I didn't address it in the last commentary, but Karen totally wishes herself into John's mind. That happened.
Chapter FourThe Dungeon’s Trap
Karen
I reached John just as the shadows were falling away from him. Just in time to hear John’s opponent talking about a massive evil approaching. I chose to ignore the fact that John’s opponent looked just like him (and that I could somehow tell them apart with no effort whatsoever), filing that detail away for further examination. I held back a sigh of relief at seeing that John had defeated whatever challenge had awaited him here, reminding myself that we weren't out of danger yet.
Just as the evil John was swallowed by the last of the Shadows and the Shadows faded away completely I called out, “John!”
“Karen?” He asked, turning to face me. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I don’t even know where here is!” But before the conversation could go any further I felt a dark presence on the horizon. John felt it too. He and I stood side by side, turning toward it, ready to face whatever this evil force had in store together.
Monty
Lawrence and I stood facing our twin opponents. Upon issuing their challenge, their auras flared threateningly. There was a chance that we would be able to escape, but not a good one, so I said, “Fine, we’ll duel you, but you have to bet your Shadow Items against our Souls.”
“That’s fine,” said Red Hair.
“We won’t lose,” said Blue Hair.
“We control a power so ancient and a style of dueling so feared,” said Red Hair.
“That no Duelist can possibly overcome it,” concluded Blue Hair.
“Whatever,” said Lawrence with a grimace. “Let’s just get this duel over with.”
“Since you’re in such a hurry,” said Red Hair, “I’ll get things started. I draw, and I activate ‘Trap Booster’, discarding ‘Giga-Tech Wolf’ to activate ‘Ultimate Offering’ from my hand. Next I summon ‘Whirlwind Prodigy’.” A boy in rags appeared, riding the wind itself, “but this monster won’t be around for long, because I’m going to pay five hundred Life Points (4000-500=3500) and tribute ‘Whirlwind Prodigy’ to summon the God of Wind ‘Kazejin’!”
I was struck by the name of Red Hair’s monster. ’Kazejin’? Where have I heard that before?
A massive gust of wind picked up out of nowhere, and a green orb with arms and a small mouth, decorated with gold markings and adorned with the Kanji for wind appeared (ATK: 2400).
“Lawrence,” I said, an air of nervousness to my tone.
“Yeah?”
“What does that card do?”
Lawrence shook his head, “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it.”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to attack it and find out.” I looked directly at Red Hair, “I’m next. You finished?”
“One card face-down,” said Red Hair, “and I end.”
“Then here I go,” I said. “I draw, and I summon my ‘Skilled White Magician’ in attack mode.” A sorcerer in white robes appeared, carrying a staff (ATK: 1700). “Next I activate ‘Brothers by Rite’, halving the Attack of my ‘White Magician’ (1700/2=850) to Special Summon ‘Skilled Dark Magician’ from my deck.”
A magic circle appeared beside ‘Skilled White Magician’. ‘White Magician’ intertwined his fingers and energy poured from him to the circle. There was a flash, and the circle faded. In its place appeared a second, similar sorcerer in brown robes, carrying a staff of his own (ATK: 1900).
“Next I play ‘Double Summon’,” I declared, “letting me tribute both of my monsters to summon the ‘Dark Magician’! God or not, your monster’s weaker than mine.”
The two sorcerers disappeared, and in their place appeared a sorcerer clad in purple, carrying an emerald green, crystal-tipped staff in his right hand (ATK: 2500).
“I place a card face-down,” I said, “and since I can’t attack yet, I end my turn.”
“Then it’s my turn,” said Blue Hair. “Like my brother, I activate ‘Trap Booster’, discarding my ‘Cannon Soldier’ to activate ‘Ultimate Offering’. Next I summon ‘Unshaven Angler’,” A bony angler fish with pale skin and a massive jaw appeared, “and again, like with my brother did with ‘Whirlwind Prodigy’, I pay five hundred Life Points and tribute ‘Angler’ to summon the God of Water, ‘Suijin’!”
The fish disappeared, and a massive creature rose up, surrounded by water vapor. It was little more than a wicked, demonic face atop a pair of legs. His forehead was adorned with the Kanji for water (ATK: 2500).
Another monster that they’re calling a God? And another one that I feel like I’ve heard of. I wonder what they have planned?
“Anything else?” Lawrence demanded brashly.
“Yes,” said Blue Hair. “I place one card face-down and end my turn.”
“Of course you do,” said Lawrence. “I draw, and I activate ‘Painful Choice’. I choose five cards from my deck and reveal them to you. You choose one that I have to add to my hand, and I discard the rest.”
Lawrence pulled his deck from the loader, fanned it out, and selected five cards. Then he shuffled his deck, replaced it, and placed the five selected cards on the five monster card zones on his Duel Disk. Holograms of those five cards appeared above Lawrence’s head. They were ‘Luster Dragon #2’, ‘Different Dimension Dragon’, and three copies of ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’.
The brothers spoke as one, “Add ‘Different Dimension Dragon’ to your hand.”
So Lawrence did as he was told, smiling all the while.
“I activate,” Lawrence declared, “the Spell card ‘Dark Factory of Mass Production’, adding two Normal Monster from my Graveyard to my hand.”
Two cards ejected from Lawrence’s Graveyard; ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ and ‘Luster Dragon #2’.
“I summon,” said Lawrence, “my ‘Kaibaman’.” A young man in a white coat and a helm shaped like a ‘Blue-Eyes’’ head appeared. He pulled a Duel Monsters card from his belt and threw it up into the air. There was a flash, and both the card and the man disappeared, replaced by the legendary ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’. The white dragon roared a mighty screeching roar (ATK: 3000).
“My dragon makes your so called “Water God” look like a puddle beside the road,” said Lawrence. “Cower in fear of my beast. ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’, Burst Stream of Destruction!”
And that’s when I remembered where I’d heard of our opponent’s cards. It was from Yugi Muto, back when I was living in Japan. Yugi had been telling me about his experience at the Duelist Kingdom Tournament. “Lawrence,” I cried, “wait!”
“Too late,” said Red Hair.
“‘Suijin’,” Blue Hair commanded, “Wave Shield!”
‘Suijin’ summoned a stream of water powerful enough to actually deflect the dragon’s white beam attack. Having just attacked, ‘Blue-Eyes’’ was winded, his Attack temporarily reduced to zero. ‘Suijin’’s water stream reshaped. It engulfed the dragon, drowning it and washing it away. Lawrence took a serious hit (4000+0-2500=1500).
Blue Hair laughed, “And don’t think you can try that again. Our Gods cannot be defeated one-on-one, because they can both shield themselves and counterattack once per turn.”
“Then I’ll place this card face-down,” said Lawrence, frustrated, selecting a card from his hand, “and I end.”
“Reveal,” said Blue Hair, “the Trap card ‘Xin Zhen Hu’.” Chains burst from the ground, ensnaring Lawrence’s face-down card as well as my own ‘Magical Hats’, preventing them from being activated.
“Now I draw,” said Red Hair, “and I activate ‘Card of Demise’ to draw five new cards.”
He drew, and he smiled a wicked smile.
“For my turn I set a monster, place a card face-down, and end my turn.”
“Then it’s my move again,” I said. I should be alright, as long as I don’t attack.
Red Hair smiled, “I know what you’re thinking. But I won’t let you skip your attack. I reveal ‘Battle Mania’! Now you ‘Dark Magician’ is forced to attack my ‘Kazejin’ this turn.”
I smiled, “Wrong. You set another monster, remember? I can attack it instead.” I looked over at my sorcerer and commanded, “Attack the set monster with Dark Magic.”
‘Dark Magician’ summoned an orb of green light to the tip of his staff. He swung his staff, flinging it at the hidden monster. But before the attack hit, the Wind God slid in the way of the attack. “Reveal ‘Stanch Defender’,” Red Hair declared, “allowing my ‘Kazejin’ to defend my other monsters this turn.” As he spoke the Wind God summoned up a gust of wind that deflected the ‘Dark Magician’’s attack, carrying through and slicing my monster in half (4000+0-2400=1600).
“Our decks are perfect,” said Red Hair. “We control when you attack…”
“And,” said Blue Hair, “we control what Traps you can activate.”
“And no matter what card you attack us with,” said Red Hair, “we’ll defeat it.”
“And soon,” said Blue Hair, “we’ll summon our most powerful God, and we’ll control when you die.”
“And,” said Red Hair, “there’s nothing you can do about it.”
John
I had no idea where Karen had come from, or even if she was really here deep in my subconscious, or just a hallucination, but I was glad to see her. There was something coming toward us, fast, and the Soul was screaming at me that it was too much for me to survive alone. I looked around, trying to locate whatever it was that was bearing down on us, and I saw it, an undulating mass of darkness. It was massive, even bigger than any one of the Egyptian Gods. The mass changed shape, becoming a huge dragon made of shadows. It opened wide, shuffled its wings, and roared.
“This is it,” I said, “the darkness that the Legendary Dragons returned to our world to help up fight. I can feel it.”
“Well then,” said Karen, “pop out those dragons and kill that thing.”
“That’s gonna be a problem,” I replied. “The only cards I have here in my mind are ones that I can manifest with my mind. They aren’t real. That means I can’t use any card that harbors an actual monster. That includes the Dragons. I need the real Dragons, but they’re back at my house in the waking world.”
“Then what do we do?” Karen asked.
“We have to keep it from killing us until I can get us home. Of course it would help if I knew how to do that.”
The dragon roared again and opened its bright red eyes for the first time.
It saw us.
The dragon turned its head and inhaled. Then it exhaled, expelling a thick white beam with a black core straight at us. I grabbed Karen and pulled her close, raising a card up over my head, the ‘Mirror Force’ Trap card. A reflective barrier appeared around us, sending the beam back toward its source. The beam pierced the shadow and it dispersed like a cloud of smoke.
“Did you kill it?” Karen asked.
I frowned as I felt for the dragon with my Soul. I sighed, “No, not even close.”
“Then let’s try to get a leg up on this thing,” Karen said. She held up a card of her own, which she manifested without hesitation, “I summon ‘Dark Magician Girl’!”
A young blond woman in a pink and blue dress and witch’s hat appeared, wand in hand, glowing with pink light.
“Don’t start without me,” I said, proud of Karen and her initiative, as I found I often was. “Summon, ‘The Fiend Megacyber’!”
A warrior fully clad in yellow armor, with spikes on his shoulders appeared at my side, just as the mass of shadows reformed completely.
“Attack,” said Karen, “with Dark Burning!”
“Attack,” I commanded, “with Megacyber Impact!”
‘Dark Magician Girl’ flew up and fired several bursts of pink light at the dragon’s face, blinding it. My monster, using the dragon’s temporary blindness to his advantage, ran up and jumped, punching the dragon in the chest with everything he had.
The attacks had no discernible effect.
So while my monster still hung in the air I raised two more cards. The armor over my monster’s right arm grew out, becoming the jagged blade of a makeshift longsword, and he was surrounded by a crackling, electric yellow aura. He shot up into the air and slashed the dragon’s head. The dragon turned to smoke again, and instantly began to reform. Our monsters pulled back, ready to defend themselves, but when the dragon had finished reforming, it ignored the monsters completely and focused on me and Karen. It fired an even more massive attack than before, trying to make sure that whatever defense we tried would fail.
“My turn to save you,” said Karen as the attack grew closer. She held up the Trap card ‘Spirit Barrier’, and a dome-shaped energy veil appeared around us. The attack hit, and I had to catch Karen. The force of the attack and the strain of keeping the barrier up had nearly knocked her unconscious, but she regained her footing, even as the attack continued. I took her hand, lending her my strength, but she looked up at me and said, “No, I’ve got this. You focus on getting us home.”
So as much as I didn’t want to I let go of Karen’s hand, leaving her to weather the full force of the dragon’s attack herself, and I focused as hard as I could. My Soul flashed, and I felt my mind begin to reconnect with my body.
Card of the Day:
Suijin
Played by: The Blue-Haired Brother
Any monster capable of repelling the attack of a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" on its own is nothing to sneeze at.
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