Chapter 60

              Wednesday morning, Simon and Zoey walk to school again and Simon’s leg is feeling better.

            “So, I was talking with my cousins last night after dinner,” Zoey says. “They might be able to get to San Leandro early enough to help us out with some training again.”

            “Nice,” Simon says.

            “Right? Also, they were curious. Do you play that card game, Gaming King? The one based on that anime.”

            “Yeah, of course,” he says. “I also watch the anime."

            “Cool. My cousins thought during the youth group free time, you’d want to ‘duel.’”

            “Yeah, sounds awesome. I’ll stop by my house after school to get my decks.”

            “Decks? You have more than one?”

            “Well,” he says, feeling a little awkward, “don’t other people? Like, so they can alternate or something.”

            “Maybe,” she shrugs. “I just have one deck, and it’s not that good. They don’t have enough of a cat trope.”

            “Maybe one of these days, we can look through my extras. You can at least get multiple copies of the good ones.”

            “Really? You’d just let me have them?”

            “Well they are extras. As long as I have a copy for the collection, it’s fine.”

            “I dunno. I should at least try and give you something in return. What kind of decks do you play?”

            “I’ve got a Chaos Force and an Order of Order,” he says.

“Like the characters in the show,” Zoey smirks.

“Yes, but that’s because they’re cool decks.”

“Uh-huh,” she says with a giggle. “But in that case, we’ll look at my collection and whatever cards for those you don’t have, I’ll trade you for those cat cards.”

“Deal.”

 

“Heyyyyy~ Pirates!” Hardwire says for the announcements. “Guess who’s back!?”

So many students at San Leandro High groan hearing his voice.

“Needless to say,” Hardwire continues, “I’ve miraculously recovered from the coma that supposedly not Spektrum psycho, Siro, put me in! And wouldn’t you know? He came after me and tried again! But me and Reciprocity Inc. showed him! And now I find out the ‘real’ Spektrum isn’t dead? Well, then. He better show his face before the end of the day so I can ask him what the hell is going on! As for the rest of you, have a great dayyy, Pirates! Arrgh.”

“I’m going to kiss his ass,” Simon mutters.

“But you have to wait until after PE,” Zoey says. “Otherwise, everyone will realize who you are.”

 

“Why can’t you just go up to him right now?” Julian asks during lunch.

Hardwire is in the quad, taking pictures and autographing things for the surprising amount of fans he actually has.

“My powers would heal my knee and that’d make Robby suspicious,” Simon explains.

“Robby?” Bryan asks.

“I don’t know his last name, but he’s a friend of Craig’s.”

“Actually, there he is right there,” Zoey says. “And his stupid sister, Gina.”

The group looks over and sees both Robby and Gina posing with Hardwire while one of her friends takes a picture for them.

“Oh yeah, those two,” Bryan says. “There are Juniors and Seniors on the wrestling teams that know those two.”

“Same for baseball,” Alex says. “Those two are, uh, hard to be around.”

“Well that’s obvious,” both Simon and Zoey say.

Zoey and Simon both have curious smiles as they realize what just happened.

“I’ll wait until after Fourth Block,” Simon says. “Beating Craig will be even better training than training.”

“But we’ll still do training, right?” Zoey asks. “It’ll be kind of a waste if my cousins come over for nothing.”

“Yeah, we can still train.”

 

Simon hobbles his way through PE the next block, and luckily, it’s Arm Day so his leg can rest. Unfortunately, it’s also Arm Day and he’s still near the bottom of the class in arm strength as well as stamina. He feels awkward and embarrassed as he takes weights off from the bar after others at his station have their turn.

Robby snickers every time Simon pulls a weight off the bar and set it back on the side of the frame. Simon just clenches his jaw as he resets the clips that secure the weights to the bar and goes back to the bench. Simon places his hands, lifts the bar off the hooks, and starts his set. He’s supposed to go for 10, but barely makes it past the seventh. He has to put it up on the eighth repetition and shake out his arms. This again makes Robby snicker at him.

Simon breathes air out his nose with a small growl. He wants to tell Robby to shut his fat ass, that Robby’s just an arrogant piece of crap, but he instead digs his fingernails into his palms as he balls his hands up into fists. He’ll just take this frustration out on Craig later.

 

“Which color are you going to use to confront him?” Zoey quietly asks Simon after Fourth Block. “I was thinking Silver, since he’s kinda your main one.”

“Well, yeah, probably,” he says. “But why are you so concerned about it?”

“Well, I don’t think Green or Black are the best for this situation,” she says. “If an argument starts, it’s way more likely those two will turn it into a fight. Silver is just the least confrontational.”

“Do you still have issues with Green?”

“He has too much attitude, he’s going to practically start a fight with Craig.”

“Only if Craig does something to rile me up,” Simon defends. “Maybe you should be there with me. Just because he’s calling out The Spektrum doesn’t mean Catgirl can’t show up.”

“Might as well,” she says. “We’ve gotta walk home together anyway.”

Zoey and Simon pass through the maze of portables and find a blindspot where no one can see them. They quickly transform, but then realize they need to stash their school things somewhere.

“Let’s put them on top of a portable,” Spektrum says. “We can come back for them after.”

“Okay,” Catgirl says. “But let’s not just toss them up there. We don’t want to damage our books, or my bento box.”

“Right, okay,” he says as he considers the options. “I’ll give you a boost to place these up there.”

She nods, holds all their things and steps into his cupped hands. He lifts her up with Silver’s super strength and has her stand on his shoulders. She carefully sets everything on the roof of the portable, then he sets her down.

“Let’s go,” they both say at the same time.

A lot of students are waiting as The Spektrum and Catgirl walk out to the quad. Hardwire sits on top of a picnic table and chats with friends, like Robby and Gina, but they all stop talking as they spot the heroes walking up.

“There you are, you rainbow bastard,” Hardwire barks as he hops off the table.

Then he sees Catgirl walking up beside The Spektrum and his glare turns into leering at her. She scowls and doesn’t look anyone in the eye.

“Well hello,” Hardwire says to her. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

“Oh, of course,” Spektrum says. “Catgirl, this is the glow in the dark anus. Glow in the dark anus, this is the one and only Catgirl.”

Hardwire grumbles while Catgirl looks at The Spektrum with a raised eyebrow, though also stifling a laugh.

“Don’t make me hit you, man,” Hardwire says.

“Don’t make me humiliate you,” Spektrum says. “Get to why you called me out.”

“Right,” Hardwire says, calming down only slightly. “So, I know there’s video, and I know I got up close and fought ‘Siro,’ but am I supposed to believe that’s a clone? I know cloning’s a thing because of that sheep, but c’mon! There’s no way your clone should have all the same memories as you!”

“Are… Are we seriously having a nerdy sci-fi discussion right now? About human cloning theory? You, of all people?”

“Well it’s not a theory anymore, dumbass, because there’s a real one! He should be a blank slate, but he knew about me and Reciprocity and all that other crap!”

“What’re you talking about? Almost everything written about clones in fiction claim the clones remember the life of the original.”

“Then if he’s got your memories, why’s he with that space punk and busting into Reciprocity HQ?”

“Wait, what? What do you mean he went to Reciprocity HQ?”

“Yeah, but luckily I woke up and stopped him.”

“Oh, right, okay,” Spektrum says. “You get kicked around like a can on the ground that first fight, but after waking up from a coma, you’re able to beat him. Pretty sure you got thrown around again and it was someone else who got him to leave.”

“Wow, I can’t believe you have such an ego that you even boast about your clone,” Hardwire says, sounding exasperated.

“I have an ego!?” The Spektrum says, going from Silver to Green. “You, the world’s most obnoxious nightlight, think that I have the ego.”

“Spek,” Catgirl says. “You weren’t supposed to go Green.”

“Whoa, where did this come from?” Hardwire says, looking at Green’s outfit. “Even more stupid gay Power Ranger shit?”

“Watch your mouth!” Catgirl snaps at him. “Don’t use gay as an insult, and don’t curse.”

Hardwire shrugs and scrunches up his face as he looks at the others as if to ask them what’s Catgirl’s problem.

“Is she serious?” he asks The Spektrum.

“Yes,” The Spektrum says. “Don’t freakin’ curse, stupid ass.”

Catgirl frowns at him, her ears drooping flat in disappointment.

“What?” he says. “I said ‘freakin.’ Freak-ing.”

“See?” Hardwire says. “Ego!”

“Oh, shut up with that,” The Spektrum snaps back. “Who is the one who couldn’t stand no longer being the center of attention, so you try and expose my real identity? And then, and then! You join up with the shady spy organization and let them shove glowsticks up your butt just to get superpowers!”

“They didn’t shove them up my butt!” Hardwire barks.

“Just get over yourself,” The Spektrum says. “Siro is my clone, and that makes him my problem. He’s kicked everyone else’s ass but I’m gonna kick his ass in our rematch. So just shut up, go back to daddy Darklite, and stick yourself in a socket, you dim bulb.”

The Spektrum pops the collar on Green’s jacket and turns to leave. But Hardwire grits his teeth and snarls as he storms up after him! The Spektrum immediately turns back to FLASH KICK Hardwire down!

“Spek!” Catgirl says.

“What did I do now?” The Spektrum asks, a little annoyed.

“I wasn’t upset, I was warning you,” she says. “But I guess I didn’t have to…?”

“Let’s get out of here,” he says as he heads back for the portables.

Catgirl pouts but still follows him while Hardwire gets himself back up off the ground.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Hardwire shouts. “Get back here so I can kick your face in!”

The Spektrum sighs into a grumble, stops and waits for Hardwire to catch up, and he CHOPS Hardwire right in the chest!

“Spek!” Catgirl says. “C’mon!”

Hardwire needs to catch his breath, but in that time, The Spektrum kicks him in the knee and gives him a DDT! Catgirl winces while Hardwire kicks his feet while clutching his head and neck!

“Just leave me alone, Craig,” Spektrum says as he gets back up. “I don’t have time to deal with a pain in the ass like you!”

The Spektrum turns to walk away, but Hardwire smacks the ground in anger as he gets up to his feet. The Spektrum grumbles and clenches his jaw as he looks at Hardwire glaring back at him.

“Fine,” The Spektrum says. “You want to lose, that’s your problem!”

Hardwire and The Spektrum storm up to each other but Spektrum shoots in to go after a leg! The Spektrum gets Hardwire around a knee, but he’s in range of Hardwire’s punch! Green’s able to take that hit but he lets go of the leg. Hardwire throws more haymakers and backs The Spektrum down. The Spektrum ducks the next one to ram a shoulder into Hardwire’s stomach. He tries to pick Hardwire up by his pants but Hardwire elbows him in the back. Hardwire rains down more elbows, then spins The Spektrum around for a sleeper hold!

Hardwire squeezes tight around The Spektrum’s neck and leans his weight on him. The Spektrum digs in his heels to push Hardwire back but Hardwire does the same to stand his ground. Hardwire’s strength is superior to Green’s so they’re in a deadlock, neither moving forward or back. The Spektrum drops down a little, hooks Hardwire’s leg with his arm and pulls it forward! Hardwire is thrown off balance and they both fall back and hit the ground! Hardwire hits his head and his grip on the sleeper hold weakens! The Spektrum pries Hardwire’s open and then pounces on the leg!

The Spektrum tries to turn Hardwire over but Hardwire resists with his arms pushing against the ground. The Spektrum kicks Hardwire in his lower back again and again and again, and he manages to turn Hardwire over for the Single Leg Boston Crab! The Spektrum pulls back on the leg but Hardwire crawls forward. They move together towards a picnic table and students move out of the way. Hardwire grabs the legs of the table and pulls to drag himself further under. The Spektrum is forced to let off the leg because the table itself is digging into his back.

The Spektrum kicks Hardwire’s leg so Hardwire kicks The Spektrum’s legs in return! The Spektrum stumbles but comes right back to STOMP Hardwire in the chest and into the table leg! He drags Hardwire up to CHOP him in the chest again and Hardwire fumbles into the picnic table and onto the bench. Hardwire grits his teeth as he gets up and he turns around to ROCK The Spektrum with a big right cross! The Spektrum is knocked into the table and tumbles to the floor! And he gives the stomps back!

“Hey!” Catgirl shouts. “Let him get up!”

“Shut up, you stupid bi-AHHH…!!”

Hardwire’s insult is cut short because The Spektrum gave him an uppercut to the crotch! His arm between Hardwire’s leg is the only thing keeping Hardwire off the ground.

“You…” The Spektrum seethes as he reaches for one of Hardwire’s arms. “You, of all people, do NOT get to insult her. Not when you’re just toxic waste with a mouth.”

The Spektrum gets the right arm, pulls it through Hardwire’s legs, hooks the left arm in a half nelson, and lifts Hardwire to then fold and DRIVE him into the ground!

“OW!” Catgirl shouts, same as everyone else around.

The Spektrum gets up, pops his collar again, and without another word, heads off towards the portables.

After retrieving their things from the roof of the portable, The Spektrum and Catgirl return to being Simon and Zoey, then pass through the cafeteria lobby and B Hall to avoid being seen by those watching The Spektrum and Hardwire fight.

“B Hall’s where Siro beat Hardwire up,” Zoey says as they pass by the different faculty offices. “I haven’t been down this hallway since I followed after them.”

They approach the front entrance of the school and Zoey looks at the thick post between the two sets of double doors.

“I think the dent is still there,” Zoey says.

“Craig’s definitely got a hard head,” Simon says as he walks to one of the double doors.

“Simon…!” Zoey reprimands.

“Oh, what?” he snaps as he pushes the door open. “He still got up after that pump handle driver, didn’t he?”

“The what?” she asks as she walks through the open door.

“That’s what Green used,” he says as he passes through now. “In wrestling, or at least pro-wrestling, a pump handle is when you use the opponent’s own arm in part of the crotch lift.”

“Oh. The drilling into the ground part makes sense,” Zoey says. “But the other stuff doesn’t it. Why is it ‘pump handle’?”

            “I don’t really know,” Simon says, “I just know that’s how it works.”

“Well, whatever it’s called, you didn’t need to go that far.”

“I’m thinking I did,” he says as the two go down the steps. “Craig calls me out, gets mad because he didn’t like my answer, and then runs up on me, so of course I hit him first. You were there, you saw him keep trying to get at me. My only option was to drop him on his head.”

“Actually, I was thinking more about the low blow,” Zoey says. “Oh, and now that I think about it, all the trash-talk and insults you were throwing at him.”

“Craig deserved all of that, too,” Simon says. “And as far as low blows go, I seem to recall you gave Tiger half a dozen field goal kicks.”

“That’s different,” Zoey says sternly. “Tyler Garrett is far worse than Craig Foster.”

“I won’t argue with that,” Simon says. “But that doesn’t spare Craig from anything. He tried to expose The Spektrum’s identity and ruin my life, all because he’d feel better if the world knew a hero was just some loser.”

“You’re not a loser,” Zoey says. “But… I guess I understand when someone just seems obsessed with making you feel bad.”

“Stupid Gina and Ronny, right?”

“No,” she says. “Well, yeah, those creeps. But I was thinking about my old school.”

“Oh. Who was it over there?”

“This obnoxious… girl, Rachel,” Zoey says, making sure she doesn’t hypocritically insult Rachel. “Though, she was really the only one openly trying. She and her friend, Thea, wouldn’t stop trying to steal Shaun away from me. But I guess what they did no longer matters, he and I still broke up over him being too superficial in our relationship.”

“Superficial how?”

Zoey blushes as she thinks how to explain.

“Well, y’know,” she says, starting to shrink into her shoulders. “He pushed the… physical stuff to a step I wasn’t ready for.”

“Oh,” Simon says, a little nervous. “Okay… I wouldn’t, won’t, do that. Just to put that out there.”

“Thank you,” she says with a sweet smile.

Moments later, they arrive at Simon’s house, and Simon gets his house key from a pocket in his backpack.

“Y’know, you could probably bring the extra cards over to my house,” Zoey says. “I’m sure my cousins would love to see what you have to spare.”

“Uh,” Simon chuckles as he unlocks the front door with his key. “Well, sure, but it’s kind of a lot.”

“Really? How many extra cards do you have?”

Simon goes into his room and returns with three one-foot-long boxes!

“This many,” he says as he sets the boxes down on the dining room table.

“How do you have that many extra cards?!” Zoey says as he opens one.

“My parents both used to work for Longs Drugs,” he says. “One day, my dad just brought home this gigantic box full of booster packs. Like, several dozen. I never actually counted. But obviously, a lot of those cards were extras and they ended up in these three boxes.”

“Wow,” Zoey says as she sits with Simon at the table. “H-How many of them were cat cards?”

“I dunno, that was a long time ago already,” he says. “Let’s just look through the boxes and find them as we go.”

“Okay,” she says. “You wanna bring these in your backpack?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I can leave my textbooks here since you have the same ones. That should make room for the boxes.”

“Hey,” Simon’s brothers speak up.

“You never let us have your extras,” Josh says.

“He isn’t letting us have the extras,” Zoey counters. “I’ll be trading him cards in return. We’ll work out something with my cousins some other time.”

Simon puts the big books on his desk and then shoves a card box inside. He gets than one, then another, but there’s no room for the third.

“Well, guess that’s good enough,” he says. “I’ll just carry this one myself. Oh, wait, my deck boxes…”

Simon carefully puts the deck boxes on top of the long boxes. He puts on his backpack, then carries the other box with his left arm.

“See you guys later,” Simon says to his brothers.

“Uh-huh,” they say back as Zoey opens the door for Simon.

Simon walks out, lets Zoey pass before he closes the door and locks it again with his key. They walk to Zoey’s house and lets him in.

“Okay, I’ll go downstairs to get my cards,” Zoey says as she goes to the stairs.

As Zoey goes downstairs, Simon sets his backpack down and sets the odd box out on the coffee table. He starts looking through the cards while he waits.

“Okay,” Zoey says as she brings both a binder and a box. “Let’s see what we’ve got. Oh, wow, you’ve already done quite a bit.”

She sits with Simon as she sets her things down.

“Yeah, luckily there were some good ones,” he says. “Um, a couple Gorfold the Cat, quite a lot of Scratching Post, and one Here, Kitty Kitty.”

“Ooo~!” Zoey says as she looks at those cards. “Scratching Post is good. ‘Equip to one Beast-Type monster with ‘Cat’ in its name. During the Battle Phase, the equipped monster’s Attack gains 500 points.’ Definitely need those.”

Gorfold the Cat being an obvious parody of Garfield, its effect is meant to resemble Garfield’s huge appetite. Once per turn, discard one or more cards from your hand to the Graveyard. For every card discarded by this effect, Gorfold gains 300 attack points to add to his original 1200. Of course, that’s a pretty good start for just being level 3.

Here, Kitty Kitty is also very useful in a cat focused Beast deck. The player selects a monster with “cat” in its name that is already on their side of the field. The player then searches their deck for a card of the exact same name and adds it to their hand, then shuffles the deck. This can help bring out copies of equally useful cat cards, such as Bad Luck Black Cat, Good Luck Waving Cat, and Scaredy Cat.

“Oh, here’s a new one,” Simon says. “Cat Scratch Fever.”

“Oh, that’s a really good one!” she says. “With the holographic picture?”

“Yes,” he says.

“You had an extra one of that?” she says in surprise as he hands it to her.

“Remember,” he says. “Gigantic box, full of booster packs.”

“Cat Scratch Fever, a Continuous Trap Card,” Zoey describes as she looks it over. “A monster that destroys a cat monster in battle loses half its attack points! Definitely a must-have.”

“Wow, that’s the card effect and it’s only holographic?” Simon says. “It should have the gold lettering, too.”

“Well to be fair,” Zoey says, “I think it’s limited by how it has to be in a cat deck, and how it basically sacrifices cat monsters to be effective.”

“Hmm, good point.”

Simon finishes up that box without finding other cat cards and moves to the second. Zoey meanwhile looks through cards in her collection that relate to Chaos Force and the Order of Order.

“You already have Eris, right?” she asks.

“Yep,” he says. “And Tzeentch, and Mammon, and Azazel-”

“Isn’t it a little weird they have such spooky names?” Zoey asks. “Aren’t those the false idols or something from the Bible?”

“Um… I don’t think Tzeentch is, but I do remember the name ‘Mammon’ for greed. Which is probably why its ability is about drawing so many cards and having to pay a price in return.”

“Seems kinda creepy to be playing with cards like that,” Zoey says.

“Well, it’s not like it’s the actual Mammon,” Simon says. “Just this, like, girl with horns playing in money like it’s a pile of leaves.”

“Still kinda weird,” Zoey says.

“Yeah… But anyway, I have those four, with the only one left would be…”

Zoey opens her binder and Simon sees so many Ultra Rare, the cards with the holographic pictures and golden lettering for the card names.

“Nergal,” she says as she points to the picture of the man with wild eyes, green tongue sticking out and rotting apple core in his hand.

“Yes!” Simon says. “Because I have his Fusion Monster.”

Simon goes to the deck box with Chaos Force in it and brings out a card.

“Nergal, King of Decay!” he says. “He can be Fusion Summoned using Chaos Force Nergal and any zombie-type monster, and when he inflicts battle damage on an opponent, you get to randomly choose a card from their hand to discard to the Graveyard.”

Zoey takes out Chaos Force – Nergal and hands it to Simon.

“Y’know, you were surprised at all my extras but,” Simon says, “how do you have so many Ultra Rare cards?”

“Just lucky, I guess,” she shrugs.

Zoey flips through the pages.

“Okay, what about The Order of Order?” she asks. “Which I like better, actually, since they chose to name them after angels.”

“Really?” he asks. “I knew Gabriel was but even Sariel and Uriel?”

“Yep,” she says. “I heard about a few of them from Chloe’s mom, she grew up Catholic.”

“Oh.”

“Okay, so you mentioned Sariel and Uriel,” she says as she passes those cards. “So that leaves…”

“I also have Zadkiel,” he says, “just not his Fusion Monster.”

“Oh, here we are,” she says. “Zadkiel, Captain of Mercy. Fuse Zadkiel with any Light monster to restore life points equal to the original attack of the other monster. That’s really good.”

Zoey hands the card to Simon.

“Now I just need Michael and his Fusion Monster, Michael, General of Strength.”

“Here they are,” Zoey says as she brings them out.

“Seriously?” he says with a chuckle. “You really do have amazing luck.”

Then Simon has a lightbulb moment.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a card called Order X Chaos, would you?”

Zoey looks through her binder, page after page, and Simon starts to feel a little down that she doesn’t have it. But then she pulls a card out and shows him a Secret Rare card, with special edition hologram foil and prismatic lettering!

Simon is in awe as she hands over the card and he gets to hold it in his hands.

“This is so awesome…!” he says.

Zoey giggles, happy just to see the look on his face.

“Oh, found a good cat Spell card,” Simon says as he continues his search. “Snuggle Time, a silver-letter Rare card. You have to have two or more cat monsters on your field to use it, but for every cat monster you have, you get to draw a card.”

“Oh, the art is so cute~,” Zoey says.

There’s a knock at the door and Zoey checks the window. She sees it’s her cousins and lets them in.

“Whoa, card party!” Jeff says. “Where’d all these come from?”

“Simon brought them over,” Zoey explains.

“All my extras,” Simon says.

“Whoa, you brought out the treasure trove?” Jeff says to Zoey as he and Seth walk over.

Simon chuckles at the name because of how perfect it fits.

“How does she have all of those?” he asks them.

“No idea,” Jeff says as he sits down at the table. “She’s just been really lucky with all of her booster packs.”

“It’s not fair, really,” Seth says.

“It’s not,” Jeff says as he shakes his head. “Not fair. Nope, nope, nope.”

“Oh whatever,” Zoey says with a laugh as she sits back down next to Simon. “Anyway, Simon and I have been trading.”

“He somehow has rares you don’t have?” Seth smirks.

“No,” Zoey says, “he’s been trading me cat cards.”

“What?” Jeff says. “You’re giving him super rares and stuff for those dumb things?”

“Snuggle Time isn’t dumb, it’s adorable,” Zoey defends.

Her cousins sigh.

“Oh whatever,” Zoey says. “You’ll see when I change up my deck to include these cards and I win.”

Her cousins chuckle and shake their heads.

“Okay,” Zoey says as she puts the cat cards away. “We should get our homework out of the way.”

“Right,” Simon says as he remembers that for himself. “Homework. Uh, you guys can keep looking at the cards. Not sure if you’ll find anything good, though.”

Zoey gets her textbooks out of her backpack and they sit together at the coffee table with their notebooks and pencils.

            “Don’t be sitting too close now,” Seth says.

            “We’re not,” Zoey says. “We’re just sharing the textbook, Mom!”

            Jeff laughs and Simon chuckles while Zoey gives Seth an exaggerated smile.

            Simon and Zoey work on their math homework for the day while Zoey’s cousins go through the cards.

            “Oh, wow, a Denchi Recycle,” Jeff says. “Nice, gonna get this one.”

            Someone’s cellphone then rings with a song ringtone of The Game of Love, by Santana and Michelle Branch.

            “That would be me,” Jeff says. “It’s Karina because it’s her favorite song where the ringtone was only a dollar.”

            Jeff brings his phone out and answers it.

            “Hello there,” he says.

            “You’re hanging out with Zoey and Simon, right?” Karina asks.

            “Yes,” he says.

            “Tell them that The Spektrum went viral with that new color of his.”

            “Oh, cool,” Jeff says. “Green Spektrum’s going viral I guess.”

            “Nice,” Simon says. “Take that, Craig!”

            “But so is what happened after he left that Hardwire guy behind,” Karina continues.

            “And so is whatever Craig apparently did afterward,” Jeff paraphrases.

            “What’d he do?” Simon asks, already annoyed.

            “What’d he do?” Jeff repeats to Karina.

            “Well, you guys can probably watch it yourselves, but he was calling The Spektrum out.”

            “He’s calling Spektrum out,” Jeff says.

            Zoey gets her phone out, gets on YouTube and sees several versions of the same thing on the front page under the featured section. Zoey goes with the one with the most views.

            The video has The Spektrum Code Green fighting Hardwire, so Zoey skips ahead a couple minutes.

            “Oh, this is the part where you gave him that whatever move,” Zoey says as she leans over to show Simon.

            The video has The Spektrum and Catgirl leave after that, and then stays with Hardwire. He clutches his head and neck as he sits up. Hardwire growls and gets up.

            “Where is he?!” he shouts. “Where’s that son of a bitch?!”

            Hardwire looks around with rage on his face, but then he seems to realize people are recording on their phones, such as the one that recorded this video.

            “Alright, alright, wherever he went, he’ll hear this, right?” Hardwire says. “Spektrum! You go and sucker punch me in the balls because you don’t have any! I don’t care if it’s you, the other you, those weirdos from space, all you Crayola looking bastards are getting broken the next chance I see you!”

            “Yeah, real smart, Craig,” Simon says to the video. “Call us all out and just get beat up more. Idiot.”

            “Then you can’t escalate it further,” Zoey says. “Don’t go fight him the next time he shows up.”

            “What? I can’t not fight him! I’m going to beat him up before Siro and those masked morons do, and then I’ll beat those guys up, too.”

            “But that’s not going to solve anything!” Zoey says. “Even if you beat Craig in a fight, he’ll just keep wanting to come back, won’t he?”

            “Well then I’ll just keep beating him up,” Simon says.

            “That’s still not a solution!” Zoey says. “You can’t just let him goad you into what he wants. He wants to fight you, so don’t fight him.”

            “Eeeh…” Jeff says.

            “What’s that about?” Zoey and Karina both ask.

            “Well, he obviously has to fight the guy,” Jeff says to them both. “He’s being called out! If he doesn’t respond, this Craig Wire guy can just mouth off saying he’s a coward and a punk.”

            “So?” the girls both say.

            “So?!” Simon repeats. “It’s so he can’t.”

            “Who cares if he does?” Zoey says. “It’s not true!”

            “Jeff, let me hear this!” Karina says.

            Jeff slowly turns his phone towards Zoey and Simon.

            “If someone was saying things about you that weren’t true, wouldn’t you react?” Simon counters.

            Zoey hesitates to answer given her back and forth with Gina, and then what happened with Rachel and Thea.

            “Okay,” Simon says, taking the silence as an answer. “So, if Craig wants to get dropped on his head again, I’m more than happy to oblige.”

            “That still doesn’t make it okay,” Zoey says. “If he’s going to get beat up by Siro or his goons, fine! Not that you should want to see someone get beat up, but at least he’s getting what he deserved while you’re keeping your hands clean.”

            Simon and Zoey stare down. Simon huffs but goes back to doing homework. Zoey frowns and grumbles at his silent withdrawal from the argument, but also goes back to doing homework. Jeff brings his phone back to his ear.

            “I think that’s the end of it,” Jeff says quietly. “Talk to you later.”

            With that, Jeff hangs up and goes back to the cards.

            At 4:50 PM, Jeff gets a text from Karina.

            “Oh hey, we won’t need to worry about getting food on the way there,” Jeff says. “She heard from Miranda that there’s going to be pizza again for youth group.”

            “Sweet,” Seth says. “Now we don’t have to rush out there.”

            “You two done with Simon’s cards?” Zoey asks.

            “Yes,” Jeff says.

“We’ll figure out bringing cards for you to look at in return,” Seth says as he and Jeff put cards on the table back in the boxes.

“No rush,” Simon says as he collects the boxes back into his backpack.

“Y’know, we can probably leave our things here,” Zoey says. “We’ll be coming back anyway, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Simon says as he puts his backpack back down.

“Here, I’ll put it in my room,” Zoey says. “No point in letting it sit out.”

“Oh, okay,” Simon says.

He hands Zoey his backpack and she takes it downstairs with her own. Zoey puts the backpacks in her closet and closes the door to it so that Neeko won’t be able to snoop in there and find it.

“Alright,” Zoey says as she rejoins the boys. “I’ll let Mom know we’re heading out so that she can just worry about dinner for herself and Dad.”

“Oh, yeah, same here,” Simon says.

They both text their moms and then just after 5 PM, Seth and Jeff gather their things and the four of them head out.

 

“Wait, wait,” Jeff says as he puts his slice of pepperoni pizza back on his plate. “You actually do tag duels like in the show?”

“Yeah,” Simon says with a shrug. “I have enough good cards in my collection to have more than one deck, and I’ve got my two brothers and my cousin, Matt, and some of the other kids who play here at the church. Not that I’ve done a tag duel outside of my brothers and Matt, though.”

“So why not try one?” Zoey asks her cousins.

“Yeah, Jeff,” Karina says, sitting on Jeff’s right. “I bet you and Seth could win.”

Karina then turns to her sister as she sits on Karina’s right.

“Don’t you think so?” she asks.

Alicia is in the middle of taking a bite of pizza, with the gooey cheese strand still connected to the slice, but she still looks at Karina, then at Seth. She quickly laps up the cheese and chews, feeling put on the spot.

“Mm-hmm,” she ends up responding while nodding.

“Alright then,” Simon says as he puts his deck boxes on the table.

“Well hold on,” Zoey says as she has her deck. “I wanted to duel, too.”

“Oh,” Simon says with some surprise.

“You don’t want to partner with me?” she asks.

“No, it’s not that,” Simon says. “I’m just not used to that. I know how to make my decks work together but…”

“Well, that’s fine, the three of us haven’t tag dueled before,” Zoey says. “Just choose one.”

“Umm…” Simon says as he looks at his deck boxes, the Order of Order in the blue and Chaos Force in the red. “Alright, this one then.”

He opens Chaos Force’s box and, after wiping the pizza grease on his fingers off on a napkin, brings out the cards.

“If they’re in card sleeves, why did you worry about pizza grease?” Jeff asks.

“I don’t want to get pizza grease on the card sleeves, either,” Simon says.

The decks are shuffled, and space is counted out so that there’s room for two playing fields on each side of the table.

“Alright, so,” Simon says while everyone draws their starting hands. “Because it’s teams, Jeff and Seth can look at each other’s hands, and then Zoey and I can look at each other’s hands, so so we can work on strategies together.”

“Makes sense,” Seth says. “So which team should go first?”

“Um,” Zoey and her friends all say with expectant looks.

“Right, right,” Seth says, “ladies first.”

“Thank you,” Zoey says with a big smile.

Zoey leans over to share her hand, and Simon scoots over to do the same.

“No purple~!” Abby Tuttle teases.

“We’re just sitting closer,” Zoey replies with a little laugh.

“Yeah, uh,” Simon says a little awkwardly; then he whispers to Zoey, “Who is that?”

“Abby,” Zoey whispers back quickly.

“Yeah, Abby,” Simon says in a sarcastic tone.

There’s a little laugh and then Simon looks at Zoey’s hand with his own. He has Restore Chaos, Chaos Returns, The Golden Apple, Battle Unit 13 and Chaos Force Azazel. Zoey’s hand has Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game, Cat Nap, Monster Fusion, Schrodinger’s Cat and Cat’s Cradle.

Restore Chaos is a standard Trap card that brings a Chaos Force monster from the Graveyard to the field. The Golden Apple is an Equip Spell card just for Chaos Force Eris or Eris, Queen of Chance. It allows for a second dice roll that grants other possibilities, depending on the roll. Battle Unit 13’s effect makes it so that each Battle Unit 13 gets stronger when there are multiple Battle Unit 13’s face-up on the field.

Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game is a Continuous Trap card that makes it so that monsters destroyed go back to their owner’s hand, not the Graveyard. Cat Nap is a standard Spell Card, 500 life points for every Cat monster on the field. Monster Fusion is obvious.

Schrodinger’s Cat is an Effect Monster, but a trickier one: it relies on other Cats being on the field. Zoey would have to flip a coin, and then either Attack or Defense becomes the number of Cats times 300. And then Cat’s Cradle, another standard Spell, can only be used when there are three or more Cats on the field, and it restores that many cards from the Graveyard to Zoey’s hand.

“Um, I guess you should go first, then,” Zoey says, a little disappointed in her own deck.

“Okay,” he says, feeling bad for her. “In that case, the turn order will be me, Jeff, Zoey, Seth, in a figure eight. We go until one side has been completely eliminated.”

“Got it,” Jeff says.

Simon draws another card and gets Trap Door.

“I Normal Summon Battle Unit 13,” he says as he plays the monster face-up.

“Good card,” Seth says.

“Then I set these cards,” Simon continues as he places Restore Chaos and Trap Door face-down, “and end my turn.”

Jeff and Seth now look at each other’s hand to figure out what to do.

“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious, right?” Jeff asks Seth. “Botan toh gyanburu?”

“Ah, naruhodo,” Seth says. “Hai, so shimasu.”

“You guys can’t use Japanese to hide what you’re saying with me here,” Zoey says flatly.

“What did they say?” Simon asks.

“Something about button and gamble,” Zoey says. “Though, that is still pretty confusing…”

“I set this monster face-down,” Jeff says, “and this card face-down.”

“A monster and a Spell/Trap card, both face-down,” Simon says. “That could be any combination of things. … That seems pretty obvious to say, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, but it’s not wrong,” Zoey says. “My turn!”

Zoey draws a new card and gets Kitty-Corner. It’s a standard Trap, that can only activate with a Cat on the field. The user can destroy one monster located in a monster zone diagonal from a Cat monster, so it relies on very strategic placing of her cards. Unfortunately, another card not useful in her current situation. But then the wheels start turning in her head.

“I Normal Summon Schrodinger’s Cat!” she says as she plays it face-up in Attack Position. “I flip a coin, and that will determine which stat gets 300 points.”

Zoey brings out a quarter from her Hello Kitty wallet, flips it, and gets Heads!

“Hooray! He has 300 Attack now!” she says. “Now I play Cat Nap, and I gain 500 life points because he’s the only Cat monster I have. I now have 8500! And I set these two cards face-down before ending my turn.”

Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game and Kitty-Corner are now on the field as Seth draws a card.

“I set this monster,” he says, “and then set this card.”

“Wow,” Marina says sarcastically. “Riveting stuff.”

Everyone looks at her with flat expressions and a few smirks. Simon takes his next turn, and now has the card known as “Anarchy!!” A powerful standard Trap card but it requires at least two different Chaos Force monsters to be face-up on the field to use.

“I Normal Summon Chaos Force – Azazel,” Simon says while playing the card. “And then… Hmm…”

Simon looks at Jeff’s field then Seth’s field. The identical situations of a face-down monster and a face-down non-monster are risky.

“Button and gamble…” Those are probably just card names, but what cards have “button” and “gamble” in their names?

“Who should I attack first?” he asks Zoey.

“I don’t know,” she says. “But I will activate my trap card~!”

“Whoa~!” Simon says, pretending to be shocked to see Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game.

“Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game makes it so that monsters destroyed in battle are instead sent back to their owner’s hand, not the Graveyard,” Zoey explains.

Seth contains his reaction, but it seems that card just messed up his own plan.

“I think Seth would really appreciate you choosing him,” Zoey says.

“Yeah? You think so?” Simon asks.

“Yes, definitely,” she says with a smile.

“In that case,” Simon says, “Battle Unit 13 will attack Seth’s monster.”

Seth sighs and flips his card over to reveal RGR Rabbot. 1700 Attack beats 700 Defense, so RGR Rabbot loses the battle, and then Seth takes it back to his hand because of Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game.

“How does that one work again?” Zoey asks.

“If it were destroyed in battle and send to the Graveyard,” Seth says, “I would gain 700 life points and be able to Special Summon the other RGR Rabbots I have in my deck to the field in Defense Mode. Which means you could destroy them in battle, but I’d be getting more points.”

Zoey smiles while Simon continues his turn.

“Now I can attack Seth openly with Azazel!” Simon says. “That’s 1700 points!”

“Oof,” Zoey smirks as Seth makes a note of that.

“And I end my turn,” he says.

Jeff draws his next card.

“You probably should’ve gone after me, though,” Jeff says. “Because first, I Flip Summon Denchi Ranger Button!”

“That was the button!” Simon and Zoey both say.

“Denchi Ranger Button just needs to be flipped face-up to activate,” Jeff says, “and I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Denchi Ranger from my Deck, except another Button because what would be the point? And I choose…”

Jeff quickly looks through the deck.

“Denchi Ranger Double A!” he says as he plays the card.

Jeff quickly shuffles the deck, puts it down but goes for his set non-monster card.

“And a Special Summon means I can activate Summon Gambling!” Jeff says.

Simon and Zoey both grumble as they realize what was going on.

“I can Special Summon my other Denchi Ranger Double A’s,” Jeff says, “but this does allow my opponent, or I guess opponents, to do the same.”

“Well, I have no other Schrodinger’s Cats,” Zoey says.

“But I do have more Battle Unit 13’s!” Simon says as he looks through his deck.

Simon brings out two more Battle Unit 13’s as Jeff brings out two more Double A’s.

“Denchi Ranger Double A’s ability is,” Jeff says, “‘If all 'Denchi Ranger AA(s)' you control are in Attack Position, this card gains 1000 ATK for each. If all 'Denchi Ranger AA(s)' you control are in Defense Position, this card gains 1000 DEF for each.’”

“So, they’re all in Attack so they all have 3000 Attack,” Simon says. “Wow… But also, Battle Unit 13 gets stronger when other Battle Unit 13’s are on the field. Just, not by that much. They get 500 points for every other Battle Unit 13 on the field. They’re all 2700 now.”

“Then I use one Double A to attack one Battle Unit 13,” Jeff says.

“I lose 300,” Simon says. “And both remaining Battle Units drop to 2200.”

“So I attack another one with another Double A,” Jeff says.

“And I lose another 800,” Simon says.

“And then I attack the last Battle Unit with my last Double A,” Jeff says.

“And I lose another 1300…” Simon says. “I’m down to 5600…”

“Ouch,” Zoey says.

“I end my turn,” Jeff says.

Zoey draws a card, Cat Scratch Fever.

“I set this card,” she says, “and change Schrodinger’s Cat to Defense Mode. End turn.”

Seth draws a card to start his turn.

“I set a card,” he says as he places another non-monster. “And I set a monster face-down. End turn.”

Simon draws a card.

“I Summon Lopsided Frankenstein!” he says as he plays the Frankenstein with one extra muscular arm and one very skinny arm. “And I use him to attack Denchi Ranger Button!”

Lopsided Frankenstein has 2200 Attack and Button just 100, so Jeff drops to 5900 life points.

“And now Lopsided Frankenstein’s Effect makes him change to Defense,” Simon says. “End turn.”

Jeff has Button back in his hand, and he draws a new card to start his turn.

“I set this card,” he says as he places a non-monster card, “and I Summon Denchi Ranger 9V!”

“I activate Trap Door,” Simon says.

Jeff frowns as 9V ends up in the Graveyard.

“I use a Denchi Ranger Double A to attack Azazel.”

Simon loses another 1300 life points as he brings Azazel back to his hand.

“And another to attack Lopsided Frankenstein,” Jeff says. “And then the third to attack directly!”

Simon groans as he brings back Lopsided Frankenstein and drops from 4300 to 1300 life points.

“And I end my turn,” Jeff says.

Zoey draws a card.

“I Summon Copy-Cat!” she says as she plays a monster!

“Finally!” Simon says.

“I know, right?” she says. “And because of its name, I choose another monster, and its current Attack and Defense become Copy-Cat’s Attack and Defense!”

“So obviously it has 3000 Attack now,” Jeff says.

“Yep,” she says. “And then I activate my Trap card! Kitty-Corner! I get to destroy a monster diagonally across from one of my own! So I destroy Seth’s monster!”

Seth puts his card in his Graveyard.

“And now I play Monster Fusion!” Zoey continues. “I combine Copy-Cat and Schrodinger’s Cat to Fusion Summon ‘The Fat Cat!’ When Fat Cat is first Fusion Summoned, his Attack and Defense become the totals of those monsters used to summon him! So with Schrodinger at 600 because there were two Cats on the field and Copy-Cat being 3000 for copying Denchi Ranger Double A, Fat Cat gets to be 3600!”

Zoey places a purple Fusion Monster with the picture of a cat that is indeed fat and cartoonishly bigger than a car, while sending her other two monsters to the Graveyard.

“And I attack one of Jeff’s Denchi Ranger Double A’s!” Zoey says.

Jeff takes back one of his Denchi Rangers, and though he only drops to 5300 life points, the remaining Double A’s are now 2000 Attack each.

“End turn,” Zoey says.

Seth draws a card.

“I activate Recycled Parts,” he says. “I Special Summon my destroyed Iron Tank because it is level 4 and has unde 1500 Attack. But now I offer it for my Tribute Summon, Steampunk Wyvern! And I attack Simon directly!”

“And I’m out,” Simon says.

“Oh no!” Zoey says. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he says, bummed out. “None of my cards can protect me in this situation.”

“And with Steampunk Wyvern’s effect,” Seth says, “I discard two cards from my hand, and inflict 500 points of damage per card to Zoey.”

Zoey’s life points are 7500 but she’s more concerned that she’s alone in the duel.

“Do I go again or…?” she asks.

“The rotation stays, actually,” Simon says. “Jeff goes, then Zoey, then Seth, then back to Jeff, so in effect, they get to go back-to-back now.”

“Aw man…”

Jeff draws a card.

“I change both Double A’s to Defense,” he says, “and I set a monster face-down.”

Zoey draws a card.

“I summon Bad Luck Black Cat!” she says. “When he’s successfully Summoned, I roll a single six-sided die and use that to reduce my opponent’s monsters. Though, I suppose that’s plural opponents now.”

“Do you have a die to roll?” Seth asks.

“Umm… Nope. I should’ve brought one…”

“I’ll go ask around,” Karina asks.

Karina gets up and talks with Mrs. Rivera. Mrs. Rivera asks Mr. Rivera, and Mr. Rivera directs Karina to a storage closet. Karina recruits Alice and Marina to help search, and they eventually find a box that is full with an assortment of dice. They bring the entire box back to show everyone else.

“Whoa, check out this translucent blue 20-sided die,” Simon says as he brings it up to his eye and looks at the light through it. “You don’t think anyone would mind if I held onto this one, do you?”

“You want a blue 20-sided die?” Zoey asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m kinda working on a collection,” he says, a little embarrassed.

“Oooh~,” Zoey says as she spots something she likes. “Only if I get to keep this pair of translucent red dice.”

Zoey grabs two but rolls one so the card game can continue.

“Sweet, a six!” she says. “Now all monsters that Jeff and Seth have are down 600 points in both Attack and Defense until my next turn! And now, Fat Cat attacks Steampunk Wyvern!”

Steampunk Wyvern has been weakened from 2000 to 1400, so Seth loses 2200 points, dropping to 4100 life points.

“Bad Luck Black Cat attacks Seth directly!” she says.

Seth is now at 3300 life points.

“And I end my turn,” Zoey says.

Seth draws a card, and plays another Recycled Parts to Special Summon Iron Tank again and again Tribute it to bring Steampunk Wyvern back.

“Because it’s back, it isn’t affected by the dice roll from earlier,” Seth says. “And now I use Nitro Boost! Wyvern’s Attack doubles, but it will be destroyed at the end of my turn.”

“So it’s 4000?!” Zoey says.

“And it attacks Fat Cat!” Seth says.

“No…!”

Fat Cat is destroyed and goes back to the Extra Deck where she brought it out from, and she loses 400 life points. Seth ends his turn, Wyvern goes to the Graveyard, and Jeff takes his turn.

“I Flip Summon Button,” Jeff says, “so that I can Special Summon Denchi Ranger Solar!”

Jeff takes that card from his deck and puts it on the field. He shuffles his deck and continues his turn.

“One of Denchi Ranger Solar’s abilities is to send a Thunder type monster from my Deck to the Graveyard, so I’ll send a Denchi Ranger Triple A.”

Jeff finds such a card and puts it in the Graveyard before shuffling his deck again.

“Solar’s other ability is that his name can be treated as any other Denchi Ranger I control, so of course he’s a Denchi Ranger Double A. And then I summon the Double A I still had in my hand! And I turn my other two Double A’s back to Attack Mode!”

“Now they’re 4000?!” Zoey says.

“Needless to say,” Jeff says, “one Double A clears out Bad Luck Black Cat, and the other two do 8000 damage so you lose.”

Zoey sighs while her cousins high-five.

“Wow, tag dueling is fun,” Jeff says with a smirk.

Zoey sneers at him while everyone gathers up their cards.

“We just don’t have good teamwork yet,” Zoey says.

“I don’t think our decks work together, either,” Simon says. “Cat ‘n’ Mouse Game is a bit double-edged. Sure, it saves your cards, but sometimes cards need to go to the Graveyard to work. I ended up stuck with Azazel, who is all about salvaging cards.”

“Well, we could go again, and you use the other deck,” Jeff says.

“Maybe,” Simon says.

“Hey, everybody,” Mr. Rivera says. “Just want your attention real quick.”

Everyone looks over at Mr. Rivera as he stands near the middle of the auditorium.

“Tonight’s lesson,” Mr. Rivera continues, “Proverbs 10. The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.

“He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

“Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. The wise in heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool shall fall.

“He that walketh uprightly walketh surely, but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow, but a prating fool shall fall. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

“Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

“The rich man's wealth is his strong city; the destruction of the poor is their poverty. The labor of the righteous tendeth to life, the fruit of the wicked to sin.

He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuseth reproof erreth.

“He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise.

“The tongue of the just is as choice silver, the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for want of wisdom.

“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. It is as sport to a fool to do mischief, but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

“The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted. As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

“As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

“The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright, but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

“The righteous shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

“The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom, but the froward tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

“This all sounds rather Shakesperean, I know, but that’s because it’s King James. Ye Old English doth make it a little tricky, but there are a lot of clear messages, a lot of rules set in simple terms. And when you know the rules and still disobey them, that makes you a fool. And fools will lose in the end. So don’t be a fool. Talk right, do right, think right, and the Lord will bless you. If you know better, then be better, and things will go better for you.”

“Amen,” Abby says.

“Amen,” others echo in agreement.

“Amen,” Zoey and her friends say, as well.

“Amen,” Simon says.

Simon puts Chaos Force away then takes a sip from his cup.

“So we going again?” he asks as he brings out Order of Order.