Chapter Six
The Deadman's Hand
Sara Masako, Deirdre's mother, sat with her hands in her lap as she watched the Kaiba Corp. television station earnestly. Her son had just accepted a duel and they were both just beginning to draw their starting hands.
Just then the front door flew open and her husband bolted in, headed straight for their bedroom. She silently scolded him for leaving the front door wide open. As he came back a minute later mumbling something about being in a dreadful hurry, Sara interrupted his mad dash and waved him over. His current tardiness forgotten, he complied.
"Honey, Deirdre is starting a duel. Oh, you don't think him losing that last one will affect him, do you?"
Her husband looked down at her blankly. "He lost?"
*~*~*~*~*
"Let's get this party started, shall we?" Bones cackled and laid down a monster card. "I summon the Headless Knight in attack mode!" On the field before him, a disembodied suit of armor appeared, wielding a long silver blade.
Deirdre glimpsed his hand and already began to doubt his skills. This hand was horrible. The only monster card he had that didn't require a tribute was one of his three Darkfire Soldier #1's. While it was plenty strong enough to defeat Bones' knight, it would leave him wide open for a counter attack. And he had no magic or trap cards with which to prevent that.
Deirdre calmed himself with a deep breath and looked over his shoulder. Skylar was still there, looking at him with those hazel eyes of hers. She didn't have to say a thing for him to know she was encouraging him. "All right," he said, pulling the Darkfire Soldier from his hand. "I play the Darkfire Soldier #1 in attack mode. Now, go and destroy the Headless Knight!"
Bones looked honestly surprised, like such a basic strike was something he didn't believe his opponent capable of. He groaned irritably when Deirdre's warrior severed his own monster away from the lower half of his body.
Deirdre nodded approvingly at the scene. He also grinned lightly as Bones' life points dropped from the original 4000 down to an unfortunate 3750. "Well, this duel might not be quite so simple after all. Don't you agree?"
Bones shook his head then drew a card. "Your boasting is ill advised, Deirdre. Believe it or not, I planned that, and it worked just how I knew it would." He grinned and placed another monster down in defense mode. "Now I'll continue on with my strategy. I play the Whiptailed Crow in defense mode!" Before him appeared a black-feathered bird which squawked angrily and covered its face with its wings. "Now, please, destroy him."
'Now that is a bit suspicious, but he obviously wouldn't have played a monster that weak when he knows I can easily destroy it and not have something planned. He's luring me into something so I'll just have to wait it out.'
Deirdre drew another card and placed it into his hand. He could now perform a sacrifice and bring out his much stronger Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, but if he played another non-tribute monster, like the one he just drew, he would be able to take out Bones' defense and attack his life points directly. Yes, that was the correct method this turn.
'If I don't attack then I might be falling for a big double tribute monster. Even if that isn't what he is planning I can't risk it.'
"All right, I play the Darkfire Soldier #2 in attack mode!" Alongside his other burning warrior appeared a second, holding one large flaming blade instead of two. "Now, both of you attack! Destroy the Whiptail Crow and attack his life points!"
One of the Darkfire Soldier's rushed straight at the crow, slicing it dead and burning its black feathers to gray ash with his sword. The other charged past his companion, slashing at Bones' and dropping his life points down to 2050. However, the intimidation factor Deirdre planned didn't seem to be working. After the incredibly real holographic attack was over, Bones smiled.
"Your attempts are pathetic, Deirdre, however, I do commend you. Your a better duelist than I thought." He drew another card, laughed wickedly and placed it face-down on the field. "However, the end result will be the same. Your lead right now is only that because I allowed it! You cannot possibly defeat me and my zombie army!"
The crowd surrounding the two cheered along with Bones' large boast. Apparently he was the favorite between the two. But Deirdre didn't need outsider encouragement to win this fight. He just needed Skylar, and she was still clapping and rooting for him amidst the one-sided applause for his opponent.
"Now, again I play a monster in defense mode. The Thirteenth Grave!" A ragged, rotting skeleton appeared leaning on a massive rusted sword. The hideous creature laughed--a truly haunting sound--and hid further behind its sword.
Deirdre scowled and drew again. Now would be a good time to sacrifice so he pulled the Twin-Headed Fire Dragon card from his hand and placed it on the field. "I'm tired of trying to guess your big strategy, Bones, but I figure that isn't going to be enough anymore. I sacrifice the Darkfire Soldier #2 and summon my Twin-Headed Fire Dragon to the field in attack mode!"
His previous warrior vanished in a geyser of white pixels and in its placed appeared the giant floating, double-headed monster. Each of its head's independently looked around then focused on Bones' zombie monster simultaneously and released a roar so fearsome it legitimately frightened half the crowd.
Bones nodded, still completely un-intimidated and relying entirely on his mystery strategy. "Make your move, Deirdre. Attack with your monsters and see what happens."
Now he began to assume this big strategy orbited around that face-down card. It could be something as powerful and incredibly rare as the Mirror Force card, but it was unlikely Bones had such a card in his deck. Deirdre showed his enjoyment of the lead he had and looked toward his two monsters. "Darkfire Soldier, attack and destroy the Thirteenth Grave."
His monster complied, slicing the defending monster right across the front of its sword, destroying both the flimsy weapon and its operator. But of course, being in defense mode, Bones took no life point damage.
"Now, dragon! Finish off his life points!"
Bones shook his finger, mocking Deirdre like he had made an amateur mistake. Perhaps he had. "Ah, ah ah. Not quite. Activate face-down card! Shadow Spell!"
The holographic image of Bones' face-down card flipped up and revealed the ball of twisted black chains. The image then separated itself from its flat, two-dimensional card and assaulted Deirdre's dragon with dozens of separate chains. Each one immobilizing a different part of the dragon's body and stopping its attack.
Deirdre gasped at the scene before him, but his expression of surprise became one of anger when Bones' started his hysteric laughter. "Didn't see that one coming, did you? Well, your going to pay for it, Deirdre." He drew a card but paid it no heed to it as he pulled a different one from his hand and held it up. "This was my strategy." He set it down on the field and before Deirdre appeared a human-shaped, grotesque beast with an emotionless face.
"I summon my ultimate undead creature by removing the three Fiend-type monsters you sent to my Graveyard from play! Dark Necrofear in attack mode!" Bones' new monster stepped forward and hissed, like a snake only it sounded more like releasing steam. "Not that I couldn't have destroyed your monster before without the need of Shadow Spell, but now it is weakened by seven hundred points so Dark Necrofear can easily obliterate it! Now my monster! Destroy the Twin-Headed Fire Dragon!"
Dark Necrofear cupped its hands and formed a pitch-black sphere of energy, which dripped goo like it was crude oil. Then like a professional baseball player, the monster pulled back its hand and threw the attack toward its foe, which collided and instantly shrouded Deirdre's dragon in an aura of perpetual darkness. After a second of agonized howling, his dragon disintegrated.
Deirdre cursed his luck as he watched his life points plummeted from full to 3300. He was still winning, but against this new monster, he wasn't sure how long that would last.
Meanwhile...
Serenity Wheeler sat quietly in her bed at the hospital staring out the window overlooking Domino City, currently also the Battle City Tournament. Though she couldn't see anything, she believed that her brother was currently dueling and wished him the best.
'It gets awfully lonely in here,' she thought, wishing that someone, anyone, would pay her a visit. At this point it could have been her most hated enemy and she still would have enjoyed the company. Her sharp ears then picked up the doorknob turning and she turned her head in the direction of the door.
"Serenity?" Came a female voice. Serenity immediately recognized it as that of her nurse. "It's time to check your temperature."
"All right," she said quietly and turned away, blankly centered the wall not far ahead of her. She was completely silent while the nurse fumbled inside of a bag, withdrew a thermometer and gently tapped Serenity's chin. She opened her mouth and allowed the nurse to place the thermometer under her tongue.
A few minutes past, the nurse had temporarily left to check on another patient but promptly returned and placed her cool palm against her patient's forehead. She nodded, satisfied that the surgery hadn't made Serenity's body more susceptible to illness, and then checked the thermometer. Her temperature was perfectly normal.
"Okay, Serenity. You've made amazing progress. I never knew you were such a fighter but all your tests and precautions have come back fine. It will still be at least a week before we can remove the bandages from your eyes but I don't see why you have to be confined to your room anymore." She smiled, though she knew that Serenity couldn't see it. But it seemed that her patient was just as happy as she was.
"Oh, that is soooo great to here! I want to go down to the tournament and watch...I mean, be with my brother for his duels."
The nurse's look of joy weakened a bit. "I really don't think that is such a good idea. Especially by yourself. You could be hurt or taken advantage of in your condition."
Serenity frowned then furled her lip. She had an idea and turned back to the nurse looking just as happy as she did before. "What if I got someone to come along with me?"
The nurse nodded and shrugged. "I suppose that would be okay, but I still don't want you out at all hours of the night. You'll come back here everyday before five 'o clock and you must promise me that you won't take off your bandages. If anything gets into your eyes it could ruin the fragile healing process and you would never have a chance of seeing again."
Serenity nodded understandably.
"All right then. Who do you want me to reach as your chaperone?"
Serenity already had who she wanted to accompany her in mind. "Most definitely my brother, Joey."
The nurse smiled and patted her shoulder tenderly. "No problem. I'll use the number he gave me in case of emergencies to contact him."
Serenity was so happy to not only be leaving her claustrophobic room but to also be with her beloved brother that she nearly fell out of her bed in jubilation. "Oh, please do hurry! I can't wait!" When the nurse left as quickly as her patient prodded, Serenity pulled back the blankets and kicked her bunny-slippered feet over the side of her bed. She experimentally stepped down, gathering her bearings before remembering the complications of how to walk, then had to stop and wonder about something.
"I wonder if I could convince Joey to let me duel once?"
*~*~*~*~*
"I can see your losing hope, duelist." Taunted Bones, grinning from ear to ear. "And understandably so. You don't stand a chance against my all-powerful Dark Necrofear! He is completely unstoppable, and he'll become even more so when I add a small something to his arsenal. But until then, it is your turn. Use it wisely now!"
Deirdre scoffed fearlessly at his opponent's threats and drew a card. Surprisingly, it was something that could turn this bleak situation around for the better. But the strategy forming in his mind required something more, so until then, if then, he could only defend. "All right, I switch my Darkfire Soldier #1 into defense mode, and play this, the Lady Assailant of Flames in defense mode." Appearing before him was a beautiful woman with long crimson hair and an aura of fire surrounding her body. She kneeled down and raised up her arms, protecting her face and signifying that she was played in the defensive.
Deirdre swallowed and prepared for the attack with a deep breath. "All right, I end my turn."
Skylar cupped her hands like she was praying and bowed her head. "C'mon, Deirdre. Please tell me you have something planned."
"Well! That is all you can do, isn't it?" Bones laughed again and drew a card, then smiled nefariously at the results. "Perfect. This will give me even more monsters with which to defend me. I lay this card face-down and play another. The magic card Dead Down!"
Deirdre curiously raised his eyebrow, unaware of that card.
"Must I explain it? Very well. Dead Down allows me to take a monster card from my hand and instantly send it to the Graveyard pile." Bones cackled and drew a card from his hand, then ejected it into his Duel Disk's removal slot.
"What good will that do you?" Deirdre questioned. Everyone else watching the duel seemed to question the intelligence of such a move as well.
"It does me a lot of good, fool. Just think about the possibilities in a zombie-based deck!" Bones spread out his hands, beckoning for his face-down card to be revealed. "I activate my hidden card, Premature Burial!" The image of the card appeared on the field and a ghastly rotting hand appeared, shot forward and buried itself into the ground.
Deirdre watched more out of interest than fear of what could be happening. He knew what this card did and was beginning to see the logic behind playing Dead Down.
The hand began to raise back out of the ground, and in its clutches was another monster. Bones' first destroyed zombie monster, the Headless Knight.
"My Premature Burial returns my Headless Knight card to the field! And because I put another monster in its place before with Dead Down, my powerful Dark Necrofear is still in play and ready to steam roll your life points! All I have to do is get through your defenses first and I doubt that will be much of a problem."
His Headless Knight joined the fight again, positioning itself in attack mode. "Dark Necrofear! Attack the Darkfire Soldier!"
His monster growled and hurled another ball of pitch-black energy, which struck Deirdre's monster with a loud, crackling explosion and spray of expended data. The holographic monster was reduced to dust and its attacker returned to its place.
"Headless Knight! Decapitate his other monster!"
The Headless Knight charged forward, brandishing his russet steel sword and chopped the head clean off of Deirdre's Lady Assailant of Flames. She gave a single piercing shriek before permanently departing the field minus her most important extremity.
Deirdre balled his fists and shook his head, preparing to embrace defeat. Bones' laughter echoed over the cheers and jeers of the crowd, and he tried his damnedest to ignore it all. But the feeling of impending failure flooded over him again and he couldn't help but think that this was the end. He raised his hand and prepared to cover his deck and concede defeat.
"DEIRDRE!!!"
That scream rose above all the other spectators. He flipped his head around and saw Skylar still standing there, and this time she wasn't looking very pleased. Apparently she saw what he was going to do and wasn't about to let him give up. "How can you just roll over and surrender? You can still win this! This is nothing! You can beat Bones, you just have to think! You must have a way!"
'I do have a way,' he thought sourly, 'but it won't work anymore. That Dead Down card ruined the whole th...hey, wait a minute.' Deirdre looked over his hand and saw one of two cards that could fix this. He grinned and looked back up at Bones with a new feeling of determination. His old strategy forgotten, he focused on the new one.
'All right, Yugi Motou. If that Heart of the Card's crap has any bearing then now is the time that it proved itself.'
"Okay, Bones. You haven't won this yet so stop your rambling." He drew a card from his deck and smiled.
It was the one.
The final card to complete the approach that would win him this game. Bones' own preference would be his downfall. "All right, watch this! I play my own monster to the field! I remove one Pyro-type monster from my Graveyard and set the Spirit of Flames in attack mode! For every turn that passes it'll get three hundred more attack points!"
Bones shrugged, brushing it off as a poor excuse of going down in a proverbial blaze of glory. "It won't be enough! You would need at least three turns to pass before that pathetic spirit could have even the bare minimum of attack points needed to destroy my Dark Necrofear, but it won't even last this one! You've lost! Just admit it!"
"But I haven't lost," Deirdre chided and set down another card. "I play the Temporary Reprieve card, which takes any one of your monsters of my choice and returns it to the top of your deck. I, of course, decide on your Dark Necrofear."
Bones watched in mock amusement as his strongest monster vanished. He nodded and took the card from his dueling plate and set it back on top of his deck. "So what? I still have the three Fiend-type monsters needed in my Graveyard to summon him back! Next turn, you'll have the same problems facing you down all over again! That card did just what it said, gave you but a temporary reprieve."
"Oh, shut up for a minute, will ya?" Deirdre berated, startling Bones but getting quite an amused smile out of Skylar. "I also play this card, Prestidigitation! If I correctly guess the top card of your deck I get to summon it to my side of the field and control it!"
Bones gasped and began to violently shake his head. "N-no! Impossible! You can't possibly have such a combination! You can't possibly have outsmarted me!"
"I didn't," Deirdre snickered and placed the magic card down on the field. "Your over-confidence is what defeated you. So anyway, the top card in your deck is Dark Necrofear!"
Bones sulked pitifully and drew the card, then set it onto his dueling plate like he was about to summon it himself, but the image appeared on Deirdre's side of the field, and Dark Necrofear, the correctly guessed monster, appeared as one of his combatants.
"I don't believe it!" Bones breathed. "This can't be happening to me!"
"Oh, but it is! Now, Spirit of Flames attack! Burning Soul Blast!"
The blazing apparition howled insidiously, spreading a hot wind throughout the area then focusing it on the Headless Knight, immediately reducing it to sparkling cinders. The attack caused life point damage in the amount of 250.
"And Dark Necrofear! Attack and finish off Bones' life points!"
Just has he had done with so many weaker monsters before, the zombie fiend crushed the remainder of his previous masters life points with a strike of pure black energy. Bones screamed with frustration, anger, and even betrayal as his life points dropped from 1800 to zero.
The crowd very quickly changed their allegiance over to Deirdre, and cheered wildly as he stepped forward and towered over his fallen opponent. Skylar clapped her hands at Mach speeds and ran forward, leaping onto Deirdre's back and showering his glistening black hair with kisses.
"Skylar! C'mon, you're making a scene!"
"But you won! YOU WON!!!" She pointed down at her dueling teacher with a massive grin on her face. "Hey, everyone! He freakin' won!"
"Hey now, you make it sound like I never had a chance."
Bones sighed miserably and collected his cards, then activated the magnetized return for his holo-imagers. After a moment of complete silence, he returned to his feet and held out his locator card and his rarest Duel Monsters card, Dark Necrofear. 'And this time I didn't even have Keith riding me.'
"All right, you defeated me fair and square. Take them."
Deirdre snatched the two cards from his opponent's hand and pocketed them. He was about to turn and walk away without a word, leaving Bones to sit and lament over his loss, but Skylar gestured back with her head. After it didn't seem like he was getting it, she leaned in and whispered into Deirdre's ear: "C'mon, shake his hand. Don't be a poor sport."
Deirdre grumbled and held out his hand hesitantly. "It was a good duel. You have no reason to feel badly about it. If that is how you fight in all duels then I am sure that you will go far in this tournament." After a moment of just staring, Bones accepted his hand. "How many locator cards do you have left?"
Bones sighed and shook his head. "None now. I only had one."
Now that pissed him off. Bones had acted so smugly, like he was just breezing through this tournament, bowling over any and all challenges. But he was in the same boat that Deirdre was the entire time and honestly never had the advantage. "Well, then I guess you won't be going any further in this tournament."
"Deirdre!"
He looked over at Skylar and shrugged. "What?"
"No, you have every right to be angry." Bones offered and turned around. "I deceived you and paid for it with defeat. But, don't savor this victory long, Deirdre! I will be back one day for my Dark Necrofear, and when I do you will lose. Guaranteed." He grinned and gave Deirdre a thumbs-up.
Deirdre nodded and returned the gesture.
The crowd dispersing, Bones walked away, sliding off his Duel Disk as he did so. Deirdre and Skylar watched him leave but didn't do the same or even move for a few seconds after he was out of sight.
"Well," Skylar started, offering her companion a warm smile. "Whataya say we go get a few hot-dogs and then go look for your next challenge?"
Deirdre nodded then flipped around and walked along with her toward the food court. "Yeah, I still have to find Griff Terrace. He isn't going to cheat me out of a duel. I want that Toon World."
Skylar rolled her eyes. "Is that really so important? I mean, you just got a really powerful card. Aren't you satisfied yet?"
Deirdre shook his head like that question was completely ridiculous, then reached into his pocket and took out his new monster. "This monster is strong but I don't have any Fiend-type monsters in my deck, and three are required to bring it to the field. What am I going to do with it?"
Skylar scratched her chin for a moment then crossed one arm over her chest and leaned her head on the other, seemingly lost in deep thought. "Well, if I remember correctly from what you taught me last night, you have a couple of cards in your deck that could still bring it out for you."
He let that settle for a moment then nodded agreeably. "Your right, I do. Hey, your getting pretty good at this. Shame you had to leave the tournament so early."
Skylar blushed and offered an embarrassed smile. "Aww...shucks."
