The pair of duellists appear on the opposite sides of the rooftop duel arena, the appearances couldn't be farther apart.
One is a tall lanky figure with a disposition that can only be described as shifty or as the personification of the word 'misdemeanour', on the other side a young and bright-eyed posh child who is ignorant to the shadows present within the real world.
The comparison could be contextualized for the duel being that of Experience vs Hopefulness.
Both duellists ready their duel disks and the Duel initiates.
[Leon's LP: 4000]
[Patches LP: 4000]
Leon starts off the duel by drawing his card. "I'll play 2 cards face down before Summoning a face down Monster, that's all I can do for this turn, sir."
The cards appear face down on Leon's field before he ends his turn but Patches himself has a face of Contemplation before speaking.
"You don't need to call me Sir, I'm not fancy pansy Knight, I know some people who would fit the title better but myself no." his words cause Leon to look a little intrigued, but Patches just starts his turn.
"let's start with this, I'll play Allure of Darkness,"
[Allure of Darkness][Spell]
Patches Draws two before banishing a Dark Attribute monster from his hand. "Next I'll summon to the field Marauding Captain in attack position, due to his effect I'll also Summon Meanae the thorn to the field in Attack position."
A pair of cards appear on the field and from them appears a man in worn armour wielding a pair of swords from the other is Meanae who looks at the Marauding captain like he's a knock-off version of Don Zaloog with his dual-wielding.
[Marauding captain ★★★ Earth][Warrior/Effect][ATK:1200/DEF:400]
[Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn ★★★★ Dark][Warrior/Effect][ATK:1000/DEF:1800]
"With them there I'll have my Marauding captain attack your face down Monster" At his words the rugged warrior charges the face down to strike at it.
The face-down card flips over halfway during its rush as a small girl's face appears peering from under the card like it was a trapdoor, she sees the knight charging her for combat and cartoonishly jumps out into the open in shock before starting to run away while carrying a Basket.
In a funny display, the captain charges with his blades but the little girl can just run away equal to the speed of the knight's charge meaning no combat really happens.
After a while the Knight is winded while the little girl is huffing and puffing as well from the exertion, the captain in a show of exasperation shrugs his shoulders before returning to patches field.
[Little Red Riding Hood ★★★ Earth][Fairy/Effect][ATK:800/DEF:1200]
The displays annoy Patches, but he sucks it up and continues to play. "Well, Meanae can't destroy her so that will stop me for the turn, you can go kid." as he says this he plays one card face down before ending his turn.
Leon nods and draws. "From my hand, I'll Summon Iron Knight in Atk position. With him on the field, I'll play from my hand Gold Moon Coin."
A card frame appears and galloping from it is a Mounted Knight wielding a one handed thin lance like sword, the knight pulls at the reigns of his horse to top upon Leon's field, next above Leon appears a large golden coin which appears in the sky like the moon, the idea of such a valuable coin makes Patches blinks but his attention is caught instead when Leon walks onto the arena.
[Iron Knight ★★★★ Earth][Warrior/Effect][ATK:1700/DEF:700]
[Gold Moon Coin][Spell]
"The Gold Moon Coin makes it so I have to hand you the last two cards in my hand but I can draw 2 for the cost"
Patches Shrugs since having more cards can't be bad but everyone sees his expression change when he sees the cards in question.
"Your running that card, bugger, and the other is just as pointless for me" From his words Leon just smiles cheekily before returning to his space and drawing two cards to refill his hand.
"From my hand, I'll Gift some Glass slippers for your Meanae." at his words a card appears on the field and a podium containing some glass slippers appears within view, this catches the thief's attention with a set of sparkle in her eyes she goes to pounce on them.
[Glass slippers][Spell/Equip]
But Patches realizing it is a trap a mile away reacts, "I counter it with the Trap Dark Illusion, to destroy the slippers"
[Dark illusion][Trap/Counter]
Meanae goes to steal the slippers dazzled by their clarity and how they shine in the light but when she goes to grasp at them a shadowy cloaked figure appears and in an instant steals the slippers before her.
This causes her to pause and look at this figure who runs away with the prize before disappearing into a cloud of darkness, Meanae goes to chase after the figure for the loot but when she's a few steps away not looking at the podium the glass slippers appear there again as if untouched.
The slippers decay into pixels as Meanae returns to Patches field annoyed, he talks to her.
"Don't worry dear, they would have been a pain to walk around in any way, one step and boom glass shards in the foot." this causes Meanae to go slightly pale before refocusing on the field.
"Well I'll have my Iron Knight attack your Marauding captain." at Leon's words the knight controls his horse to gallop to the side to gain more area to gain speed to charge at the captain.
The captain gets ready for the strike and even crosses his swords to form a basic guard but the Iron Knight pierces through using the weight of both his armour and the horse to break through the captain's swords and armour defeating him.
[Patches LP:4000 > 3500]
"With that, I'll end my turn." with his words and only one card in hand it becomes patches turn, who draws to 6 cards.
"From my hand, I'll Play the card Painful choice"
[Painful Choice][Spell]
The card reveals itself to Leon and me sitting in the comfortable room groan at that broken card because I forgot it existed.
Patches goes through his deck and sets out 5 cards for Leon to pick from, funnily enough, it's one of each of the Dark Scorpion monster cards, Leon looks at them for a while before picking Chick the yellow.
Patches adds Chick the yellow to his hand before placing the other 4 in the grave, but he smiles when he does this. "Now from my hand, I'll play my second Allure of Darkness banishing Chick to draw 2 cards"
he does this and draws more but when he sees the card he draws he gains his signature Grin. "Now to play a favourite card of mine, you must be asking what would make a card so great that it becomes my favourite."
Patches words catch everyone's attention, Leon goes to speak but Patches cuts him off. "You don't need to wonder since here he is, I Summon in defence position Trusty Patches"
A card frame appears on the field and from it comes the Dashing Rogue wielding a Very long Spear and a Tower Shield twice as big as his torso all the while with his signature smirk.
[Trusty Patches ★★★★ Dark][Warrior/Tuner/Effect][ATK:1200/DEF:1800]
The appearance of Patches in card form causes most people to flip mental tables at the insinuation, I'm just annoyed he somehow nicked his card from me at some point, maybe when I was handing him the extra cards too bad, I didn't give any synchro's, because I'm curious I look over to Pegasus who has an expression I can only describe as Amused while stunned.
Most others in the room are just stunned.
Patches starts to speak "When I summon myself to the field, he allows me to draw three cards from the bottom of the deck before Sending one to the grave." he does so and smirks before sending a monster to the graveyard.
"For the rest of my turn, I'll change Meanae to Defence position before ending my turn" At his words the Female thief goes on the defensive matching the defence of Patches in 1800.
Leon starts his turn and draws his card; he looks at it before shaking his head at the bad luck since he quickly ends his turn unable to do anything.
Both Patches Smirk at the new turn as the one with the duel disk Draws to his card, he looks at it and his field before nodding, "From my hand, I play the Field Spell card Mystic Plasma Zone, this increases all dark attribute monsters Attack by 500 for the cost of 400 defence, then from my hand, I'll summon Don Zaloog"
[Mystical Plasma zone][Spell/Field]
[Don Zaloog ★★★★ Dark][Warrior/Effect][ATK:1400>1900/DEF:1500>1100]
[Trusty Patches][ATK:1200>1700/DEF:1800>1400]
[Meanae the Thorn][ATK:1000>1500][1800>1400]
Seeing the field through the screen I realize something as I count the levels of the monsters on the field, Now I really wish I gave him a Synchro.
"I'll change Meanae and myself to Attack position, Don Zaloog will take out your knight while I'll send the little girl away"
At patches words, the don takes out one of his pistols before shooting the knight straight up without any flourish just bang and the knight falls off his horse from the impact, the horse spooked and goes to run away in fright.
Little Red Riding Hood is scared of the murder, but her attention is grabbed as the field version of Patches places his hands on her shoulder before pointing towards Leon, she realizes something before running to Leon scared and jumps to him before becoming pixels signified as being defeated.
[Leon's LP: 4000> 3900]
Most people are stunned at this thinking the monsters would fight but Patches speaks "I don't hurt Kids." he says this as if it's a straight fact of nature like saying a leaf can be green or brown. "Anyway, Don Zaloog's effect makes it so discard a card from your hand."
Leon discards a card at random but speaks "My monsters' effects also happen, Iron knight allows me to add an Iron Hans to my hand from the deck while Little Red allows me to Summon a Level 4 warrior or below So I'll summon another Iron Hans from the deck."
A card frame appears and from it is a scruffy old-looking man wielding a One-sided Axe with the other side having a Hammer head, his appearance is akin to lumberjack from Little reds fairy tale, he's looking around as if searching for something or reacting to a sound.
[Iron Hans ★★★★ Earth][Warrior/Effect][ATK:1200/DEF:800]
"Iron Hans also has an effect, his is that when he's summoned, he Summons an Iron knight from the deck, but with the knight's appearance Iron Hans gains 1000 Atk at the cost of the iron knight losing 1000"
Iron Hans on the field takes out a block of metal from his outfit and hammers it against the hammerhead of his Axe to cause a clang of noise, this seems to attract an Iron knight who charges onto the field from out of sight, once bated to the field Iron Hans ambushes the knight and robs him of his swords and wielding it himself.
[Iron Hans][ATK:1200>2200]
[Iron Knight][ATK:1700 >700]
"I have experience with reoccurring knights and all but at least I can see a weakness lad, I'll have Meanae attack your Weakened Iron Knight"
Meanae acting with maliciousness struts towards the iron knight to get into range before Slapping his horse's flank, the action causes the horse to go berserk and start to run off, the knight on top tries to regain control but it just amounts to flailing helplessly while the horse runs of the field.
With the knight gone Iron Hans's attack returns to normal but since Leon summoned the knight in defence position no damage was dealt.
[Iron Hans][ATK:2200>1200]
"With that, I'll play three cards face down before ending my turn."
Leon looks at the field with determination and draws from his deck the sight of the card brings a smile to his face, "From my hand, I use the effect of Glife the Phantom Bird, by discarding him it allows me to Add the Golden castle of Stromberg to my hand."
[Gilfe the Phantom bird]
[Golden Castle of Stromberg][Spell/Field]
"I'll play the Golden Castle of Stromberg to the field, removing your field card"
The area of the arena shifts from the clouds around them which were sparking with light to clear away like fog to allow the reveal of a kingdom of gold resting upon the clouds around them, the eyes of the 4 thieves present bulge from the sheer wealth present, those on the field don't notice they become weaker at the cost of being better defended.
[Don Zaloog ★★★★ Dark][Warrior/Effect][ATK:1900>1400/DEF:1100>1500]
[Trusty Patches][ATK:1700>1200/DEF:1400>1800]
[Meanae the Thorn][ATK:1500>1000][1400>1800]
"I'll use the effect of my castle to Summon Hexe Trude from the Deck as well as Summon a second Iron Hans from my hand to the field which will summon my last Iron knight which will increase my Hans's attacks greatly.
[Hexe Trude ★★★★★★★★ Dark][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK:2600/DEF:2100]
[Iron Hans][ATK:1200>2200]
[Iron Hans][ATK:1200>2200]
[Iron Knight][ATK:1700 >700]
With 2 cards Leon's field becomes drastically harsher against the thieves.
"I'll use Hexe Trude's effect, once per turn she can destroy one card on the field which allows her to attack twice at the cost of being unable to attack directly. I'll destroy the rightmost face down of yours" He points to a card and Hexe trude smirks evilly before waving her hand which causes a ripple effect to appear over the card's surface before it's pulled up to reveal a trap card of imposing Stone walls.
[Royal Orders][Trap/Continous]
The destroyed card causes Leon some confusion since he knows this is one of the cards he gave Patches with the gold moon coin, but the man has two cards in his hand so he thought they were still in his hand.
"Bad luck lad, I had a hunch you were gonna turn it around so why not throw some decoys out just in case."
Leon composes himself "I'll have Hexe trude attack Trusty patches" At this both patches sweat but the one with cards reacts, "Good thing the decoy worked since I hid this, I play Fairy Box, when you declare an attack I toss a coin if I call it your monster's attack becomes 0 until the end of the battle phase." at his words a large carnival style box appears it has holes on the top of it, the thieves scurry and jump into the box to hide.
The judge at the side of the arena looks towards Leon who nods to him, the judge then speaks as he takes out a coin, "Patches, your call?"
Patches shrug before saying "Heads"
the coin is tossed into the air and quickly lands on the judge's outstretched hand, he reveals it to be Tails.
"Well bugger" Patches is heard saying as Hexe trude on the field waves her hand and a magical Hammer manifests for the box, the box activates, and multiple patches pop out of the holes they look similar to the real one but at one-point Hexe smirks and the hammer strikes down on the box.
The impact zone is visible and out of one of the holes the real patches is seen with the hammer hitting him directly, he flops against the edge of the hole rim before becoming pixels.
[Patches LP:3500>2100]
"Another of Hexe Trude's effects is that if she destroys a monster by battle, she can increase the attack of a monster on my field by 400, I'll increase my Iron knight's attack, before going to attack Don Zaloog with Hexe Trude."
[Iron knight][ATK:700>1100]
The judge hearing Leon's declaration looks to Patches who simply says "Heads" before flipping the coin, it glitters in the air and lands on his palm again, its revealed to be Heads.
This result causes Hexe Trude to pause as her magical hammer she used before is smashed apart when a cartoon gopher-like creature pops out from the box with a hammer and smashes the magic hammer apart.
everyone is speechless at that, but Leon recomposes himself again quickly "I'll have my first Iron Hans attack Don Zaloog, then after that My Iron Knight to attack Meanae" Hearing his words Patches just says "I'll stick with heads for all my coin flips judge"
The judge nods before starting to do the coin flips, the first results in a Head with the second flip landing on a tails"
the pair of Iron monsters step up the box and go tackle it to get their foes, Hans with little patience to the mischief of the box goes to smash it apart with his axe's Hammerhead, this just causes him to swing wildly missing the fake Don Zaloog's that appear, the Knight on the other hand acts with more patience before punching at the box and hitting Meanae.
Remember kids! Justice is unisex, using force is ok if they're violent criminals.
Meanae becomes pixels-like patches leaving only Don Zaloog in the box, Leon sees this and points at his last Iron Hans who he directs to go attack Don Zaloog, it doesn't take much time but the coin flip is revealed to be tails.
Unlike before with the other Iron Hans, the Iron Hans only swings once at the distracted Don Zaloog who is still processing Meanae's defeat.
[Patches LP: 2100 >1200]
Patches survives the turn, but his field is empty with his only protection being a box, Leon ends his turn making its patches turn, due to the rules of the box he pays 500 Lp to keep it on the field.
[Patches LP: 1200>700]
He draws and looks at the card and his signature smirk returns to his face but it's hidden by his cards from Leon's view, Leon being the smart player he is speaks up "I use Hexe Trude's effect to destroy the fairy box"
Hexe Trude takes some sadistic pleasure by waving her hand before the box is ripped apart by magic destroying the card, but this just causes Patches to start to giggle.
His giggling is creepy and disturbing, but it doesn't last long. "ok that was a bad move, and you will learn why very soon, but first I'll play from my hand The Beginning of the End, having 7 dark monsters in my grave I can banish 5 of them to draw 3 cards from my deck."
[Beginning of the End][Spell]
Refilling his hand, he smiles as he plays another card "I'll play from my hand Creeping darkness, by banishing 2 dark monsters it allows me to add a level 4 Dark monster to my hand from the deck."
He does this and then smirks in full view of Leon. "Let the end game begin kid, Now I reveal my last face down, Return from the Different Dimension"
[Return from the Different Dimension][Trap]
[Patches LP: 700 >350]
"For the payment of half of my LifePoint's, This card allows me to Special summon as many of my Banished monsters as I want so Welcome bad guys." Above the field, a ripple in space appears like a black hole and from it, 5 figures appear.
[Trusty Patches(4★)][Don Zaloog(4★)][Meanae the Thorn(4★)][Cliff the Trap Remover(3★)][Chick the Yellow(3★)]
The resurgence of the band of thieves refills Patches' field but without Gorg the strong, Patches and Leon know he can't use their combo cards, so Leon is confused.
"First of all, with the summoning of Trusty patched I draw 3 from the bottom of my deck before sending one to the graveyard." he does this and discards a spell card Leon gave him ages ago which was useless for him.
"Now to bring in the big boys, I know you like knights kid so my friend gave me a lot of them to share with you. I build the Overlay network!"
At his words, the vortex in the sky grows wider and gains a cloak of stars akin to the night sky.
"I Overlay Don Zaloog with Meanae the Thorn to XYZ Summon Evilswarm Thanatos"
The pair smile at each other before jumping into the vortex in the sky and in a shower of lights a new monster is summoned, their arrival is heard from the sound of a pure white horse galloping onto the field its hooves heavy from its owner and rider's crimson armour, Surrounded by Red floating orbs which orbit the knight.
[Evilswarm Thanatos ☆☆☆☆ Dark][Fiend/XYZ/Effect][ATK:2350/DEF:1350]
"I next Choose to Overlay Cliff and Chick to Xyz Summon the Phantom Knights or Break Sword" The pair of thieves shrug on the field before jumping into the vortex, again the sound of hooves reverberate around but this time It's a hollower reverberation and not just one set.
The source becomes obvious as a pair of Ghostly knights appear on the field, their distinct features are that their horses are just armour but it pairs with the knight who is a glowing suit of armour housing Blue flames, the Pair of them flank Thanatos as if guards for a Grand VIP, the knights don't have an Orb orbiting them but their orbs are visible where the head of the knight would be as if acting as the host of the armours.
The Phantom Knights of Break Sword ☆☆☆ Dark][Warrior/XYZ/Effect][ATK:2000/DEF:1000]
"Lastly from my hand, I summon another Meanae before building the Overlay Network again to use Trusty Patches and Meanae to XYZ Summon Cairngorgon, Antiluminescent Knight."
Meanae appears on his field, but she knows what to do as the pair of them jump into the vortex, it doesn't take long but this time the vortex doesn't produce a shower of lights but shoots from the vortex like a cannonball is a dark figure who lands in a heavy impact.
It gets up from a crouched position with a giant arm in front of it, it moves it out of the way to reveal its form of a Knight with golden plumed hair but with rock-like decorations which seem to draw in light and never let it escape once inside, the glowing orbs symbolic of Xyz monsters isn't present but in their place, his should pads seem darker than they should be naturally.
[Cairngorgon Antiluminescent knight ☆☆☆☆ Dark][Rock/XYZ/Effect][ATK:2450/DEF:1950]
The Squad of Dark Knights cause everyone to recoil in shock since like in Guinevere's duel another Type of Monster summoning is revealed to the world in a most bombastic way.
"Now that there all here I'll start. First of all, I'll activate the effect of Thanatos, by using a XYZ counter, it makes it so they are immune to monster effects for the turn," Thanatos raises his arm to the air and one of his XYZ materials hovers over to his palm, in a ruthless display he grasps hard and crushes it, once it's crushed and gone his and his horse's armour glow in blood red runes warding him from harm.
"Now that is resolved I'll use my Phantom Knights' Effect which is that by using one of their XYZ counters I must destroy one card on my field to destroy one of yours, I'll target Thanatos and your golden castle of Stromberg but since Thanatos is currently immune to monster effects only your castle will be destroyed."
This causes Leon to panic but he can't do much as on the field one of the phantom knights starts to glow grandly as their flames grow in intensity within the armour before spilling onto its Greatsword, as the flames lick the Greatsword it gains a series of runes which empower the blade.
The strength of the weapon causes the knight to lose control of it and force it to swing it to release the flames, it does so but in the process doesn't realise Thanatos is in the path of the swing which erupts a giant blue flame slash.
The Giant blue flame slash reaches Thanatos, but he and his horse take on an ethereal form which allows the blue flame slash to travel unhindered towards the face of the golden castle.
It lands and with its great heat, everyone watches as the Golden castle starts to melt like butter in the sun before becoming pixels.
"Now with the castle done with, I'll have my knights take out your Iron knight with my phantom knight and have my other knights take out your pair of Iron Hans."
The Knights charge as a unit with the Phantom taking out the Iron Knight before Thanatos and Cairngorgon destroy the woodsmen the whole process dealing tons of damage to Leon.
[Leon's LP:3900> 600]
Leon's field is now barren except for Hexe Trude who luckily has higher Hit points than all three knights, when he realizes this, he notices he can win the next turn.
"I thought they would have ended it with that, maybe my math was off. Meh, I'll just play one card face down and end my turn."
Seeing his chance Leon draws and looks at it, the sight of the card causes him to smile and causes Patches to lose his smirk since he can tell the kid luckily drew a way out.
"From my Hand, I play Gingerbread House, Then I'll have Hexe Trude attack your Phantom knight."
[Gingerbread House][Spell/Continous]
behind Leon a house made of sugary concoctions springs into existence and Hexe Trude goes to attack the Phantoms by raising her hand, Patches knowing that if this connected, he would lose reaction.
"I activate Shrink to weaken your Hexe, stopping her from defeating my monster, Also I don't trust that candy shack, so I'll use Thanatos's effect to make himself immune to monster effects before using the Phantom knight to take it out."
[Shrink][Spell/Quick-play]
Hexe Trude's attack seems to weaken in suspense and power, she stops from attacking by stepping back but as she retreats the phantom knights charge their second Greatsword with their flames before doing another grand blue flame Slash that misses Thanatos but slashes into the candy cottage melting it akin to the golden butter castle before.
With the destruction of the Candy Condo Leon's emotions drop and with his Hexe trude unable to attack he has little he can do so sighs before ending his turn ready for his defeat.
Patches Draw and look at his card then Leon he gains a contemplative expression before he sighs, I see his expression through the camera and can tell he's annoyed for some reason.
"It seems I'll be winning then, from my hand, I play the card, Hidden Passage"
[Hidden Passage][Spell/Continuous]
"With this it allows me to send my monster with the least attack to attack directly, so for this, My Phantom Knight will be able to attack directly." at his words the Phantom Knights raise their swords to the air before galloping off to the side of the arena and ride off out of sight.
Everyone is confused for a while but after a few seconds, the pair of knights appear coming from the other side of the Blimp's arena cresting its edge like they circumnavigated the vehicle to attack Leon, With no way to resist the attack Leon closes his eyes as the blades of the knights strike down on him for 2000 damage.
[Leon's LP: 600> 0]
[Patches Wins]