The projectors cast up their life point cards briefly at the standard 4000 then disappeared as their disks locked in with their respective dueling programs.

"Okay who goes first then?" Kayda asked as she shot a quick glance down at the cards in her hand. They weren't stellar, but at least they weren't terrible. It was a start. Maybe she could pull herself a win and earn back some of the credibility she had as a duelist before the night was out. She smiled with a certainty she hadn't felt all night.

But then suddenly the blade on her duel disk flickered harshly. Any normal person would have ignored it but Kayda had been with her duel disk for a very long time and she knew exactly what that odd flicker meant.

She rolled her head back and groaned, promptly cutting off the other young woman from speaking.

"What?" Torch demanded and crossed her arms over her chest.

Kayda held up her wrist sheepishly. "My battery is at forty percent."

"You didn't bring a mobile charger?"

"I can't afford a mobile charger."

"And why didn't you just charge it last night?

"I did charge it last night," Kayda admitted and pointed to the screen on her arm sharply. "But this disk is Arc-V generation, scavenged out of an old portal delta. This isn't just my duel disk it's my cell phone, so if it has a crap battery life it's not my fault."

Torch chuckled quietly and braced her arm at a right angle so that her monster card blade stood parallel to her chest. "Well then talk fast, girl. I'll take the first turn."

Why is it that every important duel I partake in involves some sort of duel disk malfunction that puts me at an odd disadvantage? Kayda thought sourly as she adjusted the screen brightness to try and conserve its battery life.

"I'll start out by activating the spell XYZ Replenish," Torch's voice rang out over the court yard as she held out a card before inserting it into the side of her disk.

"GODDAMNIT!" Kayda yelled and threw her arms up in exasperation.

The stranger took a steady breath and leveled her amber eyes at the protagonist in irritation. "What is it, you crazy, little, person?"

"You're an XYZ user!" She yelled. "What is this? You are the second person I've dueled onscreen that runs an Xyz centered deck. What is up with all these people? Do they think it's cool? The sparkly hurricanes. The overlay units, the chants that we all spend at least a couple hours out of our weeks revising? I use it because it's a family tradition, but what is the appeal? Seriously..."

"You modified your deck earlier today for a more general opponent, didn't you?" Torch waved her card nonchalantly in front of her face. The movement seemed the catch the light reflecting off the white in her hair, making the air around her sparkle with those little clouds of dust you never notice until you're alone in the sun for an afternoon.

Kayda took a deep breath. "Maybe..."

"Another thing you need to work on, kid." Torch drew a card from her deck and added it to her hand. "You don't need to spout these little details. If I was confident of my victory before, I know I am guaranteed it now."

"Crap."

"Anyway, I activated my spell Xyz Replenish. When there are no cards on my field I can add one level four or below monster from my deck to my hand. I added Phantom Beast Calico." 

Wasn't Phantom Beasts an early generation of cards that were nowhere near what this is? I am almost positive that Phantom Beasts was a completely different archetype than this. Dark Rebellion muttered into Kayda's head, who's only response was a confused shrug.

Torch shot a quick glance down at her cards as if quickly rereading their effects before she set them down. "And now I'll normal summon him to the field. Come on out, my beast! Appear!" Her card materialized on the field parallel to the ground, and from it leapt a massive saber-toothed cat with fur of dark black and shaggy mane down its back the glowed electric cyan. The monster let out a mighty roar as it's stats card appeared before it. 700 ATK 500 DEF.

So...are you playing it safe or do you actually have a plan this time? Dark Rebellion spoke suddenly into Kayda's mind.

The protagonist jumped and took a startled step back, almost stepping on the young boy who want crouched behind her. "Jeez, what the heck DR. Don't do that," she said as she eyed her opponent warily. "Where have you been for the last chapter and a half? You've been oddly quiet."

I've been having a bad day.

"You're a Duel Monsters card. How could you have had a bad day?"

Pay attention you Nimrod!

"I activate Phantom Beast Calico's special ability!"

Kayda's jaw dropped an inch.

If Torch hadn't been glowing before, she was definitely glowing now. The band of brightness on her black overcoat began throwing off beams of light, making her entire person glow like a – well... "They don't call me Torch for nothing." She winked quickly and threw one gloved hand forward. "When a Phantom Beast Calico that was added to my hand at any other time other than the draw phase is normal summoned -- try saying that three times fast -- I'm allowed to summon any other duplicates of that monster I have in my hand or in the grave." She beamed and flipped out two cards from her hand proudly. "And I happen to have two of those. So, roar to life my phantom beasts!"

The ground shook as another two large cats thundered onto the field. The bright blue lights flickering off them reminded Kayda of lightning as the three of them roared simultaneously.

"Okay...three overgrown house cats I can deal w –"

Torch didn't give her the satisfaction of finishing her sentence. "Oh no. I'm not done," she grinned and if this were an animated TV series the pan would have spun her around dramatically. "Now I activate the spell Ideal Double. I send the card at the top of my deck to the graveyard." She drew a card in an arc of white light and inserted it into her duel disk. "And double the levels of all the monsters on my field."

That is such an Xyz-y card.

"You got that right," Kayda muttered.

The rank stars on her three Phantom Beast Calicos split in half and doubled, leaving three level six cats on the field braying in determination. Torch threw one arm to the sky and tilted her head in what looked like an effort to be cute. "You knew this was coming of course."

"Why do you have to be so extra?"

"I'm Torch," she replied easily. "I like to shine."

The responding sound that came from the back of Kayda's throat sounded like something between a choke and a growl. So much so that she was surprised that Dark Rebellion didn't make some sort of joke about she could be one of the phantom beasts.

"I overlay my three Phantom Beast Calicos and build the overlay network!" The three mystic cats growled as they dissolved into twists of blue light. Kayda took another step backwards and the child behind her whimpered as the entire plaza began to shine with beads of bright cyan. The clouds dissolved into a vortex of bright light that took Kayda's breath away. For the first time she saw the beauty in the xyz summon. It was breathtaking.

Torch's smile was bright with lightning as she spread her arms wide, her hair flying widely in the wind. "Peregrine bird from beyond the ending, hear my voice and spread your wings of finality. Be reborn to this day! I Xyz summon –"

Her summoning chant is better than yours.

"I'm trading you in the next chance I get."

"—Phantom Beast: Rapture Phoenix!" The field exploded in a burst of blue lightning and Kayda took another cautious step back as she threw up both of her arms to shield her eyes.

"What the hell is that?" The kid behind her screamed as the entire alley flooded with a wave of white light.

"I don't know, but -- 

https://youtu.be/tpcwmBcJZ0I

 -- oh what der crap is happening?"

Is that music? This is a book she shouldn't have music, what the hell is happening? Dark Rebellion thundered.

This must be what it's like to be in the anime. Kayda squeezed her eyes shut as pillars of glowing smoke billowed from the heart of the overlay storm. A crack of lightning broke apart from the shell, making shadows appear in places shouldn't have been possible. The ground rumbled beneath their feet and the kid grabbed onto Kayda's leg for support before he could fall over. She shot a quick glance down at him before moving her eyes back to where Torch was grinning wickedly,

"You need to get out of here kid." Kayda said and took another step back, "This is just her first turn. You'll have the whole duel to get some distance between you. Go!"

"Not going to work! If I leave she'll just stop the duel and come after me again."

"The smol human is not wrong!" Torch yelled helpfully.

"I hate that we can't use the logical conclusions!" Kayda snapped and glared through the brightness.

Finally the smoke began to clear and field fade. Kayda's heart hammered in her chest; something told her she was in for a real challenge this time. She already wasn't that good of a duelist in the first place, and she knew she would start forgetting to read her cards when the stress got real, and when that happened, things got messy.

It was impossible to see through to the other side of the field with the shocks of brightness reflecting off the smoke. The music pounded louder from every direction, building the tension for a massive monster. A rank six Xyz with three materials; she braced herself for a fight and waited for the smoke to clear.

"Oh what the bleeding crap is that?" Kayda exclaimed and as a pudgy little nib appeared onto the field boucing cheerfully around on a puff of electric blue smoke. The creature's animation was barely the size of Torch's torso and it's glowing little eyes almost seemed cute, 2000 ATK 2500 DEF yet it hardly seemed worth the time, monsters, and animation that went into it.

Torch chuckled and winked with a tilt of her head. "I end my turn. The field is yours, Kayda."

You need to bring this home. Dark Rebellion rumbled. Your battery is on its last leg and it's not just your pride on the line anymore.

"Blah blah, enough words let's duel! I draw!"She glanced down at her cards and took a deep breath. "First I activate the spell Scrapped First Draft and send two level five and above zombie monsters from my hand directly to the graveyard!"She flipped her cards outward so that her opponent could see. "I send my Wight Writers: Doom Virus Archetype and Word Rot Felon to the grave."

Torch nodded seriously but otherwise didn't respond.

"When cards are sent to the graveyard due to Scrapped First Draft's effect I can special summon one Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz Monster using those guys as the materials." Her battery dropped down another two percent as she threw her cards into the grave and grabbed a card out from her extra deck. "So I build the overlay network with my level 7 Wight Writers: Doom Virus Archetype and Word Rot Felon!"The ground began to shake dangerously and she couldn't help but allow a small sadistic smile spread across her face. "Savior with a pen dipped in the blood of your comrades, lay waste to the memories of the ones you hold dear!"

"I'm starting to wonder if I should have just taken my chances with the one who is trying to kidnap me," the boy behind her muttered nervously.

Kayda ignored him and continued with an easy zeal. "I Xyz summon! Rank 7 Wight Writer: Chaos Ironic Valor!"

Torch threw her arms out for balance as the ground between them shattered in the most satisfying way, opening a dark cavern straight into the heart of the earth. An other worldly moan seeped through the cracks in the ground as a bony hand of putrid flesh clawed its way to the surface. It muttered incoherent sentences as it's sightless eyes glared down at small little Rapture Phoenix on the other side of the field.

A fountain pen smeared in red was sewed between its lips, and yet despite that, the undead writer tried vainly to stretch a horrible smile across his face. His grey lips writhed desperately against their seems, making an uncomfortable sucking sound as the skin moved around its rotting teeth. Grasped tightly between it's mangled fingers it grasped a ratty book, falling apart at the binding for the pages were soaked, and dripping red. Its Xyz materials spun wheels of ink around it. 3200 ATK 2700 DEF

"Xyz a rank 7 just like that?"Torch asked, her face maintaining the same relaxed smile it had from the beginning of the duel.

"Just like that," Kayda agreed and threw her arm up at her monster. "I detach one Xyz material and activate Chaos Ironic Valor's first effect! By sending one material to the grave I can special summon one Wight Writer Xyz monster to the field, ignoring its summoning requirements. Appear to the field! Wight Writer: Chaos Novelist!" A second zombie, this with a laptop bag and a bad jaw, crawled his way out of the casm and take his place at the side of Chaos Ironic Valor.

"No overlay materials though?" Torch querried.

"No," Kayda admitted with a shrug. "But he is nice to have around. Chaos Novelist is my home dog. It wouldn't feel like I was really trying without him." Her duel disk flickered dangerously as her battery dipped below 30%.

Kayda frowned grimly and chanced a quick glance at the child sitting on the ground behind her. He was normal looking enough -- he would have even passed for a background character if it weren't for the green part on his hair. He twisted a ring carefully around his pinkie finger, his lips moving silently as he gazed upon the scene with wide eyes. His irises were the green of a dying traffic light, calm yet livid as they caught the high contrast on the playing field. Kayda glanced down at her cards again then smiled at the field. In the grey toned twilight, the high contrast between their monsters was becoming increasingly obvious. The color dodged glow of her opponent's monsters battered against her duo of undead darkness in a shock of bright versus dark. She chuckled under her breath and chuckled under her breath. "I set two cards and enter the battle phase!"

Torch remained stoic as Kayda glared across the field. "Chaos Novelist! Destroy that pudgy little nub she calls an Xyz monster! Wordless Chaos Inscribe!" The zombie monster seemed to wink at her as it whipped its laptop out of the satchel and turned it to face the other side of the field. Tendrils of blotted words flew out toward little Rapture Phoenix and the temperature dropped several degrees. A shudder ran down her spine as she tried not to listen to the horrible whispers that emitted from her monster. She personally had never been on the kneeling end of its attack but from casual duels she'd had in the past, apparently its attack simulation was chilling to the ends of a stopped heart. "It's like this card gets inside your head, brings up your worst memories, looks at them and decides if they're horrible enough to kill you – and if they aren't, he'll change them so they are." Luke told her that when she was still test decking her extra deck. When she asked him why he had put so much thought into her monster's attack code and animation, he had admitted that he hadn't – and that there was no way he could have done it either way. Cards just weren't meant to jog memories like that.

Since then she had cataloged a thousand reactions to her Chaos Novelist and all of them told her the same thing.

Her monster was a zombie of the worst type.

One not just with the means to cause misery, but one with a desire for with it too.

And she loved him for it.

Torch's smile tightened and she threw up her arms as a shield. Phantom Beast: Rapture Phoenix let out a weak peep at the same moment; its impossibly huge eyes seeming to grow even larger as it shuddered at the attack and bounced around frantically looking for a place to hide.

Now Kayda was the one smiling. "I attack directly with – "

"I activate the effect of the only monster I have on the field!" Torch snapped and sliced through the air with one gloved hand. "During either player's turn if Rapture Phoenix is about to be destroyed by battle I can detach one Xyz material and end the battle phase –"

"Shi –"

"I detach a second material and activate Rapture Phoenix's third effect! I choose one monster on the field and destroy it. Bai bai Ironic Valor!"

"Wight Writer: Chaos Ironic Valor cannot be destroyed by monster effect," Kayda retorted grimly and crossed her arms.

Torch muttered under breath incoherently and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, by sending my remaining materials – well material anyway – to the graveyard," Torch bowed her head over the crook of her arm as she leaned in to read the card. "I can summon a Phantom Beast Xyz monster that is one rank higher from my extra deck or graveyard using Rapture Phoenix as the material." She raised her eyebrows mischievously and smirked. "How do they say in English...? Oh right – " She threw her arms up and Kayda was blinded as little Rapture Phoenix dissolved into a supernova of brightness. "Rank up Xyz Evolution! Bitch!"

I'm beginning to hate this chick...did she just rank up her monster on your turn? Dark Rebellion asked sourly.

"Yes talking trading card, she did."

"Spread your wings, O Great explosion of the stars! Your heart burns brightest in your prime! I Xyz summon Rank 7 Phantom Beast: Rapture Phoenix Incarnate!"

"I Xyz summon a monster with the exact same name with just another word added on so obviously it's more powerful," Kayda mocked.

Torch narrowed her eyes. "Pára de refilar sobre o método de XYZ summoning, sua desculpa esfarrapada para personagem principal."

"Jeezuz crud she's even speaking Japanese at me, what even is this?"

She pursed her lips. "Não, não estou a falar Japonês. You are an annoying little crap, you know that?" From whatever language it was, the accent was now sticking to her opponent's voice. A massive bird with wings alight in flames of white descended onto her field as she spoke. The monster burned so brightly that Kayda could even feel the heat upon her face. 3000 ATK 3000 DEF.

But of course, that wasn't what she was focused on. "You do well hiding that accent – that being said, I don't know where it's from but it's adorable. Almost makes me forget that you are summoning crap in the middle of my turn."

Torch chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Your battle phase is over. This chapter is really long. If we keep this up, we'll still be dueling here when the season two villains start showing up. So do you end your turn or not?"

Kayda sighed and glanced at her battery which was running just above 25%. "I activate the spell Frantic Scribbling." A card in her back row flipped up. "When there's an Xyz monster on the field without materials I can draw one card and add it to my hand then choose one of those cards in my hand and have it be a material for one of my Xyz Monsters."

"And you say I use Xyz-y cards," Torch commented, the faint smile never leaving her lips.

"Oh whatever, I'm a hypocrite." Kayda drew a card then set the other card she had in her hand as the overlay unit for her Chaos Novelist. "I end my turn."

"Finally. It's my turn. I draw." Torch added another card to her hand then placed it on her back row. "I set one card in my spell and trap zone, set a monster face down, then I detach one overlay unit from Phoenix Incarnate to activate its first effect. I can choose one card in the graveyard – either mine or yours – and use its effect void of its conditions?"

"Any card?" Kayda raised her eyebrows.

"Well it just sort of says 'select a card' so I'm assuming yes." Torch shrugged.

She sighed and motioned for her to continue.

"I choose your spell, Frantic Scribbling. Specifically, its graveyard effect."

There was a pause.

A long pause.

Then the amount of cursing that followed was enough for three people – specifically a protagonist, a ten-year-old kid, and a duel monsters card that shouldn't have been able to speak.

"I bet you are wishing you had a Fiendish Chain right about now," Torch chuckled. Frantic Scribbling's graveyard effect allowed it to get banished from play in order to double one Xyz monster's attack.

Kayda just kept cursing.

"You say no duel is complete without your Chaos Novelist? Well this duel will be complete soon. Say good-bye to your favorite monster."

Phoenix Incarnate's attack rose from 3000 to 6000. Kayda shot a frantic glance over at her Chaos Novelist who was sitting comfortably 2800 ATK as she tried to do the math in her head. She could feel her lips moving but even the simple word didn't make it to the air the flaming bird took the in an explosion of light. "No..."

"Phantom Beast: Rapture Phoenix Incarnate attack Wight Writer: Chaos Novelist! Lightning Asphyxiation!"

Kayda this is going to take out your battery. Do somethi –

She didn't have time to listen to her talking card, she didn't even have time to defend herself – if a way to do that even existed. All she could do was shove the kid out of the way merely a second before the attack broke through her ace monster and the damage sent her flying.

She hugged her disk to her body.

Her head struck the ground, followed almost immediately by her shoulder and most of her body weight.

Ow.

And just above the ringing in her ears she heard opponent state quietly. "I end my turn."   

A/N

I got some more art for you all. I was drawing Torchy and then one of my friends started drawing Torchy and honestly Torchy gets more fun stuff than the main character does seriously what is up with that XD. Hope you enjoyed the chapter btw, leave me your thoughts below.

by angelina316

This isn't quite done but it is by me *hides*