善良妈妈的朋友

Chapter 34

"They did the mash! They did the Monster Mash! The Monster Mash!"

I slowly opened my eyes, stretching my upper body one way and then the other to work out the stiffness that sleep always brought. Reaching over I snagged my glasses and plunked them on as I reached over and turned off my alarm. I didn\'t think much of the odd song, as several times I\'d heard stores play Halloween music during off months by accident and figured that must be the same thing happening here. Or it was a commercial for some business. Or a gag.

Untangling myself from my sheets I took a few slow steps to the door only to shiver; it was far too cold in the building. The night before I\'d gone to bed with the fan on even though my uncle offered to turn on the AC, preferring to whirl of a ceil fan\'s blades to the constant hum of the air conditioning, but now the fan was off and I was feeling a shiver coming on. I grabbed my bathrobe and pulled it on, slowly realizing that I was wearing different pajamas than the ones I\'d put on for bed. With a creeping sense of dread I walked over to the window and opened the blinds.

It was Domino, all right. Just like it always was ever since I\'d awoken in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Except... rather than the last time I\'d suddenly found myself in my bedroom it wasn\'t a winter wonderland that greeted me. No snow, no dancing elf decorations, no messages on the billboards offering Christmas greetings. Though that didn\'t mean that Domino wasn\'t making merry for a holiday.

Purple and orange lights were strung up all over the downtown. The normal street signs had been replaced with green and black ones and I was sure that if I were close enough to actually read them I\'d see they had spider web prints on their corners. On the digital billboards there were cutsey white ghosts, bats flapping their wings, witches\' hats, and even one of them for a burger joint showing Frankenstein munching on a \'Zombie Burger\'. And the Jack-O-Lanterns. Dear lord the Jack-O-Lanterns. There were enough to create pumpkin spice for every Karen in the United States with some to spare for the UK. Then there was the fact that the stop lights were now purple, orange and green... which I was sure HADN\'T led to any traffic accidents...

Slowly reaching over and grabbing my phone, watching as one of the digital billboards switched over to advertise some new ginger soda... with a witch brewing it in a cauldron... I pulled up the calendar

October 30th.

"...what is with the filler arcs always happening right before the major part of a tournament?" I muttered to myself as I set about getting dressed.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Which do you prefer, Renard?" Kipling Chaos asked, holding out two garments. One was a fine, if horribly out of date, suit, while the other one was... another fine if horribly outdated suit.

"I am no tailor but I think those are both out of style," the former eliminator stated, smearing some cream cheese on a bagel. He had done some bodyguard work before, back when he was a teenager forced out of home and needing to make some quick cash, but never dealt with someone as casual as Kipling Chaos. Edwin had been a wonderful surprise, for he had found in his captain a man that wanted him as a friend and brother-in-arms rather than merely a crewmember, but Kipling... for a rich and powerful man he was far more willing than most wealthy men to talk to their employees.

And like his nephew Kipling was willing to allow for some back talk.

"I\'m not wearing them for-" Kipling cut himself off, letting out a chuckle. "Yes yes, very funny."

"I do try."

"Try what?" Edwin said as he came down the hall. He was wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans, clearly having decided to go casual today rather than dress up in his now usual suit. While Renard preferred to always wear his long coat and dress shirt he could respect his captain being comfortable enough in his own skin to feel no need to dress up every day of the week. Especially where many men would feel like they had to put on a good showing with Mai Valentine as their girlfriend.

"Assisting your uncle with his fashion choices."

"What do you think, Edwin?" Kipling asked, holding up the two suits.

"I think Mai would be the best person to help you out with what you wear to work."

"This isn\'t for work," Kipling complained before scowling. "I mean, they are for work but... my costume for the CCN\'s Halloween Party tomorrow." He held out the first suit. "Dracula." Then the second. "Phantom of the Opera."

"Phantom," Edwin said without a second thought. "Dracula is overplayed."

"Really?" Kipling said, surprised.

"Everyone does vampires to death, pun not intended. Besides you\'ll avoid any necking claims and the sexual harassment seminars such things bring."

"Not interested in the Sexy Neck Milkshake?" Kipling teased his nephew.

Edwin made a face. "Sexy... nope, not going to unpack that. The Phantom also has the benefit of not having to deal with the teeth. Just need a mask if you don\'t want to do the scarred up features."

Renard chimed in, "And you wouldn\'t favor the Phantom due to your own... musical tastes?"

The young man blinked at that before he let out a rueful chuckle. "I hadn\'t even put that together," he admitted. He poured himself some of his dry frosted mini wheats, much to Renard and Kipling\'s disgust (they would never understand the man\'s love of purely dry cereal... they\'d seen him eat Cheerios like he was an infant!), before grabbing some orange juice. "As for the Phantom it\'s purely a costume choice. I don\'t actually like dear ol\' Erik."

"Oh?" Kipling said.

"He\'s a creeper who lusted after a child and used mind games to try and trick her into being his bride. Convincing her he was the only one that matters and could help her. The only take I liked was when Erik was Christine\'s father and it wasn\'t romantic love but parental. That is acceptable... barely. Admit that you are her dad and you want to help her instead of hiding, you bastard. But creepy old men shouldn\'t be gaslighting young innocent girls. Fuck Andrew Lloyd Webber for romanticizing that shit."He grunted in annoyance and began to eat his cereal. "We need to change the subject before I begin ranting about the classics. Victor Frankenstein was a fucking ass and-"

They were saved by Edwin\'s phone ringing and after a moment the young man fished it out of his pocket and checked the caller id. He quickly answered it. "Hey Joey... yeah... yeah, I\'m with Renard... okey dokey." He set the phone on the table and put it on speaker. "What\'s up Joey?"

"Man, did you hear about what Duke Devlin\'s doin\'?"

"Nope," he said, popping the P at the end of \'Nope\'. "Renard?"

"I haven\'t either," the European stated.

Even without seeing him they could hear the smile in his words and almost detect him rubbing his hands together in delight. "Duke is throwin\' a huge Halloween party tomorrow night. \'The Devil\'s Dance\' he\'s callin\' it."

"I don\'t like to dance," Edwin said. His uncle and Renard looked at him and he scoffed. "Come on, I was set up for that joke!" He sighed. "Go on Joey."

"The theme is villains and there is gonna be food and dancin\' and prizes!" He giggled in delight. "Oh, some good prizes..."

"...I really want to say no," Edwin muttered.

"Wha...what?!?" Joey exclaimed. "Say no?!? Ed!"

"I\'m not a party guy, Joey. I\'m all awkward."

"...yeah, right!" Joey said with a laugh. "So listen, Tristan and I talked and all of us are gonna go get our costumes today. Gonna meet at 5th Street at 11 then get lunch. Ya in?"

"Maybe I could help Mr. Muto hand out Trick-R-Treat candy?" Edwin asked weakly, clearly not thrilled at all with the idea of a party. "We-"

His phone chimed and Renard leaned over to see a text from Mai... saying she wanted to meet at 5th Street to pick out costumes.

"-Joey, did you text my girlfriend because you knew she\'d force me to come to this party?"

"Shhhhhhhh. You\'re breaking up, Ed! Shhhhhh!"

"Joey you fucking asshole!" Edwin roared, leaning down closer to the phone.

"SHHHHHHH! What....say....break..... up.... bye!"

And then Joey hung up.

"That blond piece of fucking Donkey Butter!" Edwin roared, much to his uncle and Renard\'s amusement.

~MC~MC~MC~

"So... do you have a hat and scarf for every holiday?" Tristan asked.

I looked down at my pumpkin scarf then rolled my eyes upward to my matching Pumpkin beanie cap. "No, just for Halloween and Christmas. But luckily for you guys I don\'t require goofy hats for Halloween shopping."

"But we CAN wear goofy hats, right?" Joey asked hopefully.

I chuckled, having figured Joey would be interested, and reached into the bag I\'d brought with me and tossed him a set based on Frankenstein. Joey squealed in delight and hurriedly threw his on.

"Keep it Joey," I told him, earning a fist bump from the teen. "I have one for the Pharaoh but not sure if he can wear it." I held out one, a white one that merely had written on it, "I\'m a Ghost... Duh".

Mai merely rolled her eyes. "You make it really hard to... be your girlfriend, you know that?"

I didn\'t miss the way she paused. I had a feeling I knew just what word she actually wanted to use. But I decided not to dwell on it because, honestly, a filler episode was not the time for such things as using the L word. So instead I said, "Hey, let me have this. I don\'t like Halloween."

The others all frowned. "Uh... Edwin?" Yugi said, pointing at my hat and scarf.

"Let me rephrase: I don\'t like spook, creepy, goopy, drippy, disgusting Halloween. I don\'t like rotting ghouls crawling out of toilets or disgusting rat infested skeletons or gut strewn haunted houses. I like..." I rolled my hand about, "...baby\'s first Halloween. 1 year olds in cute little bumblebee costumes giggling as they run up to sidewalks and get candy apples. Reese\'s Peanut Butter Pumpkins and mini snickers and paper sheet ghosts with happy faces."

"Heh," Joey snickered. "That sounds pretty wimpy, Ed!"

"Maybe but that\'s how I am. So if this party is going to be all about jump scares and disgusting things I\'m out. And if it\'s about scaring little kids that just want to play dressup-" I felt my eyes go black and gold and the others all took a step back, "-that would be a bad... move." I blinked and things went back to normal. My father had made it clear to our neighbors my brother and I were NEVER to be scared for their giggles and I planned to continue the tradition.

"...duly noted," Tristan said with a gulp.

"To be fair," Tea said, raising her hand, "I\'m not a fan of disgusting icky stuff either. So Baby\'s First Halloween sounds nice to me."

"Well... I don\'t mind either way," Yugi admitted.

"Aw come on Yug!" Joey exclaimed. "Halloween is about being scared!"

"He has a Egyptian ghost living in his puzzle and deals with dark sorcerers," Renard commented lazily. "My captain can call upon the powers of the Shadow Realm. I am 75% sure Tristan is a werewolf. We deal with enough frightening things already."

"Still," Mai complained, "Halloween should be a bit spooky."

"Wait, what?" Tristan said, finally catching on to what Renard had said.

"So you\'ll be dressing up like a zombie, Mai?" I asked, ignoring Tristan.

She let out a laugh at that. "And cover this face in fake blood? No. No no no no. I do cultured and mature Halloween."

"I can live with that," I said and with that the group began to walk along the street... only to stop when a dark chuckle filled the air. "Oh... I recognize that laugh." I slowly turned... as YamI Bakura emerged from an alley. "Was wondering when you\'d show up again," I said, rubbing my throat.

"I\'ve been waiting for you, Edwin Chaos," Yami Bakura said. "While my-"

"You were waiting for the captain in an alley?" Renard asked in confusion.

"Yes, I was. Waiting to have-"

"How did you know he\'d walk past this alley?"

Yami Bakura blinked. "I-"

"Do you normally hang out in alleys?"

Tristan leaned towards Mai and whispered, "is it wise to taunt him?"

"Not at all."

I shrugged. "His ring can sense items so he sensed mine." I motioned for Yami Bakura to continue.

"While my vengeance against the Pharaoh has not been properly prepared yet... I am quite ready to finally strike against you."

"...okey dokey," I said with a shrug, Renard reaching into his backpack and pulling out a duel disc. "Want to do this here?"

"Uh, Edwin?" Tea asked nervously, "is this a good idea? I mean, you remember what he can do..."

"Yeah but this is a filler arc so he can\'t actually hurt me."

"...what?" Tea and Yami Bakura said at the same time.

"Filler Arc. Not canon. Or it is it just doesn\'t actually affect any events outside of filler. So we\'ll duel, I\'ll win, and we\'ll pretend this never happened."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Yami Bakura said, annoyed, staring at me with dark eyes.

"It\'s like when I dueled Santa Claus."

Joey shook his head. "But Ed, that happened and was super important!"

"...no, it really wasn\'t." I reached into my pocket and pulled out my deck... only to discover it wasn\'t the deck I was expecting. "Heh," I laughed, seeing the cards. "See, I even have a deck perfect for the season! So filler arc!"

"I am concerned you have brain damage," Renard commented.

"Listen it\'s either duel him or deal with him following us around glaring at us from that stupid pointy hair," I told Renard (YamI Bakura actually reached up and weakly touched his white locks). "So we\'ll duel. However, just to be safe-"

My eyes flashed black and gold and I suddenly slammed my hand down onto the sidewalk, creating a pulse of energy.

"What... what did you do?" Yami Bakura demanded.

"Locked the Shadow Realm out of this duel. We do this straight... well, I do this straight and you try hard so not to embarrass your dad, Florence."

"Edwin?" Mai said, leaning towards me. "Remember the conversation we had while ago about you NOT running your mouth to piss people off?"

"Fish got swim, birds gotta fly, Mais gotta look sexy and smart in their outfits, Edwins have to be mouthy assholes."

"...I can\'t argue with that," Mai said, stepping back as I activated my duel disc and motioned for Yami Bakura to go for.

"Hmmm. You do like to run your mouth, making a mockery of all that which you don\'t understand. But I wonder how long your chatter will last before it becomes the wails of the doomed and damned?"

"Oh no... are you going to make me watch 2 Broke Girls?"

I could hear all the others slapping their foreheads in unison.

"Let us start this duel by summoning a proper fright. After all... we are so very close to All Hallow\'s Eve."

"Did you know that All Hallow\'s Eve is actually basically All Saints\' Day Eve. So why is it scary? I mean-"

"I SUMMON THE HEADLESS KNIGHT!" Yami Bakura shouted... mostly to shut me up.

"Eeeeeee!" Joey exclaimed as the ghostly knight appeared on the field, swinging his sword. "Man, I\'m beginin\' ta agree with Ed on preferin\' Baby\'s First Halloween!"

"What\'s the matter, Joey Wheeler?" YamI Bakura asked. "Frightened of my undead specter? Fearful that he will possess you and turn you against your friends?"

I raised my hand. "But his card text says he\'s a falsely accused knight seeking justice."

"...what?"

"The card text." I shrugged. "I remember this one. A falsely accused knight who now wanders the earth seeking justice. That isn\'t evil... he\'s a heroic knight who wants to protect others and punish evil. That makes him a good ghost. Like Casper."

"No!" Yami Bakura snapped. "He is evil!"

"Nope, good." The knight shifted. "I think he\'s nodding in agreement."

"Edwin, he doesn\'t have ears to hear you," Tristan reminded me.

"Oh yeah."

"JUST DUEL YOU JIBBERING FOOL!" Yami Bakuara roared even as he violently slammed a facedown card on the field.

"Oh bitch bitch bitch," I complained. "One monster in facedown defense. End turn."

"And now I will have my EVIL Headless Knight destroy whatever pathetic defense you have set up!" The Knight lumbered forward, raising his blade up high and plunged it into my card...

...revealing a possessed doll.

A happy, smiling, child-like possessed doll.

"...what?"

"Meet Ghostrick Doll," I said happily.

"Oh no," Mai groaned behind me.

"What?" Tea said in confusion. "What\'s wrong?"

"He\'s running a Ghostrick Deck."

"So?"

I looked over to see Mai holding her head in her hands. "Ghostrick is basically a Troll Deck."

Joey\'s brow furrowed. "Like lumbering ogres?"

"Like pranks and annoyances."

"...so like Edwin," Renard said with a smirk.

"It fits, doesn\'t it?" I said cheerfully before looking back to Yami Bakura. "So, when my Doll is Flip Summoned she uses her utter cuteness to force your monsters into facedown defense position-" The Headless Knight clutched at his chest before turning into a card, "-and then I can set a monster from my deck whose level is equal to the number of monsters I did that to. So one." I grinned. "And since it is my turn now I set another monster in downface defense position and end my turn."

"Then I will simply turn my Headless Knight back to attack position and destroy the card on the left!" Yami Bakura snarled, his Headless Knight returning and slashing at my card... causing my Ghostrick Fairy to appear and act like she had been brutally injured. Of course the way she was hamming it up everyone could tell it was utterly fake even as she shattered.

"Oh, that might have been devastating... if not for her effect." I smirked. "First I can now set Doll back on the field in facedown defense position." The doll briefly appeared, giggling and clapping in delight, before turning into a card. "And then I get to switch Headless right back to defense position."

"I see what ya mean," Joey told Mai. "I know I\'d be losin\' it if I were duelin\' that deck."

"I almost feel sorry for the evil spirit inhabiting the teenage boy\'s body," Renard stated. "Almost."

"Still, even if it is annoying... it\'s a great strategy," Yugi said. "Edwin is completely controlling the flow of the duel. He\'s not letting the Spirit of the Ring set anything up at all. Sometimes that is the most important thing you can do in a duel. If one can control how a duel goes that is already half of the victory right there."

"You\'re right," Mai agreed. "Ghostrick is all about surprises when you flip those monsters face up. Not only do they protect your lifepoints but they can completely ruing any strategy you have. It makes you angry and sloppy... and that results in mistakes."

I merely smirked and drew my next card. "Now then, while Mai and Yugi are right about surprises... I do love spoilers so lets spoil things. I flip summon all my Ghostrick monsters!" On my side of the field Doll appeared, as did Ghostrick Specter who looked like a chummy bedsheet ghost. The only paranormal activity he would cause was stealing cookies before supper. "I also summon Ghostrick Mary in attack mode!" A mirror appeared and a young girl in the reflection waved at Yami Bakura (He did not wave back). "But she won\'t be staying for long: I Xyz Summon, using my Specter and Mary, my own headless knight. Come forth Ghostrick Dullahan!"

The two Ghostricks spun together, the Specter becoming a cape and Mary\'s mirror into a shiny shield for my chibi Headless Horseman. He was a squat little monster with a fierce looking horse... er... pony. Yeah, pony.

"You... you disgrace the darkness and the terrors of the underworld!" YamI Bakura complained.

"I prefer giving them a chance to have fun. Speaking of... I\'ll activate Ghostrick Mansion now." The area around us shimmered before turning into a haunted house... except one with G rated scares. Happy spiders, books that had punny names, dusty furniture. All rather sweet and cute honestly. "This card has an interesting effect. Neither of us can attack facedown defense monsters but if that is all we have on the field then their opponent can attack directly. Meaning my Ghostrick Dullahan and my Doll can now attack your lifepoints. And because I control two Ghostrick monsters my Dullahan\'s attack rises from 1000 to 1400!"

Yami Bakura let out a cry as my monsters rushed forward, giggling and squealing as they happily glomped him, knocking him on his possessed butt, Doll nuzzling him happily while Dullahan\'s pony nibbled at his shoes. (Yami Bakura-2300)

"Man! Those baby monsters nearly wiped out half of that creep\'s lifepoints!" Joey declared.

"The power of the Ghostrick deck," Renard told him. "It lures you in with its cute looks only to make you pay."

"And I\'m not done yet!" I declared. "Because Doll was flipped face up her effect activates, switching all my monsters to facedown defense and allowing me to set one monster from my deck to my field whose level is based on how many monsters were switched."

Three happy, innocent looking facedowns appeared.

Yami Bakura looked at me before throwing his head back and laughing. "Oh... oh you fool! You foolish fool!"

"The most foolish of foolish fools who dared to fooled," I called out, figuring since this was a filler arc and Yami Bakura couldn\'t pull any Shadow Realm bullshit I might as well enjoy mocking him as much as I could.

But Yami Bakura, for once during our battle, wasn\'t annoyed by my antics. "Laugh and joke all you wish, Edwin Chaos. But you have signed your own doom! In your rush to score a few meaningless points against me you have left yourself open. Your Mansion affects you as much as it does me and now you are the one with only defense cards on the field!"

"Edwin!" Tea cried out in fear. "Look out!"

"There is nothing he can do!" Yami Bakura taunted. "He is finish! I summon again my Headless Knight and have him attack Edwin directly!" The Spirit of the Millennium Ring threw back his head and laughed as his ghost stomped right over my cards and swung his sword-

-only to hit a pumpkin.

"Oh look... I found his head," I said with a dark grin. "Or rather... Ghostrick Lantern, who negates the attack and then summons himself onto the field." The pumpkin-headed ghost appeared, giggling as the Headless Knight was forced to awkwardly walk backwards to return to Yami Bakuara\'s side of the field. "And now it is my turn. First... I flip summon my Dullahan and my Doll, as well as the monster I set last turn: another Fairy." All three monsters appeared and floated over to Lantern, giving him a hug and welcoming him to the game. "And because Fairy was flip summoned I can bring out her sister, my other Fairy, to the field." The two fairies squealed and began to bounce up and down as the first Fairy appeared. "Let\'s do the math: there are now 4 Ghostrick monsters on the field, meaning my Dullahan\'s attack increases to 2000. More than enough to destroy your Headless Knight and leave Dullahan as the only Sleepy Hollow Spook on the field."

"Activate my trap!" Yami Bakura declared, his smile wide and sharp. "Dark Spirit of Silent! This card negates your Dullahan\'s attack while possessing another one of your monsters, forcing it to attack. And I chose your weak Doll!" The decaying corpse-like ghost suddenly wrapped itself around Doll... only to tilt its head as Doll laughed and began to pretend to swim in the air thanks to being lifted up. After a few moments YamI Bakura motioned for it to hurry up and it finally just threw the Doll at the Headless Knight.

And while my lifepoints ticked away... it wasn\'t by much.

"Ghostrick Mansion reduces all battle damage caused by non-Ghostrick monsters by half," I helpfully explained. (Edwin-3425)

"Of course," Yami Bakura growled through grit teeth.

"Well, can\'t attack now anyway so I guess all my monsters can shift to defense, along with your Knight, thanks to Doll\'s effect... even if she has sadly been banished from the game." I turned and a portrait of the Ghostrick Doll appeared on the Mansion\'s wall... though it was a magical one so she waved to all her friends. "And I set this monster in facedown defense. You\'re turn."

"I sense Edwin is enjoying this," Tristan said dryly. "And a werewolf?" he asked Renard.

"If you don\'t want to admit it I understand," Renard stated. "it is a private thing, of course."

Tristan glowered at the European only to notice Joey inching away from him. "I\'m not a werewolf!"

"Which is just what a werewolf would say!"

Yami Bakura glowered at me and held up a card. "I think my Knight has done about as much as he can do. As such I will tribute him to summon another hellish specter from my hand. Behold the Earl of Demise!" The corpse-like lord appeared, his jaw hanging open and his sunken in eyes swiveling and peering at all my cards. "And because you have no monsters face up he can attack you directly!" I braced myself as the ghoul suddenly popped up in front of me and swung his blade at me, grunting in discomfort; it might have been a hologram and I might have stopped the Shadow Realm from coming into play but that strike still fucking hurt, even with the Mansion reducing its strength. (Edwin-2425)

I quickly recovered and began to tap my duel disc. "Well, this has been fun but I think it\'s time we ended this. Flip every monster face up..." Each of my Ghostrick monsters popped back up into attack mode. "Then Xyz summon with my Fairies Ghostrick Socuteboss." The smiling demon appeared as the fairies turned into earrings for her, blowing a kiss at the Earl of Demise who seemed rather befuddled. "Then I remove one Fairy from the grave to activate Socuteboss\' effect, destroying Earl and having my monsters-"

Yami Bakura laid his hand on his deck.

"We never speak of this again?" he asked in annoyance.

"Filler arc."

He merely nodded and stormed off as I deactivated my duel disc. "Well, that was fun. So, costumes. Joey said the theme for Duke\'s party was villains?"

"Yeah," Yugi said with a grin as we continued on, acting like that needless duel hadn\'t actually happened. "Apparently Duke\'s family has been throwing Halloween parties for years and each one has a theme. Last year was Historical victims-"

"Huh?" Tristan said.

"You know... people who were killed. So Abe Lincoln or Rasputin. This time he was inspired to do villains... something about... uh..."

"What?" I asked.

Yugi swallowed and smiled nervously. "He mentioned he was inspired... by Domino having an actual devil living here."

"...fuck," I muttered to myself. "I should have figured that nickname would come back at some point to bite me in the ass." I sighed. "Well, there goes my failsafe costume."

"Which is?" Mai asked.

"Tallahassee from Zombieland," I said, not mentioning that my OTHER failsafe was Bandit Keith because that would get a lot of questions. "So, anyone have any ideas what they want to do?"

"A few," Mai admitted, "but I\'m willing to be inspired by the selection at Ethan\'s."

I frowned at that. "Ethan\'s?" I asked, concerned that for once the shop didn\'t have some cutesy pun name as was the norm in Domino. That or a mascot name... that was common too. \'Ethan\'s\' was far too normal... and familiar for some reason...

"A new costume shop that opened up," Joey told us with a grin. "Said they have the greatest costumes ever! Dirt cheap prices too!" He rubbed his hands together. "I am so winning one of those costume contest prizes."

It took about 10 minutes to reach Ethan\'s, which was on a side street and looked like it had been quickly set up last minute. The rest of the gang was clearly excited but I still had the odd sense of deju vu...

...and then my phone played the theme to Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

\'Oh fuck me with a big red Imp Dick!\' I thought as I realized just what this filler arc was going to be inspired by. \'It\'s the Buffy Halloween episode!\' I entered the shop, trying to remember what Ethan looked liked, as if I found myself in a double crossover I was going to have to really use the Millennium Key to get myself out of the mess I found myself in. Mystical items? Card games that decided the fate of the world? All stuff I could handle.

Vampires and witches and teen romances?

No thank you. I had enough of that to deal with when it came to my own fucking love life and I was 35 years old!

But as I scanned the shop I didn\'t see any sign of Ethan anywhere, just a bored looking young man running the counter reading a magazine. Most people would have just shrugged and figured they were being paranoid but I had learned far too often in this world that it wasn\'t paranoia if they really were out to get you. And most of them time they were out to get me.

"You okay, Edwin?" Yugi asked as he looked over, of all things a long plastic katana.

"Yeah, just thinking about what costume I want to wear," I lied. Only, as I thought about it... maybe that shouldn\'t be a lie. \'If this is the Buffy Halloween Episode then we are all going to end up our costumes. Meaning I need to plan ahead.\' I looked at the racks of clothing, the different accessories, the wigs and glasses and makeup, and my brain raced as I went over just what would most likely happen. \'So the spell works even if you have a single item as part of your costume. Xander just bought a toy gun and he became a soldier. Totally overwrote his personality. The same is going to happen to everyone getting costumes here... and Duke is making the theme villains. Fuck fuck fuck!\' I jerked my head up and down. \'Damn it all it would be bad enough if some people became weak but now everyone is going to be a villain. And they\'ll most likely have superpowers too, considering Willow became an actual ghost. Damn it all!

\'Okay, so first things first... can\'t buy my costume from here. If I do I am going to get mind whammied and I need to be thinking clearly to deal with whoever the mastermind is of the spell.\' I looked over at the register and saw there was a sign advertising that they were taking 50% off all costumes marked with a red sticker. Pretending that I was browsing through a rack of costumes made up of zombie outfits (\'No...no... oh fuck no!\') I began looking at tags. \'And the only ones that are 50% off are the villains.\' My upper lip twitched at that. \'Gee, I wonder if Duke came up with his theme on his own?\'

"mmm... no this will be nice," Mai purred as she held out a long white fur coat. "Elegant yet evil."

"Great," I said with a forced smile. \'Alright dumbass, think! All your friends are going to turn into their costumes. No way you can convince them to leave... knowing my luck even without the sale and selection there is a compulsion charm to buy something.\' I moved on to the rubber masks, knowing there was no way I was getting one of those; I\'d seen Goosebumps, thank you! \'And if you get anything here you are going to turn into your costume. But if you don\'t you\'ll only have the Millennium Key and I\'m not sure it has the power to unlock their true selves... and even if it does its hard to do that when I\'m being swarmed by villains!\' I moved on to the accessories, looking at the wands and toy guns (\'Voldemort\'s wand... Bellatrix\'s wand... Marvin the Martin\'s gun... Megatron in Gun form...\'). \'If I could have some power of my own I\'d be okay, maybe have a chance but I can\'t risk losing my...mind...\'

I trailed off as I noticed a particular accessory set. Someone had accidently mislabeled them as villain accessories. There was a chance... a slim one but a chance... that I could use this to my advantage. Jailbreak the spell by tricking it and its caster. I\'d have to be very careful but if luck was on my side...

"Hey Ed, what did you find?" Joey asked and I quietly made it look like I\'d been going for something else; no need to let anyone have a hint of my plans. I glanced at Joey and saw he was carrying a long yellow plastic staff.

"Oh, this and that," I said. "You?"

"Eh, I was gonna go with somethin\' simple but the counter guy suggested this." Joey wiggled the staff. "In fact he\'s been real helpful."

"Has he?" I asked, curious. The register jockey looked bored out of his mind but now I was wondering how much of a front that was.

"Yeah. Tea was gonna go as a plain old witch but he came up something much cooler for her. Now he\'s helpin\' Tristan out."

"That so..." I ran my tongue along the inside of my check. "Think I\'ll talk to him myself."

Joey nodded and went over to ring up as the store had a self checkout while I quickly removed my hoodie and used it to hide five of the accessory packs I\'d spotted; I\'d feel bad for shoplifting if the store wasn\'t about to curse me. Satisfied I walked up to the register operator as he finished with Tristan and let out an exasperated shrug. "Hey man, my friend said you might be able to help?"

"Yeah, I guess?" the operator said. He NEARLY got the bored retail worker attitude perfect. Nearly. It was a touch too forced, with too much of a sigh. The exaggeration is what killed it and told me he must be faking. It was the Hollywood version of bored, rather than the real kind where it was more well hidden with only a hint that the person wanted you to get the fuck out. "Looking for anything in particular?"

"I\'m thinking something classy... I need to put up appearances. Got something I can wear with one of my suits?"

"How about this?" the register operator said a touch too fast; if someone weren\'t looking to prove he was a fraud they\'d never have noticed though. He reached under the counter and pulled out... a mask that had me raising both my eyebrows.

\'Fuck me he ain\'t playing!\' I thought before taking the mask, fingering it. "Okay... this will work..."

~MC~MC~MC~

Yugi frowned, reaching down and tugging on his right boot.

"You okay, Yugi?" Tea asked as they walked the final block to Duke\'s store. They decided to get dressed at Yugi\'s place, since Kame Game was so much closer to the Black Clown than Tea\'s home was. They might have felt embarrassed heading down the sidewalk in their costumes but it seemed like everyone in Domino was wearing costumes that evening. They\'d already passed a Darth Maul, two Elsas, and a horde of little vampires led by a smirking witch. Even Yugi\'s grandpa had dressed up as Indiana Jones to pass out candy.

"I think there is a pebble in my boot," Yugi said finally moving to a bench, being careful to shift his wig so he didn\'t get it on the ground. It had taken him and Tea an hour to figure out how to comb his hair so he could get it all under the silver wig that completed his costume and he wasn\'t going to get it dirty now.

Because no one would realize he was Sephiroth without those pale locks.

"Got it?" Tea asked as she adjusted the lenseless glasses she was wearing. She too had gone with a wig but hers was black and far shorter that Yugi\'s as hers only came to her shoulders. Though her Baroness costume was far tighter than the flowing garments that made up Yugi\'s costume.

"Yeah, got it!" the young teen said with a grin, standing back up and adjusting his plastic katana. "So, you hear who else is supposed to be attending this party?"

"Well, apart from our group? Yuri is coming," Tea said. "And I think Duke mentioned that he convinced Mako Tsunami to show up. Oh! And Miho is back in town!"

"That\'s great!" he said, thinking back to their old friend. "I haven\'t seen her since before Duelist Kingdom!"

"Yeah, I guess her dad had some business to do in Domino and she came back to say hi to everyone and hang out." Miho, who\'d hung out with the gang in the months after Yugi had solved the puzzle, had been forced to leave school when her dad got a temporary transfer to Australia. She was supposed to come back in a year but it seemed like she\'d managed a short visit at least. "But Bakura said he couldn\'t come though."

Yugi frowned as they stopped at a cross walk. "That\'s too bad. Did he say why?"

"Something about winning some contest..." Tea stated. "Sounds like it was rather sudden and he had to go to claim the money right away..."

~Meanwhile...~

"And this form here," the woman Edwin had hired to keep Bakura busy filling out forms stated, handing him yet another document to read over.

"Is this the last one?" Bakura said, dressed as Darth Vader. "I was hoping to make it to a party-"

"You want to 100,000 bucks or not?" the woman said, remembering that her boss had informed her she would get the same amount if she kept Bakura away from the party until he sent her a text.

"Sorry," Bakura said sheepishly and continued to fill out forms.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Hey guys!" Duke said as Tea and Yugi entered the dueling arena on the bottom floor of the Black Clown Game Shop. Though one would be hard pressed to realize it was a dueling arena as Duke had gotten all the equipment stored away and put down a dance floor complete with DJ. There were tables set up with all sorts of foods and drinks and of course decorations all over the place. A few \'haunted walks\' were off to the side for those that wanted a scare but the main party would be happening in the arena itself.

"Looks like a good showing!" Yugi said before looking Duke up and down. "Warlord?"

"Khan, from Star Trek," Duke said with a smirk, glancing over at several women who were eyeing him up and winking.

"You see any of our other friends?" Tea asked.

"Joey and Tristan are over getting food," Duke said, nodding towards the two. Joey was dressed as Loki from Thor, though he\'d taken off his helmet as it kept nearly falling into the punchbowl. Tristan, meanwhile, had on the red military uniform of M. Bison, including cap. "As for Mai-"

"I\'m right here, darling," Mai purred, walking up behind Tea and walking her fingers along her arm. She was wearing a red dress and long white fur coat, also sporting a wig though hers was half white and half black. "That\'s a bold choice of costume, Tea. I like it."

"Thanks Cruella," Tea teased. She turned and grinned as she saw Yuri. "Well well well!"

"I\'m not doing the voice," Yuri said with a dry chuckle, tugging on the jester\'s hat she was wearing that completed her Harley Quinn outfit.

"Aw, but you used to love to do the voice!" Tea giggled before brightening. "Miho!" She ran over to her friend, the blue-haired girl who was dressed as The Witched Witch of the West grinning and returning the hug Tea gave her. "Guys!" she called out, dragging Miho over. "This is Miho. Miho, this is Mai and Duke."

"Hey guys!" Tristan said, walking over with a loaded plate, Joey\'s just as full. "Oh, hey Miho!" he said, rather proud that he hadn\'t stammered around his former crush. "Hey Duke, great grub!"

"Ya sure know how ta go all out!" Joey declared.

"Well, this is a grand collection of villains, is it not!" Mako said, wrapping an arm around Joey and Tristan; he was dressed as Davy Jones, complete with a rubber tentacle beard tied to face. "A regular sea of thieves and cutthroats."

"And warlords," the distorted voice of Renard said as he approached them, dressed as the Shredder because while he was on duty it would be easier to blend in with a costume.

"Nice," Mai said as Tea introduced Renard to Miho. "And where is Edwin? I\'m curious what costume he chose. I would have thought he\'d be Loki instead of Joey."

"You would think that, wouldn\'t you?" Edwin said behind them, his own voice distorted. They all turned and several of the gang jumped at the sight of Edwin Chaos wearing a fine suit... and a black mask with breathing tubes attached to it. "But I, All For One, do aim to surprise."

Mai quickly grinned and walked over to him, wrapping her arm around his. "Very good... I\'m rubbing off on you Edwin." She gestured at the suit.

He reached up and lifted the skull part of the headpiece so they could see his face. "I figured spend the money on one piece and have the rest be homemade."

"Good idea," Duke said, "though I don\'t know if that will work for the costume contest... the judges I selected are going to be tough."

"I don\'t need any more money, Duke. Just-" he stopped when the lights suddenly went off. "-a good time."

Yugi frowned as he looked around. "Uh... okay, what\'s going on?"

"I don\'t know," Duke said nervously. "I didn\'t play for the power to go off."

"Except it didn\'t," Joey said, pointing to the DJ station that was still lit up. "That thing still has juice. So someone must have killed the lights-"

And that\'s when a surge of magic burst through the Black Clown Game Stop and everyone went flying.

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