Author's note: Regarding updates, I will try for one chapter every two weeks but will definitely have one out every month. At the time of writing this chapter I have up to chapter 9 planned out. Also, I'd like to hear more from you all who read this, meaning any constructive criticism you have would be very much appreciated. Emphasis on constructive. Finally, sorry about the length of this chapter. Hope you all enjoy.
"WHERE IS IT?!" Hela roared as she snagged a crying player as they tried running past. Instead of answering the guy simply cried louder, clawing at Hela's hand as if she were the Husk. Snatching her hand back she rubbed the area where his nails had dug into her avatar, the redness already dissipating back to its usual pale tone. "Jack#$$! I swear, you try to help and this is the treatment you get."
"Maybe it's how you tried asking?" Ranger suggested, flinching as Hela shot him a scowl as cold as her dueling style. "N-Never mind!"
"Knock it off you two," Wyo shouted over her shoulder as she rounded a corner and quickly jumped aside as a group of people ran by seeking shelter. "We still don't know what the husk even looks like or where it's at. For all we know it could look like one of the monster-like npc's outside of town or it could have taken on the form of a player."
"I hope it's the first one," Ranger groaned as the group passed by. He eyed each one carefully before catching up with the two girls. "Could you imagine trying to find a husk if it looked like everybody else?"
"The ol' proverbial needle in a f#%*& haystack," Hela spat as she danced around another player, doing her best to keep out of reach just in case.
"HUSK DUEL INITIATED. IF HUSK WINS, PLAYER IS DELETED."
The trio stopped and looked at the sky as the announcement sounded all around them, hoping for a sign of where the duel could be. Each of them looked around, listening for the telling sounds of dueling. Between the pounding of her heart in her chest and people still rushing to find a safe place to hide Wyo could barely make out the sounds of shattering digital cards, but from where she couldn't tell.
"It's close at least," Hela whispered just loud enough to be heard. "North? North East maybe?"
"That's actually South," Ranger corrected as he looked in the direction she was focusing on. He closed his eyes and focused as well, turning his head left and right as he tried to hone in on the faint sound. "Either way it's definitely this way. Let's g-."
A large blast from the direction he was focusing shook the streets, threatening to knock several buildings over. As the shaking stopped and the group regained their footing another announcement came on loud and clear.
"PLAYER DELETED. HUSK INVASION STILL IN EFFECT."
"F#%*! Lead the way, Ranger, and be quick about it," Wyo ordered.
Ranger nodded and rushed off down their current street, opening his mini map within his HUD as he did so to get a bird's-eye-view of the streets and alleyways. They approached an open area with a fountain in the center and cut down one of the legs that branched off from the area. Wyo noted with a small sense of familiarity that this area was where she had first been harassed by Beast before shaking herself out of her memory. Ranger did his best to lead them towards the area where the duel had been heard coming from, slowing down to a trot before finally cutting down an alleyway and coming to a stop.
"I'm certain this is the area," he said, breathing heavily as he looked around.
Wyo and Hela searched around, backtracking their steps and climbing as high as they could, trying to get a better view. The streets were clear now, vacant and eerie except for the three as they peered inside of every window and looked down every street and alley. Wyo slowly began to realize that her jaw was sore from grinding her teeth from the stress. Just when things were looking like they'd never make any headway, Wyo heard Hela shout.
"HEY! BLONDIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET INSIDE! YOU DON'T WANT THE HUSK TO… oh f#% me. Guys…? I think I found her… I mean it."
Wyo and Ranger ran up to Hela, looking down the street at what the girl was pointing to. A single female player stood in the center of the street, looking around slowly in a creepy twitching motion. It wasn't the jerking head or the fact that she was the only one they'd seen in what felt like forever that caught Wyo's attention, though. It was her skin. Sickly yellow with sunken, black lidless eyes. Her clothes hung from her skeletal frame as if taunting the memory of the girl that used to be. A duel disk hung loosely around her boney wrist, threatening to fall off at the slightest breeze. Her vacant eyes locked onto the trio, freezing them in place.
"Umm, is it just me or-…."
"Let me guess," Wyo hissed silently as her body shook with exertion, "can't move?"
"You too, huh?" Hela laughed nervously. "Must be how it catches up to its victims."
Wyo noticed the Husk twitch once more before vanishing between blinks. Her eyes darted from side to side searching as she struggled to move. She blinked once more and mentally recoiled as the sunken black eyes bore into her own barely an inch from her face. Fear and shock caused her throat to constrict, keeping the scream in her throat from ripping its way past her lips. It stood in front of her, twitching sporadically as it inspected her as if searching for something.
"Wwwww… ," the Husk croaked, slowly speaking as if unsure of what it was saying. "Wwwwwaaaa… Eeeeyyyyeeee… Oooohhhh…. Wwwhhhyyy… Ooohhh…."
"That's my name, you freak. Better not wear it out."
"Leave her alone you skeletal freak of nature," Hela hissed as she continued to struggle.
The husk turned to inspect Hela, almost breaking its neck as it twitched its head one way and then the next as if trying to place a name with the face. It began reaching for Hela's face, as if to grab her chin and turn her side from side as if she were a curious specimen.
"W-Whooo… are you…?"
"Hela, I hope you are up for another duel because she seems fascinated with you," Ranger grunted. His breath caught in his throat, however, when the husk whipped its head around so fast Wyo thought it would fly free from its body.
"R-R-Ranger…," the husk asked, a hint of emotion escaping its lips as it croaked his name. It slowly approached Ranger, its body shivering even under the virtual midday sun. Bone-like fingers reached for him, hovering less than an inch from his cheeks as if to cup his face lovingly. Its jerking movements all but ceased as it stood there in front of the boy, its head stooped to look him in the eyes with an almost sadness in its own. Wyo even noted tears welling up in its softening eyes.
"Psst, Wyo," Hela whispered just loud enough for Wyo to hear, "look at her clothes. I swear I know someone who wore those."
"What's your point?" Wyo whispered back, checking out the clothes herself. Now that she looked closely she had to admit they did seem familiar. Her mind raced as she thought back, thinking back on who could have worn those clothes and would know herself AND Ranger but wouldn't know Hela. 'Wait, it only knows the two of us, right,' Wyo thought to herself. 'The only person besides Hela who knows both of us was Ranger's…!'
"L-Little… brother…," the husk's voice cracked. "Little… brother…. Little bro… ther…. Little brother! LITTLE BROTHER!"
Wyo's heart dropped at the look on Ranger's face as realization hit him. The color in his face drained and his eyes faded over as he took in the sight of what his once-dead sister had become. Wyo doubted Ranger could even hear anymore as his sister continued to chant "Little Brother" loudly as if it were the only thing she knew. If Beret touched him now Wyo doubted he'd be able to put up a fight in his current state, and all she had to do was twitch her fingers a fraction of an inch in the wrong direction.
Wyo was about to yell, scream, do everything she could to get Beret to change her focus to her when a shadow appeared above them. It descended from a nearby rooftop with frightening speed, slamming into Husk-Beret and knocking her into Ranger. All three tumbled to the ground as a voice boomed loudly all around them once more.
"HUSK DUEL INITIATED. IF HUSK WINS, PLAYER IS DELETED."
The would-be shadow stood, dusting itself off as its duel disk snapped into place. A young man stood in its place, his sharp features and crisp, bright eyes focused entirely on the husk. Husk-Beret scrambled to its feet, hissing angrily as its own duel disk readied. Wyo sighed a breath of relief as she saw Ranger scramble his way away from the duel before realizing that the paralysis had worn off. She quickly grabbed Ranger by the arm and with the help of Hela the three of them backed away to watch the duel unfold.
? – 4000
Husk-Beret – 4000
"I'll go first," the unknown duelist announced as he drew his first five cards. "I'll start by summoning Hunter dragon in attack mode before ending my turn."
"That's it?!" Hela scoffed. "A dramatic entrance, a bad#%% attitude, and then 'boom'! One lousy monster?"
"I'm guessing you've never played chess before. I doubt a peon like you even knows how to play the long game. Can't say I'm surprised."
Wyo grabbed Hela by the arm as she threatened to charge into the middle of the duel and punch the snobby duelist in his face. Both of her hands were too busy keeping her friend back to bother trying to cover her mouth as a censored flow of profanities gushed from Hela's lips. Hoping for some help from Ranger Wyo glanced over at the boy who still stood by, motionless as he starred at his once joyful sister as she drew her first card.
"My... turn... I'll summon... Dark Grepher in attack position. I'll use its ability... by discarding one dark monster from my hand... I can discard one dark monster from my deck to the graveyard."
"That's new," Wyo mused as she watched her very first opponent. She remembered Beret being more team orientated with her monsters. This new, darker counterpart instead dumped monsters into her graveyard without a second thought.
"Next... I'll attack with Dark Grepher." Her dark warrior charged forward, its attack equal in strength to the unknown duelist's Hunter Dragon. Before its sword could connect with the dragon, however, Beret held up a card. "I'll activate the quick effect of Dark Honest... By discarding it while one of my monsters battles one of yours... your monster loses attack equal to its own attack power."
"That takes his monster's attack down to zero!" Hela scowled as the warrior easily overpowered the now weakened dragon. "I thought you were playing chess while we were playing checkers... uh, what did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't," the duelist growled as he watched his monster disintegrate into digital dust and his life points dwindle down.
? - 2300
Husk-Beret - 4000
"I'll end... my turn..."
"About time... and it's Drake if you really must know," the duelist informed Hela as he drew his card absentmindedly. "Now will you please be quiet and let me focus? I summon Cyberdark Keel in attack mode. When it's normal summoned I can attach a level three or lower dragon monster from my graveyard to it, and thanks to you my Hunter Dragon fits that criteria easily. Also, my Cyberdark Keel gains attack based on the equipped monster's attack. That's seventeen hundred more attack for my Keel, pushing it up to twenty-five hundred!"
"Okay, okay, not bad 'Drake'," Hela admitted as she added emphasis to his name. "I haven't seen Cyberdarks used in a good while. This ought to be fun to watch."
Wyo gave her friend a swift elbow to the gut and nodded her head in Ranger's direction, willing her friend to mind what she said."
"Ow... huh? Oh. Yeah, forgot about that. Sorry."
"Not me you need to be sorry to," Wyo scolded as she turned back to the duel.
"Now, Cyberdark Keel, attack her warrior!"
Drake's monster flew forward, slashing Dark Grepher into nothingness before blasting Beret with a vicious blast of energy. Beret, however, seemed unfazed as her life points dropped twice.
"Every time Cyberdark Keel destroys a monster by battle it inflicts three hundred points of effect damage as well. With that, I'll end my turn."
Drake - 2300
Husk-Beret - 2900
"Draw card... set monster face-down... end turn."
"...Keep up the pressure," Ranger mumbled through gritted teeth. Both Wyo and Hela looked at him as his eyes slowly came back into focus. "Don't let up on her, do you you hear!"
"Ranger..."
"That... thing... isn't my sister! Not anymore at least. Her monsters were like her friends. She wouldn't throw them away and discard them like this. Eliminate this husk, Drake. Don't let it hurt another single person."
"This was your sister?" Drake studied his opponent with new eyes as he drew his next card. "Now that you mention it I DO see a slight similarity: frail, small, and all around weak. But for now the gaming gods aren't really smiling on me. Not that they aren't frowning upon me either. I just can't seem to draw anything to break up this monotony. For now I'll set one card face down and then I'll attack with Keel once more before ending my turn!"
Drake - 2300
Husk-Beret - 2600
"R-Ranger... I am... your sister... Why don't you love me anymore? You're so ungrateful. Who took care of you when the bullies picked on you? Me! Who taught you how to duel? ME! Who bought you your first set of cards? ALL ME! You're so dead when I kill this player, do you hear me?! I draw! I'll play Painful Choice. I'll select five cards from my deck for you to choose from. Pick one to add to my hand and the others will go to my graveyard." Husk-Beret selected five cards from her deck and presented them to Drake.
"I'll pick Darkknight Parshath to go to your hand. Send those other monsters to the graveyard."
"Not Dark Armed Dragon or Dark Horus? And here I thought you loved dragons. Oh well. I'll set one card face-down and end my turn once more."
"Are you ever going to do anything else?" Drake complained, only smiling once he drew his card. "About damn time! I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode. Next up it'll attack your face-down monster!"
The diamond dragon attacked the face-down monster, ripping it in half only for the monster to reappear before shattering.
"Thanks for activating Morphing Jar's effect. When it's flipped face-up we both have to discard our entire hands and draw five new cards."
"Whatever," Drake grumbled as he discarded his hand and drew five new cards, watching as Husk-Beret do the same. "I still have my Keel to attack with. Cyberdark Keel, attack her directly!"
With a flash, Husk-Beret's lifepoints dipped dangerously low, stopping just short of zero.
Drake - 2300
Husk-Beret - 100
"Soooo close," Husk-Beret chuckled as she drew her next card. "That was your last chance to win this duel. Now, I will banish seven dark monsters with different names from my graveyard: Dark Grepher, Dark Honest, Dark Armed Dragon, Dark Horus, The Dark Creator, Dark General Freed, and Dark Valkyria in order to special summon my most powerful beast. Rainbow Dark Dragon!"
Everyone watched as the massive dragon erupted onto the field, roaring and writhing as eyed its next victim hungrily. Its 4000 attack points eclipsed Drake's monsters' with ease.
"It's okay, even if you attack my weakest monster I'll survive another round. Nice try though."
"You think? What if I activated my monster's ability? By banishing the remaining five dark type monsters from my graveyard I can boost my dragon's attack by five hundred for each card." Wyo felt her stomach drop as she watched the dragon's attack climb even higher to sixty-five hundred. The very air around the beast bled darkness and threatened to engulf everything in its inky blackness. "Now it's plenty strong enough to destroy your strongest monster AND you life points in one go! Dark Rainbow Dragon, destroy his Cyberdark Keel and erase him from existence!"
The beast roared and unleased a blast of dark energy, slamming it into Cyberdark Keel. To everyone's amazement Drake's monster wasn't destroyed, only the Hunter Dragon that was equipped to it. The blast caused smoke and dust to cloud the battlefield, blocking everyone's view of what was happening.
"This is bad," Hela groaned as she snapped her duel disk and deck into place, preparing for the husk to attack them next. "Everyone keep your eyes peeled. That b#&*/ could come from any direction."
"Hold on," Ranger called out, waving smoke and dust from his face. "Where was the announcement? The one saying player deleted?"
"Not as dumb as you look," Drake called out as the smoke began to clear. He still stood where he had moments before, unfazed by the last attack other than a weakened Cyberdark Keel. His face-down card now stood face-up, revealing a trap card.
"What? How'd you survive that?" Husk-Beret complained.
"The moment I was to take damage I was able to activate my trap, Nutrient Z. Any time I would take two thousand or more battle damage, I can activate this card and gain four thousand life points before taking damage."
"Let's see, twenty-three hundred plus four thousand... carry the three, subtract several thousand... gah! This math is hurting my head," Hela hissed as she rubbed her temples.
"It's not rocket science," Drake groaned, rolling his eyes. "Starting with twenty-three hundred, add four thousand to get sixty-three hundred. That's my new life point total before the damage. Her monster has sixty-five hundred attack, subtract the twenty-five hundred from my monster and you get four thousand damage. So subtract four thousand from sixty-three hundred and you get...?"
"Uh... twenty-one?" Hela guessed, shrugging her shoulders and smiling innocently.
"God you're lucky you're pretty," Drake sighed. "I'm left with what I started with, twenty-three hundred life points."
Drake - 2300
Husk-Beret - 100
Hela's face turned red as Ranger and Wyo laughed at her teasingly, though whether it was from being embarrassed about her math skills or the offhand compliment Wyo couldn't tell.
"If you are done flirting we have a duel to finish! Luckily for you that's all I can manage this turn. Good luck. You'll need it."
"Oh luck won't have anything to do with it you dried up pathetic piece of garbage. You took that man's memory and twisted it beyond recognition," Drake spat, pointing at Ranger while never taking his eyes from the husk. "Family is everything. You dare try to use it to torture someone, to use it against them in such a despicable manner. I will never forgive that. I don't even need to draw my final card to finish you off. Everyone always assumes that my ace monster is one of the Cyberdark fusions or even Blue Eyes White Dragon, which is overrated if you ask me, but they are always wrong. I overlay my level four Cyberdark Keel and my level four Luster Dragon!"
"Overlay?" Ranger asked as the two monsters swirled together.
"An XYZ summon?!" Hela's jaw dropped open as a new form slowly formed and came into existence.
"Whatever it is it had better get the job done." Wyo added as black wings and purple electricity materialized onto the battlefield.
"Say hello to my ace, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"
"O-Only twenty-five hundred attack," the husk stammered with nervous laughter. "W-Why should I fear that? My Dark Rainbow Dragon will eat yours for dinner!"
"Too bad I'll be using my monster's ability then. By detaching two materials from my dragon I can cut your monster's attack in half!"
Everyone watch as Dark Rainbow Dragon's attack points were slashed from sixty-five hundred down to three thousand two hundred and fifty. A hush fell over the group as they realized that it still wouldn't be enough to finish the job, the only sound to break the silence was the husk's laughter as it wiped away beads of sweat from its brow.
"Oh boy, you had me there for a second. Too bad my monster is still stronger than yours."
"Oh? Not when the second half of my monster's ability kicks in. You see, it GAINS the attack that your monster lost, boosting it all the way up to five thousand seven hundred and fifty! Not as impressive as what yours was, but it is now more than strong enough to finish off your monster AND your reign of terror. Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, obliterate that twisted shell of a dragon! Attack!"
Wyo, Hela, and Ranger cheered as the husk's life points dropped to zero. As the husk faded away a single card dropped to the ground at Drake's feet where he bent down to retrieve it.
"HUSK DEFEATED. NOW LIFTING INVASION PROTOCOL."
As the skies cleared and players slowly left their hiding spots, Drake approached the group. Looking at Ranger he held out the card that had dropped.
"I'm sorry for what this game has done to you. Nobody should have to see someone they love killed right in front of their eyes, especially twice. But, I think your sister can finally rest now."
"What makes you say that," Ranger asked as he took the card appreciatively. Glancing down only brought more tears to his already puffy eyes. "This is... BLS."
"Be el what now?" Wyo asked, looking over at the card. "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. Does it mean something to you?"
"It's... It was Beret's ace card in the real world. Every deck she built had to have this guy in it." Holding it close to his chest Ranger looked up to Drake and smiled. "Thanks."