Reviews and critiques are welcome as to my writing skill. Pot shots at Christianity or any religion are not welcome at all. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrights, trademarks or registry in Yu-Gi-Oh. Wish I did!
2
In the bright sunshine and warm breeze, Mokuba sat up against a tree half listening to Mr. Ericson, the instructor, who was telling about the various memorial markers sprinkled around the park. The current one was about a missionary who set up a local church and helped hundreds of people in various ways. This is a waste of time! Who cares – they're dead. He thought. He looked around the park while the instructor droned on. There were parents with their children, young couples walking hand in hand and a pair of, by their resemblance to each other, brothers, playing hooky from school. The older brother was trying his best to teach the younger the fine art of skateboarding. The older, a natural born boarder; the younger, a disaster waiting to happen. Mokuba smiled wistfully as he thought of his own brother, of how different they were too.
Mokuba missed his brother. Seto was always working or trying new dueling strategies. He never had time to just talk. He knew his brother loved him, would do anything for him; but seemed unable to bridge the emotional gap that had grown since the day of their adoption. Would it have been better just to have lived out the rest of our lives in that orphanage? he thought bitterly.
The instructor was finished with his lesson and for the next hour they were free to roam the park before it was time to head back. The children scattered. Mokuba stood up and started to head toward the little tables that could be use for checkers, chess, etc. when Mr. Ericson stopped him.
"You have a problem listening to me, do you?" he asked.
"Oh, I heard you. I could probably quote you verbatim if you wish."
"I didn't say 'hearing'. I said 'listening'." he emphasized. "Do you understand the difference? Can't you appreciate what these people did for the City of Domino?"
"It's a waste of time. Whatever it is they did, the effects are sure to be gone by now. The people they helped are dead. Their causes have been replaced by newer, more modern thinking. The only reason anybody knows of them are these silly little memorials." Mokuba spat these words at the instructor.
"Why are you so angry, Mokuba?"
"I'm not angry!" He took a breath, held it, and slowly let it out, "Can I go now?"
Mr. Ericson nodded and went back to the missionary's memorial. He reread the inscription and whispered, "Great-grandfather, at least I am proud of your accomplishments."
--
Mokuba watched the final moves of a chess game, wherein "little brother" soundly whipped his "boarder brother," and cheered silently for him. He looked around to see what else was going on at the tables and saw a small, sickly boy, maybe 10 years old, playing a card game with a girl about 19. His eyes lit up when he recognized the cards -- they were about to start a game of Duel Monsters.
The girl, her short, wavy red hair moving slightly in the breeze, cracked the knuckles of her slim fingers and said, "David, you will not survive this one, hee hee hee."
David, rolling his eyes, responded, "Kirii, you really need some new lines – you always say that."
Lowering her eyes into a playful glare, she said, "Shut up and duel."
David drew and laid a card face down in defense mode and another card face down. Then in a singsong voice said, "I end my turn."
Kirii drew and stared thoughtfully at her cards which she held in her left hand. Mokuba noticed she wore a bracelet, actually a leather thong with five different colored beads on it: gold, black, red, white and green. She then played a 7 Color Fish in attack mode.
David yelled, "Trap Hole!"
Kirii grumbled as she put her 7 Color Fish in her graveyard. "I'll lay this face down and end my turn."
David drew a card and laid down Gray Wing in attack mode and discarded a card from his hand. "Do you know what this is going to do to you?" He laughed at the look Kirii gave him.
"Why no, David, I have never seen that card before." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Will you just attack me twice and finish your turn?"
Gray Wing attacked and took Kirii's life points down to 5400.
"I will lay this card face down and end my turn."
"Now you are going to pay for that double attack! I cast Premature Burial and will then sacrifice my 7 Color Fish to bring out the Great Maju Garzett for 3600 attack points." Kirii smiled. "But that is not all; I activate my Ultimate Offering and bring out my Gemini Elf. And, while I am at it, I will hit you with Ookazi for 800 of your life points!"
"Oooo, that hurt." David said in a voice that showed clearly it didn't.
"Now I will attack your face down card with my Gemini Elf."
"Flip: Man Eater Bug!" The Man Eater Bug and Gemini Elf both went to the graveyard.
Kirii winced, "Fine, but that leaves you wide open for my Great Maju Garzett. Take that for 3600 life points!"
"No, I don't think so." He said with a smile. "Fissure!" There went her Great Maju Garzett.
Kirii looked at her hand, then at the field. "Hmmm, I guess I end my turn."
David drew, then laid a card face down in defense. He discarded a second card into the graveyard. "Here Gray Wing comes again!"
"I have had just about enough of Gray Wing." She said as she drew her next card. "Time Wizard in attack mode and I will activate his effect." She flipped a coin and called "Tails". The coin landed on the field – it was tails. "Ha ha, take that Gray Wing!"
David put both his monsters in the graveyard. "Oh, by the way," said Kirii, "here is another Ookazi just for good measure and Time Wizard will attack for 500 life points! The score stands 6100/2000, but I shall make a comeback. It's your move."
"You're doomed and you know it." He looked at the new card and smirked. "Perfect. I summon the Koumori Dragon in attack mode and attack your Time Wizard. Then I will finish you off with Tremendous Fire."
"Well, so what else is new?" Kirii smiled.
"You really stink at this game, but I really appreciate you dueling me." He said with a sad smile.
"It is my pleasure to lose to you. Hopefully, you will have the pleasure to lose to me before you die."
"Ha! I doubt there is enough time for you to get that good."
"Oh, hardy har har! By the way, here comes your nurse. Why can't she ever get here before you beat me? See you next week, David?"
"We will see, won't we?" A knowing look passed between them.
David's nurse took the brake off his wheelchair and rolled him away. Mokuba noticed David also had a leather thong around his wrist with the same colored beads. Hmmm, maybe they're like friendship bracelets or something.
He looked back at the girl. She was watching him. "Did you enjoy our duel?" she said smiling.
"Interesting seeing two novices duel. My brother is a duelist champion, so I don't see many duels like that."
"I see. I only started dueling because David wanted someone to duel with. As you can see, I'm not very good." She tilted her head. "What's your name?"
"Mokuba." He hesitated, "What's wrong with him?"
"He's dying." She said matter-of-factly. "By the look and sound of him today, I doubt I will get to duel him next week. I will miss him." She rubbed the gold bead on her bracelet absentmindedly.
"Can I ask you a question?" She nodded. "What's with the bracelets? I noticed both you and David have them."
"They are very special to us – and some of the other children in the ward. It will take a few minutes to explain and, once I start, I would like for you to let me get all the way through. Do you have those few minutes?" She looked at him curiously.
"Sure, I have about half an hour. Is that enough time?"
"Plenty. Let's go sit under that tree over there."
They walked a short way to a large shady tree and sat next to each other. She pointed to the gold bead.
"The gold bead represents heaven, which God made for His people to live in. The streets are made of gold, not because gold is precious but because of how unimportant gold is in heaven.
"But," and she pointed to the black bead, "there is one thing that cannot enter Heaven. That is sin. Sin is the things we say, think and do that are against what God has told us. This is what the black bead signifies."
She moved to the red bead. "This is the blood of Jesus, God's son. The one human who never sinned. He paid the penalty for our sin by dying on a cross and then 3 days later rose victorious over death.
The white bead was next. "The acknowledgement that you are a sinner, combined with acceptance of Jesus' blood sacrifice, and asking him to forgive you and become Savior of your life cancels the sin in your life and washes you clean. You become a new creation, a clean slate. You can now enter Heaven when you die because He has adopted you into His family."
"Once you have accepted Jesus and become this 'new creation', it is time to learn what it is that God expects of you." She laid her finger on the green bead. "The green signifies growth. You grow by praying, reading and studying the Bible, telling others what God has done for you, and by gathering together with others who also believe.
"That is what this bracelet signifies."
Mokuba sat there in stunned silence, then he said, "Wow. All that from just a little five-beaded bracelet?"
Kirii smiled at him. "Here." she said as she took her bracelet off and handed it to him. She also gave him what looked like a business card with writing on both sides. "Here is my name and phone number if you have any questions. On the other side, are God's Ten Commandments. Think about whether or not you have broken any of them. That will let you know if you should accept Jesus' sacrifice or not."
They stood up and Mokuba put the card and bracelet in his pocket. The other children were starting to gather back around Mr. Ericson. "I better go."
"If you need anything – at all – please call me. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mokuba."
Deep in thought, he gave her a short wave and went home.