Shadows of the Small Chapter 6

"Now listen. I ask the questions, not you. You're just here, and the Voice actually chuckled, for the ride. Fore the incredible, indescribable, Maximum Ride."

"Max – you have a bigger mission than finding the flock's parents. Focus on helping the whole world, not just your friends… You know, Voice, I thought finally, my friends are my world." – James Patterson, Maximum Ride, the Angel Experiment

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Mary

I blinked slowly at the young man who I took to be my opponent. "Why are you doing this?" I said.

My theory is that everyone has a reason for what they do. Nothing would make sense otherwise. Anna is always trying to shoot this theory down. She claims that most things humans do are done for either no logical reason, or because of animalistic instinct.

"Like using the bathroom?" I had asked.

"No, the use of such facilities is illogical when the substances produced may be effectively re-used in the form of fertilizer rather than ultimately contaminating a water supply and wasting a necessary and valuable resource." Yup, that's Anna for you. She is always speaking with the big words just to confuse everyone.

Now my opponent wasn't Anna, but he was similar when it came to giving empty answers. "I must."

Alright, maybe his answer wasn't that similar.

Something told me that he would probably be the tall, dark, and silent type in the normal world. But this clearly didn't qualify as the normal world. It was more like a, nightmare scenario. Nightmares make me nervous.

"So… you want to duel me, right?"

I received a nod of the head.

"Well then, let's get started. You may take the first turn." I'd been raised generous. I just hoped I'd be able to live generous too.

Mary: 8000

Boy: 8000

His hand moved to his deck through the shadow.

"Set card. Set monster. End."

This wasn't going to be difficult. I'd seen that type of play hundreds of times and I knew exactly how to deal with it. The card I drew for the turn gave me what I needed.

"I summon Vampire Orchis (1700/1000). I am now allowed to special summon one Des Dendle (300/2000)."

My opponent was unfazed. Then again I wasn't sure if a man-eating plant would faze him. Not even if it was right next to him. I shuddered at the thought.

"Des Dendle is a union monster, which means that I'm allowed to equip it to Vampire Orchis, which I will now do. Then Vampire Orchis will attack your face down monster."

I was right; a man-eating plant didn't faze him. He had insurance.

"You attacked Soul Tiger (0/2100). I activate Destruction Punch. As your monster has lower attack than my monster does defense, it is destroyed."

I watched as both of the plants were devoured by the un-dead tiger.

Mary: 7600

Boy: 8000

I blinked. "That might cause some problems." Her opponent stubbornly remained stoic and silent. "I'll set a card face down and pass to you."

"I summon Spirit Reaper (300/200). Spirit Reaper attacks directly. When Spirit Reaper inflicts damage you must discard a card from your hand."

Mary: 7300

Boy: 8000

The reaper swept its scythe right along in front of me and cutting at least half an inch off my hair. It only just scraped my skin.

I was forced to discard Koitsu (200/100), not much of a loss. Aitsu was nowhere in sight.

Trying to get the upper hand, I tried to discern my opponent's strategy. So far it seemed as if he was either using a deck based around defensive monsters and monsters that can stick around for along time, or a haunted theme. This didn't get me anywhere, but I had to try. "If you know your opponent's deck, you know what he or she is trying to do. If you know what your opponent is trying to do, you can stop them." Leonard had once told me. The best duelist of the six of us, I had always taken his advice to heart.

I heard a scream and was brought back to reality with a shock and felt blood on my shoulder. I turned to look at it. There wasn't much of it; the wound was nothing to worry about. I wouldn't be wearing this shirt again.

One of my friends had been hurt. That made me angry. My opponent saw the look in my eye and signaled that ended his turn.

"I play the spell Frontline Base. The power of this spell allows me to special summon one Union monster with four or fewer stars. Come out Zombie Tiger (1400/1600)! Now, to put icing on the cake I summon Dark Blade (1800/1500). Both will attack your Spirit Reaper."

My monsters must have sensed some of my anger, for they leapt across the field one after the next with greater speed and ferocity than I had ever seen them do so before.

Mary: 7300

Boy: 5400

Maybe I could do this…

"You done?" And in comes my opponent.

"Yes." I tried to sound melancholy, but in truth I was excited. I was in the lead!

"I sacrifice Soul Tiger for a face down monster and switch Spirit Reaper into defense mode. Then I play Continuous Destruction Punch. End."

Though I wasn't familiar with it, I assumed Continuous Destruction Punch did the same thing as Destruction Punch only continuously. "Well what else would it do? This isn't difficult." Anna would say. That girl is too smart for her own good.

Problem was I had no way to get around it. I could assume that his face down monster had a good deal of defense. It might have a relatively low amount and a devastating effect. Or it might just have an obscene defense score up around 3000.

I tried to do what I knew Tim or Cari would do; calculate odds. Three monsters in my deck would allow me to make a successful union, and I ran two of two of them and one of the other. That gave me a five out of however many cards were left in my deck chance. I couldn't remember if I had actually gotten around to making sure the deck was 40 cards before coming. At best that gave me what, not quite a one in six chance?

"When the odds don't fit the needs, change the odds." Mel had said that once when she was having trouble with math. And I thought I had just the way to fulfill that idiom.

I drew. Just as predicted, the odds were against me. Combination Attack would be of no use at this point. "I activate Good Goblin Housekeeping. I draw one card, and then I must send one card to the bottom of my deck." I'd gotten lucky. But was I lucky enough? I put Combination Attack on the bottom of my deck.

"I play Upstart Goblin. You gain 1000 life points, but I draw a card."

Mary: 7300

Boy: 6400

It was just about time. "I summon Pitch-Black Dragon (900/600). This monster is able to union with Dark Blade giving it the ability to hurt you despite any defense position monsters. Oh, and it gives my monster a little boost." It was the kind of thing that would make Anna laugh. An hour later it would have me wondering who was out there paying too much attention to my words.

Dark Blade appeared to be having some trouble mounting the dragon. It was sort of pathetic. It would try to climb up, but the scales were too slippery. Eventually the dragon stuck out its tail which the warrior promptly sat on. The tail was like a miniature elevator but without the safety restrictions. But having received its 'boost' the warrior mounted the dragon (2200/1900).

"Now my Dark Blade will attack Spirit Reaper." To my shame I took great pleasure in seeing my opponent wince as he took damage.

Mary: 7300

Boy: 4400

I ended my turn there, pleased with what I had done. My opponent frowned.

"I set one card face down and end my turn."

I drew nothing of use. Again. "I'll have Dark Blade attack Spirit Reaper again."

My opponent blinked and a card flipped up. "Activate Shift. Redirect attack to face down monster."

My monster turned mid-flight and crashed into a wall of ice. The ice destroyed them completely and Neo Aqua Madoor (1200/3000) was left behind.

Mary: 6500

Boy: 4400

I grimaced. "I'll set a card and end my turn."

My opponent's strategy was unfolding slowly like a rose, one card at a time, except I like roses.

"I play the equip card Raregold Armor and attach it to Neo Aqua Madoor. Now you may only attack Neo Aqua Madoor. My other monsters are safe. Summon Nightmare Horse (500/400). This monster may attack directly. It attacks."

Mary: 6000

Boy: 4400

"End turn."

This rose had thorns.

Unfortunately I had no way of destroying his plan. That would be a problem. So for now I'd just have to ignore it.

"I'll pass."

I was almost used to my opponent's not needing to look at his cards, but not quite. "I play Fusion Sage, adding Polymerization to my hand. I now play Polymerization to fuse Spirit Reaper and Nightmare Horse creating Reaper on the Nightmare (900/600) in attack mode."

My mind raced to think of the monster's ability. Then I remembered; a combination of its components. It was probably the only fusion monster I could see the logic behind. Even its stats were just those of its two parts added together. This monster made sense and I tried to prepare myself for what I knew was about to come.

"Reaper on the Nightmare attacks directly. You discard a card."

Mary: 5100

Boy: 4400

Soitsu was sent to the graveyard. Well at least it wasn't like it had been doing me any good. Those little airplane riding fairies were going to be filling up the graveyard at this rate.

"End."

So far this duel had been more or less one sided. It was just the side that switched. I had every intention of changing that.

"I summon Kiryu (2000/1500) by sacrificing Zombie Tiger. Now I will have Dark Blade dismount Pitch-Black Dragon and get on Kiryu for a stat increase (2700/2400)." Normally I would have made as many attacks with my newly strengthened monster as possible and waited to use Kiryu's ability until it would be the finishing blow, but in this situation I wasn't left with much of a choice.

"I sacrifice Kiryu in order to allow Dark Blade to attack directly this turn. Now I will activate my trap card, Formation Union in order to re-equip Dark Blade with Pitch-Black Dragon to maximize the opportunity (2200/1900). Now, Dark Blade will attack your life points directly."

Mary: 5100

Boy: 2200

I had to look away as my monster flew in and took a swipe at my opponent's head. I didn't expect it to leave a mark. All of a sudden this wasn't a game anymore. True, each direct attack from his monsters had hurt. But that was to be expected. But they hadn't left a mark like that. One of his eyes was already starting to swell. Somehow he had avoided being cut on what I now realized was a very real sword.

"I'll end."

A card floated up off of my opponent's deck and into his hand. I was beyond surprise. "I set a card. Reaper on the Nightmare attacks directly. You will lose."

Mary: 4200

Boy: 2200

There was no card to be discarded this time and I wasn't happy about it. I'd have to ask one of the 'parental units' to research the phenomena 'better to have had and lost than to not have.'

Then I drew and was rewarded with some slight relief. "I play Pot of Avarice. I will mix Soitsu, Kiryu, Zombie Tiger, Des Dendle, and Vampire Orchis back into my deck and draw two cards." Koitsu was the absolute last card I wanted to be drawing at this point. It was going to stay safe in the graveyard. "I will set a monster and my other card. Make your move."

"Summon Nightmare Horse (500/400). Attack directly with Nightmare Horse and Reaper on the Nightmare."

Mary: 2800

Boy: 2200

"End."

At this rate I would only survive two more turns. Not something I wanted to know. Again my draw was lackluster.

"I'll have to set a card and end my turn."

"You cannot win by setting cards alone. I play Bait Doll to force the activation of your newest face down card."

"And it activates; Good Goblin Housekeeping. I already have one in the graveyard so I draw two cards before sending one to the bottom of my deck." None of this mattered. The card I kept would be discarded along with the one I sent to the bottom of my deck. I put Decayed Commander on the bottom of my deck.

"Bait Doll is shuffled into my deck. I attack directly with both monsters. You discard."

Mary: 1400

Boy: 2200

I discarded Upstart Goblin without complaint. I was depending on this next draw. It would need to be something spectacular.

In the dictionary when they define 'spectacular' they have a picture of a (100/100) fairy on an airplane.

"I sacrifice my face down Des Dendle for Aitsu (100/100). I will also separate Pitch-Black Dragon and Dark Blade (1800/1500). Now I will activate my trap, Roll Out! This allows me to take a union monster from my graveyard and attach it to an applicable monster. Say hello to Koitsu (200/100)! A blue featureless man on a paper airplane appeared briefly before joining Aitsu on its plane. The airplane which the blue man had ridden on disappeared.

My finest union had been made. "Aitsu and Koitsu get along well, so Aitsu gets a huge bonus (3100/3100) and does damage through defense. Now he'll attack Neo Aqua Madoor. He's had more than enough time to chill in that armor of his, don't you think?"

The attack was impressive only in its inadequateness. The red and the blue man each took a side and appeared to be whispering things in the ears of the wizard. What those things were I didn't know, but Neo Aqua Madoor fell to his knees and was unceremoniously picked up and gently tossed beyond my range of sight through the shadows.

Mary: 1400

Boy: 2100

"Next Pitch-Black Dragon will attack Nightmare Horse."

Mary: 1400

Boy: 1700

"And Dark Blade will attack the Reaper." Reaper on the Nightmare didn't seem to know or care that it was attacked. The sword cut through the Nightmare without leaving a mark and the reaper's scant flesh was left open and scarred yet un-inhibiting.

Mary: 1400

Boy: 800

I ended my turn quite cheerfully. There was no way that he was going to come back from that assault.

His move didn't take long. "Set one card. Attack directly with Reaper on the Nightmare."

Mary: 500

Boy: 800

As I drew my card for the turn I glanced at his field. It didn't look threatening, true, but…

If my attack was stopped I'd lose.

Unfortunately I, unlike my opponent, had to look at the card I drew eventually.

"I play Mystical Space Typhoon on the card you just set and activate Dust Tornado to destroy that one." I said, pointing.

I watched as the traps were destroyed. Bottomless Trap Hole I didn't care about one way or the other. The Blast Held by a Tribute he had just set would have killed me if I'd attacked with Aitsu again.

This was exactly what I'd been planning on doing.

"Aitsu, finish this. If possible do something showy instead of whispering in his ear."

My monsters answered my plea. My funky fairies looked like they were playing ring around the rosy except the circle kept moving faster and faster until it was just a purple blur. The spinning stopped and a large purple man stood there on the paper airplane. He posed and the airplane shot forward stopping just short of the reaper. With a dramatic soundless grunt (he still lacked a mouth) he leaned back and kicked the reaper and its mount back into their master.

Mary: 500

Boy: 0

The shadows imploded. The world spun. I sunk down to my knees and shut my eyes as my hair whipped around my face in the dark wind. I didn't open them until the wind had settled and someone tapped on my shoulder.

"You can open your eyes now. It's over."

I opened my eyes to see Cari. I stood up and hugged her half sobbing into her shoulder. "You're safe! Where's everybody else, are they-"

She struggled in my grip. "Can somebody get her off me?" She shouted.

I heard a voice from behind Cari. "It might be wise to let go, Mary. If it wasn't for the noise I'd think you're suffocating her." It was Tim of course.

I let go and looked around. Mel and Anna were halfway across the warehouse. As I looked around there were four plastic duel disks lined up, and one off nearer to Anna and Mel. There were shreds of cards everywhere. There was one whole card under the duel disk in front of me- Nightmare Horse. I pocketed it out of respect for the dead, because he was dead, right? I mean living people don't disappear into thin air. As a matter of fact neither do dead ones but still.

There were shouts from up on the catwalk. Evidently the door had just opened and the adults had been worried about us. And with good reason.

Anna led by her actions. She slid the duel disk off her skinny arm with ease and slid it behind a big storage container and took Mel's off before she realized what was going on. She gestured desperately at us and I followed suit and helped Tim with his. As I shunted it off to the side he whispered in my ear, "Look scared."

Well that wasn't going to be hard.