Chapter 26- A Full Shadow Game
As soon as he moved under the arch, the scenery around them changed. The hard gray stone of the Duel Academy campus vanished and was replaced with some kind of strange purple liquid. The sky vanished and was replaced by a solid black ceiling. There were no walls, as far as Drake could see, but the floor seemed to vanish into nothingness after you walked a little ways.
"Okay, what do we do now?" Drake asked.
"Well, we could follow this path and try to find Matt. Then we can go back to the original mission." Flynn suggested.
"Right." Keith said. Julie leveled her rifle and took the head off a fiend who had been slowly advancing on them.
"Let's go." She said. They began to move forward when Drake noticed something red on the ground.
"Hey… isn't that… blood? Wasn't Matt bleeding when they toke him?" Drake said.
"Yeah, but we just killed a fiend, so it's probably his blood." Flynn said.
"That's true, but the trail extends all the way over there." Drake pointed to a path that was visible through the blackness of the Shadow Realm.
"Let's go that way then." Flynn said. They walked in peace for about fifteen minutes, without encountering a fiend, before they finally found the beginning of the path. But when they reached it, one of the intelligent fiends appeared from nowhere and blocked their path. He wore what looked like a key around his neck.
"Trying to find your lost friend?" he taunted. "You'll have to get past me, the Keeper of the Vault, to find him. And I doubt you can do that." Each of them looked at the other.
"Who wants to duel him?" Keith asked.
"I'll do it." Drake said. He turned back to the fiend. "Alright, big and ugly, let's do this.
"Let's duel!"
Drake: 4000Keeper: 4000
"I'll go first!" said Drake. "I set a monster in defense mode, and add a face-down card. That ends my turn." Drake felt the usual strain of supporting a monster in a shadow game, but this time it seemed much more powerful.
"Heh. Let's see if you can survive a full-power shadow game." The Keeper said. He drew a card. "I summon Celtic Guardian (Earth/Warrior, 1400/1200) in attack mode! Then, I equip him with Butterfly Dagger- Elma! With this, my Guardian gains 300 attack points! Now, attack his monster!"
"I activate Book of Moon! This flips your monster into defense mode! And now, Butterfly Dagger goes to your graveyard!"
"Grr… I end my turn."
"Fine then, my turn!" Drake drew his card. "I flip summon my White Ninja (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1500/800), and when he's flipped, I get to destroy one defense position monster on the field! So, your face-down Celtic Guardian is gone!"
The fiend snarled. "You cheat…"
"No, I'm just good like that. I now attack directly!"
Drake: 4000Keeper: 2500
"I end my turn."
"And I begin mine!" The Keeper drew his card. "I summon Winged Dragon- Guardian of the Fortress #1 (Wind/Dragon, 1400/1200) and I equip it with Gravity Axe- Grarl! This gives it 500 more attack points and prevents you from changing your monster's battle position! Now, I activate Twin Swords of Flashing Light- Tryce! I must discard a card to activate this, and reduce the attack of the monster I equip it to by 500 points, but then it can attack twice! Now, since I only have one card in my hand, I special summon Guardian Grarl (Earth/Dinosaur/Effect, 2500/1000) in attack mode!"
"Wait-what?" Drake said, bewildered.
"When he is the only card in my hand, I can special summon Grarl without a tribute. Now, Grarl, crush that stupid Ninja!"
Drake: 3000Keeper: 2500
"And now, Winged Dragon, attack him directly twice!"
Drake: 200Keeper: 2500
"Owwww!" yelled Drake as the Dragon's fireballs hit him. He fell to his knees, screaming from the intense pain. Now Drake knew why Julie had collapsed during her duel- the pain from one direct attack was enough to make him want to quit. But then he remembered Matt. I can't give up now! He thought. He coughed up some blood onto the ground. But man, this hurts. His limbs trembling, Drake slowly stood up. It feels like I've got no energy left. He thought. I need to wrap this up, and quick. The strength in his legs vanished and he staggered. Something caught him. He looked up to see who it was, and was absolutely astonished when he did.
Matt was holding him. It wasn't exactly Matt, the bandages were gone, his eye was restored, and he was actually good looking, from a male standpoint. He wasn't wearing his usual slightly torn jeans and deceptively baggy T-shirt, either, he was wearing some kind of white robe. He seemed to radiate light. Drake had thought that Julie had been hallucinating when she said she had seen Matt holding her in her first shadow game, but now Drake knew that she hadn't been lying.
Either that or I've just gone crazy, Drake thought.
You haven't gone crazy, Matt's voice assured him. It came from the Matt-spirit and had a sort of ethereal tinge to it. Now, brace yourself like a man, stand up straight, and either beat the tar out of this guy or go down fighting like a hero! The Matt-spirit drifted away, as if blown away by a non-existent wind. Drake felt new strength, more strength than he had ever felt before. He looked the Keeper in the eyes.
"My turn." He said. The Keeper looked shocked that Drake could even think about standing, much less speak.
"You should be dead after that! There's no way you could have survived that last attack. Ah, no matter, on my next turn, I'll deplete your life points and end your life!"
"No, you won't." Drake drew his card. Where did this come from? He wondered. Matt must have messed with my deck or something. Oh well. "I summon Mpirian Warrior!"
"You summon a what?!?" The Keeper said. "I've never heard of that card, and I've been dueling forever!"
"You had better keep up with the times, then! This guys pretty good. (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1500/1200) When he's summoned, he allows me to special summon his friends, two more Mpirian Warriors!"
"So? You can't break through! I'll kill you next turn."
"No, because every Mpirian Warrior gains 100 attack points for every other Mpire monster on my side of the field."
"So…?"
"Okay, good point, they all only have 1700, so I'll play Pot of Greed." Another card I've never seen! Drake thought after checking the two cards. Still, I can use it. "I activate my spell card, Mpirian Soul Empower!"
"What?!?"
"This is a very powerful spell card. First, I choose one Mpire monster on my side of the field. So, I choose the first Warrior I summoned! Then, I remove all monsters in my Graveyard from play! So, I remove my White Ninja… and my Mpirian Warrior gains his attack and defense points!"
"No! That puts him over Grarl!"
"Got that right! And due to his special effect, if I special summon an Mpirian Warrior with Mpirian Warrior's effect, then all increases to attack and defense to the first Mpirian Warrior are applied to the others! So that gives me three monsters with 3200 attack points!"
"NO!!!!!!!!!!! It can't be!"
"But it is! Mpirian Warrior! Destroy Grarl!"
Drake: 200Keeper: 1800
"And with this next strike, I win! Mpirian Warrior #2, destroy his Winged Dragon!"
Drake: 200Keeper: 0
The Keeper gave a shout of anguish. His duel disk began to glow, and it exploded. All that was left of him was the key he had worn around his neck. Drake felt the thrill of victory for a passing second, then the incredible strength departed from him, and he blacked out.