It's like that other story I wrote, only...different!
Chapter TwoThe Darkness of the Mind
I found myself floating in a dark abyss. Above me was a seemingly solid plane of pure white. I felt the same sense of detachment that I had back then, when I was pulled from my own body and deep into my own mind to fight the Millennium Keeper. At first I thought that this was his doing again, so I reached out with my Soul, trying to locate him in the darkness, but he wasn’t there. Just to be sure I called out, “Keeper? I know you’re here. Where are you?”
I waited. There was no answer. So I looked up at the white plane above me and concentrated. I suddenly found myself standing on that plane.
Just like the last time that this happened, I thought, I can’t connect to Hiro. I can’t summon up the Soul of Chaos either, and being out of contact with Hiro means that I can't use any of the Duelist’s powers. But this feels the same as last time. Someone brought me here, just like Keeper did then. I have to find them and figure out what they want, and I have to do it alone.
So I put my hands in my pockets, and I started walking.
Karen
John and I had finally done something to further our relationship, and here he’d gone and passed out again. I sat him up against the front door and sighed, I thought that Keeper guy was done with John. Why would he knock him out again?
Then I had a really scary thought. What if this time it had nothing to do with magic? What if this time it was some real illness, or injury related to a past Shadow Game? I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and I dialed 9-1-1.
The ambulance arrived ten minutes later, giving me time to get Kimi from the house. She agreed to call the others and have them meet us at the hospital. Meanwhile, I rode along in the ambulance. They didn’t want me to at first, but then I summoned power from my Soul and used it to plant the idea in their heads that my riding along was a good idea. I don’t like using my powers on other people, since its too much like what Yami did to me and my friends, but this time around I felt I didn’t have a choice. This was for John. I wanted to be with him, in case the Order chose this moment to attack. After all, the last time John was incapacitated, the Order had sent a group of Player Killers to kill us. Even with Marik out of the picture, the Order was strong. They could even be behind John’s collapse, using it to weaken the team as a whole. At least that was the reason I'd give my friends later, but really, I just wanted to be with him, because otherwise I wouldn't be.
They got John to the ER and took him back. Like before I was asked to wait in the waiting room. This time I didn't use my powers. After all, my friends were on their way.
So I waited. It wasn’t long before John’s sister Sarah arrived, followed soon after by Max, then Tucker, Lawrence and Monty, then Rocky, then Kimi, and finally Jen, her sister Kris, and their cousin, John’s youngest cousin Amanda. Max was wearing his old oversized hoody again. The one that shaded his blond hair and his face, even his bright blue eyes, and made him look like some kind of Grim Reaper. Rocky was wearing that ugly survival vest that he wears everywhere, and Monty was wearing his trademark silk vest. His spiky brown hair was messier than usual. I guess he’d been sleeping when Kimi called. They all had their cards and their Duel Disks, and Kimi had thought to bring my deck and Duel Disk with her. She handed them to me as soon as she arrived.
“Anything yet?” she asked, taking her out of its makeshift ponytail and letting it fall onto the shoulders of the dark pink jacket that she’d thrown on over her pajamas.
“No, nothing medical or magical.”
“What now?” Kimi asked.
“We wait,” I answered. “If there’s something medical to explain this then…I don’t know. But if not, then this is the same as last time: someone pulled John to a place deep inside his own mind. We just have to wait it out until he gets back.”
Kimi nodded while all around us the others settled into seats, waiting for news of some kind.
It wasn’t long before the doctor stepped out into the waiting room and approached us. It was the same doctor that John had gotten last time. He looked like he was dreading something. I stood up along with Sarah and Tucker. The doctor took a long hard look at Tucker as he said, “You know, I had a feeling that you would all be here again. Look, your friend might have something seriously wrong with him. This is the second time that he’s come into the ER with these unexplainable symptoms.”
He shot another look at Tucker, who shrugged his shoulders, “What?”
The doctor wrapped up, “That’s really all I can tell you. We don’t know anything else. I would say that you can’t come back right now, but I don’t think I can stop you.” He turned and walked away, shaking his head.
I sat back down and leaned in. Everyone leaned in close. The room was practically empty except for us, but we were still worried about being overheard.
“Okay,” I said, “it looks like this is magical, so all we can do is wait it out and be prepared, just in case whoever’s in charge of the Order now decides to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps. I’m gonna go back and wait with John.” I turned to Monty, “Get the team organized into two groups and get one group in the waiting room in the front of the hospital too. If an attack does come, we have to be ready.”
I stood up. Sarah and Tucker did too. “I’m coming with you to see John,” said Tucker.
“Me too,” said Sarah.
I nodded, “Okay, come on.”
John
I walked for a while. I’m not sure how long. Not that it matters. Time here is erratic and usually isn’t the same as it is in the outside world. Anyway, I walked, and finally I saw something. A stationary figure in the distance. I walked toward it. It wasn’t long before I started to get a strange impression that I recognized the figure. I wasn’t getting good vibes from it, and the Soul of Darkness seemed to think that nothing was there. So I concentrated and summoned the curved blade-like Dark Disk. I had to be ready.
As I drew closer it became clear that I did recognize the figure. In fact, I saw it every day. My adversary was wearing faded blue jeans and a black t shirt with a small hole in the sleeve under a somewhat worn black over shirt. He wore a spherical purple crystal around his neck, and his brown hair was a complete mess.
Hiro might look a lot like me, but there are distinct differences. This figure was me. Except for the dark patches under his eyes and his wicked, scheming expression, he was my exact double. Height, weight, build, everything. Exactly the same.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m you,” my doppelganger answered, his voice like mine but with a deeper undertone, “or rather I’m your dark side. I'm actually a little insulted that you didn't recognize me.”
I took a deep breath, trying to keep my composure. I'd suspected for years that there was something within my psyche, something dark, but this was the first time that I'd had any confirmation that it was something more than a collection of impulses. This thing reminded me of Blackheart, the evil aspect of The Duelist which had emerged less than a year ago and threatened the entire world. Being that I am The Duelist reborn in modern times, this thing had the potential to be just as dangerous as Blackheart if it ever got out, and this one came from inside me.
“What do you want?” I demanded. “Why did you bring me here?”
He smiled a wicked smile, “Don’t you know?”
I frowned, “I think I do. You’ve been getting stronger for a while now. I could feel it. Let me guess, you want to take over. You want to take control of my body. Is that about right?”
“First of all it’s my body,” my darkness replied, his face filling momentarily with rage, “and that’s exactly right. I’ve been getting stronger, feeding off of the dark aspects of our personality. Now I’m finally strong enough to beat you at your own game.”
He brandished his left arm and his own Dark Disk appeared, deck and all.
“Here we manifest our cards using our own strength," he explained, "just like you did when you battled the Millennium Keeper. Interesting duel by the way.”
He was watching back then?
“The cards we use here aren’t real, so nothing that harbors a real live monster, like the Gods,” Darkness continued, “and even though the cards we manifest will reflect our personal styles, they’ll also represent how strong our spirits have become. I’ve finally become strong enough to manifest a deck that can’t lose. I’m going to duel you, and when I win, I won’t just destroy you, I’ll prove I’m better than you by beating you at the game that you’re best at!”
I concentrated and a deck appeared in the deck loader of my Dark Disk. I smiled, trying to project a level of confidence that I just didn't feel, “We’ll see about that.”
Darkness poured in all around us, surrounding us like a thick black fog. My Life Points set at eight thousand.
“This will be a simple Shadow Game,” said Darkness. “The attacks will cause the target more and more physical harm the lower their Life Points become, and when a player’s Life Points reach zero, or they lose by another condition, their spirit will be very painfully destroyed by the darkness that you see all around us.” He gestured grandiosely with his hands, and he drew six cards. “If you don’t mind, I’ll make the first move.”
“By all means.”
“In that case,” Darkness said, “I summon one of my strongest cards, the ferocious ‘Plague Wolf’.”
A savage wolf covered in wounds and diseased flesh appeared, uttering a wet-sounding snarl (ATK: 1000).
I wonder why he’d risk summoning a monster like ‘Plague wolf’ in his first turn, I thought. Its effect is offensive, not defensive.
“I also place the rest of the cards in my hand face-down, and I end my turn.”
I guess that was the only monster he drew. If so, then most of those face-downs are just bluffs, put there to psyche me out of attacking his only monster. I have to risk attacking. I have no idea how strong this opponent is. I can’t pass up an opportunity to get an early lead.
“I summon ‘Armor Exe’ in attack mode,” I explained, “equipped with ‘Ability Stasis’, turning him into a Normal Monster with no effect text, positive or negative.”
A savage-looking warrior in orange and black spike-studded armor, with a demonic-looking facemask and claws, and a green cape appeared. Two spell rings appeared: one above him and one below him. They both slid to his waste and then sunk into his body. He was surrounded by an orange and yellow aura (ATK: 2400).
“‘Armor Exe’, attack his wolf with Exe Razor!”
The armored monster ran forward and slashed with his claws in an “X” pattern, cutting the wolf to ribbons (8000+1000-2400=6600). Darkness only smiled.
“I set a card,” I said, “and I end my turn.”
“At your End Phase,” said Darkness, “I reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’, summoning my ‘Wolf’ back from the Graveyard.”
His ‘Wolf’ returned to the field with a sickening wet howl.
“This lets me activate ‘Inferno Reckless Summon’,” Darkness explained, “and special summon two more ‘Plague Wolves’ from my deck!”
Two more of the decaying beasts joined the first, each of them howling as well (ATK: 1000 (each)).
“Next,” said Darkness, “I activate the effects of two of my ‘Plague Wolves’, doubling their attack until the End Phase, at which time they’ll be destroyed.” Two of his monsters howled again, and their eyes began to glow. Their power rose (ATK: 2000 (each)). “And finally I equip one of my pumped up ‘Wolves’ with ‘Black Pendant’, increasing his Attack further.”
A necklace with a black crystal in it appeared around one ‘Wolf’’s neck (ATK: 2500).
I glanced down at my face-down card, and smiled, Bring it on.
But I had Darkness’ strategy all wrong. I thought he was trying to swarm me and deal massive damage with successive attacks, something that could kill you in a Shadow Game even without depleting your Life Points, but he had something much worse in mind. “I’m ready to clinch this duel,” He said. “I activate my three face-down cards: ‘Crush Card’, ‘Deck Devastation Virus’, and ‘Eradicator Epidemic Virus’, destroying every monster and every Spell card in your deck!”
He laughed a sinister laugh. I was shocked, What? Every one?
The three ‘Plague Wolves’ disappeared, and three distinct dark clouds poured over my field. I watched in horror as my monster and all but ten cards from my deck turned to smoke and poured into my Graveyard. ‘Black Pendant’ was destroyed, and I took five hundred damage from its effect (8000-500=7500).
“Now,” Darkness continued, “I set two cards, and I summon my ‘Giant Germ’ in attack mode.” A huge oversized germ appeared, floating in the air (ATK: 1000). It flew straight at me, meaning to ram into me and infect me with its microscopic kin.
“Reveal Trap card,” I countered, “‘Mirror Force’, destroying your monster.” A barrier came up ahead of me and repelled his ‘Germ’, destroying it.
I don’t have Spells or Monsters left in my deck, I thought, but I do have Traps, and in this deck I’ve included a Trap card combo powerful enough that it will be more than enough to win me this duel. Normally it would be a contingency plan, since, even if I had all of the cards needed to pull it off back in the real world, drawing just the right combination of cards would be hard. But with only Traps left in my deck, the chances are actually pretty good. I won’t lose.
Karen
Tucker, Sarah and I made our way back to John’s room. It took a few minutes, but we found it. We stepped inside, and I could immediately feel that John’s spirit was fighting a dangerous battle. The others didn’t seem to feel it, so I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want them to worry. After all, John can take care of himself.
“Whatever’s going on,” said Sarah, “I want you to hang in their big brother. We’re gonna look out for you.”
“Yeah,” said Tucker. “So hang in there bro.”
“You two go,” I said. “Get back out there in case the others need you We don’t want a repeat of last time.”
Tucker nodded, and the two of them left. I walked over and pulled a chair from against the wall over next to John’s bed and sat down. John was hooked up to a heart monitor. The rhythmic beep-beeping helped me to calm down and to relax. I leaned forward and placed my hand on his, and my Soul flashed. I was shocked as I felt my spirit leave my body.
Card of the Day:
Plague Wolf
Played by: Dark John
Without this simple, weak-looking monster, Dark John's entire strategy would have failed, and in the universe of the anime, that strategy is crazy and almost impossibly strong. It is a testament to Dark John's skill that he can get such use out of such a mundane card. I also don't feel it hurts anything to say that this isn't even the strongest that Dark John will get by the end of the series.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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