It took only a few precious seconds for Adrian’s eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the security room. Somehow, Anastasia was faster.
“Samui!” She called out and ran towards the familiar boy sitting in the fetal position in the corner of the room. Samui Kori hardly looked any different than when they had last met, other than the utterly vacant expression written all over his face.
Adrian turned away from the pair to stare down at the other man in the room, making sure that he wouldn’t try to make any moves while Anastasia confirmed the condition of their friend. The man was half obscured from where he sat in front of the literal wall of security monitors. The surroundings were illuminated by a soft blue glow from those displays that was the only source of actual light in the room - aside from what little leaked through the cracked open door behind Adrian.
“Adrian Gecko.” Adrian slightly bowed and said his name in an introduction toward the man, as was normally polite to do.
“They call me Big Shoe around here, little student man.” The man grinned sleazily back and nodded his head. The movement sent a wave of ‘clinks’ and ‘clacks’ out into the air as the multitude of gold rings knotted through his matted locks of hair clashed against each other in protest of the motion.
Adrian’s eyes sharpened. There was something about this man, this Big Shoe, that seemed off. Unnatural. The part that bothered him the most was that he couldn't quite tell what the cause of that unnaturalness was. It might have been his empty, deadened eyes. Or was it the utterly disgusting locks of hair? Adrian could’ve sworn he’d seen at least a few bugs running through there already. Or maybe it was the fact that the guy was called Big Shoe, but his shoes could in no way be called big. They were average-sized at the very most. Like a man's size nine or ten.
Anastasia’s voice calling out disrupted the faceoff between the two men.
“Gecko! Something’s wrong with Samui! He’s not responding to me. He’s… not even saying anything!”
Big Shoe cleared his throat with a grin, causing Adrian’s head to snap back to look at the raggedy man.
“Ah. That would be because of what us people in the ‘biz’ like to call the ‘spiritual lobotomy’. Basically, ya’ boy got on the wrong side of my boss and got his personality scooped out like a chunk of minty fresh ice cream. Hey hey, not a fate I’d wish on anyone, to tell ya’ the truth.”
In the blink of an eye, Adrian sped over to stand right in front of Big Shoe, towering over the seated man by a good couple of feet of height and looking him straight, dead center in his pupils. Adrian smiled. It was not a smile that reached his eyes.
"Well isn't that convenient," Adrian said in a deceptively mild voice. Behind his back, so that only Anastasia could see it, his hand motioned for her to wait and stay right next to Samui. “Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Big Shoe, would you kindly tell us the exact steps that should be taken to fix our friend?”
The air sparked and filled with a nearly visible electric current that ran between the two men. Adrian Gecko and Big Shoe stared at each other without blinking. The only movement was Big Shoe’s maniacal smile growing wider and wider across his face by the second, sharply contrasting his unblinking eyes and the deep, empty pupils that filled them.
Big Shoe snapped open a duel disk strapped to his arm that Adrian hadn’t spotted earlier. A flurry of movement behind him was met with a surprised ‘squawk’ from Anastasia as Samui Kori shot to his feet and mirrored the action.
"Hey hey hey." Big Shoe murmured from where he sat in front of Adrian. The threatening tone in his voice was more than obvious. "Since I'm feeling mighty nice today~, I'll tell ya exactly how. See, you have to find my boss and force him to undo the process. Think of it as similar to a half-possessed state if you would. Unfortunately for you two kiddos, the boss is busy murdering the other guy you came with in the streets of this trash heap of a city. And as one of his men, it’s kinda my job to make sure the fodder doesn’t disturb him.
Adrian stood firm and glanced around the room. Samui was on his feet now, with a duel disk of his own and looking vacantly at Anastasia. Big Shoe was obviously ready to brawl at the drop of a hat (in the duel sense, of course). Moreover, it definitely seemed that Samui was being at least partially controlled by Big Shoe. That left a pretty simple choice. Phil was already going after the principal. If what Big Shoe was saying was correct, then if Principal MacKenzie was defeated, Samui would be freed from whatever wacko stuff they did to him. So that meant it was up to him and Anastasia to prevent Big Shoe from harming their friend anymore before that happened.
“Fantastic.” Adrian muttered and sighed. He rolled his muscular shoulders and looked back to Big Shoe. “So. How do you want to do this?”
Big Shoe ran a grey, almost diseased-looking tongue over his chapped lips as he thought. “Hey hey hey. That’s a bit of a philosophical question for me out of the blue. It ain’t even fully past lunch yet! Hm. I still need to decide if I want fast food or if the dining hall will suf-fice~.”
Adrian stared back at him, entirely unamused.
“Mhm yeah I getcha.” Big Shoe held his hands up in mock surrender and stood from his chair. The man was about a head shorter than Adrian, but no less intimidating for that lack of height. “See, here’s the dealio. That little toy over there?” Big Shoe lazily pointed over to Samui, causing a shout of indignation from Anastasia over his word choice. “I just got him. Haven’t even broke the warranty seal yet. So it stands to be that I want to see him in action. Check out what he can do, ya’ feel me? Let’s do this. Us four, 2v2 tag duel.”
Big Shoe let the words hang in the air for a second before he added one last sentence to the end with a high-pitched giggle of excitement. “Oh, and to the death, of course. Wouldn’t be fun anyways without some skin in the game.”
Adrian’s brows furrowed and he walked to the other side of the dim room, motioning for Anastasia to move away from Samui to do the same.
“Have it your way.” He flatly responded.
Adrian and Anastasia: 8000 Big Shoe and Samui: 8000
The life point counters flared up before Anastasia could even begin to voice her confusion over the whole ‘to the death thing’. She glanced towards Adrian, noting that he seemed to be taking this development entirely in stride. Like he was fully expecting it. And was actually somewhat okay with the implications.
“As the challenged, ah think it would only be my right to go first.” Big Shoe explained, walking closer to the wall of monitors and sitting casually on the nearby control desk. “Then it’ll be the big guy, after that my little Samui, and finally the pretty lady. She’ll get the first attack, of course. It’s the proper thing for a gentleman such as myself to allow.”
Anastasia twisted her face in revulsion at the disgusting grease stain of a person who just tried to hit on her, while Adrian motioned his assent with a calm blink of his eyes. The two of them walked to stand by the door, while Samui moved to stand next to Big Shoe with jerky, sudden motions that made him look more robotic than human.
Big Shoe grinned widely, allowing both of his opponents to get a full view of his shiny white teeth before starting off the duel. As soon as he drew a card to begin his turn, the blue monitors covering the wall opposite the door began to pulse with aqua light in a flawless synch with the man’s breathing.
“Perfect~.” He drawled sleazily. “I summon Hushed Psychic Cleric (0/2100)! On its summon, this monster of mine will change itself to defense position automatically. Then! Foolish Burial, activate! I send Master Gig from my deck to my graveyard. Hushed Psychic Cleric’s effect will activate next. By sending one card from my hand to my graveyard, I can banish a psychic monster from my grave. Bye-bye Mind Protector from my hand, get banished Master Gig! Finally, I place one card face down and end my turn.”
Adrian hummed in contemplation out of pure habit, observing the white and purple-robed cleric from where it sat holding its staff in a careful defensive posture. Obviously, their raggedy opponent had some sort of way to interact with the banish zone – there would be no use in removing his own monsters from the game if Big Shoe could not bring them back at a later time. He nodded. This would be the best course of action, then. Adrian’s left hand looped behind his back and sent a quick hand signal over to Anastasia, who silently acknowledged with a nod of her own.
“Vortex Trooper (0/600) in defense position.” Adrian calmly announced his move. “His effect triggers on summon. I shuffle two cards I don’t need from my hand back into my deck, and then draw two cards to replace them. Next up is the continuous spell card Shard of Greed. I’m afraid its effect is nothing noteworthy right now, but in two of my turns I can send it to the graveyard in return for drawing two cards. Then I place two cards face down and end my turn.”
The new monster on Adrian’s field spun up the fan that filled most of its robotic head. It was a welcome addition to the stuffy security office, allowing for the stagnant air inside to be slightly cooled while Samui Kori’s turn began.
Samui spoke not a single word during his turn, not even to react to the cool breeze filtering through the air. His plays were subdued and unimaginative. One monster, Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier (300/500) was placed in defense position, and that was it. Even the blue bird he’d just summoned simply flapped its wings limply to remain in the air, lacking the strength to even begin to whip up the storm of snow and ice that was depicted on the artwork of the card.
“Draw card.” Anastasia hesitantly spoke up with a concerned glance toward Samui. “I summon one monster in face down defense position. Turn end.”
Big Shoe quirked an eyebrow. “Looks like it’s up to me to get this show on the road. I’ll draw a card.” Big Shoe grinned, not even bothering to glance at the new card in his hand before slapping it down right onto his duel disk.
“Let's rev this duel up! I summon Pandaborg (1700/1400) in attack position and go right to the attack phase! Pandaborg, charge straight at the young lady’s face down monster!”
The aptly named Pandaborg, a green, robotic panda glowing with a strange psychic light, let loose an ear-bleeding roar of rage and tore its claws through the back of Anastasia’s face down monster.
“Just as expected.” Anastasia snapped back. “That attack will trigger the effect of my flip monster. Prediction Princess Petalelf (800/700), show your grace in this battle! All monsters that my opponents currently control will be changed to defense position immediately, and they cannot change that position for the rest of their unworthy lives!”
Sure enough, the robo-panda’s burning rage was instantly calmed by the alluring dance of Anastasia’s elf-like flower monster, which weaved its way across the field with a series of almost hypnotizing motions before the damage from the panda’s claws reduced it to a fine, glittery dust.
Big Shoe shrugged apathetically. “Whatever you say. That’s all for me.”
“Well done.” Adrian complimented his partner. “His monster is nothing more than a half-built wall now, without the defense points to be useful in the position it’s stuck in. Now allow me to exploit that! First! Shard of Greed gains one greed counter! After that, I activate one of my face down traps, Jar of Greed, which allows me to draw one card. Then, I normal summon Card Trooper (400/400). Though its attack may be on the smaller side at this moment, I can change that by activating its effect. In exchange for sending the top three cards of my deck straight to the graveyard, I boost my Card Trooper’s attack points by 1500!”
Card Trooper (400/400 -> 1900/400).
“Card Trooper, your orders are extermination to the maximum effect. Destroy Pandaborg!”
The dual cannons of the tank-treaded robot quickly tore several sparking holes through Pandaborg’s green-plated armor, but this time it was Big Shoe’s turn to snap out an order.
“Hold it right there! Since you were so kind as to destroy my monster, I can activate its effect. I pay 800 life points as fuel for the summon. This, of course, allows me to bring forth one level four psychic-type monster straight from my deck to the field. Say hello to Psychic Snail (1900/1200)!
Adrian and Anastasia: 8000 Big Shoe and Samui: 7200
Adrian grimaced and rubbed his chin in annoyance as Big Shoe's panda was replaced by an even stronger snail clad in rippling purple flesh. Clearly, the monster was strong, even when one looked past its powerful attack points. But simply being strong hardly meant it couldn’t be dealt with.
“That’s all for me.” Adrian concluded his thoughts. There was no way to take the snail out now, or at least no way that would be worth the effort. Best to leave it for Anastasia to consider when her turn arrived.
Samui Kori shuddered and drew a card with halting movements. Just as before, he carried out his turn without speaking a single word. Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier was left in defense position, and Defender of the Ice Barrier (200/1600) soon joined its fellow monster to crouch as a watchful sentry in defense of its master’s life points.
“Gecko.” Anastasia began to call out a warning, but Adrian cut her off with a nod and a few short words.
“I know. I’ve never seen that card before either.”
Troubling.
How troubling.
Adrian had dueled against and alongside his friend Samui Kori for years now. Samui’s ice barrier deck was as unchanging as a mountainous glacier kept in an enclosed space of absolute zero temperatures. Which meant that this new addition, even though it was part of the familiar Ice Barrier archetype, was made by outside forces.
Anastasia slowly blinked and centered her breathing as Samui’s turn ended and hers began. “I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands (1400/1000). Manju, reveal your effect! Search through my deck for the last missing piece, the ritual spell, Prediction Ritual!”
One hand out of the tens of thousands of pale green hands flowing from Manju’s body like liquid flesh slipped into Anastasia’s deck to withdraw the specified ritual spell.
“Now. The elements are in place. Each one corresponding to the perfect location, made at the perfect time, for the perfect purpose! I sacrifice the level four Manju on my field, the level four Prediction Princess Arrowsylph from my hand, and the level one Djinn Disserere of Rituals from my hand to call forth the level nine farseeing fairy of fate, Prediction Princess Tarotrei (2700/1200) in attack position!”
Each and every one of the glowing security monitors on the wall flickered in unison as a strange creature clad in a resplendent blue and purple dress appeared in the middle of the room with a graceful flash of purple smoke. All four of the creature’s spindly arms moved as one to outline a series of mysterious lines right into thin air that left glowing remnants floating through the empty space.
“Prediction Princess Tarotrei! Annihilate the opposing Psychic Snail!”
Yet, there was not a lick of movement that came from Anastasia’s ritual monster. It simply stood still, only eventually breaking that stillness to trace out another strange geometric pattern into the air.
“Ah, I’m sorry to disappoint, but whilst the Defender of the Ice Barrier is on the field with another Ice Barrier monster, none of your creatures can declare an attack if their attack points are greater than or equal to Defender’s defense points.” Big Shoe explained, giggling at the unexpected situation his two opponents had found themselves in. “Looks like you should have attacked your friend a bit more instead of focusing on little ol’ me.”
“Not to worry!” Adrian suddenly spoke up, causing Anastasia to start slightly in surprise. “I’ll cover you, Anastasia. Trap card activate, Two-Pronged Attack! By destroying two of my monsters, I can destroy Defender of the Ice Barrier. And while I have to lose the power of my Vortex Trooper and my Card Trooper to gain that effect, their own abilities will activate from the grave.”
Right as Adrian’s blue robotic fan waved a sad goodbye to its fellow robot, several things happened at once. Firstly the Defender of the Ice Barrier, a savage ice-covered fox that bared its hackles in fear at the other monsters on the field, was destroyed in a flash of light before it could dodge. Then, one last burst of air from Vortex Trooper’s fan head floated the top card of Adrian’s deck into his hand. Finally, Card Trooper mimicked its fallen friend to allow Adrian a second card draw.
"Not too shabby," Adrian remarked to Anastasia. "A cheeky draw two in order to remove that fox from the equation. Now quickly Anastasia! Capitalize on this opening!”
She nodded. While she had attempted to declare an attack earlier, it wasn’t like the attack was stopped midway. Instead, it wasn’t allowed to happen in the first place. That meant with the obstacle removed, she could attempt to strike again with her ritual monster.
“And I’ll do just that!” Anastasia sternly commanded. “Prediction Princess Tarotrei, renew your strike at the Psychic Snail!”
This time the monster’s attack went on unimpeded, and two of its four arms casually swiped away the entirety of Psychic Snail’s tan torso.
"Hah." Big Shoe snorted. "I foresaw that very play! You've triggered my trap card, fool of a girl. Because one of my psychic monsters was destroyed, the conditions are met to activate Telepathic Power!”
Right when the snail’s body had almost vanished, the partially destroyed head of Big Shoe’s monster twitched, causing electricity to crackle through its strange yellow headset. The headset, which looked more like a pair of impossibly smooth horns at a casual glance, let off a burst of psychic power so bright that the room was lit up like a Christmas tree. The light was blinding. But as it died away, Prediction Princess Tarotrei was still standing – completely unharmed!
“I’m afraid that destroying my monster isn’t that simple.” Anastasia explained before Big Shoe could let out a shocked question of his own. “You see, a princess naturally has great strength of her own, but every ruler has subjects to support her as well. Djinn Disserere of Rituals, who I sacrificed as part of the summon, provides a potent magic shield to protect Tarotrei from being affected by trap effects. You would have a better chance of swimming through a sea of fire or climbing a mountain of blades unharmed than trying to use a trap card to deal with my monster!”
Adrian and Anastasia: 8000 Big Shoe and Samui: 6400
There it was. The first battle damage of the game was officially dealt. Adrian glanced over to Anastasia. Her legs were trembling. Not from the strain of the duel. Not yet. No, she'd noticed that Big Shoe was bleeding from his mouth after her strike. It was hardly much. Nothing more than a dribble of blood. But it was blood drawn during a duel. From the attack of a monster.
“They truly are real.” Anastasia breathed in part fear and part wonder. “Phillip was telling the truth.”
“So it seems.” Adrian confirmed. Anastasia took one last shuddering breath and moved to her end phase, which triggered the effect of Prediction Princess Tarotrei to special summon her flip effect monster, Prediction Princess Petalelf, from her graveyard to her field in face down defense position.
“What~. You didn’t think shadow games were real, girlie?” Big Shoe maliciously sneered. “Well you better wake up. Ghost stories are real and your soul is forfeit if you lose! I activate the quick-play spell card Emergency Teleport, which lets me special summon the level two Psychic Ace (1000/0) from my deck to the field. I then sacrifice that monster to tribute summon the level six Overdrive Teleporter (2100/1200)!”
A man in a white cloak covered in strange, golden circuit-like designs casually stepped over the smoking corpse of the masked fighter ace used to tribute summon it. He struck a dramatic pose, like there was an invisible camera in the room that he wanted to look cool for.
“But that’s not all!” Big Shoe cackled in delight. “Since I sacrificed Psychic Ace for a tribute summon, I can destroy one card on the field. Say goodbye to your ritual monster for realsies now!”
Anastasia’s eyes widened in surprise, but she still signified that she had a response with a quick flick of her hand. “I suppose I cannot stop that, but I will still activate the quick effect of Prediction Princess Tarotrei in response, targeting your Overdrive Teleporter to flip it into face down defense position!”
As ordered by Big Shoe, the self-destruct sequence on Psychic Ace’s transparent blue airplane was activated as soon as Overdrive Teleporter walked onto the field. However, just as the blast began to engulf Anastasia’s ritual monster, its own effect activated to flip Overdrive Teleporter into the complete obscurity of face down defense position – something that wouldn’t be able to be changed until his next turn.
Big Shoe shrugged. “Shame. Not much I can do about that, I suppose. I’ll just place one card face down and end my turn.”
As soon as those words were spoken, Adrian launched into his turn with an air of quiet ferocity. Between him and Anastasia, there was only one monster left to defend their life points, and it was up to him to make up for that weakness.
“I draw, and Shard of Greed gains a second Greed Counter! And as soon as my main phase begins, I activate its effect to cash in the rewards of my wait. I send Shard of Greed to the graveyard to draw two cards! Then I place one card face down and activate Swords of Revealing Light! Turn end!”
The field between the two opposing teams shook as three green swords of glowing light slammed into the floor, piercing right through the linoleum tiles to anchor themselves deep into the concrete foundation.
Samui’s turn began, but before his lurching arm could move close enough to his deck to draw a card, Big Shoe spoke up in a voice thick with irritation.
“Boy! Hurry yourself up! Become the speed!”
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There was no response.
Big Shoe’s eyes narrowed, and he did something that neither of his opponents ever expected. He leaned down, took off one of his grimy sneakers, and threw it at Samui’s head. The shoe sailed in a nice clean arc through the air to clock Samui squarely in the forehead with a thick ‘smack’.
“That’s it. I’m going to kill that ruffian.” Anastasia angrily announced. She took a step forward and clenched her fists, only halting when one of Adrian’s broad arms entered her view.
Anastasia soon saw what had caused Adrian to interrupt her righteous justice. Samui began to start blinking in confusion as soon as the shoe nailed him on the forehead. His eyes did not look particularly unfocused anymore. In fact, if he wasn’t still standing on the opposite side of the duel field in the middle of a shadow duel, Anastasia would have thought that their friend was completely back to normal again.
“Yup. Just like a TV.” Big Shoe nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the results of his strike. “Gotta wack the remote a few times if it starts acting up.”
Samui finally stopped blinking in confusion. He stood still, and then his eyes settled on his two friends.
“Oh hey Anastasia, Adrian. How’s it going?”
Big Shoe took off his other shoe and threw it at Samui, who casually dodged the object without bothering to look at it.
“Oi! Get on with your turn and help me kill these idiots already! I have a show scheduled to start in 20!”
Samui groggily let a displeased look slide across his face. “Eh, I kinda don’t want to though. They’re my friends… I think?
Big Shoe stared at Samui, who turned to the side to stare back at him.
“I don’t care if they’re your momma and papa! Ice their asses pronto!”
Samui turned back to Adrian and Anastasia, shrugging as if he regretted this, but he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. “Sorry guys. Looks like I have to kill you now.”
He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and took one more. Samui’s final exhalation was strained and somehow became cold enough that his breath took on the form of a visibly icy mist spewing from his mouth.
“I activate my spell card, Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier! By revealing Geomancer of the Ice Barrier, General Grunard of the Ice Barrier, and Samurai of the Ice Barrier in my hand, I can target and destroy Swords of Revealing Light! And once it’s destroyed, I can special summon one Ice Barrier monster from my hand!”
A blue and yellow magic circle appeared over the head of Samui Kori as he began to shout out a series of commands with a fiery spirit in his eyes. He was practically the complete opposite of the rust-covered robot he’d been acting like earlier.
The circle spun, letting out a crackle of yellow lightning that turned Adrian’s Swords of Revealing Light to nothing but dust and a cloud of smoke, a cloud that the ice-blue armored figure of General Grunard of the Ice Barrier (2800/1000) arrogantly stepped out of to the drumbeat of clanking metal.
“I then normal summon Geomancer of the Ice Barrier (800/1200), and use General Grunard’s effect to normal summon for a second time, bringing forth Samurai of the Ice Barrier (1800/1500)! Now!”
As Samui began to speak, a freezing cold wind whipped up out of nowhere in the security office, causing Anastasia and even Adrian to shiver from the lowering temperatures. A drink near the small desk at the side of the room instantly froze solid, and a thin carpet of snow began to form on the floor.
“I send the level three tuner Geomancer of the Ice Barrier and the level four Samurai of the Ice Barrier to the graveyard!”
“What!” Adrian raised his voice in alarm. “What is he doing!?!”
Samui paused for a single second and spat out a lump of dried blood. His eyes began to bleed, dribbling a thick trail of scarlet liquid down his cheeks.
“I draw forth the power of the first of the many calamities sealed behind the great barrier of ice! I synchro summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (2500/1700)!”
Just by simply announcing the card’s name, Samui nearly fell to his knees. He stopped himself midway, but that only caused him to vomit out a thick pool of fresh blood onto the snow-covered floor to dye the pure white carpet with large patches of his own life.
“I…” Samui struggled to stand up straight. The effort alone was so strenuous that he began to laugh, despite the danger of the situation. “I activate Gungnir’s effect! I discard two cards from my hand to the graveyard to destroy your face down card, Adrian, and your face down monster, Anastasia! And now! Gungnir, attack their life points directly!”
It was a mighty dragon that appeared to be carved out of a singular glacier of red, white, and blue ice. Each step screamed majesty and a single beat of its wings was like a localized tornado tearing through the room.
Gungnir let out a beam of pure cold energy that blasted straight into their life points. Adrian stoically endured the damage, but a scream of pain tore out of Anastasia’s lips as she was hit by the dregs that missed Adrian’s the easier target of his larger body.
Adrian and Anastasia: 5500 Big Shoe and Samui: 6400
Anastasia hardly got a moment of reprieve before her turn began. She’d already been forced to come to terms with the fact that shadow games were real, but feeling the effects of the duel on her own health only served to hammer that point in.
“H-how many?” Anastasia gasped out the question. Adrian quickly showed a count with his fingers behind his back. Three so far. She nodded in assent. Three down, two to go. They would have to use every trick in the book to withstand the power of this new type of monster until Adrian achieved his win condition.
"Okay. Starting off, I activate the graveyard effect of Prediction Ritual. By banishing it, I can take one Prediction Princess monster from my deck and add it to my hand. I'll add Prediction Princess Coinorma (800/1400). Then I place one monster in face down defense position and place one other card face down. I end my turn."
“Wrong move girlie!” Big Shoe screamed in exaltation. Spittle flew from his bloodied, cracked lips as he jumped right into his turn with an energy that felt like it was filling the room. “Of course, I damn well expected you to do that, for sure! I activate my spell card, the Telekinetic Power Well! I can take any number of level two or lower psychic monsters from my graveyard and special summon them, all in return for taking damage equal to their levels multiplied by 300 points. It’s only one, of course, but say hello to Psychic Ace (1000/0) for a second time! And since I have three monsters on the field… well, you know what time it is.”
He licked his lips with a smug little grin. “I sacrifice Psychic Ace, Hushed Psychic Cleric, and my face down Overdrive Teleporter to tribute summon the glorious celestial body, a masterstroke card given to me by the ancient spirit Tragoedia himself as the symbol of my office, The Tripper Mercury (2000/2000)! And!”
Big Shoe's words were partially drowned out by two swords that sliced through one of the walls of the office to create a new door, out which stepped an imposing warrior clad in blue armor from head to toe. Each step it took caused the snowy tile floor to ripple, and its sheer intimidating presence was in no way inferior to Samui’s Gungnir.
"And!" Big Shoe continued once the severed section of the wall finished crashing to the ground, "Her effect is simple, yet beautiful! Every monster currently on the field is switched to attack position, and all monsters you currently control permanently lose attack equal to their original attack points! Furthermore, since I sacrificed Psychic Ace, I can destroy another card on the field. Psychic Ace, swing your laser to target the girl’s face down card!”
“Arrogance!” Anastasia yelled out defiantly. “You’ve made two mistakes, you arrogant cretin! Firstly, by flipping my face down Coinorma to attack position, you’ve activated her effect! Secondly, in response to the strike by your ace, I activate my face down card! Book of Moon, your target is The Tripper Mercury!”
Several things happened at once. A blue book covered in mystical symbols flashed in midair, forcing Big Shoe's planet monster face down, and a pink-haired twin-tailed fairy shined with an activated ability.
“When Prediction Princess Coinorma’s flip effect triggers, I can special summon one level three or higher flip monster from my hand or deck in face down defense position. And, since this takes place after The Tripper Mercury’s effect resolves, it won’t get changed to attack position. Big Shoe! This lady gives you permission to feel regret! I summon the level nine Prediction Princess Bibliomuse (2500/2500) in face down defense position!”
Adrian let out an impressed whistle. “Nice move!” He held his hand out for a high five, which Anastasia surprisingly accepted.
“Yah yah.” Big Shoe waved his hand dismissively. “Much regret has been felt. What a pity. I could have killed you both this turn. Well, I can still get some big damage in.”
Then the field began to glow green. The security screens on the wall crackled, their hues changing from blue to a sickly pale green color. The snowy ground shuddered, and a perfectly circular area instantly melted in the middle of the room. Inch by inch a solemn, grey face with a pair of blood-red eyes rose from under the floor. The creature, for it could no longer be called a man at this point, lacked arms, legs, or any semblance of humanity beyond its emotionless grey face. Four black and yellow appendages protruded from the lower part of its spherical body, each one oozing a strange green liquid from its tip.
“Hey hey hey.” Big Shoe flashed a set of his impossibly white teeth. “See, here’s the thing. I forgot to mention that another effect got triggered when The Tripper Mercury was summoned. When Hushed Psychic Cleric is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can special summon one monster that was banished by its effect. I only have one choice, of course, but it’s a damned good choice. Breaking forth through the veil between worlds. Collecting the minds of the many to augment the few. I summon Master Gig (2600/1400) from the world beyond!”
Adrian’s eyes widened in surprise, and he wasted not a single moment before yelling a warning toward Anastasia. “Brace yourself!”
“Ahahaha! Master Gig! I pay 1000 of my own life points to activate your effect! Destroy monsters on the field equal to the number of psychics under my command! Your priority target is that nasty little level nine monster on my opponent’s field!”
Though by this point there was only one psychic monster on Big Shoe's field, that provided more than enough energy to power one of Master Gig's cannons. One blast of sickly green light later and Anastasia's face down Bibliomuse was swiftly dispatched to the graveyard.
“Master Gig!” Big Shoe commanded, “Direct your full attacking power toward Prediction Princess Coinorma!”
Adrian and Anastasia: 2900 Big Shoe and Samui: 4800
Anastasia held out her arms in front of her, but the attempt to block the damage was futile. There was little to protect her now that Prediction Princess Coinorma's attack had been reduced to zero through the effect of The Tripper Mercury. The green energy washed right over her body and sent Anastasia stumbling backward to rest against the wall.
“Turn end.” Big Shoe smugly announced.
Adrian drew a card and his face instantly tightened, a movement that didn’t go unnoticed by Anastasia. She hid a grin that threatened to spread across her entire face. If the always-calm Adrian Gecko was reacting to a card he’d drawn, then it definitely was a good one.
“I place two cards face down! I end my turn!”
Big Shoe blinked in surprise but ultimately said nothing as Samui's turn began.
“Wow. Sorry Adrian, you really should have built up a better defense.” Samui nonchalantly commented and drew a card. “Well I guess I’ll activate Gungnir’s effect again, discarding only one card this time to destroy your face down card on my right, Adrian.”
Samui casually tossed a card from his hand to his graveyard, but Adrian reacted before the card even landed.
“It looks like you chose the wrong option, Samui!” Adrian firmly responded. “I activate the very same trap card you targeted, Curse of Anubis! All effect monsters on the field are changed to defense position! Furthermore, their position cannot be changed for the rest of the turn, and their defense turns to zero until the end of this turn.”
“Nice!” Samui politely applauded. “Good way to get yourself another turn. I guess since I can’t attack and I have no monsters to summon at the moment, I’ll just end my turn right here and now. Your go, Anastasia.”
Anastasia paused for a moment, clearly still caught off-guard by Samui’s casual tone. It almost felt as if they were participating in yet another for-fun duel against each other back at East Academy. At least until she looked at the blood dripping from his eye sockets, and saw the murderous glee flaring through the eyes of their other opponent.
"As you say." Anastasia eventually responded. She closed her eyes and drew a card, taking a second to center herself. Adrian's signals had told her the end was almost in sight. All she had to do was work with him to make sure they both survived to that point. “I summon Sonic Bird (1400/1000) in defense position. Its effect activates, allowing me to add the Underworld Ritual of Prediction ritual spell from my deck to my hand. Ritual spell, activate!”
Anastasia’s voice tightened as she slapped the cool blue card down on her duel disk. For a moment, the snow littering the ground gave way to a multi-pointed magic circle of blue and purple, one that pulsed with a deadly, crackling energy as it worked to provide fuel for the ritual summon to come.
“Using the effect of my Underworld Ritual of Prediction, I ritual summon Prediction Princess Tarotrei (2700/1200) in attack position once more, right from my graveyard! I sacrifice the level four Sonic Bird from my field! The level four Senju of the Thousand Hands from my hand! And by using its effect whilst in the graveyard, I can banish the level one Djinn Disserere of Rituals as the final required sacrifice!”
It was as if her ritual monster had never left the field in the first place. All four of its spindly arms continued to trace out geometric patterns into the air in order to predict the next set of turns in the wheel of fate, all the while its blue and purple robe fluttered with the drafts flowing from Gungnir’s wings.
Anastasia resolutely pointed right at Samui’s Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, judging it to be the greatest of the four threatening monsters her opponents controlled.
“I’m sorry, Samui. Tarotrei, your target is Gungnir! Erase that monster from your future considerations!”
The four arms of Prediction Princess Tarotrei moved in synch, grabbing the long, scaled neck of Samui’s dragon and swiftly breaking it with a sharp ‘crunch’ that echoed around the walls of the room.
Adrian and Anastasia: 2900 Big Shoe and Samui: 4600
“During my end phase.” Anastasia moved on with a flat tone in her voice. “Tarotrei’s effect activates to bring one of her lesser subjects onto the field. I choose that subject to be the fallen Prediction Princess Bibliomuse (2500/2500), summoned in face down defense position! Turn end.”
“Looks like you left my Master Gig unharmed!” Big Shoe whooped in joy. “This’ll be de-lic-ious~! I summon Silent Psychic Wizard (1900/0) and use its effect to banish one of my psychics from the graveyard. That'll be my homeboy Psychic Snail!”
“And when you activate that effect,” Anastasia sternly replied, “I use the effect of my own Prediction Princess Tarotrei to flip your wizard face down!”
Big Shoe's grin widened as if he was trying and succeeding in copying the smile of the Cheshire Cat. "Clever girl~, limiting my next effect like that. Well, I'll go ahead and use Master Gig's effect again anyway. I pay 1000 life points to destroy monsters you control equal to my count of psychic monsters, which is only one since you flipped my wizard face down. The target is your ritual monster, of course. Then I flip summon The Tripper Mercury.”
Big Shoe paused while he gleefully watched Prediction Princess Tarotrei dissolve into a pile of green goo under the might of Master Gig’s psychic attack.
“Now, Master Gig, switch to attack position and overpower that girl’s face down monster! The Tripper Mercury, strike directly! Show those filthy heathens the might of the planet series!”
However, right as Master Gig shot a psychic blast toward Anastasia’s face down monster, the attack was interrupted with a high-pitched shout.
"Fool! You forget, nearly all of my monsters possess flip effects! Now that you've attacked my monster, the flip effect of Prediction Princess Bibliomuse will activate. She allows me to add one Prediction Princess monster and one copy of any ritual spell of my choosing from the deck to my hand. Come to me, Prediction Princess Astromorrigan and Underworld Ritual of Prediction!”
Big Shoe rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes. But your monster still dies and you still take 2000 points of damage.”
Adrian and Anastasia: 900 Big Shoe and Samui: 3800
Even Adrian felt his stoic façade begin to crack, and the two duelists shuddered under the might of The Tripper Mercury’s direct attack. The first of the monster’s glowing blue swords sliced cleanly through the flesh of Anastasia’s shoulder, dying her dress with large spots of red. The second sword flicked around to smash into Adrian’s right leg, cutting through clumps of his muscles like a butcher’s knife through a side of pork, stopping only when it reached the bone.
“You good, Anastasia?” Adrian barked out in concern.
Anastasia shakily scoffed back without missing a beat. “Worry about yourself first, big guy. You’re looking like you can barely stand with that leg of yours.”
“Pass turn~.” Big Shoe drawled, looking very satisfied with the amount of carnage his monsters had inflicted as they tore through his opponent’s board.
Adrian gritted his teeth and drew a card. His brows furrowed as he read it, and then they sprung up with mild interest. He looped a hand behind his back and made another signal toward Anastasia, holding out his index finger for a ‘one’ and contorting his other fingers into a rather loose approximation of the letter ‘D’.
"I place one monster in face down defense position and throw down a face down card. Turn end!"
“And that means I can finally switch my monsters back to attack position.” Samui began. “Well, I suppose I should say ‘monster’ instead. Singular, not plural, since you killed my super cool dragon. Grunard, back to the offense. But before I go to the battle phase, I'll take advantage of his effect. I summon Strategist of the Ice Barrier (1600/1600) in attack position using Grunard's additional normal summon effect. Then I activate the effect of my strategist to send Caravan of the Ice Barrier to the graveyard to draw one card."
Samui lazily grinned with joy, clearly quite pleased with the new card in his hand. “There it is. I activate the spell card Medallion of the Ice Barrier, which lets me add one Ice Barrier monster from my deck to my hand. Report for duty, Dewdark of the Ice Barrier!”
The new monster in Samui’s hand hardly stayed there for even a full second before it was summoned, allowing Samui to launch right into his new move with a flick of his wrist.
“Now that I have this super cool ninja on the field, I send the level four Strategist of the Ice Barrier, and the level two tuner, Dewdark of the Ice Barrier, to call out the big boss of the jungle! I synchro summon Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier!”
Immediately the temperature of the room plummeted even further downwards as a majestic blue tiger clad in black and gold armor stalked through the hole in the wall made by The Tripper Mercury earlier to stand next to its master. Samui shuddered and fell to two knees as several wickedly sharp icicles tore through the skin on his back in a burst of bloody flesh, ripping his already tattered East Academy uniform to appear like a cluster of frozen brambles.
Nearly a full minute passed before Samui was able to struggle to his feet and order the regal tiger king to attack Adrian's face down monster. The order itself was stammered out as if the boy nearly lacked the strength to even speak full sentences. Still, the claws of his synchro monster hit home to tear through the orange suit of Adrian's face down Deep Diver (1000/1100).
“And on the declaration of your general’s direct attack,” Adrian took several deep breaths to force his mind away from the gnawing pain of his leg and the poor condition of his two friends. “I activate my trap card, No Entry!!. Every monster currently on the field is changed to defense position!”
“Oh. I haven’t seen that card in a hot minute.” Samui lightheartedly commented, as if he was watching a fun duel on TV instead of participating in a brutal shadow game.
“Indeed.” Adrian shortly replied. “And with your battle phase ending, the effect of my Deep Diver triggers. Since it was destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can take one monster from my deck and place it on the top. That monster…” He closed his eyes. It was nearly over. So close. They could only hope that neither of their opponents had a way to deal with this and that Samui's life could be saved from the aftereffects of the shadow game. "Will be Exodia The Forbidden One!"
“Oohh! That must mean that you’re close!” Samui exclaimed. A spark of interest entered his eyes, though it left as quickly as it arrived.
Big Shoe, however, scowled and began to shout in anger. “This muthafucker’s playing Exodia! And here I thought the voices in my head were feeding me a load of bull. Only the King of Games has ever successfully pulled that combo off!”
Adrian smirked. Clearly, the abrupt torrent of expletives from Big Shoe's mouth was a failing attempt to cover up the man's fear upon realizing his strategy.
“Obviously your psychic abilities are lacking if you couldn’t see this coming many turns ago.”
That comment set off another round of cursing from Big Shoe, while Samui shrugged toward Adrian and Anastasia as if to silently say 'eh, what can ya do' before ending his turn.
Anastasia flew into her turn like she was given wings and a massive energy drink larger than her own head. “I place one monster in face down defense position, and then I activate Book of Taiyou! It allows me to change one monster on the field to face up attack position, which will be my own Prediction Princess Astromorrigan (1300/0) that I just set. Her flip effect is a delayed strike, one that will destroy all defense position monsters my opponents control during my end phase. 500 points of damage will be dealt for each monster struck down by this effect. Then I place one card face down and end my turn.”
As soon as Anastasia’s turn ended, Prediction Princess Astromorrigan smoothed out the ruffles of her dark blue dress and waved her tiny little sword and shield. An even darker blue glow seeped out of the jewels on her crown, permeating the field with its light. All at once, Master Gig, The Tripper Mercury, the face down Silent Psychic Wizard, Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier, General Grunard of the Ice Barrier, and Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier all melted into piles of glowing blue slush under the power of Anastasia’s monster.
“Ah ah ah!” Big Shoe spat out the falsetto chiding tone with a vicious air around him. “That still triggers the effect of my Silent Psychic Wizard. When he leaves the field, I get to special summon the Psychic Snail (1900/1200) that was banished by his effect.”
Big Shoe yanked the top card of his deck out and slid it into his hand. His eyes narrowed with pleasure. “Here we go~,” Big Shoe purred, “too bad for you fools, I predicted this very card to walk into my grasp. You may already have a few pieces of Exodia in your hand, muscle boy, but I have something even better. Card! Destruction! Activate! Everyone, drop your hands into your graveyard and draw cards equal to the number you discarded!”
Adrian stared right into Big Shoe’s empty eyes, noting the sheer bloodlust and confidence that was contained within his pupils.
“Alright.” He eventually replied and casually tossed his hand into the graveyard.
Big Shoe chuckled and placed a card face down. “Such is the way of life. No new monsters for me, but Psychic Snail, go ahead and kill off that annoying little princess monster, would you?”
Psychic Snail grunted and let a crackling arc of electricity circle around its shell. One loop, two loops, and a third loop were made before the ripple of lightning shot out to smash right into Prediction Princess Astromorrigan.
Adrian and Anastasia: 300 Big Shoe and Samui: 800
“Turn. End.”
Adrian hummed in thought, drawing a card and reconsidering his strategy. He had four pieces of Exodia in the graveyard, and one in the hand. “Okay. How about this. I activate the trap card I’ve been saving for several turns by now, Backup Soldier. It allows me to take up to three non-effect monsters with 1500 or less attack from my graveyard back to my hand. I choose the Right Arm of the Forbidden One, the Left Arm of the Forbidden One, and the Right Leg of the Forbidden One.”
“But that still leaves you a piece off, by my math.” Big Shoe interrupted with a greasy smirk.
Adrian narrowed his eyes. “Huh. I don’t think I asked for your opinion.” Without waiting for his opponent’s reply, he slapped a spell card right onto his duel disk. “Pot of Greed, activate! I draw two cards. Then, I follow that play with Magical Stone Excavation! I discard two cards to add Dark Factory of Mass Production from my graveyard to my hand, which you forced me to discard earlier with Card Destruction. Though I must have at least two normal monsters in my graveyard in order to activate Dark Factory, one of the cards I sent with Magical Stone was another one of my pieces of Exodia!”
“But that means!” Big Shoe took a step back. For the first time since the duel began, there was fear in his eyes. Pure, undiluted fear.
“Yes!” Adrian snapped back. “I add from my graveyard to my hand, the Right Leg of the Forbidden One I just discarded, and the final Left Leg of the Forbidden One!”
Piece by piece Adrian tossed each card onto his duel disk with scornful eyes pointed right at Big Shoe. “Now tell me, Mr. Psychic. Did you foresee this in your near future?”
Right Arm of the Forbidden One!
Right Leg of the Forbidden One!
Exodia the Forbidden One!
Left Arm of the Forbidden One!
Left Leg of the Forbidden One!
The room shuddered and heated up by the second. A pair of mighty yellow arms, chained at the wrists, smashed through two of the walls in the security room. A head with two baleful orange eyes headbutted its way through another one of the walls. Two muscular legs pierced through the floor, giving it more holes than a slice of swiss cheese.
“EXODIA!” Adrian yelled so loud that the skin in his throat cracked and a slight amount of blood flew out of his mouth. “OBLITERATE!”
Anastasia leaped forward to yank Samui out of the way of Exodia’s mighty energy blast, slamming the both of them into the jagged remains of a nearby wall. Big Shoe lunged at them with a desperate yell, but his hand fell just a centimeter short of Samui’s tattered sleeve, a centimeter that wouldn’t have mattered if his uniform was still undamaged. Meanwhile, Exodia let out a roar of anger of its own, angling the blast so the bulk of it caught Big Shoe, while the much more manageable edges of it were left to wash over Anastasia and Samui.
Adrian and Anastasia: 300 Big Shoe and Samui: 800 – duel won via Exodia’s effect.
As quickly as he could Adrian limped over to Anastasia and Samui, who were lying in a limp heap on the other side of the room.
“Hey, did you guys make it?” He hesitantly let the question hang in the air. In all honesty, it almost felt like a guillotine hanging over his own neck.
For a moment, Adrian feared the worst. His question initially went unanswered. But just as he was about to lean over to start checking for pulses, Anastasia’s bloodied arm shakily rose to give him a thumbs up while Samui groaned in pain.
“What the hell just happened…” Samui eventually mumbled from where he was pinned underneath Anastasia. “I feel like I got run over by a cement mixer.”
Adrian smiled thinly, and without any further words he picked up both his friends, hung them over his shoulders like a pair of sandbags, and began to limp out of the smoking wreckage of the security room. One foot in front of the other. Repeated ad nauseam. With a few unspoken ‘ows’ floating around in his mind for good measure.
“We just killed a man, didn’t we? Another human being.” Anastasia tiredly began to ask before stiffening with fright. Adrian narrowed his eyes and followed her gaze, leaving her question unanswered for the time being.
“Well I’ll be damned.” A tall, well-built man wearing a blue jacket with the large, yellow words ‘Security’ written repeatedly over nearly every exposed bit of cloth walked towards them while sarcastically clapping his hands. “You really did ice that annoying DJ. I was getting tired of hearing his idiotic show every day on my morning commute.”
Adrian halted and carefully let both Anastasia and Samui off his shoulders to the floor, where they both unsteadily stood next to him.
“The polite thing would be to introduce yourself.” Adrian cautiously asked.
The man swept a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and sat them on his head. The lenses were normal, but the frame was built with flair and spelled out the word ‘Boss’.
"That it would. That it would." He murmured and pulled a duel disk out from behind his back. "The name's Bon Lectro. I'm the head of security around here, you see, and you just wrecked my office. Do you know how long it’ll take to scrub out the bloodstain you turned my psychic into?”
“You’ve got to be bloody well kidding me." Anastasia let the uncharacteristically rude words drop from her mouth out of pure exhaustion. Adrian carefully balanced his weight on his undamaged leg, while Samui attempted to suppress the involuntary shivers that wracked his entire body.
“We’ve got to duel another one like that last guy?”
Bon Lectro’s brows twitched. “Oh, I wouldn’t quite say it like that. See, I’m higher ranked than that goober, and this isn’t the first time I’ve cleaned up Big Shoe’s mess. I guess I'll need to grab the Yellow Pages and look for a new psychic after I feed your bodies to the hogs, though."
The way Bon Lectro nonchalantly spoke that last sentence sent a collective chill racing down the spine of the three students.