[color=0072bc][center][h3]Cassandra Moore – Obelisk Blue[/h3][/center][/color]

Approaching Haruko directly seemed like it would be impossible. The spirits circled her relentlessly, surrounding her and blocking all paths towards her; even more spirits filled the trees around her and, when one tried to get close like Helena had, they would swarm them. It was only because the other girl and her spirit were distracting them that Cassandra had made it this far without being attacked herself.

She walked towards Haruko with feigned confidence, her head held high, only for her steps to falter about ten metres away from the possessed girl. It seemed this was as far as her courage would take her. She hesitated before speaking, her hand instinctively reaching for the deck in her duel disk for comfort, for reassurance, before finding her words.

[color=0072bc]“Hello?”[/color]

Like a weight pressing down on her shoulders she felt the attention of just some of the spirits shift her direction; the heavy feeling in her chest doubled, but the hand on her deck kept her steady. [color=00aeef]“I’m here to duel you. To put a stop to this.”[/color]

[b]“Human.”[/b] Despite the many eyes on her, there was only a single voice that called out to her. [b]“So many of you have come to the forest tonight; drawn to our power, drawn by our wrath. If only you had thought to show us this much attention before, but you didn’t think us worthy then. You thought us weak and abandoned us, left us to fester and grow hateful and strong. We are strong now.”[/b]

As they spoke, from amidst the formless mass of spirits, a single silhouette began to take clearer shape as Cassandra watched. It was large and round at first, nothing more than a circle, but soon she could see the outlines of legs and antenna as well as a pair of glowing red eyes. At the same time, a single, solitary voice began to stand out from the rest, though the mass still spoke as if it was a whole, rather than a group of individuals. [b]“If it’s a duel you want, then I’ll gladly give you one. I’ll show you and all the others that I have grown strong enough not to need you anymore. There is no need for the humans anymore; I alone am enough.”[/b]

The spirit she would be facing finally took form; it’s large, round body covered by a glossy black shell and its many chitinous legs and feelers. The oversized insect, like a tick as wide across as Cassandra was tall, scuttled towards her. Cassandra stood her ground, feeling Naga behind her and giving her confidence even if the small snake was pressed against the small of her back for safety.

Rather than attack, the giant insect instead manifested a hand of cards of its own; the illusory hand hovering before it taking the place of a regular duellist’s holograms as her duel disk activated and she drew a hand of her own. [b]“I activate Terraforming and add Forest to my hand. Activate Forest.”[/b]

Nothing changed outwardly when the field spell was played. They were already in a forest after all, but as the card was played Cassandra couldn’t help but feel like the trees around her had grown more… real, somehow. Taller and sturdier and more full of life. [b]“Set one monster. End turn.”[/b]

Cassandra drew for turn and added the card to her hand. Under the watchful gaze of the insect’s compound eyes she picked out another card and placed it down on the field. [color=00aeef]“I normal summon Reptilianne Scylla and move to the battle phase. I’ll attack your face-down monster.”[/color]

Scylla rushed forward to trample the set monster, but when she got close the card suddenly flipped and she was ambushed by a spindly-limbed insect with razor sharp claws; the insect was destroyed, but not before taking Scylla down with it. [b]“Man-Eater Bug is destroyed by battle, but when it is flipped it destroys a monster of yours too.”[/b]

Cassandra nodded. [color=00aeef]“Hmm, okay. I’ll set a can and end my turn.”[/color]

[b]“My draw.”[/b] Upon seeing the card, the insect began to rapidly click their mandibles together in an act that roughly mimicked the sound of laughter . [b]“I summon Gokibore. I attack.”[/b] Her opponent played quickly, adding a card to its illusory hand, summoning a monster that looked identical to itself and attacking her directly before she had much chance to respond or think. She had a chance to activate her set trap, but chose to save it for a direr situation, though as the Gokibore lunged forward and lashed out at her with the end of its sharp leg she regretted it. The monsters leg cut through her thin pyjamas and into her skin. Rather than just being struck by a simulated amount of force equal to the amount of damage taken, she felt real pain as the monster’s attack bit into her leg and drew real blood.

[Cassandra: 8000 > 6600]

Wincing in pain, she buckled but managed to catch herself before she could fall. She felt the concern radiate from her deck and hurried to reassure her friends she was okay. [color=00aeef]“I’m fine, I’m… hmm, I’m fine.”[/color] Across from her, the spirit of Gokibore was leaning forward, mandibles clicking and eyes gleaming as she felt a sense of satisfaction from it. [color=00aeef]“I draw.”[/color]

It was unnerving facing down this particular opponent; not because it was an insect, she had no problem with those and even found this one’s overly round body to be kind of cute, but because of the blatant malice towards her she felt coming from them. That kind of emotion was something she had never felt before; even at her old school, though her classmates had never liked her and even found her unnerving, no one had [i]hated[/i] her like this. Wanted to see her come to harm.

[color=00aeef]“I normal summon Reptilianne Gardna. Then, I activate the Reptilianne Lamia in my hand, targeting your Gokibore.”[/color] She revealed the Lamia in her hand, reducing the attack of the opponent’s monster to zero to special summon it, before taking damage equal to its original attack. Cassandra braced herself against the oncoming pain as her life points were reduced, but it never came; it wasn’t just taking damage that had hurt her then, it was just the attack itself.

[Cassandra: 6600 > 5400]

[color=00aeef]“Next, I’ll Synchro summon Reptilianne Hydra.”[/color] Her Gardna and Lamia disappeared from the field, replaced by a larger, more gruesome looking creature with multiple long necks each ending with a human head with long, lank hair obscuring its many faces. [color=00aeef]“When Hydra is summoned she destroyed all of my opponent’s monsters with zero attack and I get to draw a card for each.”[/color] Cassandra drew a card and added it to her hand, immediately feeling the weight on her shoulders lessen at the sight of a familiar face. [color=00aeef]“Then I’ll go to battle and destroy your Gokibore with Hydra.”[/color]

The Hydra swept forward, its many heads lunged forward and crashing down on the now weakened Gokibore to tear it to shreds. Her opponent flinched in response, though if it felt pain too from the attack or was just unnerved to see a version of itself destroyed she wasn’t sure; either way, its rapidly clicking mandibles and waving legs gave away its agitation even if she couldn’t feel it. It saw her looking and immediately calmed itself down.

[Gokibore: 8000 > 5900]

[b]“You are strong too. But it doesn’t matter; I won’t lose to a human. Draw…”[/b]

There was a pause, which somehow led into an even longer pause as the Gokibore looked at the card it had just drawn. [b]“I… set one card and end my turn.”[/b]

Some of the tension in the air seemed to have gone as Cassandra drew for turn, the intensity she had felt from her opponent fading. The card she added to her hand was yet another familiar face and she felt Naga shift behind her back and poke her head out again to see. Feeling more confident, Cassandra put on a small smiled as she activated a spell card. [color=00aeef]“Hmm, I activate Reptilianne Poison, targeting your face-down monster. It is flipped into face-up attack position and has its attack reduced to zero.”[/color]

The set monster was flipped up to reveal another Gokibore, though  far from being menacing this one was curled up like a ball with its legs tucked under itself. Oh, it was like a wood lice; cute.

[b]“Wait…”[/b]

[color=00aeef]“Next, I’ll normal summon Reptilianne Naga to my side of the field.”[/color] Cassandra was now duelling like her normal self, smiling and even starting to hum to herself as she summoned Naga to the field. [color=00aeef]“Now, I’ll tribute both my Naga and your Gokibore to special summon Reptilianne Vaskii from my hand.”[/color]

[b]“Hold on, that’s…”[/b]

Both Cassandra’s and the spirits monsters were tributed, melting away into puddles of acid that flowed and merged into each other before rising again as the four-armed, crowned Vaskii. [color=00aeef]“Battle phase.”[/color]

[b]“I wasn’t expecting…”[/b]

[color=00aeef]“I’ll attack you directly with Reptilianne Hydra.”[/color]

[Gokibore: 5900 > 3800]

[color=00aeef]“Then attack you with Reptilianne Vaskii.”[/color]

[Gokibore: 3800 > 1200]

[color=00aeef]“I end my turn.”[/color]

Across the field, staring down two imposing snake-like creatures and having nothing in its hand it could summon to defend itself, the spirit of Gokibore slumped down as much as its insect body would allow. [b]“I…[/b] I concede.”

Admitting defeat, the illusions surrounding the spirit faded; the cards in its hand disappeared, the forest returned to normal, leaving just the oversized insect itself. For her part, Cassandra deactivated her duel disk and returned her deck to her pocket, but not before whispering a thank you to her friends again for helping her with another duel. She approached the spirit, cautiously, but got the sense that it was no longer going to be a threat to her.

[color=00aeef]“Hmm, can you let me past now? I want to help that girl other there.”[/color]

The spirit didn’t answer at first; in fact it showed no signs of responding at all. Cassandra frowned and waited a few moments more, but when it didn’t move she turned to walk past it instead.

“How…”

[color=00aeef]“Hmm?”[/color] Stopping, Cassandra turned back to look at the spirit again, finding it still slumped over, but now with its feelers wiggling with agitation.

“How are you so strong? You defeated me, defeated my anger and hatred for humans so easily; I was supposed to be powerful enough to beat you.”

Frowning even deeper, Cassandra walked around to stand in front of the Gokibore. [color=00aeef]“Hmm, is hatred supposed to make you strong? I don’t know, because I’m not that strong myself, but that doesn’t sound right to me.”[/color] She always felt like she was at her best when she was just having fun while duelling and not really thinking about winning or losing; it felt easier that way, more natural, and the right plays just came to mind by themselves. Hatred and anger seemed like they would get in the way of that. [color=00aeef]“I just tried to duel the way I always do and counted on my friends to help me out.”[/color]

The Gokibore raised its head slightly, until Cassandra could see its eyes again. “Your… friends?”

Smiling, Cassandra nodded her head and brought her hands up so she could count them off on her fingers. [color=00aeef]“Hmm; Naga and Vaskii and Hydra and Scylla and all the others. They’re my friends.”[/color]

Red eyes stared back at her, Gokibore seeming to have trouble comprehending what she had just said. “I see…” The insect lowered its head again, lowering its compound eyes to the dirt. “No, I don’t see. I don’t understand at all. Maybe… maybe they were they right to abandon me; maybe I really am as weak and pathetic as they said. If I lost this badly, then they were right to throw me away.”

[color=00aeef]“That’s not right either.”[/color] Cassandra crouched down, balancing on the balls of her feet so that she was at eye level with the Gokibore when it raised its head again. [color=00aeef]“It can’t be right; no one should be abandoned.”[/color]

“But… our duel…”

[color=00aeef]“No!”[/color] There was intensity to Cassandra gaze that was hard to argue with as it bore into the insects own, a fire that hadn’t been there even as she duelled with her own personal safety on the line. [color=00aeef]“Everyone has something they are good for, you just haven’t found yours yet; that’s no reason to abandon someone.”[/color] A hand moved towards the deck sat in her pocket and she ran her fingers over the outline of her cards reassuringly. [color=00aeef]“My friends were abandoned once; nobody wanted to play with them, because they were creepy or weird or because people thought they were weak, so they threw them away. I was alone too, so I picked them up and learned how to duel so I could play with them; so that neither of us would be alone. It was because of them that I became a duellist. It’s because of them that I’m strong; not the other way around.[/color]

[color=00aeef]“I’m sure you can make someone strong too. But, if you really hate the people who abandoned you that much, maybe you can be my friend instead?”[/color]

For a moment all that happened was that the Gokibore stared back at her and for a second Cassandra thought that the spirit was going to turn her down. But then they nodded, the insects feelers wiggling around animatedly before the spirit began to fade and in its place left a single card behind.

Cassandra reached down and carefully picked up the copy of Gokibore. She slid it into her pocket, along with her other friends and smiled. [color=00aeef]“You can stay there for now. I’ll find a deck for you later.”[/color]