Spirit Caller

Chapter Twelve

12

The Truth Is In The Cards

I don't understand...

Connar thought to herself as she stared blankly into the card she just drew.

Why on earth is this Kaibaman card even in my deck!?

she sighed, trying to understand. She had carefully built her deck up around Spell Casters and Magicians. So Having drawn a Warrior type really threw her for a loop.

Kaibaman...

She smiled sweetly, as she closed her eyes to the distant memories...

"Kaibaman~ Kaibaman~ WHOOSH! Kaibaman will save the day~!" a small 5 year old girl ran around a cluttered playroom in an orphanage. She had her arms spread eagle while she jumped around like a little air plane, singing a special song as her favorite show played on the tv. The Kaibaman show.

"Hooraaaaay~ For Kaibaman!" She twirled around and giggled fumbling onto the carpet. She could watch this show for hours. All the other children tended to stay away from her, playing with each other outside instead. But she was okay with that. She was more than content staying inside, watching her favorite show as she held a well-loved action figure of its star in her tiny little hands.

As she hummed and gently rocked back and forth a special knock sounded on the wall just outside the door.

"Knock Knock~? Hey Connie-kins~ Won't you come out and play~?"

A sing song voice of a familiar visitor playfully chimed in from the door way.

"Mokey! Mokey!" the small girl beamed into a barrage of giggles as she leapt into a snuggle attack onto her favorite visitor. "Mokey! You came back!"

"Haha, Of course I came back!" The boy she called Mokey smiled and hugged her back tightly making her squeak and giggle,"I promised I would come back to play!" he said to her,"And I have a special Surprise for you today too!"
"Really!?" she beamed excitedly, her baby blues shining brightly, making it hard for the boy not to melt. She was so cute.

"Really, Really!" he giggled and gave her a loving squeeze.

Mokey came by often to talk to and play with the orphan kids at the Orphanage. He and his older brother donated to charities and facilities dedicated to helping children. During one of their drop-ins, Mokey wound up bonding with a small pink haired girl who often sat away all by herself. She played with a well-loved action figure. She seemed shy at first, but as Mokey came to visit her more often she began to open up more into a loving ball of energy.

"Remember when I told you I had a big brother?" he said to her, sitting her onto his lap and she nodded excitedly.

"Well today, he's going to play with us too...is that okay, Connie?"

"Is it!?" she beamed happily and giggled. She was so excited to make a new friend like Mokey,"I'm so excited!" she giggled,"What game should we play!?"

"Go pick something fun!" Mokey grinned,"I'll go get him!" The boy chuckled as he ran to the door way to look for and call for his old brother.

"This way, Seto!" he said waving him over,"She's so excited!"

"Is she now?" a raspy voice chuckled and stepped slowly into the door way, revealing a tall stoic brunette male with sharp blue eyes," Well I only hope I will be as fun as Mokuba is." he chuckled gently, despite being tall and intimidating he held a soft spot for children.

"The little girl over there is named Connar." The nurse pointed to the small child as she dug around shelves for a game that had all of its pieces.

"I see." said the man, as he watched her from where he stood.

"That's right!" Mokuba beamed," She's really sweet once you get to know her I promise!" he chuckled and called for the small child," Hey Connie. come here for a little bit, will you?" he asked,"Come say hi!"

The pink haired girl acknowledged the boy and hopped over obediently next to him while he patted her head.
"Connar, this is my big brother!" He said smiling as she looked up at the tall man and her eyes widened and sparkled with awe.

"His name is-"

"KAIBAMAN!" she blurted out excitedly and squealed jumping up and down sending both of the brothers back in surprise. "Kaibaman! It's Kaibaman!" she giggled and threw her arms around the man,"You're Kaibaman!"

"Uh-Wait, Connie, that's-" Mokuba was shook by how quickly she threw herself at his older brother who seemed just as confused by the sudden hug.

"O-Oh my goodness! Connar, no no!" the nurse flailed and tried to pry the giggling young girl away from him. "I-I am so sorry , -She...really loves Kaibaman, you see-"

"So I see." Kaiba chuckled and peeled himself away gently as the nurse took the girl from him.

"Listen to me, Connar." said the nurse as she tried to explain the situation," This is -not Kaibaman."

"No! He IS Kaibaman!" she refuted," And I can prove it!" she broke herself away from the nurse and threw herself into her tv watching area fumbling around for the old Kaibaman figure that she played with and waved it proudly before running back and placing it in his hands.

"See!? It's Kaibaman!"

"O-Oh...L-Look at that Seto-I-it's...Kaibaman." Mokuba struggled getting that sentence out, trying not to burst into a fit of laughter.

"Haha, so it is Kaibaman~" he smiled as he held her favorite toy carefully in his hands and playfully waved it around making her giggle as the toy danced before her eyes,"Do you like Kaibaman, Connar?"

"MmHm!" she nodded boldly.

"Oh, really?" he asked of her,"How come?"

"Kaibaman's a super hero!" she exclaimed,"He's a hero to kids like me! He keeps us safe! And he protects us... from being lonely..." the smile she gave the man before her was a sad one as she carefully took the doll back and softly stroked it's hair.

"I see..." said Seto,"And are you lonely, Connie?"

"Connar, hunny..." the nurse tried to correct the child,"Kaibaman is on the tv, he's not real-"

As the woman tried to explain this, Mokuba and Seto could see the expression on the girl's face change into sadness, as though her world was about to break apart. Mokuba gave his brother a look, and the man acted quickly.

"You know, I think we could all use a cup of juice!" Seto said, interrupting the nurse before she could push the subject,"Would you mind?"

"Oh, uh...yes sir..." she said softly,"Of course, I'll be right back." as she walked out, the man lowered himself down to the little girl's level.

"Don't listen to her~" he whispered to her playfully,"Kaibaman is absolutely real~"

"You Promise?" she whimpered softly.

"Indeed I do." he said to her,"And do you know how I know he's real?"

"How?"

He leaned in closer and whispered.

"Because he's me."

"I Knew it!" she beamed.

When the man told her this precious secret her face burst into light and excitement. Mokuba snickered at the sight, chuckling as the two spoke as though they were having a serious conversation.

"But~ You have to keep it a secret, Okay?" he whispered and chuckled poking her in the nose,"Just between you me." He winked.

That was the day I met him for the first time...

The man, I would soon call "father".

She smiled to herself

I forgot about those memories...

she chuckled as she held the card in her hand, softly stroking it with her thumb.

Kaibaman always gave me courage...having him with me made me feel strong...and brave!

I get it...

she chuckled.

My father probably slipped this into my deck while I was asleep before I left...

she smiled to herself.

Man...that's such a dad thing to do...

she giggled.

"Uhhhh...Earth to Connie!?"

"Huh!?" Connar jumped as Jaden's voice brought her back into reality.

"It's your move!" He grinned.

"O-Oh right, Sorry!" she said in a panic quickly slipping the warrior into her hand. But for some reason...something didn't feel right about this card...

It's like it feels...empty...

She quickly shook her head and pulled a couple cards for activation.

"For starters since it is my stand by phase, I gain 800 life points thanks to Pkeru's white magic!" She giggled as the glitter rained around her and her life points went up.

Connar: 5200

Jaden:4000

"Not only that though, Curran has a little black magic of her own!"

"Ahhh!" Jaden cried out as his life points dropped 600.

Connar: 5200

Jaden: 3400

"What gives!?" Jaden asked as he double checked the field,"How come my life points went down when you didn't attack me!?"

"Well you see Jaden, just like how Pikeru's white magic raises my life points by 400 for each monster on my side of the field, Ebon's Black magic causes yours to fall by 300 for each monster on my field!" She beamed," Next on my turn I will be activating a spell card, Trial of The Princesses!" she claimed,"Which I happen to have two of!" she placed them down on the field "I will equip one to Pikeru and one to Ebon!" She stated," But They will not be sticking around for long."

"What do you mean by that!?" asked Jaden.

"Well you see, by equipping my two magicians with this spell card, it allows me to tribute them with the card to special summon an upgraded version of them from my hand or my deck~" She grinned,"So say bye bye to my magicians, and bow down to the Princesses of my deck! Princess Pikeru!"

ATK: 2000

DEF: 0

"And Princess Curran!"

ATK: 2000

DEF: 0

"Woah! Nice summon!" Jaden beamed excitedly,"Way to get two kick butt monsters~ I bow to thee!" He bowed jokingly

"And I'm not done yet!" She grinned,"Next I will activate another spell called Stop Defense, Sorry Clay man~" she giggled as she forced the warrior into attack mode,"And with that, I will attack, just like you've been asking me to!"

"Which is exactly what I wanted!" said Jaden as he flipped over his trap,"See I also have Negate Attack!"

"Oh no!"

"Oh yeah!" Jaden beamed,"Sorry but Clay man will be sticking around this time.

Well so much for that...

Connar giggled and looked into her hand

My whole plan got foiled by Negate Attack.

She chuckled.

Serves me right.

She scanned her hand and once again froze on the Kaibaman card, feeling her stomach churn.

I can't put my finger on it...but...something..about this card...

"Uh, Connar?"

"Oh right, Sorry Jaden I have no other moves left this round." She gave him a shallow smile,"My turns done."

"Then my turn is on~!" he beamed,"And since you like to play with magic, I think it's time I sick some magic on you!" he stated," The magic of Polymerization!" he grinned," I fuse Sparkman with my Clayman in order to bring out, Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!"

As the two heroes morphed together, a new larger one quickly took their place.

ATK: 2400

DEF: 1500

"Ah...that's definitely stronger than my Princesses..."

"Haha yeah it is!" said Jaden" Not only that he's got a special power too!" he stated,"See by discarding one card from my hand once per turn, Thunder Giant's Special ability allows me to destroy one of your monsters with an original attack power that's less than his own!"

"Oh no-Ahhh!" She cried out as Curran Screamed in her sudden destruction.

"And since that was just his ability, then that means his real attack can be sent straight to Pikeru!"

Connar gulped and held her arms up in defense as the lightning struck her princess down.

Connar: 4800

Jaden: 4000

"And I think I'll leave it at that for now!" Jaden grinned,"Your move Connie."

"R-Right..." she said calmly,"Nice move Jaden..and now, I draw!"

"It's about time~!" A female's voice teetered and echoed in her head startling Connar as she looked at her hand.

It's you!

She blinked.

Dark Magician Girl!

"Did you say something, Connie?" asked Jaden, who seemed to react to the sudden voice as well,"Was that you talking just now?"

"H-Huh!? Uh N-No!" She stammered, quickly placing the card into her hand and scanned what she had remaining.

Let's see... in my hand I now have Dark Magician Girl...The trap card Magician's Circle...and Vindictive Magician. Hmm...

She nodded.

I think I can do something with this!

She grinned and prepared to make her next move, freezing once more as she still held Kaibaman in her hand as well. No matter how many times she tried to disregard it, the feeling from the card affected her.

That's right...I still have Kaibaman...

She blinked, holding her eyes on the card, trying to describe the empty feeling she was receiving from it.

This...This just doesn't feel right...

Something is missing...

She blinked. She couldn't pin point why it bothered her so much. All she knew was that so long as this feeling of emptiness resonated, she couldn't properly focus on this duel. She sighed, taking the warrior into her hand and carefully slipping it back on top of her deck, before placing her hand over it.

"...I Surrender, Jaden."

"What!?"

To Be Continued