Phil closed his eyes and leaned against the cool metal wall of the half-full coal car. The sounds coming from the train itself wound around his ears in an almost hypnotic fashion. The few times he had dared to poke his head over the top of the car, all Phil had seen were trees and rocks and rocks and trees.
Altogether, if it weren’t for the choking amounts of coal dust that he had only slightly been able to mitigate by tying cloth around his nose and mouth, Phil would have fallen asleep. In hindsight, it was very good that he didn’t.
“Hey Phil.” Lumina abruptly asked. There was something in her tone that gave Phil a slight amount of worry. It was like she was confused, concerned, and mildly worried all at the same time.
“Wassup?”
“Would you mind standing right next to me and looking out of the train car? I want to make sure that I’m not hallucinating.”
Phil’s brows furrowed, but he stood and walked next to Lumina regardless.
He saw the problem as soon as he peeked over the side and looked towards the front of the train.
“What the fuck?” Phil immediately said in utter confusion.
“Exactly! Is tha-“
“Yeah. That’s Dimitri. Definitely. And shit does that poor guy look absolutely messed up.”
For a moment, both of them simply stared at the incredibly bizarre situation that they had found themselves in. Dimitri was there. On the train. Literally, too, since the boy was walking on top of the train cars towards Phil while battling the crazy amounts of wind a train going about 80 miles per hour generates.
“Oh, and he saw me. He’s looking right at me.”
Phil squinted to get a better look. Overall, Dimitri looked like he had gone to hell and back. He was wearing a tattered police uniform and was covered in so much blood that if someone had told Phil that the boy was an extra in a slasher movie, Phil would have believed them without a second thought.
“He’s saying something.” Lumina noticed. “Can you understand him? I can’t. The wind’s too loud.”
Phil paused and tilted his head. “Nope.”
Any further discussion on the topic was immediately halted as Dimitri seemed to realize that Phil couldn’t hear him over the noises of the train. The boy took a single second to look frustrated, then his expression distorted into a vicious, cruel look as he slapped a card down on his duel disk. The train buckled and twisted, each car turning a bright fire-engine red. Phil had one chance to shout in surprise as the coal car he was standing in threw him up into the air and morphed into something more similar to a cattle car, but one that was red and screaming in pain and hatred. Each one of the transforming cars echoed those same screams of torment throughout the whole train – and Phil soon realized why.
The train cars had faces now. They were given sentience, and they did not like that fact. The train cars howled in sheer agony as they realized their existence. The sound was a grating, screeching sound of metal that issued out from foam-fleck, fanged mouths and bleeding eyes. One by one they began to pick up speed, as if under some sort of unanimous agreement to break the current land speed record.
Phil landed with a painful ‘thump’ onto the roof of the newly transformed cattle car. In a flash his duel disk was ready and a deck from under his jacket was slotted into place.
“Dimitri! What the hell are you doing there? Why did you run away from the island? Are you alright? That rat bastard Bernardello said you were possessed!” Phil yelled once the boy was close enough for his words to be heard.
“My child, my sweet child, has come for you, of course.” A gentle yet vicious voice poured out of Dimitri’s mouth in response.
Any further talk was disrupted as the agonized screaming that filled the surroundings to the point of drowning out the normal noises of a train was slightly muted. Phil quickly glanced around, noting with alarm that even the light coming down from the morning sun was beginning to dim.
Phil’s eyes narrowed.
“So that’s how it is.” He turned to Lumina, who was sprawled in a heap next to him as she recovered from also being thrown in the air by the transforming train car. “Bernardello said Dimitri’s possessed. I completely agree with that fact now. I’m guessing that was Dark Necrofear talking out of Dimitri’s mouth. Do you think I could potentially get D.3.S. Frog to spin up a modified penalty game to only target Dark Necrofear? Or do you have any ideas that could de-possess the poor guy?”
Lumina responded with a shaky shrug. “I think I said this last time, but I don’t know much about possession. It’s worth a try. The big guy should at least be able to tell you if it’s possible or not. But either way, you should finish this quick. I recognize these train cars. This train’s been taken over by two duel spirits – Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Bokoichi the Freightening Car. They’re insane, even by duel spirit standards. There’s no telling what they’ll try to do.
“Fuck.” Phil venomously spat out the word as the shadows around them thickened and Dimitri drew a card from his duel disk.
Phil: 4000 Dimitri: 4000
“I summon Bokoichi the Freightening Car (500/500) in defense position.” Dimitri began with a stilted voice. Similar to how Dimitri had spoken right before the duel, his voice was still gentle and carefree. “Spell card activate. Machine Duplication! I special summon two more Bokoichi’s from my deck in defense position.”
The train noticeably picked up speed as more and more of the train cars stretching out in the distance further than Phil could see with his naked eyes were transformed into the raving, screaming copies of Bokoichi. Every single sound of the train was immediately drowned out, from the horn to the rumble of the wheels, all consumed by the sheer volume of the duel spirit’s madness. Then, Dimitri activated the always-annoying Swords of Revealing Light, which would prevent Phil from attacking until Dimitri’s third end phase after activation, and ended his turn.
Phil grimaced as he desperately tried to keep his balance on top of the transformed train car. The wind felt like massive blades that cut into his skin right through his clothes, and the car itself shook so badly that it took every ounce of balance Phil possessed in order to stay upright.
Alright. Phil mentally considered the situation. The Bokoichi play is weird, but I have to assume he’s trying to set up Dekoichi, which has a flip effect that lets him draw one card plus additional cards equal to the number of Bokoichi’s on the field. No point in running those cards otherwise. I wonder if he’s digging for his Destiny Board? Or perhaps Dimitri’s changed strategies since last time. Well, all I can do is play conservatively until I see some backrow removal for Swords of Revealing Light.
“I draw!” Phil began his turn. “I guess I can’t do much because of Swords, so I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke (1800/1000) in attack position, place two cards face down, and end my turn!”
As Phil’s turn ended, one of the three greenish swords hovering in the middle of the makeshift duel field between Dimitri and Phil began to flicker and disappear, leaving two swords left to separate Dimitri from the kunai-wielding ninja Phil had summoned.
“I draw.” His voice was still calm despite the chaos surrounding the two boys. “I place one monster in face down defense position. End turn.”
I knew it. Phil immediately guessed what the face down monster was. That fella started with both the train and the locomotive in his starting hand. Talk about crazy luck.
“And too bad I’ve got crazier!” Phil shouted after drawing a card. “I activate the spell card, Nobleman of Crossout! I target your face down monster. It gets destroyed, banished, and if it was a flip monster, both of us have to banish all cards from our decks that have the same name as that monster.”
Dimitri watched expressionlessly as a blond-haired knight in shining armor appeared next to his face down monster and sent a merciless slash towards it with his sword. The monster, as Phil expected, was indeed Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive.
Phil grinned as he banished his own copy of Dekoichi from his deck. Knew it. Now that he had removed a source of serious draw power from Dimitri early on in the game, he could start focusing on the other problem on the field without worrying about his opponent gaining too much card advantage. Namely, Swords of Revealing Light.
“I’ll go ahead and summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/700) in attack position. I end my turn.”
Another sword made of greenish light vanished, leaving only one left to prevent Phil from going on the offensive. With one sword left, even Phil’s monsters appeared to get excited. The ninja began to spin his kunai across his white gauntlets while the purple-robed monk Kycoo chanted ominously as he prepared for battle.
“My turn.” Dimitri dispassionately muttered. “By sacrificing two of my Bokoichis, I tribute summon Flame Ogre (2400/1700)! When he is normal summoned, I get to draw one card.”
The air buffeting the train rapidly climbed in temperature as the distant, looming form of a flame-covered ogre peered menacingly overhead. Each one of its fists was large enough to hold a train car in, and its mouth was filled with a variety of crooked, jagged teeth that did little to prevent strings of foul-smelling drool from leaking out of the creature’s mouth. As soon as Dimitri resolved Flame Ogre’s effect to draw, he placed one card face down and entered the battle phase.
“Flame Ogre. Attack Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer!”
Phil’s eyes narrowed. “Sorry dude! Since you declared an attack, I activate my trap card, Sakuretsu Armor, which will destroy your Flame Ogre!”
The body of the gigantic, flaming monster suddenly began to crack and seize up as it seemed to be blasted to the side by an unknown, invisible force, causing the ogre to shatter into pieces with a single pained groan.
Dimitri then ended his turn with a hazy scowl on his face as the train began to shudder and buckle once more under the force of the duel spirits possessing it.
Phil wobbled as he fought with the unsteady footing. Finally! Phil shouted in his mind once he recovered his balance and looked at the card he had just drawn. It’s a pity I have to shotgun this, though. Would be nice to save it, but the shitty duel field is putting me in as much danger as the duel itself.
“I activate my spell card, Mystical Space Typhoon!” Phil shouted once his decision was made. “Targeting your Swords of Revealing Light for destruction!”
Dimitri watched on as a mighty whirlwind of water roared across the top of the train to sweep away the final greenish light sword from the field, opening his monsters up to attacks.
“Moving to battle phase. Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, attack that final Bokoichi! Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, attack Dimitri directly!”
Just as Phil ordered, the third and final Bokoichi monster was instantly destroyed by the razor-sharp kunai of Sasuke, while Kycoo punched Dimitri square in the jaw with a fist he had wrapped with a string of red beads.
However, as soon as Kycoo’s attack went through, Dimitri’s body shuddered and he wordlessly flipped over a trap card.
“The Golden Apples.” Dimitri eventually said. His voice was strange, rapidly flipping between two different tones as he said those words. As soon as he announced the trap name, Phil nodded in understanding, even though Dimitri failed to elaborate about its effect. He’d seen that card before.
In a nutshell, The Golden Apples was a supremely annoying trap card that could be activated once the user took battle damage while controlling no monsters. The user would then special summon one Malus Token monster to their field that had attack/defense equal to the amount of battle damage received, and then they would gain life points equal to the damage taken by that attack. So, in this case, Dimitri gained a token monster with 1800 attack and defense points while healing back up to the full 4000 life points he started with.
It was annoying, it was decently effective as a stall card in slower formats, and it was something Phil was quite irritated to see. The worst part was, that trap card really wasn’t worth stopping in the first place.
Dimitri’s body shook and trembled as Phil ended his turn with a sigh after activating Kycoo’s effect to banish the Flame Ogre and one copy of Bokoichi from Dimitri’s graveyard.
“I draw.” Dimitri gasped out. Then, his voice completely changed to sound more similar to how Phil remembered it from their few interactions at Duel Academy. Dimitri paused with a confused look, glancing from the cards in his hand, all the way to Phil on the other side of the train car.
“Phil?”
Phil’s eyes shot wide open. He instantly recognized the slight chance of ending this bloodlessly that the change in Dimitri’s voice represented. “Dimitri! What’s going on buddy?” For the first time since their duel began, the boy seemed almost… normal, at least if one ignored the bloodied and tattered clothing he wore.
“Phil? Is that you?”
“Yeah. It’s me, dude.”
Dimitri let out a choking cry that sounded like a horrible mixture of joy and sorrow. Part of it was completely lost amid the battering wind and the ceaseless screaming of the living train cars the boys stood on, but it was still enough that the sheer hopelessness of the resonating wail tore through Phil’s heart like a rampaging freight train.
“Phil, please, please, just tell me. Are you real? Are you here? Or am I alone again? I’m never alone, She’s always here. Please be real, I don’t want to be alone again.”
Each word was slightly distorted, as if something else was fighting through Dimitri’s confusion to take control again. Several of his words even contradicted themselves, adding to Phil’s confusion. Yet, Dimitri’s rushed and panicked words continued to flow out of his mouth like an unending spout of water bursting from the ground.
“What happened to the days at school? I could have changed. I could have been better! My body doesn’t even hurt anymore. It just feels numb. But cold. So cold. But it’s summer, right? I think it should be summer, but something keeps telling me that it’s winter instead! I remember when we first arrived on the island. It was like we could have done anything, been anything, gone anywhere. When did it all go wrong? It was real, right? Phil please tell me my memories of Duel Academy are real. I think I remember it like it was yesterday, but I can’t…”
Dimitri’s words slowed, but each one of them felt like the boy was physically clawing Phil’s heart out of his own chest. Even though they were separated by nearly a whole train car’s length, Phil could see the tears that had begun to pour out of the kid’s eyes as he begged Phil to confirm that this wasn’t just a nightmare, or a hallucination.
“I can’t tell for sure if it was real! Are you real this time? It had to have been real. Someone please just tell me the past wasn’t all a nightmare. Please please just answer me. Please don’t leave me here all alone. She won’t stop talking please the ferry, our classes, Bernardello always helping me out, Crowler and his over-the-top clownish antics, the delicious food the dorm beds the sun setting over the volcano please don’t tell me they’re all gone. I always feel like I’m dreaming now, except for when I’m not. Then it’s all just muffled fear and pain. Unless that’s the real dream? I can’t tell… please. Phil. If you’re real. Can you please just tell me if this is real!”
As Dimitri spoke, he occasionally blinked in confusion, falling silent every couple of sentences and even repeating a few words as if he wasn’t quite sure what was going on.
“I’m… sorry, Dimitri.” Phil eventually spoke up once it became clear that the boy had finished speaking. “This is real. We’re in another shadow duel. Just like last time on the roof.”
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Dimitri let out a cry of pure anguish, burying his head in his hands as he began to sob relentlessly. His body shuddered and shook, but ultimately his actions calmed, and he raised his head with a dead, empty look.
“I draw.” Dimitri said in the same calm, gentle tone he had prior to taking the damage from Kycoo’s attack.
“I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Then, I activate the spell card Dark Spirit’s Mastery, discarding Dark Spirit of Malice to the graveyard to add Destiny Board from my deck to my hand. After that, I normal summon Card Trooper (400/400) and activate its effect, sending the top three cards of my deck to my graveyard to increase its attack by 500 points for each card until the end of this turn. Card Trooper, destroy Kycoo! Malus Token, attack Sasuke!”
Card Trooper (400/400 -> 1900/400).
The red and blue robot that Dimitri summoned rushed to do its master’s bidding, targeting Kycoo with its twin cannons while the golden copy of Kycoo on Dimitri’s field ran towards Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke in an act of mutual destruction.
Phil: 3900 Dimitri: 4000
Phil shakily drew a card as Dimitri set a card and ended his turn.
Shit. He’s completely off his rocker. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Bakura in the manga had his mind pretty wrecked by the possession of the spirit living in the Millennium Ring. Still, there was little Phil could do about the situation at this point, other than to try and close out the game as quickly as possible.
“Alright. First things first, I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600/1000) in attack position. On his summon, Breaker’s effect activates to place a spell counter on himself, increasing his attack by 300 points. That hardly matters, though, because I activate Breaker’s effect to remove a spell counter from himself in return for destroying your face down card!”
Phil hesitated for a second, shuffling his feet around to find a better purchase on the shaking train car while Dimitri sent his face down Destiny Board to the graveyard. The red mass of hurtling metal and wood groaned, and Lumina shouted out a warning to Phil from where she crouched on top of the car behind him.
“Phil! It’s turning!”
Phil’s eyes shot wide open and he threw himself into a crouch with his hands placed squarely on the top of the train car to dig his fingers into the tiny gaps in the wooden roof. Lumina’s warning was given not a second too soon as the train gave the greatest shudder it had since transforming. The train cars cackled and jeered as the Locomotive in the front strained to increase its speed by any means necessary. One by one the train cars used that same burst of speed, along with the general unsteadiness the turn created, to jump their back wheels off the main track and onto the adjacent secondary train track a few feet away.
“M-multi track drifting!” Phil cried out in alarm and amazement. He desperately held on to the roof, fighting his own body to prevent it from being dragged off from the momentum of the train cars taking the turn at speeds that would give nightmares to even the most reckless teenage driver who had just gotten their driver’s license. Each one of the wheels let out choruses of metallic screams and fountains of sparks as the train drifted around the lengthy curve in the tracks.
Phil’s eyes narrowed as the centrifugal force of the whirlwind-fast turn threatened to tear him off the roof of the car and dash him against the rocky ground below. Fortunately for Phil, Dimitri hardly seemed to be in a position to exploit Phil’s disadvantage, as the boy was also quite pre-occupied as well with trying to stay on the roof.
Then, Phil’s eyes narrowed further as he continued to stare at Dimitri. The boy was letting out a long, keening demonic screech, and he had somehow managed to dig his fingers so far into the wooden roof that even Phil, though he was on the other side of the train car, could see that Dimitri’s fingers had pierced right through the solid wood like it was Styrofoam.
That was not all, as Phil also noticed with a mixture of scientific interest and sheer horror that Dimitri’s face seemed to be flickering, like a person in a dark room that had a flashlight pointed at their face that kept rapidly turning off and on. One moment showed his face looking normal, like how Phil remembered it, and the next moment Dimitri’s face flickered to show the cruel, grinning visage of Dark Necrofear.
As soon as that realization was processed in Phil’s head, a grim frown slid across his face. Phil turned to look at Breaker the Magical Warrior, who had dug his sword into the roof of the train car to hold his position on the battlefield.
“I move to my battle phase!” Phil hollered past the terrible shrieking noises of the drifting train cars. “Breaker, attack Card Trooper!”
The red-armored warrior grimly nodded, touching his shield against the sword that was his only protection from being thrown off the train to let loose a blinding, purple light that struck against Card Trooper hard enough that the large robot was blasted right off the roof. Dimitri shakily spared an arm to draw a card due to Card Trooper’s on-destruction effect.
Phil: 3900 Dimitri: 2800
“Turn end!” Phil forced out the words with difficulty. Just as Dimitri’s turn began, the train finally began to slow out as the lengthy turn straightened out.
Dimitri dragged himself to his feet. He vomited out a mixture of dark blood and what seemed to be some sort of… chunky substance.
“Draw card!” Dimitri shouted with a raw, yet decidedly more feminine-sounding voice than he had prior to taking the most recent amount of damage. “I activate the graveyard effect of Dark Spirit’s Mastery! By banishing it, I can place any number of Destiny Board cards and Spirit Message cards with different names onto the bottom of my deck, and then I draw the same number of cards as I put back. I return Destiny Board, Spirit Message ‘E’, and Spirit Message ‘H’ in order to draw three cards!”
Dimitri let out a maddened giggle of joy as he looked at the three new additions to his hand. “I summon Dark Spirit of Banishment (1600/0) in attack position, place one card face down, and I end my turn!”
Interesting. Phil considered to himself as he dragged himself to his feet. He could have crashed the monsters, but didn’t. Either Dimitri’s more cautious than he looks right now, or he has a plan. Still, he got a shitton of card advantage with the Card Trooper draw plus the draw three from Dark Spirit’s Mastery. So, in this instance, I think the best choice is to lower his card advantage.
“I’ll start things off by activating Delinquent Duo! By paying 1000 life points, you have to discard one random card from your hand, plus a second card of your choice if you still have any other cards in your hand after the first discard.”
Phil: 2900 Dimitri: 2800
Two imp-like creatures, one purple with a ‘1’ on his head, the other blue with a ‘2’ on his head, swooped out from under the rampaging wheels of the train, cackling as they stole one of Dimitri’s cards from his hand, and forced him to discard a second card.
“Next, I summon another Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, set one card face down, and move onto my battle phase. Kycoo! Exorcise that dark spirit!”
“Hehe, you fell into my trap!” Dimitri tittered. “I activate the effect of my trap card, Hate Buster! Because my Dark Spirit of Banishment was attacked, I can destroy both battling monsters and inflict damage equal to your monster’s attack to your life points!”
Right before Kycoo’s bead-covered fist was about to strike squarely into the face of Dimitri’s monster, the body of the silvery-green spirit began to swell up, increasing in size and mass until the evil spirit finally burst apart with the force of a bomb. Phil groaned in pain as several pieces of Kycoo’s body flew into his chest with enough force to draw blood from the impact.
“Fine.” Phil ground out. “Breaker, attack Dimitri directly!”
Breaker’s shining sword made quick work of the difference between the two boy’s life points, bringing them each to within 100 points of each other once more.
Phil: 1100 Dimitri: 1200
“I end my turn.”
Dimitri drew a card with a wicked smile. “Child, poor stupid child. Your Delinquent Duo aided me greatly! While the card that your imps chose to take from me was powerful, the card I willingly discarded afterwards is right at home. I banish Dark Spirit of Malice, Dark Spirit of Banishment, and Helpoemer from the graveyard to summon Dark Necrofear Ṃ̸̹̻͇̹̟͂̃̆͘y̶̞͎̳̮̖͔̱̞͉̱̽͒̀̊͋͜ͅͅͅs̸̆͂̋͂̂̊̌͌͘͘ͅḛ̸̂̂͂̏͆͗͑͛̓̅l̸̢͔̰̠͚̗̦̭̊̀̈́͒̂̐̀͘͠͝f̶̧̡̛̪̞̰̖̗͇̱̝̹́̂̌̓̊̓̐͆̈̏ to the field in attack position.
The flickering of Dimitri’s face rapidly worsened, until a piece of the cruel, smiling face broke off with strange, liquid movements to flow onto the duel field. The piece then widened and distorted to form a foul grin. Several unearthly screeches echoed through the air, and for the very first time since the duel began, the Bokoichi train cars temporarily fell silent. The grin opened to show a set of impossibly white teeth that was quickly obscured by an entire blue arm forcing its way out of the mouth. That arm was followed by a pair of purple-clothed legs and another shiny blue arm.
Dark Necrofear (2200/2800).
Before Dark Necrofear could completely finish forming her body onto the field, Phil let out a mighty shout. “I ain’t letting that happen twice! I’ve been hanging onto this for a reason. I activate the counter trap Solemn Judgment! I pay half my life points for the ability to say NO!”
The ground rushing alongside the train shook and trembled as an extremely old, grey-bearded man in plain, white robes opened the side door of the transformed cattle car that Phil was standing. The man looked sternly upwards and grabbed the lip of the car to vault onto the roof. Then, without a single delay, the old man raised the back of his hand to deliver a devastating backhanded pimp slap to the side of Dark Necrofear’s smooth blue face, sending her spinning into the graveyard.
Phil: 550 Dimitri: 1200
The impact, even though it did not even touch his own life points, sent Dimitri stumbling backwards and vomiting several additional chunky mouthfuls of pitch-black blood.
“It matters not.” Dimitri gasped out. His voice fluctuated between his normal tone and the cold feminine voice of Dark Necrofear. “I shuffle three banished fiends, the two dark spirits and Helpoemer, back into my deck to summon Curse Necrofear Ṃ̸̹̻͇̹̟͂̃̆͘y̶̞͎̳̮̖͔̱̞͉̱̽͒̀̊͋͜ͅͅͅs̸̆͂̋͂̂̊̌͌͘͘ͅḛ̸̂̂͂̏͆͗͑͛̓̅l̸̢͔̰̠͚̗̦̭̊̀̈́͒̂̐̀͘͠͝f̶̧̡̛̪̞̰̖̗͇̱̝̹́̂̌̓̊̓̐͆̈̏ in attack position.”
A wisp of blue smoke trailed out of Dimitri's hand as the body of Dark Necrofear formed once more, but this time with a more abstract, smokey look that felt like this was just the remnants of the monster that was negated and destroyed earlier by Solemn Judgment.
Curse Necrofear (2800/2200).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
As the duel between Phil and Dimitri raged on top of the speeding, demonic train, Dimitri felt like he was watching it take place from inside the back of his head. It was hard to explain, mainly because it was quite difficult for him to think in the first place. He felt… detached from it all. Like he was watching the duel happen from the other side of a television screen. His arms moved, his mouth opened, but it was all on the other side of the screen while Dimitri sat back in an uncomfortable chair with a bag of mediocre unsalted popcorn.
The part of him that still held the pride of a duelist screa- no, it was more of an angry whisper. Yeah, the part of him that still held the pride of a duelist angrily whispered that Dimitri should feel great shame that She was the one dueling and not him, regardless of the circumstances.
The tired part of him reasoned that it hadn’t gone so well last time Dimitri was in the drivers’ seat against Phil.
Finally, the last bits of Dimitri were still trying to come to terms with the small packets of memories that battered his mind each time Dimitri took damage to his life points. It argued that Dimitri was a murderer. That he had thrown his pride as a duelist in the trash bin as soon as he had accepted the deck from Mr. Bernardello. That he was utterly worthless for not being able to stop Her from doing all those things, even when he was sleeping.
Attempting to murder Phil on the roof. Doing nothing as She talked with some sort of freaky flesh-covered bird about things he did not understand. Murdering the captain and crew of the ferry that saved his life from the sea. Inflicting a penalty game on that same captain to turn his ferry into a ghost ship. Murdering the bakery owners in their sleep. Using the police officer that found him in that same bakery as more fuel for the fire that warmed his bones. Stowing away on several different boats on the journey to America, leaving a trail of death and destruction to turn each ship into veritable floating metal coffins for their crews. Killing the police officers in Sacramento that tried to stop him from sleeping on the park bench. Stabbing the train conductor to death. More and more and more crimes racking up every day under Her influence, under Her control.
The sound of Her voice broke Dimitri out of his cycle of self-pity once more as she ordered Curse Necrofear to attack Phil’s remaining monster, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and end the game. Fortunately, Curse Necrofear was immediately flipped into face down defense position by Phil’s set Book of Moon.
Dimitri let out a half-smile as he watched that particular move play out on the TV screen. Good ol’ Phil. He was always one step ahead. Maybe this time he could get some rest. Some peace.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Phil let out a long flurry of extremely vile and creative curses in his head as he once more narrowly avoided death by booking the Curse Necrofear. He had the out in his deck. He had multiple outs in his deck. He could swear on that fact before a judge and jury in the fucking court of law.
But had he seen them yet?
No.
To sum it all up in one sentence, Phil’s deck either hated him at this moment, or there was some serious magic fuckery going on.
Dimitri’s turn ended and Phil drew a card.
Fuck. You’d think it wouldn’t be this hard to kill a 2800 attack beatstick. But with Kycoo destroyed, I don’t have two tributes for the Dark Magician of Chaos in my hand, and I have yet to see my BLS, my multiple Chaos Sorcerers, or even Mirror Force or another Sakuretsu.
What made it all worse was the terrible footing of the duel field. The train, still very much possessed by Bokoichi and Dekoichi, buckled, twisted, screamed, and raged its way across the desert landscape of what Phil assumed was either already in Nevada, or pretty damn close. It would fucking drift every curve in the track, the duel spirits found several excuses to try and break the ‘train airtime’ record, and to Phil’s dismay, he had counted two normal trains getting derailed by the duel spirit’s aggression alone since the duel had begun. Every single crazy action made by the train forced Phil to devote every iota of his energy to not getting thrown off the death machine each time Lumina shouted a panicked warning.
Suffice to say, he would have really preferred to end the duel by now.
“I switch Breaker to defense position, place one monster in face down defense position, and end my turn.” Phil ground out the words between his teeth.
“My turn.” Dimitri spoke. “I activate the field spell Dark Sanctuary! Then I flip summon Curse Necrofear Ṃ̸̹̻͇̹̟͂̃̆͘y̶̞͎̳̮̖͔̱̞͉̱̽͒̀̊͋͜ͅͅͅs̸̆͂̋͂̂̊̌͌͘͘ͅḛ̸̂̂͂̏͆͗͑͛̓̅l̸̢͔̰̠͚̗̦̭̊̀̈́͒̂̐̀͘͠͝f̶̧̡̛̪̞̰̖̗͇̱̝̹́̂̌̓̊̓̐͆̈̏ and move to battle. Destroy the face down monster!”
Phil scowled as his face down Blade Knight (1600/1000) was instantly destroyed by the foggy apparition, but despite him losing another monster on his field, Phil felt far more concern about the long-term effects of Dimitri’s new field spell. Overhead in the distance, a dark, misty castle rose out of thin air, while the clouds around it were focused together to block the morning sunlight that had been shining down on the train. Each one of the clouds contained a terrifying eye that stared unblinkingly towards Phil, while mouths that hovered in the air raved and ranted about forbidden knowledge to all who would listen.
From what Phil remembered about that field spell from the handful of times he had seen it played back on Earth, the main problematic effect the card had was its final effect, one that had a chance of inflicting damage to Phil each time he attacked if Dimitri called the results of a coin toss correctly. Considering that Phil’s life points were just above 500 points, that was bad.
However, there was jack squat he could do about that problem at this moment. Instead, the stalemate continued for several more turns as Phil managed to draw the rest of his currently useless Blade Knights one after another, sighing partially in relief that Dimitri failed to draw a usable monster to put more pressure on him, and partially in irritation that he couldn’t do anything more than defend at this moment.
“I draw.” Phil grunted as he picked himself off the roof of the train car after it had attempted yet another 20-foot-high bunny hop for shits and giggles. Then he smiled. It was a fierce smile, made bloody by all the life point damage he had sustained up to this point.
“Ooohhh mama. Ooooooohhhhh baby. It’s fucking showtime. I banish Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Blade Knight from my graveyard to summon the big guy, the out I’ve been waiting for, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500) in attack position!”
The dark clouds summoned by Dark Sanctuary temporarily split as a green-skinned warrior clad in blue and gold plate armor descended from the sky accompanied by a chorus of triumphant horns that filled the listener with a sense of inspiration and hope even in the face of the darkest of times.
“I activate the effect of Black Luster So-“
“PHIL! DUCK!”
Lumina’s voice was the most panicked and fearful Phil had ever heard it be, so he immediately took her advice and fell flat with his belly touching the roof without even finishing his sentence. And it was not a second too soon. The danger presented itself right after Lumina finished saying ‘duck’.
“DIMITRI! DUCK!” Phil yelled in turn towards his opponent as the train cars began to disappear into a tunnel that appeared out of nowhere behind some trees after the train passed a bend in the tracks.
The last thing Phil saw was the roof of the tunnel slamming into Dimitri’s back before something hit his head and the world went black.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Zane wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he stepped over the unconscious body of the gigantic bird the size of a damned semi-truck that had been hunting him as soon as he stepped foot in the mountains. The fight was difficult, but in the end, animals could never match the resourcefulness of man.
‘Your brother’s soul, or your life?’
Try as he might, that witch Camula’s mocking voice kept filtering through his head. It was like a bad cold that Zane just couldn’t shake.
“What could I do? You had my brother’s soul as hostage.” Zane muttered grimly in response, not for the first time.
‘Little Zane Truesdale. Sooooo strong, but he can’t hurt a poor little girl like me. Not when ikkle Syrus is in danger~.’ Camula’s voice responded without missing a beat. ‘The strongest student of Duel Academy, but you lost against the first shadow rider to show herself to you. But wait~, no one saw you lose, right? You could just claim that big strong Camula jumped you with a gang of minions or had a super-duper powerful god card~.’
Zane shook his head in disgust. “Lying is beneath me. I lost the duel when it mattered most. If I had been strong enough, then I would have been able to win and protect Syrus at the same time. That is my shame to bear.’
Zane shut out the mocking memories of his fallen opponent from his mind as he finally reached his destination – the Cyber Style dojo. The doors opened with an ominous creak.
“So. You finally arrived.”
Zane nodded grimly in response to Sheppard’s words. The bald chancellor of Duel Academy was seated cross-legged before an altar.
“You took longer than I expected.” Sheppard let out a long, deep breath and stood up to face Zane with a solemn look. “The old you would have defeated that roc after summitting the first mountain. Still, I am pleased that you continue to follow the ancient ways I taught you.”
“Summit the mountains to prove the disciples’ strength.” Zane echoed the words.
“Only then can you win the right to face the teacher.” Sheppard finished. The chancellor turned back to the altar, stroking the unblemished white cloth that covered the wooden box on top of it. “Why are you here, Zane? The strength of Cyber End Dragon, combined with your mastery of the Cyber Art, should be all you need to dominate your opponents in the honorable field of battle. Unless… you’ve come seeking more.”
Zane cast his eyes around the room while he thought of a response. It was a familiar room, part monastery, part dojo. The place where he had proved his strength and rose to the top of the dojo after honing his fangs against his peers of the style. Where he had dueled his rivals for the right to be the sole master of Cyber End Dragon, a card said to match the god cards themselves in terms of pure attack points. Where he had tempered himself. Where he had digested Sheppard’s teachings.
The smell of the plain wooden floor alone was enough to send him down memory lane. The first time he had special summoned Cyber Dragon. The first time he had used Power Bond to summon Cyber Twin Dragon. The midnight duel to claim the top spot of the dojo against his main rival. The smell of incense to calm the spirit of the warrior duelist. Climbing the nearby mountains to catch breakfast for the master of the dojo, Sheppard. Sparring with his fellow duelists.
Zane breathed in, Zane breathed out.
‘Zaney waney, poor Zaney waney. Such a little man, who can’t do anything but stare at his betters in frustration while his life points are whittled down one point at a time. Do not worry, do not fret. As long as you do not attack, baby Syrus will still enjoy the company of his own soul when the night ends.’
Zane grounded his teeth together so tightly that he could feel one of them chip. Then, he activated his duel disk.
Sheppard frowned bitterly and shook his head in despair. “I’m sorry, Zane. It’s my duty as your teacher and master to guide you on the right path.” He stroked the covered wooden box on the altar one last time and turned to Zane. “There are some cards, some strategies, that are simply too dangerous to use.”
Zane: 4000 Sheppard: 4000