16

👍︎︎︎♒︎︎︎♋︎︎︎◻︎︎︎⧫︎︎︎♏︎︎︎❒︎︎︎ 📂︎⌛︎🖳︎ 💣︎♓︎⬧︎⬧︎♓︎□︎■︎ ❄︎♓︎❍︎♏︎

It was the next morning. The sun was brightly shining. The Puppeteer stretched out in his bed. He yawned and looked out the window. "Today's the day," he thought to himself, "today I can go on a mission!" He checked his holdus and saw that it was 7:57. He looked towards Thor who was still happily sleeping in his own separate bed. The Puppeteer quickly changed clothes and quietly left leaving Thor home alone.

"As much as I'd like his approval, He's asleep and disrupting someone's sleep is never a good thing to do." The Puppeteer said to himself

"Good thing I'm not asleep then," Thor said as he walked out. "Quite bold of you to just leave me when I specifically said that we would go together."

"I-I-uhm."

"Sense of adventure? Freedom to go somewhere without someone watching over you? The greatness of a bit of solitude?"

"Y-yeah I guess. How'd you know?"

"I've been in your position before..."

The Puppeteer could sense that Thor wasn't feeling too well. "C'mon let's go. You're not going to just let me go right?"

"Fine, then just go on your own."

"Well if you say so!" The Puppeteer then sprinted away towards the Guild Hall.

"Hey! You get back here!" Thor yelled as he ran to chase him.

The Puppeteer was giggling like a schoolgirl as he continued to run away from Thor who was slowly gaining on him. He took a sharp right turn into an alleyway in which Thor almost fell over trying to chase him. He looked into the alleyway only to not see anything. Out of breath, he turned around only to see The Puppeteer standing uncomfortably close to him.

"Boo!"

Thor jumped a bit to which The Puppeteer let out a laugh. "You caught up to me! Let's go together now shall we?"

"You… you know…" Thor panted, "You're a real asshole."

"Yeah… I get that a lot."

They continued to chat as they arrived at the Guild Hall. Surprisingly though, Ben was there standing right next to the door as if he was waiting for someone.

"Sensei!" Ben exclaimed, "I-I'm sorry to bother you but I overheard that you guys were going on a mission and I uh… wanted to go."

The Puppeteer sighed and called to Thor, "Hey Thor, Ben wants to come with us."

"Tell him he can't come," Thor said, "It's too dangerous for a child like him."

"He said—"

"I know what he said!" Ben interrupted, "I'm not just a "child" I'm 13 and I know of the danger. Plus wouldn't it be safer for multiple people to go?"

"There'd be what is said as 'Too many chefs in the kitchen.' Too many people in one place will cause it to be a mess."

Ben's face began to get pouty, but Thor's stern expression stayed. "You're not going to get sympathy just because you're crying. If you really want to come, prove that you can be a help to the team."

"I'll prove myself then! I know I will!" Ben shouted back.

"Let us commence our duel then," Thor said, pulling out his deck of cards.

"Is this really all necessary?" The Puppeteer asked, "I mean we could just take him with us."

"You never know," Thor responded, "one extra person not pulling their weight can result in the death of the entire team." He turned towards Ben and continued, "So, shall we begin?"

"Yes!"

The two walked into the Guild Hall and sat down at a nearby table and each pulled out their decks. Thor's had obviously been well built, but Ben's was just the starter deck The Puppeteer bought him the day before.

"A-alright then," The Puppeteer said nervously, "the duel between Thor and Ben will begin in 3… 2… 1… Now!"

The coin was tossed into the air by one of the nearby onlookers. Thor sat calmly as the coin landed and the onlooker concealed the result.

"The challenged normally is the one that calls the flip." Thor explained, "I suppose he wasn't able to teach you that much yesterday?"

Ben gritted his teeth. He was inexperienced and was sure to lose badly. "Heads!" he called out.

"Tails!" the onlooker responded, "That means Thor goes first."

"Here goes," Thor said, "I play the card Thunderous Sacrifice. Since this is my first turn, there is no mana cost in playing this card. Now by sacrificing 4 cards in my hand I'm able to summon a Thunder Well. Now I play the final card in my hand, Chain Lightning. For every Thunder card I play I am able to add 1 Thunder Counter as long as I play them all in a row."

"Um… I guess it's my turn then," Ben stumbled, "I play Oculus Minimus. It allows me to…"

"Ben? That's a counter card. Plus you need a Unit on the field in order to use it." Thor explained.

"Uhhhh…"

"How much did you exactly teach him?" Thor asked The Puppeteer.

"Like one lesson. I was going to do some more background explaining, but then we got interrupted by that soldier, and then you came along, and then the story, and the fight, and yeah… yesterday we didn't do much."

Thor sighed and looked at Ben, "You're not ready. You barely know the rules to the game that's central to our society. It's a waste of both our time to continue this duel."

"No!" Ben argued, "If you leave now that means you're forfeiting the match!"

"Fine then, we'll continue," Thor said, "but you better not waste our time."

"I promise," Ben said with a smirk, "it's your turn now."

"I draw my card and let's go. I play the card Raikiri Egg (0/2). This card allows me to play a card from my discard pile if I sacrifice it along with 5 health points since I have no other cards in my hand. I play the card Thunder Dancer (1/2). Thunder Dancer gains 1/1 for each Thunder card that is on the field or has been discarded which is 6. I now attack with Thunder Dancer which leaves you at 23 Hp.

"I draw. I play the card Jack-In-The-Box (1/3). I use Jack-In-The-Box's ability which allows me to roll a 6 sided die which does something based on what's rolled." He rolled the die which came out to a 5. "Since I rolled a 5, I get to draw 2 cards. And now I place a card in the counter zone and end my turn."

Everyone watching the game was surprised. A little kid who didn't even read the effects or what a card was suddenly able to pull off a half decent play. Thor looked at The Puppeteer who shrugged his shoulders.

"I draw." Thor started before sighing, "well I guess the game ends now. I play the card Thunder Cannon (4/1). I also activate the ability of Shocking Chaos from the discard pile. Because my hand is empty I'm able to add Shocking Chaos back into my hand while also drawing another card. I now play Shocking Chaos which allows me to double the amount of Thunder Counters on Chain Lightning which now has 8 counters. Now by playing Sprout (1/1), Chain Lightning is destroyed allowing me to deal 3 damage to Jack-In-The-Box destroying it and 5 damage to you directly."

"I use the counter card Exploding Box which deals 3 damage to everything."

"That only leaves you with 15 health, little kid," Thor said while I still have a 8/6 on the field and my final card just so happens to be Bonus Attack."

"Dang..."

"Well that was a game and a—"

"I activate from my deck Book of Legends,"

"WHAT?"

"Book of Legends allows me to play one card as long as it's a Legendary Card. I play Doomsday Device. Doomsday Device deals damage equal to double all the damage that I've taken this turn."

"You can't activate that card from your deck Ben." The Puppeteer interjected, "Book of Legends can only be played directly from your hand if and only if you have no cards in your hand or field. Plus Doomsday Device can't be played from the deck and can only be played from your hand if you've taken over 20 damage in one turn and you survive that turn. In this case you've already lost."

"But don't I get points for trying?"

"No you don't," The Puppeteer and Thor said in unison.

"Life doesn't just reward you for trying your best. You have to be capable enough," Thor continued.

"Does that mean I don't get to go with you guys?"

"Well I guess it's up to him to decide," Thor said nonchalantly, "I'm okay with it."

"Can I?" Ben asked The Puppeteer.

"Might as well," The Puppeteer responded, "Thor said he was okay with it."

"Yay!"

"Alright we got to pick a mission now," Thor said, "You're the leader of this little team right now so go on and pick one."

"Leader? Since when was I the leader? If anything you should be the leader. You're much more experienced than me."

"Experience doesn't make a leader, Leadership makes a leader. You may not be experienced but you're able to befriend people easily which definitely seems like a leadership quality."

"Alright then, how about this one? Catch the thief in the Urak Forest."

Chapter 16: Mission Time END