Chapter 34:

So much for fresh air

With everyone that I was travelling with, apart from my brother, getting a duel spirit, I didn't feel so…I don't know…crazy…odd even. I think it was more the idea that I was hiding it from my friends that made me feel so strange. Now, standing at the front of the boat with the wind in my face, I feel…normal, you know. (Even though this technically isn't normal) I still couldn't see land yet.

"So we've all got duel spirits now" I said to myself, smiling while leaning on the bar. "That's awesome"

"It might not be" Ruby told me, appearing.

"Can't I have a few moments of talking to myself please?" I told her, trying not to sound annoyed.

"Sorry" she simply said, disappearing.

"Thank you" now where was I? Oh yeah. "We've all got someone for when we're alone…and I guess someone to send messages with" I looked up at the sky, seeing a few seagulls flying around…I resisted cracking a joke. "But where does this lead?"

"Can I say…?"

"LONE TIME"

"Sorry" anyway…

"If we've all got duel spirits then why doesn't James?"

That was the biggest question…for all I knew, he did have one, we just didn't know about it yet. I heard some footsteps behind me, turning round and seeing the man himself, looking quite…freaked out to say the least.

"Can't I have some time alone?" I moaned, turning back to the sea. James walked up next to me, looking in the same direction.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked. I looked at him, seeing him looking relaxed.

"You just have done" I joked, smiling. "But go on"

"How do you tell if you have a duel spirit?"

"I would have thought that was obvious wouldn't you?"

"Just answer the question"

"You see the monster on the card; can talk to it and so on, but no solid feel to it if you try to touch it"

"Then would you say that the things behind me are duel spirits?"

He pointed behind him, to which I turned my head melancholically. Now, from what I know of James' deck, I expected a few small monsters. (He worked on it over the years with my help) but…what I saw was a Darkfire soldier (number one if you're interested) Dunames dark witch and some…soldier with those pyrefly things from FFX. I turned to James, looking bemused.

"Yeah, I guess they qualify" I told him, smiling. "Welcome to the ranks of the insane"

"Why the heck are these guys around?" He asked me.

"Well, they are the spirits of one of your cards, Dunames, Dark fire and…whose he?"

"The unsent soul of war" (warrior, -3, 2100, 1500) James crossed his arms as he turned around. "He's the one I'm freaked out about"

"Hey, be fair, at least you haven't got something weak and ugly" NOT kuriboh, before you think I'm moaning about it. "Besides, I reckon we all have duel spirits now"

"You mean…"

"Yep, Simon and Ryan have some from yesterday, Elendil…I don't know how long and Justin and Andrew have some"

"And through some coincidence we've all met up"

"Exactly"

James looked out to sea again, deep in thought. I kept an eye on his monsters, seeing them just talking quietly to each other. I turned to James, hoping he was alright.

"Next round has a special rule" he told me, turning to look at me. "Apart from the fact I'm duelling, it's a tag force round"

"Tag force?"

"You know, share the same field, different decks and same life points of 8000"

"So tag team duelling basically"

"Exactly"

"Should be fun"

"I have a feeling Ryan and Simon are teaming up, as are Andrew and Justin. So that leaves you, me and Elendil"

"Well…let's decide later"

"Fair enough"

We turned to head back to the cabin, getting to the stairs before…well, the events at the hospital repeating themselves…in a way. First, my deck glowed, to which me and James both looked at it in amazement. I pull out the card that glows and it has silver flames around it this time.

"What the hell is going on?" James asked.

"Magic I suppose" I told him, still holding the flaming cards. "Any time now…"

The flame died out, leaving a card held in my hand. Ruby's portal. Nice. A spell which allows you to summon a monster from your deck on the opponent's field and you get one from the grave. The level for the monster increases by one, but the attack drops to zero. It's her signature move I suppose.

"Nice" I said to myself. James still looking at the card.

"There's more" he told me. I moved the card to the left slightly, seeing 5 more cards…all blade series monsters.

"Awesome" I commented, checking through them. "These should be a great asset"

"Look later, get stuff now" James told me. He was right, we had a place to go to.

"Coming"

Right, due to being…well, lazy right now. Here are the new cards and effects for the 5 I said but didn't if you catch my drift.

Blade Defender (Lv 2 Earth Warrior Atk 600 Def 1500) effect While this card is face up on the field, your opponent cannot target any other Blade Series monster by card effects. If this card is in the grave, you may remove it from play when your opponent attacks a Blade Series monster you control. Negate the attack and end the battle phase.

Blade Archer (lv 3 wind warrior atk 1200 def 600) effect: This card may attack the opponent directly. If this card deals direct damage (aka damage opponent by a direct attack), it is destroyed at the end phase. If this card is destroyed by a card effect you may tribute one spell or trap you control to special summon it back to your field.

Blade Arcana (Lv 6 dark spellcaster atk 2000 def 100) effect: When a Blade series monster is destroyed by battle, you may equip it to the monster that destroyed it in battle. As long as this card remains on the field, all monsters equipped by a monster card looses 100 atk and def equal to the equip card's lvl. You may only equip one blade series monster once per turn.

Blade Master (Lv 8 Earth Warrior Atk 2800 def 1800) Effect: This card cannot be special summoned except by the effect of a blade series monster. This card inflicts piercing damage. If this card destroys a monster by a result of battle, you can return one blade series monster that is removed from play to the owner's deck and shuffle it. If this card is removed from play, return all cards removed from play to the owner's deck.

Blade Trainer lvl 1 light spellcaster atk 0 def 0 Tuner/effect: Once per turn, you can send a blade series monster from your deck to the grave. This monster's name is then treated as the sent monster's and gains lvl equal to the sent monsters lvl. (add the sent monster's lvl to Trainer)

I must say thank you again Justin, for the cards. And Andrew, sorry about last chapter.