There is a lot to say about these following chapters. We get a lot of exposition, a couple of duels, and what is effectively my own fanon regarding how the Sacred Beast cards ended up in the vault beneath Duel Academy in the time of GX. Because so much goes on, I'm just going to comment on most of it after this arch is over. Here, though, I want to mention that yes, I'm Worf-ing my minor characters, and no, I don't think that it's an overused trope.
Chapter Twenty-OneThe Beasts Attack!
Into Their Trap
“What’s going on?” Karen asked as we found ourselves trapped in darkness, separated from the others. “Is this them? Did the Sacred Beasts do this?”
“I can’t be sure,” I answered. “My Soul can’t penetrate these Shadows, but before the Shadows appeared, I felt that the Beasts were still in the school, building up their strength.”
“Then what’s going on?” Karen asked, looking around, searching for the source of our predicament. “Who’s doing this?”
“I am,” answered a voice out of the darkness. We both turned in time to see a figure emerge. He wore a Ra Yellow jacket loosely over a t-shirt and jeans. His hair was darker than I remembered, his eyes were harder, and they had dark rings around them, but I still recognized him almost immediately.
“Shin?”
“What?” Karen asked, looking him over, “You mean that Shin, the first of the two Card Takers?”
“That’s right,” Shin answered, “well, more or less. My new masters showed me the truth. They brought out my full power, and all I have to do in return is use that power to defeat the two of you.”
“After I kicked you and your friend’s asses,” I asked, “didn’t you give me some crap about believing in justice through dueling? If you don’t let us get to the Sacred Beasts before they reach their full power, there won’t be any more justice!”
“Who cares about justice,” said Shin dismissively, “as long as I have the power of darkness! I know that you two have fought plenty of powerful opponent’s but thanks to the Sacred Beasts and the power they stirred up within me, I’m stronger than any of them! I’m stronger than both of you.”
“What happened to you?” Karen asked. “You were always kind of a jerk, but you were never evil.”
“Nothing happened to me,” Shin answered. “The Sacred Beasts just showed me what’s important.”
I shook my head disbelievingly, “You know what, I don’t have time for this. I’m sorry, but regardless of the Beasts’ influence on you, if you won’t let us pass, I’m going to have to make you let us.” I readied my Duel Disk, and Karen did the same.
“You want to duel me?” Shin asked.
“Yes,” Karen and I answered in unison.
Shin smiled and raised his arm, summoning a Duel Disk shaped like a black-feathered wing from the darkness, “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Sheppard
“John,” Thomas cried, “Karen!”
I spun around just in time to see John and Karen, the strongest of the five of us, cut off from us by a half-sphere of darkness. I felt our already bad situation turn toward one of desperation.
“This is bad, isn’t it?” Ria asked grimly.
“It’s a potential setback,” I admitted, “and our chances of success have diminished, but the Beasts must be confronted now while they are still becoming accustomed to controlling the mind that they inhabit.”
I paused, making a quick decision.
“I’ll fight them alone,” I said, “and try to buy some time. Whatever’s happened, I’m sure that your friends will overcome it momentarily. Wait for them and catch up with me as soon as you can.”
I started walking away, but I stopped abruptly when I heard Ria declare in her usual less than subtle fashion, “What are you, an idiot? No way we’re lettin’ you take these monsters on alone, right Tommy?”
“Yeah,” Thomas agreed. “We’re in this together.”
I looked toward the school building. A sinister-looking dark cloud was forming above the structure, lightning flashing within it, We’re running out of time!
“If you fight with me,” I warned, “you may not survive.”
“Maybe not,” Ria agreed, “but we still have to try.” Thomas nodded agreement. I smiled a half smile as I took a moment to admire their courage.
“Then come on,” I said, and the three of us made our way quickly toward the school, and the fiercest enemy we would ever face.
John
“If you really want to fight us,” I told Shin, “then I’m not gonna hold back (LP: 8000). I summon my ‘Strike Ninja’ in attack mode and place one card face-down.”
A black-clad ninja appeared at my side, shuriken in hand, his red sash blowing in the faint wind (ATK 1700).
“I’m up next,” Karen declared (LP: 8000). “To get ahead of you, Shin, I don’t have to do anything more than set a monster and place one card face-down. Do your worst.”
“I intend to,” Shin responded, smiling excitedly (LP: 8000). “I summon ‘Dark Valkyria’.”
‘Dark Valkyria’? I wondered. What happened to his ‘Lightsworn’ cards? A glance at Karen told me that she was wondering the same thing.
“I activate the effect of my Gemini Monster, ‘Dark Valkyria’, with the Spell card ‘Double Summon’,” an orb of darkness appeared and sunk into the chest of Shin’s black-armored dark angel, and her power grew (1800+300=2100).
“I won’t fall for your bluff, Johnny,” Shin announced tauntingly. “My ‘Dark Valkyria’ destroys the ‘Strike Ninja’ with Darklight.”
The wicked angel launched a barrage of dark energy bolts at the ninja. With his superior agility his was able to avoid a few, but soon he was overcome (8000+1700-2100=7600).
At least he took the bait, I thought, and destroyed my monster instead of Karen’s.
“My turn still isn’t over, either,” Shin continued, crushing my vague optimism. “I return the Attack of my monster to its original value,” the orb that had given the dark fairy her additional power emerged from her chest and settled into her hand, “to destroy one monster on the field.”
‘Dark Valkyria’ threw the orb of light at Karen’s hidden monster, revealing it as the diminutive sorceress ‘Card Ejector’ before vaporizing it completely.
Well, I thought, disappointed, never mind. At least I still have a way of gaining some kind of upper hand.
“I place two cards face-down,” Shin concluded. “Would you look at that. It’s the end of my first turn, and I already have complete control of the field!”
“Not for long,” I announced. “My face-down card wasn’t a bluff. Reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’ to revive ‘Strike Ninja’,” the shuriken-wielding ninja returned to my side, “and I tribute him for the lightning demon, ‘Summoned Skull’!”
Lightning fell from the sky, hitting the ninja and flaring outward, forming the skeletal demon, who towered over the field (ATK: 2500).
“Attack,” I commanded, “with Lightning Strike!”
‘Summoned Skull’ brandished his claws, summoning up more lightning and unleashing it, but just before the lightning could hit the fairy, it was swallowed by a vortex in the air.
“Reveal,” said Shin arrogantly, “the Trap card ‘Negate Attack’.”
“Then I end my turn, and since I’ve weeded out your defensive card-.”
“I draw,” Karen cut in, catching the baton as it was passed, “and I remove the top five cards in my deck from play to activate ‘Toon Kingdom’,” the green book, ‘Toon World’, appeared and opened to a page depicting a castle surrounded by a moat and trees, “I play ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive my ‘Card Ejector’, and I summon the Toon monster ‘Toon Masked Sorcerer’.”
The chibi magician reappeared at Karen’s side as pink smoke poured from the magical book. From the smoke emerged a caricature of the masked torso that was the ‘Masked Sorcerer’.
“Activate,” Karen continued, “the Spell card ‘Magician’s Unite’, allowing my Spellcasters to combine power for the turn.”
The two magicians combined their magic in a flash of light (ATK: 3000).
“Because my Spellcasters declared an attack,” Karen continued, “I can activate ‘Magician’s Circle’ to summon another Spellcaster from my deck. Joined with the magic of ‘Toon Kingdom’ I can summon a Toon Spellcaster,” a magic circle appeared above Karen’s pop-up castle, and from it emerged the ‘Toon Dark Magician Girl’, her wand held high (ATK: 2000).
“My monsters attack,” Karen declared. ‘Card Trader’ and ‘Masked Sorcerer’ unleashed a wave of light in the direction of ‘Dark Valkyria’, and ‘Toon Dark Magician Girl’ released a pulse of dark light from her wand in the direction of Shin himself, but Shin was unconcerned, and for a good reason.
“Reveal,” Shin declared, “the Trap card ‘Mirror Force’ to reflect your attacks back at every monster standing in opposition of me.”
A reflective barrier formed around Shin and his monster, catching Karen’s attacks and reflecting them back in four waves, striking all four of our monsters, destroying them before we could even react.
Karen looked shocked, but she held herself together, “Then I end my turn.”
“Good,” Shin replied. “This duel is mine! Summon ‘Harpie Lady 1’.”
A slender woman in a jumpsuit, with talons and feathered arms, appeared alongside Shin’s first monster.
“The effect of ‘Harpie Lady 1’ increases the Attack of all Wind monsters by three hundred (ATK: 1300+300=1600),” Shin explained. “I’ll also play ‘Elegant Egotist’,” three more ‘Harpie Ladies’ seemed to split off of the first like an image in a kaleidoscope and grouped together, “to summon ‘Harpie Lady Sisters’ (ATK: 1950+300=2250)! On my ‘Harpie Lady Sisters’ I play ‘Triangle Ecstasy Spark’.”
The ‘Sisters’ formed a triangle in the air, energy crossing between them (ATK: 2250->2700).
“‘Harpies’,” Shin commanded, “attack the girl!”
The ‘Harpie Lady Sisters’ unleashed a triangular beam that struck Karen square in the chest. She braced herself against it, but the impact was still enough to almost throw her off her footing (8000-2700=5300). Just as she was recovering from the first attack, the ‘Harpie Lady 1’ flew past her and slashed Karen with her talons (5300-1600=3700). If that wasn’t bad enough I watched in horror as a chunk of Karen’s torso and a portions of her right arm and both legs began to dissolve away as Karen cried out in pain.
“What the hell is going on here?!” I demanded.
“Didn’t I mention,” Shin replied, “that those who take damage in this Shadow Game will lose a proportionate part of themselves?”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I’ve taken damage and I’m just fine.”
Shin smiled a wicked smile and pointed at my leg. I looked down and I was shocked.
My right ankle, up nearly to the knee, was just gone. I'd attributed the pain to the typical strain of the Shadow Game, but I'd been wrong, and it was true: my leg was gone!
“Karen,” I asked, “are you okay?”
Still breathing heavily and disoriented from the pain of the massive attack, she nodded and gave me a little smirk, “Yeah. Well, as much as can be expected.”
“Yes boys and girls,” said Shin proudly, “it’s that kind of Shadow Game!”
Sheppard
Thomas, Ria and I turned the corner into Kagemaru’s office. The lights were off, and the sun had since begun to set. Without the partial light of evening, the room felt as if someone had blanketed it with menace. Kagemaru was still standing by the window, overlooking the island.
No I reminded myself, not Kagemaru. This figure before me is not my friend. It is the minds of the Sacred Beasts controlling my friend’s body.
“I was wondering when you would get here,” the Beasts said, speaking through Kagemaru’s mouth, using Kagemaru’s voice, echoing with something more sinister.
“Wait a minute,” Thomas asked, “if there’s three of those things in there, then why does it sound like there’s only one? You know that doesn’t make much sense.”
“You’re more clever than you look, boy,” the Beasts replied as they turned their stolen form to face us. “I am the mind that controls the beasts within. Three demons in one. Three minds in one! I speak the consensus that is reached. I am the true mind of the Sacred Beasts.”
I saw a fierce fire in my friend’s usually compassionate eyes, “I am Armityle.”
“Whoever you are,” I told him, them, or whatever they were, “we will not let you have my friend’s body.”
“That’s right,” Ria agreed. “We’re gonna stop ya!”
“Well,” said Armityle, walking over to Kagemaru’s desk and taking from it Kagemaru’s Duel Disk, which he strapped to his wrist, “if you want to take my new body, then maybe I should return the favor.”
He took Kagemaru’s deck from the pocket of his host’s jacket and prepared for the battle to come, “By the time this Shadow Game is over, you’ll have been sent to the Shadows, body and soul.”
His mouth twisted into a wicked smile, “You will cease to exist.”
Card of the Day:
Magician's Unite
Played by: Karen
It's good to see Karen dueling effectively again. She still isn't as manipulative as she used to be, but she is using all of her skills rather than holding herself back, symbolized by this card, which turns a weak monster into a very strong one. The issue in this duel is that Shin is just really good, with a deck that is really hard to pin down. It also doesn't help that John and Karen were caught off guard.
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