Chapter 21- A Risky Decision

"Matt, don't you think it was a bad idea to let Julie do this by herself?" Drake asked. Why do I even bother asking? He thought. It's obvious that it was risky, not dueling for himself. She's got to be the worst duelist in the group. Could the fiend sense that?

"Obviously it was a risky choice. But I need you all to experience a Shadow Game. I can't be around to protect you from them, nor can I do them for you. In this situation, at least, the Shadow Game cannot be as intense."

"What do you mean?"

"While we are not in the Shadow Realm, a full Shadow Game can only be waged by a wielder of a Millennium Item. Thus, with no Millennium Items floating about, there can be no full-strength Shadow Games waged unless we enter the Shadow Realm. So, I need you all to be prepared at least a little in case we do have to enter the Shadow Realm."

"Oh."

"Let us begin." Said Helen.

"Okay, let's go." Julie said.

Julie: 4000

Helen (Possessed): 4000

"I shall go first." Prof. Helen said. She drew a card. "I set a monster in defense mode, then set a card face-down. I'll end my turn."

"My turn, then!" Julie said, and drew a card. "I activate Card Destruction! With it, we must both discard our entire hands, then draw as many cards as we discarded." She tossed all her cards into the graveyard and drew five new ones. Helen tossed her four cards and drew four more. "And, as I discarded my Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) and Sillva, Warlord Dark of World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400), I get to Special Summon both of them! And I also discarded a Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, so I get to draw a new card." She suddenly froze for a moment and clutched at her heart. "What… is this?"

"Shadow Game, Julie!" Drake said. "Brace yourself."

"Oh, right." She said. "I attack your face-down monster with Sillva!"

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor! This card destroys the monster you just attacked with." Helen said. Sillva exploded, and Julie cried out in pain. Then she regained her composure.

"Ow… okay. So, Goldd, attack her face-down monster!"

"Ha! That was my Man-Eater Bug, which will now destroy your last monster!" Both women cringed in pain as their monsters were destroyed.

"What's going on?" Drake said. "I thought you said that it only hurt to support the monsters, Matt."

"Well, it does, but it also causes you pain when your monster is destroyed, obviously, since it is only by you that they have form. So, though your monster will absorb most of the physical damage…"

"The player will also feel it?" Flynn said.

"Correct."

"That's not good."

"No, it isn't."

"My turn, now?" said Helen. "I summon Insect Knight (Earth/Insect, 1900/1500) in attack mode! Now, Insect Knight, attack her directly!"

Julie: 2100

Helen (Possessed): 4000

Julie cried out in pain again as the attack hit her. Then she coughed up some blood, much to Drake's surprise.

"What the hell? That never happened to me." He said.

"Of course not. You never got attacked directly." Matt said.

"You know, for someone whose soul is on the line, your pretty calm." Flynn said.

"Eh." Matt shrugged. "I'm not that important."

Everyone stared at him. "You're bizarre." Keith said. "Look at all you've done to save us, help us, and yet you say 'I'm not that important.'"

"So? It doesn't matter, focus on the duel."

"It's my turn." Julie said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She drew a card. "I activate… cough…my Graceful Charity spell card. I'll draw three, and discard two…" She slipped two cards into her graveyard. "I discard another Goldd and another Broww. So, I special summon a good monster and get to draw another card. I summon my Cyber Soldier of Dark World (Dark/Machine, 1400/1200) in attack mode. Goldd, attack Insect Knight…"

Julie: 2100

Helen: (Possessed): 3600

"Now… cough…Cyber Soldier, attack directly."

Julie: 2100

Helen (Possessed): 2200

"Okay, I'll set a card… and end my turn…"

"She looks terrible, can't we pull her out?" Keith said.

"No. If you try to get her out of there, the game might kill you to keep itself going. It has to go to conclusion, whatever the cost to the players, unfortunately." Matt said.

"Very well, you puny human, it is now my turn." Helen drew her card. "I summon Pinch hopper in attack mode, but I'm going to play Insecticide and kill all insect-type on the field. And when Pinch hopper is sent to the graveyard, I can special summon any Insect type monster in my hand! So, I special summon my Metal Armored Bug (Earth/Insect, 2800/1500)! Now, destroy the Cyber Soldier!"

Julie: 700

Helen (Possessed): 2200

Julie fell to her knees, completely overwhelmed by the intense pain, and coughed up some more blood.

"She… she's dying…" Drake said, thoroughly disturbed, as Julie continued to cough up blood. "She's going to die in this duel…" Tears welled up in his eyes, and he hurriedly wiped them away. Matt closed his eyes (both of them, Drake could see the movement under the bandages). Julie, who had been looking at the ground, looked up, and seemed to see something in front of her. She reached out her hand and tried to grab something, and, to Drake's (and probably everyone else's, judging from their expressions) grabbed something hanging in the air that Drake couldn't see. The invisible thing helped her to her feet. She staggered, but something caught her, and helped to set her on her feet.

"Ha! Haven't you had enough?" said Helen. "You're going to die with this kind of stupidity."

Julie wiped the blood away from her mouth. "I… am going to win this."

"Ha! Ha! Hahahahahaha…" Helen almost broke down laughing. "You are barely alive, and you think you can win? You have one weak monster, and one facedown card that will never help you, because I'm going to destroy it right now with Mystical Space Typhoo. How can you possibly win?"

"I'm…going to win. I don't know how… but I will. My turn?" Julie drew her card. She stared at it for one moment, then gave another little cough. "I activate Mystic Wok. I'll sacrifice my Goldd to gain 2300 life points.

Julie: 3000

Helen (Possessed): 2200

"Gain all the life points you want, because next turn I summon another monster and kill you." Helen said.

"There… isn't going to be another turn for you."

"Huh?"

"I activate my Ritual Spell Card… End of the World…"

"NO!"

"YES!" Keith said. "End of the World! Wait, I've never heard of that card."

"Oh, just wait. It's a fun card." Flynn assured him.

"With End of the World, I have two options. I can Special Summon Demise, the King of Armageddon, or Ruin, Queen of Oblivion. Each has there own merits, but for this situation I'll need Demise. So, I send eight stars' worth of monsters to the graveyard and Special Summon Demise, King of Armageddon (Dark/Fiend/Ritual/Effect, 2400/2000)!"

"So? He's too weak to defeat my Metal Armored Bug?"

"He is? I activate his wonderful special ability. It allows me to pay 2000 life points…"

Julie: 1000

Helen (Possessed): 2200

"…in order to destroy every card on the field but himself."

"No! But that means…"

"Yeah… you lose. Demise, cause this fiend's demise! Attack directly now!"

Julie: 1000

Helen (Possessed): 0

As Helen's life points hit zero, her body collapsed and hit the floor hard. There was a burst of light and an intelligent shadow realm seemed to jump out of Helen's back. His duel disk began to glow just like the first one's, then it exploded and killed the beast. Julie stood still for a moment, then wavered and began to fall. Matt caught her.

"You did fine." He said gently. "Are you okay?" She groaned and went limp. Matt lowered her to the ground. "She'll be okay. She's just sleeping. She's been through a terrible ordeal."

"Yeah, I'll say, and you're the one who put her through it!" Drake said. "If you had just dueled for yourself, then she wouldn't have almost died like that!"

"I realize that you are angry at me. I would say that your anger is at least partially justified. But she needed to experience it. She may have to do it again. So might all of you. I need you to be ready. Here, at least, I can help you. You saw what happened after she had run out of endurance."

"Huh?" Keith said. "What are you talking about?"

"When she was down… near death, she looked up, remember? I called her name."

"What are you talking about? You lost us." Flynn said. "You never said anything to her. You never left your position right here."

"I physically didn't. But my spirit did. I sent my spirit out there… to give her the strength to go on, when all hope was lost and she couldn't take any more."

"What? How the hell do you do that?"

"I have acquired a few nifty little tricks here and there." Matt said evasively. "But now is not the time to talk about it. While we are here, we are vulnerable. We need to get out of here. We have two bodies to haul."

"Two? Oh, right." Keith noticed the prone form of Helen. "You want to get her out of here?"

"Yeah. That way, they can't re-possesses her." Matt reached down and scooped up Julie's body again. "Someone else will have to take Helen."

"I'll do it." Flynn said. He slung his M-203 and hoisted Helen's limp form over his shoulder. "Let's roll."

"Yes, let's."