Chapter 19- There's Always a First Time

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 4000

"I will begin." Said the Fiend. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then." Drake said. "I draw, then activate my Nobleman of Crossout spell card! I'll use it to remove your face-down monster from play." The fiend's face-down monster flickered and vanished. He frowned. "Then, I summon Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1500) in attack mode!" Suddenly, Drake felt short of breath. Something seemed to be sapping the energy out of him. He staggered where he stood for a moment, then regained his composure. "What was that?" he said softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention that this was going to be a Shadow Game?" the fiend said. Matt scowled.

"What's up?" Keith asked.

"Shadow Games are a pain in the ass. In order to maintain a monster, a player must use his own life force. If at any time the player cannot keep them supported, the player will die. So, to keep himself alive, Drake may have to not summon a monster sometimes. And also, if a monster is destroyed, it causes considerable pain to the owner. Only people who are accustomed to them can survive them, because playing multiple Shadow Games increases a person's vitality and energy stores." Matt said.

"Have you played one?" Flynn said.

"Yes. It was hell."

"In any case." Drake said. "I'm going to place a face-down, then attack directly."

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 2200

"I end my turn."

"Good, then I can end you!" The fiend drew a card. "I play Card Destruction. With it, we both discard our hands-"

"I know what it does, get on with it!" Drake said, breathing hard.

"Oh, look at the poor rookie, can't even survive one minute in a Shadow Game." The fiend said mockingly. He tossed his hand into the graveyard and drew five more cards. Drake drew four. "Now I activate Soul Release. It allows me to remove up to five monsters from either or both graveyards. So, I remove my Dark Lucius Lv. 8 Earth, Dark Ruler Ha Des, and Invader of Darkness. Then I activate Dimension Fusion! Now, by paying 2000 life points, we can both Special Summon as many monsters as possible that have been removed from the game."

Drake: 4000 Fiend: 300

"So I Special Summon Dark Lucius Lv. 8 (Earth/Fiend/Effect, 2800/900), Dark Ruler Ha Des (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2450/1600), and Invader of Darkness (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2900/2500) from my removed area! Then, I'll use my Dark Lucius to destroy your Dark Blade!"

"I activate Waboku! Now you won't do any damage."

"I'll activate my Dian Keto the Cure Master, Poison of the Old Man, and Emergency Provisions to give myself an extra 4200 life points."

"Huh? How?"

"First, Dian Keto gives me 1000 life points. Then, I chain my Poison of the Old Man to regain 1200 life points. Finally, I chain my Emergency Provisions to send those two cards to the graveyard and regain 2000 life points."

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 4500

"Man, and just when he was on the brink of death." Keith said.

"Okay." Drake said. "My turn." He drew a card. I gotta do something soon… I feel tired…almost tired enough to fall asleep. Drake shook his head. I can't do that to my friends! I gotta keep fighting…

"Ha! Is he losing it already?" the Shadow Realm fiend said. "He's weaker than I expected."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I gotta take my turn." Drake contemplated over the contents of his hand. One of the cards caught his eye. Where did I get this? He thought. I don't remember ever getting that… time to give it a test drive. "First, I play Pot of Greed! Then, I sacrifice Dark Blade to summon Dark Magician Girl (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1700) and then activate Sage's Stone! With it, I can Special Summon my Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100)!"

"So? He can't harm me."

"Oh, contraire, he can, for now I activate Knight's Title! I sacrifice Dark Magician to Special Summon Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100)! With his effect, I can destroy one card on the field, like Invader of Darkness!"

"So? Even though he was my best monster, you still can't break through Dark Lucius Lv. 8!"

Time to use this new card, Drake thought. "I activate Magical Union!"

"You activate what?"

"Ah, Magical Union." Matt said. "Fun card."

"What does it do?" Flynn asked.

"Just watch."

"I can only activate Magical Union when I have Dark Magician Girl and a Dark Magician variant, like Knight, on the field. Then, I'm allowed to send one Dark Magician from my hand, deck or field to the graveyard, or remove one in my graveyard from play, to special summon another Dark Magician variant. So, I'll send a Dark Magician from my Deck to the graveyard to Special Summon my Dark Magician of Chaos (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2800/2600)!"

"Not him!" groaned the shadow realm fiend.

"Oh, yes it is him, and now, since he has made an appearance, I can recycle one spell card. So, I think I'll bring back this: Monster Reborn! I activate it, and it allows me to bring back my old Dark Blade!"

"But, even if you destroy Dark Lucius, you can't do enough damage to defeat me! Next turn, I'll play my own Monster Reborn, bring back Invader, and destroy you!"

"Not…true." Drake panted. The strain of supporting four monsters had just caught up to him. "I have a monster even better than Lucius."

"All you have is an equal." The fiend snorted. "You can't win."

"Show him!" Drake said. And suddenly, Drake's Dark Magician Girl was flanked by two Dark Magicians and a Magician of Black Chaos. "You forget Dark Magician Girl's special ability. She gains 300 attack points for every Dark Magician or Magician of Black Chaos in the graveyard. So, now she's at 2900…"

"No!"

"Yes." Drake said. "I may still come up short this turn, but you can only destroy one of my monsters. Then, I'll destroy your Invader and end the duel. Or, I can just do it now… by activating an equip spell, United We Stand! I'll use it on Dark Magician of Chaos, and it gives him 800 extra attack and defense points for every face-up monster on my side of the field. So, now that he has…what? Something like 7000 attack points? I can win this turn. Go, Dark Magician Girl, destroy his Dark Lucius!"

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 4100

"Now, Dark Magician Knight, destroy his Dark Ruler!"

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 4050

"Dark Blade and Dark Magician of Chaos, attack him directly!"

"No! I can't lose!"

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 0

As the fiend's life points hit zero, his duel disk arm began to glow. Then, it exploded in a burst of flames and organic material. Drake felt suddenly exhausted, as if he had just run about 15 miles without a break.

"Nice, Drake!" Keith said. Drake slowly walked off the duel stage, barely lifting his feet.

"I'm…tired." He said.

"I would expect you to be. Supporting four monsters in your first Shadow Game is difficult." Matt said. "But we need to get out of here, before more fiends arrive." He walked up to the metal sheet that had sealed one of the exits. He slid a small box-like object out of his pocket and attached it to the door, then pressed a few buttons on it and walked away. "You may want to take cover." Everyone slid behind the duel stage and laid down behind it except Matt. There was an explosion, then a small mushroom cloud, and the door was vaporized.

"What was that?" Drake asked, peeking out from behind the stage. Matt was standing on the duel stage, his hair all blown toward the back of his head by some wind and his face sporting one of the most maniacal grins Drake had ever seen.

"It was one of my special mini-nukes. Very useful stuff. I like the feeling of the wind blowing past my face, so I stand a little bit away. Let's get moving." He moved towards the now-nonexistent door, and pressed a few buttons near another door that had come down. It slid open to reveal a mass of people. One was wearing a blue uniform and raised a rifle. Then he opened fire.