On the roof of the Ra Yellow dorm, close enough to the two duelists to spectate, but far enough away for neither to notice him, a small trail of smoke escaped from Bernardello’s lips as he finished a long, smooth drag of his cigarette and considered the situation. In all honesty, Dimitri going off script as soon as he met Phillip seemed to be both a blessing and a curse. The original plan, of course, was for the boy to test the waters against Jaden with the new strategy Bernardello had given him. Even if Dimitri had little talent for the game outside of blatantly copying his betters, Bernardello knew that the matchup would be a net gain in many different ways.
Against Phillip, though? If Bernardello hadn’t seen the boy tear his opponents to pieces in Kaiba’s farce of a tournament with practiced ease, well, the man would have been better off simply walking over to the two duelists and ending the game before it started. However, considering the surprising talent the boy showed in spite of his age, and Phillip’s tendency to get himself involved with the murky events swirling in the background of the school, then if Bernardello’s gut was correct it would be like sacrificing a pawn to see if an opposing piece was another pawn… or a knight.
Bernardello took another long, welcoming drag of his cigarette and leaned against the door leading out onto the roof to enjoy the show. It would, at least, be a show he could enjoy in one way or another. Either one or both of the boys would make a fine showing, or… Bernardello glanced at the faint shapes of writhing shadows that danced alongside the rooftop unbeknownst to both of the duelists. If they disappointed them, She would make the loser’s death most entertaining, at the very least. She had inherited quite a cruel streak from the Thief King, after all.
Alongside Bernardello, a sleek, metallic head snaked its way out from under his coat. It casually snorted to disperse the gathering shadows and raised two green, baleful eyes to watch the duel with a look of bored contempt. How could it even be mildly interested at this point? There wasn’t even any blood flowing yet. The green eyes closed, and the metallic head retreated back under Bernardello’s coat.
“Wake me when one of them falls.”
Bernardello absentmindedly nodded at the creature, showing his understanding as he enjoyed another drag of his cigarette.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Phil tilted his head to the side in thought as the duel began, considering both his starting hand and his opponent. There was something a wee bit off about the boy. Dimitri’s arms were shaking, and his face was deathly pale. Of course, the deep, dark circles around the boy’s eyes did little to help fix his sickly appearance, but…
Phil shook his head. The sleep schedule of his fellow Ra Yellow was of little concern to him, and if the guy wanted a late-night duel despite his own apparent exhaustion, then Phil was ready to school him in the class of rock and roll.
Or frog and roll, Phil jokingly reminded himself as he took the first turn. “Alright! Class is in session Big D, and I hope you’re ready to spill the beans on that intel you mentioned. I summon Poison Draw Frog (100/100) in defense position, set one card face down, and end my turn by activating the spell card Foolish Burial, which allows me to send one copy of T.A.D.P.O.L.E straight from my deck to my graveyard!”
Dimitri narrowed his tired eyes as a small, brown frog with a rather long tongue hopped onto the field with an expression of pure resignation for its future fate.
“You’re using frogs again?” Dimitri said in scathing tones. “I’ve reviewed your entrance duel against the examiner. That man had a weak insect deck and you hardly beat him!”
“Eh, my froggy friends tried their best and we all had a good time. That’s all that matters, right? Besides, these fellas are all I need to beat your ass anyways, Mr. Can’t Play The Game Without Copying Someone Better.”
The sharp response from Phil caused Dimitri to close his mouth with an ugly look on his face as the insult hit close to home.
“Fine. In that case, I’ll show you. I’ll show all of you.” Dimitri eventually spoke in a deathly calm tone. “I summon Skull Knight #2 (1000/1200) in attack position and go to my battle phase. Skull Knight, a clean slice is all that is needed! Strike!”
Phil looked on in mild indifference as the skeleton knight cleaved through Poison Draw Frog, who hardly reacted as its flesh was bisected cleanly in one blow, allowing Phil to draw a card from its death.
“Then I place two cards face down and end my turn.”
“A weak beatstick slaps around a poor little froggy.” Phil laughed to himself. “Wow, such power to back up your confidence. You know what? Let’s make this a bit more interesting. I like gambling, do you? I activate the spell card Reasoning! Pick a level, Dimitri, any level!”
Dimitri narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin in thought, taking Phil’s joking question quite seriously. Eventually, Dimitri chose level two and Phil began to excavate cards from the top of his deck one by one.
“Ah, spell, trap, spell, spell…” Phil listed off as the cards were revealed one by one until he finally hit a monster that could be normal summoned or set without meeting specific conditions. “Perfect! Since Des Frog is a level five monster and not the level two that you called, I get to special summon him and send the remaining cards I excavated to the graveyard. Now, of course, since Des Frog wasn’t tribute summoned, I can’t activate his effect to summon more of his buddies onto the field, but he’s still a big boy. Just look at those beady little eyes of his! There isn’t a shred of mercy in them!”
True to Phil’s word, an unremarkable green frog the size of an average man’s head dully hopped onto the field, immediately staring at Dimitri with a pair of black, empty eyes and letting loose one single ‘croak’ before falling utterly silent.
“Des Frog, please kindly murderize that Skull Knight!”
Dimitri stared resolutely forwards in the face of the frog’s attack. “I’m afraid not! Trap card activate, Bark of Dark Ruler! By paying life points in multiples of 100 when a fiend monster I control battles, I can reduce the attack and defense of a monster you control by the same amount! So, by paying 1000 life points, I can temporarily drop your frog’s attack down to 900.”
Phil: 3900 Dimitri: 3000
Just as quickly as Des Frog had materialized onto the field, it was cut down with another clean stroke of the weak knight’s blade as a phantom image of the horned ruler of the underworld reared his head behind the knight to let loose a mighty roar.
“What is it you say?” Dimitri smirked. “Oh yes. Weak! Trash! Get that worthless frog off of my field!”
Phil shrugged. “Ey, it is what it is dude. You can play all the crappy battle traps you want, doesn’t change the fact that froggos are superior. I set one monster in face down defense position, set another card face down, and end my turn.”
As Dimitri’s turn began and he drew a card, his body shuddered as the temperature seemed to drop almost ten whole degrees. “One piece of the puzzle is here.” He said between bouts of choking laughter. “I place one card face down, and then I will tribute my Skull Knight #2 to summon the horned beast of omen, Doom Shaman (2400/2000)! Then, since I tribute summoned a fiend-type monster using Skull Knight, his effect activates in the graveyard to summon another Skull Knight #2 from my deck in attack position. Of course, since Doom Shaman is a gemini monster, he currently has his effect locked away, but he still has more than enough attack points to deal with anything you can put in defense position. Doom Shaman, attack Phillip’s face down monster!”
The bipedal black-haired goat monster hurried to obey Dimitri’s orders, waving its skull-tipped staff to unleash a blast of magic at Phil’s face down monster, destroying the revealed Dupe Frog (100/2000) on impact.
“On destruction, Dupe Frog’s effect activates!” Phil shouted once the shaman’s attack subsided. “When he gets sent to the graveyard from the field, I can grab one ‘Frog’ monster from my deck or graveyard and add it to my hand. I choose my homie Treeborn Frog!”
Dimitri shook his head and darkly chuckled. “Another weak frog to add to the bunch. Skull Knight, show him how useless his efforts are and attack his life points directly!”
Phil hardly even reacted as his life points dropped down to 2900 and he began his turn. “Weak, smeak. These frogs are cool as hell and I’ll slap you silly if you just give me a few turns. Besides, was Doom Shaman really the piece you were looking for? I mean, I know what it does. The fella lets you cheese out Fiends from your hand and grave faster than a Frenchman runs from a fight.”
Phil shook his head mockingly. “Big whoop, I just gotta find the out to the shaman and you’re back to square one. Well, no time like the present to start that process. I activate Graceful Charity, which allows me to draw three cards and discard two. I’m gonna discard another T.A.D.P.O.L.E and the Treeborn Frog that I added to my hand earlier. Now, I’m gonna do a pro gamer move and summon my boy Beelze Frog (1200/800). Fun fact, he gains 300 attack points for each T.A.D.P.O.L.E in my grave, meaning he shoots all the way up to 1800 attack points. Beelze, please kindly remove that stupid Skull Knight from my field.”
The red and black colored frog hopped across the field to follow Phil’s orders, its tiny blue wings giving it a few feet of airtime between each hop. Then, with one swift bite, Beelze Frog cleanly chomped through the knight’s armor like a hot knife through butter. Then, Phil placed one card face down and ended his turn.
Phil: 2900 Dimitri: 2200
Dimitri simply laughed as his monster disappeared. “Why even bother? The damage is paltry, and I can bring forth Skull Knight from the dead on my turn. Besides, it matters not. During your end phase, I activate the first key to my victory! The board that speaks to the afterlife, showing the hatred and will of the spirits of the past! Trap card Destiny Board, activate!”
Every scrap of sound on the roof stilled as a brown Ouija Board with its surface cracked with age silently appeared out of thin air. No owls hooted, no air conditioners rumbled. There was nothing but utter silence. A soft clacking noise emanated from the board as a slender blue arm moved the device to point towards a single letter. ‘D’. Then, a second letter formed. ‘E’.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The smoke from Bernardello’s cigarette swirled into a circle as an invisible force began to tug the smoke towards where the two boys were dueling. He let out a sigh of satisfaction, sensing that soon there would be blood in the water, or in this case, all over the rooftop. The beginning of the duel may have been boring, but this was where the real fun would begin.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Despite himself, Phil could feel his own heartbeat straining against the pressure that filled the air, and his breath caught in his throat as he saw the swirling scraps of darkness dance across his feet. He had seen this before, in one of the classrooms below. But why here? Why now? This was just supposed to be a duel over information with a fellow student!
“A shadow game.” Phil mumbled to himself in disbelief. As the reality of the situation set in, his voice grew louder with every word until Phil began to shout. “Dimitri, just what the fuck have you done? You don’t know what you’re dealing with man!”
Dimitri smirked in response, clearly not understanding the weight of Phil’s words. “Shadow game? What the hell are you talking about? Did wittle Philly get scawed now that you have three more of your turns left until you lose?”
Phil fell silent. Did Dimitri truly not know what was going on? Or was he playing the long con and trying to get in his head? If Dimitri’s strategy was the latter, well, it was working all too well. Phil took a deep breath and vigorously rubbed his arms to stop them from shaking. Either way, whether Dimitri had intended to trigger this shadow duel or not, something didn’t sit right with Phil. Perhaps it was the prospect of potentially being forced to consign a kid, of all things, to a fate worse than death, or perhaps it was the back of his mind wondering if someone else had set this in motion.
Well, whatever it is… I can’t do shit about it if I lose. Phil reminded himself. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Hell, having to kill Titan was already bad enough. But to do that again, except for a kid? That wasn’t right.
Dimitri summoning Doom Shaman once more to turn him into an effect monster shook Phil out of his thoughts, and he watched with mild annoyance as the shaman activated his effect to special summon Dark Ruler Ha Des (2450/1600) from Dimitri’s hand in attack position. The green ruler of the underworld looked just as menacing as the shaman, though the cup of red wine that the horned fiend held in his hand lent the monster an air of dignified nobility. Then, to make matters worse, Dimitri activated one of his face down cards to summon the twisted, dragon-like trap monster Zoma the Spirit (1800/500).
However, that annoyance only stayed at mild levels, levels that soon decreased to zero as despite the seriousness of the situation and his concern over the shadow duel, Phil began to laugh while Dimitri declared an attack on Beelze Frog with Doom Shaman.
“Hey dude, wanna know something funny?”
Dimitri narrowed his eyebrows, but motioned for Phil to continue.
“Well,” Phil took a second to catch his breath, and then began laughing all over again. “Frogs have their own version of Mirror Force. On your attack declaration towards my Beelze Frog, I activate my trap card Froggy Forcefield, which will destroy all attack position monsters you control!”
Dimitri’s mouth hung open in shock as the skull staff of Doom Shaman attempted to thwack Beelze Frog on the head but was stopped mid swing, catching on a near invisible bubble that rapidly expanded to vaporize Doom Shaman, Dark Ruler Ha Des, and Zoma the Spirit in one fell swoop. One smooth action that left Dimitri with no monsters on his side of the field.
Phil shook his head, unable to resist the playful dig that sprung to his lips as an almost automatic reaction at this point. “Always be careful of Mirror Force, dude. It’s allllways watching.”
“Whatever. I’ll just get Doom Shaman back again later, and you’re on a time limit now anyways. In fact, that reminds me.” Dimitri said with a tired, crooked grin. “I activate the spell card Nightmare’s Steelcage, which will prevent both of us from attacking for two of your turns.
Phil’s face turned sour as a cage of black steel enveloped his side of the field, with not even the largest gaps between the bars being wide enough to allow a single attack through.
“I draw.” Phil mumbled in thought as he glanced between the cage and the two floating letters. If he waited for the cage to go away from its own effect, then he would end up being one turn away from death. On the other hand, he didn’t exactly have a way to destroy the cage at the moment. “Still, doing something is better than nothing.” Phil eventually decided. “I summon Dupe Frog in defense position and activate another Foolish Burial to send my third copy of T.A.D.P.O.L.E. from my deck to my graveyard. I end my turn.”
The sky lit up with a grey ambiance as another letter, ‘A’, joined its companions above the board. Two of his turns left, Phil grimly noted to himself. Two turns left, and still he was making absolutely zero progress in brainstorming a way for them to both survive the shadow game. In a grim way the difficulty made it almost an interesting goal. He wasn’t trying to speedrun a win, nor was he trying to throw the game. Instead, Phil had to find a way to both win the game and keep Dimitri’s life from being snuffed out like a candle in a tornado. Quite difficult indeed.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Dimitri’s turn was as quiet as Phil’s had been, as the boy was similarly restrained by the steel cage. A moment to ponder was all Dimitri needed to summon Necro Gardna (600/1300) in defense position and end his turn.
“Man, just when the duel was heating up, we get this idiotic stalemate.” The snarky comment spilled out of Phil’s lips completely unbidden as his mouth appeared to fall back to old habits while his mind was occupied with the terrifying situation before him. “And one turn left on the cage… Well, fuck it. I activate Call of the Haunted to bring Des Frog back from the graveyard, and then, though it feels like a waste, I activate Monster Reborn to summon Dupe Frog back from the graveyard in defense position."
"Now, the funny thing is about Dupe Frog", Phil continued, "is that while he’s on the field, his name gets changed to Des Frog. Two Dupes and a Des means I essentially have three Des Frogs on my board, which gives me the mojo I need to file a restraining order against your Destiny Board. I activate the spell card Des Croaking! Since I have three Des Frogs on my side of the field, I get to destroy all cards you control, Dimitri! Frogs, sing us a song!”
In response to Phil’s orders, the unremarkable green Des Frog and the two white Dupe Frogs wearing graduation caps and tassels enlarged their throats to an almost comical bulge.
“Fa”
“So”
“La”
“Ti”
The frogs said one by one, using the notes to harmonize perfectly with a final “Do!”
As they finished singing the ‘Do’, the three frogs fell silent, gazing across the rooftop dramatically while the green Des Frog in the middle winked towards Dimitri with a cheeky smile. Then, once again harmonizing perfectly like a professional barbershop trio, they began to sing.
“Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.”
“Make him the cutest that I’ve ever seen.”
“Give him two lips like roses and clover.”
“Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over!”
“Sandman, I’m so alone.”
“Don’t have nobody to call my own.”
“Please turn on your magic beam,”
“Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream!”
The trio of frogs proved to be unstoppable as Des Frog handled the high notes while the two Dupe Frogs pushed out a stunning, soul shaking round of deep bass notes to compliment the barbershop melody. Each verse shook the very building itself as the words built up onto each other until the Des Frog ended the short song with a quavering, beautiful note that shattered not only Dimitri’s white-haired Necro Gardna, but also the ominous wooden Ouija Board floating in the night sky like a hammer going through a fragile glass pane.
Is this… it? Phil wondered to himself as he watched Dimitri’s final monster and face down cards get atomized. He had enough damage available to him to end the game here and now. But what would happen if he did? A kid would be condemned to a fate that Phil honestly didn’t wish on anyone. Not even Titan. If that time hadn’t been a matter of pure survival, well, Phil would have preferred to find literally any other way of dealing with the situation. Yet, Phil also knew that if he didn’t finish Dimitri right here and now, there was always that ever-looming likelihood that the guy would find some idiotic way to reverse the duel and Phil would end up on the loosing end of the shadow duel. That is to say, this was yet another matter of pure survival.
In the end it all boiled down to one question: His conscience, or his life?
Phil took a deep breath of the cool night air as he organized his thoughts and wavered on the knife’s edge of entering his battle phase. The snarky, reckless side of him urged Phil to finish the duel in style, regardless of the consequences for Dimitri. Meanwhile, his compassion told Phil to take it like a man and hope that Jaden could use his stupid protagonist luck to save Phil’s soul before it was too late.
Another breath of cool night air shocked Phil’s lungs. It wasn’t freezing cold, but the weather, while a bit milder than what he was used to in America, was certainly trending towards winter. It was funny in a way, how a breath of clean, fresh, cold air could help in all sorts of ways. In Phil’s case, it decided things.
“I’m sorry, Dimitri.” Phil said with a catch in his voice before he steeled his expression and entered his battle phase. “Des Frog, attack directly. Beelze Frog, finish this duel.
Dimitri howled in pain as Des Frog rocketed into his stomach and dropped his life points down to 300. The impact alone was enough for Dimitri to start vomiting blood and his eyes widened as the realization of what Phil said earlier fully hit his mind.
This was a shadow game.
A series of wet ‘splats’ on the concrete of the roof followed as Dimitri coughed out more blood and began to shout in panic.
“No! Necro Gardna’s effect activates, banishing himself to stop your Beelze Frog’s attack!”
Phil’s face paled as his finishing move was halted dead in its tracks by the ghostly, black-armored hands of Necro Gardna. Shit. If this was an episode of the anime, then next turn I would be seeing a full turnaround of the board state which would force me onto the back foot again.
Once more the duel temporarily came to a halt as Dimitri cleared the last of the blood from his throat and straightened his posture with shaking legs.
“I… what is this?” Dimitri eventually spoke with a fearful tone. “It… it hurts.”
Phil took a deep, shuddering breath and closed his eyes. “I told you, you fool of a kid. Somehow you started a shadow game, and now we both have to pay the price. Only one person ever walks out of these things in one piece. I’m sorry. I end my turn.”
Dimitri took a series of quick, panicked glances around the roof, seeing as if for the first time how the shadows winded their way around the two duelists like they were living, liquid scraps of darkness. He stilled, and then shuddered. “Can you hear her too? I ca-“
Dimitri shuddered once again as his voice cut off in mid-sentence. Then, he drew a card with short, halted movements of his arms.
“Worry not, child.”
Dimitri groaned with effort, activating Pot of Greed and placing both the cards he drew face down. Then, with another jerky movement he wordlessly summoned Dark Spirit of Banishment (1600/0) in defense position. The body of the green and silver spirit flowed and rippled as if it was made out of liquid metal, and it raised its serrated, curved cutlass with an eerie, mournful cry.
“I… end my turn.” Dimitri eventually said in faint, dreamlike tones.
Phil narrowed his eyes. That voice earlier… it wasn’t one that he recognized, but he could have sworn that a third person had just spoken. A duel spirit? That would explain the shadow duel, at least. But if Dimitri had gotten involved with one, and one as clearly malicious as this spirit…
“I draw. Entering battle phase. Beelze Frog, destroy that spirit.”
Beelze Frog hopped to obey with a dull expression, halfheartedly tearing the green and silver spirit’s head off in one swipe of its arms. However, as the spirit faded from the field with a shrill wail of despair, Dimitri slowly moved his arm to reveal a trap card.
“Nightmare Wheel… activate.” Dimitri said in between laborious breaths. “Targeting your Des Frog. It can no longer attack. Booby Trap E, activate. Discarding Puppet Master to set Destiny Board from the graveyard to the field. Its effect allows me to activate it this same turn.”
Phil scowled as Destiny Board was activated once more during his end phase and the letters ‘D’ and ‘E’ appeared as spectral phantoms above the field.
“Great. Just when a guy thinks he’s in the clear, this just has to happen again.” Phil griped, partially due to his obvious annoyance at the situation, and partially to shove his worry about Dimitri down to the lowest part of his stomach to deal with later through the power of complaining.
“I am here, child. I shall hold you close. All will be well.”
The voice in the darkness spoke again, causing Phil to twist and turn his head around as he tried to narrow down where the warm, motherly tones were coming from.
Yup. Definitely a duel spirit, and definitely creeping me the fuck out. Is she possessing Dimitri, or just influencing him? Phil decided, abandoning his search shortly after it began due to the sheer thickness of the dark fog. The two possibilities each had their own distinct meanings. Phil knew that possession was indeed possible through freaky Egyptian magic, but from what scraps he remembered from the original manga series, there wasn’t too much he could do to stop a possession other than hoping D.3.S Frog could beat the spirit out of Dimitri using the power of extreme, senseless violence. If it was an influencing situation, however, there would be a bit more hope.
At least, if Phil could find a way to win the shadow duel without Dimitri dying or getting his mind broken.
Dimitri’s turn began, causing Nightmare Wheel’s second effect to activate and deal 500 damage to Phil’s life points.
Phil: 2400 Dimitri: 300
“Now…” Dimitri forced out the words between gasps. “I summon Doomdog Octhros (800/800), and immediately activate the spell card Monster Gate. By tributing Doomdog Octhros, I excavate cards from the top of my deck until I excavate a monster that can be normal summoned.”
Similar to how Phil had activated Reasoning earlier in the duel, Dimitri flipped cards off the top of his deck and into his graveyard until he reached the first monster that could be summoned without meeting special conditions.
“Dark Spirit of Malice (1600/0), I summon you forth in defense position. In addition, Doomdog Octhros’s effect activates!” Dimitri’s eyes once more began to show faint signs of life as his voice became stronger. However, even Phil could tell that the whole set of actions looked unnatural. It was almost like someone, or something else was moving Dimitri’s limbs and working his voice for him.
“Dark Necrofear, to me! And since I have at least three fiends in my graveyard, I banish both of the Skull Knight #2s and Doomdog Octhros to summon the gentle mother of despair, the lady of unquiet silence, Dark Necrofear (2200/2800)!”
Where the shadows had felt suffocating earlier, they now felt as if every touch of darkness threatened to crush Phil’s bones to a pulp. His lungs strained to bring in enough air, his heart became stiff as it struggled to pump blood through his veins.
And then, Phil saw Her. Purple legs creeped out of the thick, choaking darkness like a wandering spider picking its way across a web. Blue arms cradled a broken porcelain doll that stared at Phil with an empty, cracked expression. Pitiless, cruel eyes peered deep into Phil’s very soul.
“I can see you, child.”
The woman murmured, somehow managing to mix a tone of affection with daggers of sheer hatred that bled from her every word. Still, though the spirit was a fearsome presence, a hint of frustration rose onto her smooth, blue face as she was unable to attack.
Phil felt a faltering smile spread over his face at the sight. “Yeah, that’s the thing. No matter how scary your monsters are, they can only attack Dupe Frog while he’s on the field. And when I have two Dupes? Well, that means no attacks for you.”
Dimitri nodded tiredly in acknowledgement, the previous drops of energy that showed while summoning Dark Necrofear long gone by this point. However, as the boy swayed and lurched in exhaustion where he stood, Dark Necrofear flowed to his side like a spring of sickly water to support him. One arm cradled the broken porcelain doll, and another arm cradled Dimitri’s barely conscious form.
His situation keeps getting worse and worse. Phil observed with no small amount of worry as he glanced between the boy in Dark Necrofear’s embrace and the ghostly letters in the sky. Even after all the setup Phil had put into his Des Croaking strategy, he was right back at square one. The only difference was that there was nothing to prevent him from attacking, and Dimitri hadn’t placed any face downs to replace the ones he had activated previously.
In other words, provided Phil could out-damage Dark Necrofear, Dimitri’s board was wide open for the finishing move.
“Okay, starting off, I tribute Des Frog from my field to tribute summon Des Frog from my hand. Since he was properly summoned this time, I can special summon my third Des Frog from my deck to the field. I can’t deal with Necrofear yet, but I’ll go ahead to my battle phase anyways. Des Frog, annihilate Dark Spirit of Malice.”
The green frog sprung past the disintegrating remains of the Nightmare Wheel to tear out a large chunk of brown miasma from the dull, fleshy spirit, gorging itself on the creature’s essence to the sound of its wails.
“Then, I set one card face down and end my turn.”
As Phil ended his turn, the letter ‘A’ shimmered into existence in the night sky, and Dark Necrofear gently helped Dimitri move his own arm to draw a card.
“Child, sweet child.” The spirit murmured. “Keep pressing forward. You’re almost there.”
“Yes.” Dimitri responded in a foggy, confused voice. “I summon Necro Defender (0/800) in defense position, and switch Dark Necrofear to defense position.”
Before Dimitri could do anything else, Phil took a deep breath and flipped over the trap card he had set the turn prior.
“In response to your summon, I activate Torrential Tribute to destroy all monsters on the field!”
Dimitri slowly blinked as Phil’s frog monsters were swallowed by a flash of blue light, a flash that also gradually grew to envelop his side of the field. He staggered as Dark Necrofear disappeared with a soft sigh, swiftly followed by the grotesque skull-like shape of Necro Defender. But, it wasn’t over yet.
“Now that all your monsters are gone, and more importantly, my frogs are in the grave, I activate one last trap card during your turn.” Phil stood silently for a moment, shaking his head with a sigh. “Necro Fusion, activate. By banishing all three Des Frogs face-down from my graveyard…”
Phil’s body lightened as a green leg thicker than a million-year-old tree swooped out of the shadows to splinter the concrete that made up the roof. Phil’s heart no longer strained to beat as a light brown underbelly rose from the darkness. Phil’s lungs were free again as two pink eyes lazily blinked, lighting up the entire roof like gigantic spotlights.
“I fusion summon the big guy, the whiskered one, the frantic freaky frog himself!”
“D.”
“3.”
“S.”
“Frog.”
(2500/2000 -> 3000/2000)
The massive wall of green and brown that stepped from the shadows roared in defiance towards the smoky letters in the sky, causing the very moon itself to visibly shake and shudder.
Once the mighty frog was fully unveiled, Dimitri moved towards his end phase and the ghostly apparition of Dark Necrofear glided back onto the field.
“Dark… Necrofear’s effect activates.” Dimitri forced the words out of his mouth. “During the end phase she becomes an equip card that takes control of your D.3.S. Frog.”
“My turn.” Phil eventually said once it became clear that Dimitri had nothing else he could do that turn after stealing Phil’s monster. He narrowed his eyes. No traps set, and only a stolen monster to defend with. Dimitri was wide open. At least, after Phil revealed the time-honored answer to cards like Dark Necrofear.
“Too bad. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the Dark Necrofear in the spell and trap card zone, which will return control of D.3.S. Frog back to me.” Now there was only the final push for victory left.
And yet, Phil hesitated. He looked toward the hungry, slavering jaw of D.3.S. Frog, and looked back to the frail form of Dimitri. Even now, the boy was barely conscious. He hardly had the strength to raise his head to look at Phil’s monster, and at some point in time during the summoning, Dimitri had fallen down into a heap onto the surface of the roof.
“Fuck. Fuck! Man, why did you have to do this? Why?” Phil could feel bile start to rise from his stomach to his throat. He shook his head helplessly, and then he chose the path of survival.
“D.3.S. Frog. End it.”
The dull green skin of D.3.S. Frog flashed in the moonlight as the creature lunged toward his victim. Phil’s eyes widened as his heart leaped up into his chest. He couldn’t do it. “NO! DON’T YOU FUCKING KILL THAT KID!” He screamed as loud as he could. The frog’s body shuddered as he looked towards Phil with Dimitri’s limp body halfway in his mouth.
Phil pointed towards D.3.S. Frog. “Yes. I know. It’s a bad idea. But I can’t just let you kill a kid. Please. I don’t know if there is any way you can, but please. You’ve wiped out his life points. Just set him down. If this is because you’re hungry, I’ll find you some real good food later, yeah?”
D.3.S. Frog’s eyes blinked as the creature stared at Phil without even a single shred of emotion on his amphibious face.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Nurse Fontaine hurriedly rubbed the crust out of her eyes as someone rapidly banged their fists against the infirmary door. She frowned, grabbing her own duel disk and slotting her deck in it, glancing towards where Atticus Rhodes still lay on his bed, unconscious. However, despite her own caution, Nurse Fontaine opened the door and gasped in horror.
Phillip stood on the other side, with another student that Nurse Fontaine failed to remember the name of set over his shoulder like a limp sack of potatoes.
“Quick. In here.” Was all that the nurse said as she ushered Phillip in and gently removed the student that he was carrying. While Nurse Fontaine worked, she gestured for Phillip to sit on a chair nearby, where he told her of the situation in a voice that was alarmingly dull. Nurse Fontaine stayed silent the entire time while she worked to make the boy, Dimitri, comfortable, only widening her eyes in shock as Phillip described how the shadow duel triggered out of nowhere. Eventually, as Phillip’s story ended, she patted him on the shoulder with a comforting expression.
“You… you did as much as you could, Phillip.” She said. “Do you think you can make it back to your dorm room?”
Phillip nodded absentmindedly, glancing from Dimitri back to her.
“Then get some sleep. I’ll notify the professors, and they can get to the bottom of this in the morning. For now, the best thing you can do is rest.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Professor Bernardello watched Phillip exit the infirmary and trudge back to the Ra Yellow dorms with heavy steps. The whole affair was quite interesting indeed. He had a good idea of Dark Necrofear’s strength beforehand, but Phillip’s duel spirit seemed quite formidable indeed. And to be able to command such a beast, to stop it from devouring Dimitri’s soul! How magnificent! Bernardello had seen people torn to shreds by their duel spirits for lesser infractions.
Still, he reminded himself as he heard the faint sound of a glass window shattering in the infirmary below, it wasn’t over yet. Phillip would find that sweet, gentle mercy was something that a duelist could not hold on for long.
Bernardello’s eyebrows rose as a pillar of screeching bats rose into the sky in the distance, distracting the professor from the events down in the infirmary.
“Camula, Camula, Camula.” Bernardello said in an amused tone as he stared at the living pillar off in the distance. “You couldn’t stand waiting for another day? That poor bambini Zane. Fresh off the boat and he finally runs into something that cannot be broken by sheer force alone.”
Well, it was about time to get moving, anyways, Bernardello reminded himself as one of the bats broke off from the pillar to start flying his way. Another night, another dollar.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Hush… say a word… buy you a”
Dimitri’s mind floated in and out of a heavy haze as snippets of some strange song floated down into his ears, the words murky and disconnected like he was hearing someone speak to him underwater.
“If… mockingbird doesn’t sing… buy you…”
The words began to sound clearer, and Dimitri cracked open his eyes.
“And if that diamond ring turns brass, Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass.”
A partially transparent woman floated above his head, pausing with each verse of her song to softly stroke his head with her blue hands. In the corner of his eye, he could see a shattered pile of light brown material, so broken that he couldn’t even begin to tell what it used to be. The woman reached towards his mouth, ignoring Dimitri’s attempts to weakly bat her hand away.
“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word.” Dark Necrofear crooned as her hands forced Dimitri’s mouth open as wide as it could go until the tendons in his mouth started to make terrifying ‘cracking’ sounds.
“Hush, hush, child.” Dark Necrofear finally said as her song came to an end. “Everything is all right now.”
Before Dimitri could even react, she lunged forward to dive into his mouth, and the world went black. The faint ringing of the last verse of her song became the only thing he could hear.
“Hush my child, don’t say a word. Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”