." Jason was usually the more combative of the two, not just ready, but generally looking for a duel. Seeing him so cautious was new to Slade.

"Well, it's too late now," Slade reasoned. "I already made a bet, and I'm never one to go back on my word." He started walking out after his opponent, Jason following him.

"Just be careful, alright?"

"Always." Slade patted the ferret on the back and smiled at him. "I'll be fine. I may not have my championship deck, but we just went over the best way to use the cards I have. Wish me luck." Slade spots the armored dobbie and stands opposite her. Now speaking to his opponent, "So, my name's Slade, what's yours?"

"Shut up and duel," she demanded. She tapped at her deck holder and five cards appeared before her and Slade did the same. The number four-thousand appeared beside the two of them. "Since you're the invader, I'll be going first." Another card appeared before her. "I'll play a monster in defense mode and that's all." A dark mist appeared over a section of the ground.

"So you're really not gonna tell me your name?" Slade asked as a sixth card appeared in front of him. "I mean, it's pretty impolite to not give your name to your opponent." When the dog didn't reply, Slade sighed and continued. "Alright, fine. I summon Alligator's Sword in attack mode!"

The familiar reptile appeared with his sword at the ready, although this time his attack and defense points showed up beside him similar to the holograms he was used to. "Nice to see ya again, boss," the gator said as he looked back with a smile. "You're old friend Yuri is ready for action." Slade didn't remember calling for a full spirit, but he didn't mind. Having his duel monsters talking to him made him feel like he was in the anime, and the heroes rarely lose in the anime.

"Nice to see you, too," Slade replied, "now do me a favor and take down that face-down."

"You got it!" Yuri sprinted forward with his blade poised. He swung his blade through the mist, dispelling it to reveal a red-skinned man with a blacksmith's hammer. The gator swung his sword again, cutting the man down the middle and causing him to disappear.

"Predictable," the canine muttered. "That was the Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu. By attacking him, you activated his flip effect, allowing me to gain any equip spell from my deck to my hand." She tapped the air and another card appeared before her. Slade figured that the images of the equip spell had been hidden from his sight to avoid showing just how many of them she had.

"Alright, then I'll play a face-down and end my turn," Slade said. The image of a face-down card appeared behind Yuri.

"My draw." Another card appeared in the dobbie's hand. "I summon Celtic Guardian in attack mode! And then I equip him with a lightning blade!" A muscular man with long ears and green pauldrons and a helmet appeared in front of her. His normally plain blade shifts to a wider blade that crackled with lightning. "It's not staying there long, though. I activate the spell card Release Restraint Wave. By sacrificing an equip card, I can get rid of that pesky facedown card." The warrior's sword returned to normal as the trap card Slade had played shattered. "Now I activate Graceful Charity." Three new cards appeared before her before two of them disappeared. "Perfect. I equip Celtic Guardian with my Butterfly Dagger, giving him an extra three-hundred attack points, more than enough to defeat your overgrown lizard."

The warrior rushed at Yuri. Yuri quickly brought up his blade, parrying the warrior's blade and knocking it out of the way. The guardian quickly pulled out the dagger he was equipped with and stabbed Yuri in the belly. Yuri growled before shattering. Slade cursed under his breath as he could feel some of his life force draining as his monster was destroyed. Slade's life point counter dropped by two-hundred.

When the mystery woman didn't continue, Slade took it as a sign that it was his turn. "I draw." Another card appeared before Slade. He smirked a bit as he saw what it was. "I place a monster in defense position and throw down a face-down." The mysterious dark mist appeared in front of him as well as the face-down marker to show that a spell or trap is there. "Your move."

Another card appeared in front of her. "I summon Guardian Elma in attack mode!" A red-headed woman in a revealing top and a short skirt appeared. She wielded the same dagger that the celtic guardian now has in his left hand. "And because of her effect, I can take any equip spell from the graveyard and immediately equip it to her." Her small dagger is replaced by a dramatically large two-handed sword. Her attack points went from a modest thirteen-hundred to eighteen-hundred. "Normally I'd have to discard a card to use the flamberge, but since it was Elma's ability that brought it onto the field, I get to skip that payment. Now, Elma, cut through the darkness and cut his monster down to size!"

Elma seemed surprisingly nimble for wielding such a heavy weapon. She slashed the large blade through the darkness, but was met with a blade in return. A fit man with a black ponytail and metal limbs parried her blow with his katana before knocking her blade up and using the pummel of the hilt to jab her in the chest and send her back over to her side. The canine's life points dropped by two-hundred, evening the score now.

"Chamberlain of the Six Samurai," Slade said with a smirk. "Gotta love his defense."

"Just go," he angry canine spat.

"Seriously though," Slade asked, "why are you really so pissed at us? It's just cuz I'm a cat and you're a dog, is it? Cuz I've had plenty of dog friends if that helps." Slade smiled at her. Even he wasn't sure whether he was acting nice to try to placate her or just to piss her off more, but the growl emanating from her indicated that he had succeeded in the latter.

Slade drew another card. "Sweet! I play Reinforcements of the Army, giving me one of my warriors from my deck!" Slade's card hand moved down to make room for all applicable selections he could make from his deck. "I'll choose Blade Knight and summon him in attack mode." A heavily armored knight wielding a sword and shield appeared.

The doberman snorted. "Not strong enough to beat either of my monsters. No wonder you got sent here."

"You know," Slade said, "you aren't the only one who can boost your monster's attacks with equip spells. I equip my knight with a legendary sword!" The knight's sword shifted to that of the legendary blade in the card with the main difference being a wider blade and jeweled guard. "Now strike down her Elma!"

The armored knight rushed forwards and slashed at the lady. Elma blocked the blow, but the knight bashed his shield into her stomach, causing her to drop the heavy blade. Blade Knight took this opportunity to impale her with his sword, causing her to shatter and be sent to the graveyard, along with the sword she wielded and another tiny chunk of the adversary's life points.

The doberman growled, "My turn then?" When Slade nodded, another card appeared before her. "I equip my Celtic Guardian with my Shooting Star Bow! At the cost of one-thousand attack points, it allows him to attack you directly!" The swordsman puts away his sword as the shining bow appeared before him. He quickly nocked the arrow and sent it flying straight past Slade's monsters.

The arrow went straight through Slade's shoulder, and while there was no physical wound, a powerful sensation of pain shot through the serval. He quickly gripped where the arrow penetrated. "Damn, that hurt," he growled.

"You okay, Sly?" Jason asked with concern. He'd seen Slade play up the attacks, enjoying acting as if he'd really be struck by the holograms, but this was different. It was real pain on his face.

Slade nodded as he recovered from the shock. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You won't be when I'm through with you," the doberman growled. "I summon Guardian Ceal." A bipedal, dragon-like creature with ashen scales and bronze armor appeared. "Then I'll play One Day of Peace, allowing me to draw another card and preventing any damage from occurring until the end of your turn. I'll place another card face-down and end my turn."

Another card appeared before Slade, but his eyes were on the field. He knew the face-down had to be a trap card that would activate on an attack. He was contemplating whether it was worth the risk to try attacking regardless.

"Only one way to find out," Slade muttered to himself. "Blade Knight attack Ceal!"

"Hold up there, Blade Knight; you've activated my trap card!" Slade's opponent declared as she swept her hand towards her face-down card. The card tilted up to show its face. "Collected power allows me to redirect all equip cards to any target I choose." The dagger, bow, and even Slade's sword all flew from the other monsters and floated in front of the archer. "Your sword only works for warrior types, so Cael will simply chuck that straight to the junk pile, but he'll happily take the others."

"Why would you do that?" Slade asked. "Your guardian will still lose." The dragon-esque creature's attack, which was normally at seventeen-hundred, had dropped to a measly thousand due to the attack decrease of the bow he now had equipped to him.

"You aren't very familiar with guardian creatures, are you?" the doberman asked. "Cael has a special ability that allows him to sacrifice any equip card attached to him to destroy any monster you control. Use that bow to take out his chamberlain!" The bow in front of Cael turned into a glowing golden arrow. Cael grabbed the arrow and shot it at the chamberlain, causing him shatter before dissipating. "With the bow gone, Cael has enough attack points to counter your blade knight's attack. Go!" Cael took flight and nocked his bow, aiming for a deadly shot.

"And go, Reinforcements!" Slade exclaimed, activating his trap card. A battalion of soldiers appeared behind Blade Knight. Blade Knight took one of their blades and deftly threw it at the pyro type. The sword struck true and dropped the dragon dead.

The female growled, angry at herself for not acting quickly enough to use Cael's ability again before he was killed. The Reinforcements boost surprised her. She had expected something like mirror force and not a simple temporary booster. She was still confident she'd win. "You may have gotten rid of Cael, but the dagger's special ability returns it to my hand to use again later."

"Fine by me," Slade said. "Now, I'll place a monster in defense position and set a face-down to end my turn. And because I only have one card in my hand now, Blade Knight's attack points increase by four-hundred."

"My draw," she said as another card appeared before her. "I'll switch Celtic Guardian to defense mode and set another monster to bolster my defenses. Then I play Pot of Greed to draw two new cards." A green pot with a large face appeared next to the duelist.

"What are you doing?" Slade asked. "That card's been banned for years. You can't play it."

The doberman actually laughed. "Banned? You must be brand new here. If you can find a card here, you can play it." Two cards flew out of the pot and into her hand. "I'll then place a face-down and end my turn."

"Starting to regret harassing us yet?" Slade asked with a smirk as he put her on the defense. She simply growled and glared at him. "You seriously need to take a chill pill. Anyways, I'll summon Motivating Captain!" A blonde soldier with blue armor appeared on Slade's field.

"A measly four-hundred attack points?" the doberman scoffed. "That weakling would've been better in defense mode."

"Maybe," Slade admitted, "but he's got a special ability when normal summoned like so. You see, he's not called "motivating" for no reason. He can give one of my already defeated warriors a pep talk and bring him back out onto the field. And he's gonna bring my chamberlain back to the front lines!" Chamberlain of the Six Samurai reappeared next to the Captain, giving him a thankful nod.

"Then I'll activate Mystic Box! And here's how it works: I choose one monster on your side of the field and one from mine." Two large, person-sized boxes appear on each side of the field. They look like something a cheesy magician would use in their act with mysterious question marks all over it. "Motivating Captain goes in mine, while your face-down monster goes in yours." The warrior stepped inside the box while the mist seemed to get sucked into the other one. Six swords suddenly appeared next to the box on Slade's field and impaled his box. "I just hope this trick worked properly," Slade said, knowing full well that it would be impossible for it not to have. The boxes opened up and inside the one on his field was the face-down card while Motivating Captain stepped out onto the doberman's side of the field.

"My Arsenal Summoner!" she growled angrily. "You'll pay for that."

"I suppose we'll find out," Slade replied cooly. "Sorry about this, cap, but I'm gonna need you to bear with me for this. Blade Knight, attack the captain!" Blade Knight leaped forward, ready to strike straight through the weaker monster. The captain didn't even try to defend as the blade impaled him, happy to play his part in his card owner's plan. The Blade Knight then jumped over to the doberman and brought its sword down on her. She quickly holds up her armored arms to block the attack, but the blow knocks her onto her back with a yelp, taking out sixteen-hundred of her life points.

"Sarena!" a new voice called out as the doberman hit the ground. A black labrador woman came running out of the crowd that had formed. She ran over to the knocked down doberman. "What the hell's going on here?!"

"Your friend decided she didn't like us and demanded we give her our cards," Jason explained. "We're just defending ourselves."

"Well, stop the duel!" the labrador demanded as she helped Sarena to her paws. She spoke to her friend quietly enough for only the two of them to hear, but to Slade and Jason, it appeared that she was scolding her.

"No," the doberman, whose name was apparently Sarena, "I've made a bet, and I don't plan on just giving up." She turned back to Slade. "Is it my go?"

"You should listen to your friend," Jason said. "This entire fight is for nothing other than your own nonsensical vendetta against us."

"It's useless to try to argue with her," Slade said. "She's obviously not gonna listen to us. Go ahead."

"Good." A third card appeared in her hand. "Perfect. I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Kotetsu. He's not staying for long, though. I sacrifice my Kotetsu and my Celtic Guardian to summon the pride of my deck. From the starry heavens, I call upon the celestial being Eatos! Heed my call and lend me your strength!" A tower of light came down from the sky, landing right in front of Sarena. A burst of wind had everyone but Sarena covering their faces. As Slade looks back to the field, he sees a fair-skinned woman with bright, sparkling wings and wearing a headdress that looks like an eagle.

Eatos smiled as she looked back towards Sarena. "It's a pleasure seeing you again, Sarena. You need me to punish this law-breaker for you?"

"I do," Sarena said. "But first, I'll give you a boost with Butterfly Dagger. Now use your ability and sacrifice it. Alleviate his graveyard of his monsters." Eatos nodded and threw the dagger that materialized in front of her directly at Slade. The blade vanished just before him, ripping open a small slit in space. The spirits of the Motivating Captain and Alligator's Blade flew over towards Eatos, getting absorbed into the angel-like woman's body. "For each monster that Eatos banishes from your graveyard, she gains five-hundred attack points until the end of the turn." The numbers next to Eatos rose by a full thousand. "Then I'll re-equip the Butterfly Dagger to Eatos since it returns to my hand after being destroyed."

"Thirty-eight-hundred?!" Slade said surprised at the sudden turn of events.

"That's right!" Sarena smirked. "Now, Eatos, take down that Blade Knight! Shining blade attack!" Eatos gripped the dagger and a bright energy seemed to become infused with it. The angel took flight before descending on Blade Knight. As the dagger struck, a blinding light blasted from the attack, making everyone need to look away for a moment. When the light died down, Sarena smiled as she saw that the attack successfully destroyed Slade's knight. "Wait, why didn't you life points go down!?"

"Yeah, that was definitely a close one," Slade admitted. "Good thing I had Guard Penalty on the field." Just as he said that the card that had previously been face-down disappeared as its effect finished. "It allowed me to quickly switch my Blade Knight into defense mode while also giving me another card."

"Your life points may have been saved this turn, but it's only a matter of time before I win," Sarena growled.

"Maybe," Slade said, "Maybe not. I'll admit that you'll definitely have the best summoning chant in this duel though. It was pretty epic. Is it my go?" Sarena looked a bit confused at the compliment, but nodded. "Sweet. I draw." Slade stared at his hand. With only two cards, his options were limited. The Eatos on the field was stronger than his strongest monster, even without the equip card or her special ability's boost. He'd have to find another way to win.

"Are you gonna go or what?" Sarena demanded, irritated at how long he was taking.

"Yeah, just thinking," Slade said as he continued to stare at his cards.

The black lab walked over to the ferret. "Sorry about Sarena," she said. "She can get a bit... overprotective. My name's Gwen."

"Jason," the ferret replied. "I don't know why she's so against us, though. We just needed to fill our decks. We didn't think that anyone would mind if we used those capture cards to make copies. It's not like it actually does anything to them."

"I understand," Gwen said. "With everything that's been going on, Sarena's been on high alert. She never took kindly to strangers before, but with everything that's been going on, she thinks that every new shadow bound that strolls into our city is planning something nefarious."

Jason looked at her and asked curiously, "What's been going on lately?"

Slade smirked as he finally got his plan together. "I play one face-down and end my turn."

"Sheesh, it's about time," Sarena muttered as she drew. "Took you long enough. From my hand, I equip Eatos with Twin Swords of Flashing Light! It might take a few hundred of her attack points away, but it allows her to attack twice." Two thin shining blades appeared in front of the fairy-type monster. She grabbed the two of them and gave them a flourish. "First strike down his Chamberlain, and then clear his field of his face-down."

The angelic being dashed forward, floating inches above the ground as she swings one of her blades down at the chamberlain. The chamberlain holds holds up his katana, blocking the thin blade before counterattacking. They trade several quick, flashing blows before Eatos finally lands a killing blow. The angel wastes no time in moving on to the hidden monster. One sword slashed through the darkness, revealing a small, cartoonish-like knight riding an armored pegasus, while the other stabbed the creature knight, easily destroying it and leaving only a banner flag behind.

"You've activated my Little Trooper's special ability!" Slade declared. "You see, he may not be strong, but he makes friends pretty easily. And whenever he's destroyed in battle, one of his friends comes out to help avenge his death." The same hiding mist reappeared around the banner as a new monster took its place. "And with no more cards in your hand, I take it that it's my turn."

"Not quite," Sarena said. "Before I end my turn, I'll activate my Jar of Avarice to bring back five cards from my graveyard and draw again." A gold jar with a giant face and covered in gems appeared next to her. Five lights flew out of it and inside her before another card appeared in front of her. A small flicker of a smile flashed across her face. A very disconcerting smile for Slade. "Now you may go.

A card appeared before him, one that gave him an idea on how to beat the powerful angel. He looked into the dark mist at the monster hidden inside. He knew the lore about him very well. He suspected his plan would work the way he intended if the rules of this world worked the way he thought they did. "I summon Zanji of the Six Samurai!" An intricate pattern appeared on the battlefield, the same one that showed up in the background of his card art, before the samurai rose from it. He wore bright red armor with gold trim and wielded a long halberd, boasting an impressive eighteen-hundred attack points.

"That pathetic samurai can't stand up to my Eatos," Sarena said with a laugh.

"Maybe not," Slade admitted. "It's true that he's too weak to defeat her. At least, alone he is. But that's what I love about my samurais. Whenever they have one of their friends nearby, they gain additional powers. They fight for each other and will do everything they can to keep each other safe. They're honorable warriors who would never resort to trying to intimidate people out of their cards." Slade revealed his face-down monster, switching it into attack mode to reveal Kage.

"Greetings, my Emperor," Kage said. "I see you've bolstered our forces. Good seeing you, Zanji." Zanji smiled at the other warrior, giving him a nod of recognition.

"You're grasping at straws, pussy cat," Sarena said. "Your samurai monsters' effects are only active if there are more than one of them on the field."

Slade smirked. "Don't I though?" he asked rhetorically. "Kagemusha of the Blue Flame might not have the title in his name, but he most certainly is part of their clan." Kage smiled. "Kage, assist Zanji with defeating that angel!"

"Shall we, brother?" Zanji asked.

"I have your back," Kage replied.

Zanji gripped his halberd and dashed over to Eatos. He swung his halberd, metal clashing against metal as she held the blades up to defend herself. Eatos was quick to counter-attack with several speedy strikes of her own, landing several glancing blows along his armor.

"Eatos!" Sarena called. "Use your ability! Boost your attack by alleviating his grave!" Eatos jumped out of the way of another slashing halberd strike to throw her dagger at Slade again. Just as before, three spirits in his graveyard appeared as lights and flew into the angel. Eatos glowed with energy as she held her blades, slashing them through to air to send energy waves of cutting power straight through Zanji. Zanji shattered as he was sent to the graveyard.

The waves of energy continued on and hit Slade, cutting his arms as he held them up to defend himself. The cuts weren't too deep, but they hurt like hell and made him yell in surprise. With the boosted attack points, Eatos managed to deal seventeen-hundred damage and bringing Slade down to fourteen-hundred. Slade lost his life point lead, but it would be worth it to get rid of Eatos. "Kage," Slade said, "finish that angel off!" Kage jumped at the order. Despite the paltry attack value, Kage swiftly took the angel out with a thrown spear, sending her to the graveyard.

Sarena chuckled. A chuckle that sent a sense of strange doom fall over Slade. No one would laugh at the death of one of their strongest monsters. Not unless it was part of their plan. The ground suddenly split open and a new creature emerged. Its body was bandaged, had black wings, and wore dark clothing and a mask. "You haven't killed Eatos," Sarena said, "you've merely fell her. Whenever Eatos is destroyed, she comes back as her darker half. Say hello to Guardian Dreadscythe! And that's not all, whenever Dreadscythe enters the field, she automatically gets to call upon her favorite weapon." A large, dark scythe appeared before the fiend. "It's called a reaper scythe for a reason, too. For every monster in both our graveyards, her scythe boosts her attack by a full five-hundred points." Five streams of dark energy flowed from the ground and into the scythe, boosting the fallen angel's attack to a monstrous five-thousand. "And with you having just switched your kagemusha into attack, you can't return him to defense this turn. Next turn, Dreadscythe will end you!"