Chapter 37- Death of a Gatekeeper

Flynn: 4000

Fiend: 4000

"I'll go first." Said Flynn. "I set a monster in defense mode. That's all."

"Ha! Is that all?" The fiend drew a card. "I play Pot of Greed, and draw two more cards. Then, I summon Don Zaloog (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1400/1500) in attack mode! Then I activate Mustering of the Dark Scorpions! This allows me to special summon as many Dark Scorpions from my hand as I can, so long as I have Don Zaloog on the field. So, I special summon Meanae the Thorn (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1000/1800), Gorg the Strong (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1800/1500), and Chick the Yellow (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1000/1000), all in attack mode. Now, Gorg the Strong, attack his monster."

"Dragon Dwelling in the Cave." Flynn said, bored. "2000 defense."

Flynn: 4000

Fiend: 3800

"Grr… I set two cards and end my turn."

"My turn." Flynn said. He no longer reacted to the strain of the Shadow Game. "I sacrifice my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave to summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv. 6 (Fire/Dragon/Effect, 2300/1600) in attack mode. Then, I attack Gorg the Strong!"

Flynn: 4000

Fiend: 3300

"Since Horus destroyed a monster this turn, I can now special summon Horus Lv. 8 from my deck. (Fire/Dragon/Effect, 3000/1800) That will end my turn." Flynn yawned. "This is too easy."

"We'll see! I draw…" He smiled evilly. "Now I play Call of the Haunted, to bring back Gorg the Strong (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1800/1500) in attack mode."

"He's not very strong. At least not compared to Horus."

"Ha! He's part of a team, and everyone knows that teams work better when all members are present. I summon Cliff the Trap Remover (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1200/1000) in attack mode to complete the team!"

"So, you have five weak monsters."

"And a facedown, which I now activate! Dark Scorpion Combination!"

"No!" Flynn was suddenly alert again.

"Yes! Now, all my Dark Scorpions can attack you directly for 400 damage! Go, Dark Scorpion Combination!"

Flynn: 2000

Fiend: 3300

"And now, all their special effects activate! First, Gorg. You must return one monster on your side of the field to the top of your deck. So, Horus returns to the deck.

Next, I'll use the effect of Don Zaloog. I discard a card from your hand. Third, I'll use Meanae the Thorn's effect to bring Dark Scorpion Combination to my hand. Fourth, I use Cliff the Trap Remover's effect to discard two cards from the top of your deck. Finally, I'll use Chick the Yellow's effect to check the top card of your deck… and in this case, I want it on the bottom of your deck, so it goes there! Now, is it too easy?!?"

"No." Flynn said. The last few attacks had hurt. Now, not only had he lost his best and only monster, he had lost a hand card and a couple of cards on the top of his deck. Not much fun.

"Come on, Flynn!" Drake said.

"I set a card and end my turn." The fiend said. "Come on, take your turn so I can attack directly again and win!"

"Not yet." Flynn said. He drew. "I summon Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode, then I attack Don Zaloog!"

Flynn: 2000

Fiend: 2800

"I set a card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then. You destroyed one Scorpion so that I can't use Dark Scorpion Combination again Fine." He drew. "Ha! I'll win this turn anyway! I play Sword of Dark Destruction on Gorg the Strong (2200)! Then, I'll attack Luster Dragon!"

"I activate my Negate Attack trap! Now you can't attack at all."

"Fine then. I'm done."

"Flynn, you should win soon. He's got nothing in his hand. He's relying completely on luck!" Drake said.

"I know!" Flynn drew a card. "I just need to blow away a couple more monsters. Or… I play Pot of Greed! So, I'll draw two more cards." Flynn smiled as he glanced at his two cards. "Almost there. I play Mirage Dragon in attack mode. Then I attack Cliff the Trap Remover with Luster Dragon and Meanae the Thorn with Mirage Dragon!"

Flynn: 2000

Fiend: 1500

"That's all for now."

"Fine then. More weak monsters." The fiend drew another card. "I play Gift of the Martyr. Since Chick won't help me, I'll sacrifice him for a temporary attack boost for Gorg!"

"What happened to 'a team is better when all its members are present'?" Flynn asked.

"Never mind that! Now Gorg gains attack equal to Chick's (3200)! Attack Mirage Dragon!"

Flynn: 400

Fiend: 1500

Flynn groaned from the pain. "That hurt."

"Yes, I know. Now that my turn is over, Gorg returns to normal attack points, so you're lucky there. However, if you do not do something soon, he'll walk all over your face."

"My turn." Flynn drew his card. "And that's all. I'm going to summon my Armed Dragon Lv. 3 (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 1200/800) in attack mode."

"So? He's weak!"

"Right now he his, but he'll get a lot bigger. Like when I play Level Up! Now I sacrifice him for Armed Dragon Lv. 5 (Wind/Dragon/Effect, 2400/1200) in attack mode."

"So? I can win next turn."

"No, you cannot. Because now I discard a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to activate Armed Dragon's effect, which allows me to destroy any face-up monster on your side of the field with less attack than the one I discarded. How about Gorg the Strong?"

"No!"

"Yes! Armed Dragon, destroy Gorg the Strong!"

"Crap! He was my only monster."

"And you won't get another chance to win this. Armed Dragon Level 5, attack him directly and win the duel!"

Flynn: 400

Fiend: 0

The fiend exploded. Flynn fell to one knee. "Agh… stupid shadow game. Must've taken more out of me than I thought."

"Oh well." Brooklyn said, walking over. There was a large amount of blood all over him, but he was smiling. "There's no other fiends left here. Heh heh…"

"You enjoyed that?" Drake asked.

"Yeah. It's fun for me! I get to see the stupid fiends blow up! What's not fun about that?"

"You're covered in blood."

"That's the best part!"

"You're very strange."

"And proud of it!"

Flynn picked the key up off the ground. "Come on, let's open that cell." He stuck the key into the hole, turned it, and threw open the door. It was dark inside. They all stepped inside. Out of the shadows stepped… Keith!

"Keith! What happened to you?" Drake said. Keith didn't respond. Drake noticed that his eyes looked empty. He activated his duel disk and pointed at Julie's still-unconscious body that was draped over Drake's shoulder. "Huh?"

"Duel…" A raspy voice said. It was coming from Keith. "Her… you lose… and your souls."

"Huh?" Drake said.

"I think he just said that he challenged Julie to a duel, but she lost because she can't duel, and that he gets our souls." Flynn suggested. Whatever was possessing Keith nodded its head. "Great. Not this again."

"Don't worry." Brooklyn said. Keith made a dramatic gesture, and begin whatever was necessary to take a person's soul, then pointed in Drake's direction. Brooklyn stepped in the way. He pulled what looked like a solid gold turtle shell on a cord out from under his shirt. "Right of protection. You have to duel me."

An expression of disgust crossed Keith's face, but he activated his duel disk anyway. "Duel…"

"Yes, let's duel!"