Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Hearts ❯ Let’s Get Ready to Duel! ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimers: As much as I may want to claim ownership of these two productions, I can't because both Sailor Moon and Yugi-oh belong to a whole lot of different companies that I can't remember the names of at the moment. Any characters that appear in this fic that are not a part of either original series, belong to me so don't take them without asking first.

Forbidden Hearts
Chapter 2: Let's Get Ready to Duel!
By Princess Star Neko
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"Geez, Mokuba. When was the last time you ate?" Serena asked as she looked up from her sketchbook to watch him eat in concern. She was busy doodling in her sketchbook on some new designs for monster and magic cards. "Didn't they feed you at the castle?"

She sat on a tree stump watching Mokuba gobble down three ham sandwiches, two small bags of chips, and downed two cans of grape soda to wash it all down. She had to stop what she was doing to smack him behind the back more than once when it looked like he was starting to choke on his food.

"Yeah they did, but I missed out on dinner last night when I escaped." Mokuba said before taking another bite out of his ham sandwich, as a sullen look appeared on his features, "And I couldn't ask any of the other duelists for something to eat out here without drawing attention to myself..."

"Are you still going on with that story about being held prisoner at the castle?" Serena asked.

"It's not a story! All I told you earlier is true." Mokuba exclaimed, as he stood up still clutching his half eaten sandwich in one hand, "Why won't you believe me?"

"I didn't say I didn't believe you. It's just sounds impossible to believe, without proof," Serena said as she held out her hands. "Why would he want to take you prisoner?"

"My big brother, Seto, has been running the corporation Kaiba Corp since our foster father died two years ago." Mokuba sat back down on the grass with a loud sigh, as he started fiddling with the locket around his neck. "The board members that work for us have had it in for Seto since our dad died."

"So how does Pegasus get involved into this?" Serena asked, as she looked over at Mokuba and saw that the boy was fiddling with what looked like a locket around his neck, and started moving closer to him to see. "Why does he would he stoop to kidnapping you in the first place?"

"Because he wants to own KaibaKorp himself." Mokuba said, anger filling his voice, as he remembered the day he had been captured. "I overheard the board members talking with Pegasus. They were talking about taking over Kaiba Corp, and doing away with Seto, and hold me hostage to lure Seto here into a trap."

"But how did you wind up here on the island if this happened on the mainland?" Serena asked.

"One of the guards working for Pegasus caught me outside the conference room before I could get away to warn Seto, and they brought me here." he said sadly, as he unlocked the clasp on his locket to look down at Seto's picture, _Seto, where are you? I hope you're okay..._

"Is that your brother?" Serena's voice asked, causing the young boy to jump in surprise at how close her voice had been, and looked up to see her now standing behind him, bend over to look over his shoulder at the locket.

"Yeah, that's Seto." Mokuba said, as he held the locket up to her so she could get a better look at it.

"SO tell me why you thought it was a good idea to steal that guys star chips and cards," Serena said, as she sat down, deciding to change the subject for now.

"There's this guy named Yugi Mouto, who here on the island to participate in the tournament with his friends," Mokuba "Seto challenged him to a duel a few weeks ago, and Yugi beat him in the duel. And Seto's never been the same since. I wanted to challenge Yugi to duel and beat him, to make Seto feel better."

A slight blush crept up to Mokuba's face, which turned the tips of his ears pink, "Well I needed star chips and dueling cards to challenge Yugi with but I don't have either." Mokuba said with a loud sigh "So..."

"So you thought it would be okay to steal that guys star chips and cards, so you would be able to duel this Yugi Moto?" Serena snapped, as she placed her hands on her hips and frowned at Mokuba, who was now cringing under the weight of her glare. "Unless he had more cards and chips on him when you tried to rob him, that guy could have been kicked off the island because of you. I bet he didn't come all this way to compete only to have his prized dueling cards stolen."

"I didn't have any choice," Mokuba said, not meeting her eyes as he looked away. "I needed the cards and chips if I want to challenge Yugi when I meet up with him."

Sighing a bit, Serena looked at Mokuba not believing what she was hearing, but she could understand it, she guessed.

"It still doesn't make it right! Tell me something. How would you feel if someone came up and stole your dueling deck," Serena snapped, as she glared at Mokuba, "Which probably took you a long time to build up with your favorite and best cards, only to have it suddenly taken away from you? It'd hurt a lot I'll tell you that."

"Like it matters now, since I still don't have either one." Mokuba said sullenly, resting his head on his folded arms that were resting on top of his knees, as he looked at the ground.

"I think I can fix this problem." She said as she stood up and removing two star chips from her wristband and holding them tightly in one hand, as she walked over to her backpack and unzipped it, and fished out seven unopened dueling card packs, then marched back over to Mokuba and held out both to him. "Here."

"What's are these for?" Mokuba asked as he looked down at the small packs, as he took them from her hands, and looked at them.

"If you really want to duel this Yugi guy, you're going to need your very own deck of cards and chips," Serena said as she sat back down next to him, and pointed at the card packs she had just given to Mokuba, "If you want them, you can keep whatever is in those packs and use them to duel Yugi with if we meet up with him, and you can use also those two star chips."

"You mean you're just giving these to me? To keep?" Mokuba asked, as he looked directly at Serena, staring at her when she nodded her head in confirmation. "Why?"

"I always keep extra packs of cards in my bag in case I need some more fire power in a duel. And I can always get more star chips later." Serena said, giving the younger boy a small smile as she sat back against the tree behind their backs.

Mokuba looked uncertainly at the unopened packs a moment before looking back over at Serena, before holding the cards out to her, along with the Star Chips "You probably need them more than I do. I can't take them."

"Take them. I've got more where they came from. I don't need the cards." Serena stopped Mokuba from handing them back to her with a raised hand. "As for the star chips, keep them. There's still some time for me to win more later if I can before the finals start."

"Thanks." Mokuba said, just as a loud yawn escaped his lips, as he stretched a bit.

"Tired?" Serena asked, placing one hand on the younger boys head,

"Yeah, I guess I didn't get much sleep last night." Mokuba said sleepily, as he yawned once more.

"Well, you can sleep on my sleeping bag if you're really tired." Serena said, flinching slightly at the small reminder of what her father supposedly had done to Mokuba, stood up, and stretched, as Mokuba did the same, "I could use a quick nap myself before we set off again."

"Thanks Serena," Mokuba said, as he gave the older girl a bright smile, as he followed after her.

Walking over to where she had left her backpack, she untied her sleeping bag from behind the pack, and unrolled it by shaking it out with a snap, and pulled out a thin.

Placing the sleeping bag on the ground, she unzipped it all the way open, leaving the two large flaps of the sleeping bag lying side by side, and sat down on one side.

"Come on and lie down." Serena said as she got comfortable on her side of the sleeping bag, pulling her backpack over to rest her head on top of it, as she let Mokuba take the pillow as he lay down on the other end of the sleeping bag, and almost as soon as his head touched the pillow, Mokuba was sound asleep.

_Why would dad do such a thing? Kidnapping's not like him. He'd never do something like this._ Serena thought silently to herself as she glanced at Mokuba, listening to his short even breaths, before turning over onto her side to face the opposite direction. _If it's all true, then he's changed a lot since I last saw him..._

_ I didn't even know Uncle Gozaburo had adopted some kids after all this time. See how much I've missed out in the last couple of years... And Mokuba's big brother, Seto..._ Serena thought as she remembered the image of the dark haired, violet eyed older boy in Mokuba's locket, as a yawn escaped her lips, _I can see why Uncle Gozaburo might have adopted both of them. Mokuba's brother's a dead ringer for..._

Serena's thoughts soon drifted off, as sleep finally claimed her, and soon both of them were sound asleep.

~Dream world~

Serena woke up to find herself lying on a small grassy area next to a lake. _This place is new. Yet almost familiar at the same time..._ Serena thought sleepily as she stretched a bit, as she looked down at her attire. _It's been nearly three weeks since Zi last called on me._

She was dressed in what looked like a long white dress that went down past her knees. Around her neck was a gold necklace with symbol of some kind of bird carved into it. On her left hand was her gold ring.

Pulling the hem of her dress up a bit so she could check out her feet, and sees a pair of gold-laced sandals that had the laces winding up her legs and stopping just below her knees.

"I wonder how old I am now, in this dream," Serena wondered to herself, as she stood up and walked over to the water to look at her reflection in the pool, her hair was a pale silver color tied back into a ponytail that went down to her shoulders. Looking around the oasis, for any sign of her dream companion. "Zi where are you?"

"I'm right here." A familiar voice said, from behind her, as the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching. "I've been waiting for you to come back again."

Before she could turn around to see who it is, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist, and as she turned her head to look at who was holding, her lips were caught in a deep soul-searing kiss, causing her eyes to widen in surprise, before breaking it off.

"Hello to you too," Serena said a moment later after she had regained her breath from the kiss, before pushing him away, "What was that for? And since when can you touch me, let alone do that, Zi?!"

"Since you started wearing the ring full time," Zi said "I missed this. I wanted to do that to you for a long time." Zi said, as he tightened his grip on her waist, as if he were afraid to let go. "You're coming closer to finding me again, along with the others."

"Others? What others?" Serena asked, as she stared disappointedly into his darkened face. Even after all these years since their 'meetings' first started, she'd never been able to fully see his features.

His face was always shrouded in darkness making it hard to make him out, except for his eyes. His eyes seemed to be the only part of his features that weren't shrouded in darkness.

"You'll see." Zi said, "Just like with me, you don't remember the others yet. You knew them from a long time ago."

"Is this another one of those reincarnation talks?" Serena asked, an angry sigh escaping her lips as she pulled away from his grip. "I thought I left that behind when I gave up being the Moon Princess."

"Don't forget that I've been reborn too," Zi said, as he watched her back, "Just like you, my reincarnation's mind doesn't remember what we once shared, but a small part of his soul does remember."

"I wonder how different things would have been if I never met you to begin with," Serena said

"You probably would be mindlessly living the life your so called friends wanted you to live, without question or protest, believing that what they said was true," Zi said, as he walked away a few paces, and sat down in front of the water's edge, "instead of following your heart and doing what you wanted to do." A low chuckle could be heard as we Just like your soul does."

"What part my soul?" Serena asked.

"The part of your soul that's rebelling against what the senshi planned." Zi said, as he looked into Serena's eyes a moment, before turning away from her, "The part of you that refuses to become Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom once again, and live a loveless marriage you know you don't love."

"Oh..." Serena said as she leaned against him, as she let her head rest on his shoulder, "Do you think he'd love me."

"He's me, remember? He's my other half. Like I said before." Zi said as he grinned down at her, though he knew she wouldn't be able to see it. "He'll know just like you did."

Before Serena could think of anything to say, she suddenly felt a strange tingling sensation run through her body. Looking down at her hands in confusion she saw that they were starting to fade away.

Noticing what was happening, Zi cursed in his native language as he tried to make a grab for her hands, only to have them pass through hers, as the rest of her body also started to fade.

"What's going on, Zi?" Serena asked, as she looked at him in confusion, as she looked back down "Am I starting to wake up? It doesn't feel the same."

"Your not waking up," Zi said as he watched helplessly as she faded more from view, "I can hear it. Looks like you're being called by another spirit, who wants to have a few words with you."

"Oh, great. I can already guess who it is. I wanted to stay a bit longer with you," Serena said, her eyes narrowing angrily, "It's my mother, probably wanting to have another talk about my decision."

"Looks like it'll have to wait until next time, Serena, because I can't stop it." Zi said.

"Bye, Zi." Serena's fading voice called out, just as she disappeared completely from view.

Serena found herself in the halls of the Moon Palace, dressed in her Princess outfit, as her now long hair trailed behind her as she walked in search of Queen Serenity.

_I can't believe I'm back here again. She just had to butt in just as it was getting good._ Serena thought ruefully to herself, as she walked through the hallways of the Moon Palace. _I was wondering when she was going to 'summon' me here for another one of her little talk._

"Serena. Why are you doing this?" a serene, yet stern, voice asked from the shadows.

"Moth-" Turning her head to look in the direction the voice came in, a slight smile appeared on her face when she saw her mother, before it was replaced by a slight frown as she remembered why she was here in the first place., and she corrected herself, "Queen Serenity, what can I do for you?"

"That is no way to address your mother." Q. Serenity snapped as she walked into full view of her daughter, "Serena. You must stop this foolishness, and get back together with Darien. The fate of the world-"

"Queen Serenity, we've already been through this." Serena said firmly through gritted teeth, as she glared at the woman who had at one time been her mother in a past life. "I'm not going to waste my future on something that happened over a thousand years ago. I'm not that person anymore."

"And you think what you're planning is the better one?!" Q. Serenity scoffed, irritation filling her voice, as she spoke, before being replaced softer look, "Stop this foolishness. I'm your mother, and I know what's best for you." She said in a cajoling voice, that made her sound like she was speaking to a five year old half-wit, "I demand to be respected and obeyed by you. You will go back to Darien and tell him you made a mistake, and want to get back with him..."

"Excuse me, but as I recall it, I only have one mother in this lifetime around, and she's not you. My mother is... was Cecilia Pegasus." Serena said empathically "You were my mother in a past life, Queen Serenity."

"Yes, but..." Serenity started only to have her words cut off.

"The only one who can decide what's best for me is me." Serena snapped, anger filling her voice, as she scowled at the ghost before her, as a thought suddenly came to her, "Plus, you are not my mother in this life time, so you no longer have any right to tell me what I can or can't do with my life!"

"That's besides the point! You are still my daughter, no matter what form you may have taken, so it gives me every right!" Serenity snapped, her anger finally starting to show, at the stubbornness her daughter was showing to her, "It's your destiny to become the Princess of the Moon Kingdom once more, so you have to do it." Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself, she continued. "It's your responsibility to do so. Do you realize the problems that would happen if you don't take on the role you were born into? You..."

"Don't know, don't care." Serena said, cutting off whatever the Queen was going to say next, with an indifferent shrug of her shoulders, placing her hands on her hips, "Are you forgetting that you sent us to be reborn into the future to live happy lives, mother?" Serena asked, crossing her arms across her chest to glare at Q. Serenity, while waving her hands in the air angrily.

"No I haven't forgotten, but..."

"I'm not happy with people trying to force me into becoming someone I don't want to be simply because I was this person in a previous life." Sighing a bit, Serena sat down in a chair that appeared behind her. "None of you even stopped to think that I might not even want to become her again."

"It's not a matter of wanting to. You have to. It's expected of you." Serenity said tiredly, as she looked down at her daughter. "It's your destiny to live as the Moon Princess once more. It's your destiny to marry Darien and rule over Crystal Tokyo together, and have my future granddaughter, Rini. No one can fight destiny once it's been written..."

"Oh yeah? Just watch me." Serena muttered under her breath, as she frowned at the dead queen once more, as she stood up, brushing off her dress as she did so. "Look mother, I don't care. If I do have a destiny, I don't think my destiny follows the path you want it to be. It belongs elsewhere, with someone else."

"It doesn't matter..."

"To me it does matter. There's nothing more we need to discuss here." Serena snapped, as she met her mother's eyes, "This discussion is over. I will follow my own path, and not the one you guys think I should follow." With a huff, Serena turned her back on Queen Serenity, "I refuse to become Princess Serenity once more. If you can't accept it then tough."

"Serena!" Serenity exclaimed, her irritation at her daughter's rebellion reaching a breaking point, "I can't believe I raised such a daughter that behaves as you do..."

" You didn't raise me at all this time around!" Serena snapped, not turning back around to face the dead moon queen, "I'm not going back, The only way that I might consider going back only if the world is in danger and Sailor Moon is desperately needed, but not second sooner. And even then, when it's all over I'll just be going to leave again."

"I'm not changing my mind, Queen Serenity," Serena said, purposely using the moon queen royal title again, as she started walking back the way she came, "Send me back if you don't mind, I have a kid waiting for me who's probably run off by now."

"Fine. But don't think this discussion is over young lady. We will talk again." Q. Serenity said, anger filled her voice, as the world around them started to fade out into nothingness.

"Joey you know you should just ask first," a boy's voice said, through the fog in Serena's mind as she slowly started to wake up.

"Oh come on, Tristan! I'm hungry! I don't think they'd miss one little sandwich." An unfamiliar voice whined, from somewhere nearby

"Joey, we should at least wait until they wake up before we start munching on their food." Another voice reprimands, "Or have you forgotten the trouble we got into with Mako for taking his food without asking first?"

Serena came back to wakefulness to see a small group of teenagers around her age walking into the clearing where she and Mokuba were napping in, to see the younger boy was still sleeping next to her on top of her sleeping bag.

Three of the intruders were boys, all wearing matching navy blue school uniforms, while next to them was a girl wearing a pink and blue school uniform.

She had to be careful not to wake him up, because during the time they had slept, the little boy had managed to get his arms around her waist in a hug.

"What are you guys doing here?" Serena demanded sleepily as she sat up, gently setting Mokuba back down to onto the sleeping bag, with a small pillow resting underneath his head. "And what do you want?"

"Sorry to disturb you miss," one of the boys, who had a strange red and yellow punk hairstyle said, "We didn't mean to disturb you, but we..."

"We were wondering if you would mind if we could have some of your food?" Joey cut in only to yelp in pain when Téa stomped on his foot.

"What our friend means is that we didn't come prepared when we arrived on the island. But we didn't bring any food with us, before we left Domino City." Tristan said.

"We thought there'd be at least some food stands here to feed the duelists, but we haven't been able to find any." Téa said, a upset look appearing on her face.

"Sure you guys can have some of my food to eat, if you're really hungry." Serena said, before she narrowed her eyes at the group suspiciously. "But just who are you guys, anyway?"

"Well, I'm Téa Gardner. And that's Tristan Taylor, Joey Wheeler, and Yugi Moutou," Téa said as she said pointing to each of the guys., "It's nice to meet you."

"Hi," they all said. "You're Yugi Mouto?" Serena said, as her eyes widened in surprise at her luck as she looked Yugi up and down, "I've heard a lot about you, and how you beat Seto Kaiba in a duel a couple of weeks ago."

"Hey, isn't' that Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba?" Téa asked, concern filling her voice as soon as she saw who was with the other girl. "What's he doing here? And why's he with you?"

"It's a long story, and I'll let him tell you about it when he wakes up," Serena said dismissively as she turned her attention back to Yugi for a moment, "Before you guys eat, I want to challenge you to a duel, Yugi Mouto."

"What?" Yugi asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"You heard me. I challenge you to a duel." Serena repeated, as she crossed her arms across her chest, "I want to see what kind of challenge you'll be against my talents."

"Well but."

"Hey, you can't just challenge Yug to a duel like that." Joey said in irritation, as his stomach growled hungrily, "Can't we just eat first before we get into the duel?"

"Well if he wins, you guys can have half of the food in my backpack." Serena said.

"In that case..." Hearing that, Joey instantly turned towards Yugi and happily started pushing him towards the nearest dueling arena, "Go ahead, Yug, teach her who's boss, and win us that food."

"Hey wait a minute Joey!" Yugi cried as he tried to stop his friend from pushing him.

"Hey Joey, Yugi! Wait up!" Tristan yelled as he ran after the two boys.

Serena giggled at the display as she watched Joey lead Yugi away, and was about to follow them, when she stopped and turned towards the others, glancing down momentarily down at Mokuba's sleeping form, before turning her attention towards Téa, who was getting ready to follow after the boys.

"Hey Téa?" Serena called, stopping the other girl in her tracks. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, Serena? What is it?" Téa asked, as she turned back around to face Serena, with a questioning look.

"Can you stay here and keep an eye on Mokuba for me until we get back?" Serena said as she nodded her head towards the sleeping younger boy, as she bent down and pulled the part of the sleeping bag that she had been lying on earlier across Mokuba's sleeping form to keep the chill off, before standing back up to face Téa once more. "He really needs the sleep, so I don't want to wake him up yet."

"Sure I won't mind staying here. Just hurry back you guys." Téa said as she took a seat on the ground, and rested her back against a tree.

"Sure thing!" Serena said as she turned around and started sprinting after the boys towards the nearest battle arena.

Serena and Yugi stood on opposite ends of the dueling arena shuffling their decks, while Joey and Tristan watched from the sidelines. The dueling arena wasn't that far from where they had left Mokuba and Téa.

"Since you issued the challenge, why don't you pick the playing field?" Yugi called over from his side of the arena as he settled his deck down.

"Fine with me," Serena said as she looked over the holovids for the different environments set up for the arenas before finally picking one.

The area in between the dueling platforms lit up for a few seconds before the light died down, to reveal a grassy area in place.

"We'll be dueling for two star chips. Is that okay with you Yugi?" Serena asked as she looked across the field at him.

"Sure it's okay with me." Yugi said.

Meanwhile Yugi was having a private conversation with the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.

{Yugi, are you sure you don't want me to switch places and let me duel with her?} Yami asked, concern filling his voice as he faced his partner.

"Yes, I'm sure, Yami. I want to fight her myself." Yugi said as he grinned at the spirit, as he glanced back over towards the other end of the field, before turning his attention back to his companion, "What are you worried about?"

{I don't know what it is. But it feels like I should know her from somewhere, but I can't remember from where.} Yami said carefully, as he also looked across the playing field at Serena, {She seems so familiar to me. And that ring she wears also seems familiar...}

"Are you sure about that?" Yugi asked, his eyes widening at that bit of information, as he looked between the spirit and Serena for a moment, "Do you think it's a Millennium Item?"

{It could be, but I don't know.} Yami said, as he looked Yugi directly in the eyes a moment later, {That's why I think you should let me do this duel instead.}

"No I haven't changed my mind," Yugi said, shaking his head, "I want to try and do this duel myself. If I have some trouble I'll let you take over, okay?"

{Okay...}

"Hey Yugi!" Serena's voice called out impatiently, catching the two's attention. As they turned to see Serena standing on her side of the platform, with her left hand on her hip.

"Are we going to duel or what?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, Yugi, what's taking you so long?" Joey whined as he watched his friend, as a loud grumble could be heard from his stomach, "I'm getting hungrier by the minute here!"

"Sorry guys! I was just thinking about something and I forgot," Yugi said, a small blush creeping up to his cheeks as he turned his full attention to the dueling arena, "I'm ready whenever you are, Serena."

"Fine." Serena said, as she grinned a bit, while putting her cards down on the control panel.

"It's time to duel!" they both shouted simultaneously.

----------
Starting Score:
Serena: 2,000 LP
Yugi: 2,000 LP
----------

"I will start with Celtic Guardian (1,400/1,200) in attack mode," Yugi said as he put down the card, and the hologram of the elfin warrior appeared on the field.

He then pulled out another card from the ones he was holding and placed it down, "And I will lay this card facedown."

Serena looked down at the six cards she held in her hand, and grinned as she pulled out two cards from her hand. "I will start this round by summoning Harpie's Brother (1,800/600) in attack mode. And I place this card facedown."

The monster card appeared on the field and the holographic image of a teenage boy with long spiky black hair, wearing gray pants and a black sleeveless short with red boots, and huge red wings on his back, appeared on the field.

Turning her attention towards her winged monster, "Now Harpie's Brother, use Winged Claw Slash on Celtic Guardian!"

At her command, Harpie's Brother leaped into the air, and flew towards Celtic Guardian at a speed faster than any of them were able to see, and soon wiped out the elfin warrior.

----------
Current Score:
Serena: 2,000 LP
Yugi: 1,600 LP
----------

Yugi winced a bit when he saw his Celtic Guardian be destroyed as soon as he had been placed on the field. "Harpie's Brother?" Tristan said, as he watched as he watched the battle start, in wide-eyed surprise, when the winged beast monster appeared on the field, "I never heard of that card before, have you Joey?"

"Don't look at me, Tristan," Joey said, as he shook his head at the sight before them, "I've heard of 'Harpy Lady' cards, but this is the first I heard of a male version of those cards."

"My grandfather told me about that card, but I've never really seen one before." Yugi said, ignoring most of what his two friends were saying for the moment, as he glanced across the arena at his opponent,

"It's a rare card from one of the earlier Dueling Deck series. Not a lot of people have heard of it, or probably remember it exists." Serena said as she pulled out her two more cards from her deck.

"That was good move, Serena." Yugi said, as he picked up two new cards from his deck.

"Thanks." Serena said with an indifferent shrug of her shoulder as she took two more cards from her deck, _Perfect. I was hoping this would show up soon._

"I'll play Battle Ox (1,700/1,000) in Attack mode." Yugi said, as he placed the card down on the platform, and the hologram of the ax wielding Beast warrior appeared in the field.

"You've got to be kidding," Serena said, as a sweatdrop appeared rolling down the back of here head, "My Harpie's Brother could defeat that monster easily."

"Don't count me out yet, Serena, because I'm not finished yet." Yugi said, as he placed down another card, and a hologram of that card appeared on the field, "And then I will equip him with the Magic card, Axe of Despair, which will raise my Battle Ox's attack power by 1,000 points. (2,700/1,000)." Turning to battle Ox, he gestured towards Harpie's Brother. "Now attack Battle Ox!"

With a mighty roar, Battle Ox charged across the arena, his battle ax ready to strike Harpie's Brother, and sliced the winged monster in half with one swing.

----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,100 LP
Yugi: 1,600 LP
----------

_Shoot I didn't know he had that card on him,_ Serena thought silently to herself, as she watched the two halves of her Harpie's brother disintegrate before they even hit the ground, as she looked down at the cards she still held in her hands, _No matter, if things go as I plan, I will still win._

"Nice going, Yugi. I really didn't see that one coming at all. But you won't beat me this time." Serena said sincerely, as she smiled at Yugi from across the field, as she placed down two cards. "I summon Battle Steer (1,800/1,300) in defense mode, and I place my second card in face down."

"I'll play Mystical Elf (800/2,000) in defense mode." Yugi said, as "And I will activate my first card." Yugi smiled a bit thinking that he had this match won without Yami's help, as the blue-skinned elf appeared on the field chanting in an ancient language, "And I'll have my Battle Ox attack Battle Steer!"

"I don't think so, Yugi! You forgot about my first facedown card." Serena cried out, as a slight smirk appeared on Serena's face, as she looked down at the card she had left facedown during her last turn, and place a hand on it and flipped it over to reveal... the Change of Heart Card!

"A Magic Card?!" everyone exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yes, Your attacking Battle Ox just activated my Change of Heart Magic Card, which allows me to place one of your monsters under my control," Serena explained, "I choose Battle Ox."

"Oh no." Yugi said, as he watched as he watched his monster reappear on Serena's side of the field standing side by side with Battle Steer.

Closing her hand into a tight fist, Serena's smile became a bit meaner, at the coming victory she could see ahead of her, as she made her next move. "Battle Ox attack Mystical Elf!!" With a loud bellow, Battle Ox charge across the field towards Mystical Elf, and with one mighty swing of it's ax, Mystical Elf was cut in half and disappeared from the field.

----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,100 LP
Yugi: 1,600 LP
----------

Yugi gritted his teeth silently as he watched his Mystical Elf be destroyed by one of his own monsters, just as Battle Ox returned to his side of the field ready for battle.

"My turn." Serena said, as she looked down at the cards in her hand a moment, before looking back at the display board and reached for Battle Steer's card, and turned it sideways. "I'm switching Battle Steer into defense mode for this round," as she picked up some new cards from her deck, and removed two from her hand and placed them on the dueling display. "And I place these two new cards facedown, ending my turn."

_I shouldn't' have had Battle Ox attack like that. But I won't make the same mistake twice..._ Yugi thought sullenly to himself as he looked down at the cards he still held in his hand, looking suspiciously at the two facedown cards on Serena's side of the field, _For all I know, they could be Magic or Trap cards._ worry and disappointment filling him as he saw what he had, _But then again one f them could be a monster card... Should I take a chance and..._

{You're doing perfectly fine, Yugi,} Yami's voice said from within his mind, as the spirit watched the game from inside the Millennium Puzzle. {Don't worry so much. As long as you keep calm and collected, everything should go all right. Just believe in the heart of the cards as you've always have.}

_Thanks Yami. I just hope this goes according to my plans._ Yugi thought back as he turned back towards the field, and looked directly at Battle Ox, "Battle Ox! Attack Battle Steer!"

With one huge swing of his ax, Battle Steer was quickly defeated.

----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,100 LP
Yugi: 1,600 LP
----------

"All right!!" Joey cheered, as he jumped into the air and punched the air with one fist, as the thought of all that food that would be coming his way later when Yugi won, "Go Yugi!"

"You can do it buddy!" Tristan joined in.

"Next I will summon Hyozanryu, the crystal dragon (2,100/2,800)!" She shouted.

Another card appeared on the field, and a huge white dragon with large bat like wings. Three gold horns, one on its nose and the other two on top of his head, with an orange belly. It's scales glittered as the afternoon sunlight shined down on it.

The dragon let out a mighty roar that could be heard throughout the forest.

"Ah man!! I think Yugi's in major trouble" Joey exclaimed, as he stared up at the dragon in disbelief, "He only has Battle Ox left on the field."

"Next I will equip Hyozanryu with the Magic Card, 'Dragon's Treasure', which will raise his ATK and DEF points by 300 points (2,400/3,100)."

"Hah! That Dragon's still too weak to beat Battle Ox!" Joey jeered from the sidelines, as he watched the battle. "Hurry up and take her down, Yug!"

"I'm not finished yet." Serena said, as she sent Joey a pitying look, as she grinned at him, "Next, I'm going to turn over my other face down card. The Magic Card, Luminous Spark!"

On the field, the hologram of the card lifted up to reveal another magic card, showing the image of what looked like a winged figure surrounded in light.

"What does that card do?" Tristan asked, confusion filling his voice as he looked at the new card.

"Luminous Spark is a Field card, that raises the ATK of all Light-type monsters on the field by 500 points, and lowers their DEF by 400 points." A smirk appeared on Serena's face, as she glanced at her monster, who's ATK points shot up, (2,900/2,700)

"Oh no." Joey whined, as he realized what was going to happen now.

"Hyozanryu, use Eternal Flame Blaster on Battle Ox!" Serena ordered.

As they all watched, Hyozanryu puffed up his chest, and released a huge blast of blue flames straight at Battle Ox, completely wiping him out within seconds.

----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,100 LP
Yugi: 1,400 LP
----------

None of the current cards he already had in hand would work against Hyozaryu.

Reaching towards his deck to pull out two more cards, and smiled when he saw the familiar image of his Dark Magician on one of the new cards, along with the Summoned Skull card.

"First, I will call forth Summoned Skull (2,500/1,200) in Defense mode," Yugi said as he placed down the card, and the hologram of the fiend type monster appeared on the field in a crouched position.

"Then I will summon the Dark Magician (2,500/2,100) in Attack Mode!" Yugi said as the image of the Dark Magician appeared on the playing field, standing next to Summoned Skull, "Attack Hyozanryu with Dark Magic Attack!!"

As the Dark Magician's released attack went flying towards Hyozanryu, one of Serena's facedown cards turned over on the field, and there was a sudden flash of light as some kind of force shield appeared in front of the dragon, negating the attacks effects, and turning it back on the dark sorcerer, destroying it instantly.

----------
Current Score:
Serena: 1,100 LP
Yugi: 1,000 LP
----------

"What the..." Yugi exclaimed as he stared in surprise at what had just happened.

"You activated my trap card,." Serena said as the face down card automatically flipped itself over on the field, "Mirror Force."

"I activate my remaining face down Trap card, and activate the Skull Dice Card," Serena stated, just as the image of the black clad imp appeared on the field holding a large red dice cube. "Roll the dice!"

Skull dice immediately went action as it threw the dice into the air, and landed on the field rolling over and over for a few moments.

"What's that supposed to do?" Joey wondered outloud, as he stared at the strange looking monster, in confusion, as he watched the dice roll.

Serena crossed her arms across her chest as she watched the red dice bounce and roll on the field, waiting for it to come to a stop as she spoke, "Skull dice has the power to subtract the ATK and DEF powers of all monsters on my opponent's side of the field by 100 times the number the dice lands on."

"WHAT?!" Tristan and Joey chorused, just as the dice finally came to a stop on... SIX!!!

"Aw man!!" Joey complained as he watched as Summoned Skull's attack and defense points both went down six hundred points. (1,900/600)

"I'll end my turn without attacking again." Serena said, as she stood back to wait for Yugi's next move.

Yugi glanced down at the cards in his hands, to see what he could use, but there wasn't anything in his current hand that could help him. Sighing a bit resignedly, he looked back across the field at Serena, "I'm going to end my turn without drawing any cards or attacking."

Nodding her head, Serena looked back down at the cards in her hand, before discarding three of them, and grabbing new ones from the deck.

Glancing momentarily at the new cards, she grinned when she saw what one of them was.

"Looks like I have this game won, Yugi." Serena called over, as she removed the card from her hand, "For my next move, I'll play this Magic Card, Stop Defense, which will take Summoned skull out of his defense position, and into Attack mode."

Summoned Skull stood up from his crouched position looking like he was ready to fight, as Hyozanryu towered over him and Yugi.

"Hyozanryu, fire Eternal Flame Blaster at Summoned Skull!!" Serena ordered.

And with one last huge blast of flame, the duel was over.

----------
Final Score:
Serena: 1,100 LP
Yugi: 0 LP
----------

"Yugi... lost?!" Joey asked incredulously, as he stared wide-eyed at the Life Point score, before becoming teary eyed, "I don't believe it! All that food gone! We were so close yet so far..."

"Don't go all weepy on me, Joey" Serena said cheerfully as she walked over to where the two boys stood, "I'll still share my food with you guys. Though not half of it since I won the duel."

Joeys eyes lit up with pleasure as the tears evaporated form his eyes, as he rushed forward and grabbed Serena's hand.

"Hey, it's not that hard. He's good," Serena said, a few minutes later as she stood a few feet away from Yugi and the others, after Yugi handed over his two star chips, as the four of them walked back to where they had left Téa and Mokuba, "Nice game, Yugi. That was the best one I've had in a long time."

"Thanks, Serena." Yugi said, as he smiled cheerfully at Serena, showing that he didn't have any hard feelings to losing. "You were good too. Where did you learn how to play Duel Monsters like that from?"

"I've been playing Duel Monsters since I was seven years old." Serena said as she grinned as they walked back to the clearing where they had left Téa and Mokuba. "So it comes naturally."

"Even my dad was surprised at how quickly I took up the game when he first introduced it to me." Serena said, as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey Serena?" Tristan said, as he walked alongside Serena with Joey and Yugi on either side of both of them. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead, Tristan." Serena said as she smiled at the taller boy, "What do you want to ask."

"Well I couldn't help but notice that ring your wearing," Tristan said as he pointed towards Serena's left hand which still wore the ring, "It's almost similar to the like the puzzle box Yugi's wearing, because of that design on it."

"I couldn't' help but notice that too, Serena," Yugi piped in, getting into the conversation, "Where did you get it from?"

"This? It was a gift from my mom, years ago." Serena said as she raised her hand to look at the ring, "When I was six, the two of us, along with my dad, were visiting Egypt on vacation and my mom bought it at one of the stands in the local bazaar."

"The two of you must be really close if she gave the ring to you."

A sad look appeared on her face, as the memory came back to her, "Yeah, we were."

"'Were'?" Joey asked, confusion filling his tone, at Serena's choice of words, and completely missed the saddened look on Serena's face, "What do ya mean were? Did something happen to her?"

"She gave it to me the day she died a few months later, just before my seventh birthday."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your mom's death," Yugi said, his expression softening as he looked at Serena, seeing the sadness appear in her eyes.

"Don't worry, it's okay really." Serena exclaimed as she waved Yugi off "She died over ten years ago. I got over it a long time ago."

Just then as they were entering the clearing they could hear the sounds of a fight along yelling voices, two of which the group instantly recognized as Mokuba and Téa's.

"It sounds like Téa's in trouble! Come on you guys!" Joey exclaimed as he broke into a run, with the other two boys right behind him.

Serena was a lot slower in following, since she had instantly recognized a few of the others voices as belonging to her father's men.

_What are those guys doing here?! Don't tell me dad really sent them after Mokuba,_ Serena thought, as she broke out into a run after the boys, her ponytail flying behind as she ran. _I'll put a stop to that._

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:
How do you guys like Serena's duel against Yugi?

Hey guys I have a question for you. When I started working on Forbidden Hearts, I was playing with several different Yugi-oh/Sailor crossover ideas, where most of the scenes in Forbidden hearts came from, after some.

Two of the SM/YGO ideas I was working on before officially starting on FH, were 'My Brother's Keeper', where Serena was Mokuba and Seto's sister, and 'Following My Heart' which basically started off with the same plot as Forbidden Hearts does.

I was wondering if I were to start another YGO/SM fic, do you think I should work on 'My Brother's Keeper'?

Updated: March 18, 2004 - What do you guys think of the updated version of Chapter 2? A lot of people were saying that I had Yugi and Serena's duel wrong, because I was using the 'Duelist City arc' (is that right?) style of playing instead of the style that was used in the Pegasus arc.

So now the duel between Serena and Yugi is a bit longer, and, I hope, better than the original. Please send in your comments and reviews for what you think of it, along with a few other changes I made at the beginning of the chapter. ^_^