Sword

I made it to Spencer's apartment and knocked on the door. He opened it and invited me inside. Spencer has the kind of apartment you'd expect a college student to have. He's got an overflowing laundry basket, a trash bin full of ramen wrappers, counters that could use a good scrubbing, and a few text books and schoolwork cluttering a small desk. His kitchen table was cluttered with a bunch of gadgets and loose mechanical bits.
“So, you ready to see the improvement's I made?” he asked, going over to his broom closet.
“Course I am,” I said. “It's been what, four months? I'd love to see how it looks.”
“Yeah,” he said, taking a leather coat out of the closet “Sorry it took so long. Didn't cause you any trouble, did it?”
“I can handle myself unarmed,” I said. “Still, I've missed the thing.”
“Right,” he said, handing me the coat “Try this on first.”
I looked the coat over. Running a hand along it, I noticed that there were gadgets and such inside of it, between the material. There were also two slits on the back, over the shoulder blades, that were sealed shut by some kind of mechanical locks. I slipped it on, and looked down at the sleeves over my arms. On my right wrist was a turquoise opal button, with an eye carved into it. On  the left wrist was a red opal with the heretic's fork engraved in it. The symbols of the Vision and Brute, respectively.
“Press the blue one,” Spencer said.
I tapped the opal on my right wrist, and the locks over my shoulder blades released, and the slits both opened up.
“Try them out,” Spencer told me.
“All right,” I said.
I rolled up my right sleeve and tapped into the Vision's power. Energy began seeping from my back, spreading out and solidifying into a pair of red wings, made up of a substance similar to an insect's exoskeleton. The same energy wrapped around my right hand and forearm, becoming a plated gauntlet. I examined myself in Spencer's mirror, and saw that the wings fit perfectly through the slits in the back, without damaging the coat.
“Neat,” I said. “How long'd this take you?”
“A few weeks,” he said. “Getting the locks right was pretty tricky.”
“Cool,” I said. “What about the sword?”
“Right here,” he said, pulling it from the closet, with some noticeable effort.
The sword is huge. Very huge. It has a long, broad red blade, and a long hilt. It originally lacked a hand-guard, but Spencer had changed that. It now hand a very techo looking guard attached at the base of the blade. There was a trigger right by the hilt, which had been wrapped up in cloth and rubber.
“Um,” he said. “Do you think you can do the thing?”
I nodded, and reached out with my right hand. I felt my energy flowing around the sword, and I took control of it. The sword levitated in the air, and floated toward me. I grasped the hilt, and felt its familiar weight. The sword is heavy. Heavier than most people could handle. I'm not most people. I allowed my wings and gauntlet to fade away, and hit the blue button again, causing the slits to lock back up.
“Now, pull the trigger on the sword and touch the red button,” Spencer instructed me.
I did. I felt a surge of magnetic force go through the sword's hilt, and into its blade. A similar force seemed to be produced by the gizmos inside the coat. I raised the sword over my shoulder, and pressed it to my back. It stayed there, clinging to the coats magnetic force.
“You should twirl it over your head when you do that,” Spencer said.
“I'm not doing that,” I said.
“Oh, come one!” he said. “You could totally be Cloud!”
“I don't wanna be cloud,” I said. “I wanna be Cecil. Cecil's cooler.”
“Pfft,” he replied. “No he's not!”
“Yes, he totally is,” I retorted.
“Whatever,” Spencer said. “So, what do you think?”
“Works pretty well,” I said. “Make's up for the absence of my sheath.”
I used to have a weird sheath composed of tentacles that lashed to my back and around the sword, but it got destroyed by a dragon. It came with the sword.
“So how much is this gonna cost me?” I asked.
“Well,” he said, “With all the parts, the batteries it comes with, and the work put into it...”
He gave me a number, and I grimaced.
“That,” I said, “May take me a while to scrape together...”
“I can wait,” he said.
“All right,” I said.
I opened up a rift into the Streams Of Destiny and stabbed my sword into the ground on the other side. The Streams are the Vision's domain, and lately, they've been going to hell. They're completely unrecognizable, because of some outside entity corrupting it. I've yet to figure out what's causing it, but if I can find it, I'll snuff it out. Hopefully, that will return the domain to its former glory.
“I'll see you later,” I said, shutting the rift. “I've got dinner plans with Kelly.”
“Oh, so you can afford to take your girl out?” Spencer asked jokingly.
“We're eating in tonight,” I said. “I got this chicken and dumplings recipe from my friend Daniel that I wanna try out.”
“Well, have fun,” he said. “And take your time on the payment. It's not urgent or anything.”
“Sure thing,” I told him.
And with that, I left.

Hello, I guess

My name is David Kallaway. I'm a former servant of the Slender Man, until I decided I wasn't overly fond of being his little errand boy. I also possess fragments of two other Fears. The Vision, who I'm actually related to on my mom's side, and the Brute. I get some powers from both of them. From the Vision, I gain sharpened senses, especially sight. I can see really far, I can see through most objects, I can see different kinds of energy, and if I try hard enough, I can see people's destiny. Lately, I've been using her powers more than when I started out. I'm just trying to get the hang of it, I guess. As for the powers I get from the Brute... Well, it's called the Brute. What powers do you think I get from it? I'll give you a hint; The destructive kind.
So... about my past. I killed my father when I was six, after he killed my mom. Then I went to an orphanage, and ended up killing the owner because she was abusive. Then I went to jail, and then Slender Man busted me out, and I became a servant. For a while, I dated another proxy, but she was killed by a Nest called the Crow, who is now my sworn enemy. I became an Enhanced so I could kill him, but he eluded me, and I got pulled into one of the Game Master's tournaments. I teamed up with an acquaintance of my, Malachai Dewitt, along with some other people, until we reached the finals. I died in the Semis, but apparently I was brought back under mind control as some sort of bonus round for the winner, and I died again. Then I was brought back again, as one of the Game Master's Emissaries. Eventually, the Game Master died, and I discovered one of the other Emissaries was my reborn father, who I defeated and left in the Empty City to die. After that, I decided to try living a more or less normal life, but that didn't work out all to well. I ended up clashing with a man named Gordon Tayler. He's a Yu-Gi-Oh nerd with magic powers and evil intentions. I killed him, but he still has some followers out there, and I've been spending the last year looking for them. Not much luck. On the plus side, I've had a lot of peace and quiet during my search, which is cool, I guess.
So yeah, I have a weird backstory. Whatever.
So, over the weekend I participated in a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament, in the hopes of maybe coming across one of Gordon's lackeys. I didn't find any, but I did win the tournament. Good for me. So I was on my way back to my place, when some guy stopped my in the street.
“You there!” he said. “Come with me!”
I could tell that something wasn't right about this man, and a look at him with my vision confirmed it. I could see clouds of reddish-black energy obscuring his right forearm. I had seen this before e was under the control of the Jack Of All. A right douchebag, that guy is.
So I followed the man into an alleyway (yeah, real original), and he turned to me. A red and silver dueldisk appeared on his wrist, and I realized exactly what was happening. This guy wanted my to duel him. I let out a sigh and equipped my own dueldisk You see, playing Yu-Gi-Oh as a hobby is actually pretty fun. But when you end up dueling with magical dueldisks with your life on the line, it gets kind of ridiculous. But, I grin and bear it when this kind of crap comes along. I'll go ahead and write the entire duel in a different color, so you all can skip it if you lose interest.
I inserted my current deck into my dueldisk. My main deck is themed around my old boss Slendy and his servants. But, I've done a lot of training with Daniel Ferris, and he taught me to use more then one deck. It's a little weird at first, breaking from your comfort zone and using a new style, but it helped me get a little better. Daniel has well over fifty decks, and he's unpredictable because of it. I could never tell what he's use against me. And that's why he's the only person who's ever beaten me in a duel. The deck I was using on this day was one Daniel had lent me.

“I'll go first!” I said, drawing a card. “I summon Deep Diver in attack mode!”
A scuba diver appeared on my field. He was level 3 with 1000 attack.
“Then I end my turn,” I said.

“All right, then,” the other guy said, beginning his turn. “Since you control a monster, I can summon Vice Dragon, with his attack and defense halved!”
A large, evil looking dragon appeared on his field It was level 5, with its attack power reduced to 1000.
“Next, I tribute my Vice Dragon to summon Different Dimension Dragon!” he said.
A new dragon appeared on his field. It was level 5, with 1200 attack.
“This monster can't be destroyed by spell and trap cards that don't target it, and it can't be destroyed by monsters with less than 1900 attack points,” he said. “Now, I'll have my dragon attack your Diver!”
His dragon tore through my Deep Diver, destroying it. My life was reduced by 200.
“I activate Deep Diver's effect,” I said. “Now, I can move one monster to the top of my deck.”
“I end my turn with that,” the guy said.

“I draw!” I said.
If his dragon couldn't be destroyed by weak monster, I just had to summon something strong.
“I summon Marauding Captain!” I said. “And with his effect, I can special summon a level 4 or lower monster from my hand! I choose Big Jaws!”
Marauding Captain was a warrior with 1200 attack points, and Big Jaws was a shark with 1800 attack points. They were both level 3.
“Now, I build the overlay network with these two level 3 monsters!” I said. “I xyz summon Number 30, Acid Golem Of Destruction!”
A giant monster appeared on my field It was rank 3, with 3000 attack and defense. Which is awfully powerful for a low rank xyz monster, so naturally, it has some drawbacks. It starts with two overlay units, but I have to detach one each turn, and if I can't, I lose 2000nlife points. Also, It can't attack if it runs out of overlay units, and I can't special summon while I have it out. O what kind of idiot would use a card with this many risks? The answer is Daniel. He built a deck around this card, which focuses on covering its weaknesses. He has cards to replenish its overlay units, or destroy it if left with no other options. He also had another way of dealing with it's negative effects. And that is by getting rid of them entirely.
“I equip Acid Golem with Axe Of Fools!” I said. “This card increases its attack by 1000, and negates its effects!”
See? Easy. Not only were its effects gone, but it was now a whopping 4000 attack. Of course, It would cost me 500 life points at the beginning of each of my turns, but it was well worth it.
“Now I'll have it attack your Dragon!” I said.
The Acid Golem swung its axe, destroying his dragon and dropping his life to 5200.
“I activate the effect of Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon from my hand!” he said. “Since my monster was destroyed, I can special summon this card!”
A giant purple dragon appeared on his field. It was level 5, with 2200 attack.
“I'm sorry,” I said. “I didn't quite catch that name. What's it called?”
“Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon!” he said.
“Say it again?” I asked
“Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon!” he repeated
“I'm sorry,” I said. “One more time?”
“Interplanetarypurplythorny fucking Dragon!” he shouted angrily.
“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time,” I said.
He growled something under his breath.
“I end my turn,” I said.

“My turn,” he said. “I banish the Dark attribute Vice Dragon and the Light attribute Different Dimension Dragon to summon Darkflare Dragon from my hand!”
A sinister dragon appeared. It was level 5, with 2400 attack.
“Next, I overlay these two level 5 dragon-type monsters to xyz summon White Specter Dragon!” he said.
A giant dragon, crackling with energy, appeared before him. It had 2900 attack points.
“Next, I activate Stamping Destruction!” he said. “This card destroy's your Axe Of Fools, and deals you 500 damage.
My Axe was destroyed, and I dropped down to 7300.
“Next, by detaching one Overlay unit from my monster, it gains 700 attack points!” he said. “And I'll attack with him!”
His dragon, now at 3600 attack, crushed my Acid Golem and reduced me to 6700.
“Now I end my turn,” he said. “And my monster's attack returns to normal.”

“My move, then,” I said. “I set one monster face down and end my turn.”

“I draw,” he said “Then I activate another of my dragon's effects By detaching one of his overlay units, it can deal piercing damage this turn! And now I'll have it attack!”
His dragon emitted a bright glow and fired a blast of light from its mouth.
“My set card is Snowman Eater!” I said.
My monster had 1900 defense, so I received 1000 damage from his piercing effect. I was now at 5700.
“Snowman eater's effect activates!” I said. “Since it was flipped up during that attack, your monster is destroyed!”
In a flash of light, his monster vanished, leaving his field empty.
“D-Damn it!” he exclaimed.
“Sucks for you,” I muttered.
“I end my turn...,” he growled.

“I draw,” I said. “Then I summon Des Mosquito. And when this monster is summoned it gains 2 counters that give it 500 attack each.”
My monster was a level 3 spear wielding insect with 500 attack, but the counters brought it up to 1500.
“Now, I attack directly with it!” I said.
My Mosquito rushed forward and struck him with its lance, reducing him to 3700.
“Then I end my turn,” I said.

“My turn,” he said. “I summon Spirit Ryu!”
Another dragon appeared on his field. It was level 4, with 1000 attack.
“No I'll have Spirit Ryu attack your monster!” he said. “And by discarding my Prime Material Dragon, Spirit Ryu gains 1000 attack points for this battle!”
His monster rose to 2000 attack points. Our two monsters clashed, and my life was reduced to 5200.
“I use Des Mosquito's effect,” I said. “By removing one of its counters, it can't be destroyed.”
“I end my turn,” he said.

“My turn,” I said. “I summon The Hunter With 7 Weapons.”
A warrior with a bunch of weapons appeared. He was level 3 with 1000 attack.
“Now I overlay these two level 3 monsters to xyz summon another Acid Golem Of Destruction!” I said, as a second Acid Golem appeared before me.
“Another?” he asked, stunned.
“You didn't think I'd have just the one, did you?” I asked. “Now, I'll have it attack Spirit Ryu!”
Acid Golem struck his dragon, destroying it. He was reduced to 1700 life points.
“And with that, I end my turn,” I said.

He drew a card, without speaking, and looked at it. A smile spread across his face, and he placed the card into his hand and activated a different one.
“I activate Phantom Overlay!” he said. “This card let's me revive an xyz monster from my graveyard! Return to me, White Specter Dragon!”
His xyz monster reappeared on his side of the field, but it seemed transparent.
“When White Specter Dragon is revived from the graveyard, I can attach up to two of my banished dragon-type monsters to him as overlay units,” he said. “So I'll attach Vice Dragon and Different Dimension Dragon to him!”
“Uh-Oh,” I said.
“The monster summoned with Phantom Overlay can't attack,” he said. “Also, I must perform an xyz summon using it this turn, or else I'll receive damage equal to its attack points.
“An xyz summon using an xyz monster?” I asked. “You mean... a Rank-Up?”
“That's right!” he said, activating the card he had drawn. “I activate Rank-Up Magic All Force!”
Shit. I had seen this card before. It allows you to use an xyz monster you control to summon a Red Hand card that's one rank higher.
The man's right arm began glowing with a bright red light, and his features contorted in pain. A red portal opened next to him, and he reached into it and withdrew a new card. As he did, his dragon was pulled into another portal. 
“As the spirits from beyond gather, their power shall coalesce into an unyielding force!” he chanted. “Let the fallen souls fuel you, so that you can strike down the living and add them to the pool of phantoms!” 
He slapped his new card down on his duel disk, and as he did, a new monster emerged from the portal.
“I overlay my rank 5 White Specter Dragon!” he said. “And I call forth, Red Hand, Crimson Specter Dragon!”
His new monster was both terrifying and beautiful, having an ethereal beauty that I can't really describe. It glowed with a soft red light, while its right hand glowed a much fiercer scarlet. It had 3200 attack points.
“I activate my new monster's effect!” he said. “By detaching one overlay unit, it gains 800 attack until the end phase!”
His monster's attack increased to 4000.
“Now, I'll attack your Acid Golem!” he declared.
His monster crushed my Golem, and my life was reduced to 4200.
“And with that, I end my turn,” he said.

“I draw,” I said. “Then I activate Pot Of Duality, so I can reveal the top three cards of my deck, then add one to my hand.”
The three cards were Plasma Ball, Mimimic, and Overlay Regen. I added Mimimic to my hand and shuffled the other two back into my deck.
“Then I set a card and end my turn,” I said.

“I draw!” he said. “Then, by detaching an overlay unit from my dragon, I can have it gain 800 attack, and deal piercing damage this turn!”
“Oh crap,” I muttered.
“Attack!” he cried.
His monster destroyed my face down, which had 1100 defense, so I took 2900 piercing damage. I was now at 1300.
“That card you just destroyed was another Deep Diver,” I said. “So I can move another monster to the top of my deck.”
“Whatever,” he said, laughing.
He kept laughing as I placed the card that would win me the duel on top of my deck.
“I end my turn,” he said.

“My move,” I said, drawing.
Now, I should mention, I was using Daniel's deck, but I squeezed some of my own cards into it, just in case something like this happened. And I now had everything I needed to summon one of them.
“From my hand, I normal summon Needle Sunfish!” I announced.
A level 3 water monster appeared, with 1500 attack points.
“And since I just normal summoned a level 3 monster, I can bring out Kagemucha Knight!” I said.
The monster I had gained with Deep Diver's effect appeared. It was a dark monster, with 0 attack points.
“And since you control a monster, and I have out a level 3 monster, I can summon Mimimic!” I said.
A weird toy-looking thing appeared. Also level 3, with 300 attack points.
“Three?” the man asked.
“That's right!” I said “And I overlay all of them to xyz summon Convocation Nest, The Crow!”
Um, yeah, about that guy who killed my old girlfriend... I have him in my deck. I know, it's weird. He's rank 3, with 2200 attack.
“I use his effect!” I said. “So by detaching an xyz material, I can cut your monster's attack power in half!” I said.
The Crow lashed his whip around the dragon's neck and pumped it full of electricity. His monster's power dropped to 1600.
“Then, since my life points are less then 2000, I can rebuild the overlay network using the Crow!” I said.
The Crow vanished into a portal of darkness, and reappeared a second later, sporting jet black wings and a large talon for his right hand. His overlay units took the form of crows flying around him.
“Say hello to Deadly Nest, The Black Crow!”
The Black Crow had the same overall stats as his original form, but he was one rank higher and had some new effects.
“I'll have him attack Crimson Specter Dragon!” I said. “And any monster he battles loses half of its attack!”
My monster charged, and his dragon's attack fell down to 800.
“I activate my dragon's final effect!” he said. “By banishing Prime Material Dragon and Darkflare Dragon from my graveyard, he can't be destroyed by this battle, and I take no damage!”
“I don't think so!” I said. “By detaching one of the Black Crow's overlay units, your monster's effects are negated! All of them!”
The Black Crow fired some bolts of static, neutralizing his dragon's powers.
“Also, that overlay unit I just detached was Needle Sunfish,” I said. “And since it was just sent to the graveyard, your monster loses another 500 attack!”
His dragon was reduced to 300 attack.
“Now, the attack continues!” I said. “Finish him!”
The Black Crow cut down his monster, and reduced his life points to zero.

I stood over my defeated opponent, as he sat there, panting.
“What just happened?” he asked.
I looked him over with my vision again. Jack's aura was gone. He wasn't being controlled anymore.
“Can you remember anything?” I asked him.
“A little,” he said. “Did I... challenge you?”
“Yes,” I said. “Someone else put you up to it, though. You were being controlled.”
“Oh, geez,” he said. “I'm sorry.”
“No problem,” I said.
I turned to leave, and after a few seconds, he caught up to me.
“What?” I asked.
“Here,” he said, shoving his White Specter Dragon into my hand. “This this is trouble, but you seem like you could handle it.”
“Um, thanks,” I said.
“No,” he replied. “Thank you. You know, for snapping me out of it. I owe you.”
“No,” I said, walking away. “You don't.”

I made it home and checked my answering machine. I had two messages.
Hey, David, it's Kelly,” the first one said. “I just wanted to let you know, our reservation was canceled. I know, it suuuuucks. We may have to order pizza tomorrow night. Give me a call back when you're home. Hugs and kisses! Bye!”
So, um... Kelly. She's a girl I met a while back. She works at a diner, and we've been going steady for a couple months. She's cool. And honestly, losing the reservations didn't bother me much, and I definitely had nothing to do with them getting canceled, so stop giving me those suspicious looks.
“Hey, K man!” the second message said. “I'm almost done with the modifications to your sword. Come by on Thursday or Friday and it sword be good to go!”
That's Spencer. Another guy I met recently. A researcher in the field of magnetism. I asked him to make some upgrades to the giant red sword that I own.
So, I called them both back, told Kelly that pizza's fine and told Spencer I'd be there Friday probably, and then I cooked a TV dinner and fell asleep. See how interesting my life is when I'm not playing card games? Anyway, I'mma go now. Later.