Beetlejuice

Season 2: The Sleeper Saga

Episode 29: Bertha Returns

The time they all stood waiting at the nearest airport nearly drove Prudence insane. Her best friend was finally coming home from a card tournament in Oregon and she was anxious to hear all about the trip. The airport wasn't very big, but it was still bustling with people going in and out of the flight terminals catching and disembarking flights every day. Ben, Prudence, Claire and all of their parents were there to greet Bertha and her mother back home. They were lucky that Bertha's flight was landing on a Saturday. Bertha's father stood close by the group to greet his wife and daughter home from their two week trip. "Look, there she is." Claire finally said after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. Prudence smiled happily as she finally saw her tall, skinny friend walking though the crowd and toward them. "Hey!" Lydia called to her friend and Bertha turned her gaze to where she heard the call from. Noticing the large crowd there to welcome her back she smiled brightly and rushed to be embraced in a large group hug.

"How was Oregon?" Claire asked, curiosity glistening in her eyes like stars in a country night sky. "Pretty much like Lydia said. There were a lot of trees until you got into the city. Portland is huge." Bertha responded as she reached behind her to take hold of her backpack. She unzipped the pack to reveal it stuffed full of souvenirs such as little bracelets and friendship necklaces from various kiosks and stores. As well in her backpack she had also two large folders filled with Drakenfield cards, obviously the figures were in her luggage. Bertha, one by one, handed out the bracelets and necklaces to her friends, each of the girls giggling and awing at the way they looked. Ben however was less than impressed. "This is nice Bertha, but got anything for a guy?" He asked politely, trying not to look ungrateful. Bertha turned to look at her mother with a smile, almost as if they knew he would say what he said. Ms. Hennings then unzipped her own roll around suitcase and reached in to reveal a black leather Australian hat complete with fake crocodile teeth and snake skin patterned rim band, the then quickly plopped it on his head. "Bertha bought that at an outdoor sports convention when we went to visit the Expo Center after the tournament. She thought you'd love it." Lydia and the other girls looked in awe at his butch new leather hat. "That looks expensive." Lydia finally said while Ben remained speechless. "It was." Bertha answered.

"Speaking of the tournament," Ms. Hennings added in, "Tell your friends how you did." Bertha looked down as if shame overcame her completely. She then shot her head up with a smile and blurted out, "I came in second place!" They began congratulating her on her victories as the parents escorted everyone back to their vehicles with Mr. Hennings saying, "Alright, you can catch up later. Right now we need to collect the rest of your things before they get lost in baggage claim." The group of friends turned and made their way to the baggage claim. Little did they notice a shadow disembark nearly the same time they began to leave. A cocky smile painted on his face as he glared at the Hennings family as they turned the corner.

The drive back home was uneventful as they piled into one of Clair's limousines for the ride back home. "Thank you, Mr. Brewster, for the ride home. This limousine is amazing." Ms. Hennings said as she took her seat next to her husband. "So why don't you take a limo to school?" Lydia asked Claire. "Honestly, it's too flashy and my dad never drives anything except the Rolls Royce." She answered. "That's enough of my quirks young lady." Mr. Brewster piped in, startling Claire slightly. Everyone laughed at the comedic timing of the scenario for a short while until Prudence turned back to Bertha and said, "We sure missed you, Bertha. Those two weeks were kinda boring while you were gone." Lydia, Claire and Ben all rolled their eyes in unison, realizing that her statement was far from the truth. "So what was the tourney like?" Ben asked sporting off his new leather hat. "It was so awesome." Bertha responded excitedly. "There were around three hundred people there all set to play Drakenfield. The tournament started off with some preliminary rounds to eliminate competitors down to fifty. After that the real tournament began. It was a two loss elimination circuit." "What does that mean?" Claire innocently asked. "Oh, that means if you lose twice you're eliminated from the tournament." Prudence stated for her friend. Bertha smiled at her friend and continued her explanation. "The competition was fierce, and the other players were good. The way the game's developer designed the tournament was that he had a custom rug done with the design of an enormous island. I mean it was huge, big enough to allow each player to sit at a table on it and identify the land mass they were playing on. The rules during the semi finals explained why he did that." "So what was with the giant island rug?" Lydia asked slightly confused. "If you used a field card identical to the land mass you were standing on during play, your monsters and characters took only half damage. Sort of like a field bonus for playing in the right area." "I'll bet that made it interesting." Prudence stated as Ben whistled his mild interest.

"So what did you get for second place?" Claire asked curiously. "About thirty five hundred dollars." Ms. Hennings blurted out. All of the limo's occupants other than the driver and Ms. Hennings opened their eyes wide as they turned their gaze back to Bertha. "All of that for a tournament?" Claire asked surprised. "Yah, but the champion got ten thousand dollars and the title 'World Drakenfield Champion'." Bertha answered solemnly. "He probably has that much in cards." Lydia said under her breath so that everyone could hear her. Laughter could be heard muffled from the outside of the limousine as it pulled up to Prudence's house. They all bid good bye to their friends before continuing on to Bertha's house. After that, it was Ben's turn and he was dropped off at the side of the road closest to the woods. Lydia and her parents were the last to be dropped off. They waved good bye to the Brewsters as the limo drove off with Delia nearly heartbroken and whimpering, "please come back" to the limo.

Monday arrived and it was at the end of school when the girls got back together to discuss the tournament in detail, as well as her trip to Oregon. "As I said before, the tournament was awesome. Some of the players used cards that I've never even seen before and some even used cards from the newest expansion, 'Dawn's Awakening'. I was in geek heaven." Bertha explained with excitement. "I'll bet." Claire added with slight envy and enthusiasm of her own. Claire apparently was still jealous that Bertha was able to travel even though her parents could afford first class flights for the rest of her life. "My favorite deck was one this kid from Japan built. He utilized a collection called 'The Haunters'. They were ghosts that took possession of opposing creatures when defeated. It was awesome." Bertha continued. Claire became nervous at the mention of ghosts when Prudence noticed. "You know some of our best friends are technically ghosts." She blurted out to Claire. "That doesn't exactly help comfort me right now!" Claire whined. Bertha, Ben and Lydia began to laugh when they heard another kind laugh from outside the school gate.

The kid laughing was about an inch taller than Lydia, but was obviously of Russian decent, his accent thick as he spoke. "Oh, so these are the people you hang out vith, huh?" The kid looked about their age but had silver-white hair that spiked up near the top and was short enough to do so. He kept an heir of arrogance about him as he gazed at Bertha intently. "Little weaklings should not praise second place. Is failure, dah?" "Is failure, no! Who are you anyway?" Lydia shot at the mysterious kid. The kid suddenly looked as if he was star struck after Lydia stood up for Bertha. "That's Vadim Vasilyev. He's the World Drakenfeld Champion." Bertha stated in a kind of angry yet somber tone. "Yah, some champion." Ben mumbled under his breath. "The tourney's over mate. Why are y'all here?" "I came to humiliate weakling some more, but now I see new reason to be here." Vadim said while gracefully walking up to Lydia, obviously trying to make himself look handsome. "Forget it pal." Lydia blurted out angrily. "Not if you came here to humiliate my friend." "You should learn to pick better friends." He said as suave as he could. "Strong people like us should keep strong friends, dah." "I said 'forget it'." Lydia sternly said once again. Vadim backed off slightly and turned back to Bertha. "Fine, we settle this with our decks, dah." Bertha suddenly looked sheepish, as he suddenly put her in the spotlight. "Wha, what?" She stammered as Vadim continued his challenge. "If you win, I leave and give you title. If you lose, pretty girl goes on date with me." "Oh, great! I've just been shoved into an episode of the TV show." Bertha sighed while turning to her friend. "What makes you think you can challenge my friend for a date with me?" Lydia began to complain. "Do you mean to tell me that you are better player?" Vadim asked her. Lydia thought about it for a short while and realized that she wasn't going to get out of the situation unless they cooperated with him. Most likely, he'd just stick around until he either got his way or lost to any of them, and Bertha was the only one who knew the game inside and out. "I can't believe that I'm agreeing to this." Lydia grunted. She then turned toward Bertha and said to her, "Kick his butt."

They set up at Claire's house. The enclosed patio in the back yard was perfect for an event between two rivals. Bertha faced off against her adversary as both set their figures and bags of stones aside and then linked their field cards together to create the gameboard. Bertha decided to play a new battlefield she had acquired called "Dragonwing Castle Grounds" while he connected a field card called "Underworld Graveyard". The two were vastly different where the Castle Grounds utilized walls and labyrinth-like pathways, the Underworld Graveyard looked like it was a cemetery on a burning patch of ground. The two shuffled their decks and then handed them to their opponent to be cut. Once the decks were returned to their owners, they were ready to play. They drew their starting six cards and Bertha then picked up the fourteen stones from her reserve as indicated on her field card while Vadim took sixteen from his.

"Lady's first." Vadim said as he gestured to Bertha in a cocky manner. "Uh, thanks." Bertha said as she drew her first card from the top of her deck. She was nervous this time around, even more so than she was at the tournament. "I'll place Life Stone on space C-nine. Then I'll play two 'Dragon Kids', one in D-eight and one in C-four." Bertha announced as she took four of her summoning stones and placed them back in the bag. "My characters suffer from summoning lag so I'll end my turn there." "I don't get it?" Ben said to Prudence. "With all of those walls why would she place her second 'Dragon Kid' so far away from her summoning stone? Why not place both of them to guard your stone?" Prudence looked back at Ben as she answered quietly, "Because of the Summoning Lag. She set up to move her attackers first turn and keep her defenders close by. By placing the soldier in C-four, he then has more of a straight shot to Vadim's field, where D-eight sets up for an ambush form an enclosed corridor." She answered him. Ben scratched his head under his hat as he thought about it, nearly hurting his brain. Vadim placed his Life stone while announcing his every move, just like Bertha had done before. After he played his own cards, the game was underway. Each not backing down and inching their way until the lead character was defeated. By the ninth turn, Bertha was ahead with ten summoning stones to his four until Vadim played a card that doubled his recharge rate for that turn. Suddenly, Bertha found herself against twenty stones to her ten and Vadim still having characters close in proximity to strike. By the time Vadim ended his turn, Bertha found herself at four stones with her turn just beginning. She drew the top card of her deck and gazed to behold her favorite character, the "Diamond Aura Dragon", when the distinct sound of roaring flames could be heard in the room. The sound seemed as if it was coming from far off in the distance of Claire's property just beyond the predicted range of sealed ground for Grimnak's portal. Lo and behold, Grimnak came sauntering through wicked smile on his face as he approached the group.

"What? I thought he couldn't come back!" Prudence exclaimed as she began to make out the silhouette. "I must only seal off a certain area outside. He must have placed a gate as close as he could without crossing boundaries." Ben deduced. Lydia looked back at the frightened and somewhat ignorant Vadim. "We can't fight with him here. We need to find a way to get him out of here before we do anything." Lydia whispered to Ben. By the time she had finished speaking to Ben, Geimnak began picking up the pace and burst out into a dead sprint to keep from wasting too much time. "What do we do?" Prudence whispered to Lydia. When Grimnak thought that he was close enough, he slowed down and noticed the game still in progress. "So," He smiled wickedly, "You like games huh?" He then waved his hands around and focused on one of the tiny plastic figurines on the game board until it flinched and began to move. Inevitably it jumped off of its stand and made its way to Grimnak's side. The figurine was of one of Bertha's little dragons she had called "Demonic Flamebringer Dragon". The black scaled plastic dragon began to grow in size until it was three times the size of Grimnak himself. Black flames began spewing out of its mouth as it began to scream in a high pitched tone as it stood on all four legs with dull bronze claws. Its crimson red eyes glistening like small pools of blood with but a single eerie green slit for its pupil. The gnashing white teeth clunking back together as it snapped its long thin mouth shut. Its horns the same dull bronze as its claws and tail spikes and razor spines along its back.

"You children have been a thorn in my side ever since the first day my brother came to you. This time however, I won't make the same mistake of letting you two transform." He said gesturing to both Ben and Lydia. "Now it's time for all of you to die." Suddenly, the space from behind the group began warping until it formed the dragon's gate Merlin used. Relief washed over the children when the old wizard hobbled through shouting, "Be on your guard children, Grimnak is..." He had finally noticed that his warning was too late after his dragon gate had dissipated. Lydia, trying desperately to maintain what little normality she had left, gently slapped her right palm into her face, covering her eyes and began to silently cry as she said "goodbye" to her once slightly normal life.

Merlin noticed the black dragon rearing to pounce on its prey at its master's request and threw an object at Bertha while shouting, "Catch!" Bertha caught the small object by the chain and finally noticed that it was some sort of strange medallion with a circular aquamarine jewel around an inch and a half in diameter. The jewel was set into the medallion like the glass of a mirror, flush with the silver ornate lining. "What is it?" Bertha shouted back to Merlin only to see him shrug his shoulders in response gesturing "not a clue" back to her.

Grimnak seemed to pay no attention to the small silver medallion and smirked as he set to command his new pet dragon. Ben had set to transform back into Beetlejuice to prepare to fight the large beast until Bertha looked around and spotted her Diamond Aura Dragon figurine. Thinking quickly, she snatched it from the game board and placed it on the medallion thinking to herself "please work" and then shut her eyes, shouting "We need your help, Diamond Aura Dragon!" She pictured the dragon clearly in her head, its fierce sharp teeth, its diamond sharp claws, the shining, glittering wings and its majestic diamond colored scales. The harder she concentrated, the more the creature came into her reality. The dragon was clearly taller than the Demonic Flambringer Dragon of Grimnak's, and its roar rang as if through a valley of singing crystals. Once the dragon made its call, Bertha broke her concentration and opened her eyes seeing her prize dragon come to life. The rest of the girls stared in awe as the sun reflected off of the dragons scales like a living diamond. The creature turned to look at Bertha with its right eye, the wisdom and ferocity evident in its gaze, the desire to protect and serve its controller reflecting with the sunlight. Grimnak thought how impossible such a feat was from a mere human as he beheld the most magnificent creature he had ever seen stand on two legs in front of him. He then pushed back his fear and wonder now desiring the medallion held by the tall, skinny girl. "Kill them!" He shouted seconds before the demonic dragon lunged forward. The Diamond Aura Dragon stepped in and held it back, the two dragons now pushing against each other for dominance.

Bertha and her friends looked on in disbelief and wonder at the two warring titans as Bertha's dragon began to push Grimnak's dragon back, overpowering it. Suddenly it gave one massive heave and lifted the hulking black dragon over its head before throwing it twenty feet away on its back. Bertha then saw her opportunity, an attempt to look epic in front of her friends. She lowered her eyebrows, threw out her right hand to aim her outstretched hand to the intended target and shouted, "Time to finish it off, Prism Blaze!" According to her thoughts, the Diamond Aura Dragon lifted its head high into the air and opened its mouth as its majestic call rang out once again. Pearl-white flames then began to pour out of its mouth before it thrusted its gaze back to the demonic dragon. It thrusted its head in its target's direction as if it needed to throw the flames that came gushing out of its mouth at it. The pearl-white flames spread over the dragon and even out to cover Grimnak. Grimnak screamed in agony as the doppelganger burned to ash and the dragon shrank back to its original form as the little one and half inch tall figurine.

Moments later after all of the excitement calmed down, the dragon gave one last call and then began to shine brighter than ever before gently bursting into what looked like diamond dust that then gently fell like light snow falling to the ground. The scene was so gorgeous that everyone simply stood and allowed the beauty to wash over them. During the silence, Vadim snuck up beside Bertha and said gently to her, "How you do this? Is amazing." Bertha turned slightly defeated to him and simply said, "It's kinda hard to explain." "You held back at tournament, didn't you?" He added. She shot her eyes open in surprise. "I could tell. Is real reason I followed you home. I want real challenge from fierce competitor. Sorry for being prideful." Rather than saying anything back to him, Bertha simply turned her gaze back at the shining dust gently floating down around them, a bright forgiving smile on her face. "He's taking this whole thing awfully well." Ben whispered to Lydia. Lydia simply returned his claim with a slight nod telling him the she didn't want to answer any questions.

The next day, Vadim decided to go back home with his head held high and a secret in his heart while the others were at school. Bertha kept her prize dragon close by her during that day for good luck, while also keeping the medallion Merlin gave her around her neck. Once school was out, they'd all have their questions answered.

End of Season 2 Episode 9