And for probably the first time in my story, excluding character growth plots, specials, and any duels that I'm not thinking of, John has lost. Granted he loses in order to learn a lesson, so this is itself a character growth plot, and he's obviously gonna win in a later rematch and make up for this loss, but still...you know...it probably means something.
Chapter FourChallenge of the Card Takers
That night, after dark, I grabbed my deck and my new Duel Disk and made my way toward the bridge near Low Dorm, Karen and Thomas in tow. Thomas had insisted on coming up from Low Dorm to meet us.
“Are you sure this is a smart idea?” Karen asked.
“Sure,” I said. “These guys are taking cards from students, so they must be strong. I could use a descent challenge. Besides, I can’t just sit back and let them keep a bunch of Duelists’ favorite cards. I have to try and get those cards back.”
“I don’t care why you wanna duel them,” said Thomas with a big smile on his face. “I just want to see the famous American Duelist who won the second Grand Championship in a duel in person!”
Karen ignored him and asked, “You aren’t going to take their cards if you win, are you?”
“Nah,” I replied. “Like I said, I’m just in this for the challenge.”
“And to get the stolen cards back, right?” Karen asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “definitely.”
“This is gonna be awesome!” said Thomas, almost skipping along. He skipped up from behind me and began walking directly at my side and asked, “What’s the deal with these pendants you guys wear?”
I was taken aback. If he was asking, it meant that, either he was really curious, or he knew something about the Shadow Games and suspected that the Duelist’s Souls were connected. So far, Thomas didn’t seem to be a very serious person, so I took a gamble that it was the former rather than the latter.
“Oh, well, when Karen and I started going out, we bought matching necklaces,” I replied, lying to protect the secret of the Duelist’s Souls.
“Are you sure?” Thomas asked, a mischievous grim playing across his face, “because I thought they might be magic artifacts.”
I was a bit shocked, but I hid it as I replied, “What do you mean?”
“I did see the Grand Championship,” Thomas said, “and the Duel Force tournament. I know that every member of your team wears those things, not just you two. It’s cool. I can see Duel Monster spirits, and I can tell who else can. If they see them using an artifact, I can tell that too. You aren’t the first person I’ve met with a magic item. I’m not gonna tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I figure it’s your business, you know?”
Karen was chuckling, “I like this kid.”
“So that’s why you’re so heroic, huh,” Thomas asked, “you’re some kind of super heroes?”
Karen laughed again, “Oh please don’t feed his ego. It’s already big enough.”
“Quiet guys,” I said, “and stay alert. That’s the bridge straight ahead.”
Karen and Thomas followed my gaze. Sure enough, there was the bridge, barely visible in the darkness. There was a grove of trees just off to the side.
“What now?” Karen whispered.
“I dunno,” I replied in a whisper as well. “Thomas, what do I do now?”
“Go stand on the bridge and wait,” he answered. “One of them will show up soon enough. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”
I nodded, and I made my way up to stand on the end of the bridge closest to me. Almost as soon as I had, a figure emerged from the trees at the opposite side. He was wearing khakis, a white shirt, and a long-tailed tan coat. He wore an Academy Duel Disk on his left wrist. He remained far enough away that a large part his face remained shrouded in shadows, obscuring his features.
“You here to challenge the card takers?” he asked.
“I am.”
“Then present your favorite card,” the figured demanded. “The winner of this duel will receive his opponent’s favorite card as a reward.”
“I present ‘The Fiend Megacyber’,” I said. I held the card up for my opponent to see.
“And I present ‘Freed the Brave Wanderer’-.”
“Forget that,” I said. “I don’t want your card. If I win, you give back all the cards you’ve won, and return them to their original owners.”
The figure smiled and looked over his shoulder. I noticed a second figure there in the darkness where the first figure was looking. He was a few inches shorter than the first, about my height, wearing a dark gray t-shirt, a brown over shirt, and dark blue jeans. “I was wondering when you would show up,” he said, taking a few steps forward. “You’re John, right? Leader of the Duel Force?”
“Yeah,” I answered, beaming with pride.
“The same John of the Duel Force who defeated Yami, the leader if the Duelists of the Order of the Divine Cards?” he asked.
For the second time in ten minutes, I was shocked by another person’s knowledge. “How do you know about that?” I demanded. It occurred to me that these two might themselves be Order agents. I summoned darkness into my new Duel Disk, transforming it into a sleeker, collapsible version of the sword-like Dark Disk, causing Thomas to gasp.
“Calm down,” said the first figure. “We’ve had some dealings with the Order is all. We were grateful when you beat Yami. When he was defeated, everyone under his influence was freed, including us.”
“We’ve wanted to test ourselves against the Duelist who defeated Yami for years,” the second figure said, “and we’ve been training for years to prepare for the day when we would. When we heard that that Duelist was here, enrolled in Duel Academy, we created a situation where his, or rather your heroic personality would bring you right to us in our own version of a Shadow Game. It may not use magic, but it has consequences.”
I concentrated, and the Soul of Darkness flashed black-light purple. The Soul says they’re telling the truth, I thought, but it also says that they’re still hiding something. I need to be careful.
Either way it’s about time I met some of Marik’s former minions, I reasoned. After all it was bound to happen eventually.
“Are we going to duel or not?” I demanded, activating my Neo Dark Disk.
“Of course we are,” said the first figure, “but if you want us to return all of the cards we won, you’ll have to defeat us both, one after another. We duel with eight thousand Life Points.”
“Fine by me on all counts,” I said. “Now let’s get started. I summon one of my newest monsters, the demonic rider, ‘Stygian Street Patrol’.” A demon in black armor, riding a white and black motorcycle with a demonic face on the front appeared. The headlights of the motorcycle began flashing like police lights (ATK: 1600).
“And I finish up with a face-down card,” I concluded. “Go ahead and take your turn, but I’ve already got this duel won.”
I was confident, far too confident. I had underestimated my opponent, I just didn’t know it yet.
“For my turn,” my opponent announced, “I activate the Spell card ‘Solar Recharge’, discarding ‘Ehren, Lightsworn Monk’ to draw two cards, and send the top two cards of my deck to the Graveyard.” I watched with interest as my opponent discarded a monster that, as far as I could tell in the dark, was ‘Jenis, Lightsworn Mender’, as well as a Spell card, ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’.
Lightsworns, is it? I thought. I don’t know much about the rare Lightsworn archetype, except that almost every card in it mills your own deck. They’re strong, but very risky.
“Next,” My opponent declared, “I activate the Spell card ‘Foolish Burial’, discarding ‘Wulf, Lightsworn Beast’ from my deck. ‘Wulf’ has an effect. When he’s discarded directly from my deck, he’s Special Summoned to the field.”
A white-furred werewolf wearing silver armor appeared, carrying a long-handled axe. He roared (ATK: 2100).
“I’ll also summon ‘Jain, Lightsworn Paladin’,” my opponent continued. A knight in silvery armor appeared, carrying a sword, standing at ‘Wulf’’s side (ATK: 1800).
“‘Wulf’ attacks,” my opponent declared, and the werewolf raised his axe and charged.
“Reveal,” I commanded, “face-down Trap card ‘Dimensional Prison’, removing your monster from the game.”
The space in front of the rampaging werewolf opened up, and he fell into the opening, disappearing from play.
“I attack with ‘Jain’,” my opponent declared. “When ‘Jain’ attacks, he gains three hundred Attack during the damage step (ATK: 1800+300=2100).” ‘Jain’ slashed with his sword, sending a pulse through my monster, splitting it in half, motorcycle and all (8000+1600-2100=7500).
“I set two cards,” my opponent declared, “and end my turn. During the End Phase, the effect of ‘Jain’ activates, sending the top two cards from my deck to my Graveyard.” My opponent discarded two more cards. I couldn’t make out what they were. As far as I was concerned, it didn’t matter. It was my turn again, and everything was going according to plan.
“I draw,” I declared. “Now watch. I can remove ‘Stygian Street Patrol’ in my Graveyard from play to Special Summon any Fiend monster with two thousand or less Attack from my hand. The monster I choose to Special Summon is ‘Diskblade Rider’.”
A green-skinned fiend in blue armor and padding appeared, riding a motorcycle, carrying a sharp-edged disk in his free hand (ATK: 1700).
“But I’m not finished,” I continued. “I activate the Spell card ‘One for One’. I discard ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’ to Special Summon a Level One monster from my deck.”
I fanned out my deck, chose a card, and placed it on my Duel Disk. “Show yourself, ‘Level Eater’!” A beetle roughly the size of a beagle appeared. Its shell was colored like a Level Star from a Duel Monsters card. It opened its wings and rose into the air, hovering at my motorcyclist’s side (ATK: 600).
“I tribute both of my monsters,” I continued, “to summon a legendary card, the ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’!”
‘Diskblade Rider’ and ‘Level Eater’ disappeared, and were replaced by a large, fierce black dragon with piercing red eyes (ATK: 2400).
I smiled, “My monster puts yours to shame. ‘Red-Eyes’, destroy the ‘Lightsworn Paladin’ with Black Fire Bullet!”
My monster launched a fireball from its mouth at the opponent’s monster.
“From my hand,” my opponent declared, “I activate the effect of ‘Honest’. I send ‘Honest’ from my hand to my Graveyard to increase my monster’s Attack by an amount equal to the opposing monster’s Attack.”
I was stunned. Honest was a rare card, so rare, in fact, that some Duelists didn't believe it was real. As I thought this, an angelic warrior appeared, fading away. As he did, ‘Jain’ was wreathed in a brilliant light. Wings made of rainbow light spouted from his back. He rose into the air and shot straight through the oncoming attack (1800+2400=4200). He flew forward and slashed through my dragon (7500+2400-4200=5700).
“One clever move isn’t enough to win this,” I said. “Your monster’s Attack returns to normal at the End Phase. And my monster’s not finished. He’s about to come back for seconds. I reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’ to return my monster to the field in attack position.”
“Reveal face-down card,” my opponent countered, “’Solemn Judgment’. I pay half of my Life Points to negate the summoning of your monster and send him back where he belongs (8000/2=4000).”
The black dragon disappeared in a flash of light. For the first time during the duel, I didn’t have any moves prepared. I wasn’t sure what to do.
“Now,” my opponent declared, “I activate ‘Pot of Greed’ to draw two cards.” He looked over his new hand and continued, “I set a card, and then I reveal the Trap card ‘Beckoning Light’. I discard the four ‘Lightsworn’ monsters making up my hand to return four monsters in my Graveyard to my hand. With four ‘Lightsworns’ in my Grave, I can finally Special Summon one of the monsters that I just recovered, and the strongest monster that the ‘Lightsworn’ archetype has to offer.”
There was an explosion of light, erupting into the sky behind my opponent. From the light emerged a massive dog-nosed dragon with four strong legs and broad wings. Its body was covered in white feathers. “Behold,” my opponent cried, “the almighty ‘Judgment Dragon’ (ATK: 3000)!”
I was speechless. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the dragon and its magnificent aura of light.
“Finally,” my opponent said, “I reveal my face-down card, ‘Megamorph’, doubling my monster’s size and strength!”
The dragon grew even larger (ATK: 3000x2=6000).
I can’t believe this…
“‘Judgment Dragon’, attack!”
I can’t believe this, I thought as the dragon inhaled, light building in the back of his throat, I lost. I actually lost.
The dragon exhaled, bathing me in a destructive light. My Life Points fell to zero and I fell to my knees.
My opponent walked up and stood right in front of me. “I think you have something of mine,” he said.
Reluctantly, I removed ‘The Fiend Megacyber’ from my deck and handed it to him. Then I watched as the Card Takers disappeared into the shadows of the nearby forest.
Card of the Day:
Judgment Dragon
Played by: The First Card Taker
It beats John. It must be pretty powerful.
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