Shadows of the Small
Chapter 3 – Dragon's Rage
"He felt like his whole life was some sort of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it." – Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." – Albert Einstein
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Cari
Shadows constricted around me. The duel disk lay at my feet; I had yet to don it. My presumed opponent stood across from me with his head cocked at an irritating angle. We stood in silence for several moments until he broke it.
"Why don't you put the duel disk on?"
There was no avoiding it now. No retort could keep up my silent protest without turning it into a mockery. I slid the duel disk onto my arm, chaffing at the collar it represented as well as the chill plastic. I had noticed a drastic change in temperature. Ever sensitive to the cold I regretted my sleeveless top.
"Since you're so loath to duel I'll start us off." My opponent again sought to mock me.
"Fine by me, let me see if you can duel."
Cari: 8000
Boy: 8000
He snorted softly. "I will set a monster face down along with an additional card. Do what you can, it is your turn."
She considered her hand carefully. "I will set a monster face down. I'll set two cards behind it. It is your move." She felt that the taunt was recognized though unspoken.
He didn't need to think about his move. "I flip summon my White Ninja (1500/800). Its ability destroys one defense position monster on the field. Now, your monster is gone." In a flash of smoke the White Ninja appeared on top of her face down card. Swiftly it stabbed down with its knife and Troop Dragon was destroyed. As soon as I blinked it had appeared on the other side of the field with no sign of transit.
It was at this point that I remembered that the duel disks were fakes. If they were fakes, then they couldn't project holograms. If they couldn't project holograms then these weren't holograms. And if they weren't holograms they must be the real thing.
Monsters aren't real. I reminded myself.
Well then, what are these? I had to admit, I presented a strong argument.
Not entirely sure, I require more data.
Well you're about to get it; angry ninja at twelve o'clock.
Indeed. And that ninja was about to get a lot angrier. Things usually do when they attack. Instead of going straight for the throat, it looked like my opponent had slightly different plans.
"I activate Ninjitsu Art of Transformation. This continuous trap allows me to transform a Ninja on my side of the field into a stronger monster; though it must be a Beast, Winged-Beast, or Insect and have no more than three more stars than the sacrificed ninja. White Ninja has four stars giving me a wide range of options. I will sacrifice White Ninja for Big Koala (2700/2000)."
The koala looked friendlier at least. Unfortunately it was easily fifty times my size and being friendly wouldn't stop if from accidentally stepping on me. And ninja-boy wasn't done.
"Next I will summon Lady Ninja Yae (1100/200) and discard a wind monster; The All-Seeing White Tiger (1300/500), to send one of your set cards back to your hand. I will select the one on the left." He pointed and my set copy of Dragon's Rage was returned to my hand. In the meantime I examined his new ninja. She looked like what I imagined Mel might look like in a few years if she let her hair grow long. I made a note to tell her that someone besides Weevil and a game show hostess shared her hair color. Boy would she be glad to hear that. She had an intense loathing for Weevil and didn't like the game show hostess much better.
Again she was glad that it didn't take long to think. Her opponent was smiling; never a good sign. "Now I will attack your life points directly with Lady Ninja Yae."
Cari: 6900
Boy: 8000
Another way the ninja differed from Mel. The ninja hit a lot harder. Her knife left a bleeding cut on my upper arm. Any doubt of the reality of the monsters went out the window.
Then I had one of what Tim calls my 'sudden realizations of the obvious.' If his attacks injured me, then mine would injure him. I grinned savagely.
He will pay.
He raised an eyebrow. Evidently it hadn't occurred to him that a trap didn't need to be sprung on the first monster to attack. His confidence was complete.
"Big Koala attacks."
Cari: 4200
Boy: 8000
The colossal marsupial trod on me. It looked like an accident but I knew better now than to think a seemingly innocent creature didn't want to hurt me. I need to get a t-shirt: Beware the Savage Koalas. I didn't think anything was broken even though my head was pounding: everything moved. The bottom of a giant Koala's foot is softer than one might think, but that didn't make the experience pleasant.
One thing lessened the pain. I realized that this duelist couldn't be all that experienced. If he had been, he would have waited to activate Ninjitsu Art of Transformation until he had attacked with White Ninja.
This won't be hard.
My opponent ended his turn and I leapt on it like it was a once in a life time opportunity. "I draw. Now I will activate my set card; Jar of Greed. This will allow me to draw yet another card. Now I will summon Divine Dragon – Ragnarok (1500/1000). Then I will play Stamping Destruction, destroying your Ninjitsu Art of Transformation and dealing 500 points of damage."
Cari: 4200
Boy: 7500
To my surprise rather than returning White Ninja to the field, it just destroyed Big Koala, an unexpected bonus. "I'll follow that up by attacking Lady Ninja Yae."
Cari: 4200
Boy: 7100
"Set card and end turn."
This guy practically had the words 'I have an evil plan' scrawled across his face as he made his move. I heard a faint scream of pain from somewhere, accenting the move. It was one of the girls; Tim can't scream that high. "I set a monster face down and set a card. End turn."
Real impressive; luckily I had just the thing to put a stop to his nefarious scheming. "I summon Mirage Dragon (1600/600). Now, to ensure I get something done this turn I will activate the trap card Dragon's Rage so that I may deal damage despite your defense position monsters. Now, Mirage Dragon will attack your set monster."
A red ninja appeared under Mirage Dragon's assault. My opponent was rather too keen to point out its ability. "Crimson Ninja (300/300) has a flip effect; it may destroy one trap card on the field. Dragon's Rage is no more."
Cari: 4200
Boy: 5800
"Only a little too late to prevent damage to yourself, but I don't mind." I said sweetly. "Divine Dragon Ragnarok attack directly."
Cari: 4200
Boy: 4300
"Now I end my turn."
He examined my field, not that there was much to see. "I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke (1800/1000). He will attack Mirage Dragon."
The ninja grandmaster leapt across the field twisting through the air in a fashion that suggested that he had no bones and that if he did have them they were most probably made of rubber. None of this detracted from the strength of his blows as he sunk his knives into my dragon.
Cari: 4000
Boy: 4300
"Give up, you cannot stop me." I blinked and looked at the field. Despite the impossible realism I failed to see anything to encourage his insane confidence.
There was no way in hell he was going to taunt me without a retort. "I'll give up when I'm six feet under your feet."
"I know several people who would be able to do that. Unfortunately I'm not that far along in my studies."
Now I was just plain curious. "Studies?"
"Never mind that." He had made a mistake. I could see that. I just didn't know what it was or how I could use it to my advantage. The difference between people and computers is that with computers all you have to do is tell them what to do, and give them the tools to do it. People take some hitting around.
"I'll mind what I like. Right now I'm going to summon Lord of D. That's Lord of Dragon (1100/1200) to you. Now I play Dragon's Mirror to fuse him with Divine Dragon – Ragnarok to create King Dragun (2400/1100)." The claw footed mirror appeared, shadows spinning within it. Within moments King Dragun had dragged itself through the frame and destroyed the mirror with a lash of its tail.
And I wasn't done. "Now I will use King Dragun's special ability to summon a dragon from my hand; Masked Dragon (1400/1100). King Dragun, attack Sasuke."
My opponent developed an annoying malevolent squint in his eye. His teeth were the only things glinting in the rather limited light, astounding that they managed to show at all really. "I activate my trap."
I cut him off; I would not be cut down. "King Dragun negates all your effects that target my dragons." Not technically correct as it in fact protects all dragons, but far as I was concerned at the moment, all dragons were mine so there was no problem.
"I'm not targeting your creatures but mine. Activate Ninjitsu Art of Decoy!"
I didn't see what this was going to do. The flames of my dragon's attack had already overwhelmed the ninja. But when the flames stopped all that was there was a mound of ash; and one rubber boned ninja standing off to the side.
Cari: 4000
Boy: 3700
"My ninja can't be destroyed as a result of battle anymore. Incase you were wondering." He was being cocky again, flipping through the two cards in his hand."
"I wasn't but thanks for your concern." I said sarcastically. Masked Dragon wasn't strong enough to do anything. "I'll set a card and end my turn."
Critically the boy examined his hand. At the same time Cari examined the field. To her the field was everything; right now it told her that he couldn't do much damage to her. Unless he had some monster strong enough to defeat King Dragun, she was safe. He could only do what little damage could be squeezed past Masked Dragon.
It didn't look like that was going to stop him from trying though. "I'll play Fuhma Shuriken. This equip spell increases the attack of a Ninja by 700 points and will deal the same in direct damage when it goes to the graveyard and I attach it to Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke (2500/1000)."
I had one chance here. If I could trick him… "As if I couldn't guess that; and I bet I can guess your next move too. You're going to attack King Dragun."
"You bet I am, and you can't stop me. I summon Lady Ninja Yae (1100/200) and use her ability to send your set card back to your hand by discarding Roc from the Valley of Haze from my hand. His own effect returns him to my deck when sent from my hand to the graveyard."
The lady ninja threw a knife at my set card, landing directly under it. I flipped it up. "I'll activate my second Jar of Greed, allowing me to draw one card."
I looked at the card I had drawn. It wouldn't be of much use. Not in this situation. Then I reconsidered. This card might just save me. It wasn't the way I'd usually play it, but it would work. To tell the truth, it would feel like using a word processor to write a program, but if it would win me the duel I wasn't going to complain.
In the mean time I had an attack to survive. It wouldn't be too hard.
The boy that was my opponent over estimated his influence, his power. He made the mistake of thinking that if he destroyed my King Dragun he would win. As far as he knew it was my most powerful monster. If he had been dueling just about any other girl he would have been right.
But my friends and I were different. It wasn't just because of our looks. It was because whatever we did, we did with a will. When I heard about what has historically been called 'the silent majority' I was angry. How could so many people stay silent as if they had no opinions at all? Mary vehemently opposed this. She said that if everyone went about with an argument and their own way of doing things nothing would ever get done. The important thing was that she was vehement about it. Though she defended it, she wasn't a part of the silent majority.
Anna had stepped in with a dissenting opinion saying that only those with opinions worth listening to should speak out. She's like that; give her an ideal, any ideal, and she will turn it inside out. It was close to Mary's opinion except that Anna believed that everyone with an opinion that was worth considering should be heard.
"That will still be enough people to create a fairly large and many sided disagreement." Mel had said.
"More likely there will be none at all." Anna retorted.
Tim looked on. Among all of us he alone had remained silent until now. "We can hope that there will be one or two to choose from. Still, none is better than a crowd for if there are none there is nothing to be done or argued about."
This had been received by general muttering, but now that everyone had spoken Rachel had returned the focus of the class to history.
My opponent inconsiderately chose that moment to attack. "Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, demolish King Dragun!" Which the rubber boned wonder proceeded to do with great speed and efficiency. I was unmoved.
Cari: 3900
Boy: 3700
"I end my turn." I interpreted that as 'why can't my ninja have enough attack points to take down Masked Dragon?' That would be one of the many answers to why I use dragons rather than ninjas. First of all I had hardly seen the ninja cards before today and secondly because I like dragons. But even if those two hadn't been reasonable, this situation would clinch it.
"To start the turn off I will play the spell card Last Will. Now when one of my monsters is destroyed this turn I may special summon a monster with 1500 or fewer attack points. Unfortunately I may only do this once. Regardless, Masked Dragon, attack Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke."
Somewhere deep down this was setting off alarm bells in my head. This was madness, and completely unconventional. But it would work. At least I was fairly sure it would work. And that's what mattered.
Masked Dragon let loose its flame and the attack was dodged, but a knife came flying through the smoke, shattering my dragon. I took two identical monsters from my deck and placed them on the plastic surface of the duel disk. "I summon one Divine Dragon- Excelion (1500/900) by Masked Dragon's effect and another by Last Will, both in attack mode. I end my turn there." No need to make him suspicious.
Only after I had finished my turn did I realize just how stupid I had been. How could he not be suspicious when I hadn't attacked Lady Ninja Yae? I'd just have to hope he couldn't find a way to stop me. That and hope that I could actually pull it off.
My opponent sensed that something was odd. It was time for a cover-up. I opened my eyes wide and slapped myself upside the head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I have been so dumb?"
Then I looked up as if seeing my opponent for the first time and shut up. The ruse had worked. He thought that I had just made a mistake. And maybe I had; at least it was on purpose.
He laughed. "Foolish child. You never had a chance of defeating me. I'll set a card and have Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke attack one of your Divine Dragons."
Cari: 2900
Boy: 3700
"I end my turn."
My heart had begun to beat faster, my entire body screaming in apprehension and fear. Screaming 'Now! Now! Now! Do it now!' It wasn't like I had any other choice.
"To start the turn off, I play Stamping Destruction, destroying your Ninjitsu Art of Decoy; you lose 500 life points."
Cari: 2900
Boy: 3200
"Now I will tribute the Divine Dragon – Excelion on the field for the one I've been keeping in my hand." At last, a familiar play. This was how things were supposed to work. "Through its ability Divine Dragon – Excelion gets any of three abilities for each copy of it in the graveyard. Right now I have two so I will increase its attack by 1000 points (2500/900) and give it the ability to inflict direct damage equal to the attack points of the monster it destroys. And right now I'm going to attack the Lady Ninja Yae which you thoughtlessly left in attack mode."
He grinned broadly. "Not as thoughtlessly as you might think. I activate Ninjitsu Art of Transformation on Lady Ninja Yae transforming her into Roc from the Valley of Haze (2400/1400)."
Now I was the one smirking. This was clearly a favorite move of his. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm still going to attack. You might notice; my monster is stronger. Divine Dragon – Excelion, will decimate it." To tell the truth I felt a bit better about it now; I didn't like attacking a monster that reminded me of Mel so strongly.
Cari: 2900
Boy: 700
"Now I end my turn. See if you can defeat my noble dragon."
"Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, attack her Divine Dragon – Excelion!"
The monsters were of equal strength; both were destroyed. For a moment I thought that I was wrong and that he had a chance after all. Then a spray of light in the form of a dragon appeared in the middle of the field and swooped low over him; when it had disappeared there was nothing left. I couldn't have gone anywhere, I knew that. I could only assume that the light had destroyed him somehow. I wasn't anxious to find out for myself.
Cari: 2200
Boy: 0
My opponent had done something very brave and very stupid. He saw a potential opening and took it without thinking what it might mean. It was what I might have done. I tried not to think about it as the shadows lightened. They didn't disappear but they were more spread out. Also they were rather deeper on my left than to the right. I chose to walk to the right. I won't say that I was afraid of the dark, but that didn't mean I had to like being among those writhing shadows.
As I walked through the darkness I felt a wet spot growing on my shirt. A shard of the shuriken that his ninja had used was stuck there in my flesh. It hadn't gone deep and bled only lightly. I pulled it out remembering now that it must have shattered and hit me to deal the requisite 700 direct damage.
Soon I saw another figure in the half light. It looked short and broad. I couldn't remember if any of the other boys had looked like that, but I doubted the form was human so I approached with caution.
When I got close enough and saw it waving feebly I realized that it was Tim. Together we decided that the best thing to do would be to find our friends. They were somewhere in the shadows, dueling just as we had. If they hadn't already lost… that didn't bare thinking about. I pushed his wheelchair off into the shadows.
