Chapter 27- Beat Up and Broken Down
Drake watched Julie fall and felt a stabbing pain in his own heart that had nothing to do with the Shadow Game. No… He thought. She can't be… she couldn't have… no! Slowly Drake fell to his knees, feeling hopeless. He knew she was dead, there was no reason trying to deny it. And now that she was, he couldn't feel anymore. Not the soft breeze, not the heat from the lava, not the weight of his duel disk and cards. Julie was dead, and life for Drake had lost some meaning.
"No…" Flynn said. "This isn't good."
"Ha! I told you one of your number would be going down." Said the first fiend smugly. "I'm done, and so are you!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 3500
Helen: 4000
First Fiend: 4000
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
"It's… it's my turn." Helen said, tearing up a little. "I'll… flip my Man-Eater Bug, which will destroy the Flame Cerebus with its special effect."
"Don't forget that because of my Backfire card, you take 500 damage!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 3500
Helen: 3500
First Fiend: 4000
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
"Aaaaaugh…fine…I'll sacrifice my Bug for the Ultimate Insect Lv. 5 (Wind/Insect/Effect, 2300/900) in attack mode and activate my Forest Spell Card. This not only removes your Molten Destruction Spell…" The lava that had come from the volcano receded into the ground. Trees began to spring up around them. "…and reduces the attack of all your fire monsters, but it also grants all of my insects 200 extra attack points. (2500) Go, Ultimate Insect, destroy his Inferno."
Drake: 4000Flynn: 3500
Helen: 3500
First Fiend: 2600
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
"Again you take damage from the Backfire!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 3500
Helen: 3000
First Fiend: 2600
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
"I'll end my turn there."
"Fine then! That makes it my turn." The second fiend drew a card. "Let's see… I'll sacrifice my Mega Thunderball and summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (Light/Thunder/Effect, 2400/1000)! And when he's tribute summoned successfully, I'm allowed to destroy one monster on the field! So, the 'Ultimate Insect' is histroy!"
"No! That was my only monster."
"Yes it was, and now I'll use Zaborg's awesome might to attack your life points directly!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 3500
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2600
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
Helen screamed and grabbed the center of her chest. The fiend smirked. "That will be all. It's time for the red guy to go."
Drake didn't respond. As far as he was concerned, he was no longer a part of the duel. He didn't want anything to do with life anymore. He wanted to just curl up into a corner and die. Then at least he could join Julie. I… I can't go on. I guess that one Linkin Park song is true… it is Easier to Run. And if I try to help…
You'll fail. Said the voice in his head.
"Drake!" came a voice from outside his head. "It's your turn! You need to go!"
I can't, Drake thought. I'm not good enough. I failed Julie and I would fail you guys too… I'm sorry.
"Drake! Come on, we need you now!" came another voice.
No, I can't.
Flynn and Helen looked at each other. It was clear that Julie's death had hit him hard. And they had no idea what to do about it. "Fine, we'll just skip Drake for now!" Flynn said.
"Ha! It will be the last mistake you make!" The third fiend said. He drew a card. "I'm going to set another monster in defense mode, and then destroy that annoying Lord of D. with my powered-up Sand Moth!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2700
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2600
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
Flynn groaned and fell to one knee. "Is that the best you've got?"
"No, but you won't see my best yet. For now, I'll simply set a card and end my turn."
"Very well." Flynn drew a card. "Ugh. I can't draw right now. But I can at least pick away at someone. Blue-Eyes, attack Zaborg!"
"I activate my trap card, Widespread Ruin!" said the third fiend. "When you attack, this card allows me to destroy the monster with the highest attack on the field! So your precious Blue-Eyes is gone!"
"This isn't good." Matt said. "They may be even on numbers, but they are very down on life points, and the fiends are working quite well together. Actually, they don't even have even numbers, because Drake is having problems dueling."
"Yeah, I've never seen him like this." Keith said. "It kind of hurts."
"I know what you mean, especially since Helen and Flynn are going to suffer for it."
"Grr…" Flynn said. "I'm not done! I attack your Blazing Inpachi with Luster Dragon!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2700
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2550
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
"And now you too will take Backfire damage!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2200
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2550
Second Fiend: 4000
Third Fiend: 4000
"Grr… I'll end my turn."
"And then I will begin mine!" The first fiend said. He drew a card. "Hmm… let's see… I don't have any monsters any more because you pests keep destroying them. Of course, you've paid the points, so that's fine. I can destroy you soon… I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"Fine then." Helen said weakly. "It's my turn… I'll…ugh… play Monster Reborn, to bring back my Ultimate Insect Level 5. Then, I'll activate Level Up!. Now I can sacrifice my insect and summon its most powerful form, the Ultimate Insect Level 7 (Wind/Insect/Effect, 2600/1200)! And because of the Forest, it gets a little boost… (2800) Now, Ultimate Insect, attack Zaborg!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2200
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2550
Second Fiend: 3600
Third Fiend: 4000
"Now I'll end my turn."
"And this will start mine!" said the second fiend. "You may have destroyed my monster, but I can still kill you!" He drew a card. "But not with this! I'll have to set a monster and end my turn."
"Drake, it's your turn!" Flynn said. "Stand up and make a move!"
I can't. I don't want to let anyone down.
"Make your move or you'll damn us all!"
"DRAKE!"
Drake sat bolt upright. A huge voice that sounded like a conglomerate of hundreds of voices had shouted at him. Matt was speaking.
"What the hell are you doing? Do you have no pride? Do you have no backbone? Get up and fight! Don't just give up! You can do this! Julie wouldn't want you to go down like this!"
And for some reason, Drake didn't doubt it. Maybe it was because he thought he heard Julie's voice somewhere in there. "Alright." He said, and stood up. "I think I can pull this out… yeah, this will do." He drew a card. "Woah! What a draw! First I'll flip summon my monster, the Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700). Then I'll activate the potent spell card, Raigeki!"
"No! That card destroys all of our monsters!" said the third fiend.
"Yep, I like a clean house." Drake said. "For the sake of preperation, I'll set two cards facedown. Then I'll activate the spell Card of Sanctity! Time to even things up, everyone draw up to six cards!" Everyone did. "And with that, I should pawn you. Thanks Flynn."
"Uh, sure. What did I do? Oh, wait… I know."
"Yep. So first, I activate the Spell Card Polymerization! This card allows me to fuse the Dark Magician and the Buster Blader in my hand to form Dark Paladin, the Ultimate Magical Swordman (Dark/Spellcaster/Fusion/Effect, 2900/2400)! And thanks to Flynn's dragons, he gets a few more points, that is, 500 for every dragon. And Flynn has three, so that's 1500 more points, giving him 4400!"
"No!" The first fiend said. "That's enough to take any of us out!"
"Correct, but that's not what I'm going for. I'm going to blast all of you!" Drake said. "Now I'll play my next card, Monster Reborn! This will bring back the Dark Magician! Now, I activate Knight's Title! I'll sacrifice him to special summon Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100) from my deck! This destroys one of your cards, not that it matters!"
"No!"
"Now I'm going to sacrifice the Skilled Magician to revive my Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) again! Next, I'll activate my Call of the Haunted trap card! Using it, I'll bring back Buster Blader (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 2600/2300), who will now gain attack for Flynn's dragons as well! (4100)"
"No! That's not good!" said the second fiend. "We're all doomed!"
"Dark Paladin, take out the third fiend!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2200
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2550
Second Fiend: 3600
Third Fiend: 0
"Now, Buster Blader, take out the second fiend!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2200
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 2550
Second Fiend: 0
Third Fiend: 0
"And finally, Dark Magician and Dark Magician Knight! Finish the first fiend!"
Drake: 4000Flynn: 2200
Helen: 600
First Fiend: 0Second Fiend: 0
Third Fiend: 0
All of the fiends exploded.
"We did it! We won!" Flynn said.
"Thank God." Keith said.
Helen, exhausted and in pain from the loss of most of her life points, collapsed. Matt ran to her side and checked for vital signs. "She's okay, just tired."
Drake turned away. Helen had made it, Julie had not. He knew he should be happy that he had won, but the place that was usually filled with the thrill of victory was filled with the agonizing loss.