The Millennium Heart I: The Lost Soul

Rostrevor stood with tall confidence as the bank of cards appeared in front of him, “Time to pick your deck,” he announced to Rose with a smirk, “I’d pick wisely if I were you.”

“I always do,” Rose replied confidently, tapping cards rapidly as they passed her eyes. She knew she wouldn’t be able to pick the same cards she had in her usual deck, so as well as the few she found that were hers, she chose some familiar cards that she had seen in action before. Finished with constructing her deck, she smiled when it appeared in her duel disk. She was actually quite happy that she got a chance to try out some new cards that were very well known thanks to the man watching her from across the chasm. It was still hard to comprehend how she managed to run into Yugi here in the first place, but that could be sorted out later. For now, she had a duel to win. “So, let's get this duel started,” she said, a flare of excitement in her eyes.

Rostrevor laughed at her eagerness, “Don't jump the gun Rosie, our new duelling rules state that you must pick a deck master to stand by your side,” he explained. Rose would have scrunched her nose at the nickname, but she was more concerned at what else he had said.

“Deck master?” she asked, confused.

“Rose wasn't here when the new rules were explained,” Yugi’s eyes widened as he realised. “How will she know what to do?”

Rostrevor laughed at her, his voice echoing around the chasm. Rose was sure she could see the flames below crackling along with his mocking tone. “You're already falling behind,” he sneered, “Seems you don't know anything about duelling in this world, this will be an easy win for me.” Rose rolled her eyes, his over inflated ego needed to be popped, and she was determined to do it herself.

“Rose,” Yami caught her attention, “Your deck master is a monster of your choice who cannot be played, but each has it’s own special ability that can help you out. If it weren’t for my deck master, I wouldn’t have won my duel against Gansley.”

Rose flashed him a smile, “Thanks!” That sounds pretty cool, she thought, having a monster as my deck master. But I bet I don’t get to see their abilities until after I pick the monster. “Don't worry Rostrevor,” Rose said, turning back to him. “I'm a fast learner. So who’s your deck master?”

Rostrevor scoffed, “It’s a what, not a who,” he spat. “But say hello to Command Knight!” Rostrevor motioned beside him as the Command Knight rose up out of the flames to stand beside him. “What's yours?” Rose narrowed her eyes at him for his remark. To her, Duel Monsters meant a lot more than a bunch of pictures on cards. But obviously it was not the case for the man she was duelling.

Rose pulled out her deck and her eyes skimmed the cards. After a moment of thought, she picked her monster. “My Chaos Sorcerer shall fit the job,” she said, pulling out the card with a confident nod.

“The Chaos Sorcerer?” Yugi asked, having not heard of the card before. There were so many monsters in the game by now that it was almost impossible to know of every card.

Yami nodded, “Yes, a powerful card,” he said, “I can see that Rose admires it deeply. He shall serve her well as her deck master.” Yugi nodded, watching the sorcerer materialise beside Rose. He then saw her turn to the monster with a grin, almost as if she wanted to say something, but decided not to. She seemed much too happy though, and Rostrevor was determined to fix that. He laughed at her choice for a deck master, and Rose simply shrugged it off. She had her reasons for choosing this card, and she was confident that it was a good decision.

“My magicians never let me down,” she said, “So let's get this duel started already.”

“Very well, my move first.” Rostrevor held his nose in the air as he drew his 5 cards. He then summoned his Achacha Archer [1200/600] in attack mode. “And the best thing about this little beauty is that when it is summoned it immediately takes a chunk out of your life points!” Rostrevor grinned over at Rose who had only just finished drawing her cards.

Rose scowled as her life points fell to 3500, “That was not cool,” she muttered.

Tea was still standing next to Yami across the chasm of fire. “Rose hasn't even made her first move and she's out of 500 life points!” she exclaimed. Although she had been a bit iffy about Rose at first, the girl had grown on her, and she would hate to think that this new friend of theirs would get trapped in this world forever.

“Not the best start,” Yami agreed, watching the duel with his arms folded.

Rose started by playing Celtic Guardian [1400/1200] in attack mode. She couldn’t help but grin as the familiar beast rose up in front of her. It was one thing seeing it on a screen, but having such a well known monster fighting for her was even more exciting.

Tea instantly recognised the card. “Hey, don't you have that card, Yugi?” she asked, turning to the man beside her.

“Yes, I do,” Yami replied. “That’s commonly my opening move.” They watched on as Rose declared an attack on Rostrevor’s archer, and it was easily destroyed.

“Nice move, but you'll have to do a lot better than that to defeat me,” Rostrevor announced. He then summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, [1600/1000], and used him to attack Rose's Guardian. As it was destroyed and she was placing the card in her graveyard, Rose glared at her opponent.

“Alright, my turn,” she announced, drawing from her deck. “This outta spruce things up a bit, I’ll summon my Ancient Elf [1450/1200] in attack mode.” She placed the card down on her duel disk, grinning at the card in her hand.

“What is she thinking?” Tea said, “She only has 1450 attack points!”


Rostrevor burst out in laughter, “You think that little Elf can defeat my Warrior? That's pathetic.”

“I'm not done yet,” Rose said, “I have a little magic card called Book of Secret Arts, this gives my elf 300 additional attack and defence points, making it stronger than your Warrior.” she smirked, “Ancient Elf, attack!” Rose’s elf lurched forwards and rid the field of Breaker, thus leaving him defenceless once more. “So much for your warrior.”

Rostrevor clenched his teeth, “I’m only getting warmed up. Prepare for the real duel Rosie.” He cracked hi knuckles, and Rose was only finding the banter amusing, not anywhere near threatening.


“Bring it on, old man,” Rose said, smirking as she gave him a ‘come hither’ gesture with her hand. Rostrevor made a ‘tch’ noise as he drew from his deck once more.

“Now I'll activate this handy magic card called Chain Summon! It lets me summon 2 monsters in one move. Come forth Achacha Chanbara [1400/400] and Gogo Golem! [1800/1500]” Great, two big headed monsters, Rose thought. “And I have another handy magic card called Assault Armour, this one will raise my Gogo Golem's attack points by 300, Giving him an attack strength of 2100!”

“Ah, crud,” Rose sighed, looking at the field.

“Now Gogo Golem, destroy her Elf!” Rostrevor declared his attack, pointing at her only monster. Rose flinched as her elf was destroyed, bringing her life points down to 2950. But the assault wasn't over. Rostrevor then attacked her directly with Achacha Chanbara. His monster slashed at her life points, and the force of the blow caused her to fall back, landing on the ground with a hard thud.

“Rose!” Yami called out, “Are you alright?”

Lifting herself up, Rose gave him a thumbs up, “I’ll be fine.” Rostrevor has already reduced my life points to 1550, whereas I've barely been able to scratch his, Rose thought. I have to find out a way to beat him, or I may not be around to find out why I can see and hear somebody that nobody else can. She barely understood the whole idea of two souls sharing the one body, who up until this point Rose had thought was the same person, and she wanted to stick around to find out what that was.

Rose drew her next card, Just what I need! “Alright, seems Ancient Elf was sent to the graveyard, I can summon any monster from my hand onto the field, and I choose Curse of Dragon [2000/1500]. I’ll also lay one card face down and end my turn.” She stood back with a sigh, waiting to see what Rostrevor’s next move would be.

“Interesting move,” Rostrevor said, drawing from his deck. He sacrificed his Achacha Chanbara to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon [2400/ 1500]. Now he had two monsters with attack points more than 2000, meaning he could easily destroy her Dragon and win the duel in this turn. But Rose was betting on him not attacking.

“Well your monster looks like it packs a punch, so how about you prove it?” she said, “You can win the duel if you get rid of my dragon.”

Rostrevor shook his head, “I see your plan Rose, but that trap card isn't going to fool me. You’re a terrible liar and I'm not going to fall for your little trick by attacking, instead I'll relinquish that card next turn,” Rostrevor said with a smirk. “Your move.”

Rose just laughed.

Rostrevor’s confident facade crumbled, “Why are you laughing?!” He demanded angrily.

Rose calmed down to explain. “Because, that wasn't a trap card that I set, I didn't want you to attack me at all,” she explained with a grin.

“What?!” The look on Rostrevor’s face was priceless. The fact that he could have actually won if he had attacked was obviously dawning on him in this moment.

“So thank you, for falling straight into my trap,” Rose said with a grin, “My face down card is actually polymerisation!”

“Oh yeah! Great move Rose!” Tea cheered.

“Yes!” Yugi said. “Well done Rose!”

“Now I can fuse together my Curse of Dragon and Gaia, the Fierce Knight to create Gaia, the Dragon Champion!” [2600/ 2100] Rose grinned as her newest monster formed.

“Hey Yugi, isn't that one of your moves?” Tea asked.

“It is,” Yami replied. “She's playing just like I would.”

Tea crossed her arms, “You think she knows who you are?” she asked, referring to his Duel Monsters title.

“I’m not sure,” Yami considered. “Recently the only people I’ve run into who recognise me have demanded an autograph,” he chuckled. “Perhaps she just has similar strategies.”

Rose pointed to Rostrevor’s monster, “Now my Dragon Champion, attack his Gogo Golem!” she declared, grinning as her monster lurched forward. With one swift movement, Gaia slashed through the beast, and it burst into billions of tiny pieces. “Your Golem is destroyed,” Rose said with a smirk.

“Tis but a scratch to my life points,” Rostrevor said, regaining his composure, “If I were you I'd be more worried about my own life points, especially with my next monster.”

“Just summon it,” Rose said with a fake yawn. “Your threats are getting old.” If this guy was going to act like a dick then Rose wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.

“Very well,” Rostrevor drew his card, before sacrificing his Dragon to summon Frostosaurus [2600/1600].

“Good move, now we're equal,” Rose pointed out.

“Not for long,” Rostrevor said with a menacing smirk, “Because I have the magic card Beast Fangs! Now its attack is raised by 200, giving my beast a total attack strength of 2800!” He crossed his arms with a smug smirk.

“Double crud,” Rose muttered.

“Now Frostosaurus! Destroy her Dragon Champion!” Rostrevor’s dinosaur destroyed her monster with an incredibly powerful attack, and the remaining force even caused her deck master to stumble as Rose was thrown backwards once more.

“Rose!” Yugi called out in concern.

“I'm okay,” she called back, getting back up onto her feet with a wince. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead as she stood up again, before brushing the dirt from her jeans, feeling her muscles complain at the movement. The attacks from his monsters had certainly weakened her, but she still had determination. The fire around her wasn’t helping either; as soon as she had wiped away the sweat it seemed there was more on her forehead already. Giving up on that endeavor, Rose glared at the inferno that seemed to be laughing at her only a metre away, before standing up straight once more. If she acted like it wasn’t affecting her, Rostrevor can’t taunt her for it.

“She's struggling,” Yami observed. “But she has incredible inner strength.”

“We have to help her,” Yugi said. “She can’t lose this duel!”

“Rose,” Yami grabbed her attention. She turned to him at the sound of her name, and saw the confident smile on his face. “You can still win this duel, don't stop believing in your deck, your cards will give you the strength you need.”

Rose returned the smile and nodded, before turning back to Rostrevor, “Alright, this duel isn't over.”

“Oh it will be soon,” Rostrevor announced, as the flames around him danced with his laughter. “And you’ll be trapped here forever!”

Rose narrowed her eyes at him, not if I can help it, she thought.