“You’re a fucking idiot, bitch girl!”

“Sarah, listen to me, you’re making a big mistake!”

“Squeak!”

The three of them followed her into the main room to collect her prize for coming in first place; three fresh packs of Searchers of the Skin Searing Storm, a half dozen pre-release cards, and an NFT securing her spot in the World Games Regional Tournament.

“Fucking look,” Sarah stopped to try and massage the ballooning headache she had developed, “The dick can turn into other people, he might’ve been following us for weeks now! I say, the sooner we fucking end him, the less of our shit’ll get leaked to Miranda.”

The dissenters looked amongst themselves to gauge the idea. “Yeah, we might’ve had a snitch mixed in the crowd somewhere, but who cares? This is dangerous and you know it, bitch girl.”

“It would be way more fucking dangerous to let everyone else get info off of us when we don’t have a clue what they’re fucking doing!” In truth, she just wanted to duel. A ravenous hunger overtook her when the opportunity presented itself. Thankfully, she had a convenient excuse to act upon it.

“Look, you’re right.” Jesse scowled, “We don’t know what’s going on, nor would we have even thought there was an ACE holder around us until he told us.”

“But…” Sarah mockingly threw in as she opened one of the card packs.

“But, you might actually die!” Her voice cracked as it echoed through the room, gathering a few concerned glances.

Looking over the glowing green loop wrapped around her ring finger, Sarah sighed, “It’ll be fine Jess, I’ve got this. He’s not someone we could be worried about! He spends most of his time hiding, so naturally that means he sucks at duelling!”

“Squeak!”

“‘Buncle even said that doesn’t make any fucking sense!” Ortelanus held the glowing green fox/cat hybrid.

I thought he, of all people (animals?), would be on my side. Putting the cards away in her deck box, Sarah began to find her way out the door, ready for the match behind the shop. “Well, even if I wanted to go back, it’s too late now! Just keep an eye out for anyone else checking out the game.”

Squatting down, she held out her arms for her reluctant partner in crime. After a few pensive seconds, Carbuncle wiggled his way out of the alien’s arms and reluctantly found his way onto Sarah’s shoulders before they both departed the store.

“Whoo-wee! Took ya’ long enough, lil’ missie!” ‘Logan’ stood up from leaning against the wall. Still donning his young cowboy façade, he slid his hands in his pockets and took a wide stance with every step.

“Drop the fucking bullshit. What do you really look like?” Sarah kept her eyes on the strange boy.

With a loud cackle, ‘Logan’ sidled even closer, “I don’t like yer tone, miss! What happened to manners nowadays, huh?”

“I was always taught it was good manners to introduce yourself first, but I don’t even know what you fucking look like. Don’t bitch to me about manners.” She caught herself getting more heated than usual. I’m not a fucking paragon of patience, but something’s up here…

“Tell ya what…” The boy strutted to a spot a few yards away from his opponent, “Why don’t we wager somethin’, we are gamin’ after all!

If you win the first round, I’ll let ya see my ACE!” ‘Logan’s’ attention was stolen away for a second before returning to his sly grin forward once more.

And I thought Mikey was the king of ‘shiteating grins’. “And if I lose?”

“Nuthin’! I just wanna motivate ya, y’know?”

Sarah shrugged, “Well, if I don’t have to give anything in return, why not?” Since his partner seems to give him the ability to change his appearance, there shouldn’t be anything it can do to me when I see it.

“Well, far be it from me to keep a young lady like ya waitin’! Let’s get this road on the show, shall we?” Having shuffled his deck, he held the stack of cards out before him before dropping it.

As the pile of cardboard shattered before touching the ground, the arid farmland she once met her previous ACE wielding opponent became a wash of white as the familiar pallid landscape faded into existence around the three. The sky turned blank as it yawned towards eternity, stretching far beyond the matching horizon.

Sarah shivered as she took in the environment. Catching her foe before her out of the corner of her eye, she steeled herself and glared towards the still gleaming cowboy. “Standard rules: five shields, best of three?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way!” At his response, five semi-transparent blue panes appeared before each of the two.

Turning to her partner, memories of the first time she saw him in the flesh came back, both the good times and bad. At least this time killing a fucking kid isn’t on the table…

His stance was rigid, tail at attention, but his gaze was fixed on the boy. Joining in the staredown, the only one in front of them was the kid she only knew as ‘Logan’. “I’m guessing you can’t sense his ACE either?”

Quickly affirming with a head nod, Carbuncle maintained his stance, almost like a pointer staring down a rabbit hole for the second something emerged.

“Well, you said it before asshole: age before beauty, you go first.”

“Thank ya kindly, I’ll draw.” As the card appeared alongside his already received five cards, a single sphere began to encircle him with a comet-like trail slowly fading behind. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it dimmed, “Let’s gon’ start this right with a good ol’ Nix, Firmament’s Blade.”

The card broke like glass in his hand, calling down a strange looking aircraft from the skies above. Coming in quickly, it miraculously stopped between the two competitor’s shields, seemingly disregarding inertia and physics as a whole. It appeared to have been crafted from bone, it’s four wings taking a more organic shape.

“With that, I’ll go on n’ pass it back!”

Picking up a card of her own, Sarah grimmaced. Shit this wasn’t the same deck he used in the tournament. Holding aloft a card that dimmed the shimmer of the light swirling around her, she watched as blades of darkness formed from shadow above and sliced into the sky ship.

“I’ll cast Beltran Street Special, getting rid of the effects on your Nix!”

“Not too shabby!” ‘Logan’ received his card and with a quick shuffle, he passed it back to Sarah.

With her second sphere joining the first, she was ready to add a third, “I’ll cast Rapid Growth, and gain another play point.”

“There we go! Yer keepin’ me on ma toes!” The twelve-year old boy whooped and hollered as he started his third turn. “Ya know, yer the first duel I had in a bit!

Been kept on ‘surveillance’ duty fer a bit, so it’s nice to stretch ma toes a bit!” He quickly found himself hunched over, holding onto his back.

Sarah crossed her arms.

“Ah, right! Lemme quit my yammerin’!” Getting his card for the turn, he hid his face behind the glowing cards.

Holy shit. This twerp- Old man- What-the-fuck-ever, this asshole is doing everything he can to get in my head… Frequently peeking over his fanned cards, the boy grinned widely each time they made eye contact. And it’s fucking working!

“Squeak?”

Catching the concerned look of her partner out of the corner of her eye led her to taking a deep breath. Shit. I know exactly what he’s doing and I’m still fucking falling for it. I just need to slow down… Just need to-

“Alrighty! I’ll just cast a quick Echoing Order and pass.”

One of the now three trailing comets encircling ‘Logan’ dimmed before relighting and a new card appearing in his hand.

[Float 2] Draw 1 card. At the end of your turn, recover 3 play points if you control all Miracle civ cards. A lesser used card, but one that’s getting him deeper and deeper into his deck…

“My turn!” Taking a second to stop and breathe, she continued her third turn, “I’ll summon a Sixth Storm Oracle, gaining me yet another extra play point!” A fifth sphere joined the now four dimmed and one shining lights. “With my last play point, I’ll also summon a Scrapper!”

While her opponent had more cards in his hand, her two creatures on the field versus his one that was neutered closed the gap considerably.

Shuffling through his hand, ‘Logan’ shuffled his hand, still looking as if he either won the lottery, or a one way ticket to an asylum. “I’ll spend my four play points n’ play out The Second Sun’s Light!”

Suddenly, the landscape turned from a gently moving marble to the middle of space. Stars twinkled in the distance, even to her lack of familiarity, the formations and arrangement felt off. Turning around, she saw not one but two flaming spheres massively taking up her field of vision in the distance.

“Quite the sight, ain’t it?” The boy put his hands on his hips and leaned back, “Ain’t been there mahself, but this is the next best thang, I reckon!”

Oh shit…

“Wait. If you work for Miranda and you both have Second Sun cards, does that mean…?”

“Nah, mine ain’t as good as hers!” Taking off the cowboy hat, he threw it up in the air, “She told me she went through hell to get that sumbitch! This is just sumthin’ you just pull outta a pack!”

The hat fell to his feet as if they still had Earth gravity, but just as inertia would cause it to impact on the implied floor beneath them, it sailed past, falling into eternity.

“So are you both working with this Second Sun? Who gave her the card? Why are you both-”

“Tch, tch, tch!” The boy held up a singular finger, “No more questions, you’re throwin’ off the duel!”

Despite the roiling flames they both consisted of, the two stars encircled each other in a silent waltz. It burned the eyes just looking at them for a few seconds, but the majesty drew one’s gaze in like a whirlpool dragging a boat to the ocean’s depths.

That’s another weird card… Sarah bit her lip. It gives any card with [Blocker] on his field +2 attack points, meaning he’s got some thick walls. Thankfully… Looking towards the foreign craft made from bone before her she nodded. Thankfully, I’ve got plenty of ways to remove that from his cards.

“Okay, it’s my turn!” Adding the next card in her hand, she now had six dancing lights around her, miniature suns in their own right. “I’ll start by summoning Storm Silver Compass, allowing me to search my deck for any creature I want!”

“Oh geez, I already know what card yer gonna-”

“I’ll add Sterben, Keeper of Fiction to my hand!” Without having to search through her deck, not like she knew where it was anyways, the card appeared in her grip as if she drew it for the turn. “And because I have to, I’ll have Scrapper break one of your shields!”

The man covered in strange rusted tools and a tight mask lunged forward, slashing without abandon until he finally collided with one of the glass panes protecting the young boy. With her six play points spent, Sarah motioned towards her opponent.

As the card shattered into reality and slid into his hand, his eyes opened wide, “Whoo-wee! You ain’t gon’ like this one!” Punctuating his statement, the bone plane took to the space around them, flying around, seemingly as if it was pulled by an invisible train of reindeer before slamming into the wild man with his assortment of rusted metal and leather attire. The plane returned to its resting position, winning the fight with it’s 2 attack points versus Scrapper’s 1.

“After Nix attacks, I’ll summon up a Malkuth, Lord of Firmament!” Out from the side, a tall pale man with long brown hair parted down the middle slowly strode forward. Despite his goofy haircut and gaudy fur lined cloak, he held an air of dignity. Beneath the cloak was a fully functioning double-breasted black business suit with a plain red tie. As he reached a point of stopping on the field, as if it were a stage, he stood and nodded towards Sarah.

Holding up a card, ‘Logan’ continued, “And with my last play point, let’s throw out another Echoing Order and ending my turn!” The recovery effect of Echoing Order triggers first, so three of the dancing lights around him regained their glow and a new card appeared in his hand, since two play points were left active at the end of the turn.

“Let’s also not forget our new friend here!”

Lifting up a finger, a yellow focused beam fired out, piercing the seven foot tall beast man bearing a silver compass, causing him to shatter like the cards they used. “Since I have 3 play points left over, Malkuth let’s me kill one of your guys with his [Float 3] effect!”

“Squeak, squeak!”

Carbuncle chirped furiously at the boy.

As Sarah leaned to get a better look at what brought on the sudden aggression, she realized it was not the boy…

A tall, spindly figure dressed in an elegant blue gown with yellow trim stepped into visibility. Her face was smoothed over with flesh, any trace of orifices were not present as her head resembled a fleshy chicken’s egg.

“Aww Melt! What the hell you doin’ comin’ out? I told our enemies they had to earn seein’ yer beautiful face!”

No trace of muscle movement reflected on her face, but a voice reached out clear as day to all combatants, “I apologize Terrence, but we are in some serious trouble…”