There isn't much to this one. Aside from some character stuff for Kimi, it's pretty much the same as the last one.
Chapter FiveThe Second Minion;
Rocky and Kimi vs. Two
Rocky
Despite the bad situation, I was happy to get to spend time with Kimi, not that we didn’t spend a lot of time together already. I’m not one for making friends. I prefer to find a couple of good people and stick around them, while still keeping distant enough that I can move on if I ever need to. I’ve never felt like I totally belonged, so forming lasting bonds with people hasn’t been a goal of mine. Since becoming a member of the Duel Force, however, things had changed. Not only did I finally feel that I had some good friends in the Duel Force, and in John, Monty and Tucker specifically, but I’d found Kimi. I’d never been so close to anyone. I considered her to be something more than a friend, though I didn’t know exactly what that was yet.
Kimi and I walked together in relative silence. We tried to make small talk, but we were both on edge. Kimi wasn’t very close to John, but she was friends with his mom, Kimi’s Duel Monsters teacher, and she and Karen were quickly becoming like sisters. Karen’s pain, which she’d done a good job hiding from us during our recent planning session, was hurting Kimi, too.
“I know you’re worried about everything,” I finally told her, “but I’m sure things will work out.”
“Yeah, Robby,” Kimi asked, using her personal nickname for me, “how d’ya figure?” She sounded like she was even more on edge than I’d realized.
I put my hand on her shoulder, and we stopped walking, just as we came to an intersection between back streets, “Listen, if there’s one thing that we’ve learned from this whole insane Duel Force thing, it’s that things always work out, one way or another.”
“Hopeful nonsense,” Kimi responded, but I could see her blushing a bit. “I don’t know if I believe in all of that anymore. Besides, John’s usually the one who works everything out in the end. He beat Max when he was still bad, and beat the leader of the Dark Duel Force, and Marik. But this time he’s not here. We’re both strong, but you know neither of us are as strong as him.”
“Come on, Kim,” I told her, “you are too a hopeful person.”
“Maybe this saving the world crap’s changed my mind,” she replied.
“You can’t change,” I insisted. “You’re Kimi. You use a light deck, you like me for some reason, and you’re an optimist. Those are truths, things that I know. Now come on. We’re gonna find Blackheart, and you’ll see that, whatever happens, everything’s gonna be fine.”
Kimi took a deep breath and then nodded, “Fine, but expect an ‘I told you so’ when I turn out to be right.”
I won’t be hearing ‘I told you so’ from you, I thought, feeling determined, because whatever it takes, I’ll never let you lose hope.
We walked for a while, searching seriously for Blackheart. I tried using the Soul of Earth to sense John’s Soul. I don’t know much more than a few tricks with the Soul, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. Despite my efforts, however, it was Kimi who sensed him first.
“I’m sensing the Soul of Darkness through the Soul of Light,” Kimi exclaimed, surprised. “It’s far away, but my Soul is resonating with it. It’s like, because they’re opposites, the Soul of Light can tell where the Soul of Darkness is from miles away.”
“How far away is it,” I asked, looking around.
“I don’t know exactly,” Kimi replied, her eyes closed, concentrating as the Soul of Light flashed faintly, “but it’s too far to walk, and I don’t think anyone else is nearby. I can get us there, though. I’ve been practicing that teleport-y thing I did when those rogue Order guys attacked us last year.”
“I thought you could only make it a few blocks, at most?” I replied.
“Usually that's true,” Kimi replied, “but I’m getting better all the time, and I think if we combine our power for a few seconds, I can multiply the distance.”
I nodded, “Okay, it’s worth a try.”
She held out her hand. My heart skipped a beat as I took it. Our Souls flickered in unison, and suddenly, in a flash of golden-white light, we were somewhere else.
“Well well,” came a voice behind us. We turned and saw a tall kid, about 6’3”, leaning against the wall of a nearby back alley. I could see an aura of magic surrounding him. An aura that felt like the magic of the Soul of Darkness. Now that we were closer, I could sense with ease that this was only a tiny bit of the Soul’s power.
“Who the heck are you?” Kimi asked.
“In my past life,” the tall guy said as he swaggered over to stand down the street from us, showdown at high noon style, “I was a member of a group called the Card Takers, and I was stupid. I only followed orders, never thinking for myself. I couldn’t even spell strategy. But master Blackheart resurrected me and enhanced my intelligence, and my power. He’s renamed me Two, because after him, I’m the strongest in the world. He said to seek out members of the Duel Force and kill them. You two seem to fit the bill nicely.”
I was taken aback by all that Two had said. It was a lot to take in. “Wait,” I said, “so what you’re saying is that, after he killed you, Blackheart brought you back and sent you to fight for him, with only a little bit of borrowed magic?”
“That’s right,” Two replied.
“He sent you on a suicide mission, dude,” Kimi replied, stating the obvious.
“My master has faith in me,” Two insisted. “He knows I won’t fail, even with only a fraction of his power!”
He activated his Duel Disk, the Shadows rising around us. I felt a strain on my body that could only mean a Shadow Game was beginning.
“I’ll show you,” Two insisted. “I’ll show you I’m strong.”
He drew his opening hand, “I start out with ‘Reinforcement of the Army’, searching my deck for a Warrior monster and adding it to my hand.”
Two selected a card from his deck, reshuffled it, and replaced the deck in his Deck Loader.
“Now I summon the monster I added to my hand, my ‘Goblindberg’. When this monster is Normal Summoned, I can change it to defense mode to summon another Level Four monster from my hand!”
A small plane piloted by a green-skinned goblin appeared, flying overhead. It dropped low, landing beside Two (DEF: 0), unloading eight more goblins, carrying clubs, from a compartment behind its cockpit.
“The monster I summon,” Two explained, “is ‘Goblin Attack Force’ (ATK: 2300)! Now I end my turn by placing three cards face-down.”
I frowned, This guy summoned two monsters in his first turn. He has some decent skills, but he’s clearly not as strong as he believes he is.
“My turn,” Kimi declared, drawing. “I play ‘Graceful Charity’, drawing three, and then discarding my ‘Shining Angel’ and my ‘Wingweaver’. Next I summon ‘Agent of Wisdom – Mercury’ in defense mode,” a fit-looking man with bluish skin appeared, wearing roman garbs and carrying a tome (DEF: 1700), “and play ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive ‘Wingweaver’!”
That’s skill, I thought, smiling, as Kimi’s favorite monster, the beautiful, violet-haired angelic woman, ‘Wingweaver’, appeared standing behind Kimi, like an ever-vigilant guardian (ATK: 2750).
“I set three cards,” Kimi concluded, “and equip ‘Wingweaver’ with ‘Cestus of Dagla’.”
A curved sword appeared in each of the angel’s hands, and her strength rose (2750+500=3250).
“For my turn,” I began, picking up where my friend left off, “I summon my ‘Stone Statue of the Aztecs’ in defense mode, and set two cards.”
My monster, a colorful stone face with stone hands appeared (DEF: 2000).
“That’s all,” I finished.
Two laughed. “You’re girlfriend managed to summon a good card,” he said, causing me to blush. “Too bad she couldn’t attack last round. I might have had something to worry about.”
He drew, “I summon ‘Goblin Black Ops’.” A ‘Goblin Attack Force’, sans clubs and geared up in black suites carrying various knives and claw weapons appeared alongside the other monsters (ATK: 1300).
“Reveal,” Two declared, “’Final Attack Order’, changing every monster, including the ‘Statue’, to attack mode.”
“No you don’t,” Kimi replied fiercely, “because I have ‘Solemn Judgment’. I pay half of my Life to negate and destroy your card (4000/2=2000).”
“Then I’ll finish you off first!” Two declared, angry that his combo had been defeated. “I reveal ‘Ultimate Offering’ and pay 500 Life (8000-500=7500) to summon a second ‘Goblin Attack Force’.”
Eight more ‘Goblins’ appeared (ATK: 2300), standing at arms alongside their many allies.
“I reveal and equip ‘Goblin Black Ops’ with ‘Horn of the Phantom Beast’,” Two concluded, “and use their effect to attack you directly, girl!”
The lead ‘Goblin’ drew a pair of curved, horn-like blades from his belt (1300 +700 =2000) and the eight ‘Goblins’ slunk into the darkness all around us, slipping past our monsters and lunging at Kimi. She wasn’t worried, because she knew what was coming. Seconds before the ‘Goblins’ could finish their attack, my ‘Statue’ floated into the air and slid between Kimi and her assailants.
“I use ‘Staunch Defender’ and ‘Reliable Guardian’,” I declared, “to save Kimi from your attack.”
My ‘Statue’ was surrounded by a red barrier that deflected the ‘Goblins’ violently (2000+700=2700/7500 -> 6100).
“And not only that,” I announced, mirroring my foe’s arrogance. “My ‘Staunch Defender’ forces all of your other monsters into attack mode and forces them to attack my ‘Statue’ as well.”
‘Goblindberg’ rose into the air and flew by, strafing the ‘Statue’, only to find itself pelted by its own bullets, deflected back at it by the barrier. The sixteen remaining ‘Goblins’ ran at my monster and attacked at well. They were all repelled. Two took substantial damage (6100 -> 1900).
“I draw for my second turn,” Kimi declared, looking confident, “and your last turn. Next, because I had zero cards in my hand at the end of my last turn, I can draw one card due to the effect of ‘Mercury’.”
Kimi drew again, smiling. This duel was changing her mind. It was helping her feel hopeful again.
“I reveal ‘Jar of Greed’,” Kimi continued, “to draw a third card, and I summon ‘The Agent of Creation – Venus’. I pay five hundred Life to summon one of the Fairy orbs, ‘Mystical Shine Ball’, from my deck (2000-500=1500), and reveal ‘Solar Ray’, dealing you six hundred damage for every monster I control!”
The angelic ‘Venus’ and the orb, ‘Mystical Shine Ball’, rose into the air alongside ‘Wingweaver’ and ‘Mercury’, firing beams of light from their hands.
Kimi gave our opponent a thumbs down, a gesture that reflected the Roman theme of her deck, “You’re through, Two!”
The beams of light combined, and Two was vaporized before our eyes, the Shadows falling away from us harmlessly.
“Feeling better?” I asked her.
“After such an easy duel,” she replied, “who wouldn’t be?”
Card of the Day:
Stone Statue of the Aztecs
Played by: Rocky
At this point in the story, when Rocky still rarely attacked his opponent, this monster was his main damage dealer, so it needed to show up here sooner or later.
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