Yu-gi-oh
No Limits
By Kevin Jones
Turn 5-1 year, 7 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days
"And then I woke here and all the insanity of this morning started."
For about half an hour now I've been telling a carrot color haired girl the events of the past 3 days. Honestly it's actually been helpful; I've been able to go over everything in my head and now I think I'm ready to take advantage of the situation, which is also where the weird part comes in; This girl is definitely something else. She's spent the past 30 minutes listening to every word of what I've had to say; she didn't show any reaction to a story that had parts that I still can't believe. Literally the only movements I could see from her were her breathing, her chewing and when she drank something, to be honest it was a little strange, but then again I'm in a strange situation.
"Wow I take it back, you're more like Jimmy Paz than James Bond." Finally she's out of her trance.
"Who?"
"He's a detective in a book series."
"Of course, but this is real and I need to find out what's going on here." As I say that, I push a button revealing the back chamber of my Duel Disk that holds my extra deck, if you remember the compartment in my shoe then you can probably also come to the conclusion that my duel disk is customized beyond what the school gave me. I pull out the key chain from the park and place it on the table.
"I need to know where this address is."
She now has the key chain in her hand. She examines it closely, moving it with her hands, scanning it with her eyes; I think she might sniff it next.
"Well it looks like you're on the wrong side of the city, and considering you go to Dewint Academy you are actually farther from where you're supposed to be than when you started."
"What's that suppose to mean?" With that statement she raises an eyebrow, and now has a confused look on her face.
"You've lived in this city longer than I have and you have no clue how to even tell where this place is?" She says almost as if I'm a child.
"What gives you that idea?"
"I've only lived here less than a week; why else would my parents not be here?"
"Considering everything that's gone on this morning I think that's last thing I'd think about."
"Look I'm from Seattle originally, my parents moved us out here because of their job, they had to go back for a few days and they trusted me to be here on my own for a few days."
"At the time I take it they didn't expect you to have a strange boy in their new home."
"Oh so now you chose to develop a sense of humor, well it just so happens that I start school at Dewint Academy next Monday, so it looks like you and I probably would have meat up anyways."
"Ok, let's get serious, where is this address?"
She looks at me as if I'm a child who's just given her lip or something.
"Come on," she says this as she stands up and walks into the living room, I follow. As I walk in I see her pull a folded map out of drawer, she then opens it up and lays it on a glass coffee table, as I sit down next to her I realize it's a map of Manhattan. She now has her right Index finger directly on the lower tip of Manhattan and I have a bad feeling she's going to start talking again.
"Look, we're here on White Hall St. The address on this key chain is on 81 St. that's about 13 miles away, so by car it should take you less than an hour if you stick to the roads up here on Tops."
"And since the closest thing I have to a car is resting in pieces in your swimming pool?"
"Probably all day assuming security doesn't get you first."
So I've got to figure it's a little after 10 now so if I get going now I might make it by night fall. I take a deep breath and begin to stand up.
"Well thanks for all your help I better get going, I'll see myself o-" She now has her hand on my shoulder.
"It's a good thing you fell in my pool then."
…
A few minutes have passed since we were in her living room, in that time she put on some shoes, grabbed a pink leather jacket and yanked me arm first out of her apartment to the level directly below the swimming pool, all that time babbling about something at 100 miles a minute. When we reach our destination all I can see is pitch black.
"Behold! Probably what would be heaven to a duelist like you."
I hear what sounds like a light switch being flipped and now I can see row after row of Duel Runners. Dozens of colors, dozens of models all lined up like the terracotta statues in china.
"This I did not expect." I say with complete honesty.
"I know right, but believe it or not my Step Dad has liked collecting these things for as long as I can remember, he even took greater care with them getting here than me." She chuckles while she says this, she then walks over to a red Runner.
"This is the one I suggest we take."
The Runner is the shape of a shark with a gold crest sticking out in front of the dash board.
"Let me get this straight, you're trusting me with this beautiful 2035 Runner?" Once again something here seams suspicious.
"You, hell no, if I just give it you it's probably never coming back. That's why we are going to this place together."
"Remember that story I told you, the one where a 10 year old girl nearly killed me Harry Potter style?"
"I know, I know, but here's the thing. This girl is obviously unstable, the woman who took her away knows who you are, and knew where you both were which means this woman has total control over this girl, correct?"
"What's your point?"
"My point is there are 2 wild cards here, 1 she probably didn't know about the key chain so you're most likely off her radar."
"And 2?"
"2 would be me."
"You?"
"That's right."
"Most people aren't afraid of Gingers."
"Listen if this is a trap then these people know who you are and they know you probably aren't building an army, so with me around you gain the element of surprise, plus like they say 2 heads are better than 1."
"And if they kill you."
"Not going to happen, according to your Professor these people are involved in high society, so is my family, anything happens to me there's an investigation which will bleed them out."
"You want to use yourself as bait?"
"No, but as soon as they see me they'll try and find out who I am and they'll probably come to the same conclusion as me."
"So basically with or without the Runner you're not letting me leave here without you, are you?"
"You got it."
Jesus Christ what am I going to do?
"Let's get going."
Its official this is the strangest girl I've ever met.
I can't lie though, me being on a Yamaha Duel Runner feels really cool and as the garage door opens and I see the bright, clear, sunny sky I get the strong yearning to let this baby roar.
"Alright let's get this show on the road Chase!"
Vanessa hands me a red and gold helmet. As I put mine on she sits herself behind me and place's her arms around my abdomen.
I remember how to ride, though I haven't gotten any practice in since august and it's now October… I probably shouldn't tell her this.
"Hold on tight."
I start up; I'm able to get out of the garage in less than 10 seconds. I like the feeling of speed, going faster and faster, the wind, but all this is ruined as I feel Vanessa's finger nails start to dig in to my stomach as she squeezes harder and harder, girl must not be used to speed I guess.
…
We reach our destination in a little less than hour. The building is identical to Vanessa's except for different numbers where the door is. Vanessa sprints towards the door before realizing I'm still by the Runner; thankfully she didn't see me lift my shirt to see that her nails had dug into my skin enough that there's marks left over.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Just making sure the Runner is locked," and making sure you aren't going to make me bleed, it's probably best I don't tell her that either.
…
As we walk through the door and into the hall way every instinct is telling me to stay on my guard, as I glance over at Vanessa, it would appear whatever instincts she has have yet to give her that message as she is literally humming as she checks each door for the number on the key chain. After about 2 verses of Camp town races we find the apartment 9-A as I glance at Vanessa I see her lift her arm to knock and I quickly grab it.
"What's your problem?"
"Even if this isn't a trap what are we suppose to say, Hi we're here to find out how and why your daughter tried to kill me."
"Beats the heck out of just standing here," she says she jerks her hand out of mine.
Vanessa's now knocks on the door loud enough I'm surprised the only door that starts to open is the one in front of us.
"What do you 2 want?" The woman who asked this question talks as if she's just woken up and it's after 11, she is wearing a pink silk robe, has long brown hair, reeks of booze and has a face I recognize, though appearing droopy and drunk, it is the same face as her daughters.
"Hi I'm Vanessa and this is-"
"Save it honey, just tell me what you and your boyfriend want." That statement makes me uneasy.
"She's not my girlfriend, listen do you have a daughter?"
She is now starting to wake up.
"What do you know about her?" With that Vanessa lifts the keychain in front of the woman, she then grabs it, examines it through half open eyes and looks back at us.
"Where'd you get this?"
"Remember on Saturday when one of the rock formations in central park was cut in half." I'm not sure where to take it from there so the, apparently, hung-over woman does. She places the keychain in her breast pocket and grabs me and Vanessa by our jacket sleeves, pulls us inside and locks the door.
"Go on take your jackets off and sit down." With that we both see a coat rack, we take our jackets off, place them on the hooks and walk into an unlit living room. We both sit down on a dark red couch, granted everything looks dark in a room where the only light is whatever can get passed the blinds; The woman then sits down on a black recliner and with cloudy eyes looks directly at me.
"I take it you were the one she was dueling Mr.…"
"Rhodes, Chase Rhodes."
"It's a pleasure, how did you get this key chain?"
"Your daughter started releasing hell; this flew off her belt I think." At that statement Vanessa nudges me in the arm, why I don't know, but I pay no attention to it and look back at the woman who is now once again staring at the key chain.
"You know I got this for my daughter when she was first born."
She lifts her head up and looks straight at me. "Mr. Rhodes I'm sorry for what she did to you but the first thing you need to know about my daughter is that she is an angel, an angel of death I'm afraid."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Says a shocked Vanessa, I'm curious to.
"Well you see my daughter, Abigail, didn't have a Father, a little bit after college I went to Milan to further my fashion study, I met a man, and I think you guys can figure out the rest."
"Wait a minute," started Vanessa, "I knew I recognized you from somewhere."
Now that Vanessa has finally said something interesting I chose to listen.
"You're Deborah Starzan the fashion designer; my parent's do business with your company all the time, but I don't remember ever hearing about you having a daughter."
"When I told my parents about the pregnancy we all thought it was best to keep it secret."
"So let me get this straight, you've spent, probably the past 10 years hiding your daughter like she was a criminal."
"Chase!"
"No, I hate to say it but your friend is right, I never took her sightseeing, never took her to a Yankee game, I even had my driver pose as her Father when she started school, that's when she started to change."
"Let me guess she started to wonder why Mommy never wanted to be seen with her."
Vanessa elbows me in the side, hard.
"Not exactly, you see I never got into dueling, but when she saw some of the other kids with cards she decided she wanted in. So for her 6th birthday I bought her a deck and a duel disk."
She then gets off the recliner and walks over to the large T.V. against the wall where we came in from; she bends down and starts fumbling with a D.V.D player while starting to talk again.
"It started a few weeks after she started dueling; apparently one of her classmates was thrown several feet after losing, how that happened was never found out. As the months went by more strange things started happening during her duels, mostly unknown pulsations, then when she turned 7 she entered a small duel tournament in central park, the first place winner would face off against Weevil Underwood, a popular insect duelist from the turn of the century."
"Wait a minute," I start, "Your daughter is 10, right."
"She'll be 11 in another month."
"What's so important about that?" Asks Vanessa.
"Weevil Underwood died about 4 years ago while here in New York." Vanessa doesn't seem to get it, I don't expect her to.
"I got the call a little after 4: 30 from my driver and then later, the radio in my office gave a report I'd never forget.
Weevil Underwood was in Manhattan this week for a duel tournament he was part of, during the final round people suddenly started hearing small explosions in the air. As things heated up people swear they could see streams of black going through the area, then when his opponent activated a trap Underwood fainted and has now been rushed to Manhattan General Hospital, at this time doctors have no idea what the cause of his condition is and the girl he was dueling left before we could get a comment, but we will reveal these details as we learn them ourselves.
I've been hearing those words in my head every time I've thought of my daughter."
"How awful," Vanessa said under her breath.
"Where's your daughter now?" I ask, now I'm sure I want to know what's going on here.
"Well after that I hid her, for 3 weeks I wouldn't let her leave the house or duel. Then after that this woman came to my home."
Almost on queue the T.V. now shows the same woman who got Abigail under control; in fact she looks exactly the same, no wrinkle, same makeup and her hair is exactly the same style as the other day and once again I get the same creepy feeling I had when I was talking to both her and Officer Tate, suddenly my thoughts our interrupted by the same thick Russian accent.
"Hello Ms. Starzan, I found that private investigator you hired to find me, don't worry he's been properly taken care of, but way I figure it you deserve a chance to see the progress I've made with your daughter, now she told me you don't know a whole lot about dueling so we'll go slow understand. Now my little Abby let's begin.
Abby
"I play the monster card Draw Fox in attack mode (ATK: 0/DEF: 0)."
There's no doubt about, she looks a little younger but this is the same girl from the other day and the same opening move as well.
Mystery Woman
"I summon Genetic Woman in attack mode (ATK: 1700/DEF: 1200) Next I activate the spell card Psychokinesis, now since I control a psychic type monster I can destroy 1 card on the field."
A black orb of energy flew from the arm of a cat like woman with a robotic arm, destroying the fox; I wish I had done something like that during our duel.
"The only down side to this card is that I must now take 1000 points of damage (4000-3000), but I can now attack you directly, now Genetic Woman mutant beast strike! (4000-2300) Remember what I taught you Abby it is very dangerous to leave yourself wide open like that, I place one card face down and end my turn."
Abby
"I summon Fox Warrior in attack mode (ATK: 900/DEF: 1100) next by attacking your monster Fox Warrior gains 1000 ATK points (ATK: 900-1900), now attack Genetic Woman, Fox Xiaolin!(3000-2800) I set 2 cards face down and end my turn.
Mystery Woman
"I activate the trap card Psychic Tuning, allowing me to revive my Genetic Woman, also because I control a psychic monster I can summon Armored Axon Kicker without tribute (ATK: 2200/DEF: 1800) now Genetic Woman attack Fox Warrior Mutant Beast strike!"
"I activate a trap card as well Kunai with Chain, switching your Genetic Woman into defense mode and gives my Fox Warrior 500 ATK points! (ATK: 900- 1400)."
"Clever, now Armored Axon Kicker attack Axon slam!"
"I activate my second trap Spell Binding circle which makes your Axon Kicker unable to attack or change its battle position."
"Very good I set 2 cards face down and end my turn."
Abby
"I summon Tiny Fox in attack mode (ATK: 440/DEF: 1100) next I play the equip spell Fox target, now my Fox Warrior is the only Fox monster you can chose as an attack target! Now Fox Warrior attack Genetic Woman (ATK: 1400-2400) (2800-2100) also since Tiny Fox is on the field your monster is removed from play.
"You've done very well my little Abby, but I fear today's test has come to a close, I activate the trap card Psi-curse which destroys the monster that destroyed my monster, so goodbye Fox Warrior as well as 900 of your life points (2300-1400)!"
At that moment my heart stopped as once again I can see waves of shadow come from the small child's body, however this time instead of attacking the woman all the rays began dancing around her.
Mystery Woman
"Now I summon Mind Master in attack mode, next by paying 800 (2100-1300) life points and by releasing Armored Axon Kicker I can special summon Destructotron. (ATK: 1600/DEF: 400) Next I activate the trap card Battle Teleportation, which allows Destructotron to attack you directly this turn, now Destruction Laser!"
Now all the waves of shadows are landing in the large androids hand, it is now tightening its fist and goes straight for the young girl. (1400-0)
Mystery Woman: Win Abby: lose
Vanessa shuts her large eyes tight as the young girl goes flying and then hits the back wall, waves of shadow appearing to be the only thing that kept her brains from being all over the wall.
Still in disbelief I look over to the mother of the girl. She looks as if she is about to cry, but my attention returns to the T.V. as I hear a familiar Russian sentence.
"Togda ozornaja lisy vernulis' v noru," with that the shadows disappear and the young girl is unconscious, the woman is now staring at the video camera and is about to speak.
"As you can see her dueling skills need some more work and she can't keep her powers under control unless Fox Warrior is on the field, but as you can see she's made a great deal of progress since I convinced you I could keep her from killing more people, however if you send someone else to find me- well let's just say things may not end well for you either, goodbye Ms. Starzan."
With that the T.V. screen instantly turns black.
"I've been counting the days since I received this disk; it's been exactly 1 year, 7 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days."
I'm too stunned to respond, I turn my head towards Vanessa and see a familiar emotion, it's familiar because if I wasn't so confused I'd probably have the same expression too, fear.
Next time: The Fool
"So spiky head looks like I've got you between a rock and a hard place, you can't negate my offense, or breakthrough my defense, there is one option if you don't mind getting on your hands and knees."