I had to find my friends. This stampede of people would easily be able to crush Diego and Tanya, not to mention, with how exhausted Elsa was, she'd be stomped over without much of a struggle. Only Justin would be there to protect them. He's a real tough guy, but he's still only one man.
Personally, I've never been much of a brawler myself, but if I wanted to save my friends, I didn't see any other options. Turning to the direction I remembered everyone being in, I rushed into the crowd. However, just as I was about to try and forcibly shove my way through, the crowd suddenly stopped and I ended up face-planting into the back of a larger man.
"Back off!" The guy yelled and was about to push me, but stopped himself short.
"S- Sorry. I was trying to get to my friends. Uh... What the Hell happened? Why'd everyone stop?"
Pointing ahead, the guy told me with a shaky voice, "Th- That."
Looking through the crowd as best as I could, I saw a number of more people who'd been electrocuted. That's when it hit me, the rule against hurting others must already be in place. Everyone who was trying to push others out of their way must've triggered that rule and been executed.
Instinctively, I checked the number on my duel disk and grimaced when I saw the amount of remaining contestants was down to 2,133. It only made sense to me that so many suddenly being electrocuted would bring this bullrush of people to a halt.
"I... I see... I'm sorry, but can I please get through to get to my friends?"
Moving out of my way as he walked backward, the man told me, "If you want to get closer to all that, be my guest."
As I walked through the crowd, I had similar encounters over and over again, with people being more than happy to back away from the grizzly scene.
After about ten minutes of crowd walking, I managed to get back to my friends. The four of them were sitting in silence, each of them preoccupied with their own dilemmas. Diego was sitting on the ground with his hand was over his left eye, as Tanya was sitting next to him, curled up into a ball. Justin was sitting on the ground, having fallen backward as he shook uncontrollably. Next to him, Elsa was the only one still on her feet, as she was covering her mouth in horror.
Just in front of Justin was what I assumed the source of everyone's conditions was. On the grass next to Justin was another duelist, their body cooked beyond recognition.
"Guys! Guys! Is everyone okay?!" I yelled as I approached them.
Tanya was the first to answer, yelling back at me, "Okay?! Do you seriously think any of us could be okay right now?!"
Stopping as I got close, I frowned and winced, before replying, "Right... Well, what I meant was, is anyone hurt?"
"Just me," Diego spoke up with a sigh as he removed his hand from his eye. The flesh around it was looking red and swollen, making it clear he'd been struck there. It was rather obvious that he'd have a black eye by tomorrow.
Pointing to the dead person, Diego explained, "That woman kicked me in the face to move me as she ran by. After that, Justin punched her and..."
As Diego trailed off, Justin finished for him without taking his eyes off the corpse, "Just before I hit her, her duel disk went off and... If I'd been just a second faster, I would've been in the same boat..."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Turning to look at me, Elsa pulled her hands down and told me, "Well, we all figured since she'd already... been eliminated, Justin didn't also get the same for hitting her."
When Elsa said this, the realization of how close I came to the same fate by trying to charge the crowd suddenly hit me, and all I could say was, "Right, that... Makes sense."
Grabbing at her hair, Tanya seethed out, "Nothing about this makes sense!"
We all just stood there for a few more seconds, the horrific reality of our situation overwhelming us. However, after managing to collect my thoughts, I took a deep breath and addressed the group.
"Everyone, we need to get up and find the others from Duel Academy. Now."
"Huh? Just... Just give us a minute, man," Diego responded.
However, I quickly went over to him and Tanya, picked them up by their arms, and snapped, "We don't have a minute! Every second counts right now! Or did you guys forget we're all on timers?!"
Although Diego and Tanya were annoyed at me manhandling them, everyone reflexively looked at their duel disks when I said this, reminding themselves of the countdown to our deaths on our wrists.
As Justin snapped to attention and got to his feet, he nervously asked me, "Okay, what's the plan then?"
Letting go of the other two, I answered, "Like I said, first we need to find the others from Duel Academy and stick together for safety. After that, we should start looking for ways off of the island."
"Should we head back to the pier?" Elsa asked.
"If Jude went through all this trouble to set this... game up, then I doubt he'd have been careless enough to have left anything there that could be used to escape," Diego replied as he covered his eye again.
Taking a couple of breaths, Tanya asked, "Okay, so what do we do then?"
"I think we should head off to the other side of the island. After that, if we don't find anything, we should start going around the edge of the island while looking for escapes," I explained.
"Alright... Alright. Let's go find the others then," Justin said.
Nodding, I told everyone, "Right. Michael was at the front of the crowd, so let's make our way over there and see if we can't find him and some of the others."
With that, everyone silently agreed with me, as they all followed me toward where Michael was.
Sometime later, we had managed to make our way to our intended destination. There, we saw Michael had gathered up Brie, Frank, and Jessie. The only one missing now was Veronica.
As I said before, Brie was the second-best duelist from our class at Duel Academy. She's a bit shorter than I am, has short, dark brown hair, and green eyes. She has overall beautiful features, in my opinion anyway, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find her somewhat attractive. She's always seemed to take the game more seriously than myself or Michael, which ended up frustrating her to no end when Michael not only out-performed her but ignored her in favor of focusing on me as his rival. She uses a Masked Heroes deck.
Frank and Jessie are a couple both on the duel field and off it. Frank is the biggest and physically strongest out of all of us. He has brown eyes and keeps his red hair styled into some kind of pompadour. He always seemed to me like your stereotypical tough guy, but I honestly never got to know him well enough to make such a judgment. In regards to his playstyle, he uses a Silent Magician deck. Meanwhile, Jessie was fairly tall and athletic herself, her tan skin showing how much time she spent in the sun. She had strawberry blond hair that she kept tied in a ponytail as well as blue eyes. She's always been the more vocal of the two, sometimes even speaking for Frank, and I've gotten to know her slightly better as a result. She makes use of a Silent Swordsman deck.
As we got near them, I spoke up to get their attention, "Hey! We're here! Has anyone seen Veronica?"
The others turned to look at me and my group when I asked this, with somber expressions on their faces. Without a word, Michael gestured toward the dispersing crowd with his head. In the direction he gestured, there were a few charbroiled bodies. One of those bodies had the burnt remains of a Duel Academy Obelisk Blue jacket on it.
"Huh!? Wha... What happened?!" I asked.
"She tried to pull off her duel disk after that first guy died... I'm sure you know what that means," Michale explained.
Despite all the death I'd already seen today, this just didn't seem real.
Veronica and I were never really friends, but she was still someone I'd spent three years of my life with. I played practice duels with her yesterday and she walked to this castle alongside me and everyone else. And now... She's gone.
My breath began to grow heavier as I looked at this. It took me all my willpower not to begin panicking, as I knew that would only spell disaster for me and anyone grouped up with me.
Regardless of my efforts, that didn't mean everyone else was able to remain calm, as Justin suddenly shouted, "NO! Fuck!"
"J- Justin?" Elsa asked.
Turning to face Justin, I approached and told him, "Hey. It's gonna be okay, bro. We're gonna make it through this."
"No, no, no! This is not okay! I... I wanted to ask Veronica out after this tournament... Fuck!"
By now, this whole experience must have been too much for Justin, as he began to sob.
Reflexively, I went in and started hugging him when I saw this.
At first, he didn't react and just stood there and kept crying. However, after a few seconds, he started hugging me back and buried his face into my shoulder.
After a minute of this, Michael spoke up, snapping at us, "Hey, break it up! We need to focus here!"
"What?! Give him a second, jerk!" Tanya yelled.
Pushing himself away from me, Justin spoke up, "No, no, he's... he's right. Gotta focus right now. We won't get out of here if we freak out."
"I mean... You're not wrong. But, Justin, we can afford to give you a minute if you need it," Diego reassured.
"No. No, we can't. I gotta man up here," Justin insisted.
Despite his words, my best friend was still misty-eyed, so I put my hand on his shoulder and looked him in his eyes with sympathy.
"You sure?"
Taking a deep breath, Justin wiped his eyes, removed my hand, and said, "I'm... I'm gonna be good... Let's get to talking."
Nodding to him, I turned to Michael and told him, "Okay, my friends and I were saying that we should go to the other side of the island to look for ways to escape since the pier probably wouldn't have anything. Have you guys come up with anything else?"
"Well, first and foremost, Michael said we should go through the alliance registry process or whatever it's called before we go anywhere," Brie answered.
"Right, and after that, we need to find places to get food and recharge our duel disks," Michael continued.
"What? Shouldn't we just focus on getting out of here?" Elsa asked.
Putting her hand to her hip, Jessie responded, "Frank and I were thinking the same thing, but these two made a good point about being prepared for being stuck here for a while."
"Exactly. And just in case we do encounter people who'll actually challenge others to duels on this island, it's best for us to make an alliance."
Although Elsa still appeared uncertain of Michael's logic, I thought it made sense, so I replied, "That... That sounds good to me. Yeah, let's go register our team."
Smirking somberly, Michael told me, "I always knew you had a good head on your shoulders. Come on, everyone. Let's get this done with."
As we approached the masked workers, Elsa whispered to me, "Erick, I'm trying not to say too much since you guys're having trouble following what I've been saying, but I'm still not sure about working with Micahel. His Duel Spirits still seem off to me."
Whispering back, I told her, "Don't worry. If he does try anything weird, I'll take care of him."
"If you say so..." She muttered.
Once we got closer to the masked workers, we saw that a few other smaller groups had already gathered and were talking with them. The workers were using their own touchpads to work while keeping guns pointed at the duelists.
Ultimately, we ended up approaching a man in a Watapon mask.
Pulling out his gun and pointing it at us, Watapon explained, "If you're here to register your team, I can help. If you're hoping to get my duelist tracker or get into the castle, step back or get put down."
As we put our hands up, I told him, "Register! We're here to register!"
Good lord, how could someone have such a disregard for life that they'd shoot people over what was supposed to be a game?
"Yep, like he said. We're here to make our alliance," Jessie backed me up.
"Hrm!" Frank grunted in agreement.
"Such a large team so soon in the day...? Oh, you're the students from Duel Academy, so you must've all known each other beforehand. Very well. Present your duel disks and stand still. I'm going to connect them all."
Following Watapon's directions, we all did as he said and lined up in front of him while extending our arms. After that, he pulled out his touchpad with one hand while using the other hand to keep his gun trained on us. After a few minutes, our duel disks let out a series of chimes and flashes, prompting Watapon to put his device away.
"Alright, it's done. Now, unless you have a final person you want to add to your team, I'd suggest you all move along and find people to duel with. The faster you get rid of everyone else, the faster you can get out of here. Oh, but you're gonna have to make sure at least one of you dies in the process. We can only have eight finalists after all."
"You freaks are sick! You know that?!" Tanya exclaimed without hesitation.
At first, Watapon had no response to that remark. However, after letting out a quick chuckle, Watapon approached Tanya and suddenly smacked her across the face with his pistol.
"There are no rules that prevent us from harming any of the duelists. Master Jude would just prefer that we don't kill any of you if we don't have to."
Without hesitating, Justin started going for Watapon, only being stopped by myself and Frank grabbing him.
"That's my friend, you jackass! I'll kill you!" He exclaimed.
"Justin! You can't! You'll be killed too!" I yelled.
Letting out another laugh, Watapon said, "You should listen to your friends. The rule preventing you lot from harming anyone extends to us workers as well."
Helping her up, Diego asked Tanya, "Hey, are you okay?!"
Spitting out some blood, Tanya answered, "I'll live... Just no one do anything stupid."
Getting a good look at her, the woman I considered nothing less than my sister was bleeding from a gash in her cheek. Seeing that, it took all my willpower not to let go of Justin and join him in the beatdown.
"Rrrrgh...! Fine! I'll let it go... For now." With that, Justin's body eased up, so Frank and I released our grip on him.
Now approaching the three of us, Watapon said, "Good men! And one more piece of advice..."
He then tried to throw a punch into Justin's face, only for him to easily side-step the blow. This resulted in Watapon falling on his face in the grass.
Jessie began to make a move toward Watapon when this happened but was stopped by Brie blocking her path with her arm and shaking her head.
"I'm not as easy to pick on, fluffball," Justin stated, which I couldn't help but smile at.
"Why you little!" Watapon then jumped back to his feet and pointed his gun at Justin.
Taking a step back, I could see Justin sweat, which I was also doing admittedly, as he asked desperately, "Didn't you say you're not supposed to kill us?!"
When Justin asked this question, both I and Watapon noticed that some of the other masked workers were staring at him.
This must have been some sort of warning, as Watapon put his firearm away and snapped, "Get the Hell out of here, you punks!" With that, Watapon pushed past us and got back into formation with the other masked workers.
"It's probably for the best that we do just that. Every minute counts, people," Michael said.
Giving one last glare to Watapon, I went over to Tanya and asked her, "You gonna be okay? You don't have a concussion or anything, do you?"
"I... No, I'm okay. My face just hurts."
"Do you need any of us to carry you or anything?"
Giving me the smallest smile, Tanya told me, "We're the same age. You don't need to act like my big brother... Now let's just get out of here."
"Right..."
Without another word, our alliance started walking around the moat that surrounded the castle so we could begin our trek to the other side of the island.
Before we walked very far, Justin approached me, Elsa, and Diego, and asked, "Once we get these things off our wrists, we're gonna kill that guy, right?"
"Yeah. No question about it," I answered.
Nodding, Diego replied, "Oh, most certainly."
"The prick's a dead man walking. Just like armadillos," Elsa added.
Despite her odd comment there at the end, we chose to ignore it and simply accept the intention behind her words.
It was only after making our way around the castle and into the forest did we realize just how badly all that death back there stunk. The sheer volume of it had overwhelmed our senses and quickly numbed our noses to the odors of burnt flesh and hair. But now that we had fresh air in our nostrils again, the juxtaposition was too extreme not to react to.
Nobody lost their breakfast, fortunately, but that didn't stop us from having to take a break to collectively wretch once the sensation hit us.
We ended up traveling through the woods for the entire day. There were no dirt roads on this side of the island, so our trip was considerably more strenuous. That said, we were careful enough that nobody actually got hurt. The closest call was when Elsa tripped on a root and fell on her hands. Fortunately, this only resulted in some scratches on her palms.
We thought that Frank might've gotten hurt when he accidentally ran face-first into a thick tree branch. However, our worries were quickly dashed when the branch snapped off the tree, whereas Frank didn't so much as flinch or get bruised from the ordeal.
By the time night started rolling in, we ended up finding a metal device sticking out of the ground in a circular clearing. It was thick and tall with various glowing lights on it. In addition, it had a number of ports in it that looked big enough to fit even Frank's arm inside of.
"Do you all think this is one of the charging stations?" Brie asked.
"If I had to venture a guess, I'd say so," Diego answered.
Setting the backpack he'd had with him down, Michael declared, "Alright, everyone. I think we should make camp here for the night. Does anyone know how to make a fire? The charging station provides plenty of light, but we'll need something to keep us warm."
"But, we haven't even found any of the food deposits yet," Elsa brought up.
"Don't worry! Frank and me brought plenty of healthy snacks and water bottles here by ourselves. We gotta have good food to keep our figures after all. If we split it up evenly, we should have enough to get us through the night," Jessie proudly proclaimed.
However, as soon as she said this, a couple walked out of the forest. First was a man with frizzled black hair, and the other was a thin woman with white hair.
"Did you say you have food?! Hand it over or we'll challenge you guys to duels!" The man yelled.
Stepping in between these people and my group, I tried to ease the situation, "Whoa, hey. Calm down. I don't know who you guys are, but I'm sure we can divide it up a bit more to share with you. You guys can even have my entire share if you want. No need to resort to threats."
"Are you kidding?! We both threw up after everything that happened and we haven't had anything to eat since then! A small portion won't be enough! We're taking all of it or else!" The woman yelled as she activated her duel disk.
Stepping up beside me, Justin stated, "Hey, cool it! There's too many of us here! Even if you're good, there's no way you guys could beat all of us! Just put the duel disks down and-."
"That's it! We challenge you two first to a tag duel! Let's duel!" The frizzly-haired man exclaimed.
As soon as the man said that, a warning timer appeared on mine and Justin's duel disks, right underneath the other timers, that was giving us one minute to accept the challenge.
"I... Huh?! What... What the Hell is wrong with you?! Now we have to kill each other!" I shouted.
"Or just don't accept the duel and die! That way, you don't have to do anything," the white-haired woman stated.
For a brief moment, the idea of taking the easy way out of all this without having to hurt anyone crossed my mind. However, that notion was quickly swept away by the thoughts of my friends and family, the people who still needed me.
With my limited time, I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist as I responded, "Like Hell! We're not gonna just lay down and die! We accept your challenge! Right, Justin?!"
Justin paused for a second, clearly having similar hang-ups to what I was having, but when I called his name, he shook his head, straightened his posture, and declared, "That's right...! Whatever happens, you guys brought this on yourselves! Let's duel!"
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Frizzle and White: 16000)
Without waiting, Justin and I took out our decks from our card carriers, shuffled them, and slid them into our duel disks. Seething with frustration, Frizzle and White took a moment before doing the same but followed suit regardless.
"What deck are you using?" I quietly asked Justin
"Number one," he answered.
"Okay. Got it."
Pulling out a duel coin from his pocket, Frizzle asked impatiently, "Heads or tails?"
"Heads," Justin and I answered simultaneously.
Flipping the coin, Frizzle caught it, flipped it, and then revealed the results with a grin.
"Tails! I'll make the first move!"
With that decided, the four of us drew our hands as our duel disks' hologram projectors came to life. The four of us then drew our first five cards.
For my opening hand, I had Broww, Huntsman Of Dark World, Fabled Raven, Toy Vendor, Eradicator Epidemic Virus, and Dust Tornado.
"I can't believe these psychos!" I heard Tanya exclaim.
"Don't worry. Our guys should be able to handle them," Michael said.
"Do you know who these people are or something?" Diego asked.
"Yeah. They're Alex Goodwin and Shelby Frisia. They're the champion and runner-up of the Connecticut state finals respectively. They're not too impressive in my opinion, and their decks aren't exactly built for working together. I'd guess they only teamed up due to knowing each other beforehand."
"Don't underestimate us! You brats are just high school graduates who are getting special attention!" Alex yelled.
He then turned his attention to his hand and stated, "Now, for my first move, I set one card in my spell and trap zone. Then, I use the effect of my monster, Gishki Shadow, to discard him from my hand and search my deck for a Gishki ritual spell... And I chose Gishki Aquamirror! After that, I summon Gishki Abyss(ATK: 800. DEF: 500)!" Once Alex summoned his card, the holographic image of a shirtless shark-skinned man with a shark for a head appeared in front of him.
"Everyone's Duel Spirits look unhappy about this whole thing..." I heard Elsa lament.
"Now, Abyss's effect activates! When he's summoned, I can bring one Gishki monster with 1000 or less defense from my deck to my hand, and I'm picking up another Gishki Shadow. With that, I activate Gishki Aquamirror and use the other effect of the Gishki Shadow in my hand to use him as the entire cost of the ritual summon! Now, come forward, Evigishki Gustkraken(ATK: 2400. DEF: 1000)!" When Alex said this, a large mirror appeared in front of him. As if the surface of it were made of water, a monster crawled out of the mirror before causing the mirror the vanish. The monster in question was an androgynous human with long red hair, blue skin, and the lower torso of a giant squid.
"Once Gustkraken is summoned, I get to look at two random cards in my opponent's hand and then shuffle one of them back into their deck. Since you seem like the leader here, I'm choosing you as the target, bangs boy!"
Alex pointed to me when he said this, causing two cards in my hand to glow. The holographic images of Toy Vendor and Eradicator Epidemic Virus appeared in front of him.
"I'll be going with Eradicator Epidemic Virus! Good luck getting it back! Ha!"
Huffing slightly in frustration, I took out my deck and reshuffled my trap card back into it.
"Now that that's done, I end my turn! You losers make your move!"
As calmly as I could, I told Justin, "My hand's been partially compromised. You go ahead and make the first move."
"Got it!" He replied while drawing a card.
After taking a second to look at his hand, Justin got started, "Okay, first, I activate the spell, Reinforcement Of The Army. This lets me add one level 4 or lower warrior type monster from my deck to my hand... And I pick Legendary Six Samurai-Enishi! After that, I summon Legendary Six Samurai-Kageki(ATK: 200. DEF: 2000)!" A four-armed samurai with a sword in each hand and wearing heavy then appeared on the field, two of said arms being robotic.
"When Kageki is summoned, his effect activates and I get to special summon another Six Samurai monster from my hand, and I'm going with Secret Six Samurai-Kizaru(ATK: 1900. DEF: 1000)." This monster was a youthful samurai with long black hair and dressed in black and white robes with a gold and black metal trim.
"First off, now that I have another Six Samurai on the field, Kageki gains an additional 1500 attack points, bringing him up to 1700. Next, Kizaru's effect activates. When he's special summoned, I get to add another Six Samurai from my deck to my hand that has a different attribute than any of the ones on the field. And... I'm the card I'm gonna add is The Six Samurai-Irou. With that all done, I activate the effect of Grandmaster Of The Six Samurai in my hand. If I have any other Six Samurai monsters on the field, then I can special summon him from my hand, so I'm doing just that(ATK: 2100. DEF: 800)!" Grandmaster was an older-looking warrior with a long white beard and hair. He had a metal eyepatch over one eye and calmly held his sheathed sword in both hands against the ground.
"And I'm not done yet! Next, I activate the effect of Spirit Of The Six Samurai from my hand. I can equip this monster from my hand to another Six Samurai monster I have on the field to boost their attack and defense points up by 500 each, and I choose Grandmaster Of The Six Samurai! But that's still not all! Finally, I equip Grandmaster with the equip spell, United We Stand, boosting his attack and defense by an additional 800 points for every monster on my side of the field. This boosts him all the way up to... 5000 attack and 3700 defense!" The Grandmaster was then surrounded in a light-purple, ghostly armor. After that, energy shot out from Kizaru and Kageki that went into the Grandmaster. He then let out a shout as he began erupting with raw explosive power.
"With my monster boosted up, I'll have him attack your Gustkraken! Go, Grandmaster Of The Six Samurai!" Following his master's orders, the Grandmaster took a few steps forward, drew his sword, and then re-sheathed it. Suddenly, a glowing cut appeared going down Gustkraken's body, before the monster's hologram exploded into shards.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Alex and Shelby: 13600)
"Also, when a monster that's equipped with Spirit Of The Six Samurai destroys an opponent's monster, I get to draw one more card... Okay, next, Kizaru will destroy Abyss!" Kizaru then rushed at the shark monster, slashing at it and destroying it with a swipe of his blade that was too fast for us to see.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Alex and Shelby: 12500)
"Lastly, Kageki will attack you directly!"
Rushing at Alex, Kageki's four swords suddenly turned into a whirlwind of blades that cut into Alex. Of course, the holograms weren't actually solid enough to truly harm a person, but there was still enough there to cause an unpleasant prickling sensation when attacked directly. As such, Alex let out a grunt as he staggered from the sword strikes.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Alex and Shelby: 10800)
"After all that, I'll set the card I drew in my spell and trap zone and end my turn," Justin stated proudly.
"Keep yourself better defended! We lost too many life points there!" Shelby suddenly yelled at Alex.
"Aw, shut it. I'm the one who beat you, remember?" He snapped back.
"Just don't get us killed, idiot. It's my turn now," Shelby told him.
Drawing her card, Shelby thought for a moment before making her move.
"First, I activate the spell card, Ghostrick Shot! This lets me special summon one Ghostrick monster from my hand or graveyard. Obviously, I'm going with my hand and summoning Ghostrick Stein(ATK: 1600. DEF: 0)." Appearing on the field, Stein was a large but very cartoonish version of Frankenstein's Monster.
"I then activate Stein's effect and switch him to facedown defense position. After that, I activate my field spell, Ghostrick Parade!"
Once she activated her card, balloons, streamers, and parade lights appeared on the forest around us as a light fog rolled in at our feet.
"With this card in play, no monsters can attack face-down defense position monsters but can attack directly if all of their opponent's monsters are in that position. Luckily for you, while this card is on the field, my opponents take no damage, but if you ever deal damage to me, then I get to search my deck for any one Ghostrick card. After that, I set one card in my spell and trap zone and end my turn."
Once Shelby was done with her turn, Alex yelled at her, "You still have that crappy field spell?! I beat you when you tried to use it on me, so I assumed you'd have ditched it by now!"
"I was just unlucky. It's more useful than it seems," she replied.
"I can't deal any damage now!"
Clearing my throat, I told the two of them, "Sorry to interrupt, but it's my turn now."
Looking at me as I drew a card, the two gave each other one last scowl before focusing their attention back on Justin and me.
The card I drew was Tour Guide From The Underworld. She could be useful in a bit.
"Alright. For my first move, I summon the Tuner Monster, Fabled Raven(ATK: 1300. DEF: 1000)." When he appeared in front of me, Fabled Raven was a white-skinned human with glowing red eyes. He wore a black cloth uniform with pieces of armor and a mask that covered everything but his jaw and eyes. On each of his arms were three black and crimson curved metal blades.
"Now, I activate Raven's effect. I can discard any number of cards from my hand, and when I do, Raven gains one level and 400 attack for each card until the end of my turn. But I'll only be ditching one card to the grave, and that's Broww, Huntsman Of Dark World. When I discard Broww, I get to draw another card in his place, so let's see..."
The card I drew was Mystical Space Typhoon.
Okay. I could use this.
"Alright, first, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and use it to destroy your field spell." As I said this and activated my spell, space warped around the decorations that encompassed our surroundings. Then, they all shattered to pieces.
"What did I tell you?! Useless!" Alex reprimanded.
"Oh, just be quiet!" Shelby snapped back.
Ignoring their bickering, I went on with my move, "Next, I activate the continuous spell card, Toy Vendor. As long as this guy is on the field, once per turn, I can discard one card and then draw another one so long as I reveal the card."
As I gave this explanation, a human-sized gatcha-machine with a pair of arms and legs appeared next to me.
"For now, I'll just leave that card alone. As for my main move... Hey, Justin. Mind if I use Kizaru for a Synchro summon after the attack phase is done?"
Nodding, Justin smirked and replied, "No problem. I trust you, bro."
"I don't think so! I activate one of my face-down traps, Needle Ceiling!" Shelby interjected. As she flipped her card over, the hologram of it appeared on the field.
"With this trap, so long as there are four or more monsters on the field, I can destroy every face-up monster in play right now! And since my monster is in facedown defense position, he'll be perfectly fine!"
Just like she said, stone plates with large spikes on them suddenly came crashing down on our monsters, destroying them in an explosion that kicked up tons of dust and wind. However, when the smoke cleared, I saw that The Grandmaster Of The Six Samurai was still there, albeit, his ghostly armor was gone and his aura of power was greatly reduced.
"Huh!? Why's that one still alive?!" Shelby shouted.
Smirking, Justin explained, "When a monster that's equipped with Spirit Of The Six Samurai would be destroyed, Spirit gets destroyed instead. Still, without Spirit and all the other monsters on the field, Grandmaster is down to 2900 attack and 1600 defense. Oh, sorry, Erick. Still your turn."
Thinking over my options real quick, I said, "Hmm. Alright. I set one card in the spell and trap zone. Then, I'll have Grandmaster attack the facedown Stein monster." On my command, Grandmaster repeated his attack from before and destroyed the face-down monster.
While Shelby gritted her teeth in frustration, I stated, "And that'll end my turn... Guh, what a waste of a turn."
"Hey. It's not your fault. There's nothing we could've done about that trap," Justin told me.
"That's right, you two just keep babying each other! But it's my turn now!" Alex shouted as he drew a card.
After looking at his cards, Alex said, "I activate the effect of the Gishki Mirror in my graveyard. This allows me to shuffle Gishki mirror back into my deck and then add one Gishki ritual monster from my graveyard to my hand. Obviously, my pick is Gustkraken. Now-."
Cutting him off, I flipped over my facedown card and exclaimed, "Hold on a sec. I chain activate my trap card, Dust Tornado! With this, I can select one spell or trap on the field and destroy it, and I pick your facedown card, Alex!"
My magical twister then roared across the field, smashing into the hologram of Alex's facedown card, destroying it while revealing it as the trap Ritual Buster.
Gritting his teeth, Alex exclaimed, "Shitty... Fucking... Ass...! Feh! Fine, I'm not done! I'm summoning Gishki Beast(ATK: 1500. DEF: 1300)!" This monster was some sort of dragon-headed, humanoid fish creature.
"Now that he's been summoned, I can activate Beast's effect and special summon one level 4 or lower Gishki monster from my graveyard in defense position, and I choose Gishki Abyss! Now that he's been summoned again, I'll use his effect to bring my last Gishki Shadow to my hand. Then I'll use Shadow's effect, discard him to the graveyard and bring another copy of Gishki Aquamirror to my hand. I then activate Aquamirror and use Beast and Abyss as the required sacrifices to summon Gustkraken again."
Once Gustkraken was back on the field, Jessie mocked, "Big deal, loser! That thing's still no match for Grandmaster! What's your plan here?!"
"Patience, brat. First, Gustkraken's effect goes off again, and this time I'm targeting the samurai kid. Seeing as he's only got two cards in his hand right now, I'll get to see the whole thing." Justin's cards then appeared before Alex as he continued, "Now let's see... I think Enishi is going back into your deck. Get to it."
Frowning, Justin shuffled Enishi into his deck as he was instructed.
"Now to finally take care of that annoying old samurai! I have equip cards of my own, and I think I'll use them now! I equip Gustkraken with the spell card, Ritual Weapon! This card can only be equipped to ritual monsters of sixth level or lower, but it ups their attack and defense by 1500 each! With this, Gustkraken is at 3900 attack points! More than enough to take out Grandmaster! So, I think I'll do just that!" A golden, arm-mounted crossbow then appeared on one of Gustkraken's human arms.
"Gustkraken! Destroy Grandmaster Of The Six Samurai!" The kraken creature then aimed its new weapon at Grandmaster and fired. However, just as it was about to hit its mark, Justin flipped over his facedown card.
"Hold it! I activate the trap card, Magic Cylinder! This negates your attack and causes you to take damage equal to your monster's attack points!"
As Justin said this, two giant red cylinders appeared in the path of Gustkraken's crossbow bolt. The bolt enter one cup and then went out the other, striking Alex, causing a full-blown shout from him as his team's life points were reduced further.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Alex and Shelby: 6900)
"Goddammit! We're down to less than half our life points!" Shelby yelled.
"I already told you to shut up! I haven't seen you even try to attack them yet!" Alex snapped back.
"Oh, you're right. I only took out almost all their monsters!"
After our opponents yelled at each other for a few more minutes, Justin asked, "Hey, you don't have any cards left to play, Alex. Are you done with your turn?
Snapping his head in Justin's direction, Alex ground his teeth for a moment before growling out, "Just... Go!"
Drawing his next card, Justin said, "Okay, I'm activating the continuous spell, Shien's Dojo. While this card is on the field, every time a Six Samurai monster is summoned, I place a Bushido Counter on this card. And so I'll add one Bushido counter now by summoning The Six Samurai-Irou(ATK: 1700. DEF: 1200)." Irou was a samurai with long black hair, wearing a purple metal visor and tattered rags over purple metal armor.
"With Irou on the field, Grandmaster's attack goes up to 3700. Now, I guess I'll end my turn."
"Okay, I'm up then," Shelby remarked as she drew her next card.
"Alright, first off, since we're down to half our life points, I'll activate another field spell, Ghostrick Mansion!" With Ghostrick Mansion played, instead of the parade decorations of the last spell, the walls of a haunted house suddenly formed around us, complete with dilapidated furnishings and eerie windows.
"This card has the same rules about attacking defense position monsters as Parade, but now any the effect and attack damage of any monster that isn't a Ghostrick monster is cut in half! Now, I'll use the card I drew, another Ghostrick Shot, to special summon Ghostrick Fairy(ATK: 900. DEF: 1000)!" Ghostrick Fairy was a little girl with pointed ears, blue eyes, and shoulder-length purple hair. She held a candy cane in her hand, had fairy wings on her back, and was wearing a green frilly dress.
"Now that I've summoned Fairy, I'll use her effect and switch her to facedown defense position. That will end my turn."
Since Shelby was done, I was up again.
"My move," I said as I drew my next card. I'd pulled out Beiige, so it was safe for me to use Toy Vendor.
"Alright, I'll activate the effect of Toy Vendor. I'll discard the monster card, Beiige, Vanguard Of Dark World from my hand and draw another card... and the card I drew is Saangwine, Demon Of Dark World. The next part of Toy Vendor's effect goes off now. Since the card I drew isn't a Fluffal monster, it gets discarded to the graveyard as well. Now, the cards I discarded will activate their effects. First, Beiige will get special summoned to the field in attack position(ATK: 1600. DEF: 1300)." Beiige was a fiendish humanoid with light-blue skin and beige skeletal armor, a skeletal head, and a skeletal spear.
"After that, I get to special summon Saangwine in the same way(ATK: 900. DEF: 1800)." Saangwine was a humanoid creature wearing black and gray demonic armor with a furred trim.
"Saangwine is a Tuner monster, and as soon as he's special summoned in this way, I have to use him to perform a Synchro summon. As such, I'll use Beiige and Saangwine to Synchro summon Dark End Dragon(ATK: 2600. DEF: 2100)!" Dark End Dragon was a fairly large European-style dragon of black and dark-purple color. Two large horns jutted out from the sides of his head, with a smaller third one coming out from the top. Most striking, though, was the large, grinning face on his chest.
"Now that I've got him on the field, I'll normal summon the Tour Guide From The Underworld(ATK: 1000. DEF: 600). When she's normal summoned, I can special summon one level 3 Fiend-Type monster from my hand or deck, with the caveat being that its effects are negated and I can't use it for Synchro summons. And the card I pick is Broww, Huntsman Of Dark World(ATK: 1400. DEF: 800)."
Both of my monsters then materialized on the field. Tour Guide was a cute and petite woman dressed in a tour guide outfit. She had shoulder-length red hair, red eyes, and pronounced canines. In her gloved hands, she held a small whistle. Next to her stood Broww.
Broww was a fiendish humanoid with gray, segmented skin. He had a metal covering over his mouth and a pair of short horns hanging down from the sides of his face. He has brown, furred shoulders with a quiver slung over them, a golden bow in his left hand, and a brown, clawed glove over his right hand.
"With those two on the field, I'll use them to XYZ summon D/D/D Stone King Darius(ATK: 1900. DEF: 1000)!" Darius was a taller monster that looked as if it were a living suit of black and purple armor, with a golden ring around its neck. In his hands, Darius held a chain-mace with a staff-sized handle.
"Now, with my monsters on the field as well, Justin's Grandmaster rises up to 5300 attack points! That's more than enough to take out Gustkraken again, so I'd say it's time for a repeat! But first things first, before I get any attacks underway, I activate Dark End Dragon's effect. By reducing his attack and defense points by 500 each, I can select one monster on your guys' side of the field and send it to the graveyard, and I pick the facedown Ghostrick Fairy!"
As I gave this command, the face on Dark End Dragon's torso opened up. A pair of extending arms then shot out of the opened maw and grabbed the facedown card. They then pulled the monster into Dark End Dragon's second maw and swallowed it.
"With that taken care of, it's time to move onto the attacks! Grandmaster, destroy Gustkraken!"
Repeating the same move again, Grandmaster put the kraken down again. Unfortunately, due to the effects of Ghostrick Mansion, the damage dealt was cut in half.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Alex and Shelby: 6200)
"Now, all other monsters, attack directly!"
Just as I ordered, all of Justin's and my monsters rushed in and attacked Alex and Shelby. The resulting discomfort of being hit by three semi-solid objects in a row caused the two to yelp in pain.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 16000. Alex and Shelby: 3350)
"Alright. With that all done, I guess that ends my turn."
As I said this, I heard Diego remark, "If it wasn't for that field spell, the duel would have ended just now. Michael's right, these guys aren't all that tough."
"Shut up! Shut up! Not everyone can get into a fancy school for dueling, you uppity prick! Besides, this isn't over yet! It's my turn!" Alex screeched as he drew his next card.
"First, I'll use the Aquamirror in my graveyard again to return Gustkraken to my hand and reshuffle the spell into my deck. Next, I'll use the card I just drew, Graceful Charity. With this, I can draw three cards, so long as I discard two in exchange... Heh. Alright, now that I've done that, I'll use the card I held onto, the spell card Pot Of Avarice. When this card is activated, I can select five monsters in my graveyard, reshuffle them into my deck, and then draw another two cards... Wonderful. Now, I summon Gishki Marker in attack mode(ATK: 1600. DEF: 1200!" This creature had the body of a Human while having an octopus for a head. It also wore the attire of a Hollywood pirate, wielded a trident in its hands, and a pair of cutlasses with its tentacles.
"Now Marker's effect activates! When he's summoned, I get to select one Gishki Ritual monster or Ritual spell in my graveyard and add it to my hand, and I pick the copy of Aquamirror I just tossed in there. Now, I'll use that Aquamirror to summon a new monster, and I'll use the Gishki Shadow I just drew as the sacrifice!"
"Huh?! I thought they were all in his graveyard," Jessie commented.
"He obviously used Pot Of Avarice to shuffle some or all of them back into his deck and then got lucky and drew one in the same move. Lucky bastard," Brie replied.
"Not luck. His Duel Spirits are pulling out all the stops to help him win. In fact, everyone's Duel Spirits are. All their lives are on the line in this too, after all," Elsa remarked.
"Right. Of course... Just pay attention to the duel," Michael added dismissively.
Placing his new ritual monster on his duel disk, Alex exclaimed, "Now, I ritual summon Evigishki Soul Ogre(ATK: 2800. DEF: 2800)!" This monster was a large, bipedal, fish-like creature with clawed hands and feet, as well as a beaked mouth and a fin running down its head and back.
"With Soul Ogre on the field, I use the Aquamirror in my graveyard to return Gustkraken to my hand and shuffle itself into my deck again. Thanks to that, I can use Soul Ogre's effect. By discarding Gustkraken from my hand, I can target one face-up card you two control and shuffle it back into your deck, and I pick that stupid Grandmaster card of yours!"
Alex made a show of pointing at Grandmaster when he said this, as Soul Ogre summoned a miniature tsunami targeted specifically at Grandmaster Of The Six Samurai. The elder samurai monster was then washed away as Justin had to shuffle the card into his deck.
"Hehe! Now that that's done, Soul Ogre, attack Dark End Dragon!" Just as he commanded, Soul Ogre rushed my dragon as its beefy arm became surrounded by a torrent of water that it used to smash Dark End apart.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 15650. Alex and Shelby: 3350)
"Hahaha...! Huh? Why's the damage so low?!" Alex demanded.
Gesturing at the haunted house around us, I answered, "Your partner's field spell reduces the damage from everything that isn't Ghostrick."
"Are you kidding me!? I finally start making some headway and your stupid card cuts it in half, Shelby!?"
Letting her anger boil, Shelby growled, "Just wrap up your turn."
"Feh! Whatever...! I end my turn."
Drawing his card and examining it, Justin said, "Okay. First, I normal summon Secret Six Samurai-Fuma(ATK: 200. DEF: 1800)." Fuma was a ninja in a blue uniform with silver pieces of armor, including a samurai helmet. In his hands were two oversized shurikens.
"Now, since Fuma is a Tuner monster, I'll use him and Irou to Synchro summon Legendary Six Samurai-Shi En(ATK: 2500. DEF: 1400)!" This one was a much taller samurai in red, gold, and purple armor that completely covered him from head to toe. His armor had spikes shoulders and a pair of metal wings sprouting downward from the back.
"Since summoning those two placed two more Bushido Counters on Shien's Dojo, I'll use the spell's effect. By sending Shien's Dojo to the graveyard, I can special summon a Six Samurai monster from my deck with a level equal to the number of Bushido Counters, in this case, three. Thanks to that, I'll be summoning The Six Samurai-Kamon from my deck(ATK: 1500. DEF: 1000)." Kamon was a somewhat shorter samurai who had a mischievous smirk on his face. He had brown segmented armor on his upper body and just baggy pants on his lower half. Instead of a sword, Kamon held an explosive stick in his hand.
"Now, I'm gonna use Kamon's effect. So long as I have another Six Samurai monster on the field, then, once per turn, I can use Kamon to target and destroy one face-up spell or trap card my opponent controls. And the card I'm targeting is Ghostrick Mansion!" Kamon then lit his explosive and threw it at the ceiling of the structure around us, causing it to collapse and vanish.
"With that gone, I'm moving onto the battle phase!"
"Oh no! What are you going do? Destroy Marker? You don't have anything that can deal with Soul Ogre, and come next turn, he'll tear you runts apart!" Alex taunted.
"Hmm. Well, I guess I'll just have Stone King Darius attack Soul Ogre," Justin remarked as I smirked.
"Huh!? That monster's only got 1900 attack points! What, are you stupid?!"
"Eh, I might be. But I at least know what my friend's cards do. In this case, if Darius battles an opponent's monster, I can detach one of his XYZ materials. Doing that makes it so he can't be destroyed by this battle, and it destroys the monster that battled him. Then, you take 500 damage to your life points. Erick and me are still gonna take some damage from this, but... Well, you get the point," Justin explained as Darius started swinging his mace.
"What!?" Alex and Shelby yelled simultaneously.
Darius then rushed at Soul Ogre, jumping at it while swinging his mace at the creature. The aquatic behemoth countered attack this with a claw swipe. After the two blows collided, Darius was knocked away, landed back in front of me, and we took the damage from the battle. However, cracks suddenly started to form throughout Soul Ogre's body, originating from where Darius hit it. As Soul Ogre let out one last roar, its body exploded and Alex and Shelby took their damage too.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 14850. Alex and Shelby: 2850)
"With that big guy out of the way, I'll have Shi En attack Marker!" Shi En's artificial wings then came to life and carried him forward as he slashed at our opponent's monster, causing it to split in half before shattering.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 14850. Alex and Shelby: 1950)
"With all that done... I guess I end my turn. Your move," Justin said.
"Shelby! Do something!" Alex pleaded as Shelby drew her next card.
While the sense of satisfaction Shelby felt from Alex's smug attitude vanishing was immense, it was greatly overshadowed by the feeling of fear that she shared with him.
As her hands trembled, Shelby looked at what she had and said, "Okay... I... I activate... Card Of Demise. Wi- With this, I draw until I- I have three cards in my hand. In- In exchange... You two do- don't take any damage for the rest of this tur- turn, and I have t- to discard my whole hand at the end of my turn... Okay, this can work. First, I set two cards, then I activate the spell, One Day Of Peace. With this, we all draw one card, but no one can take any damage until the end of my next turn. Now, let's draw!"
Alex, with an elated expression, did as Shelby said and drew his card. After that, Justin and I did the same. The card I drew ended up being Snoww.
"Okay... I'll end my turn now and discard the card I drew. Your turn, fiend guy," Shelby told me, her expression more somber than she'd been until now.
Frowning, her changed attitude caused the reality to come back to me. I'd gotten into the groove of things without realizing it, treating this as just another duel, but the fact was, the closer we got to winning, the closer these people got to a horrible death.
Could I really keep doing this? There's still a chance they could turn this around, but Justin and I clearly had stronger decks that worked better together. We were probably going to win and then... They would die... I would be a murderer... No, no! They started this! We wanted to help them and they started this duel! For my sake and for the sake of helping my friends, I have to win this!
After a few moments of just standing there, I took a deep breath and drew my next card, showing me Dark World Dealings.
"Alright... I activate the spell card, Dark World Dealings. With this card, we all draw one card and then we all discard one card." After we all did that, I looked at the copy of Goldd I drew, and decided to discard Snoww.
"Alright, the card I discarded was Snoww, Unlight Of Dark World. When she's discarded, I can bring another Dark World card from my deck to my hand... The card I pick is Grapha, Dragon Lord Of Dark World! Next, I activate Toy Vendor again. The card I discard is Grapha, and the card I drew was another copy of Beiige. Since he isn't a Fluffal monster, I have to discard him too. Now, first off, when Grapha is discarded to the grave, I can activate one of his effects. I can select one card you guys control and destroy it, and I pick that facedown card!"
As I pointed at one of the two facedown cards Shelby had placed, suddenly a giant clawed hand reached out from the ground and crushed it, revealing it as Call Of The Haunted.
While Shelby grimaced, I went on, "Now, Beiige is special summoned to the field again, but he won't be staying long. I use another of Grapha's effects to return Beiige to my hand and special summon the Dragon Lord Of Dark World to the field(ATK: 2700. DEF: 1800)!" When I put Beiige's card back in my hand, the effect of Grapha's hand shooting out of the ground, grabbing Beiige, and throwing him in my direction went off. After that, the colossal Grapha climbed out of the ground. He was a graphite-colored, bipedal, dragon that looked as if he were made of metal and skulls.
"Since dealing damage is off the table, for now, I guess the only thing I can do is end my turn."
Grinning, Alex stated, "Great! My move! I draw...! First, I set a card in my trap and spell zone, then I end my turn."
"Is that it?!" Shelby demanded.
"Don't worry. I got a move I can pull off so long as you can stall them for another turn," Alex reassured his teammate desperately.
Drawing his card, Justin interrupted, "Doesn't matter. My move... I'm setting a card in my spell and trap zone. Now, I activate the continuous spell, The A. Forces. With this, each Warrior-Type monster on my side of the field gains 200 attack for each Warrior and Spellcaster-type on my team. Cause of that, Shi En and Kamon each gain 400 attack... But, like my bro said, we can't do damage right now, so let's wrap this turn up."
"I guess it's my turn then..." Suddenly, Shelby's face brightened up when she drew her next card, before going on, "Alright, I activate Monster Reborn and special summon Ghostrick Doll from my graveyard(ATK: 300. DEF: 1200)!" This monster had the appearance of a young girl with light pink hair who was wearing a blue dress. However, it was clear from her segmented and wooden limbs that she lives up to her name.
"Next, I activate her effect that changes her to face-down defense position. After that, I activate my facedown card, Ghostrick Scare! When this card is activated, I can flip face-up any face-down Ghostrick monsters I have on the field to face-up defenses position and then flip that same number of your monsters to face-down defense position. That's just one, so I pick your Grapha. After that, I end my turn. However, since I'm ending my turn, Doll's other effect activates. When she's flipped face-up, during my end phase, every face-up monster on your guy's field is flipped face-down and then I can summon a Ghostrick monster from my deck in face-down defense position whose level is equal to the number of cards flipped face-down. So, that's a level 3 for me. Your move, demon guy!"
"Okay, let's see what I've got, then... So, I activate the card I just drew, the field spell, The Gates Of Dark World!" Once I activated it, a massive stone gate with various carvings and sigils on it appeared behind Justin and me. The gate then opened ever so slightly, causing a fog to roll out of it as a baleful light shined through the crack.
"With this on the field, all Fiend-Type monsters gain 300 attack and defense. In addition, if I banish one Fiend-Type monster from my grave and discard one Fiend-type monster from my hand, I can draw another card. So, I'll banish Broww and discard Beiige to draw that card..." It was Eradicator Epidemic Virus. "Heh, look at that... Now, Beiige is summoned to the field again, and I'll set that card I just drew in the spell and trap zone. Then I'll flip all our monsters back to face-up attack position... Hmm... After that, I'll have Shi En attack Ghostrick Doll!"
When I said this, all the color drained from Shelby's face as she shrieked, "Huh!? No! You were supposed to attack my face-down monster first!"
"So... You took a fifty-fifty gamble on what card I'd attack first...? I guess you're in a corner now..." I lamented.
"Stop! Hold it! Please don't attack! We'll die if you do! My facedown card is only helpful to me on my own turn! We're sorry about this whole thing! Please, just let us go!" Alex pleaded with me as tears welled up in his eyes.
For a moment, my posture loosened as I looked at the ground. However, when my gaze turned back up to face them, Alex and Shelby twitched in fear.
With dead-set determination on my face, I told them, "Sorry. If that was an option, I would do that in a heartbeat, but... We all know that's not something we can do here. If I could at least offer you guys a painless death, I'd do that, but if I hurt you in any way, I'll be executed too... You guys were starved, thirsty, and scared out of your minds. You were both in your worst possible headspace, so I can't hate you for the decision you made, but please know that I am sorry... Next, I'll have Darius attack your facedown monster." At my command, Darius rushed forward and smashed the facedown card with his mace, destroying it before I could see what it was.
"No! Please stop!"
Brushing some hair out of his face as he walked to the side of the field, Michael spoke up, "Stop whining. You idiots dug your own graves."
As Justin and I flinched at those words, Justin remarked, "Dude, that's way too harsh! We're all stuck in this Hell hole because of Jude Alexander! This is all his fault!"
Dropping the card he had in his hand to the ground, Alex, as he began sobbing, told us, "You... You're right! We shouldn't have tried to do this, but... This is still all that bastard Jude's doing...! Listen, bra-... Listen, you guys! End this duel, then make it through this whole cursed tournament! After that, make that sick fuck pay for everything, and give him a couple of good shots for us!"
Falling to her knees, Shelby muttered out through tears, "I just wanted food and water... I'm sorry... I don't want to die..."
Once Alex and Shelby said all this, Michael took some steps back, rubbing his head in embarrassment. At the same time, I couldn't help but begin to cry myself.
"I'm sorry... I promise... Jude Alexander will pay for everything...!" Pointing forward, I then exclaimed, "Grapha! Attack our opponents directly!"
Opening his mouth, Grapha breathed out a torrent of black flames that enveloped Alex and Shelby.
(Life Points: Erick and Justin: 14850. Alex and Shelby: 0)
Shortly after, the duel disks deactivated and all the holograms vanished. Then, the timer for how long it's been since we'd dueled reset itself to the full one hundred sixty-eight hours. Before any of us could even begin thinking about this, we started hearing a beeping noise come from Alex and Shelby's duel disks.
Over the course of the next minute, we watched as the two people we'd been dueling for the past while were electrocuted to death.
For what could have been an hour, we all just sat there. I didn't know what I should do, but after that time passed, Diego spoke up.
"We... We should move the bodies into the woods. The smell will keep us up all night if we don't, and this is still the best place to rest."
Some of us turned to look at Diego with alarm when he said that, but the grieving expression on his face showed us that he hadn't spoken with a light heart.
After another few minutes of silence, I spoke next, "You're right. I'll do it."
"Yeah. Me too," Justin added.
"Hold on. You guys've been through enough already. The rest of us can-."
Cutting Tanya off, I insisted, "No. The fact that these people are dead is Jude's fault, but Justin and I still participated in this. This is our responsibility."
"Exactly... A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do," Justin stated with somber determination as he approached Alex's body.
On the ground next to the body was the card that Alex had dropped before dying, the only card of his not to get burnt. Picking up that card, Justin stared at it for a moment before pocketing it.
"What's that about, Justin?" Elsa asked from a distance.
Turning back to look at her, Justin answered, "Figured... Figured I should have something to remember them by."
With that, Justin picked up Alex's body, the amount of time that passed allowed it to cool enough not to burn him, as I did the same with Shelby's corpse. Once we were both certain the other had their burden to carry, we exchanged glances before walking into the woods with them.
While walking over large roots with Justin, I told him, "You know, there's another reason I said we should be the ones to do this."
"Really? What's that?" He asked without looking at me.
Sighing, I explained, "We won a duel that we got challenged to, so we're free to decline duels for the next twenty-four hours. Simply, we're the only ones who're safe to separate from the group right now."
Pushing some branches out of the way with his shoulder, Justin replied with a monotone voice, "Makes sense. Good thinking."
We eventually found a patch of bushes, prompting me to say, "I think we should leave them here. It's not like we have shovels, so I think this is the closest to a proper burial we can give them."
For a moment, Justin didn't say anything, but eventually said, "Yeah, you're right."
Clearing the bushes aside temporarily, we made sure the bodies were on the ground before allowing the branches to shift back into place. This completely covered Alex Goodwin and Shelby Frisia's corpses and would be the last we'd ever see of them.
"You want to say anything?" Justin asked me.
Rubbing my head, I thought for a moment before saying, "Well... You guys may have tried to hurt us, but... You were both just scared and desperate. I want your spirits to know that no ill will is held towards them and that I hope you both find rest someplace safe."
Putting his hand on my shoulder, Justin told me, "That's about as good as I think they can get from people who don't even know them... Let's head back, bro."
"Yeah. Good idea."
As we retraced our steps, we were making significantly better time on the way back than we were on the way out here. Soon, though, the emotional weight at the revulsion of what we'd just done replaced the physical weight of the bodies.
Trying to take my mind off of the topic, I decided to make conversation, "Hey, Justin. Mind if I ask you a question?"
"Shoot for it."
Scratching my face, I worked up my courage and asked, "Why... Why didn't you ever tell me about how you felt about how you felt about Veronica?"
Looking at me properly, Justin replied, "Did you need to know?"
"Well, no... I just thought you knew you could talk to me about that kind of stuff, bro. I mean... You're my family as far I'm concerned. I'm here for you. You and the others. If it'll help, you can all talk to me."
Raising his brow, Justin turned to look at the ground for a moment before responding, "I... It was recent... I didn't start liking her until a few months ago. I found out that she'd been helping the underclassmen with their finals, doing whatever it took for everyone who came to her. I just... I admired that and wanted to start getting to know her better."
Trying my best to keep my face unreadable, I replied, "Huh... Thank you... For telling me that. And don't worry. I'm sure we'll figure a way out of all this and bring that monster to justice. We still have a whole island to explore for answers after all."
Giving me the smallest smirk, Justin said, "Yeah... Yeah! You're right, bro! We're all getting out of this in one piece! Now come on, let's pick up the pace. We have to get back before the others eat our shares of the grub!"
Forcing a smile onto my own face, I exclaimed, "Heh, right. Let's go!"
Duel Academy Student Profile. Erick Howitzer.
Win/Loss Ratio For Sanctioned Duels: 88.3%
Deck Rating: Gallant Darkness
Consistency: 4/5
Power: 3.5/5
Comeback: 5/5
Protection: 3/5
Versatility: 5/5