The following story is based upon an actual duel that took place. We replaced some of the cards in each deck with the made-up ones in order to allow for the tipping balance effect the anime creates, and therefore, hopefully create suspense. Because this was based on an actual duel, however, there was no guarantee on which duelist would suffer the Penalty Game at the end…

“Crap… Of all the places for that brother of mine to call me, why’d it have to be in front of the card shop in the middle of the night??” Alex says to himself as he rushes through the streets. He is an orange cat/rabbit hybrid (usually called a “cabbit”), notable mostly for his long ears with white at the tips. He has dark orange hair and golden brown eyes, his shirt is a blue polo, his pants are khaki, and his loafers are brown. “Still, I’ve got to pick up the pace. I can’t keep him waiting for this, after all, he said it was important!”
A few minutes later he finds himself in front of the card shop, which had an “Out of Business” sign on it. Alex looks around to look for his brother, but after seeing nothing, he closes his eyes and focuses. After a bit he opens his eyes to find Verace in front of him, and he jumps back in surprise. Verace is a green fox, with glove-like white on his hands and lower-arm. He has a red shirt, jeans, and sneakers. His hair is a darker green, but unlike Alex’s is a bit long and effeminate, and his eyes are a teal color.
“AIEE! How’d you do that, bro? I didn’t even sense you, and you know what kind of spiritual power I’ve got!” he says to his brother.
“Nothing special, I just hid my energy from you…” the fox says with a grin.
“Okay…” Alex says in a slightly annoyed tone. “Anyways, what did you call me out here for?”
“A duel… Of the Duel Monsters variety…” the fox says with a smirk.
Alex changes to a more worried expression upon hearing this. “Erm… You brought me all the way out here just to play a card game? Something’s wrong here… And furthermore…”
Before the cabbit finishes his sentence, Verace raises his arm and in a flash of light, the two vanish. Shortly after, Alex wakes up, only to be startled by the fact he seems to be floating around some strange space. He looks around, clearly nervous and starts to cry out, “I know I sensed something wrong… Why did I just ignore it? Grrr… Where are you!? Show yourself!”
Verace appears in front of him in a wave of shadow, this time looking more evil. “What are you talking about? I’m right here, brother. Don’t tell me you thought I’d just abandon you like that…”
Alex growls and says, “I don’t know who you are, but my brother would NEVER do anything like this! Just who are you, and what do you want?”
Verace then pulls out his duel disk. Alex places his left arm into the air with his palm facing upwards, and the water from the air collects to form an incredibly dense orb of water, which then forms itself into a duel disk and solidifies onto his arm. The cabbit then pulls out a deck from his belt, each card in a sleeve, and places it into his disk. “No messing around,” he says. “Let’s get this over with…”
The duel disks activate and the duel begins. “I’ll go first,” Verace says as he draws a card. “I place these two cards face-down in my magic/trap zone, and summon Forest Wolf in Attack Mode!”
And with that, two giant cards appear in front of the fox, and from a circle of wind that appears on the ground, a wolf wearing glasses and a pink apron appears (1800 ATK). “And with that, I end my turn. I certainly hope you stay for dinner bro, ‘cause Granny’s been cooking up something especially for you!” the fox says with a sinister grin.
Alex takes a step back and looks nauseous before drawing a card. “That monster… It eats any opponent it defeats… I need to get rid of it before it makes meals of my monsters…” He looks at his hand carefully for a minute. “Hmm… I’ll first summon Elemental Hero Stratos to the field in Attack Mode!”
Upon his command, a cyclone of wind and dust appears, and when the dust settles, Stratos appears (1800 ATK). “Now,” continues the cabbit, “with Stratos’s special ability, I get to choose to either search my deck for one Elemental Hero or one Destiny Hero and place them into my hand, or destroy spell/trap cards on your side of the field equal to the amount of Elemental and Destiny Heroes on my side of the field not counting Stratos himself. And with that, I choose to search my deck.” He pulls out his entire deck and starts searching through his cards until he finds one and says, “Ah,” before he puts it into his hand before shuffling his deck and placing it back into his duel disk. “And I place Elemental Hero Wildheart into my hand! Now, I won’t attack just yet because right now our monsters will just destroy each other. No need for a suicide mission right now, so from my hand I activate the spell card: Polymerization! And I fuse Elemental Hero Burstinatrix and Elemental Hero Avian for form… Elemental Hero Flame Wingman in attack mode!”
With that, Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix appear and jump into the air at an angle to combine with one another, causing Flame Wingman to appear (2100 ATK). “And now,” Alex announces, “I place this card face-down on my side of the field and have Flame Wingman attack your Forest Wolf! And because of his special ability to do damage to you equal to the destroyed monster’s attack power, he does a total of 2100 damage to you!”
“Hold it!” Verace shouts. “I activate my trap card: Sakuretsu Armor! Flame Wingman dies!”
After the announcement is made, one of the giant face-down cards on Verace’s side of the field lifts up to show itself, and it and Flame Wingman are destroyed. “I expected better from you, brother…” Verace says. “You should have summoned Flame Wingman first, and then used Stratos’s other ability.”
“Don’t be so sure of yourself, whoever you are…” Alex responds. “I end my turn.”
Verace smiles and draws a card. “I place this card in face-down defense mode and end my turn…”
The hologram of a defense-position card appears on the field as Alex looks on in amusement. He draws his card and thinks to himself, (Why didn’t he suicide his Forest Wolf and then attack with his new monster? I suppose that must mean his new one is a primary defender… Well, if that means it has 2000 defense, I guess I’ll have to wait to try and break it…)
Alex takes a card from his hand and says, “I activate the effect of King of the Swamp. In exchange for discarding him to the graveyard, I can get a Polymerization into my hand from my deck.” He places it into his graveyard and pulls out his deck again to search through it. He finds his desired card, shuffles his deck again, and puts it back into his duel disk. He thinks to himself, (I can’t summon anything else in my hand, his Forest Wolf will just eat it, and I can’t let that happen, even if it’s a defense-position monster). “I end my turn.”
Verace draws a card and smiles. “I activate the spell card: Confiscation! I give up 1000 Life Points, making my total go from 8000 to 7000, and I may look at your hand and discard one card!”
Alex growls a little and turns the cards in his hand towards Verace. “Hmm,” the fox says as he looks at Alex’s hand in deep thought. “Elemental Hero Bubbleman, Elemental Hero Wildheart, Polymerization, and Warrior Returning Alive… Bubbleman can give you a last-minute defense by summoning himself if he’s the last card in your hand, and Poly can fuse your monsters, the key to your deck’s entire operation, but Wildheart is immune to traps, and is fusion material for Elemental Hero Wildedge, one of the most powerful Elemental Heroes in terms of attack and ability, so… Say goodbye to him!”
Alex looks distraught as he places Elemental Hero Wildheart into his graveyard. He thinks to himself, (Sorry Wildheart… But don’t worry, in my deck, the graveyard is probably the best place for my monsters to be...)
Verace continues, “I place this card face-down in my spell and trap zone and switch my face-down card to attack mode! Sand Moth!”
The card hologram on the ground shifts position, and in a flurry of sand, the Sand Moth appears (1000 ATK). (Huh?) Alex thinks to himself. (Sand Moth has 2000 defense, and should I use something like Exiled Force to destroy it in a way that isn’t battle, he comes back to the field and swaps his attack and defense. I could see why he was in defense mode before, but why change it now? He knows I run monster removal cards in this deck… Just who is he?)
“Forest Wolf! Take out his Elemental Hero Stratos!” Verace commands. The Forest Wolf rushes forward, and Stratos puts up his fists and punches as Forest Wolf bears its fangs, and both explode. “Next, Sand Moth, attack him directly!”
Alex’s eyes narrow as the monster looms over him to attack. “That… That monster…” he says to himself, “eats what it destroys, as well…”
Verace points at Alex and says, “Attack him with Sand Ray!”
The beast responds by firing a stream of sand at Alex, lowering his life points from 8000 to 7000. “What’s wrong? Thought you’d be eaten?” Verace says in a teasing voice. “It can’t eat you because you still have power left. It’ll be over once your Life Points hit zero though, so don’t worry, you’ll get your wish eventually… I end my turn.”
Alex dusts himself off and thinks to himself, (Man, that really hurt… Makes sense, seeing as how this is a Shadow Game…) He draws a card and smiles. “Okay then, I place this card-“
“Hold it!” Verace yells. “I activate the face-down card I had since the start of the duel: Drop-Off! The card you just drew goes to the graveyard!”
“Wh-what?” Alex says in amazement as he places Elemental Hero Clayman into his graveyard. “But… If that was the second card you placed at the start of the duel, why didn’t you use it until now?”
“You’re incredibly easy to read, brother.” Verace responds. “I knew you’d smile once you got a card that would help turn the tides in your favor, so I saved it until I saw you got what you needed! Oh, and don’t even think about using your Warrior Returning Alive, as my face-down card is Magic Jammer!”
Alex stares blankly at his opponent and utters, “Who… Are you? Your monsters… They focus on devouring your opponents, your cards strip me of what I need… You’re so cruel… I know for a fact you aren’t Verace, but who are you?”
Verace smiles and says, “My turn!” as he draws his card. “I play the field card, Mausoleum of the Emperor!”
As he makes this announcement, the end of his duel disk opens for a field card and he places the mausoleum there. Suddenly, the field around them changes into a large pyramid-like mausoleum with both opponents on a large, stone bridge with tons of eerie statues below them. “Thanks to this card,” Verace continues, “we’re allowed to pay 1000 Life Points in place of the amount of tributes we lack for any tribute summon. And now I give up 2000 Life Points and my Sand Moth, bringing my Life Point total to 5000, in order to summon the Mystical Beast Serket in Attack Mode!”
From the pit below, two statues rise up and stand on either side of the Sand Moth, and they all vanish from the bottom up. Then, the ground shakes and a red scorpion-like beast appears, with thousands of teeth in its circular maw, easily designed to rip its prey to shreds (2500 ATK). “And I’m afraid that you, my brother, are wide open!” Verace says in a sinister fashion. “Attack him directly, Serket!”
The beast slowly goes up to Alex, who tries to jump away, but the beast grabs his leg and brings him down before stabbing him in the back with its claws, lowing his Life Points from 7000 to 4500. Verace laughs a bit at this and says, “And with that, I end my turn.”
Alex tries to get up, but has some trouble. (That pain…) he thinks to himself, (it felt so real… I guess this truly is a Shadow Game… Which means the loser must play a Penalty Game…)
After a minute or two he manages to get up and draw his card, leaning on his front leg to keep balance in the pain. He stares at it for a minute and says, “Okay, I activate the effect of Elemental Hero Captain Gold. By sending him to the graveyard, I can search my deck for a Skyscraper card and place it into my hand…” He pulls out his deck and searches it for a bit before taking a Skyscraper and placing it into his hand. He then shuffles it and places it into his duel disk again. “Next I… Will attempt to… Activate Warrior Returning Alive to get Elemental Hero Captain Gold back into my hand!”
After waiting a few seconds, he notices that Verace isn’t responding, so he takes the card from his grave and places it in his hand. He smiles and says, “You were bluffing…” Verace raises an eyebrow to this. “If that face-down card really was a Magic Jammer, you would have used it to stop me from getting back Captain Gold… Sure, I have a Skyscraper now, but I have Captain Gold in my hand now as well… If you negate Skyscraper’s activation, I’ll just use his effect again and get another one. Your bluff also helped me though, because although it psyched me out of using Warrior Returning Alive, if I had used it that turn, I’d have had a defense to protect my Life Points, but I’d be wide open now with at best, a Skyscraper I can’t even use without any Elemental Heroes. And now you’re going to pay… I play the field card: Skyscraper!
The end of Alex’s duel disk opens and he places his field card in the slot. After he does, the ground begins to shake, and the mausoleum brings to crumble and fall apart. Once the dust settles, the ground shakes once more and buildings begin to shoot out from the ground, making the arena into a great city. “And now,” Alex continues, “I play Elemental Hero Captain Gold in attack mode!”
After a few seconds, Verace looks around and Alex points up, and Elemental Hero Captain Gold is standing totally balanced on top of the needle of one of the Skyscraper’s buildings (2100 ATK). “And that’s not all,” Alex says, bringing Verace’s attention back to the cabbit. “Because Captain Gold has Elemental Hero in his name, Skyscraper gives him an additional 1000 attack points against monsters stronger than him, so against your Serket, his attack power increases to 3100! Now Captain Gold, attack him with Skydive Strike!”
Captain Gold jumps up into the air, and takes a diver position as he falls towards the Serket. “Wait a minute!” Verace yells, “I activate my face-down: Negate Attack! Your battle phase is officially over!”
With that, his trap lifts to show itself and is destroyed, and Captain Gold kicks himself off a building to land in front of Alex.
Verace laughs and says, “Not bad bro, but not only do you lack any balls to get so easily psyched out, but you’re easy prey for traps!” He draws his card and says, “Now Serket, devour his Captain Gold and become stronger!”
With that, the creature goes up to Captain Gold and stuffs him head-first into his mouth, devouring him. Shocked by seeing this gruesome sight, Alex screams, “MY HERO!!” as his Life Points drop from 4500 to 4100.
“And now Serket’s special ability activates!” Verace says with a chuckle. “Whenever he devours a monster, he gains half of its attack points, and since Captain Gold had 2100 attack points, Serket now has 3550 attack points!” Alex’s can only stare in horror after hearing this, and it only gets worse once Verace continues, “And your monster is removed from the game, so don’t expect this warrior to be returning alive… or to be returning at all, for that matter… Anyways, my turn is up, so good luck on your next draw, as you’ll need it…”
Alex stares into space for a little while before shaking out of it and drawing a new card. “I place this card in face-down defense and end my turn…” he says, the anger and faith he once had now completely gone from his eyes and all heart gone from his actions.
For the next turn, Verace places a face-down defence monster and Alex loses the Elemental Hero Sparkman he placed down, making Serket’s attack power raise to 4350, and when Alex drew on his next turn he places down the second Elemental Hero Avian he drew, and then Verace’s Serket’s attack power goes to 4850 after eating it and Verace ends placing a face-down defense monster. On the second turn he had placed down his Polymerization so that he could special summon Bubbleman in defense mode once Avian was eaten, but because Poly existed, be it in his hand or on the field, he couldn’t activate Bubbleman’s second effect of drawing a card. When he turn came after special summoning Bubbleman, he drew a Fusion Sword Murasame Blade, and he knew it was over.
However, when Verace’s turn arrived he laughed and said, “Sorry bro, but I’m afraid I can’t let you be beaten by the Serket. Now, now, I know you’re just waiting to get eaten, but I’m afraid he can’t be the one who finishes you. I sacrifice my Serket, my Soul-Eater Bazoo, and my second Forest Wolf to summon a new monster unlike anything you’ve ever seen before… AVARICE!”
As with the statues and Sand Moth before, the monsters disappear and a giant, green, disgustingly fat fox-like creature appears. Alex stares blankly at the creature for a moment before shaking his head and coming to a realization. “Is this… You? Are you the duel spirit of this monster?” he asks Verace.
“Spittin’ image of me, ain’t he?” the fox says with a chuckle. “But no… Actually I haven’t lied to you, I am indeed your brother. Or at least a part of him, anyways… I’m his evil side… The very essence of all of his greed and desires… Thanks to a certain object he obtained recently, I was able to take over completely. Being that you’re a soul manipulator, I figured I’d want to have your soul devoured before you could suppress me, and what better way to do that then in a Shadow Game with the souls of the monsters you hold a liking to?”
Alex’s shock only allows him to mutter the words, “So that’s why…”
 “The reason I don’t seem too greedy with my Life points is that they’re not something you can see… The cards and their effects that I pay to use, however, I can see quite well, and I don’t care about something that doesn’t do anything for me… Sure, they keep me in the game, but I only need 1 for that, and as you can see, using them up has some incredibly good benefits. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer to have my cake and eat it too, but I’d rather be richer in the end than just have the same amount all the time, and as you can see, I’ve gotten MUCH richer...”
Verace shrugs and says, “Anyways, Avarice is too busy devouring the monsters that were tributed to attack on the turn I summon him, so you may draw your last card. His attack power is 3100, but like Serket, that amount grows with each monster he devours, including the ones used to summon him. It does it at a fixed rate, however, so he gains 600 with each monster, bringing his total up to 4900.” And with that, Average begins to lift up and devour the monsters tributed to summon him one-by-one.
Alex stares at the top card of his deck, deep in thought. (It feels like when this Shadow Game began, each destroyed monster felt like a part of me was also destroyed… He must have merged our decks with a part of our very souls when he began this Shadow Game… Well, whatever happens, I will either share victory with my heroes, or proudly go down with them… Elemental Heroes are based on the old-school comic book heroes I grew up with… They represent everything I believe in… The very basis of my morals and values… I won’t be afraid anymore… I believe my heroes of justice can still help me, one way or another…)
He takes the top card of his deck and looks at it. His eyes go to tears upon looking at it, and softly asks, “Greed… what element is Avarice?”
“Avarice is a fire attribute. He is a beast and pyro-type monster,” Greed Verace responds.
Alex smiles and lifts the card to the sky as he declares, “I Activate the spell card… Miracle Fusion! It allows me to remove fusion material monsters in my grave or on the field from the game to summon the fusion monster they create. And I remove Burstinatrix, Avian, Clayman, and Bubbleman to create the most powerful Elemental Hero… Elemental Hero ELECTRUM!”
With that, the other three monsters appear next to Bubbleman, battered and bruised, and they all jump into the air towards one another, and in a bright flash, the radiant Electrum appears (2900 ATK). “And he has one amazing and unique special ability,” Alex announces. “First, all removed from game cards return to our decks!”
Both of their removed from game piles glow, and the cards fly around the field in single-file before flying into random spots in their owner’s deck. “Second,” Alex continues, “he counts as a fire, light, wind, earth, and water monster, and third, he gains 300 attack points for all monsters that share an element with him, and because Avarice is a fire monster, Electrum gets an additional 300 attack from him, bringing his total to 3200 attack points.”
“Big deal,” Greed Verace says in an annoyed fashion. “You’re still 1800 short to beat him.”
“Not done yet, Greed! I equip Electrum with the last card in my hand: Fusion Sword Murasame Blade. That gives him an additional 800 attack points.”
After placing the card on his duel disk, the katana appears in Electrum’s hand. “So close, yet no cigar bro,” Greed Verace says with a smirk.
“Forget already, Greed?”
“What?”
“Skyscraper… Is still on the field!”
“WHAT!?” Greed Verace steps back in shock upon realizing this.
“With that, Elemental Hero Electrum’s attack points raise to 5000, just barely enough to take out your Avarice. Now Electrum, ATTACK!”
Upon hearing Alex’s order, Electrum readies his sword and jumps up high, rays of brown, red, green, blue, and yellow representing the 5 elements that Electrum possesses gather around his body as he takes the great swipe, slicing Avarice in half and bringing Greed Verace’s Life Points from 5000 down to 4900.
Greed Verace was getting angry now, but there wasn’t much he could do with what he had. He drew and continued, “Ugh… I play this card face-down and end my turn…”
Alex smiled as he drew, but Greed Verace revealed that his trap card was another Drop-Off, and Alex discarded his Elemental Hero Necroshade. He attacked with Electrum, and with no monsters to protect him, Greed Verace took 3700 direct damage, lowing his Life Points from 4900 to 1200.
Greed Verace began his turn and drew. He stared at it for a moment. He placed it face-down and ended his turn.
Alex then began his turn and drew. “Time to end this, Electrum, attack him directly!” he exclaimed.
However, as Electrum jumped to attack, Greed Verace stopped the attack and said, “Activate trap: Compulsory Evacuation Device! This makes your monster go back to your hand, but since Electrum is a fusion monster, he must go back to your fusion deck. Ergo, you’re now wide open!”
With that, Electrum glows and vanishes as the card on Alex’s duel disk goes back to his fusion deck. “I have no choice…” Alex says, “I end my turn…”
“On that case, I draw.” Greed Verace says as he pulls out a card. He looks at it and laughs softly. “I activate the magic card… Premature Burial! It costs me 800 Life points, bringing me from 1200 to only 400, but that doesn’t matter anymore, as I HAVE WON! Avarice lives again!”
Alex’s eyes shoot open upon hearing this, “WHAT!?”
The card appears on the ground like usual, and in a wall of flames, Avarice rises in attack mode (3100 ATK). “And now I use one of the two cards that have been in my hand since the beginning… The spell card: Bloodlust. I equip it to any beast-type monster I’ve just brought back from the graveyard to increase their attack by 500, making Avarice have an attack power of 3600. Now Avarice, attack that half-breed directly, FIREBANE!”
Alex puts up his arms to block as Avarice spits a stream of fire, but he is still scorched badly and sent flying backwards, the attack lowering his Life Points from 4100 to 500. “Your turn, my dear brother… And your last…” Greed Verace says in an almost mocking fashion.
Alex doesn’t even bother getting up, but rather, slowly sits up and gradually brings  his arm over to draw the top card of his deck and look at it. He smiles and laughs upon seeing it, once again in tears.
Greed Verace raises an eyebrow at this as Alex slowly sits up and says, “I play Elemental Hero Neos in attack mode!”
Greed Verace crosses his arms in annoyance. “Neos is a level 7 monster, brother. You need two sacrifices in order to summon him, of which you have none.”
Alex chuckles and says, “Hehee… Why do you think I looked so happy when I drew Elemental Hero Necroshade, Greed? I figured if you saw me smiling and your face-down was another Drop-Off or something to discard the card I just drew, you’d use it. You said I was easy to read, so now I used that to my advantage! Because of Elemental Hero Necroshade’s ability, I can summon any monster with Elemental Hero in its name without need for a sacrifice if it requires any.”
“Well, even so, with Skyscraper, your monster is 100 points short to suicide against Avarice.”
“Normally you’d be right, but now I equip Neos with Neos Force! This ups Neos’s attack points by 800, so now they go from 3500 to 4300!”
“This… Can’t be…!”
“It’s over, Greed! Neos, attack and destroy Avarice, and wipe out his Life Points!”
And with that final order, Neos charges his power with a golden energy aura around him to show it, then jumps from the side of building to building before going up and doing a karate chop down, cutting Avarice in half again and bringing Greed Verace’s Life Points from 400 to 0.

Alex walks up to Greed Verace and says, “Don’t feel regret for having spent Life Points on all those card effects, Neos Force makes you lose Life Points equal to the monster that Neos destroys, so you’d have lost the rest of your Life Points, anyhow. And now to finish this… PENALTY GA-“
“STOP!” Greed Verace screams. “Don’t forget, Duel Monster matches are best 2 out of 3!”
“Funny how you wouldn’t have said that if you’d have won…”
“It’s only fair…”
“No, I won’t let myself fall for that. Not again.”
“Fine then…”
Greed Verace puts Avarice onto his duel disk, who appears and pulls out Alex’s Elemental Hero deck and swallows it. “Well, I guess that solves our little problem, doesn’t it?” Greed Verace says as he laughs maniacally.
Alex falls to his knees, staring blankly after witnessing the horror of his entire deck destroyed in one swift movement, staring blankly and emotionless.
“I know what that deck meant to you, Alex…” Greed Verace said coldly. “You use Elemental Heroes because they remind you of those superheroes you loved so much when you were growing up… They always beat the villains, and saved the day… They represent the very foundation of all your morals and values. You were willing to live with losing the duel if fate were to have that happen because you’d be going down with everything you believed in going with you, but this way you’re left alone, nothing to support you… Terrible shame really, as with no deck, you can’t play, so you must automatically forfeit the last two matches, making me the winner! Oh well, as you were about to say… PENALTY GA-”
With a loud “SLAP!” noise, Alex places a deck he seemingly pulled out of nowhere into his duel disk. Eyes still somewhat tear, he says, “Indeed, you’ve broken my very foundation, leaving me to crumble, and yet I don’t. You see, my foundation may be gone, but I still have my last modes of support to help me…”
“Fine then,” Greed Verace said, looming ominously over Alex. “And it’ll be my honor to break the last of what supports you before issuing your Penalty Game…”