Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

The Other Generation X:

Tragedy

Chapter 1- Year Two

One year ago…

"Here it is." Matt said. "The Vault of Souls." He was pointing at an ancient looking door that seemed to be carved out of stone. There was a keyhole in the center. "Go ahead, Drake." Drake nodded, walked forward, inserted the key, and turned. The door instantly sprang open and a tide of souls broke out. There was a flood of noise as the souls whipped past, but seconds later it was gone…

"Drake Stizen! Stop studying the backs of your eyelids and pay attention!"

Drake felt something hit him in the head and he sat bolt upright. He was sitting in Professor Helen's deck construction class, and he had fallen asleep again. He mumbled some apology. Prof. Helen sighed.

"Well, if you'll just toss me back the dry erase marker." She said. Drake picked it up off his desk and lobbed it back down to her. She returned to her lecture, something about synergy and utility or something like that. Drake only heard half of it.

He was beginning to think that the bell would never ring when it finally did. He got up and began to shuffle out of the class when Prof. Helen called him back. Drake groaned and turned around. It looked like he would be spending some more time in detention. Prof. Helen was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, her hands on her hips and a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Drake, what am I to do with you?" she asked. "This is the third time this week you've fallen asleep in my class. Are you getting enough sleep at night?"

"Yes." Drake said. He was determined to not let anyone know that he actually couldn't sleep a wink at night. "I get enough sleep."

"It seems not. Maybe we should monitor you as you sleep. If you keep falling asleep we may have to kick you out of the school. We cannot teach you if you are asleep, you know."

"Yes, I know."

"I'm going to let you off easy this time. Don't let it happen again."

Drake nodded, stood up, and ran out of the classroom. Prof. Helen was nice, she knew what he had been through. Somehow, last year, when all the fiends had attacked, she had been possessed, but still had partial occupation of her body. She watched every bit of the proceedings. Drake turned a corner and nearly ran into Prof- sorry, Chancellor Bentz. As Matt had guessed, Bentz had been elected the new chancellor of the school.

Ah, Matt. Where has he been this last year? Drake wondered. Last year he said that the Egyptian government wanted his head… have they found him yet? I haven't seen much of the news… nah, he's probably fine somewhere. Drake hurdled over a short wall and joined his friends at lunch.

"You have a nice nap?" Flynn "Sarge" Tager said. "What did you get from Helen?"

"Nothing, thank God." Drake said, and took the burger that Keith passed him.

"You do seem to be falling asleep in class a lot lately." Julie said, tugging at the collar of her red jacket. With all the experience she had gained dueling last year she had managed to get boosted out of her former lodgings to join Drake in the red dorm. The unsightly purple spots that had been on her arms and legs as a result of a horrific Shadow Game from last year had all vanished. She had, incredibly, avoided any and all injury since the foray into the Shadow Realm apart from a little nick on her wrist that she had received the day after they had come out of the Realm.

"Lucky dog." Keith said. He had stayed in the black dorm, maintaining his already high test score and bumping up his low duel score.

"I guess so." Drake said. He took a sip of his pop, leaned back against the wall, and thought a little. He really hadn't been sleeping well lately. Whenever he fell asleep now, he was haunted by the images of the Shadow Realm. It took less than five minutes and he was awake again, usually sweating and breathing hard. He would try again, fall asleep, and the nightmares would come again. Then he would wake up again. The process continued until it was morning, and Drake felt like he had gotten no sleep at all. He would then go to class, fall asleep there, and have the same nightmares. Then the teacher would wake him up. And it was getting worse.

"Drake, what's up with you, anyway? Have you gotten any sleep since we left the Shadow Realm?" Julie asked.

"What? Uh, yeah…"

"Drake, stop lying." Flynn said.

"We know something is wrong." Keith said. "You have these massive purple bags under your eyes."

"It's nothing…" Drake said, yawning. "Everything's fine."

"Drake, you're not leaving here until we know what's wrong." Julie said.

"There isn't another class until tomorrow." Flynn said. "We have all day."

"Oh, great…" Drake muttered. "Nothing's wrong…"

"Drake, it has to come out eventually." Keith said. "Just get it out."

Drake sighed. They were right, he had to tell them. There was no point in resisting any longer. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you. I haven't gotten more than five consecutive minutes of sleep since we got back from the Shadow Realm, apart from the night of it."

"Tell us something we don't know." Flynn said. "We already know that."

"Okay, then why ask?"

"Because we want to know why." Keith said.

"Oh."

"So, why haven't you been able to sleep?" Julie asked.

"Well, I've had these lousy nightmares… not really nightmares, because aren't those not real?"

"Yeah, in general." Flynn said.

"Alright, not really nightmares, more like… revisiting the past… namely, the events of the Shadow Realm. It started about five months ago, but then it wasn't that bad. Now, over the past month, it's gotten steadily worse. Now the reality of the events starts to warp. For instance, when I revisit some of the duels, instead of winning, we lose. Then these horrible things start happening… and I wake up."

"That's all?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, that's it, I swear."

"Odd…" Keith said.

"You're not the only one with problems." Flynn said.

"Huh?" Drake said.

"I've been having similar problems. Only thing is, once I get to sleep, I can never wake up until I've slept for at least five hours, or if I need to get up. Don't ask why, that's always the way it's been with me."

"Interesting."

"How are you going to deal with these nightmares, then? You can't keep falling asleep in class." Julie asked Drake. "Obviously Flynn is okay (as always), but you need to do something."

"I know… but I can't think of anything. Maybe some kind of sleep therapy."

"Where are we going to get that kind of stuff on this island?" Keith said.

"Well, the easy answer is to contact Matt." Drake said. "I bet you he would know some kind of cure, and that he wouldn't mind sneaking it onto this island, but I don't think this is as important as it needs to be to warrant contacting him."

"Matt is always the easy answer." Flynn muttered.

"I have some aromatic candles that might help." Julie suggested. "Actually, I've had the same problem. I had these, and I gave it a go, and it did at least a little."

"Yeah, that might do it." Drake said.

"HEY, YOU! DRAKE STIZEN!" came a voice from behind them all.

"William Maquine, right?" Drake said to Flynn without looking toward the source of the voice. Flynn nodded. Drake sighed. "Time for another beat down."

"Careful, Drake." Keith said. "It's been several months since you've dueled him. He probably has some new tactics and cards."

Drake stood up and looked at the burly William. "Somehow I doubt that he uses any kind of tactics at all."

"I WON'T WAIT ALL DAY!!!" William shouted.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your pants in a knot." Drake mumbled. He really wasn't in the mood for this.

"I DON'T CARE! GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT HERE SO I CAN KICK IT!"

"Yeah, fine." Drake activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"