Chapter 43- High(er) Stakes Duel

Drake: 4000

Fiend: 4000

The fiend continued to smile evilly. "So, have you enjoyed your past Shadow Games?"

Drake frowned, a little confused. "No, I can't say I have."

"Oh, that's a shame, but that's also a good thing."

"Huh?"

"Since it's no fun doing the same thing over and over again, as you have, I thought that I would make a few changes… keh keh keh…"

"Uh oh, evil laugh." Drake turned to the others. "This can't be- hey, where'd Julie go?" Everyone turned around.

"She's not here!" Flynn said. "She was right behind me!"

"Oh, shoot." Brooklyn said. "I don't like this new thing already… it makes people disappear!"

"She isn't gone!" the fiend said. "I said there would be a new twist to this game… here it is!" The wall of the room slid back. By some strange power of the realm, Julie had been transported behind it. She was now chained to the wall inside the new little room that had been revealed. She looked confused.

"What's going on?!?" she said. "How the hell did I get over here?!?"

"The new twist is this! Instead of you taking damage to support your monsters and absorb the attacks, all damage will be deflected to your friend over there! And, if that wasn't enough, just for fun, every time you take 100 points of damage, a small, nontoxic dart will be shot out of that barrel over there…" The fiend pointed to a large rotary barrel on the other side of the room. "…and into a nonfatal part of your friend! There are 40 darts total, so they'll shoot until you run out of life points. And the last one has a particularly large tip, long enough to pierce the heart, and is also coated in a particularly slow-working and fatal poison. So, when you lose the duel, before you lose your soul, you'll get the fun of watching the slow, tragic demise of your friend! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Your sick!"

"What do you expect? I'm a fiend. I'm supposed to be evil."

"But this is particularly sick."

"Thank you."

"I think I'll let you go first."

"Fine then! I can win easy." The fiend drew a card.

Drake looked at Julie. She looked back at him. Don't worry, Julie. Drake thought. I'll save you if I have to fight through hell or the nearest equivalent.

"Ahem, it is my turn." The fiend said. Drake turned his gaze to him. "I think I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then, my turn." Drake drew his card. I have to win this as fast as possible. I can't let Julie get hurt any more than she already has been. So, let's see… "I summon my Queen's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1500/1600) in attack mode! Attack his facedown monster!"

"Ha! That was The Thing in the Crater! When he's destroyed, I get to special summon any Pyro-Type monster from my hand. So, I'll bust out my Twin-Headed Beast (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1700/1900) in attack mode."

"Oh. Well, I'll just set a card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then! I draw…" He smiled evilly. "This should make things interesting… I activate Hinotama! This card deals 500 points of damage to your life points!"

Drake: 3500

Fiend: 4000

"No!" Drake said, and looked quickly at Julie. The rotary barrel had begun to spin, and it fired five shots with nearly no sound. Julie screamed as five little darts imbedded themselves in her exposed right arm. Little droplets of her blood began to fall from the small wounds. "You bastard…"

"Ha! I see that you don't like it. That's good, it'll make this more fun! Now, I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown!"

"I'll just activate it, Rush Recklessly! Now the Queen's Knight gains 700 attack points, so you can't destroy her (2200)."

"Fine then. I'll just set a card, summon Darkfire Soldier (Fire/Pyro, 1700/1150) in attack mode, and end my turn."

"Okay. My turn." Drake drew his card. I have to win this before I take any more damage. Otherwise, Julie will get hurt even more. "I summon my King's Knight (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1600/1400) in attack mode!"

"So? Neither he nor your woman can take down my beast!"

"Ah, but when she's on the field and I summon the King's Knight, I can special summon the Jack's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1600) from my deck!"

"Oh! No fair!"

"Oh, it's fair! Jack's Knight, attack his Beast!"

Drake: 3500

Fiend: 3800

"At least you can't break through my Soldier…"

"You have one turn until I do. I end my turn."

"Fine then! I draw…" He smiled. "Look's like it's time to burn! I activate Final Flame! This deals 600 damage to your life points!"

"Not again!"

Drake: 2900

Fiend: 3800

The rotary barrel began to spin again and fired six more darts, five into Julie's right arm and another into her left. She screamed again as each dart hit her individually, and her head went limp after the last shot. Drake gave the fiend a venomous stare.

"You bitch… fight the person you're dueling, not his friends!"

"Ah, but this is much more fun! I love the pain I know you're feeling!"

"Asshole… I'll kill you!"

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait, as it is my turn. Now, I'll summon my Blazing Inpachi (Fire/Pyro, 1850/0) in attack mode! Darkfire Soldier, attack his King's Knight!"

Drake: 2800 Fiend: 3800

"Now, Inpachi, destroy the Queen's Knight!"

Drake: 2450

Fiend: 3800

The rotary barrel began to spin again, and fired three more darts into Julie's right arm. She screamed in pain again, then slumped back down. More little drops of her blood dropped from her new wounds and hit the ground. Drake snarled at the fiend.

"You're dead."

"Not yet. And I doubt I will be. Look at the life points! I'm thrashing you."

"Not for long. Are you done?"

"Of course not. I'll set a facedown so that Knight can't break in."

"Fine." Drake drew his card. "I summon my Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700), then 'Space' your facedown card!"

"Grr… that was Mirror Force."

"I know, that's why I spaced it! Now, Jack's Knight, destroy the Blazing Inpachi!"

Drake: 2450

Fiend: 3750

"Now, Skilled Dark Magician, destroy his Darkfire Soldier!"

Drake: 2450

Fiend: 3550

"I set another card and end my turn."

"Fine then. I'll just have to break it." The fiend top-decked a card. "I play Pot of Greed! Now, I'll just draw two cards…" He grinned evilly again as he drew the cards. "Aw, looks like it'll be more pain and suffering for your girlfriend! I activate Ookazi, which will do 800 more damage to you!"

Drake: 1650

Fiend: 3750

The rotary barrel resumed its spinning motion and fired eight more darts. Five more hit Julie's right arm, and two laced her left leg, but the last dart climbed and hit her in the stomach. She began thrashing against the chains that held her and screaming in pain. Drake felt like he was about to explode, the fiend had said that it would only hit her in nonfatal areas! "You jackass, you lied!"

The fiend shrugged but was smiling evilly again. "It's a rotary barreled machine gun, of course one or two of the shots are going to go off target. Not my fault."

"You could have gotten an accurate weapon for this!"

"Watching you squirm as your little girlfriend gets slowly killed is more fun, though! And I'm a fiend, I want to see this kind of stuff. Now, I'll set another monster and end my turn."

"It had better be good, for what I have in store to rip you apart with." Drake said. "I sacrifice my Skilled Dark Magician with three spell counters in order to special summon Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) from my hand in attack mode! Then, I'll use him to pick apart your facedown monster!"

"Hehe… UFO Turtle, which will now allow me to special summon one Fire attribute monster with 1500 or less attack points to my side of the field in attack mode. So, I'll call out a second UFO Turtle (Fire/Machine/Effect, 1400/1200)!"

"And I will gladly cut it down! Jack's Knight, attack his Turtle!"

Drake: 1650

Fiend: 3250

"And now, since you destroyed him, I can special summon another monster! So, I'll call out my Solar Flare Dragon (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1500/1000) in attack mode! And now, your turn should be over!"

"It is."

"Then let the destruction begin!" The fiend drew a card. "This is exactly what I wanted! I remove the Darkfire Soldier in my Graveyard to special summon my Spirit of Flames (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1700/1000) in attack mode! Now that he's on the field, you are unable to attack my Flare Dragon! And, during my Battle Phase, the Spirit gains 300 attack points! So, I'll destroy that annoying Jack's Knight!"

Drake: 1550

Fiend: 3250

There was a little pift as the rotary barrel fire another dart. It hit Julie just above the last one, climbing a little higher on her stomach. That bastard, he's doing this on purpose! Drake thought. If it gets any higher, it'll be fatal! He returned his focus to the fiend. "Are you done?"

"Yes, and because I am, my Flare Dragon does 500 damage to your life points!"

"No!"

Drake: 1050

Fiend: 3250

Five more darts fired out of the rotary barrel and hit Julie in her left leg again. She convulsed impulsively and screamed out in pain again. "Make it stop… make it stop…" Drake heard her moan. She sounded like she was losing consciousness.

"Julie! Hang on!" Drake shouted. Okay, need a big play. Let's see… Drake drew another card. "Come on, special summoning cards… this'll do. I activate my Knight's Title in order to sacrifice Dark Magician to summon Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100) in attack mode. And because he was special summoned, I get to destroy any card on the field! Like your Spirit!"

"No! Now my Dragon is vulnerable!"

"Got that right, and I have just the right attack battery to finish you off this turn! I summon my Mpirian Warrior (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1500/1200) in attack mode! Now, I can special summon as many more as I can! So, I call two more from my deck."

"No!"

"Oh, yes! Your torturing days are over. Dark Magician Knight, attack the Flare Dragon!"

Drake: 1050

Fiend: 3250

"Now, Mpirian Warriors, finish him!"

Drake: 1050

Fiend: 0

The fiend exploded, as usual. Drake ran over to Julie, ripped the chains off (they were actually kinda rusty), and held Julie in his arms. "Are you okay?" He whispered in her ear.

"Ugh…I…" Julie fainted. Drake yanked the darts out of her body. There seemed to be purple dots surrounding the small wounds. Drake wondered what they were.

"Drake, we need to get moving! Get out of there!" Brooklyn shouted.

"Right! Uh, why?"

"Because I can hear the fiends coming, and there's a lot of them!"

"Okay!" Drake jumped down from the little alcove, carrying Julie's body in both arms. Flynn and Brooklyn had followed him across the room. He walked up to them. "I think something was wrong with those darts… she's breaking out into purple spots."

Brooklyn looked troubled. "I don't know what that is, but it can't be good. Let's move." He turned to go down the hallway and met up with several fiends. He opened fire with his laser and began to back away. Drake threw Julie's body over his shoulder, unslung his AK-74su and opened fire. He began to back away as the fiends kept coming, and ran into another wall of fiends. He ducked and opened fire on them, but then a strong claw grabbed him from behind. Julie's body slid off his shoulder. Another hand knocked his rifle to the ground as he raised it. The first hand lifted him off the ground.

A fiend had grabbed every one of them. An intelligent fiend was smirking in the background. "Good, very good. The boss will be very pleased to have them alive. He wanted them to be out of the way, and now he can put them out of the way permanently… all by himself. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The fiend continued laughing for a while. Drake struggled against his fiend captor. He received a gash on his arm for his troubles. "Don't even bother trying to escape. Without that freak to help you, you are completely helpless while those fiends are holding you. Now, I shall bring you to the boss and he will remove your souls! Then, he will finally be able to focus on taking over the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"