Shizuka's Eyes

"Royal Knight, attack directly!" I declared.

2300/0

My poor opponent was Dr. Kekeru Goyu, a doctor who used to work at the hospital I stayed at. He slacked off, and that made a nurse hit him. When she was fired because of it, I heard that Yugi defeated Goyu in a Shadow Game, and released a tape that recorded Goyu's confession of malpractice, costing him his job.

"No, I lost!" shrieked Goyu.

"Ironic, isn't it?" I asked. "One of your former patients sent you to intensive care!" A second later, he lost his soul to the shadows. I was deeply disturbed with seeing someone suffer so, but I did my best not to show it.

"Nicely done, Shizuka," said Pegasus. "That was quite an interesting mix of healing and attack cards."

"When you two are done clucking," said Taro, "we should probably start looking for Garza again. Maybe we could find him faster if we split up."

"Very well," said Pegasus. "I'll go through this door, and you two keep scanning the hallways. And remember: you two have to keep an eye on each other."

"Aye, sir!" But once Pegasus went through a door Taro said, "Later."

"Wait a minute!" I protested. "Crawford-san said we should stick together!"

"I don't care. I want to crush Garza and win the promo card by myself. And that means I have to find him on my own."

I sighed, realizing there was no possible way I could change his mind. "Fine. I guess I'll see you later, then." With that, I walked into a room, leaning against a far wall. "Now what? If I don't have help, there's no way I'll be able to find Garza in time."

Then I remembered back to what Loki said. "When you insult your skills, you insult your teacher."

"I'm sorry, Master," I apologized to the air. "I'll never insult you like that again." Remembering some old movies I watched, I wandered over a bookshelf and started pulling some books out. It was a long shot, but it couldn't hurt to try. To my surprise, touching one of the books caused a passage to the right of the shelf to open. "Loki was right; this guy really is a cult classic." Gathering up my courage, I ran down the hidden corridor.

000000000
Loki's Eyes

As I slowly rose to my feet, I grabbed my head. "Uh…God…my head hurts like a sunnova bitch."

To my surprise, the spirit of Tom was next to me too, clutching his own head. "Me too! What have you done to my body?"

"I remember falling down a deep hole, but nothing after that. I don't even remember the impact." As soon as the room stopped spinning, I observed my surroundings. It looked like a torture chamber of some sort. "Of course; Dracula was a sadist."

"Pardon me, stranger," I heard someone say. I looked over and saw a boy on a rack. If he was in pain, he didn't show it. "Would you mind freeing me?"

"How do I know you won't attack me if I do so?"

"I can only give you my word, there. I get the feeling you want to eliminate Garza as much as I do."

I smirked. "I don't think anyone wants to sock it to Garza as much as I do." Nevertheless, I unbound the lad's wrists and ankles.

Doing a few stretches to regain his circulation he said, "Thanks. My name's Shayne Driver."

"Loki Admin," I greeted. Looking up to where I fell from I asked, "What was that I fell through? Some trap door?"

"It is an old castle," he replied. "It was partially restored, but the floors are still probably a little weak. I think it was a freak accident that you fell through." He got off the rack, but immediately fell down. "…I don't think I'll be as much use to you as I thought I'd be."

"Will you be ok? And what were you doing on that thing in the first place?"

"Obviously, I was getting stretched. Garza found me wandering around his castle, which I entered through a secret passage. He wanted to torture me to the point where I hated him so much, my darkness manifested. Luckily, I was too strong to fall to him." Pointing to a wall he said, "the way to Garza's lab is somewhere on that wall. I couldn't get a good view of how to open it, because of the way I was tied."

I walked over and examined the wall. "It looks pretty solid to me." Regardless, I stared running my hands over the wall, looking for some hidden doorknob or switch. I soon hit a soft spot, a piece of the wall slid aside, and a path revealed itself. "Such a cliché." I turned back to Shayne to thank him, but he was already gone.

"Where did he go?" asked Tom.

"No clue," I answered. "Not that it matters. We need to go find Garza!" With that, I ran down the passage.

000000000
Shizuka's Eyes

I felt a sudden chill as I ran, and I had a bad feeling it wasn't because of the temperature. "I hope nothing happened to Loki," I thought. But after a while, I felt warmer again. "That was definitely Loki. I have no idea what trouble he got himself into, but at least he's out." I didn't stop to think about how I knew, because I had more important things to do.

When I reached the end of the corridor, I walked into a classic monster-movie lab. I ducked behind a wall when I saw Garza, yelling at two of his minions. One was a woman, and the other was a burly teenage boy. "How is it that most of my minions have already fallen?" demanded Garza. "Must I do everything myself?"

"'So damn campy', I'm sure Loki would say."

"Demetrius! Ms. Medusa! Deal with the trash, won't you?"

"I know those names. Joey told me about them. Demetrius beat him up, and Medusa tried to get Téa expelled. I guess this one's for them." I stepped out of my hiding place and said, "Don't worry about the trash; I'm about to deal with it myself." I'm sure Loki would've been pleased to hear me say something so tough.

The three of them spun around. "Who are you?" demanded Garza.

"My name's Shizuka. I'm Joey Wheeler's sister, and Téa Gardner's friend. Who wants a duel?"

"There's no time for that. Minions, leave her to me!"

"I think I won't," said Medusa. "That bitch Téa was partly responsible for me nearly losing my beauty!"

"There's no 'nearly' about it," said Demetrius. "Besides, it's Wheeler's fault that I became a quivering mass for a year! Someone's gotta pay!"

I smirked. "Garza, you want in on this?"

"No," said Garza. "I have more important things to do with my time."

"But your lackeys will obviously lose without your help," I teased. "Come on, let your anger out. An angry opponent is an easy opponent."

"THAT'S IT!" shrieked Medusa. "Let's get this Shadow Game started!"

"Yeah, let's duel!" yelled Demetrius.

Sadly for them, the duel was completely one-sided; I'll spare you the details, because frankly, they aren't worth talking about. I almost felt bad for them, losing their souls. Then again, I simply couldn't forgive people who hurt my friends. "It's your turn, Garza," I said. "Face me!"

Garza snarled. "Why am I surrounded by these incompetent fools?"

"Let me ask you something: do you get rid of people who you think are too powerful and too smart?"

"Obviously."

I smiled. "Well, that might be your problem."

"Silence, child! You will never leave this chamber alive!" He pulled out his Duel Disk and said, "Soon, you'll come to see…that we scientists are a tricky bunch."

4000/4000

"I'll start," I said. "I summon Layard the Liberator (1400/1500)! Then I'll set two cards and end my turn."

"Very well. I activate Card Destruction, forcing us to discard our hands and draw anew. And from my graveyard, I special summon Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World (1600/1300), and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World (2300/1400)!"

"But how can you do that?" I asked.

"My Dark World monsters are automatically special summoned from the graveyard if they're discarded from my hand. Sillva, destroy Layard!"

"I don't think so. I play Mirror Force, destroying all your monsters!"

"You'll never get away with this!" he snapped. "I'll set one card and end my turn." As I drew he said, "I activate Gateway to Dark World! It lets me special summon one Dark World monster from my graveyard, and I choose Sillva!"

"Before I make my move, I have a question," I said. "Why are you trying to summon Kuhates? What wish is so important that you'd risk the whole world to grant?"

"That's easy; the entire world! Once I defeat Kuhates, I'll wish to be the king of the entire world!"

"The king of clichés, maybe," I thought.

"I will succeed where all the great conquerors have failed. Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Kahn: they all did a moderately good job, but even they can't compare with what I'll accomplish here tonight."

"…I see. I have one other question."

"What?"

"Were you ever bullied in school?"

He involuntarily flinched when I asked that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, this seemingly insane lust for power; there has to be some reason for it," I explained.

"SHUT UP!" he snapped. "You know nothing about me!"

"Please don't let him start one of those tired old 'nobody appreciated my genius' speeches," I prayed.

"Nobody appreciated my genius! I used to be a weapons designer for the United States army, little girl. I designed a bomb that would've been enough to destroy all life in a small country in a matter of seconds. Seconds! In one day, America could finish a war that would take years."

"And now, of course, he'll tell me what made him go insane."

"But they yanked my funding and kicked me out when I created weapons that they considered too dangerous. I pointed out that weapons were supposed to deadly. They shot back that the civilian casualties were simply too high. I ask you this: if you're at war with a country that's trying to kill you, should protecting the civilians of said country really a priority?"

"So how did you go from being angry about being fired to wanting the entire world?" I asked.

"Well, duh! If I rule the entire world, people will have to create my weapons, and do anything else I say!"

"That's a simple response; not that I expected anything more." "Why not simply be the next American Republican candidate? Those Americans will do anything a Republican tells them, no matter how much trouble it gets them in."

"Well, enough pleasantries," he said. "Make your move!"

"I will, and it's gonna blow your mind. I'll use the special effect of Majestic Mech – Goryu: it normally requires two sacrifices, but I can summon it with only one, if I'm willing to let be destroyed at the end of the turn. So, I sacrifice Layard the Liberator to summon Majestic Mech – Goryu (2900/1800)! Next, I remove two light monsters from my graveyard to special summon Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800) in attack mode!"

"Two high-level monsters in one turn?" demanded Garza.

"Who said I was finished?" I shot back. "I reveal my trap, Ultimate Offering! By paying 500 lifepoints, I can perform another summon. So, I pay 500 to summon Hoshiningen (500/700)!"

3500/4000

"And thanks to Hoshiningen's effect, all Light monsters gain 500 attack points, while all Dark monsters lose 400 attack points."

Gaza flinched. "No way! You'll wipe me out this turn!"

"It certainly looks that way. Goryu, destroy his Sillva!"

3500/2600

"Soul of Purity, attack directly!"

3500/100

"Hoshiningen, finish him off! Star-struck slam attack!"

3500/0

Garza sank to his knees. "No, it's impossible! I'M INVINCIBLE!"

I smiled. "I don't think I've met an invincible person who lost to a rookie in two turns. I guess this means no Card Guardian for you."

"You…stupid child!" To my surprise, he suddenly threw something at me. It struck me in the head and smoke came out, which burned my eyes and throat.

As I cried in agony, I heard Garza run off and someone else run towards me. I don't know how, but somehow I knew who it was. "LOKI?" I sobbed.

"Shizuka!" he yelled back. "Hold on, I'm coming!" I felt him steady me a second later. "My god, Shizuka! What has he done to you? Your eyes are all red!"

"It burns! It burns!" I cried. "He threw some gas at me!"

I heard him start to gag. "Ugh! I think it must be some sort of Capsaicin gas – pepper spray. Start blinking a lot; the tears will wash away the irritation. And don't rub them."

As I blinked, I said, "I did it, Loki! I beat Garza in a duel!"

"You did? That's wonderful! I wish I was there to see it."

"But then you'd be blind too."

"You're not blind, Shizuka. This'll wear off in about thirty minutes. Um…AH! This should help. Face the ceiling."

I did, and I felt something cold poured over my face. "What's this?" I asked, causing some of it to flow into my mouth. "Milk?"

"Yeah. I brought it to drink; you can't defeat ancient evil forces if you don't have your calcium. Don't laugh, 'cause that's just how Lynch brought me up. Besides, it should help dilute some of the Capsaicin too." After about five minutes he asked, "How are you, Shizuka?"

Opening my eyes burned, but I was able to see again. "I'm a bit better, but I think it'll be a while before I see anything."

"I'll take you back to the base, if you don't feel like helping me find Garza."

I shook my head. "I'm ok. I'm here now, and I want to see this ordeal though to the end…even though I can't see."

"I understand completely." He helped me to my feet. Then, to my surprise, he lifted me off my feet, carrying me as if I was a helpless damsel. "Let's go find Garza."

"…Lead the way," was the only response I could give.

End Chapter

Curses! Poor Shizuka nearly saved the world, but that evil Garza pulled such a dirty trick. It looks like this story isn't quite over yet.