We get to see a little more of John's current weakness here. The fact that he holds his own in this duel at all is a gauge of his intended skill level. Still, no lie, if Sarah hadn't been here, John would have lost. Quickly.
We also get a little scene here at the end that is supposed to be emotionally painful, and relates back to the theme of underlying fear. John and Sarah are both afraid of Max's return, because they know he can do better, and yet they are too stubborn and proud to admit it and talk it out.
Chapter Three
A Slim Victory
Max looked over my new monster with amusement. He knew that he still had the upper hand. Meanwhile Sarah drew a card (2200+500=2700). “During my Standby Phase,” Sarah explained, “my ‘Revival Jam’ returns from the Graveyard, and I draw one card from the effect of ‘Card of Safe Return’ (2700+500=3200).”
Awesome, I thought, smiling, as the ‘Jam’ monster returned to its original form. She uses her ‘Solemn Wishes’ and ‘Card of Safe Return’ to eliminate the cost of ‘Revival Jam’’s effect and gain an extra card all at once, each time ‘Revival Jam’ returns by its own effect.
“Next,” Sarah continued, “I sacrifice my ‘Water Magician’ to summon ‘Mobius the Frost Monarch’!” Sarah’s new monster, a tall humanoid creature in blue armor appeared (ATK: 2400), painting me impressed for a second time in as many plays.
“When ‘Mobius’ is normal summoned to the field,” Sarah explained, “he destroys any two Spell or Trap cards with his Arctic Freeze ability.”
A cold wind picked up, directed at ‘Spirit Barrier’ and ‘Fusion Gate’. The two cards collected frost, and the cards and the ‘Fusion Gate’ itself faded into darkness.
“In case you didn’t notice,” Sarah declared, her voice full of pride, “your ‘Barrier’ is gone, and without it you’re vulnerable. ‘Mobius’ and ‘Revival Jam’, attack ‘Reaper on the Nightmare’!”
‘Mobius’ summoned a powerful wind, directing it at one of the ‘Reapers’, encasing it in a block of ice. The ice exploded into splinters, reducing the ‘Reaper’ to a cloud of smoke which reformed just in time to be blasted apart again by the impact of the ‘Revival Jam’ slamming the ‘Reaper’ in the chest. Finally Max took some serious damage (6600 -> 4300), nearly doubling over in pain, only to recover quickly.
Max drew, “I set one monster, and I’ll change my two ‘Reapers’ to defense mode (DEF: 700 (each)).”
“It won’t matter,” I said, as I drew my card, “because my new deck doesn’t pay any attention to defense. Activate the face-down Spell card ‘Meteorburst’.”
“‘Meteorburst’?” Sarah said, puzzled. “But you told me once that you don’t like those kinds of cards, and that you don't want to rely on them.”
“Thanks to my Spell,” I continued, ignoring her, “one of my attacks becomes a Piercing attack until the end of the turn. I attack your ‘Reaper’, Black Fire Meteor!”
Fireballs flew from the dragon’s mouth and hit the ‘Reaper’ inflicting even more damage on our opponent (4300+700-3200=1800).
“My move again,” said Sarah, “but unlike my brother, apparently, I don’t have moves that will work against you at the moment, so I set a monster and pass.”
“Then it's time that I took back control of this duel,” said Max, sounding more determined now than confident, though he still didn't sound worried in the slightest. “You really should have paid more attention, Water Duelist. If you had, maybe you could have stopped this. I Flip Summon my ‘Mask of Darkness’, allowing me to return a Trap in my Graveyard to my hand, and I place that Trap face-down. Your ‘Revival Jam’ still poses a problem, so I’ll just have to get rid of it. I summon ‘Newdoria’,” An insane-looking fiend, hunched over, bound by metal collars and bands, appeared on Max’s field (ATK: 1200).
“‘Newdoria’, attack ‘Revival Jam’.”
“Well that’s stupid,” said Sarah, though she sounded nervous.
“Not really,” Max explained, “because when ‘Newdoria’ dies he seals the soul of another monster to his and takes it with him.” ‘Revival Jam’ stretched his arms and plunged them through ‘Newdoria’’s chest, and ‘Newdoria’’s body opened up, becoming a black hole that sucked the ‘Revival Jam’ in before it closed and faded away. Sarah couldn’t decide whether to be shocked, or angry.
“Now,” Max said, “with your wall gone, you’re open to attack. Activate ‘Secret Pass to the Treasures’. I select the ‘Mask of Darkness’ with a current Attack of only nine hundred. It can now attack directly until the end of the turn. Next I activate a Field Spell, ‘Mystic Plasma Zone’, raising the attack of all Dark monsters on the field by five hundred.”
Above us in the sky overhead a swirling black cloud appeared. Lighting flashed within it, and the power of every Dark monster rose, including my fiend and my dragon (3200+500=3700/2450+500=2950/800+500=1300 (each)/900+500=1400).
I realized what Max’s plan was. Desperately, I cried, “No, Sarah!”
“‘Mask of Darkness’ and my ‘Reapers’,” Max commanded, “attack and destroy my only real opposition in this duel.”
The three monsters charged forward. The ‘Mask’ slammed into Sarah’s stomach (3700-1400=2300), and fell back, pushed by the recoil, making way for the ‘Reapers’ to attack, one after another (2300-1300-1300=0).
“No,” I said horrified. The ‘Reapers’ and the ‘Mask’ returned to their original positions on Max’s field. I stared, terrified, at my injured sister. I didn't know what would happen to her. Max had stated his intent to kill us in this game should we lose. Would Sarah die, or would the fact that I was still able to fight shield her for the time being?
“John,” Sarah said, standing as tall as she could, her face contorted in pain, “you have to win this, no matter what it takes. We can’t lose the Souls to this guy.”
“I know,” I said, my voice cracking with worry. “I’ll end it this turn. Promise.”
Then I watched as my sister collapsed. She was hurt, but I got the feeling from my Soul that she was still alive, only weakened to the point of unconsciousness. I had to free her from the Shadows quickly, and the only way to do that was to keep my promise.
I drew. Finally, I thought upon seeing my newest card. Seems like my new deck has decided to come through for me.
“I play the Spell card ‘Pot of Greed’,” I announced, “letting me draw two new cards from my deck.”
I touched the top card of my deck. Okay, I need to draw something now that I can use. If I give this guy even one turn, I might not survive! This would be a great time for the power of the Soul to help me out.
I concentrated and picked up my two cards, but there was no flash as there had been outside of the Burial of the Souls, against Karen. I wasn't able to perform a Destiny Draw. And to make things worse, my new cards were two of the cards that I had added to my deck. They were designed to do a lot of damage fast, not get me out of a bad place, so neither of them was any good in this situation. I was about to admit defeat and accept that my life had come to an end when I remembered my face-down monster.
“I continue my turn by Flip Summoning my ‘Magician of Faith’,” I declared, relieved, “letting me take a Spell, like my ‘Graceful Charity’, from my Graveyard into my hand. I activate it, letting me draw three cards and then discard two.”
Alright deck, I know you’ve still got it, even if I did just rebuild you. Give me something. Anything!
I was aware that I was actively pleading with my cards as I drew again. None of these new cards will help, I realized, but this one that I kept from my old deck is just what I needed!
“It looks like your strategy just got blown away,” I told Max, realizing after the fact just how cheesy I sounded. “You have no face-down cards, so you can’t protect your ‘Spirit Barrier’ from this, my ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’!”
A massive gust of wind picked up. The wind tore through the hologram of the ‘Spirit Barrier’ card, reducing it to shreds. I expected Max to be angry, but he merely smiled.
“Now I finish this duel," I exclaimed, "Black Fire Meteor!”
‘Black Skull Dragon’ roared and let loose its attack, bombarding the ‘Reaper’. There was an explosion, and when the debris cleared, Max stood alone, trying his best not to show the pain that he was feeling. I had won, but barely.
I walked over to Max, “It's over, give me the cards.”
“The cards are yours as I agreed,” Max said, his face twisting back into the same arrogant smirk that I'd come to know so well, “but you’re wrong. This is far from over. I was right to test you in this weakened Shadow Game first. As I thought, you’re going to be just as challenging an opponent as I expected. But I will beat you. Your Soul is the core. The key to the others. It will be mine.”
He handed me the four cards that he’d taken from Jen and Tucker and walked away, deeper into the woods, where he seemed to fade from view.
I looked back at Sarah, who was sitting up rubbing her head, and asked, “You okay?”
She took a deep breath, “No. But I’ll feel better just as soon as we get the hell outta here. Let’s get back to the others.”
I helped her up and we started back inside, neither of us willing to reveal just how scared we still were.
Card of the Day:
Black Skull Dragon
Played by: John
Black Skull Dragon (or B. Skull Dragon in the IRL card game) is one of the first good Fusion monsters, and one of the first rare cards that I ever pulled from a booster pack, so it occupies a special place in my heart. For a while, it was John's most powerful monster, aside from "Great Maju Garzett", and so I always had fun writing it into John's duels as a kind of beefy final attacker, as it is used here.
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