Chapter 2 Cold Shoulder
I am haunted by a beast in my very soul.
I can not control my actions and I sin without hesitation.
I repent to the Lord, as none other can save me. I am cursed like no other. While others embrace their darkness I trod on the line.
May the Lord save me from the Wolf that eats my innocence.
I am Sandy Lunar. I am a Shadowchaser. And in my heart contains a darkness. Others want me to use the darkness to stop the evil of the world. They call it an opportunity. But this is no gift. This is an abomination. Save me from it.
Saint Hubert's was a very old church in Chicago, but very grand. You could tell, from the creaking floor and the glass windows this was once a very impressive church. But over the years, it became run down and most of the people left. It was run by just one priest, and an organ player who ran it for the few who came, old men and women who were either to stubborn to move, or refused to let go of their history.
And there was Sandy. She came here, as it was both a place to be alone, yet feel God. Modern churches were too loud. They were also too much of a danger if she couldn't control herself to others. But she wouldn't lose herself. In this place, in this church she had never lost control, not for the past 2 years she had been in Chicago as a Shadowchaser. Here she felt safe. If not for her job, she would stay here forever…
A knock was heard on the entrance door. It was such an uncommon sound, that the priest stopped his sermon in shock. Everyone turned to look at the door, except Sandy whose head remained in her hands. The door opened and a young male voice was heard.
"Hello. I'm sorry. This is my first time to this church. Please continue." The young man at the door said, before walking in and taking a seat near the back. The priest seemed content and continued the sermon. The others returned to looking at the priest, but there were occasional glances back to see the man.
But Sandy was terrified. Her blood turned to ice. She slowly took a glance back before wanting to run out screaming. I need to get out of here. Now! She thought to herself. For once the sermon seemed to stretch on for hours, and she felt the man behind her drilling his eyes into her back.
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Finally when it was over, she quickly got up and left through one of the side exits. She took a brisk pace, so as not to draw too much attention to herself. She threw a scarf over her head so she could better hide herself. When she finally stopped, she was at a park. She breathed out in relief, before sitting on a bench. What was he doing there? How could he find me? I was so careful. They think I'm dead. Suddenly she was overwhelmed with emotions and felt almost like crying.
"Need a tissue Sandy?" The man from the church said, offering a tissue. She nearly fell off the bench upon seeing him.
"What…Jim? How…" She looked at him. He had dark hair and wore a pair of black slacks, a white shirt and a brown coat.
"It's good to see you Sandy. It's been too long." He sat down next to her, but Sandy quickly got up.
"How did you know? How did you get here from West Virginia?"
Jim sighed. "You could never hide from me Sandy. I looked at the remains. My dad's a cop, remember? I could see the forensics report. It didn't fit. The girl wasn't you." He stood up now and faced her, advanced towards her while she shrunk back.
"Why did you lie to us? Why didn't you come home? Everyone misses you." Sandy backed away slowly. "Tell me what happened."
Sandy shook her head. "I can't."
Jim didn't stop. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small portable duel disk, about the size of a saucer plate when folded. "I refuse to accept that. Duel me. You win I'll leave you alone and never come looking for you again. But if I win, you tell me everything. The truth." He slid the duel disk on, and it clicked open, revealing the slots to put monsters on. His deck was already in place. "Otherwise I'll just keep following you."
Sandy looked around her. There was no one else in the park. She turned back to Jim. She gulped. "Fine. But your not going to win. I'm sorry." She took out an equally small disk from her jacket, and it unfolded in circles. It had no sharp edges and looked far more delicate then normal dueldisks. She pulled out her deck and put it in her duel disk.
(Jim: 8,000) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 8,000)
"Ladies first." Jim offered.
Sandy drew her 6th card and looked at them. "I set 1 monster facedown and three cards facedown then end my turn." The brown backs of the cards appeared infront of her.
Jim smiled as he drew his 6th card. "Unusually prepared aren't you?" He looked over his cards before playing a monster. It appeared as a pale colored incredibly fat ghost like being, with it's hands over it's stomach as if it was content. "I summon Cloudian – Altus (1300/0) in attack mode." As it was summoned, a small blue cloud appeared alongside it.
Sandy took a deep breath as she remembered this monster. He still uses the same deck. After all this time…
Sandy is younger now, about 9 with her blonde hair tied in a pony tail. She's lying on her back looking at the sky. A young jimmy, Hair scruffy and himself very short sits down next to her.
"Whatcha doing Sandy?" Jim asked his best friend.
"Looking at the clouds." She responded, not really bothered.
"Oh." Jim said. "Why?" He asked after a moment.
"To see the shapes. Like that one there looks like a castle! And that one looks like a monkey!" She says pointing out the clouds in turn. Jim looked really shocked.
"Oh cool! And that one there looks like castle!" Sandy then turned over and pulled something out of her belt.
"And this cloud looks like you after eating too much ice cream." Jim looked up expectantly.
"Where Sandy? Where?" Sandy pulled him down, causing him to fall.
"This one!" She showed him the card Altus. She then handed the card to him. "Here. Keep it."
Jim got really excited. "Really?" And noticed her nod. "Thanks Sandy!" And then gave her a tight hug.
"Get off me, before you give me cooties!" Sandy complained, as the air was being squeezed out of her lungs.
In the present, Sandy blinked to see what she had missed.
"I said I attack your facedown monster." Jim repeated. Sandy nodded, as the monster revealed itself to be Nova Summoner (1400/800), a card which resembled a necklace with wings. The card shattered into pixels.
"I can now summon a light fairy with 1500 or less attack from my deck to the field. Meet Absorbing Kid from the sky (1300/1000)." A small boy in a white t-shirt and wings appeared on the field. He seemed out of place as a monster, but had his arms folded angrily at Jim. Jim shrugged.
"I sort of expected that. Well I was expecting Shining angel, but yeah that's about the same." He put two cards face down. "I end. To you."
Sandy began hyperventilating. This is wrong, this wasn't supposed to happen! What do I do? Her hand began to shake as she reached for her card.
"You alright Sandy? Your hand is shaking." Sandy eventually grabbed the card and put it with the rest of her hand.
"I'm fine." She then played a spell card. "I play Fighting Spirit. Now my monster gains 300 attack points for each monster on your side of the field." (1300-1600/1000) She then pointed at the Cloudian. "Attack!"
The Absorbing Kid from the Sky charged some orange energy in it's hands, before firing it at the monster. When the attack struck, the monster's form absorbed most of the attack, while some leaked to strike Jim. At the end however, the monster remained on the field, completely unharmed and still smiling.
(Jim: 7,700) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 8,000)
"As you should know, Cloudians can't be destroyed in battle. Nice try though."
Sandy shook her head. Shoot how could I forget that? My head must be messed up from this. I need to calm down and be rationale. Cause I can't tell him the truth.
"I draw." Jim announced before he smiled at what he got. "I summon Cloudian – Cirrostratus (900/0)." A new cloud appeared on the field, this one pink. Eyes poked out of it, along with cartoon like cat whiskers. Two blue clouds appeared next to it.
"And incase these new holograms make it hard to see, these blue clouds here represent Fog Counters. My Cloudians get one for each Cloudian on the field when they're summoned. My Cirrostratus has an effect with hers. I can remove two Fog counters on her," The blue fogs mixed together and became a small hurricane. "To destroy a monster on the field. Like your Absorbing Kid!" The hurricane zoomed towards Absorbing Kid, before he was swept up in it, and was crushed into pixels.
"Now your wide open! Monsters attack!" The Cloudians zoomed towards her. Sandy raised an eyebrow.
"Wide open? Boy I've got three facedowns and they are not bluffs. I play Negate Attack." A vortex appeared on the field, halting both monsters' attacks.
Jim nodded. "I end my turn."
Sandy drew a card from her deck, before glancing at the field. Great I drew Sanctuary in the Sky. Problem is, both of his monsters are Fairies as well. My Sanctuary will not help me in the slightest. But there is something else I can do.
"I remove from my graveyard my Nova Summoner and my Absorbing kid from the sky," The cards were ejected from her graveyard, and she placed them in her shirt pocket. "to summon Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800) in attack mode."
A translucent female spirit appeared on the field that stood by Sandy. It attempted to place its arms around her but Sandy abruptly moved away from her hug. The angel looked hurt.
"Sorry." She faced Jim, who looked confused. "I set a monster facedown. Now Soul, attack his Cirrostratus!" The spirit glowed white, before the energy was released towards the Cirrostratus cloud. But like Altus, the monster took the attack and reformed unscathed.
(Jim: 6,600) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 8,000)
"Anything else?" Jim said. Sandy shook her head. As Jim drew, he narrowed his eyes. What's going on? Why is she not upset? She was before. This isn't going according to plan. I need to end this quickly.
"I Summon Cloudian – Turbulence(800/0) in attack mode." A grey hurricane formed on the field, before growing a pair of arms and two holes for eyes. Three blue clouds appeared around it. "I activate his effect. I remove two fog counters to summon two Cloudian – Smokeballs (200/600) to the field." Two blue clouds were swallowed up by Turbulence into his mouth. Then after a moment, two yellow clouds popped out of it's head. Each looked small and child like, one even waved at Sandy.
"I now play a card I bet you weren't expecting. Umiiruka!" The park suddenly began to flood, and soon they were knee deep in sea water. Their monsters floated above the water though. Dolphins jumped up around them. "This card increases all my water monsters' attacks by 500 but decreases their defense by 400." Each of the Cloudians began to grow larger as they absorbed moisture from the water. (1300-1800/0) (900-1400/0) (800-1300/0) (200-700/600-200)
Interesting. Most duelists prefer using Legendary Ocean, but I know for a fact this deck would hate to lose its one star. Just like Jim's deck back home. She then felt like hitting her head. Of course it all makes sense now! Idiot! She then grew a small smile. I'll play along though.
"I activate my facedown card Magic Drain! Now unless you discard a spell card you field is negated." Jim slid a Salvage card into the graveyard. Sandy seemed deflated. "Oh. Carry on then."
Jim pointed at her facedown. "Altus attack her facedown monster." The jolly yellow monster blew a blast of gas towards the monster.
"Hold on!" Sandy announced. "All your monsters lose 300 Attack points in the battle phrase from my Soul of Purity and Light!" Altus began to glow with an aura originating from the Spirit in question. (1800-1500/0)
The facedown monster flipped up, revealing Barrier Statue of the Heavens (1000/1000).
Jim chained a facedown. "I play Final attack orders. Now all face up monsters turn to attack mode and have to stay there. And your barrier monster just got flipped face up." As the statue shattered, Sandy's lifepoints took a hit.
(Jim: 6,600) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 7,500)
Jim nodded. "And the rest of those points are going down. And your coming home Sandy. To your Ma and Pa, your sister Jennifer. She's grown up so much and-"
"SHUT UP!" Sandy screamed at him. "Your not Jim! I know what you are. So why don't you come out of that shell." Jim looked aghast and stepped back. Then his eyes changed dark purple.
"Bu-bu-but how? My disguise was so perfect. I researched it all. I even copied the deck he used back when you left." Sandy looked the creature up and down. This creature was a Bodachan. Similar to Boggarts they could assume a carbon Copy form of a target. Unlike Boggarts they weren't cruel and enjoyed vices. They used the form for simple tricks rather then crimes. They also were more sociable. Each Bodachan walked around with a partner from birth, its sibling. They were usually inseparable. In fact separation could lead to madness or depression.
Even an Aware could be caught by one of these Shadows. However her senses were shaper then a normal Aware because of her…ailment. Disguises didn't trick her as well and she could smell he was different. Only her grief and surprise had let her be fooled.
"Where's your partner? He should be around somewhere but I can't see him." The Bodachan didn't look pleased.
"He's not here. You separated us. And you will bring us back together." He placed the last card in his hand facedown in the Spell or Trap zone.
Sandy smiled before drawing her card. "You don't stand a chance against me now." She looked at her new card before playing it.
"I summon Dimensional Alchemist (1300/200)." A white armored creature appeared, it's visor lifted up to reveal a Japanese mask underneath. "I activate his effect. I remove one card from the top of my deck," She took off the card from her deck, raised an eyebrow at it before placing it with the other cards.
"And my monster gains 400 extra points (1300-1700/200)." The monster began to glow with purple energy. "Soul of Purity and Light attack him directly!" The Spirit glowed again, but before it could release its attack, a card on "Jim's" side of the field opened.
"Attack Guidance Armour." A suit of grey armour appeared around Dimensional Alchemist. "Now your monster attacks your Alchemist."
The light shot out of the Spirit, before bending in mid flight and striking Dimensional Alchemist. The monster screamed before it shattered into pixels. As the armour disappeared, the Fairy looked remorseful over what happened and put it's head in it's hands in shame.
(Jim: 6,600) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 7,200)
Sandy narrowed her eyes. "My monster's effect activates. Since it was destroyed in battle I can return one of the monsters removed from the game by his effect to my hand." She put the removed card in her hand.
"Your move." She states.
*Jim* picks up his next card and smiles. "Oh what good fortune. This is the card that will end you. First I sacrifice all my Water monsters," Each of the Cloudians disappeared in turn. "To summon Cloudian – Nimbusman (1000/1000)." The new cloud rose from the water, before forming that of a large blue man, towering over the Oaks still visible in the park. 5 small blue clouds appeared circling Nimbusman's head.
"My Nimbusman gains a Fog Counter for each water monster I sacrifice to summon him, and I can sacrifice as many as I please. For each Fog counter on the field he gains 500 ATK points. And of course there's Umiiruka to further increase the fun." The clouds around Nimbus man glowed, before Nimbus man grew even bigger, until it towered over the biggest monsters of duel monsters. (1000-4000/1000-600)
"But of course, I know you Shadowchasers are resourceful. You'll probably have some way to destroy my monster with a spell. Well no, I've been saving this since I don't want to waste lifepoints. I activate my facedown card Imperial Order!" A tall man with white hair and a red robe appeared on the field. "Now all spell cards are negated as long as this card is on the field. That includes Umiiruka, but if your facedown card had any way of stopping an attack you would have used it by now." Then Sandy did something unexpected.
She pointed her finger at the Bodachan and smirked. "You fell for it."
"whu?" The Shadow asked confused.
"I activate my facedown card. Royal Surrender!" A group of peasants suddenly appeared on the field. They charged the red robed man, before tackling him down. The man shattered. The victorious peasants started to cheer. "My card negates a Continuous trap card and destroys it."
*Jim* was flabbergasted. "But…but…" Then he regained his composure. "So what? My monster will still crush yours. You have nothing."
Then Sandy's monster began to glow purple. "What's going on?"
"It's time for justice to be done." She stated, as purple lightning rained down around her. It struck Soul of Purity and Light who was destroyed. "I special summon Voltanis the Adjudicator (2800/1400)!"
A tall monster, appeared in a flash of light. It wore a purple armour with long wings and a staff bearing a sapphire in it's head, it's arrival was strange. First there was no monster, and then there was one. It was so sudden. So was the lightning shot out of its staff to strike the Cloudian. The Cloudian screamed in pain as electricity circulated it, before it shattered into droplets and then pixels.
"You seem to have difficulty following." She said as the Bodachan just stood there with it's mouth hanging open. "Let me explain it to you with props."
Sandy reached into her graveyard and pulled out Royal Surrender and Soul of Purity and Light. "When I played Royal Surrender, which is a counter trap, I can special summon my Adjudicator from my hand by destroying all my monsters." She then raised Soul of Purity and Light. "This card is a fairy. When I sacrificed her I activated Adjucator's other effect." She pointed at the monster by her side. "For each fairy sacrificed this way I can destroy a card on the field. I chose to destroy your Cloudian. You've caught up I assume." He made no response.
"Good. Well it's my turn as you have no cards in your hand and nothing else to do." After putting the destroyed cards in the graveyard, she drew her next card and smiled. "I play Sanctuary in the Sky." Umiiruka disappeared and the grass began to dry again, when all of a sudden a floating castle appeared behind Sandy.
"Now I summon Zeradias, Herald of Heaven (2100/800) in attack mode." A tall angel with green wings and armed with a halbard appeared on the field. "Both my monsters, attack directly!" The Adjudicator made no move, but lightning simply rained from the sky on the Bodachan. Zeradias charged at the Bodachan and slashed with his halberd before returning to Sandy's side of the field.
(Jim: 1,700) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 7,200)
The Bodachan began to shake. "no, no. I can win. I can still win." And as he began to shake, like a man in whirl he drew his next card. "Yes! Perfect! I remove from my graveyard Cloudian – Altus," The card slipped out of his graveyard, but he quickly threw it aside, not caring where it landed.
"To summon Cloudian Storm Dragon (1000/0)!" The clouds mixed together, before forming a large blue dragon. Its 4 eyes glint with some hidden energy. A fog counter appeared on top of it.
"My Storm dragon can put a Fog Counter on one monster on the field once per turn which I just did. But more importantly it can't be destroyed in battle. And it's still a fairy so your sanctuary protects me as well from damage. I end my turn."
All I have to do is stall until I get another Cloudian, or maybe Summon cloud. I can get a monster from my graveyard. Then when I draw my big monster nothing she summons will be able to stand up to it!
Sandy closed her eyes, before she clutched her cross. She paused for a moment before making a silent prayer. She then drew quickly, before quietly saying,
"You think you can use my cards against me? I will not let anything stop me from bringing justice. I play Mystical Space Typhoon." A mystical energy vortex appeared on the field. It assaulted the sanctuary, which shook under the assault. Finally the Sanctuary crumbled and disappeared. Zeradias looked up in dismay before screaming in outrage, before he too shattered into pixels.
"Zeradias can't be on the field without the Sanctuary. But now you aren't protected from battle damage and Voltanis the Adjudicator is still here." She pointed at the dragon before announcing, "Voltanis the Adjudicator, Judgement Lightning!" As purple lightning shone from it's staff, the strike shot from above and as the electricity coursed through the Cloudian's form, it was conducted through and struck the Bodachan.
"AAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he fried, before falling down on his knees.
(Jim: 0) - - - - - - - - - - (Sandy: 7,200)
The Bodachan began to cry. "Why? I couldn't do this. I need to see my brother. I need to see my brother." Then it's skin began to morph and it became a middle age plump woman with red hair. She looked at Sandy, before speaking in a femine voice.
"What are you? My sweet dear. God has forsaken you. The Devil is with you." The creature morphed again this time to a balding man with half moon glasses.
"Your no daughter of mine! You be a Shewitch!" Finally reverting to the form of a young girl, a little younger then Sandy but looked very similar.
"Why did you leave me sis? I needed you. Why Sis?" Sandy started to shake again. Her eyes became yellow and her voice became more primitive.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! STOP IT!" And with a roar she charged on all fours at the Bodachan, intending to claw it's eyes out. Then she was tackled to the ground by a familiar face.
"Sandy! Calm down! Calm down Sandy." Andrew said, holding her pressed down. He grabbed her cross and held it to her face. "Remember this? Remember yourself. You aren't like this. You need to calm down." Sandy stopped struggling and her eyes became human again.
"Thanks Andrew. How did you know I was here?" She asked.
"I got a warning there was a Bodachan near the Church you went to. And you don't duel often so I thought I would come see. Just got here, didn't expect to see you like this."
Sandy then said, "I'm fine by the way. You can get off me." Andrew looked down to see he was still pinning her. He sighed.
"You sure I can't stay here a bit longer?" He jokingly asked, before standing up. He turned towards the defeated Bodachan.
"I recognize you. Even with your disguise. You're the brother of Marlin Mc'Klin." The Bodachan nodded solemnly, before returning to the form of Jim.
"I'm Alec Mc'Klin. My brother was working for a group of bank robbing Shadows. He was told there was to be no bloodshed and all he had to do was look like the bank manager. He needed the money, he liked to gamble and it sounded like fun. I told him to forget it, but he left without me.
"The day of the robbery, he walked in with the other Shadows as he was in disguise. But as he walked over to the safe, the real bank manager showed up. The other shadows got shocked and started shooting people. My brother went to hide. The Shadowchasers arrived and took the others down, and my brother looked like he would get away.
"Then you showed up." He pointed at Sandy. "You and that god damn nose of yours! You found my brother. You caught him when he refused to duel, didn't let him explain himself. He was so scared he's mute now. You can imagine how that went at the trial. The other Shadows didn't help him out, looking to save their own skin. He got 10 years.
"You don't know what it's like being so far away from your brother, it's like losing a limb. 10 years and I would go mad. The courts wouldn't let his case be looked at again. Then I found a way to help him."
Andrew clicked his fingers. "I think I know what you've been trying to do. You were trying to prove Sandy here is mentally unfit to be a Shadowchaser." Sandy looked shock at the accusation. Andrew turned to address her. "By getting you so emotionally beaten down, getting you to reveal Shadows to a normal human or even attacking in wolf form like you did. He could use that to get you suspended, even expelled from the Shadowchasers. And thus all your cases would be reevaluated."
"And my brother would be free!" Alec shouted. Sandy walked towards him, with an emotionless face.
"Your brother. I didn't render him mute. When I found him, he begged to be taken in. I thought he was innocent, but I did so anyway at his request because of his guilt. I've felt so bad now. But now, looking at you at how pathetic you are, it makes me wonder," She bent down to look into his copied face.
"Your brother must be ashamed of you." She left the Bodachan where he was. "Andrew lets go. He hasn't broken any crimes." She turned back momentarily to look at Alec. "And he's probably suffered enough." Andrew nodded and both Shadowchasers left the scene.
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Sandy was behind Andrew as he drove his motor bike back to the base. He had chosen to drive slower, keep within the speed limit for once. Finally he asked her what had been bugging him.
"Who was that guy he was imitating in the duel? You seemed to know him. What was he? Your brother, your boyfriend…" He left the question hanging, waiting to hear her response. Finally after a minute or more, she answered.
"Jim was my fiancé. He proposed to me after High school and said we would get married after I came back from College." Andrew raised both eyebrows, as he turned into the base's garage.
"Aah. Sorry. Didn't know." Sandy got off the bike and moved quickly into the base. "Hey why are you in such a hurry?"
"I need to make a call." Sandy said without turning around.
Andrew parked his bike in the garage, taking his time. I wonder what Samual is doing?
I have done many bad things in life. My curse has hurt many. I thought I could escape my past, to save them from me and my new life. But this opportunity has shown me that my past can sneak up on me.
If a simple Bodachan can discover my life so easily, then what if a dangerous Shadow did? An Ogre, a Troll? Even another Werewolf?
I've been selfish. I've been naïve. I've been many things. But this is something I didn't prepare for. I need to do something. And I need to do it now.
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Attack Guidance Armor
Normal trap
Image: A man wearing an armour with a demonic appearance as light blasts move towards him.
Card Description: Activate only when your opponent declares an attack. Redirect the attack to a monster other than the attack target or attacking monster.
Note: Attack Guidance Armor was first used by Seto Kaiba in episode 123 of
"Yu-Gi-Oh". Creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.
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Where is Samual? That's a good question. What does a retired war vetran do on a Sunday Afternoon? Go to the bar with some old army friends? See a movie with lots of violence? Pick up girls?
What you probably didn't expect was going to Kaiba land. But Samual is a father, and like many good fathers he takes his 8 year old to amusement parks. However unfortunately for him there's trouble at the amusement park. And Sam's got to take care of it.
Stay turned, for the shocking next chapter "Short Circuit!" Coming soon.