The Cave

Chapter Four: "The Leech Files"

"And now the duel between Weevil Underwood and Burnshoot Killslew shall commence!"

[4000/4000

"I'll start things off by setting a monster and a face-down card. Then, it's your move."

"Fine," Burnshoot said. "I draw, and summon Bachelorette of Landstar! And this little queen is going to knock your set monster for a spin!"

"He he he!" Weevil guffawed. "You hit my special friend, Kisetai. This beast wraps itself around your Landstar thing, and during each of my Standby Phases my Life Points increase by half of the ATK of the monster Kisetai is attached to!"

"Well, I set a couple of cards and end my turn."

[4000/4900

"Meet Splonch the Mythical Ladybug! She's a beauty, isn't she? Better than that, she can attack your Life Points directly!"

[3200/4900

"Oh yeah, don't think your Life Points have gone to waste, for they augment my own!"

[3200/5700

"Furthermore, Splonch can go into face-down defense position on the same turn that she made an attack. So, I'm safe. Make your move."

"Since I have nothing better to do—"

"Not so fast! I activate my trap, A Feint Plan! Now you cannot target any face-down monsters. Too bad."

"In that case, my turn shall end."

[3200/6600

"Splonch is flipped face-up, and then I summon another Splonch! And they both attack you directly with Psychedelic Spitfire!"

[1600/8200

"You know what happens next, I presume? They both go into defense mode, and you are in deep trouble."

"Not really. I sacrifice Bachlorette of Landstar, in order to summon Lebes Niobium (2100/1700)!"

"I've never heard of that monster before," Weevil said, staring at a purple beast with crooked teeth and four arms. "Does it have any special abilities?"

"Oh yes. Lebes, attack both of Weevil's Splonches at once!"

Two of Lebes' shaggy arms pummeled one of the face-down monsters, and the other pair made its brother history.

"Now it's time to settle a score," Burnshoot said. "Lebes has a Trample ability, and your ladybugs only had 800 defense points each."

[1600/5600

"I summon Insect Knight in attack mode, set a face-down and end my turn."

"Too bad your Insect Knight is still weaker than Lebes. Attack that arthropod with Four-Arm Slash!"

"It's your ill luck that I have a Quick-Play Spell that was just waiting for you to make a stupid move like that. Meet Book of Moon!"

Lebes went into face-down defense.

"I always have something in handy for situations like this," Burnshoot said. "I activate Chorus Sanctuary! Now Lebes DEF jumps up 500 points. Do all you desire, but you'll never get past that."

"We shall see," Weevil said, as he drew his card. "Ah, Night Boll (400/0)! This ought to do the trick! I summon this little critter in attack mode, and have it attack your Lebes!"

"But you'll lose a great deal of Life Points!"

Lebes was flipped face-up. However, Weevil's points did not drop, and Night Boll disappeared from the field.

"Insect Knight, attack Lebes!"

The giant purple monster was vanquished.

"How?" Burnshoot wondered.

"Easy. When Night Boll attacks a monster, it loses DEF equal to Night Boll's ATK. Then your Lebes only had 1800 defense points, which made him an easy target for my knight."

It was now Burnshoot's turn. "I play Pot of Greed!" He drew Black Knight. Like I'd ever play that, he thought. "Then I summon Gene-Warped Werewolf in attack mode, and equip Black Pendant to it. Now, destroy Insect Knight with Extreme Data Removal!"

"Hmm…where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, in your match against the cave-dweller!"

"You watched that?"

"We all were witness to it," the Black Knight said. "Every single one of the one-hundred forty-eight prisoners here were obliged to watch you. We were in the selfsame room."

"How come I didn't see you?"

"Because when we are up there, we are ethereal. Translucent and invisible. Unless you can see spirits, there is no way we would've been spotted."

"Spirits? Are we dead?"

"No, not quite. As long as the cave's mouth remains open, we consider ourselves alive. However, in here, we exist as spirits. Oh, we can still touch our cards and duel disks, of course, as you have seen. Indeed, we almost feel solid down here. But we know we are but souls, or imprints, for when we go up, none can see us, not even the cave-dweller."

"Why do you keep saying, 'down here'? I thought this was just a part of the cave, like directly behind the cave-dweller's throne."

"We know it is below the cave because the door always comes in a southerly direction, Look, see there," the Black Knight said, pointing. "That wooden door. Ignatius must've lost again."

A door was descending from somewhere above the group of people (or spirits) gathered around Burnshoot and Weevil. Lighted brightly, the door seemed to emanate a welcoming force, as if it were a beacon to a brighter world.

It hit the ground, and Ignatius emerged. His raccoon skin cap was hanging lopsided on his head, and he appeared crestfallen.

"Ignatius! You mean Yomi Ship didn't work?" the boy introduced in the previous chapter as Patch queried.

"It failed," the other boy said, weeping bitterly.

"Quit your sniveling, kid!" Weevil said. "Crying never got a man anywhere, and once another duelist loses, we're done for! We'll never see sunshine or hear birds chirruping or insects buzzing, crawling, or simply annoying the human world! And I've got a duel to win; don't let your tears screw up my concentration!"

[1600/5000

"Okay, it's my move, and I summon Elephant Wasp (1300/900) in attack mode. Lunge at his Werewolf with Trinkling Speed Blast!"

"Another pointless move on your part, Weevil. All it does is force you to lose Life Points."

But when the smoke cleared, not a monster was left standing.

"Just when you think you've got the upper hand, my insects pull something like this. You see, Elephant Wasp leaks a poison so deadly, that when it attacks a monster, no matter what the difference in their ATK, both are destroyed. Of course, the Life Point damage still applies," Weevil said, frowning.

[1600/3800

"I summon Archfiend Soldier," Burnshoot said. "He attacks you directly!"

[1600/1900

If I don't draw something good now, this loser may squash me, Weevil thought. He drew his card. "Yes! Yes! Lady Luck is on my side, for now I play Card of Sanctity!"

Both players drew till they had six cards in their hands.

"And what do you know? I summon the all-powerful, impregnable and indestructible… Trap Monkey!"