Chapter 33- In it for the Long Haul
Drake felt the sensation of teleportation- the blood rushing away from his face, the wind blowing past his face, and the sudden lack of energy. He appeared, it seemed, in the same room he had left, but, as neither Flynn nor Julie were there, he knew he must have gone somewhere. He stepped off the pad and Julie appeared. Still weak from her Shadow Games, she collapsed as soon as she came into view. Drake caught her and Flynn appeared as soon as she had vacated the pad.
"Okay, now where are we?" Drake asked, helping Julie stand up.
"How should I know?" Flynn responded. The metal door slid open and four fiends came in. "Never mind that now, though!" He unslung his AK-47 mod and opened fire on the fiends, who had noticed that they were there and had begun to scramble for their AK rifles. Drake capped one in the stomach and it went down quickly. Julie managed to draw her M-16, but before she could shoot, all four fiends were already dead.
"Oh, yeah, Julie never picked up a new weapon. How much ammo do you have left Julie?" Drake asked. She stuck her hands into her pockets and pulled out a few clips.
"Only about one clip left. But I've probably already used a little of it." She said.
"Take an AK." Flynn said. Julie took one of the fiend's mod-less AK-47 rifles and slung it next to her M-16. "Now, who wants to stick their head our into the hallway to see if they sent a reception committee?" Drake walked to the door, put his back to the wall adjacent to the doorway, and peeked around in both directions. There were no fiends in sight.
"All clear." He said. Julie and Flynn moved out of the room and headed towards opposite ends of the hall.
"It's a dead end over here." Julie said.
"I've got about thirty fiends this way." Flynn said. He opened the breech of his rifle mod and pushed a cylinder into the hole. Drake and Julie got up next to him. Flynn pointed his rifle around the corner and pulled the trigger on his grenade launcher. Several of the fiends were killed by the explosion, and several more were burned badly. Drake whipped around the corner and opened fire with his SU. Julie wasn't far behind him. Between the two of them they spread fiendish guts all over the chamber.
"Just like Staples." Drake commented.
"Huh?"
" 'That was easy.'"
"Oh, ha ha." They walked into the huge chamber. There was a multitude of hallways branching off.
"Oh, lovely, they gave us so many wonderful choices!" Flynn said with an air of facetiousness. Drake looked at each passage. As his eyes passed the second-to-last hallway, he could have sworn he saw the form of the Matt-spirit, pointing down it, but his eyes were moving so fast that they passed over it before he could confirm that it was in fact Matt.
"This way." Drake said.
"Hmm?" Flynn said.
"I think I saw Matt pointing this way."
"You know what I've been thinking?" Flynn said.
"What?" Julie said.
"Did you ever think that this Matt-spirit that we've been seeing is just a trick of the Shadow Realm?"
"What do you mean?" Drake asked.
"Maybe whoever is running this entire operation is actually using his form to trick us into going the wrong way, towards our demise. Did you ever think of that? Because when we spoke to the Matt-spirit back at the soul gate he differently than I've heard Matt speak. He never used a contraction, and he could have."
"Hmm…" Drake hadn't thought about that. "No, I never thought about that. I just assumed that it was Matt. He's been helping us this whole time, through our duels and everything."
"I'm not sure… did you ever see him then?"
"Not as solidly as he was back there at the soul gate."
"My point proven. Maybe we shouldn't follow him this time."
"No." Julie said. "We should follow it, I think, no matter what. I can just feel it. It's Matt, or something that retains his personality and his desire to help us."
"Oh, fine." Flynn said. "Don't say I didn't warn you if something goes wrong." They walked down the hallway that the Matt-spirit had indicated. They continued along the passage, killing the fiends who opposed them and following the Matt-spirit where the path split. Drake suddenly realized that they hadn't seen an intelligent fiend in a while. The lack of them was starting to unnerve him. Finally, after fighting their way through at least five rooms full of fiends, an intelligent fiend confronted them.
"You have done well to make it so far." He said. "But here your adventure will end. I challenge… you! With the AK-47 mod!" He dramatically pointed at Flynn.
"Very well." Flynn said, and activated his duel disk.
"Let's duel!"
Flynn: 4000Fiend: 4000
"I shall begin." Said the fiend. "I activate my Mystic Plasma Zone spell card! With it, every dark attribute monster in play gains 500 attack points and loses 400 defense points. Then, I summon my Mad Dog of Darkness (Dark/Beast, 1900/1400) in attack mode, then set one card face down. That's all."
"Hmm." Flynn drew a card. "I set one monster in defense mode…"
"And I'll use this opportunity to play my Deck Devastation Virus! With it, I sacrifice a Dark-attribute monster with 2000 or more attack points and then I am allowed to destroy all monsters on your side of the field, every monster in your hand, and every monster you draw for the next three turns with less than 1500 attack points is automatically destroyed!"
"Grr…" Flynn sent his face down monster and one card from his hand to the graveyard. "I set two cards and end my turn."
"My turn, then!" The fiend drew his card. "I activate my Bait Doll spell card! When it's activated, I force the activation of one of your facedown cards! If the activation requirements of the card have not been met, it is destroyed! I select… your left card!"
"Oh well. That was my Waboku trap card, which can activate anyway. So now its effect activates."
"Yes, but now my Bait Doll returns to the bottom of my deck.'
"Unlikely that you'll get to use it again."
"True, but I might just shuffle the deck… but not yet! For now, I summon Zombrya the Dark (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2100/1000) in attack mode, and set another card facedown. That's all."
"Alright, then, my turn." Flynn drew his card.
"Remember, if it has less than 1500 attack points it's destroyed!"
"Hm. Not really." Flynn showed the fiend his Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"Well, no, I guess that wouldn't be destroyed." Drake said. "It's just a little beyond 1500 attack points."
"So, I'll continue. I summon my Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode, then equip it with my Axe of Despair! Now it gains some more attack… enough to kill Zombrya! Go, Luster Dragon, destroy Zombrya the Dark!"
Flynn: 4000Fiend: 3700
"Oh well." The fiend shrugged. "I have many more monsters than just him."
"And I have more monsters than just than just the ones you destroyed with Devastation Virus. But for now, I end my turn."
"And I will begin mine!" The fiend drew a card. "I activate my face-down Call of the Haunted. I'll use it to bring back Mad Dog of Darkness… not that it matters, because I'm going to sacrifice him for The End of Anubis (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2500/0)! And while he's on the field, our graveyards cannot be affected by effects!"
"Oh well."
"Damn it, flinch a little, at least!"
"No."
"Fine then, End of Anubis, attack his Dragon!"
Flynn: 3900Fiend: 3700
Flynn frowned. "That wasn't very nice."
"Ha! And do you think I care?"
"I doubt it."
"I set another card facedown and end my turn."
"I hate when this guy plays facedowns." Julie said. "They always do something bad."
"My turn." Flynn said. He drew a card. "I activate Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two new cards."
"Show me! Do they have less than 1500 attack points?" The fiend shouted.
"No." Flynn showed him two more Blue-Eyes.
"How many do you have of those?!?"
"Three. And look where they all are!" Flynn showed him that he now held three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. "And I activate my face down card, Polymerization! I fuse three Blue-Eyes to form Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (Light/Dragon/Fusion, 4500/3800)!!!"
"On crap!"
"Yeah, that kind of sucks for you. Ultimate Dragon, destroy the End of Anubis!"
Flynn: 3900 Fiend: 2200"Now, with no cards in my hand, I'm done."
"Grr…" the fiend drew a card. "Hm. I play my own Pot of Greed!" He slid two more cards from his deck to his hand. Then, I activate Fissure, which will destroy your only monster! Then I summon Giant Orc (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2200/0) in attack mode, and play Final Attack Orders! As long as this card remains on the field, all face-up monsters must remain in attack mode!"
"Damn, he just blocked Orc's main weakness." Drake said.
"Huh?" Julie said.
"When Orc attacks, it goes to defense mode. But, while Final Attack Orders is on the field, he can't, so he remains in attack mode, and if you haven't noticed, that is vastly superior to his other side."
"Ah."
"Giant Orc, attack this fool directly!"
Flynn: 1200Fiend: 2200
Flynn groaned and staggered a little.
"There, that's better." The fiend said. "Finally got a flinch out of you. And I assure you, you will fall next time I attack. I end my turn."
Flynn drew his card. "Not quite." Flynn said. Drake thought Flynn's voice sounded a little hoarse. "I activate Card of Sanctity, which will allow us to each refresh our hands to six cards." They both drew more cards. "Then, I play my own Monster Reborn on Ultimate Dragon."
"Not him again!" The fiend groaned. "Hm. No matter. Next turn I'll destroy him, summon another monster, attack, and win!"
"Again, not quite. I sacrifice him to summon the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (Light/Dragon/Effect, 3000/2500)!"
"Why would you get rid of a better monster for that?!?"
"Because now he gains 300 attack points for every dragon in the graveyard. And I have… let's see… seven dragons in my graveyard, so he gains 2100 attack points, which gives him a grand total of 5100, just enough to wipe you out!"
"NO!!!"
"Yes! BLUE-EYES SHINING DRAGON, DESTROY HIM!!!"
Flynn: 1200Fiend: 0
The fiend exploded, as usual. Flynn turned to the other two.
"That's all. Let's get moving." He said. "Before they send anyone else, if you please." They set out again, down another hallway, wondering what could happen next.