YuGiOh GX: Nightmare Academy

by Kross F

Kross Forrester has lost the only thing he cares about. When a mysterious Mist appears and tells him he can bring her back, he agrees to his terms and starts an adventure he won't forget anytime soon.

[See the Original Story at the Forums. Search: Nightmare Academy

"Damn it!" Kross Forester, of Battle City, cried as he slammed his fist hard on a cold hard tombstone. "Damn it!" he said again, "Why did she have to go? Why!?" It was a dark night; a storm was about to pass over him.

Kross was dark fifteen-year-old boy. He had sleek black hair and wore a blue blazer over a black shirt. His face bore a thin scar over his left eye. He looked pale tonight, as he always does when he's not being his usual dark, mysterious, and mischievous self.

Kross slammed his fists on the tombstone again, slightly cracking it. "Damn it! I've defiled her grave!" he screamed. Trees with no life left in them were the only things out of the ordinary lines of tombstones.

Kross stood up and wavered as he tried to walk away.

A few raindrops fell from the sky. He looked up, lifted his collar, put his hands in his pockets, and tried to hide tears as he continued away.

"Hmm…" a voice muttered from nowhere, a thick mist blanketing the grave that Kross had been leaning on. "With the boy in a state like this… hmm… this will be easier then I thought…"

Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Academy Chapter One: Memories Defiled

The Mist was an odd color from normal vapor; a tint of purple could be detected. It dispersed itself from the rock and slithered like a snake toward Kross. Thin haze soon began to fill the surrounding.

When the Mist had reached him, Kross stopped and looked around. The weather had changed rapidly.

"Hello," the Mist spoke silently.

"Who's there?" Kross yelled, turning around, his hands clenched in a fist.

"A friend…" the Mist said pleasantly, it possessed a raspy voice.

"Wha-what do you want?" Kross stuttered, as he, no matter where he looked, could see no one.

"What do I want?" the voice said. "I think the question is… what do you want?" the voice was silent for a second; bringing attention to itself when the purple mist, which felt moist, brushed against Kross's ankle. "I can bring her back you know…"

Kross, surprised only a little, replied, "What do you know about Mary?"

"I know a lot…" said the voice. "I know how much she meant to you. I know…"

Kross grew agitated. "Then what are you waiting for? If you can: do it already!"

"Ha!" the voice became sharp for moment, the returned to normal as it said, "If only it were that simple."

Kross had stopped looking for the voice's owner, thinking now that it was trick, being played on him because of his weakness in heartbreak.

"Stop torturing me!" He turned around and stamped away, "Just leave me alone."

The Mist was persistent. "You don't mean that… do you?"

"Yes, I do. Now, whoever you are, just leave."

The purple mist swirled and whispered, "As you wish," just as it rushed into a nearby tombstone, shattering it.

Kross looked at the shattered stone and was surprised to see a hole where the rock once was.
"Follow me if you dare…" the voice whispered tauntingly.

Kross should have known better, but his heartbreak drove him. He took one good look at the city just in the distance. The city walls had no love for him; only Mary could fill that void. He walked over to the hole, gulped, and jumped.

Kross landed hard on a dirt floor. It was dark, but the purple mist slithered near and led the way. Kross followed.

"Very good…" the voice said slyly. "You miss her… don't you?"

Kross waited on an answer, then said, "Yes… dear god yes."

"Good…" the voice kept going, leading Kross down a long hallway. In the distance, Kross could just barely see a light… very dim, but it was alight nonetheless.

"You would do well to listen to me then," the voice continued, as the light grew larger, but remained rather dim. "But first," Kross entered a large room, dimly lit by torches in each corner. "A test."

Kross looked to the other side of the room and was shocked to a see himself standing there. The 'shadow' was different, his eyes where hollow and held no emotion at all… he looked empty.

"Duel it." The voice said, putting it simple.

Kross, now determined, approached the center of the room, readying a duel disk. The 'shadow' did the same, keeping its emotionless stare.

"This Shadow," the voice explained, "represents you as of right now: Down trodden and full of grieving. You must beat off this heavy heart; it is the only way you can help me get what is needed to bring her back!"

"Got it," Kross said back, drawing his hand. "Duel!" he cried out. The 'Shadow' didn't say a thing.

[4000/4000

"I think… it will go first," the voice suggested. Sure enough, the shadow drew his sixth card. Without even looking at it, it placed it on his disk and "X-Head Cannon" (1800/1500) appeared, bearing its double barrel cannons.

It placed a card face down, and a brown board appeared behind the "X-Head Cannon". A light on the center of his duel disk signaled that it's turn had ended.

'I've gotta do this' Kross thought to himself. 'For her…'

He drew his card, and for second was astounded at this draw. 'X-Head Cannon' he thought. 'That shadow just drew this too. Does that mean… hmph, guess it can't duel.'

"I summon Mechanical Chaser (1850/800) in attack mode!" The spear-wielding machine appeared. "Go attack the X-Head!"

Mechanical Chaser made a few odd noises then attacked, lunging it's spear straight at the center of the X-Head Cannon… but it stopped.

"What?" Kross said aloud.

"You idiot!" The voice called out, the purple mist swirling. "You should have seen it coming!"

Kross looked back and too his astonishment saw the shadow activating a trap card: Magic Cylinder.

Kross looked into his hand and sure enough, the Magic Cylinder was among the cards he drew. "Oh crap," he said as the trap appeared, absorbing the Mechanical Chaser, and spitting it out the parallel tube. "Dah!" Kross yelled as the attack hit.

[2150/4000

"Arg, why does it have the same cards as me?" Kross asked, annoyed to the mysterious voice.

"You've let your heart interfere with your dueling too much!" the voice answered. "It knows every trick you taught it! Learn to keep your heart out of fighting!"

"But…" Kross said eyeing the swirling Mist. "That's how I duel. I duel with meaning, with heart."

"If you want your girlfriend back then listen to me! Separate your soul from your heart!"

Kross concentrated, then yelled out furiously. It would be a difficult process to separate his love for Mary from his dueling. After all… he always dueled for her. Had it not been for her, he never would have been able to be good enough to go to the academy. He needed her love and support to help win. But if it meant getting her back, he thought to himself for the remainder of the duel, every step is worth doing.

"Alright!" Kross yelled. "I'll lay my own face down card and call it a turn."

The Shadow drew a card, but again didn't even look at it, simply tossing it on the field. There was flash of light… and Z-Metal Tank appeared.

It made a few clanking noises then flattened out as the X-Head Cannon climbed aboard, activating Z-Metal Tanks fusion effect with X-Head Cannon to from: XZ Tank Cannon. (2400/2100)

Next, the shadow discarded a card from his hand and threw his hand forward, as if selecting a target.

"Darn it…" Kross muttered, "luckily, however, I learn from my mistakes! I activate Shadow Spell!"

Kross's face down sprung up, canceling XZ's effect as the target was no longer face down. Thick and heavy chains sprung form the trap, grappling the XZ Tank Cannon and reducing its attack strength by 700 points. (1700/2100)

"Yeah!" Kross said triumphantly, "Now XZ Tank Cannon cannot attack!"

The shadow seemed all aware of this as it placed a face down card. The light blinked, and it's turn ended.

"My turn now!" Kross shouted, swiping a card from his deck. "I'll play Elite Battle Warrior (1500/1900)… in attack mode!" A blue robot, perhaps 4 feet in height appeared. It's head resembled that of a cyborg, saying that it had the one red flat plate that looked a lot like a scanner, for an eye. It possessed a small, two-barrel cannon in place of its right hand.

[Elite Battle Warrior

Earth 1500/1900

Machine/Effect

At any point during your turn, you may discard on card from your hand in order to select one trap card on the field and destroy it. (If the target is face down, flip it face-up then, if it is a spell card, return it to its original position.) If the destroyed trap card was currently causing an effect to a monster on the field, destroy the monster too.

"I'll discard two cards!" Kross declared, "destroying the face down Shadow spell on your side of the field and the face-up one on mine!"

"You dolt!" the voice cried again, the purple mist swirling and almost turning into a brilliant shade of red. "You did it again!"

Kross looked at the swirling mist behind him, and then back at his opponent, who had sprung a trap: Shadow Spell.

"Oh wait… that means!" Kross yelled, alarmed.

The shadows trap card brought forth its chains, attaching them to Elite Battle Warrior. Then, every card on the field (XZ, Battle warrior, and the two Traps) burst.

"Aw… darn…" Kross said as his monster was destroyed.
'How can I win' he thought, 'if my opponent knows every thick in my deck? And not only that, has the same cards as me. I'm in deep trouble now…'

The Shadow still showed no emotion despite how much it was winning. It drew it's card, added the card to it's hand, then summoned it's own Elite Battle Warrior (1500/1900). The warrior revved up, then attacked Kross's life points!

"Ahhh!" Kross yelled as he flew back a few feet.

[650/4000

"This isn't over," he said weakly. "I can come back… Just you see…"

Kross drew his card and stared at if for a few moments before playing it. "I activate Different Dimension Capsule!"

A spell card depicting a slightly disfigured sarcophagus arose. "This nifty card lets me select one card from my deck and remove it from the game. Then, in two turns, I can take the card and add it to my hand."

Kross took his deck and began to search it.

"This is it…" the voice said slyly, "select the correct card, and the duel is yours. Heh heh heh, choose wisely…"

"Oh I will." Kross said, taking a card from his deck and tossing it in his pocket for now. "Next, I'll set two face-downs, then end my turn." Kross had no cards left in his hand.

The Shadow drew a card, and then looked confused.
"Very good," the voice said. "Your shadow can no longer predict your cards now that you've activated something that shuffled only your deck. Very good indeed."

The Shadow must not have been listening as it played it's own DD Capsule. It took its deck, then again looked awkwardly at the cards. It had no idea what Kross had taken. For this entire duel, it had a good idea of what to expect, but now that Kross had taken a card and was not obliged to show it to his opponent, the shadow was stumped.

It selected a card eventually, and then continued playing, summoning Mechanical Chaser Cyber Tech Alligator (2500/1600) in attack position by sacrificing the Elite Battle Warrior. It quickly, and silently, declared its attack with both monsters.

The Cyber Tech alligator, looked fierce. It was green covered in red plating and armor. Sharp metal claws were also an addition to what was once perhaps a peaceful alligator.

"Not so fast pal, remember? I still have a trap! One you already played! Magic Cylinder!"

The trap appeared and repelled the attack back at the Shadow. It didn't flinch at all as the attack blew past it.

[650/1500

The red light signaled the end of the turn.

"My draw!" Kross shouted triumphantly. He thought deeply, trying to rid his mind of the countless memories with Mary. He breathed and said, looking at his card: "I think I'll play something you didn't expect, Mind Control! I'll use it to take control of, for the turn, your alligator!" he played the card, then pointed at the alligator.

The Tech Alligator appeared to suffer for a moment before it shifted sides.

"Next up, Mystic Wok!" the second face down card revealed itself, the card depicting what looked like a bowl of chili being spilled over. "It lets me sacrifice a monster," Kross explained, "and gain life points equal to its attack or defense points. Lets go with Alligators 2500 attack points!"

The alligator roared as the quick-play spell card washed over him. Kross's life-points increased.

[3150/1500

This seemed insignificant to the Shadow as it drew its card. Then summoned the Mechanical Chaser to the field (1850/800). It flung its arm out again, targeting Kross.

At this, the Chaser reared up and attacked Kross directly!

[1300/1500

'Alright' Kross thought, 'it all comes down to this. I need…' he drew his card. 'A monster!' he looked at his draw. 'Yeah!'

"I summon," Kross declared proudly, "V-Tiger Jet (1600/1800)!" The yellow 'master of dog fights' appeared. "Oh, and remember? I get the card I removed from play now! Guess what it was!"

He happily pulled the card from his pocket, "It was… "Gamble: LP to ATK""

"You can't be serious!" the voice said in his ear, "That card lets you ante up life points for your monsters attack score, and if you call the coin flip right of course, the total is added to that monster. Otherwise, the total is deducted from your monsters attack points. If you call this card wrong, you will lose!"

"But…" Kross said, thinking deeply, again suppressing memories of his sweet Mary. "Your forgetting that if I call it right, my monster also gets 500 points for me guessing right. I won't call it wrong. Here I go!" He placed the card in his duel disk.

[Gamble: LP to ATK

Quick-play spell.

Select one monster on the field. Decrease your life-points equal to any amount equal to or less then the select monsters attack points. Then, flip a coin and call it. If you call it right, add the total amount to life points you anted, plus 600, to the selected monster. If you call it wrong, decrease the selected monsters attack score by the amount of life points you anted minus an additional 600 points.

"I'll pay 1200 life points!" Kross shouted as his points decreased.

[100/1500

A large golden coin appeared in place of his V-Tiger jet. "Alright," he said, holding back more memories of Mary cheering him on the last time he used this card. "I call… heads!"

The giant coin flipped high into the air. The Shadow didn't watch it all. It flipped maybe 5 or 6 times in the air before landing. When the coin landed, Kross was twitching nervously. Then he gasped. He had gotten heads.

"Yeah!" he shouted. Now my Tiger Jet gains 1800 attack points!"

(1600/1800 - 2800/1800 - 3400/1800)

"Yeah! Go V Tiger Jet! Attack the Mechanical Chaser!"

The yellow jet flew into the air, and then nose-dived into the Chaser, firing spitfire bullets as it went.

[100/0000

The dust settled and the shadow was gone. All that was left was the lingering mist growing larger.

"That was spectacular!" the voice said as the mist turned bright purple once more.

"Yeah, yeah…" Kross said, who didn't sound nearly as excited. "Where is Mary?"

"Oh…" the voice said gravely. "We've a long way to go till we reach that step." The torches in the room went out, and the voice continued: "For now, I leave you bearing gifts." A single torch illuminated and a small black box was seen sitting on top of a stone table.

"Take it," The voice explained as Kross opened the box and found a black, wicked looking duel disk and a deck of duel monsters cards. "Go and duel as many people as you can using the cards inside that box. Do not fail me; the fate of your dear Mary depends on your countless victories. Now go!"

The torch went out, and Kross awoke when the splashing rainwaters from outside came pouring on him. He thought, at first, that it was dream. But was proven wrong when he discovered that black wicked looking duel disk on his left arm.

He stood up, looked around for any suspicious bystanders, then pulled up the collar on his blue blazer, and walked away in the rain. As thunder roared in the sky, he knew this was just the beginning of his journey.

Chapter Two Early Start

"Wait up, Jaden!" young Syrus Truesdale said to his friend, Jaden Yuki, as he ran far ahead of him.

"Yeah Jaden!" Chumley Huffington cried out, the train doesn't come for another half-hour, and besides, the boat taking us back to Duel Academy is always late."

"Aw come on guys," Jaden said back to them. "It's good to have a little morning exercise, no?"

Jaden stopped at the train platform as his friends caught up, "Not…" Chumley huffed, "if… you… are… as…"

"Hey Jaden, who's that?" Syrus interrupted, very wired up on energy now.

Jaden turned around. He was an average kid. Good at dueling for what is was worth and a good friend. Jaden had scruffy brown hair and an expression that made his look as if he could never be pushed down.

"I'm not sure Sy'," Jaden replied, examining the tall, slightly pale faced boy on the fence behind him. "He doesn't look in the mood to talk though."

Syrus looked at the boy. He had dark hair, and wore a forlorn expression, but despite that, he didn't look very welcoming. He sat there with his arms crossed, not paying even a singe tribute to Jaden's conversation.

Syrus was short kid. He had a strange coloration of light blue hair, and wore thin glasses on his nose.

Chumley, on the other hand, was rather large, and had only a little bit of blackish hair. All three of them (Jaden, Chumley, and Syrus) wore red blazers and were a part of the Slifer Red Dorm at their Dueling School.

A little bit of time passed as all of them waited patiently for the train that would take them to the docks.

Over time, however, it became rather dark and looked as if it was about to rain again.

"Aw," moaned Jaden, "It rained yesterday, why does it have to again?"

"Jaden Look!" Syrus yelled pointing out into the pouring rain.

"What? I don't see anything."

"Out there!" Syrus pointed again. "Don't you see him?"

"No… I don't," Jaden replied plainly, squinting his eyes.

"Well I'm gonna go help him," Said Syrus, jumping off the platform with his backpack and over the train tracks into the rain.

"Syrus wait! Come on Chumley!" He beckoned to large lump on the nearby bench.

"I'm come'n, I'm come'n." Chumley replied.

Within time Jaden and Chumley ran into a clearing in the nearby park. It was raining incredibly hard now. Jaden noticed that the forlorn boy had followed him.

To everyone's surprise, Syrus had his duel disk out.

"Hey Sy', what's going on here?" Jaden said into the roaring wind.

Syrus, who was busy examining his opening draw looked up and said, "This was the guy I was pointing to. He's pretty banged up, but no matter what I told him, all he wanted to do was duel. So…"

"Well, good luck Sy'," Jaden said giving a half-hearted thumbs-up. He peered out into the rain at Syrus's opponent. He was right, the guy looked very beat up. He had several tears in his jacket, which was black, and had almost no hair at all. He appeared to bleeding from the mouth as well as several other areas throughout his face. If Jaden didn't know any better, he would have called him a Zombie.

Syrus made his draw first.

[4000/4000

Syrus fumbled through his cards for a moment then picked one and placed it on his duel disk.

"Patroid (1200/1200) in attack mode!" he called out, and the funny looking police car with eyes popped up. "Then one card face-down. Easy does it." A brown board appeared behind Patroid and Syrus's turn ended.

The boy drew a card and moaned uneasily, blood dripping from his mouth. He played a card and it appeared in front of him.

"Painful Choice?" Syrus said aloud.

The boy took his deck and easily selected five cards for the effect of Painful Choice.

"Hey Chum'?" Jaden asked, "What does Painful Choice do again?"

"You really should pay more attention to the teachers, Jaden," Chumley said, nodding his head. "Painful Choice is a spell card that lets a player search their deck for five cards. Then, that player's opponent picks one of those cards to add to his hand, the rest of the cards are discarded. It's a risky move, to lose five cards and only keep one, but it can be worth it…"

The boy finished picking his cards and they all appeared before him. Jaden was almost in shock. There were three "Skull Servant" cards, as well as a Thousand-eyes Idol, among the cards. The last card was a Monster Reborn card.

"Well… a…" Syrus said looking confused. The boy just moaned. "I guess I let you have Thousand-Eye Idol… I guess."

The boy looked at the selected card, and then discarded the rest. It moaned and played another spell, discarding a card to do so, "Tribute to the Doomed."

The card appeared and let out a barrage of bandages on the Patroid.

"Not so fast!" Syrus cried, "I activate Rare Metal Morph! It not only protects my machine from a spell card, but it gives it 500 extra attack power too!"

(Patroid: 1700/1200)

The boy moaned again and finally placed a monster on the field: "The King of Skull Servants!"

As the card appeared, a bus rolled by the train station and there disembarked Bastion Misawa. He was a tall student with sharp brown hair, of the Ra Yellow Dorm and he carried with him a suitcase, most likely full of cards and mathematical formulas. Bastion was a self-proclaimed genius.

"Hmmm… I thought they said they'd said they'd meet me here…" he said. Right at that moment, Lightning crashed in the distance, then again, in the same spot. "As they say, Lightning never strikes twice in the same spot," he said as he rushed off in that direction, toward the duel.

"What's that?" Syrus asked hopefully as a lonely Skull Servant appeared. It looked like a skeleton wearing a purple bathrobe. The skeleton raised its arms and a mountain of corpses appeared behind him. Its attack score rose from 0 to 4000.

"4000 points!" Jaden said, surprised at how something that strong was summoned so easily.

"That's how King of Skull Servants works," said voice commented.

"What?" Jaden looked to his left and saw Bastion standing next to him. "When did you get here?"

"A little while ago," Bastion said, folding his arms. "Anyway, King of Skull Servants had 1000 attack points for each one of himself and the original Skull Servant in the Graveyard."

"So that's why he played Painful Choice!" said Chumley urgently.

"Really?" Said Bastion, "A good move."

"But not good for Syrus," said Jaden as they turned back to watch the duel.

"Aw man…" Syrus whimpered. "I'm doomed."

The boy waved his arms and the King attacked Patroid with a deadly claw.

[1700/4000

"Ahhh!" Syrus yelped had he flew several feet backward.

"Don't give up Sy'!" cried Jaden.

Syrus stood up, brushed off some of the dirt, and drew his card.

"I summoned Tankroid (1700/1800)!" he said proudly, and crazy looking green tank with eyes appeared.

[Tankroid

1700/1800 - Earth

Machine/effect

Once per turn, you may discard one monster from your hand to destroy one monster with less attack points then the discarded monster on the field.

"Yeah! And since your card had 0 attack points to begin with, I can discard any monster!" Syrus discarded his "Heavy Mech Support Platform" to the graveyard, and Tankroid fired a heavy blast of cannon fire.

The King shattered into tiny pieces, but… the pieces didn't explode like normal. Instead, they froze mid air.

The boy placed a rotting hand over his graveyard, excepting an emerging card. As he did, the King of Skull Servants reanimated.

"Huh?" Syrus cried in disbelief. "But how?"
"Another potent effect," Bastion commented. "Whenever the King is destroyed, the King's controller can remove from play one Skull Servant or King of Skull Servants from the graveyard to keep the monster on the field, thus lowering it's attack score by 1000."

(King of Skull Servants: 3000/0)

"Uh oh," Said Syrus, "I'm really in trouble now… umm…" he glanced back at his hand, "I think I'll play these face down and," three face down cards appeared, "end my turn…"

The boy drew his card, and then added it to his hand. He glanced at his cards quickly, and then called another attack. The King attack with slightly duller claws, tearing the Tankroid to pieces.

[400/4000

"Syrus is going to lose unless he thinks up something quick!" Chumley said.

He was right, of course. Syrus had only one card in his hand, there was only card that could possibly save him.

He drew his card, and smiled. "Don't worry Chumley, I'm still in this," He said. "I activate my face down Polymerization! I'll use it to fuse the Gyroid and Steamroid in my hand together! Allowing me to play: SteamGyroid (2200/2000)!"

A burst of light later, a purple creature with parts that resembled a helicopter and a train appeared. It blew its whistle with prestige.

The boy gave a toothless grin. It wasn't nearly strong enough to destroy the King of Skull Servants.

"Next! I play the trap Rollout! It lets me union a monster in my graveyard with a compatible monster on the field. I summon Heavy Mech Support Platform (500/500)! Attached to SteamGyroid, It adds 500 attack and defense points!"

(SteamGyroid: 2200/2000 + 500/500 2700/2500)

"And finally… Limiter Removal! Doubling my monsters attack points! Yeah! That's 5400 attack points!"

The boy looked surprised as more blood oozed from his mouth.

"Alright! Attack the King of Skull Servants!" The SteamGyroid revved up, then blew its whistle and charged at the King. The purple robed ruler accepted the blast and shattered.

[400/1600

The boy covered his face as the blow blew pasted him. Then… something strange happened…

The boy was about to draw his card when, suddenly, and almost disturbingly, his hand simply collapsed into dust. When he realized this, he looked at his other hand, the same had happened. He moaned, and reached out to Syrus, before the rest of his body vanished in the wind and rain.

The duel faded away and everyone there was in shock. What had they just witnessed? Was that really Zombie of some sort?

The group got together and approached the small pile of dust. It was still raining, but they could tell not everything turned into dust. There… in the center of the pile, was necklace. Hung on it was a smooth black rock in the shape of a tooth. It shined as lightning crashed around them.

"What is it?" Syrus asked, putting his cards away and reaching out to grab it.

"I'm not sure…" Bastion observed. "It's looks harmless though."

"Maybe I should take it to Professor Banner?" Syrus suggested.

"That might be best," nodded Bastion looking back at the train station. A horn had blared; the train had arrived.

"Let's go!" Chumley cried, "We don't want to miss this!"

"Right!" Syrus and Bastion said together.

"Coming Jaden?" asked Syrus.

Jaden had been scanning the area, looking for the forlorn kid. "He's gone…" he whispered to himself before running off to the train.

Chapter 3

Rocking the Boat

(Part One of Two)

It was a short train ride to the docks. Jaden, Syrus, Bastion, and Chumley disembarked and headed off toward the ferry that would take them back to their school, Duel Academy, after a good two weeks off for Spring Break.

"Feeling better, Chumley?" Syrus asked his large friend as he crossed the rather vertical bridge onto the boat.

"Sy'" answered Chumley, "Never trust a Grilled Cheese handed to you by a vending machine. Aww…."

Syrus gave him an awkward look then stepped onto the boat. They immediately went to the front of the ship. It was sundown now, and passengers normally hung out up there where the breeze could keep them awake and ready for any "surprises" in store for them when they arrived at school. A few minutes on the board, the boat departed.

"School," Jaden said longingly, sitting on one of the benches near the very tip of the ship. "It's weird, I actually enjoy me free time there then I do at home. Kinda strange, huh?"

"Get any new cards, Jaden?" Syrus asked, taking a seat next to him, Chumley had decided to wait it out inside the ship, apposed to on the decks.

"New cards?" Jaden questioned. "Why? You think my deck needs it?"

Syrus took out his own deck and pulled out a few cards, "Well, I opened a few packs the other day, and, well, I got to use one of the cards I pulled." He showed Jaden his 'Rollout!', 'Heavy-Mech Support Platform', and 'Tankroid' cards.

"Nice cards," Jaden commented. "But I think I'm fine for now. If anything, I'll just get them when we get to school."

"Yeah," Syrus agreed. "I thought of that too. It's just that, from my experience, the card shop there is out of stock by the time I get there. Remember? The Obelisks are closest to the shop so they get first dibs most the time."

"Meh, don't care." Jaden said as he noticed something.

"Hey," he nudged Syrus in the elbow. "Isn't that the guy from the train station?"

Syrus finished putting his cards back in his bag then looked up. Sure enough, the forlorn boy from the station platform was walking around. He had the same greasy hair and the same expression on his face. "That strange to you Jaden?"

"Well, after your duel with that, umm… thing, he disappeared. I thought he had left, but when I didn't see him on the train…"

"Ah, don't worry about it. He must of just left early and was in the bathroom when you were looking for him."

"Yeah… I guess so…" Jaden watched as the forlorn boy walked into the boats inner rooms, toward the food. Music was common entertainment for voyagers to Duel Academy, so of course, it was blaring at the highest volume level as Kross entered.

Inside, Kross began to look for something to eat. He hadn't eaten anything since the voice transported him from the train station to the docks.

"Know what you are doing next?" the voice whispered into his ear as he took a bit off an apple.

Kross mumbled to himself for a moment, then said to the voice, "Yeah, I got it covered."

"Good…" the voice trailed off and left him.

"Let's get started," He said and he finished his apple and shoved a deck into his duel disk, searching for an opponent. It wasn't long till he found one, a fine young girl he recognized as Alexis Rhodes.

Alexis had blonde hair and a cheery face. She wore an Obelisk Blue Dorm jacket. At the moment, she was unaccompanied by her friends, exactly what Kross was hoping for.

He approached her without any nervousness. "Hey Kross," she said pleasantly. "What are you up to?"

"I was wondering…" Kross said, slightly out of his normal personality, "If you'd like to have a quick duel with me. I think I need the practice."

Alexis knew all too well of what happened before Spring Break with Kross's girlfriend. She accepted to the match, assuming he would indeed need the practice so he could get up on his feat again.

"Great," Kross said," cracking half a smile.

He led her to the back of the ship. It was empty there, as music and such couldn't be heard very well. It was beyond sunset now; only a small dot on the horizon could still be called the sun.

They both readied their duel disks and prepared for a match.

"Ready?" Alexis said confidently, before they both cried out:

"Duel!"

[4000/4000

"You can go first," Alexis gestured.

"Alright," Kross drew his card before she had even finished talking. "I'll start with Reasoning!"

A card depicting what appeared to be a man accused of cheating.

"Reasoning?" Alexis wondered aloud. "That's not like Kross's deck at all."

"With this card," Kross explained, "you select a monster card level, 1-10. Then, I pick up cards from my deck until I get the first normal summon-able monster. If you guess the level correctly, the monster and every other card I got and discarded. Wrong however, and I get to special summon the monster to the field!"

"I knew that already, Kross," Alexis commented, agitated at Kross's attitude. "Anyway, I pick level 4! Most decks have a lot of those."

Kross began to pick up cards, the first being a spell card: Pot of Greed. The second a trap: Gravity Bind. Kross went through 3 more cards till stumbling upon…

"Your right Alexis, most decks do use a lot of level 4 monsters. But I'm not using most decks! I Special Summon Menfist the Infernal General (1800/1700)!"

A Black Knight seated proudly a black horse, appeared wielding a long and powerful axe. The horse was covered in metallic armor.

"Whoa," Alexis said, surprised. "A level 5 monster. Lucky."

"Lucky indeed," Said Kross, and he placed a face down card on the field and ended his turn.

"Well, my draw now," and Alexis gracefully drew her card. "My first card will be Warrior Lady of the Wasteland (1200/1100) in attack mode!" A woman in armor with long blonde hair appeared in front of Alexis.
"Next, I'll play Forced Activation!" Alexis declared, as a spell card depicting a witch casting a spell over Marauding Captain appeared. "Now, by paying 200 life points per level of the monster, I can activate the effect of one monster on the field, no matter what the activation requirements it would normally require. I choose my Warrior Lady!"

[Forced Activation

Spell card

Select one effect monster on your side of the field (except flip effect monsters), and pay life points equal to that monsters level times 200 points. Activate the effect of the selected monster, regardless of any activation requirements of the monster. Any other costs of that involve using the effect of the selected monster still apply. (i.e. sacrificing a monster or paying Life points.)

(Warrior Lady: Level 4 4 x 200 800 LP)

[4000/3200

"And what exactly does that monster do again?" Kross sneered.

"Hey, you don't need to talk like this is a finals match or anything Kross! This duel is just for fun, remember?"

"Heh, heh," Kross laughed, "no… I don't!" At that, his duel disk reflected in the moonlight. As it did, black ooze began to generate from Kross's deck, covering his duel disk. The Disk slightly changed shape, and Kross's Wicked Black Duel Disk returned.

"What's going on?" Alexis said, alarmed, as the space around her grew much darker and cold. "What's happening?"

"I'm taking our 'fun' match up a notch," Kross said, snickering, "Welcome to the Shadows!"

Alexis was taken back for a moment, but regained her esteem, thinking it was a trick, and said, "Well, a… anyway, My Forced Activation lets me use Warrior Lady's effect and special summon Etoile Cyber (1200/1600)!"

A woman clothed in red with flaming red hair appeared. She appeared confident despite her stats.

"Next up, Malevolent Nuzzler, an equip spell that gives Cyber here a 700 attack point boost!"

(Etoile Cyber: 1200/1600 + 700/0 1900/1600)

"Perfect!" Alexis said joyfully, "Now attack Menfist!"

Kross smiled. "Forget something? Like, maybe this: My trap card Bark of the Dark Ruler!" As he played his card, he noticed a purple Mist begin to flood the floor. "Now," Kross continued, "through this cards effect, I can pay any number of life points and reduce the attack power of a monster attacking one of my fiends by an equal amount! How does, 200 points sound to you?"

[3800/3200

"Uh-oh, that makes my Cyber weaker then Menfist!" Alexis cried, really wishing she had thought her move through.

"Exactly! Now Menfist the Infernal General! Counter attack!"

The mounted General reared his steed and swung his axe at the Etoile Cyber, shattering it to pieces.

[3800/3100

"Ah… lucky for me, He didn't pay too many life points," Alexis said to herself assuring her safety.

"But perhaps," Kross said after listening carefully to what she had said. "That wasn't the point, hmm?"

Alexis looked at her arm, a small cut had appeared there, and it was bleeding. Along with that, a card was missing from her hand. "What? Where did my Polymerization card go?"

Kross laughed. "That's the beauty of my General here. Whenever he does damage, even just slight amounts, he takes a card from your hand and discards it to the Graveyard!"

Alexis's cut on her arm began to sting a little. She covered it with her hand and tried not to think about it.

"Ouch…" she thought to herself. "That really hurts. Kross may be telling the truth. Maybe we are in the Shadows!" She shook her head. "No! Kross would never…" she paused,"could never do that. This doesn't make sense. Ouch…" the cut stung sharply again. "Well. Either way. This is diffidently not the time to back down. I'm far from out of this Kross…"

Chapter Four When your Heart Stops Beating

(Part Two of Two)

As the Shadow Duel between Alexis and Kross continued, Syrus was inside the boats dance floor looking for Professor Banner. "I thought the head of dorms had to take the ride to School with us," Syrus said to Jaden who was wolfing down a slice of Pizza.

"I don't know Sy'" Jaden said through his food. "Maybe he's sick or something."

Syrus continued to scan the room. The music was loud, and students were walking and dancing in all disorder, making searching for a particular person difficult. "Maybe," Syrus said, "Oh, wait. There he is. Professor Banner!" He called out.

Professor Banner, who was sitting on the sides of room, was a tall teacher. He wore thin glasses above his nose and unusually long black hair. He wore a causal shirt and tie.

Banner looked up and smiled warmly as Syrus and Jaden ran up to him.

"Hello, boys," he said to them. "Something the matter?"

"Not really," admitted Syrus, "I was just wondering if you knew what this was." Syrus pulled the black tooth necklace from his pocket and let Professor Banner examine it.

"Hmmm," Banner said letting the necklace dangle between his fingers. "Syrus, where did you get this?"

"Well, it's a long story Professor Banner," Syrus said shyly.

"Well, in that case, it's a story for another time. We're almost at school you know."

"That was quick," Jaden said lazily.

Syrus interrupted, "Professor Banner, do you know what this thing is?"

"Sadly I do," Banner admitted. "This here is a rather peculiar piece of jewelry. It's called a Skull Stone. Not that this rock was ever part of a skull, it was actually related to the story of the Skull Servants."

"Skull Servants," Syrus thought, "that's what that… umm, Zombie, was using!"

"You see," Banner explained. "The Skull Servants, like the card counter-parts, are very weak. But not for reasons you'd think. Skull Servants are dead wonderers, brought back by the sake of this stone. This rock, dipped in the blood of a mortal, will reanimate a dead corpse. Reanimate," he repeated, "not revive. The corpse would have no will, and be unable to reason. Thus, it's a weak minion of whoever's blood this rock was dipped in."

"So… I dueled a Skull Servant," Syrus thought to himself again. "Well… that's comforting."

"Professor?" Jaden asked while Syrus pondered his owns thoughts. "Can any thing good come from this thing? I mean, should we just destroy it?"

"Well, I wouldn't do that." Banner said reasonably. "Rocks like this are a hard find, no one has ever been able to find one for centuries. As to whether this is worth giving to a museum, well… That's up to you. There is one thing this thing can do that is good though."

Meanwhile, Alexis and Kross continued their duel in the darkness.

"Well, It seems to be my turn now doesn't it?" Kross laughed.

"Not yet," Alexis corrected, I have a face-down card to play first." She inserted a facedown and it appeared behind the Warrior Lady of the Wasteland. "Now you go."

"Thanks," Kross said, smiling. "Now, my draw!" he took his card. "I guess I summon Headless Knight (1450/1700) in attack mode!"

Indeed, a Knight lacking a head appeared in silver armor next to Menfist the Infernal General (1800/1700).

"Now… go my Decapitated Monster! Attack the Warrior Lady!" The headless Knight picked up it's long sword and dashed at the Warrior Lady for a smooth slash.

[3800/2750

"Ahh!" Alexis screamed loudly. The cut on her arm grew longer and deeper now. It felt as if someone was cutting her arm open with a pair of Scissors. "Ahh…" She fell to the ground; another cut had begun atop her right eye, going downward vertically.

"You thought that was bad… Ha! That's nothing! Menfist, Attack her directly!"

"Ah…" Alexis stood up, "Not quite… My Warrior Lady still had her effect, I use it to summon Blade Skater (1400/1500) in Defense mode!"

"No matter!" My General does damage even if it's in defense mode!"

The Black General reared his mighty steed again and charged head long into the Skater.

[3800/2450

"Ahh!" Alexis cried again and the cut above her eye bled and deepened as she lost more points. She collapsed to the floor again.

"It's difficult isn't it?" Kross mocked. "The Shadows are more brutal then aver before! No one can hear you… and when this is over, you'll be dead!"

Alexis looked up at him; he was smiling with an evil grin. "Kross!" She yelled through her pain. "What happened to you? Why…" she gasped, "Why are you doing this?"

Kross's smile faded away, and he turned a disgusted grunt toward her. "What's it to you?" he said.

"I know you must feel bad for how Mary died, but that's no reason to do this!"

"Mary?" Kross said… "What?"

"Don't listen to her!" the voice said into his ear. "She's trying to distract you. Finish her off!"

Kross fixed his grin and whispered back, "Right."

He lifted his voiced and said loudly, "I finish my turn with two cards face down!"

Alexis stood up; her face was dripping in blood. She began to feel faint; she was losing a lot of blood.

"Whoa…" she said dizzily. "I-I draw a card now…" She glanced at her draw. "I summon DD Warrior Lady in attack mode!" She weakly placed the card on the duel disk and a powerful woman in armor and a cape appeared. "OK… go attack…. The Knight…"

Kross didn't move at all as the Warrior lady vigorously cut the monster in half with her sword.

[3750/2450

"Nice job," he commented sarcastically, a thin cut beginning on his left arm.

"I'll… play another face down card," Alexis said, still a little dizzy.

"This is over!" Kross yelled. "I play Dragged Down to the Grave! This card forces us both to discard from our hands. Normally, I'd choose your card, but you only have one. Discard it!"

Alexis did so, her hand also crusted with blood.

"Now pick one of mine!" Kross demanded and his hand appeared on the field. It contained:

Giant Germ, DD Trainer, and Dark Catapulter

"I… choose, the Germ," she said weakly.

"Very well," Kross discarded the Giant Germ and said proudly, "Now we both draw another card!" They both drew. "Perfect, now I play one of my face downs, Card Destruction!"

A spell card appeared depicting a fiendish hand discarding cards.

"With this, we discard again!" Kross said loudly.

They both did so, Kross discarding 3 cards, while Alexis still just one. They both redrew and Kross smiled. "I told you this is over! I play my second facedown, Skull Lair! I'll remove 4 monsters from my graveyard and send your Warrior on a trip to find them!"

A tall door appeared in front of the DD Warrior Lady, it opened, and fiercely pulled the Warrior Lady inside. Closing, it vanished.

"Now, play Heavy Storm, destroying all face down and face up spells and traps on the field!" A giant typhoon appeared, tearing the field apart. Alexis had no card left on her field.

"And Finally, I play my second Giant Germ (1000/100)! It's over! Go attack my infectious Disease, aid my General and defeat my rival!"

The Germ dispersed, sending small particles toward Alexis. She screamed as several more cuts and now even bruises appeared just as the particles hit her.

"Menfist!" Kross called out, "END IT!"

Alexis had already fallen to the floor; she had lost hope. Kross laughed as the surrounding area grew colder and darker.

"What's that?" Syrus asked. "What good can this Skull Stone bring?"

"If you time it right," Professor Banner explained, "this can keep someone alive, even if they are on the brink from death. It's just the timing is very difficult. See, you must give this to the dieing person, just as they are passing. AND you need their fresh blood dipped on the very tip of the stone. The latter is difficult. Blood isn't considered fresh to this thing for very long. Perfect timing… not an easy thing to do."

At that a scream sounded the boat.

"That sounds like Alexis!" Jaden said putting down his drink and running out to the back of the boat.

"That's it…" Kross said. "I'm done here." The purple mist quietly swirled around his legs, the shadows disappeared and area returned to normal temperature. Kross had begun to vanish with the darkness. "Mary," he said, "What was she talking about?"

"Ignore it," the voice demanded, and Kross was gone.

"Alexis!" Jaden yelled as he burst through the doors. Professor Banner and Syrus had followed. They saw he on the ground, her eyes closed. "Alexis!" Jaden said, kneeling down to her.

Professor Banner felt her wrist, "She hasn't a pulse." He reported.

"Syrus!" Jaden said turning around, gather the attention of the entire ship. "Give me the stone!"

"But Jaden, the timing is supposed to be hard to get-" he was cut off.

"SY'!" Jaden yelled and Syrus handed him the stone. He rubbed the tip of rock lightly on Alexis Bleeding forehead, and then rested the stone on her chest.

Nothing happened.

"No!" Jaden said frustrated. "Come on! Work!" he slammed his fists on the floor.

Professor Banner checked her pulse again. He jumped slightly, "There, she has a pulse…. It's… short. We must get her to the school's on campus hospital as quickly as we can!"

"Hang in there, Alexis," Jaden said as more teachers, including Professor Crowler, came through the door. They lifted Alexis off the floor, and took her to the front of the boat. Professor Banner had his cell phone out.

"We need a car by the docks as soon as we arrive," he was saying.

Jaden and Syrus looked out on the horizon, the Duel Academy was within clear view.

"What a Nightmare," Syrus said.

Chapter Five

Memories Returning

(Part One of Two)

The ferry taking Duel Academy Students back to School arrived at its normal time. No one was allowed to leave until Alexis was safely off board, and certain people where questioned. Anyone could have expected that Teachers were going to find out who did this while the one who did was still on the boat; it's an obvious tactic in crime solving.

Kross did expect it however. And with his powers, obtained from the Mist and its mysterious voice, he managed to leave the boat with the Shadows.

He returned to the Graveyard, right in front of Mary's grave. He rubbed some of the dust and grime off the stone, revealing the name on it. He jumped a little and began to shed a few tears.

"Mary…" he said. "Why… how could I forget you…" He looked at his palm, concentrated, and then produced a Skull Necklace. It looked very similar to the one Syrus and Jaden found, except darker, signifying that it had not been used before. Kross trembled and continued to stare at the Gravestone.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Voice said lazily in his ear. Kross looked around and saw the Mist floating around another stone. "You do know what that rock does, don't you? I explained fair enough, no?"

Kross pocketed the Necklace, and then sat on top of another stone, closer to the Mist. "I forgot her," he explained. "How could I do that? I love her. She means everything to me." Kross paused while he pulled a few cards from his pocket and began to look through them. "It was like I, for a moment there on the boat, no longer had a reason to duel. Had it not been for you… setting me straight there…"

"Yes, yes," the voice said warmly. "But, you do know that you were doing exactly what I taught you to do, don't you? You weren't letting your heart interfere anymore. That's good."

Kross looked at his shoes and then back at the cards. He carefully examined the cards, and said, "Maybe there's no point to this… Mary had told me, when she gave me this," he held up a "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 4", "she said that she loved me too… And… that she always would…" Kross paused and continued to seek guidance: "Maybe, with that assurance, I don't need to bring her back. I know how she felt about me, what's the point?"

The voice grew tense now and the Mist turned a violent purple. In a flash of light, the voice returned Kross to Duel Academy, just outside the Boys Obelisk Blue dorm. "You speak nonsense," the Voice whispered. "If you love her, and she you, then you would do anything you can to bring her back. I am your chance at bringing her back. So listen very carefully to my words and you will be reunited."

The Mist swirled and began to fade. "Put the next phase of your plan in action. You should have no trouble, remember, you uncle flew you back to Duel Academy. They will have no reason to question you."

Kross sighed and realized in the truth in the voices' words. "If I do love her," he thought,"I would bring her back… if I could that is. And I can, so I should."

"Very well," Kross admitted. "Phase two is on its way." The Mist faded completely and Kross entered the blue dorm. He climbed a few sets of stairs and realized that no one was back yet. They were still being questioned.

The voice had transported from the boat, all of Kross's luggage, he noticed as he entered his room. He effortlessly climbed into his bed and fell asleep, plotting the final parts on the next phase to getting his Mary back.

"Err…" the Voice growled as the Mist swirled randomly around Kross's dorm room. "That was close. Too close for comfort I'd say." The Mist tinted toward a violet color and the Voice whispered: "Well, we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen again, won't we?" it laughed as Kross began to toss and turn in his sleep.

"Attention Obelisks!" Professor Crowler yelled to a crowd. "Today, the second to last day before Spring Break, we have the finals in our annual Obelisk Tournament, deciding who indeed is best in our dorm!" The crowd erupted in a roar of applause and excitement.

Professor Crowler was an odd man. He wore a long blue blazer, as he was head of the Obelisk Blue Dorm. What made hi strange was he choice of a wardrobe in every other department. He had blonde hair with a little Ponytail dangling from the back of his head. He had a wicked face, and a strangely high-pitched voice.

"Second to last day…" Kross said, standing on a far side of a dueling arena. "Before Spring Break?" He looked around and was stunned. There… on the sidelines in a girls Obelisk Blue dorm uniform was… Mary Dowd.

"Mary!" Kross yelled in disbelief. "What… what's going on?"

Mary was indeed a beauty. She had thin light brownish blonde hair and was rather tall for her age. Though, Kross noticed, She was not as tall in proportion to him as she was in the 5th grade, when they met.

Mary smiled and winked at Kross. Kross smiled back and looked back to Professor Crowler as he continued his introduction.

"On this side, we have Kross Forester," he introduced. The crowd erupted again with Cheers, Mary among them Kross noticed.

"And over here is Jase Kingston," Crowler pointed to the other side of the arena and the crowd roared again. Kross looked at Jase, he was short and had flakey brown hair. He bore a face of determination, a duel disk ready.

Kross looked at his own arm and realized he too was about to duel.

"NOW!" Crowler yelled loudly. "BEGIN THE DUEL! THE WINNER WILL FACE ZANE TRUSDALE, MAY THE BETTER DUELIST WIN!!!!"

Kross's duel disk activated and he found himself drawing his five cards.

"You hear that Kross old buddy?" Jase said as he too drew five cards. "The winner will face Zane, no one ever gets a shot at beating him outside dueling tests. This is our big chance to show them what we had been practicing for! Well, one of us will have the chance at least."

"I know…" Jase went one, "that we haven't been the best of people since we arrived at Duel Academy. But lets forget that, and think of our good times in Grade School, when we were still good friends. OK? Lets make this our best! Duel!!!"

[4000/4000

"Ready Kross? I start!" Jase declared and he drew a card. "I summon Royal Magical Library (0/2000) in Defense mode!" A large room appeared in front of Jase. A few scholars randomly walked around the room, books flying off shelves.

"Next! The spell card Nightmare Steel Cage!" A large metal cell burst from the floor and incased Kross within. "See, this spell protects you from my attacks, funny thing is, you can't break out of it, so I'm safe from your attacks too, funny huh?"

Kross smiled, he was in a good mood now for some reason.

"Well, I end now with a card face down," Jase finished, "Make it your best Kross!"

Kross smiled and he looked to Mary again. She was smiling as well, awaiting (with everyone else) for Kross to make his usual outstanding first move.

Kross drew his card and smiled. Mary was alive and happy, what more could he want? He was prepared to surrender, just to be with her.

"Kross!" Mary shouted as Kross snapped out of his daze. "Remember what you said to me this morning?" Kross nodded. "Well…I want you know… I love you too!"

Kross turned red and couldn't have been happier. He began his turn.

Chapter Six

Side of a Bullet

(Part Two of Two)

"That's a nice move, Jase," Kross commented proudly, examining his opening hand. "However," he added slyly. "I've got a better one. One that will undo your entire turn! Watch and Learn!"

Kross drew his card, muttered: "Perfect," then played a monster. "I summon X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) in attack mode!" the double barrel cannon based monster appeared, revved up and ready to roll.

"Nice card, Kross," Jase said confidently, "But even your X-Head can't break my cage."

"Wait, see and be surprised," Kross said, pulling another card from his hand. "Next, I play Frontline Base!" A spell card depicting "Pitch-Dark Dragon" and "Dark Blade" riding off a fort appeared, and along with it, a large fortress came up behind Kross. It appeared inside the Nightmare Steel cage, so with it, the cage grew taller. Another Scholar in Jase's Royal Magical Library (0/2000) picked out a book.

"See, this lets me special summon any Union Monster once per turn. I've got just the one too. Go Y-Dragon Head (1500/1600)!" A red metallic Dragon appeared, accompanying the X-Head Cannon. "Now merge to become… XY Dragon Cannon (2200/1900)!" Kross yelled proudly and the X-Head Cannon levitated, sending sparks into the air as it effortlessly merged with the Y-Dragon Head.

"Uh-Oh," Jase whispered, a little tension in his voice. The crowd roared with excitement.

"Yeah! Now my Cannon can use his ability! I discard one card, and destroy one face-up spell on the field, like Nightmare Steel cage!" The mighty metallic creature made a shriek and shot a powerful laser blast right through the cage, targeting the corresponding Spell card on Jase's field. The blast shot a large hole in the cage, but with the spell card gone, the rest of the cage quickly shattered.

"Sorry Jase, now to finish the undoing! Go XY Dragon Cannon, attack the Library!" The X-Head Cannon part of XY shot three consecutive shots at the library, while the Y-Dragon Head part let out a super sonic shriek, annoying the scholars until the building collapsed. "That's it for now," Kross said confidently and the crowd erupted again.

"Wow…" Jase said. "That was amazing. I can't believe you cleared my field AND freed yourself from my Nightmare Steel cage in one turn. Amazing. Your still as good as ever," Jase paused and drew his card, "But then again," he continued, "So am I."

Kross made surprised expression and he eyed Mary one again. "Whatever, Jase," he said. "Do your worst, if you must… unless that was it on your first turn."

"Ohh you know it's not, Kross," Replied Jase. "Watch! I summon Rapid-Fire Magician in attack mode! But he ain't sticking around, cause I sacrifice him with Magical Dimension!" A card depicting a strange box being held shut with chains appeared. It shook violently, and then burst open, pulling the Magician inside. It shook some more, then exploded, revealing a new monster. "Meet my favorite card: Chaos Command Magician (2400/1900)!"

A Spellcaster with a look similar to the Dark Magician's appeared. It wore slightly bluer then purple armor and carried a powerful staff.

"Whoa…" Kross said, and he noticed Mary squeal a bit as well. "Good thing I got XY here."

"Not quite, Kross! See, Magical Dimension isn't done yet. It still gets to destroy one monster on the field, like your XY! Leaving you defense-less!"

He was right; as the smoke cleared, the box was still there. It glowed slightly, then burst along with XY Dragon Cannon.

"Ack!" spat Kross shielding his eyes and seeing Mary's worried face. "Damn it."

"Ohh Yeah!" Jase cried. "Chaos Command Magician, attack him directly! Chaos Shot!" The mighty sorcerer leaped into the air and fired a powerful blast of energy at Kross.

"Dahhh!!!" Kross yelled as he flew several feet backward. The blast settled and Kross was standing up, getting roughly off his knees.

[1600/4000

"Well played, Jase," Kross said, wiping a little dust off his shoulder. "But we'll see if that monster will save you from this!" He drew his card and smiled at it. He had drawn "Gamble: LP to DEF".

"Most people think this card is terrible," Kross thought to himself. "But they're wrong, and what a place and time to show them… See," he explained to himself, "I have me Gear Golem the Moving Fortress in my hand, and he's got a butt-load of Defense points already. With this card, I can make my Golem's points so strong; nothing will be able to break it. It'll cost me points, but I can do it."

"I'll summon one monster in defense mode!" Kross declared as a horizontal brown board appeared in front of him. "Along with two face-downs card to back it up."

"Literally," he thought to himself again.

"That's it?" Jase said sounding surprised. "I expected more. Ah well. My draw!" Jase drew his card and merely glanced at it. "Well, I guess I'll play Gemini Elf (1900/900) in attack mode!" Twin elves appeared next to each other, glaring at Kross with smiles. "Alright," Jase declared, "Chaos Command Magician, attack the defense! Then Gemini, attack directly!"

Suddenly, it hit him, Kross that is. This was it. This was the moment that changed the outcome of this duel. He knew because had had lived through it once before, but he couldn't stop it. It was too late. It would all happen so fast. So very fast, no one could stop this. In just one moment, everything Kross had planed and hoped for would come crashing down.

"Mary?" Juliana Li, one of Mary's friends who accompanied her on the sidelines of Kross's duel, asked. "Are you OK? You seem tense, more then usual I might add." Juliana had long black hair and wore a Girls Obelisk Blue School Uniform similar, except for the coffee stain on the skirt, to Mary's. Juliana had a thin, clean face and was kind-of short for what you would think simply by looking at her.

"I-I," Mary replied, shivering. "I'm just so excited for Kross… That's all." She shivered.

"Mary?" Juliana repeated. "That's the biggest lie I've heard all day, and I've heard a lot of 'em. What's wrong?"

Mary looked around, shivering. "It's…" She was cut off. At that moment, the door to the stadium, located way at the top of the bleachers, burst open and a tall shadowy figure immerged.

Kross ignored it, knowing better then to get distracted, but he knew he would regret it. Something happened he couldn't ignore, right then and there…

BANG!

Kross looked over and dropped his cards. The man, whose face they could not see clearly, held out a gun and had fired. Kross looked down to where he pointed and gasped. Mary clenched her chest tightly with her right hand. Juliana had jumped several feat back.

Mary turned around and looked at Kross weakly before looking at her hand, encrusted with blood. She collapsed to the floor.

The room went dead silent except for the duel, the Magician and Elves where still attacking.

"Get that man!" Professor Crowler shouted, surprised, sort of, that this could happen. Several security guards emerged from the doors, all carrying weapons. The shooter gave a hearty laugh and kicked the weapons from their hands without any effort. He ran though the open door, yelling: "The Deed is done!"

"Well what are you waiting for? Go get him!" Crowler shouted again, stuttering about halfway through. The Guards complied.

All this happened in what seemed like a millisecond. So fast…

BOOM!

Kross's Gear Golem was shattered and he didn't even notice. Jase barely noticed even, but when he did, he yelped and tried to call it off. But it was too late.

Kross was on his knees crawling over to the edge of the arena to see his girlfriend, he uniform soaked in blood. The Gemini Elves couldn't be stopped though, and they let loose a burst of energy. It flew straight to Kross, who still didn't even notice until he was hit dead on. He flew several feet backward in surprise.

[0000/4000

"What?" Professor Crowler looked over to the duel, just as it faded.

At that, Kross awoke in his bed, back in the present time, sweating hard. The Mist appeared and confidently asked, "Got Phase 2 all planed out?" the voice snickered under its breath.

Kross didn't answer. He was too shaken up. It had felt too real. Yet, he still couldn't do anything about it. He still could stop her death. He still couldn't yell "Mary move!" or something of the same genre. Kross took a deep breath and made a realization.

He climbed out of bed, it was still dark out and he had not change out of his uniform before going to bed. He picked up his Duel Disk off the floor and proudly marched out of his room.

"Good…" the Mist said softly, "Get started." And the Mist faded away.

All Kross could think about, with the dream that let him relive the moment he lost everything in his mind, was: "Why didn't she help her? Why didn't she have any idea that some stranger was coming to get her? They were friends; she should have had an idea. She should have helped her! She could still be alive had it not been for her fumbling!"

The Moon shone brightly that night, but by the next morning, only a blood red sun lit the sky. As the duelist awoke after a rather short night, news reached them that Juliana Li had been attacked, just like Alexis. This time however, there was no stone to save her.

Chapter Seven Revenge: The Ultimate Sacrifice

(Part One of Three)

The Next day, after the shock of Juliana's death, the entire Student Body was told to try and go through the school day without worrying about the murderer still haunting the island. Yeah, that was going to work.

Even Jaden was slightly shaken up. But not like his friends, who could barely even stand.

"OK, Class," Professor Banner said as he cleaned his glassed with a thin cloth, "I know the past night's events are difficult to live with, especially considering that in both incidents, there were no other witnesses and Chancellor Sheppard is still at a loss in finding the culprit. I am however glad to say that Alexis Rhodes is doing very well now, and may even be back learning with the rest of you soon."

All the students in Banner's class seemed to be very nervous, as if they hadn't slept at all last night, which they probably didn't. "Now," Professor Banner continued, "I don't want you to think that because of these events, and the one that took place before Spring break in the Obelisk Tournament, that we are canceling the Spring Semester Tournament Finals."

The class perked up in interest. The Spring Semester Tournament was a School Wide tournament that started Mid-February and would last until the very last day of school. The first few rounds were played before or after school hours. But now as they came to close, the duels were going to be held officially in the schools Main Stadium.

"The Finals," Professor Banner explained, putting on his glasses and examining the white board in front of the classroom, "are going to have very specific security measures. So there is no need to worry. However, for the sake of recent events, and that Alexis Rhodes is supposed to compete this week, we will push the tournament back till next Sunday."

Banner stopped looking at the board and rummaged through his desk for something. "Oh, and Jaden," he said before taking the notebook he found in his desk and writing on the board, "There is no need to worry about your duel either, come next Sunday, you and Kross will have your duel, which was originally planned for today, before Alexis and Miya on Sunday. Their match was planed for Wednesday. This way, next week we'll be all caught up." Professor Banner smiled and began to ask questions regarding the Spring Break Homework, which, or course, Jaden didn't do.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"They caught him!"

"Caught who?"

"The Guy that shot Mary Dowd!"

Whispers like this circled the school the following Thursday. Evening classes where canceled and the teachers called into assembly. They had yet to determine if the culprit of Mary's murder was the same person who murdered Juliana Li and badly injured Alexis Rhodes. They had to keep in mind that these incidents could have been caused by could be three separate people.

"What a Nightmare if that were true," remarked Professor Banner when Chancellor Sheppard brought the teachers attention to that alarming possibility. "But with any luck, we won't have to deal with such a mess. Who exactly did we catch?"

The teachers were in the Chancellor's office in the Academy's main building. The room was large; a table had been brought from a nearby storage closet.

"I'll leave that till we get to the basement, where I have him locked up," replied the Chancellor. "We don't want any eavesdroppers, do we?"

"How did we catch the killer?" Professor Crowler asked urgently, standing up.

"Please sit down, Professor," Sheppard replied. "It's actually rather complicated. We have two people is custody. Not that the other students are being told that. No, no, not a chance will they learn this sick turn of events."

"What do we tell the Dowd Family?" Asked Professor Banner, "As well as Kross Forester, who I noticed being in a rather bad frame of mind since we lost her."

That was he needed to hear. A thick Mist could be seen hanging near a ventilation shaft near the ceiling of the building. "Perfect," the voice said.

The mist made light snickering sounds as it rushed down the hallways of the Academy and entered the boy's Obelisk Blue Dorm. He found Kross sitting alone in a large, rather comfortable, chair.

The rest of the dorm was either outside or around the lobby eating and drinking the evening away. It was getting dark out, but the sun could still be seen.

"I've got news," the voice whispered in his ear. "It's about your girlfriend…"

"Yeah," Kross replied, "I know, they found her," he reiterated.

"Well?" the voice spat back, the Mist floating around Kross's left ear.

"Well," Kross repeated, annoyed.

"You do remember that Revenge is an important factor here, don't you?" The Mist began to hover around the coffee table near Kross's seat. "To have the blood of your greatest foe will offer up nicely to bringing Mary back.

"Revenge…" Kross whispered. "The ultimate sacrifice…" He stood up and walked calmly out the doors. He watched the sun set as he ran to the Main Building. He was sure not to attract attention.

"The teachers are still in their meeting," the voice informed as Kross carefully opened the doors. "There should be enough time for you to get to the basement and do what needs to be done. Are you ready? You have everything you need?" The Mist entered the building and covered the security cameras. "Go!" the voice said.

Kross darted down hallways until he found stairs to the basement. He stopped in a storage closet containing spare light bulbs and stadium seats for the Schools main dueling arena. But he wasn't looking for that, he quickly rummaged through the room and found two duel disks. Old and out dated as they were, they were more than enough.

Kross continued his trek through the schools lowest level careful not to alarm any janitors down there. He slid past several doors, including Generator rooms, storage rooms, and several empty ones.

"In here," the voice whispered as Mist emerged from underneath a heavy metal door just to Kross's left. It was locked, but Kross had a good idea of how to open it.
Kross wasted no time in finding what he needed either. He dug through another storage room and quickly found a set of keys hung on a nearby rack. They were labeled, so Kross decided to pick the ones that read: "Storage" and "Breaker room".

He darted back to the metal door and furiously jammed key marked: "Storage" into the hole. He jiggled the key until it fit comfortably into the hole. Suddenly footsteps could be heard.

"Hurry," the voice whispered. "They are almost here. Get in there! I'll distract them!" With that, the door opened and the Mist faded away. It was dark inside, but he couldn't afford to sit out in the open any longer. He stepped inside and locked the door again.

As he did, the Mist was swirling around a few air vents and random pipes near the staircases, looking for the teachers. The Mist found them and silently snapped a few of the ventilation conducts hanging on the ceiling, alarming the professors and Chancellor.

"Uh-Oh," Chancellor Sheppard said as he noticed the broken vents. "Best get the Janitors. Can you wait here?"

The teachers are complied as Sheppard walked back up the stairs.

Kross slammed the heavy metal door shut. It was still very dark inside the room, which he was sure was supposed to be a storage room.

"Who's there?" a voice shouted.

"Yeah, who's stepped inside my prison?" a second voice echoed.

Kross kept his nerves and strapped one of the duel disks to his arm. "Who was it?" he demanded from them. "Who killed my Mary?!" He stared into the darkness but heard no reply for some time.

"Well, it was Jasper here who killed her," the second voice said. "But I suppose it was my Idea."

"I don't care whose idea it was!" Kross shouted. "I just want answers. I want to know who did Killed her and why! Tell me now!"

"You sure you want to know?" the second voice asked slyly. "Very well."

A boy Kross's age emerged from the darkness and gave a smile. He was short and had flakey brown hair. "Hello Kross," he said.

"Jase?!" Kross said, stepping back very alarmed and dropping the second duel disk he stole. "You couldn't have killed her! We were dueling at the time!"

"Don't you listen?" Jase said, picking up the second duel disk and fitting it to his arm. "Jasper here killed her." He pointed into the darkness and a large rather stupid looking boy emerged wearing a Ra yellow dorm jacket.

"I think it's me you want though. I told him to do it," Jase pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket and inserted them into the duel disk. The Disk activated. "So are we gonna duel, or what?"

"Not until I get answers!" Kross said, stepping up to his rival. "I want to know why still."

"You'll probably learn of that in the duel," Jase said mockingly. "Now… enough talk. I want to finish what I started before Spring Break! Let's Duel!"

Kross wasn't about to back down. This is exactly what he wanted. To duel and kill whom ever murdered Mary. No matter who it was. He had to do it. Revenge… The Ultimate Sacrifice.

Kross drew his cards, followed quickly by Jase doing the same. "No matter why you did this," Kross explained slowly, "You'll pay dearly for it." He focused his thoughts and the room became even darker. His duel disk rumbled for a second as the black ooze covered it, making it the same wicked shape and Jet Black that it was when he dueled Alexis and killed Juliana. "Let's go."

[4000/4000

Chapter Eight Revenge: Reasons toward Sacrifice

(Part Two of Three)

"Mind if I start?" Jase said mockingly as Kross noticed the Mist enter the room from the cracks in the walls.
"Go ahead," Kross smirked.

Jase drew his sixth card and smiled as he played a spell card. "Familiar? I activate The Nightmare Steel Cage!" As before, a giant metal cage erupted from the floor and incased Kross inside. "I hope you remember how it works," Jase added as he played another card. "I summon Gemini Elf (1900/900) in attack mode." The twin elves appeared, curving devilish smiles toward Kross. "That'll do it."

"Started already, eh?" the voice whispered in Kross ear. "Well, you know what to do, just remember, DO NOT play that," the mist highlighted a card in the center of Kross's hand," Unless you have to. Got it?"

Kross kept that in mind as he began his turn. "How does a monster in defense mode and trap card face-down sound to you?" Kross taunted as holograms of a vertical and horizontal cards appeared on the field. "Go," he finished simply.

Jase drew his card and smiled. "Looks like we can't escape our past, Kross," he laughed. "I play Heavy Storm! Say good-bye to your face down and the protection of my cage!" a giant Typhoon ripped across the field and Kross's face down and the Nightmare Steel Cage shattered.

"Hmmm, Next I'll play Magical Dimension!" Jase declared as the card appeared. "Feels like Deja'vu, doesn't it? Well it only gets worse this time. I sacrifice my elf and summon Chaos Command Magician (2400/1900) it attack mode!" The elf shattered and was replaced by the Magician; it looked the same as it did before, similar to the Dark Magician but more of a shade of blue than purple.

"Remember the other effect? Your monster is now destroyed!" Kross's facedown shattered and Kross braced himself for the on coming attack.

"Now my Magician, attack Kross directly!!!" The Command Magician jumped into the air and delivered the same attack it had done the last time. Kross brushed a few pieces of dust from his black hair stood up again.

[1600/4000

"Wait a minute…" Jase said, surprised. "This room… it literally shook with the attack. That's only supposed to happen in the Stadium!"

Kross stood up and drew his card. "As long as we are explaining stuff, let me welcome you to the Shadows." The room dropped in temperature and Kross gave a light chuckle. "You thought you were the evilest person in the room? Bah! Welcome to my world!"

Jase looked around, scared to death. "See," Kross explained as a few deep cuts and bruises where revealed on his arms and face. "In this world, you are surrounded by darkness. Every hit feels more powerful than last. Only the most powerful can survive this place, and let me tell you this: That isn't you!"

Jase mumbled a few words under his breath and said, "O-OK. I can handle that…"

"Good! Now it's my turn!" Kross yelled as he played a card. "I activate my spell card Level Limit Area-B! As long as this thing is out, all level 4 or higher monster must switch and remain in defense mode!"

The card appeared but didn't produce any more holograms. The Command Magician simply switched into Defense mode, resting on his left knee.

"Next up!" Kross declared, the most powerful monster in my deck! Gren Maju De Eiza!" Kross placed the card and a hideous beast wielding a trident appeared. It was red and didn't have any feet. It's long tail like body floated inside as dimension warp. (0/0)

Jase was scared for a moment, but calmed down enough to say: "It's got no attack points! I-It's useless!"

"Pay attention!" Kross declared. "Now I activate Card Destruction, discarding our hands and letting us redraw!" Both players did so and Kross smiled at his reward. "OK…" Since I'm about to nearly destroy you, I want you to tell me why you Killed Mary!"

For a second, it felt like another side of Kross was the one asking for the answers. As if Kross had another side that dealt with his emotions. Then again, it was what the Mist taught him to do. Separate Love and Heart Break from dueling.

"Kross… you don't understand…" Jase explained, slowly. His head hung low… "I killed her because of YOU!!!" Jase's head turned up to look at Kross and revealed a sick smile. "It was all you! Had you not been so arrogant…"

Kross kept his cool, but deep inside he still wanted answers. "How did I kill her?" he asked, just barley keeping a straight face.

"Kross…." Jase laughed. "We were the best of friends, Dueling Kings of Grade School. We said we'd always be the best of friends, through thick through thin. Then we were transferred here and you realized that perhaps I wasn't the dueling rival you thought I was. That maybe I was the Slifer Slacker that I had been called." He paused, then said: "But look at me now, Kross! I'm an Obelisk, just like you! But through our entire experience at this school you never treated me as the rival to you I was!" He stopped again and chuckled deeply. "That's when I got this idea… I was going to destroy you and everything you had! I was by far duelist enough to face you in those finals… and beat you too! But no, that wasn't enough. I needed to remove everything you had. I was going to bring your world to a crashing halt! Don't you see Kross; I HATE YOU!"

Kross continued to keep his cool and smirked at his rival. "You're pathetic, Jase," he said. "Your plan failed because when Mary was killed before the duel ended. When she died… the duel didn't mean anything…"

"Hmmm… your smarter than you where back in Grade School." Jase smirked, having regained his confidence. "I know you still could have played out that duel much longer than you did. But because somebody here," he referenced to the giant oaf behind him, "Couldn't tell when a Duel was over… you lost before you should have."

There was a long pause before Kross finally said: "Nice story. Now to get one with the duel, no?" Kross played his next card.

"That's it?" Jase asked, "No remark? Nothing?"

"I know what I wanted to learn… you're useless to me now… Good-bye… Jase Kingston…"

Kross played his spell card. "I activate! Soul Absorption! Followed by Soul Release, removing five cards in my graveyard!"

A card depicting a creature having it's soul ripped from its body appeared and remained on the field, while one depicting an angel vanished. Kross pulled five cards from his grave and placed them in his pocket.

"NOW, Gren Maju De Eiza, or Gren for short, has 400 attack points for each or my cards removed from the game! Five times 400 equals 2000!" The monster viciously mutated and grew itself a pair of legs.

(Gren: 2000/2000)

"Finally, I gain 2500 life-points through the effect of Soul Absorption!"

[4100/4000

"OK, next I'll play Big Bang Shot! Giving Gren 400 more points, plus a trample effect!" A card appeared, but quickly melted into the Gren Maju De Eiza. "Now! Attack his Magician!"

(Gren: 2400/2000)

The monster picked up its trident and threw it hard at the Magician, destroying it.

[4100/3500

Jase screamed and flew several feet backward. A few light scars appeared on his arms.

"It's hard, huh, to survive here? Luckily, I have practice and know how to get my points back. Well, I guess it's your turn now."

Jase could barely move. The Shadows were taking their toll.

Chapter Nine Revenge: Completed

(Part Three of Three)

Jase moaned slightly as he climbed out of the large hole that last attack had dumped him in. "Feeling OK?" Kross asked slyly. "Don't want to quit do you?" Jase nodded his head in a 'no', and drew his card.

"I summon Rapid Fire Magician (1600/1200)!" A Spellcaster wielding two staffs rose to the field, smiling proudly. "Next, I'll add Swords of Revealing Light!" Several large light Swords fell from the ceiling, illuminating the room. Gren Maju De Eiza grew upset and impatient as it fierily grabbed a few of the swords and began to shake them violently. It roared with anger.

Jase jumped a little bit as he added, "My Magicians effect kicks in now too! When I play a normal spell card, like Swords here, he does 400 points of damage to you!" The Rapid Fire Magician jumped into the air, similarly as the Chaos Command Magician did, and launched a few flames at Kross, who didn't even move upon their impact.

[3700/3500

"How pathetic!" Kross sneered as he drew his card. "I retain my lead! And Activate Painful Choice! Pick, of my five cards, which one goes to my hand!"

Five cards appeared in front of Jase. They included: DD Trainer, Menfist the Infernal General, Headless Knight, another DD Trainer, and Archfiend of Gilfer.

Jase hesitated, and then thought about it for a second. "I'm not stupid Kross! I choose to give you your Archfiend of Gilfer!"

Kross smirked slightly, added the card to his hand, then played a facedown trap and ended his turn.

"OK," Jase said, "Enough small talk, I sacrifice-"

"Not so fast!" Kross called out, "Before you can sacrifice that monster, I play my trap card: Skull Lair!" Kross's facedown revealed itself and glowed brightly as Kross explained: "I'll remove all the monsters you discarded from my deck through Painful Choice! That's four, so I can destroy one level four monster on your field, good-bye Rapid Fire Magician!"

The same large doorway that engulfed Alexis's DD Warrior Lady a few days prior appeared. It creaked open and a violent force pulled the Magician inside. The door closed, and vanished.

"No Way!" Jase yelled in disbelief, "You planed this!"

Kross muttered back with a sly smile: "Tell me something I don't know…"

"Ah… Well, no matter. I'll just toss another monster out, this one in facedown defense!" a Horizontal board appeared in front of Jase and his turn ended.

"Hey," Kross said smartly, "did you notice my Gren? With 4 more cards lost to the abyss, he grows stronger! A full 1600 Attack and Defense points stronger! Oh… I received 2000 Life points too, thanks to Soul Absorption!"

(Gren: 4000/3600)

[5700/3500

"Whoa…" Jase said, obviously horrified as the Gren Maju De Eiza grew itself a set of large and powerful wings. It roared again and Jase could tell it was grinning.

"Ready now?" Kross smiled in appreciation of Jase's cowardly stare. "Good! Cause this duel isn't gonna last too much longer! I activate Giant Trunade!" A large storm shook up the field. They both received all spell and traps already on the field back to their hands.

"Fine by me," Jase commented, "I'll just play Swords again, giving it a full 3 more turns to hold you off!"

"I think not!" Kross yelled, playing another card. "I play DD Designator! Now I declare one card name, and if the card I say exists in you hand, it is removed from the game! Obviously," he muttered, "I Declare Swords of Revealing Light!"

Before Jase could react, his card glowed and faded away from his hand.

[6200/3500

"Oh, yeah," Kross mentioned slowly, "Soul Absorption gives me points even if it's your card removed, cool 'eh?"

"Uh-Oh…" Jase whispered.

"Alright," Kross yelled Triumphantly, directing his right arm toward Jase's facedown monster, " remember Grens' Trample ability he got from Big-Bang Shot? That's nice, cause using that Trample effect, I'm gonna obliterate your defense."

Gren Maju De Eiza roared and flapped hit's mighty wings. "Consider your self lucky if you survive this! Go Gren… ATTACK!"

Gren did so, this time ramming its Trident hard into the defense, revealing the Old Vindictive Magician (450/600).

[4000 – 600 3400

Gren tore the monster to pieces, sending its shards in every direction.

"DAHH!" Jase yelled as yet again he was thrown hard into small crater in the wall, this time enlarging it.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Shepard and a few of the schools main teachers were still waiting outside for an air duct to be fixed.

"Can't you hurry up?" Professor Crowler complained to the repairman, "That ladder of yours is preventing us from getting to our destination!"

"Relax, Professor," Professor Banner said calmly, carrying his cat, Pharaoh, in his arms.

"Yeah," the repairman said, "I'm finished, still don't know how it broke though. Thing's branded new this year. Oh well… poor quality I suppose." The men folded his ladder and walked back up the stairs.

"Finally!" Crowler said, "Lets-"

BOOM!

"What was that?" Chancellor Shepard asked urgently, turning to face the hallway. "Let's get down there now!"

Back in Storage room, Kross laughed triumphantly has holograms disappeared. "HA!" he laughed. "He still 100 points left, but he just couldn't take it! HA! An Impeccable duel!!"

Kross examined the room and noticed, though didn't care, that Jasper was also lying on the floor, dead. "Hmmm… Those who band together, die together," the voice whispered. "You done now?"

Kross wiped a speck of dust off his shoulder and muttered: "Yes."

With that, the Mist swirled about Kross's feat. Soon, Kross faded into the Shadows as he had done before. He left his prey, covered from head to toe with cuts, bruises, scars, and blood to be discovered by the teachers only moments later.

"Oh dear…" Professor Banner said slowly as he looked at the bodies. "This was done by the one who hurt Alexis and Juliana. Oh dear indeed."

Chancellor Sheppard coughed and said: "Teachers… I believe we have a very serious problem here, a problem beyond our understanding of the student body. But we must keep this quite to the students. That is, if we want to keep this school open. Keep your eyes open, and your thoughts toward our safety, as well as that of our students. This is a dangerous time for Duel Academy. Please be careful."

Keeping that speech in mind, the teacher gathered the dead students and exited the room. When they were all gone, Sheppard said, "What a Nightmare."

Chapter Ten

Unfinished Business

(Part One of Three)

Kross Forester sat in his desk early the next morning. He was tweaking his deck when the Mist entered the room through one of the ventilation vents; something that had become its normal entrance.

"What's next?" Kross asked it, not really looking at it, but feeling it's presence. "I-," he examined a card, "I don't really know where to go… go from here."

The Voice whispered back, "Why, it's obvious, isn't it? I told you… just a few more and it'll all be done with. The World will be set right again, for you at least. Your Girlfriend will be back… And life will be perfect." The voice paused, sensing Kross's frustration. "What's made you ponder this?"

Kross stood up, eyes still glaring at a card in his hand. "I…" he trembled. I don't know if it's worth it anymore…"

"WHAT?" The voice said rather loudly, shaking a few things on Kross's desk. "You-You can't be serious!"

"I…" Kross trembled again. "I think I am… All the death… murder," He corrected, "Is it what Mary would have wanted? Is it?" he emphasized.

"Kross…" the voice explained, it's tone growing deeper, "THIS isn't something you can turn down. This was your choice. Your will and longing for your Girlfriend led me to you. I am obliged, and thus have to choice in the matter, to help you!"

"Well thanks for the offer," Kross said, growing cold. "But I can't do it anymore. Forget it. I got my Revenge. That's all I needed."

The Mist turned a violent shade of purple and roared: "NO! You WILL finish what YOU started. You MUST!"

Kross jumped slightly at this surprising amount of anger. Doing so, he dropped the card in his hand: 'Horus Black Flame Dragon Level 4.'

The Mist returned to its normal color and the Voice whispered: "I apologize…I suppose I don't see how stressful this is to you…"

Kross sat back down, and then picked up his "Horus" card. "This was her last gift," he explained. He sighed, then continued: "When I look at this… I just can feel her… as if she was right beside me. She's trying to tell me… through this card," tears seeped through his eyes, "that what I'm doing….

"Is wrong."

The next day, students were escorted to their classes. Something most students found to be rather annoying. "Come on, Professor Banner!" Chazz Princeton, a down-graded-to-Slifer-but-is-supposedly-good-enough-for-Obelisk freshman with some-what spiky black hair and a serious attitude problem, complained. "I think we can take care of ourselves!"

Jaden strolled by and remarked: "Hey relax Chazz. At least this provided a nice wake-up call. I wouldn't have gotten up had it not been for that loud whistle banner brought with him." He laughed and walked toward Syrus.

Chazz just scowled and kept up with him. "So what's your take on all this?" he asked.

"My take on what?" Jaden replied stuffing his face with a donut he had managed to squeeze in his pocket.

"What are you, dense?" Chazz yelled. "Why do you think we're being escorted everywhere? What is your take on the murders?"

Jaden thought about it for a moment, then explained slowly: "I guess I can say it really doesn't bother me. I mean, from what I can make of it, the guy duels whomever he decides to kill. And the way I figure it: don't lose; don't die." He stopped to swallow his donut. "Then again, all the targets have been Obelisks, so… I don't think I really have to worry till all the blue people are gone." He laughed at that. "And like that'll ever happen!"

Chazz slowed down and let Jaden get ahead of him. He looked at a small patch of dirt and thought to himself: 'Jaden is on to something. All the targets have been Obelisks… and it all started, say my old friends in Obelisk, when Mary Dowd was murdered… hmmm….'

That night, at about Midnight, Chazz Princeton lie awake in his bed. For once, it wasn't because of that stupid Ojama that follows him around. The alarm on his watch sounded and climbed out of his bed. He was full dressed already, and pulled on his trademark black jacket and a backpack as he walked out of his Slifer Dorm room.

He walked briskly to the Obelisk Blue-Girls dorm. When he arrived, he went wide-around the front door and straight to the small pond near the back. Waiting for him there was an average sized girl with blonde hair. She wore an Obelisk Blue Girls uniform and was waiting patiently while observing the moon.

"Glad you're OK, Alexis," Chazz whispered from behind her.

Alexis turned around; her face still bore the scars of her last duel. The long one going straight down her left eye was still a vibrant red. "Hi Chazz," She replied to him, giving a small wave. "Why did you, of all people, want to see me?" Her voice was quick and very heavy-hearted.

"I've taken interest in your case," Chazz replied coolly. "I want to help find out who did this." He referred to her scars.

"Yeah? Well tell the teachers that, cause I can't help you," Alexis replied hotly. "I… can't remember anything about that night…" She stopped and sat down on the wet grass facing the pond.
"That doesn't mean you can't help Alexis," Chazz said, taking a seat next to her. "You are the only one to survive the attacks. That means you're still a target."

Alexis turned coldly to her friend and said, "Oh, and that's a good thing? Chazz, you have no idea how scared I still am…"

----"And with good reason,"----

Chazz and Alexis jumped at the sound of a mystified voice. "Did you hear that?" Chazz said.

----"I hope she did,"----

Alexis almost screamed, but she managed to keep her cool as they noticed a figure descended from nearby tree.

"That voice," Alexis said slowly… "That's him!"

The figure laughed. "Of course it is," Kross laughed again. "I'm here to finish what I started. Any regrets to surviving?"

"She doesn't regret anything!" Chazz yelled, jumping in front of Alexis. "Who are you?"

The figure turned its head toward Chazz, keeping its entire body hidden in the Shadows that were swarming behind him. "And who do you think you are?" he whispered.

"Name's Chazz Princeton, but MISTER Princeton will do for you!"

"Ah yes… Chazz the spazz… I've heard of you…" he added offensively.

"Hey, keep your comments to yourself!" Chazz warned, "So are we gonna duel or what?"

"Duel?" the figure that was Kross Forester repeated. "Why should I duel you? Alexis here is the only threat to me…"

"Oh I'll show you a Threat!" Chazz said, grabbing his backpack off the grass and throwing the Duel Disk he had inside on his arm.

The figure took a few steps toward him and whispered, "You know, I really don't have time for you AND Alexis Rhodes. So you must decide. Do you really want to mess with me… or do you wan to let me do about my business?"

Chazz readied his Duel Disk and drew five cards. "Does that answer your Question?" he spat.

"So… be it," The figure said Kross emerged from the Shadows, reveling his face to his opponent.

"Kross Forester?" Chazz exclaimed. "What in the world? You are behind all this?"

Kross ignored him. "You ready to die, MISTER Princeton?" He said eagerly as the surrounding area grew very, very dark. "I sure hope so… because neither of you will make it out of this duel alive!"

[4000/4000

Chapter Eleven

Armed and Dangerous

(Part Two of Three)

"So, how about I start this contest?" Kross suggested, drawing his cards. "I summon Headless Knight (1450/1700) in attack mode!" The decapitated soldier appeared and swung its sword proudly. "That'll do it. Make a move Spazz."

Chazz paid no attention to the insult. He drew his card and growled with disgust.

"Hey, Boss!" squealed a high-pitched voice as a shadow of a revolting yellow creature appeared. He had drawn Ojama Yellow, a card that, for some reason, Chazz could actually see and hear, most of time to his dismay. The creature looked sort of like a yellow blob wearing underwear. "Need something?" the blob pestered, its shadow zooming randomly around Chazz's head.

"Will you cut that out?" Chazz yelled at the shadow only he could see. "I'm trying to think!" He began to randomly try to catch the shadow, it laughed as it easily evaded him.

"Ha!" Kross laughed from his side of the field, "Seems to me you aren't in the mind to duel, Spazz."

Chazz relaxed then yelled back, "Look who's talking," he replied, taking one last attempt to catch his yellow nuisance. "Anyway," he declared, "I summon Ojama Yellow (0/1000)!"

There was a flash of light and the little bugger appeared, hopping randomly around the field. "Yahoo!" it yelled. "I'm free… whoa!" He stopped as he finally caught sight of who Chazz was placing him up against, the Headless Knight. "Umm…" he mumbled. "Not to be a spoil Sport, but you summoned me in attack mode! You can't seriously expect me to beat that!" It pointed hesitantly at the Knight.

"Just shut-up and stand there," Chazz demanded as he played two cards facedown and ended his turn.

"Oh Geez," the Ojama whined, trying to peak under Chazz's set cards, "I hope theses thingys help me out…"

"Well…Chazz," Kross said, smiling. "It seems your little buddy there has no Attack Points. Perhaps you'll use your trap card to make him stronger?" he laughed again. "Yes, yes, I can think of quite a few cards that make Ojama monsters stronger. We'll just have to take care of that… with this! I play Different Dimension Gate!"

As Kross made his move, a large metallic gateway erupted from ground, right in the middle of play. The gateway made a few noises, and then opened to reveal a colorful portal. A few more noises later and the gate had begun to pull the Ojama Yellow and Headless Knight inside it. Several other things, like trees and rocks, also seemed to be being pulled into the vortex.

"What's going on?" Chazz said through the roaring wind and other noises engulfing his ears.

Kross seemed to be unaffected by his surroundings. "My DD Gate pulls two monsters, one of yours and one of mine, inside it, sending them to a parallel universe out of the Game!"

"Save me!" the Ojama Yellow cried as the grass it had clung onto finally gave away and it was pulled into the gate, followed by the Headless Knight. Slowly, the wind stopped and the gate closed.

"Now, with Ojama gone," Kross pointed out, "I'd imagine your trap is useless, no? Ha, now to take it up a notch. I summon DD Warrior Lady (1500/1600) in attack mode! Go, Attack Chazz directly!"

The DD Warrior Lady appeared. She wore a black cape and armor on her body. She smiled and jumped into the air, using a vertical slash to cut through Chazz's Life Points.

[2500/4000

"Ha, and I am correct!" Kross said proudly.

Chazz had been pushed to the ground and was wiping the blood off a few cuts on his arms. "So…" he said, "This is how you did it, huh? You used the shadows to hurt Alexis!"

"Chazz!" Alexis cried out horrifyingly, but she wouldn't move from her safe spot a few yards away. Her last duel had taken away a lot of her courage. She felt like nothing more then a seven-year-old girl, scared of spiders.

"Relax, Alexis," Chazz said, standing up as Kross laughed manically. "You think you got everything covered, don't ya?" he said to Kross. "Well, how's this to prove you wrong! I activate Damage Condenser!"

One of Chazz's traps revealed itself and shone brightly. It depicted a large electrical machine with sparks protruding from it everywhere. "Now, by sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I summon one monster from my deck with Attack Points less then the damage you did to me! I summon Armed Dragon Level 3!"

The trap vanished and a small orange dragon was produced on Chazz's field. It had what appeared to be metal on its jaw and claws. It looked like an innocent baby dragon.

"Hmm," Kross mumbled, a little surprised. "A level monster?" He gasped, and looked liked he was about to lose his cool. "A level monster…" he repeated.

"My turn now!" Chazz informed as he drew his card. "Now my Armed Dragon Levels Up from Level 3, to Level 5!"

The orange dragon gave a small roar and glowed as it reshaped itself, becoming much larger. When it was finished, it no longer looked very innocent. It now had spikes and what looked like drills coming out of its back. (2400/1700)

"How do you like that?" Kross said loudly. "And it gets better, now I play level up! This spell allows my Dragon to Level up again, from Level 5, comes Level 7!"

The dragon glowed again, growing larger still. When it stopped it had to be at least as big as a house. Even more spikes and drills were coming out of its back now.

"Next, I play my second Facedown card, Mystical Space Typhoon! I'll have it destroy your DD Gate!" A large bolt of lightning crashed out of nowhere and the gate shattered, returning Knight and Ojama to their respective sides of the field.

"Yeah, you saved me, boss!" the Ojama said as it landed safely on Chazz's field.

"Sure," Chazz replied, "And this time you get to be in defense mode." He switched the card on his duel disk and the Ojama took a knee. "Had enough?" he said, turning his attention to Kross again. "I hope not, cause now I'm going to use Armed Dragon Level 7's ability. I discard the Luster Dragon from my hand to destroy every monster on your field with less attack points. And since Luster Dragon had 1900 attack points, that's all of them!"

The Armed Dragon roared and a let spikes on its back and shoulders fly off it, destroying every monster of Kross's field. Kross shielded his face from the smoke and debris.

"Now, Armed Dragon! Attack Kross directly!" The dragon roared again and used its powerful claws to obliterate Kross's Life Points.

[2500/1200

After the smoke cleared, Kross had several deep cuts and bruises on his arms and legs. His face bore several scares similar to Alexis'.

"That's it for me," Said Chazz confidently.

Kross didn't reply for a few moments, and then laughed. "You like Level monsters, Spazz?"

"What?" Chazz replied, "Obviously I do."

"Good… then you'll love my next move!"

He laughed as he drew his card. Alexis trembled behind Chazz.

"Oh no…" she thought to herself. "I think I know why Kross is doing this…"

Chapter Twelve

Heart of Black Flames

(Part Three of Three)

"Here we go," Kross cried as he drew his card. "Hmm… how's this for starters? I play one trap card facedown, and summon Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) in attack mode!" There was a flash, and a tall creature adorned with a cape appeared. "Now go, attack that Ojama monster!"

The creature grunted, then leaped into the air, revealing knives. It howled and tossed several knives directly at Ojama Yellow.

Ojama yellow took the hit, turned around to Chazz and said: "Avenge me boss…" before shattering into tiny pieces.

Chazz smirked as he drew his card, "I saw no point in that," he said, "Ojama had only 1000 defense points, practically anything played these days could have killed it."

"Wait, See, and be surprised," Kross laughed.

"Yeah right…" Chazz replied.

"It's too bad that I don't have another monster to use for Armed Dragon's effect," he thought to himself. "If I just attack, I could face right into a trap." Chazz cursed under his breath, and then sighed. "If I don't draw something powerful right here, I'll have no choice but to attack."

He hesitantly glanced at his draw, and then added it to his hand. "OK, Armed Dragon Level 7! Attack his Archfiend Soldier!"

The Armed Dragon roared and spread it claws for another attack.

"Heh," Kross sneered, "Knew you couldn't resist. I play my trap card! Bark of Dark Ruler!" his trap appeared and glowed brightly. "With this card, I can pay any number of Life points. Then decrease the attack points of one of your monsters,, that attacking one of my Fiend monsters. I pay 1000 life points!"

[2500/200

(Armed Dragon level 7: 2800/1000 –1000/0 1800/1000)

"Darn it," Chazz mumbled as the Archfiend leaped again, and used more knives to cut the Dragon down till it shattered.

[2400/200

Chazz shielded his eyes from the dust, and restlessly tossed monster on his field, facedown. A horizontal brown board appeared in front him.

"Not bad, eh Spazz?" Kross taunted.
"Shut-up," Chazz replied slowly.

Kross smirked and drew his card. "Perfect," he said. "I summon… Horus, Black Flame Dragon Level 4!"

A small chick-like dragon appeared. It appeared to be covered from head to toe in metal. That, or it had some kind of metallic scales. (1600/1000)

"Now, my little Pet, attack Chazz's facedown monster!" Kross yelled as the small creature chirped at rammed headfirst into the brown board, revealing Ojama Green. Ojama green looked nothing like Ojama yellow, except that they were both blob-like monsters. Ojama Green had a huge mouth and a reptilian tongue coming out of it. (0/1000).

The small Dragon that was Horus had no trouble shattering the Ojama to pieces.

"Now go, Archfiend Soldier, attack Chazz Directly!" As it had done twice before, the soldier leaped into the air and tossed several knives, this time toward Chazz.

[500/200

"That'll end my turn," Kross stated, "Or will it? I play my Black Flame Dragon's ability! At the end of the turn he destroys a monster as a result of battle, he grows up! From Level 4," he yelled as the dragon glowed and changed shape, "to Level 6!"

The new dragon cried out like hawk. Similar to the Armed Dragon after it leveled up once, Horus Black Flame Dragon Level 6 erased any innocence its younger version had. It was now jet-black and breathing black fire.

"Whoa…" Chazz said, taken back at just leveling up once had done to the Dragon. "I have to beat that thing fast, or it'll just become even stronger!" He drew his card and was slightly disappointed.

"Chazz!" Alexis cried out from behind him. He turned around and glared at her. "Don't you remember the last time you faced that card? Who it belonged to? That's it Chazz! That's must be why Kross is doing this, he thinks by killing us, he can reclaim Mary Dowd!"

At first, Chazz wasn't about to take her seriously, but then he realized that all the targets, as far as Chazz new, were indeed in connection, not to Kross, but to Mary. He turned a disgusted look toward Kross and spat: "Is that it? Is that why, Kross?"

Kross lost his cool and replied: "I-Is that what?"

"You're doing all of this… for her? Kross…" he whispered, before yelling loudly, "YOU NEED TO REALIZE THAT SHE'S GONE! Nothing can bring her back, you hear? You need to let go!"

"I-I…" Kross mumbled. "I can't… I WON'T! Not as long as there's still a chance! Still a chance for us to be happy… together… I will not let her leave my life!"

"Kross," Alexis interrupted, now standing, "I know losing someone you care for is hard, but eventually, the pain does go away. You need to relax. Think, Kross! Is this what she would have wanted you to become? No better than a Shadow Rider?"

"You… you don't understand, neither of you do! I didn't care for her… I loved her! And don't you see," he continued, almost hysterically, "I can bring her back. Just a few more people, and she'll return to me…"

Alexis looked like she wanted to say more, but Chazz told her: "Give it up, 'Lex, he isn't about to change his mind. Let me handle this." He looked into his hand and said, as he played a card, "Sorry, Kross, but you're not going to hurt anyone anymore! I play two cards facedown, and summon… This, Chthonian Soldier (1200/1400)!"

A devilish Knight appeared and swung its sword in frenzy. It wore black armor and carried a shield as well.

"Now, I don't know about you, Kross," Chazz said loudly, "But I don't want this to end in a draw, do you? I guess we'll see."

Kross growled and drew his card. "Hmm…" he pondered. "I suspect that do want to tie with me either. Heh, heh, I have nothing to fear… Now Horus! Attack his soldier! Black Flame Inferno!"

The Hawk Dragon screeched loudly and let a burst of flames fly toward the Soldier. To their amazement, the flames eventually turned into a cyclone before they finally hit their mark.

"Dah!" Chazz said, covering his face.

A few moments past, but when the dust finally settled, Chazz was still standing.

[500/200

"Just as I thought," Kross said smartly, "you had no intention of forcing a draw did you? Ha! If you did, you would have just had your soldier attack on your turn, it wouldn't have altered the result." He paused, taking in his pride. "So," he questioned: "what did you use to save it?"

Chazz grunted and discarded a card from his hand, just as the moon revealed to Kross that the Hallowed Life Barrier was up.

"Nice card, Spazz, but you forget that regardless of you taking damage or not, my Dragon still gets to evolve come the end of my turn." He paused, and then said, "Which would be… right about now."

Horus Level 6 cried out again, as it glowed brightly again, this time transforming into a monstrous creature. Just as large, if not larger, then Armed Dragon Level 7, it had gigantic Wings and seemed to be surrounded by its own flames.

"Chazz," Kross said darkly, "meet Horus… Black Flame Dragon… Level 8!" The dragon cried out a loud shriek as Chazz drew his card.

"This is it," Chazz thought to himself. "If I don't draw what I need. We, Both me and Alexis, are doomed." He looked at his draw and smiled.

"Sorry, Kross, but I'm afraid this is over."

Kross snorted. "Don't make me laugh Spazz," he said. "False hope gets you no where."

"False hope, huh? Then what do you call this! I play Level Modulation!" A card depicting a set of dice being manually turned over appeared. "With this," Chazz said triumphantly, "I can bring Armed Dragon back to the field!"
The card faded away and the ground shook. "Rise Armed Dragon Level 7!" Chazz said, throwing his hand into the air. The Dragon roared loudly as it clawed its way out from under the earth. Chazz could now see, in comparison, that Horus was indeed larger.

Suddenly, the dragon yelped and began to glow brightly. "Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Kross howled. "Know what happening, Spazz? My dragon's special ability is negating the effect of Level Modulation!" Something poked him on the back of his wrist. "What the…" He growled and looked toward Chazz, who had swung his arm out toward his second facedown: Divine Wrath. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I told you this was over, Kross," Chazz replied. "And Divine Wrath is why." The card glowed and Chazz began to explain. "I'm not stupid, Kross, I know exactly how Horus Black Flame Dragon Level 8 works. Just as well that I know how my trap card, Divine Wrath works, by discarding one card from my hand, I can negate the effect of an effect monster and… destroy it!"

Horus skreiched loudly and suddenly burst into flames. "No!" Kross yelled, "Mary…"

The dragon burst into purple flames and screeched in pain. Its eyes glowed red and it's bird-like head reared uncontrollably. Horus had become a monster, one that was out of control. It burst and thousands of shards were sent in every direction.

Kross wasn't listening, but Chazz still had to finish him off yet. "My Dragon wasn't glowing cause' of your dragon, it was evolving…" the dragon glowed even brighter and obtained even larger, metallic wings. "From Level 7 comes Level 10!"

The Dragon was twice as large as its younger counter-part and covered almost top-to-bottom in metal.

"Now Armed Dragon Level 10!" Chazz yelled. "Attack his Archfiend Soldier! End the Duel!" The Dragon roared, a much deeper roar then Level 7, flew high into the air, before dive-bombing into the Soldier, destroying it instantly.

[500/0000

"Game over," Chazz declared as the shadows dispersed.

Kross was on his knees, trembling and grasping his head. "No…" he repeated for perhaps the tenth time. "She's gone. Mary… Horus… is leaving me… but this time… I can do something about it…"

Chazz was walking toward his defeated opponent. He had several scars on his face and body, but, because he didn't lose, Chazz was still able to walk. Kross was covered in even more scars, cuts, bruises, and ravished skin than Alexis.

Kross stood up, wavered a bit, and then reached into his blue blazer. He wavered a bit more then pulled something out that halted Chazz in his tracks.

"Whoa, Kross. Please relax. Th-there's no need to-"

"What do you know?" Kross said, blood still dripping from his mouth. "You don't understand anything."

"Then tell me what we don't understand!" Alexis yelled, standing only a few feet away. "Kross… please listen to me. It will go away. You just need to talk to someone. Please, think it over. The pain will go away. This isn't what she would have wanted."

"No…" Kross said, shaking his head violently. "It won't go away, I have no one to talk to…"

"You have us!" she shouted.

"Is this what Mary would have wanted?" Chazz said, feeling the tension in the air. "Is it? Kross… we can be your friends. Please, just put that down."

Kross was shaking before he finally realized: "You're right Chazz." He paused, but didn't move at all. "I'm sorry… my friends…"

BANG!

"Kross no!" Alexis cried out. But it was too late; Kross Forester was gone.

Chapter Thirteen

Another Chance

The next day arrived with the slow rise of the sun. It was beautiful day despite the blood that had been spilled the night before. Wet dew covered the grasses of Duel Academy Island.

Alexis and Chazz had decided last night to keep what occurred then to themselves. They believed that, in due time, the whole thing would just blow over… and be forgotten. Oh how wrong they were…

Last night, deep in the forests of the largely unpopulated Island, where dew dripped from the trees and a pleasant stream guzzled by, lay Kross Forester. A crimson stain illuminated his chest and a several scars and bruises covered his face. His legs were mangled in the dust and dirt of the woods and an animal had clearly bitten the sleeves of his jacket. But for a person believed to be so dead, something was wrong… he was breathing.

It almost seemed to startle him just as much as it would have startled anyone else. Slowly, as the breathing became more regular, Kross opened his eyes into the dark night.

"Wha… What happened?" he said, shaking his head.

"Ah, awake are you?" the voice said as wind whished through Kross's hair. The Voice sounded pleasant. Kross noticed Mist near the base of a tree as well. "I would like to congratulate you on being the stupidest mortal I've ever had to help."

Kross shook his head and realized he could smell something burning. "What's going on? What did I do?"

"You," the voice said sharply, 'decided to play around with the Deck I gave you. You oaf. NEVER DO IT AGAIN!" Kross jumped onto his feet and noticed a small fire in front of him several feet away as the Mist grew a violent purple in color.

"Those are-" Kross began but he was cut off as something flew into his face. It was a duel monsters card.

"What were you thinking taking this out of my deck, hmm?" the Voice growled.

Kross shrugged as he swiped the card out of the air and examined it. "You told me not to use it, remember?" He spat.

"Why would I put in a card in my deck then tell you not to use if it didn't serve another purpose?" Kross gave a confused look and the Voice explained: "Notice that it was a bit quite on my end in your last duel? Don't answer. See, like anyone else, I cannot enter a Shadow Duel of your origin. Why your Shadow powers were created like this has to do with your soul. Knowing that I would not be able to keep you on track during your duels unless I was there; I devised this card, a sort of replica of myself. As long as it remains in your deck, I can enter and leave your Shadow Duels at will."

The voice paused. The Mist swirled around Kross's feet. "You wonder what I am burning in that small fire, don't you?" it hissed. "Go on… look if you desire."

Kross stepped forward and examined the fire, and then he collapsed to his knees. "Why did you burn them?" he asked violently, not taking his eyes off what was once Mary Dowd's last gift to him.

"I had to," the Voice replied simply. "Have you realized how easily distracted you are? If I let you keep these, I feared they would continue to distract you from your true goal. Remember, the goal is to bring your Girlfriend back, not devise clever ways for you to wallow in your own self-pity."

Kross looked like he was going to risk his fingers in the blazing fire, which looked very hot for what a fire no higher than ten inches off the ground. He sat up. As he did, he realized that something heavy was hanging from his neck.

Looking down he found a Skull Necklace resting on his chest. It glowed a bright green.

"So… I am dead," Kross muttered to himself.

The voice sounded gruff as it snapped at him: "Short memory hmm? Remember what I told you about those? They can save you from the brink of death. Save you," he restated. "That means you were never quite dead."

Kross remained silent as the Voice went on, now discussing new plans of action now that the student body is likely to suspect Kross dead.

While he was listening, Kross couldn't help but look at the card the Voice told him to put back in his deck. He had never drawn it; he only removed it from the deck because he was told not to play the card need to summon him.

"Demise, King of Armageddon," he muttered.

Sunday arrived within good time. The entire student body piled into the school's main dueling arena that morning and was gossiping and practice dueling just so they could acquire and save good seats.

The newly revived Kross, however, was not there till about fifteen minuets before the first match. In order to avoid detection, he appeared from the shadows near the top bleachers, where no one sat because of how bad the view was.

"All set?" The Voice whispered.

Kross turned his head and found two floating little red dots floating next to him. "Yes, I am," he replied.

The dots disappeared than reappeared rapidly. "Excellent," the voice said. "For the first time in ages I can feel the energy of those you've defeated. Soon, I will have enough power to reunite you with your dear Mary." The red dots, which Kross figured were supposed to represent eyes, grew larger as the Voice spoke. "You have slightly noticed what of my physical form I can render, have you?"

Kross tried not to look. Deep within the shadows of the rafters near almost the roof of the building was a near disgusting creature. It bore some similarities to a human, being able to stand erect, however, it possessed more than two legs and had sharp claws for hands.

"Do not be frightened," It wheezed in its true voice. "Once you acquire two more souls, I will be able to access my true form."

Those red eyes blinked again. "What do you mean, Souls?" Kross questioned, folding his arms and refraining from looking at the creature.

"Ah…" the monster wheezed again. "I have yet to explain to you everything that there is with the shadows…" The Monster moved one of its two arms and in adjustment and began to explain:

"You see, Kross," it began, "The way that the shadows effect a duel is based on a persons soul. Your Soul, dark and full of remorse, creates the painful duel that you can call a Shadow game. It is also your particular type of Shadow duel that prevent me from interfering unless my card is in your deck. You did put that back, didn't you?"

Kross nodded and showed the monster his deck. The top card was indeed Demise.

"Good, good," the monster nodded as well as the crowds erupted with excitement.

"Looks like she's about to start," Kross informed. "Good thing I got here early." With one hand clenched in a fist and the other reaching into his coat pocket, Kross concentrated. When he opened his hand, he had produced a Skull Necklace. In his other hand was a sharp dagger.

The blade was recently sharpened and was a perfect 45-degree angle from the handle. The handle was brown with a few laces hanging off of it.

Kross took a breath, then slit a small cut in the tip of his first finger, something that proved to be less painful than he had imagined. He let it bleed for a moment, and then dipped the tip of the Stone on the Skull Necklace onto the blood.

Kross silently wrapped the Skull Necklace tightly around the dagger's handle and then wrapped his sleeve around his bleeding finger. The Monster merely watched.

"You sure this will work?" the Monster wheezed.

"It should," Kross, replied, taking one good look at his invention, then throwing it into the rafters.

Alexis Rhodes and Miya Ark stepped onto the dueling platform. "You OK, Alexis?" Miya, an Obelisk Blue Dorm Freshman girl and Alexis's opponent, asked. "You only got out of the hospital a little while ago." Miya had red hair with black streaks running through it. She was short, perhaps shorter than even Syrus and she had a small face.

Miya had risen from being an orphan to an elite duelist. Her cards were all she had in life and she loved to use them any chance she got.

"Trust me, Miya," Alexis replied hotly, "From what I've been through in these last few days, I'm more than ready for this. Let's do this." She stood perfectly erect and drew her five cards.

Alexis had grown much more confidant since she witnessed Kross's attempted suicide. While that night still haunted her along with the many other mysteries surrounding that duel, she indeed was ready for her match against Miya.

Yet little did neither of this fin young girl know of Kross's silent intervention that was about to occur. The dagger he had tossed into the rafters was still in the air, and with a little help from the Monster, no one had noticed it. It spun very slowly until the weight of the blade finally forced it to come down, fast, with the sharpest point facing the ground.

It whizzed through the air, descending in a perfect line… down… down…down until… finally hit something… no, someone.

Miya's breathing went out abruptly. The blade had slid perfectly down the collar of her vest and finally landed in her spine, just slightly above her bra. It was then that the Skull Necklace took its effect as it slid from the handle until it rested on Miya's back, glowing a bright green.

She struggled with her escaping life for only a moment before the Necklace took it's full effect. She gave a light moan and stood there.

Kross, still hiding in the shadowy rafters near the back of the bleachers, covered his right eye with his hand. When he removed it, the eye stopped blinking. He paused and whispered: "Draw."

Down at the arena, Miya drew five cards and looked at them. Using what Kross called a Dead Eye, he could see everything Miya could. This worked the same way it had when Syrus dueled what is still being called: A Zombie.

"Call it," the Monster wheezed and Kross nodded silently, Miya doing the same.

"It's about to get dark in here," Kross said darkly

"And this time," Miya finished down in the arena, "you will NOT escape alive!"

Chapter 14 Shadows and Illusions

"Duel!" Alexis and Miya called out together. Miya gave a sensitive glare to her opponent as Alexis drew her sixth card.

[4000/4000

"I'll go first, OK?" Alexis said proudly. She didn't seem to have heard Miya's threats over the loud cheering crowd. This didn't seem to bother Kross at all though. After thinking it over, he decided it might be safer to keep the crowd's knowledge of what is really happening to a minimum. "I summon… Blade Skater (1400/1500) in… attack mode!" Alexis cried out.

A tall woman wielding two long blades attached to her arm appeared and did a unique little dance, almost as if she were on ice. Stranger still, she was bald and completely dressed in purple and white.

"I'll finish my turn by giving my Blade Skater a new blade, Lightning Blade!" At that, the Skater grasped a new weapon, this one a long sharp blade with some sparks flying off it. "This raises my monsters attack points by 800!" Alexis declared as the Skater gave a smile of gratification. "Then I'll end with an additional facedown card. Go ahead Miya."

(Blade Skater: 1400/1500 + 800/0 2200/1500)

Miya had begun to drool blood, but Kross quickly instructed her to wipe her mouth clean. She drew her sixth card.

"It's Ironic," Kross admitted. "Miya is using a Light Monster Deck. Completely based off the Angel cards."

The Monster gave a hardy laugh. "Indeed ironic," it agreed. "But can you win with it?"

"Hmm, of course" Kross said, almost stumbling before he said: "Ah, this is hard. Keeping the Shadows at bay until the duel is over… 'Ah."

The Monster mumbled again, "Just don't give in. We cannot let everyone in this stadium know this is a Shadow Duel. Keep them in the walls, don't let them get too close to the duel."

Kross nodded and Miya began her turn. "I Summon…" She and Kross said together, "Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei! (2300/0)" A flash of light later, a tall muscular figure had appeared before Miya. It looked human; except for the fact that it's legs seemed to resemble that of a bear.

"Go attack!" Kross ordered. Miya said the same as The Fighter gave a burst of speed and charged at the Blade Skater. It put up a fight, but in the end, it wasn't enough and she burst into pieces.

[3900/4000

Alexis covered herself from the oncoming shards of her monster. When they were gone she smiled and complimented, "Nice move, Miya. I didn't see something so strong coming from you! Ha ha!" She laughed.

"Hmph," Kross snorted up in the bleachers. "Too bad Lei Lei goes into defense mode now." Kross stopped for a second and looked at Alexis. She had taken damage, but she bore no scars or bruises.

"See," the Monster said, reading Kross's expression. "It may be your power she is obtaining it from, but it's Miya actually using it. This is her type of Shadow game. What it does, well, we'll have to wait and see."

Meanwhile, as the turn ended, Lei Lei switched into defense mode, taking a knee.

"OK, now to take that back," Alexis said to herself. "Alright, I play one monster in defense mode. Then I'll set a second facedown and call it a turn. Go ahead, Miya." Brown horizontal and vertical boards appeared in front of Alexis.

Miya drew her card. Kross had to squint to see what it was, when he could see it, he smiled. "I set 3 cards facedown," Miya said, her voice sort of dying out now. "Then I play Gravity Axe Gnarl!" A giant Axe appeared and hovered for a moment before the retreating Indomitable Fighter snatched it.

(2300/0 + 500/0 2800/0)

"Next, now that the Axe is out, I can special summon Guardian Gnarl (2500/1000) as long as he's the only card in my hand!"

A large Dinosaur like creature erupted from the ground wielding another Gravity Axe. It was perhaps just a foot larger than Alexis and growled deeply as Miya declared her attack.

"Interesting," Bastion Misawa said in the bleachers. "Miya's a smart duelist, since she was able to set all her spell and trap cards, Guardian Gnarl was easily left alone on her hand." Bastion hadn't changed too much since he commented on Syrus's duel a week ago. He still wore his yellow dorm jacket and had a sleek black hair.

"I never would have thought of that," Syrus admitted. He too, hadn't changed too much. He sat there, cleaning his glasses while watching the duel. He had actually gone pretty far the Spring Semester Tournament; he finally lost to Jaden only three rounds ago.

"Come on, Alexis!" Jaden cheered through the crowd. "Turn this around." Jaden had also not changed a bit since a week ago. Maybe the only thing that's different is that after almost losing Alexis, he has determined himself to finding who attacked her. Obviously, to no avail.

"Just wait, Miya!" Alexis declared, "I play Negate Attack!" One of her traps appeared and glowed brightly as the oncoming Guardian came in for an attack. "This trap ends your battle phase. Quick and simple, no?" Gnarl was stopped in his tracks and forced to retreat to his side of the field.

Miya's turn ended and Alexis said as she drew: "I don't care how you did it, but now that you have two monsters out, It's time one of my best monsters came out!" She played a spell card and declared: "I play The Warrior Returning Alive! This gives me any warrior monster in my Graveyard and adds it to my hand. Blade Skater isn't going to stay there though, I play Polymerization! I'll fuse the Blade Skater in my hand with the Etoile Cyber on my field and summon Cyber Blader! (2100/800)" After all that talking, a tall woman similar to the Blade Skater appeared. She wielded the same type on weapon, but she now had a sort of mechanical appearance, as if she was genetically engineered to be stronger.

"Finally, I play my Blader's ability. When you have only two monster, her attack score doubles!"

(2100/800 x 2/1 4200/800)

"And with all those points, I'll use my other facedown, Fairy Meteor Crush, to end this duel!" A spell card depicting a crashing comet appeared and vanished just as quickly, into her monster.

"You do know what that does, don't you?" the Monster wheezed as Kross looked a little stressed out. "If you don't do something, you'll lose! Your Lei Lei has 0 defense points!"

"Relax," Kross said, almost wanting to yell at the Monster, but knowing better. "I've got this covered."

Alexis declared her attack and the Blader lunged in and prepared to give a powerful kick at the Indomitable Fighter. To the shock of the audience as well as the Blader herself, Lei Lei caught the attack! "What?" Alexis said as the fighter through the Blader into the air and returned in to Alexis' Field.

Miya yelled proudly, though her voice was thin: "That's my trap card! Meet Zero Gravity! When I play it, all monsters on the field, switch into their opposite positions. Lei Lei to attack mode," she explained as the Fighter stood up, and Gnarl and Blader to Defense!" The two monsters did so.

"Wow, a good move, Miya!" Alexis commented. "I'll just have to end my turn with hope that my Skater gets me out of this."

"You can hope," Kross said confidently with his arms crossed. "This is as good as over."

Miya drew her card and summoned the monster that it was. "Swordsman of Landstar! (500/1200)" she yelled.

A small warrior wielding a sword appeared. It wore some sort of leather armor. Quickly behind it, the Army of monsters Miya controlled appeared glaring at their targets.

"Attack!" Kross and Miya yelled together. The Indomitable Fighter charged for it's attack and shattered the Blader. Meanwhile, Guardian Gnarl swung its powerful axe and directly hit Alexis.

[1400/4000

Miya ended her battle phase and smiled.

"And finally," Kross muttered to himself, his left eye blinking.

"Go facedown card, Delta Blaster!" Miya declared.

[Delta Blaster

Spell card

Pay any number life points. Do half that much damage to your opponent. Then destroy all monsters on your side of the field.

A card depicting a pistol appeared and quickly generated a gun. The Swordsman grabbed it and aimed it toward Alexis. It paused.

Kross looked the Landstar. It was small, but wielding that weapon it felt bigger. He looked to Alexis, she was scared, but she felt safe was ready to admit defeat.

Suddenly, as Kross was looking at Alexis, his eye played a trick on him. Suddenly, it wasn't Alexis standing there; it was Mary! She was scared, as if she knew she was going to die. A face of fear stricken across her face she stared down at her murderer.

Kross soon realized that the Swordsman had indeed turned into Jase Kingston. Jase had an evil glare on his face. He seemed proud of his accomplishments.

"What are you waiting for?" The Monster bellowed. "Finish her!"

Kross was clearly hesitating now. He blinked both of his eyes, canceling his "Dead Eye" effect on Miya's eyes. He looked at the duel again, still Alexis seemed to have been replaced with his Girl Friend. It seemed as if some unseen force was taunting him.

Suddenly the Shadows that were just visible at the edge of the walls vanished. The Monster looked around, bewildered. "What are you doing?"

Kross collapsed to the floor. He was breathing hard. "I can't do it. I can't kill her."

"But why the hell not?" the Monster complained. "You're so close! You must!"

"No… I," Kross stopped talking and Miya silently declared:

"I pay 100 life points!"

The Monster turned its head sharply and began to sweat as the Swordsman of Landstar gave the weakest possible shot from its weapon.

[1350/3900

"NO!" The Monster yelled, but over the erupting confusion in the crowd, no one heard it.

Alexis was stunned as well. "I a… Guess I just have to say thanks… I guess?" She drew her card and said: "I play Monster Reborn and bring my Blader back. Then I'll give the equip spell card I drew, Fusion Weapon! This gives her 1500 extra attack and defense points!"

(Blader: 2100/800 + 1500/1500 3600/2300)

"Then…" Alexis thought it over and said, "I'll try my Warrior Lady of the Wasteland in attack mode. (1200/1100)

A woman in armor wearing what looked like a Cowboy hat appeared.

"I guess I don't care why do threw this game away, Miya, but you're not getting another chance! Go Warrior Lady and Cyber Blader! Attack her directly!"

The two monsters did so and Kross did nothing. One high Kick and a few daggers later, Miya was down and out. She collapsed forward. The Monster reacted quickly enough and removed the dagger from her back.

"With that!" Professor Crowler exclaimed, "Alexis is the winner… I guess…?"

The crowed erupted with an awkward cheer. A few people tried to 'wake' Miya up, but couldn't. They eventually figured she was tired, for some reason, and that she threw the duel because she wasn't paying any attention.

"Without any further ado, we will continue with the next duel," Crowler explained. "Hopefully a better one than that," he muttered under his breath. "Will Jaden Yuki and Kross Forester come down her please?"

Jaden happily jumped over a few people as he landed in the center arena. Alexis and Chazz eyed each other as the room awaited Kross to appear.

"Go, you fool!" the voice said, pushing Kross down the stairs and into arena. He tumbled all they way down, but at the end, managed to land on his feet. The crowd cheered for him. Alexis and Chazz were in shock.

"Ready, you two?" Crowler said tauntingly as the crowd cheered for them both.
"Always!" Jaden said happily as he climbed onto the stage and ran to his corner.

Kross didn't say anything, but after a while of standing there, he too climbed onto the stage.

"Begin!" Crowler shouted as they drew their cards, Jaden more quickly than Kross.

Kross frowned as he looked at the dead Miya only a few feet away. "What have I done?" he said to himself. "What have I been thinking?"

[4000/4000

Chapter Fifteen Far from Over

(Part One of Three)

"Kross will begin this game," Professor Crowler said, hoping to find a little more excitement if he decided who went first.

Kross drew his card, but seemed to be very distracted by Miya's dead body a few feet away from him. He simply set a monster and ended his turn.

"Get your Game on, Kross!" Jaden said loudly, repeating his one and only catch phrase. "I'll draw!" Jaden viciously drew his card and declared: "Then summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in attack mode (800/1200)!"

A warrior wielding a water gun sprang onto the field. He looked more suitable for underwater battles, but that didn't seem to bother Jaden. "Next, I get to use my Hero's super power! Since he's the only card on my field, I draw two cards!" He did so and glared at them. "Now go, Bubbleman, attack Kross's defense monster!"

The warrior made a triumphant cry as it readied its weapon and fired a burst of water toward Kross's monster. The monster revealed itself at the last second, but it appeared too clear in color to really see. As the monster shattered, Kross was forced to act. He sighed and said:

"I activate my monsters effect," He stopped there and listened carefully as a voice whispered in his ear.

"You seem distracted Kross. Whatever made you throw that last match away doesn't matter anymore. I need you to concentrate and win this duel… for your girl-friend," he added.

Kross was silent. Jaden seemed to tempted to ask what was wrong, but before he could Kross's face went from a cold indifference to his surrounding to a stern hot expression of rigorous fury and attitude.

"I activate my monsters effect!" Kross repeated. "The monster you destroyed was Giant Germ (1000/100), when it's destroyed you lose 500 life points!"

It was then that Jaden noticed the remaining fragments of Kross's monster. The small virus's charged and absorbed into Jaden's skin, causeing him to take damage.

[3500/4000

"Ah…" Jaden cried, though it was a moot point as he suffered little. "Nice effect Kross, but it'll take more than that to beat me!"

"But my Germ's not done yet, Jaden," Kross snickered. "Now my germ will multiply and summon two more Giant Germs from my deck to the field!" there was a flash and two large purple bubbles appeared (1000/100). "Good enough? Now I have more monsters and life points than you!"

Jaden appeared slightly amazed at Kross's sudden change in attitude, but he remained unsuspicious. "Nice move Kross," he simply replied. "I'll set one card face down, and end my turn there. Show me what you got!"

"Gladly," Kross snarled as he drew a card and declared. "I switch my Giant Germs into Defense mode, and play this! Demon Curtain!" A card depicting a long black drape hiding a set of glaring red eyes appeared. "Now I can add on Level 4 or lower Fiend to my hand!"

[Demon Curtain

Spell

Add one Level 4 or lower Fiend-type monster from your deck to your hand. Shuffle your deck afterwards. You may special summon the added monster instead of adding in to your hand by paying 500 life points x the selected monster's level.

"I choose this one," Kross said, showing his opponent a Gren Maju De Eiza card and adding it to his hand. "Next up, I summon Archfiend in Attack mode! (1900/1500)"

The same powerful soldier from Kross's duel with Chazz appeared swung it's swamp Green cape magnificently. "Now go," Kross ordered. "Attack his Bubbleman!" The Fiend jumped and tossed several knives at the Hero, which tried to protect its self with its own cape. The knives tore through Bubble man like tissue paper.

[2400/4000

"He used that card against me, didn't he?" Chazz Princeton commented in the stands. "Pretty powerful Level 4 monster." He calmly propped his legs up on the seat in front of him and rested his hands behind his head.

"Chazz!" Alexis complained. "This isn't right, we both saw Kross shoot himself! Don't you remember?" She seemed to be fighting the urge to stand up and yell at one of the teachers, but then again, who would believe her?

"Yeah, I remember. But don't you remember that afterwards his body vanished. Come on 'Lex, you didn't seriously suspect it was over did you?"

"What do we do?" Alexis whined again. "We can't let Jaden duel him! For all we know Kross is using his Shadow powers again!"

Chazz snorted and replied, "Yeah, how many times has Jaden dueled in a Shadow Game? Pah, he'll be fine."

"But Chazz-"

"Relax Alexis. There's not much we can do anyway. What ever happened that night that we didn't see can't be helped. We just have to hope Jaden can beat him for good. So far, so good," he added sarcastically.

Alexis gave an unjust moan and rested in her seat.

"We should at least try to warn Jaden," she said stubbornly.

"If only we could," Chazz answered. "Then again, he's smart, hopefully anyway, and he might figure it out and maybe learn how Kross got to be so powerful." He put his feet back on the ground and looked down at the field. You knew Kross better than I did, but before Spring Break, he wasn't this good. He's like a whole new Level of Dueling now, not to mention his new cards. I wonder what happened to his Machine monsters."

Alexis moaned again and continued to watch the duel.

Jaden guarded himself from the debris of the last attack and called into the smoke: "Thanks Kross, now I can play my Trap! Go Hero Signal!" As the smoke cleared, Jaden's trap became visible; it depicted a strange symbol being flashed into the sky. "Whenever a monster is destroyed, I can use this to bring an Elemental Hero from my Deck to the field. I summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart! (1500/1600)"

A muscular Warrior wielding a long sword appeared with its fists clenched. It had long black hair and strange symbols painted on its chest.

Kross made no comment as he ended his turn. Jaden drew a card. "Perfect, I play the Warrior Returning Alive! This brings back one Warrior type monster from my Graveyard and adds it to my hand. I choose Elemental Hero Bubbleman!" the card easily slid from the graveyard slot on Jaden's duel disk into his hand. "Then I'll play Polymerization to fuse Wildheart and Bubble man together to create… Elemental Hero Tidal Wave! (2000/1400)!

There was a flash of light and the monsters merged, creating a new monster in their place. Now on the field stood a warrior very similar to Wildheart, however, instead of a long sword, it held a long brown surfboard made of wood. It looked confident as it glared at Kross's Monsters.

[Elemental Hero Tidal Wave

2000/1400 - WATER

Warrior/Fusion/effect

(Elemental Hero Bubbleman + Elemental Hero Wildheart)

This monster can only be fusion summoned. When this monster attacks, it may attack all monsters on your opponent's side of the field at the same time. (This counts as only one attack on each individual target. Damage calculation for each target is applied as if this monster had only attack it.)

"Now go, Tidal Wave, attack all of Kross's monsters!"

The new warrior jumped into the air and slid the surf board under its feat as a rush of water appeared from behind it. It restlessly rode the waves until it got close enough to it's targets, then it turned it's board sharply, sending a powerful splash at all of Kross's monsters, destroying them.

[1400/3900

Kross sheltered himself from the water, but merely brushed the damage off. "My germs still got their effects when destroyed. They still dealt 500 points of damage a piece!"

Jaden already knew that as he stood up confidently, and laughed, "Thanks for the play-by-play. I'll end my turn with one card facedown. Your turn Kross."

Kross looked a little agitated as he drew his card. "Try this, I play Level limit Area B!" A spell card appeared, but as before with Kross's duel with Jase, it produced no other holograms. "As long at this card is out, all monsters level 4 or higher go into defense mode!"

Tidal Wave did so, but it didn't look too happy about it.

"Next I'll play Banisher of the Light in defense mode! (100/2000)" A woman dressed in a blue and yellow gown appeared with he finger pointed directly at Jaden. "See, when this girl's out, she'll remove from play all cards sent to the Graveyard. Useless? I think not! I'll toss my Soul Absorption!" Another continuous spell appeared. This one depicting a monster having its soul ripped from its body. "I'll set a trap," Kross finished, "That's all for now."

"Very good, Kross," the Monster whispered into Kross's ear. "Excellent. Soon, this duel will be done with. Don't fail me again!"

Kross nodded to the stands where he could faintly make out the glowing red eyes of the Monster.

"Hmm," Bastion Misawa sighed. "An interesting Combo, now every card sent to the graveyard is removed from the game instead. And with Kross's Soul Absorption card, he gains 500 life points every time a card is removed from the game. He has it set up that he gains 500 life points each time a player discards, destroys, or plays a card!"

"Uh oh," said Syrus eating a bag of chips. "That's bad news for Jaden isn't it?"

"Indeed," Bastion nodded. "This duel may be over soon, with all the potential in Life points that set up offers any card with high life point's costs will feel like no cost at all to Kross. Unfortunately, most cards with high costs have devastating effects. And as long as Level Limit is there, Jaden can't attack with monsters level 4 or higher. He's going to need something weak, but strong at the same time. "

Syrus sighed, "It's not looking too good from Jaden…"

Chapter Sixteen

The King Arrives

(Part Two of Three)

'Darn it,' Jaden thought to himself. 'Kross has set it up that no matter what I do, he'll gain life points when the cards I use got the graveyard. He's already more than 2000 points ahead of me! I have to find an inexpensive way to solve this…'

"My draw!" Jaden yelled to his opponent as he swiped a card off the top of his deck. "Alright, I'll try Elemental Hero Avian (1000/1000) in attack mode!" A warrior covered in green feathers appeared. He appeared confident, despite his less than desirable stats. "Then I'll set one card face down and end my turn."

There was a silence between the two battlers. It ended as Kross burst out laughing. "I'm sorry," he said, "its just Avian was a poor choice for your defense. I think I'll show you why!" He drew his card, added it to his hand, and selected a new card. "I play Soul Release! With this, five cards in my Graveyard are removed from the game!" The five cards slid out of Kross's duel disk. He took them and stuffed them to his pocket.

"Your Graveyard?" Jaden said, momentarily confused. "But Soul Release could have effected my Graveyard, why use it on yourself?"

"Wait, see and be surprised!" Kross shouted as he threw a monster on his duel disk. The disk shook violently and a red fiendish monster appeared. "First off," he explained as the monster appeared, "I gained 2500 life points from Soul Absorptions effect. But wait, is that all? Not quite. See, afterwards, Soul Release is removed from play as well due to Banisher of the Light's effect!"

[1400/6900

"6900!" Jaden shouted in disbelief. The crowd awed with him. "I've never seen so many life points!"

"I'm not even done yet…" Kross chuckled. "The Monster I summoned was Gren Maju De Eiza!" The red monster finally stopped glowing. It had a long tail and small but useful wings. It carried a trident and growled mercilessly at its target (2400/2400). "Gren Maju De Eiza, or Gren for short, has 400 attack and defense points for every one of my cards removed from the game! Six times four hundred is twenty four hundred!" Gren roared again. "Now go, prove yourself Gren Maju, and attack Jaden's Elemental Hero Avian!"

Gren Maju reared up and chucked its trident at Avian, who simply stood there with its arms crossed. The trident passed right threw it, shattering it to pieces.

"Dah!" Jaden said as the force from the attack pushed him back a little bit. Suddenly, painful scars and bruises were visible on his face. He felt his strength flee and was about to collapse. He hadn't even taken damage, yet he felt pain.

"Jaden!" A voice from the crowd echoed. "Jaden!" Alexis was standing on her chair. She could see his pain and the dripping blood. "Don't give up…"

The voice faded and Jaden looked up. The entire room was gone; he was completely surrounded by darkness. It was a cold darkness, he could barley even feel his hands. "What's… happening… he said, shivering.

Kross seemed uninterested in Jaden's question. He simply stood there, minding his own business and gritting his teeth. "Since it's clear I'm going to win this," he commented, "I thought I might as well take this up a notch. Welcome to the Shadows." He glared at his opponent and gave a cruel smile.

Jaden stood up and tried to cover his wounds. "Where are my friends?" He asked. "Tell me!"

"Relax," Kross replied, "They're on the other side of this blanket of darkness. If you want to see them, I recommend beating me in this duel." At that, Kross's Duel Disk was covered in black ooze. When the ooze was gone, his duel disk had changed shape into a wicked looking device.

Jaden looked at his opponent and realized: "So it was you, wasn't it? You killed Juliana Li and hurt my friend Alexis Rhodes!"

"Ha," Kross snorted, "I did more than that my friend. But it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that I win this fight. So make your move."

Jaden was full of confidence again as he drew his card and said, "Gladly. I don't why you did what you did. But if you pick on my friends, you pick on me. You're going down, Kross!" Jaden looked at his card and said: I play my trap card, Call of the Haunted! This will let me bring Elemental Hero WildHeart back to my side of the field!"

The trap card appeared as made a faint glow before the Hero appeared and grunted. "Next I'll equip it with: Cyclone Boomerang!" WildHeart's gigantic sword was replaced with a large black boomerang. The Hero grunted again as it's attack points increased.

(E-Hero WildHeart: 1500/1600 + 500/0 2000/1600)

"You know how useless that is, don't you?" Kross smiled. "My Level limit card switches it into defense mode!" WildHeart was indeed already in a defensive position. But that didn't seem to mean anything to Jaden.
"Now to destroy your Combo! I play Share the Pain!" A spell card depicting two warriors near the end of their combat days appeared. "This destroys one monster on both of our fields. I destroy Wild Heart-"

"-And I'll kill Banisher of the Light," Kross finished. The Monsters shattered.

"Now my Boomerang's effect goes off! When WildHeart is destroyed by a card effect, Boomerang destroys all spell and trap cards on the field!" The Cyclone Boomerang spun rapidly in mid-air before taking a long trip around the field, destroying Soul Absorption, Level Limit Area-B, Kross's facedown card (Soul Demolition) and Jaden's Call of the Haunted, which had severed it's connection to WildHeart due to WildHeart's effect. "Plus you take 100 points of damage for each card destroyed!"

[1400/6500

Kross brushed to damage off as simply dust. "Gren Maju still remains on the field, Jaden. Even if your Tidal Wave Hero can attack… its too late Jaden!"

Jaden replied with a grin, "We'll see, Kross! I'll lay one card facedown and call it a turn!"

Kross drew his card and didn't even look at it. "Gren Maju!" Kross began, but he was interrupted.

"Kross," the Monster whispered through the shadows, breathing hard. "I can feel it. My energy has never been so strong. Do it. Do it now… Summon me to the Field!" Kross felt a violent force within his drawn card. He looked at it finally and found himself staring at Demise, King of Armageddon.

"You want me to what?" Kross said in disbelief. "I've got this won, why should I waste time and summon… um… you?"

The card began to glow in his hand. "Do it." The monster said again. "Do it so I may harvest this soul personally. This way," he hinted, "we may not need another person. You can be with your girlfriend even sooner, and your fault in your last duel will mean nothing…"

Kross stared at the card and muttered, "Mary…" He looked up and cried: "I activate the spell card… END OF THE WORLD!" a spell card depicting what appeared to be Atlantis warping into oblivion appeared. It glowed as the ground began to shake. Kross tried to maintain his balance as he discarded a card from his hand and took Gren Maju off his field. Pieces of debris from outside the Shadows began to fall inside and Jaden could tell that the people outside where terrified.

"I sacrifice Gren Maju De Eiza and the Menfist the Infernal General in my hand to summon… Demise, King of Armageddon!" The ground shook even harder and Jaden knelt to the ground to keep his balance. As he did, a giant axe erupted from the ground, quickly followed by a large fiend incased in a heavy black armor. It swung its sword as its stats flashed on the field (2400/2000).

Kross fell a few feet backward as the giant axe nearly hit him.

"Ah…" the monster bellowed. "It feels good to be free at last!"

The shaking ground slowed and Jaden stood only to find Winged Kuriboh floating there. It made a few noises and Jaden seemed to understand it. "Don't worry, Kuriboh," he said to it. "No matter how strong it is; I can beat that thing."

Demise gave a hearty laugh as it made another practice swing with its weapon. "I'm afraid that it impossible." It laughed again. "This duel was over before it even started."

It took a while for Jaden to realize that it was the monster talking, not Kross. "What are you?" Jaden asked roughly taking a step back as Demise approached him.

"All you need to know is that I will soon don the responsibility put on me by a prophecy ten million years in the making. All you need know is that it will soon be over for you, your friends…"

Kross sat cowering in fear a few feet away. He was sweating and shaking rapidly. "What have I done?" he asked himself, scared of his own creation, as Demise finished his reply:

"… And the World!"

Chapter Seventeen On the Way Down

(Part Three of Three)

More debris came crashing down as Demise made another swipe with his axe. "Don't feel too bad, Jaden," he bellowed. "What's happening here was, and is still, inevitable." Jaden growled as he attempted to cover his wounds and stand up at the same time. "You see, every now and then, the world needs… well," he chuckled, "basically a Reset."

Jaden stood up perfectly and grew curious as Demise continued: "This world contains greed, evil, and an endless lust for power. Forty-Five Billion Years ago I realized this. I destroyed the world as it was then using the prophecy given at that time as my reason. Of course, knowing that life cannot be stopped completely, and that this prophecy must continue to be completed, I spared some personal items of mine," a red light gleamed from Kross's graveyard and a shadow of Gren Maju De Eiza beamed on the field. "This way, through these items I could return and do what needs to be done again!" He laughed proudly and rested his axe on the floor, putting a dent on the spot. "You see, there is no avoiding it. I can always return, just as I did when I destroyed the civilizations that were Egypt, Rome and Greece! I just got a little delayed this time around. All of this should have been destroyed over three hundred years ago."

Jaden stared at Demise and finally said, "I don't care how you got here, or why you think you have to destroy the world. All you need to know is that I'm not going to let you do it again!"

King Armageddon laughed. "I'm afraid you're not in a position to be making treats, by boy," he bellowed. "Not when you see my full power. Heh heh heh…"

Demise began to swing his axe rapidly around his head, faster and faster and faster. He let go of one hand, letting the axe spin on his fingertips, before grasping it with both again and slamming it hard on the ground. The earth shook and more debris tumbled from the darkness above. A faint sound of screaming came from the other side of the veil of shadows as a large piece of the stadium landed on top of Armageddon's axe.

It quieted for a moment before the rock began to crack and Demise lifted his axe from it, releasing a surge of energy from the hole he had created. Jaden flew several feet backward and Elemental Hero Tidal Wave shattered. Kross seemed to be unaffected by whatever was happening, but he remained still nonetheless.

[1400/4500

The blast ended and Jaden looked up; Demise was still standing these, he seemed to be eagerly awaiting his chance to strike. "Now then, Jaden," he said, "My ability has drained what I could take from Kross's victims and only let slip a little bit to destroy your field." He laughed as he knelt forward on his axe and whispered, almost playfully, "Scared yet? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now to end this!" he readied his weapon and charged in for the attack, he cape flowing behind him.

Jaden stood his ground as the giant axe swung down on him. "Dah!!!" he cried as the resulting attack left a painful scar down his face. He grabbed his shoulder and Demise stepped back.

[200/4500

"What?" King Armageddon said in disbelief. "This is in impossible! You can't seriously be standing! How?"

Jaden gave a confidant smile, as he looked up, just barely standing on his two feet. "You better believe it…ah…" he gagged, trying to keep his breathing steady. "And-and since I'm still here, you can suspect that you won't be by the end of my turn." He slowly drew his card.

"I…I can do this…" he thought to himself, looking at his drawn card. "The trap card he destroyed was Hero Soul. It cut any damage I received on the turn an Elemental Hero is destroyed by half. Now, I don't need to beat Kross, all I need to do is beat this King guy. Then this will all end .I won't get another chance. And I have just the card in mind to do it…"
Jaden took three cards from his hand and played one of them. "I play… Polymerization!" the familiar spell card rose to the field. "I'll fuse, ah," he gasped again. "Elemental Heroes Bustinatrix with Sparkman to create… Elemental Hero Fire Storm! (2000/0)"

The Flame lady and Spark man appeared for split seconds before being forcibly joined into one monster. The new creature stood powerfully in wall of fire. It's face and thin body was completely hidden in the roaring fire, only a pair of gleaming eyes could be seen.

"I'm afraid," Demise, roared, "that your little hero lacks to strength to beat me."

Jaden glared at him. "Oh yeah? Watch this! Go Flame Burst!"

The hero's eyes gleamed as the fire around it raised from a mere five feet of the ground to an immense fifty. The hero inside didn't grow, but its overall power sure did.

(Fire Storm: 2000/0 x 2/0 4000/0)

"What the…" the King said, slightly taken back, "Oh, I see… a bold choice."

[Elemental Hero Fire Storm

2000/0 - FIRE

Warrior/fusion/effect

Elemental Hero Bustinatrix + Elemental Hero Sparkman

This monster can only be fusion summoned. Once per turn, you may double this monster's ATK until the end phase. If you do, inflict 2000 points of damage to yourself and your next End Phase.

"Now!" Jaden yelled, "Elemental Hero Fire Storm! Attack the King of Armageddon!" The hero felt a surge of power flow in its veins before dive-bombing in the King.

Demise recoiled just a little bit as he turned his head to face Kross. "Save me Kross!" He demanded. "It's the only way you will ever see your dear Mary again. Do it, and you will have her back!"

Kross hesitated. His hand trembled over one of the activation buttons on his duel disk. "DO IT!" Demise demanded again. At that, Kross pushed the button.

A trap card sprang up. Bark of Dark Ruler glowed brightly on the field as 1700 of Kross's life points faded away.

[200/2800

(Fire Storm: 4000/0 – 1700/0 2300/0

"Perfect!" King Armageddon cried, picking up his axe and easily repelling the attack. There was some struggle, but Fire Storm shattered in his own wall of fire soon enough.

Jaden had nothing left on his field as his turn ended. The wall of fire slowly encircled him, leaving no way out. Under the heat he fell to his knees. "No…" he muttered slowly, "I… Lost…" He finally collapsed completely as the fire faded away, leaving burning marks on his jacket and in a circle on the floor around him.

Demise, King of Armageddon laughed triumphantly. "It's over!" He yelled. "All that is left is to plan my invasion of this world!" The Shadows dispersed and he could see the crowd of people still cheering there, some sitting the rocks of fallen debris while others being hurriedly pushed out of the room by teachers in the back. Obelisk Blues yelled loudly in recognition that Kross had won the match.

Demise laughed deeply under his breath and the students began to realize that Demise wasn't going to disappear like a hologram. "My servants!" Demise bellowed as he swung his axe hard on the ground again, this time sprouting a deep hole emitted dark purple ooze. The ooze slowly formed up around its crater creating a giant purple bubble.

Once the bubble was large enough, it began to grow long additional strands of ooze that seemed to be able to wander freely, attached only to the main bubble itself. They squirmed around, almost like a jellyfish's tentacles.

After a brief moment of them all standing still in mid-air, they lunged at nearby students. Screams erupted as after being successfully snatched, they were pulled violently into the purple bubble.

"Jaden!" Alexis said as she rushed back into the stadium to see to her friend. "Jaden. Wake up, Jaden!" She turned him over, but he still lay motionless. Alexis worried for a moment as she thought of what to do. She eventually decided as she lifted Jaden onto her back and tried to carry him away from danger.

But luck didn't have her. Within a mere second, one of the strands caught her along the waist and tried to pull her into the bubble. "Ah!" She screamed, as Chazz just happened to be escaping through a nearby door. "Chazz!" she yelled. "Chazz, help!"

Chazz stopped ten feet from the door and hurried to her aid. He struggled to get the strand to let her go. "Chazz, leave me here. Take Jaden and get out. It's no use. Please hurry!"

Chazz didn't listen to her. He continued to try to rip the strand off her waist and almost succeeded, had it not been that another strand had grabbed her leg and pulled her forcibly away from him at the last second.

"Chazz please, listen to me. Get out of here!" Alexis pleaded. He stood up and looked at her. "GO!" he shouted again. He sighed and rushed to pick Jaden off the floor. He carried him out on his back and looked toward Alexis again; she was gone.

"I'll show you Alexis," he thought to himself as he rushed down a collapsing hallway, "I'll be the one to save you, not this dope. I'm doing this for you." He managed to escape through a door as more sections of the stadium shattered. Chazz wasn't sure, but as he ran to the woods just near the entrance, he swore he could have seen black tower erupting from the rubble of the building. He didn't pay the time to see any more of it though as Jaden's head brushed on several low branches.

The King Demise overlooked the process of kidnapping students before he turned to Kross. "You ready to see your darling girlfriend again, Kross?" he said mockingly, readying his axe. "You'll see her soon…" he laughed as he lifted his axe above his head and prepared to bring it down.

Kross's body was racing. "No way out. No way out." He kept thinking to himself. Suddenly however, the shadows reappeared around him in a black veil.

"What the-" Demise shouted, stopping his axe mid-way. "What do you think you're doing? Get back here or I'll-" but he was gone. The darkness swallowed Kross whole and he disappeared.

Demise growled unsatisfying. "Looks like you and the Shadows have learned to do a lot more than I thought, even without my help. Impressive Kross Forester. However, you can never…"

Demise continued as Kross found himself running through the forest carrying a girl in his arms. The girl's red hair blew in the breeze as Kross ran for all he had. Demise finished his sentence:

"…HIDE FROM ME!"

Chapter Eighteen A Gift

(Part One of Two)

The horrible night went on with Kross fleeing through the woods outside the Duel Academy. Branches and leaves brushed against his face as he lacked the arms to block them. He wandered deep, deep into the woods and came to a stop near the mouth of a steam.

The stream seemed to simply erupt from the earth, sprouting the stream of life. He really didn't want to stop here, but really, he had no other direction to go for the stream's mouth stood the base of a small cliff.

Kross lay his burden on the ground, her once flowing red hair no turning much more pale, almost a light pink.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking the girl. "I'm sorry, you hear!" he screamed into the woods, startling a few birds in an otherwise peaceful setting. He fell to his knees and began to shed tears of loneliness and heartbreak.

He tried to keep his eyes open, and it was luck that he did. Something caught his eye; lightly buried in the dirt was a duel monsters card. He stammered as he swiped the card from the dirt floor and examined it.

"She was right," he muttered looking at it. "As long as I love her, she will never cease to exist…" He looked at the card for a few moments longer before throwing it down a nearby hill, where its corner landed in the dirt, leaving the card standing straight up in the air, like a knife into a piece of wood. The text of the Horus Black Flame Dragon reflected in the moonlight.

"Why won't you just leave me alone!" he cried at the card, pounding his fists on the ground. "Just stop… please…" The wind blew and the card toppled over. "Oh, and that's my fault?" he yelled, as if the card had spoken. "Of course I did this for you I-"

He stopped as if he really did hear the words of his lost girlfriends speaking to him in the wind.

"You're right…" Kross said slowly. "For that I am truly sorry." He looked over at Miya's body and sighed. "I don't deserve to be breathing, not after all I've done…"

Kross stood up and left the stream, heading toward where he heard the waves, crashing on the rocking shoreline of the island.

But a miracle was about to happen. The wind blew and moonlight completely covered the Dragon card down the hill. Dimly at first, it began to glow. Slowly, a bright orb of light emerged from the card. It hovered for a moment, high in the air, as if playing around in the branches of the trees. It stopped after a few seconds, and slowly dived back down to the ground.
It made a slight change in direction and landed on the Miya's cold chest. At first it did nothing. But only with a keen eye, could you tell that the orb was slowly melting into Miya's body. Slowly, the light the orb emitted was gone.

Miya's eyes opened in a heartbeat. "Whoa…" she said, sitting up. "What-what happened? Where… am I?" She looked around at the trees that stood still behind her. She stood up and could smell the ocean. She grew curious and followed the sent.

Slowly behind her, the glowing card dimmed, and burned away.

Kross sat alone, leaning against a rock and staring into the heavy waves on the bottom of the cliff below him. He kept his eyes closed as he stood up and embraced the cold wind coming from the sea.

"Time to go…" he whispered as he stepped forward. However, he misjudged his step, thinking he had one more to go. He opened his eyes and quickly tried to turn around. Slipping and falling, he quickly grabbed the wet grass.

But of course, the grass could not support Kross's weight and within a few moments, tore in half, leaving Kross with only clumps of grass in his hand. He began to fall.

But fate had handed him a good hand, a helping hand to be accurate. He was so startled at this that he passed out before he could see the face of his rescuer.

Kross awoke only a few moments later. He opened his eyes to see only two more staring at him. "Ah!" he and the other face screamed together as Kross bolted straight to his feet.

The other face stood, she asked, "Who… am I?" Miya's hair had regained its color and was flowing in the sea breeze.

Kross was star struck; he looked at the girl and stuttered, "How? Who, who are you?"

Miya took a step forward and replied, slowly and shyly "I just asked you…"

Kross froze for a second, then answered: "You, you're Miya Ark, a girl from Obelisk Blue."

Miya walked forward, only now realizing what she was wearing, a girls Obelisk Blue Uniform. She looked at Kross again. "Who… are you?" she asked.

Kross wasn't sure what to do. If it wasn't enough that Miya was alive again, she seemed to also lack any memory of her past life. She turned her head, confused, as if she wasn't sure Kross understood.

"My, my name is Kross Forester. I-"

He was about to say more, but a voice interrupted.
"THERE you are!" the voice yelled loudly as it's owner seemed to struggle to come into view. "Where that heck have you been?"

Kross turned his head toward the school's direction, though the night blanketed it from view. Slowly Chazz Princeton emerged from the night, still lugging Jaden Yuki on his back.

Chazz's blazer and jeans where terribly torn up, Kross noticed as Chazz restlessly slopped Jaden to the floor.

"Alright," Chazz yelled, "This is where it ends. It's time for me to finish what I started!"

Miya took a step behind Kross and whispered to him, "What is happening? Who is that?"

Kross replied, coolly, "Just Chazz the Spazz."

Chazz readied his duel disk and yelled back, because he heard his reply, "yeah, yeah, laugh it up big guy. You're little charade has gone on long enough. It's 'bout time I got rid of you for good!"

Kross didn't even touch his duel disk. "Chazz, I'm afraid this matter doesn't concern you. Even if you did beat me, which you wouldn't, you Slifer, it would lack a purpose." He said this cool, and collectively.

Chazz growled, "Oh yeah? Ten bucks say that when I do beat you, I'll be the hero of Duel Academy, unlike the useless lump I brought with me," he spat toward the unconscious Jaden. "So let's go, pal!"

"I don't think so," Kross repeated. He turned his head toward Miya, and then looked to Chazz again. "I'm afraid I will be the one to end this. Not you. So get out of my way! I've realized something, just now. All of this happened because I couldn't let go of something that was long gone. But now," Kross clenched his fist, "I have let go. Demise isn't about to take advantage of me again!"

A few night birds fluttered from the nearby trees. "Demise huh?" Chazz replied. "So he tricked you?" Kross nodded. "Well then, it looks I don't have to deal with you after all."

He began to walk away before Kross shouted, "Hold on, Chazz! I don't think you heard me correctly. This is my fight, not yours. And even if I have to beat you in a duel to prove it, there is no way you're going up against King Armageddon!" Finally, Kross readied his duel disk.

Chazz turned around and reset his duel disk, muttering, "Make my day."

"Duel!" they shouted together.

[4000/4000

"I'll go first!" Kross shouted, drawing his sixth card. "I summon Helping Robo for Combat (1600/0) in attack mode!" a grey robot no taller than three feet appeared. It was grey and had two claws. "Next I'll lay two cards face down and end my turn." Two brown boards appeared behind the robot and Kross's turn ended.

"Nice toy!" Chazz spat, drawing his card, "But it won't stand up against: Blood Ninja (1700/1600)!" A tall red warrior appeared in a bizarre Ninja stance. "Next his special ability comes in, he gets an additional 1000 Attack points if he's the strongest monster on the field, cool eh?" he laughed as the Ninja's stats altered.

(Ninja: 1700/1600 +1000/0 2700/1600)

[Blood Ninja

1700/1600 FIRE

Warrior/effect

If this card is the strongest monster on the field, increase its ATK by 1000.

"Now go, Ninja darts attack!" Chazz ordered. The Ninja jumped and revealed a few concealed darts in his hand before swiftly tossing them.

"Nice try Chazz," Kross replied. "But I activate my face down card, go Limiter Removal!" a card appeared and shined brightly. It depicted a few hard wiring tools and bizarre calculator. "This card doubles my monster's Attack points!"

(1600/0 x 2/0 3200/0)

"Alright, Helping Robo, counter attack!" Kross declared as the mecahinical monster easily repelled the darts thrown at it. He rolled closer and with a snap of its claws, shattered the ninja.

[3500/4000

Kross covered his face as the dust from the attack settled. "But it not over yet Chazz," Kross continued. "When my Robo destroys a monster, I get to draw one card," he did so, looking at his hand as he finished, "then I return another to the bottom of my deck." He did so as well.

"All right, nice job Kross," Chazz said through his teeth. "But I'm not done either." He took a card from his hand and played it, "I activate Level Species! It lets me summon one level four or lower monster with LV in it's name to the field. I choose Armed Dragon level 3!"

[Level Species

Spell card

Special summon one level four or lower monster with "LV" in it's name from your hand to the field in defense mode.

The spell card faded away as the small orange dragon appeared and hid it's face it its claws (1200/900). "Then," Chazz finished, "I'll set two cards face down and end my turn." Two brown boards appeared. "Now your monster is destroyed by Limiter Removals effect!"

Kross however had already revealed his second face down card. "This is why you're a Slifer, Chazz. I play Inter-dimensional Matter Transporter!" He smiled proudly as his monster disappeared, then slowly reappeared. "This card lets me remove the monster from the game until the End Phase. Fortunately for my Robo, removing him from play negated Limiter's destruction effect!" The monster clanged its claws together. "Sure, it's attack points go back to normal, but at least it survived, no?"

Chazz growled. Since Kross still had a monster, it was likely he'd summon another and get a direct shot on his life points.

Kross laughed. "I remember that card," he said, referring to the Armed Dragon, "But I won't let it beat me this time!" He drew a card and said, "go, Helping Robo, attack the Armed Dragon!"

Chazz shielded himself from the oncoming debris and smoke. 'What is this guy up to?' he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Miya stood almost directly behind Kross. She was watching the duel, her heart pounding. She knew this game, but she wasn't sure why.

Chapter Nineteen Rematch?

(Part Two of Two)

"GO, Helping Robo, attack Chazz's monster!" The Helping Robo for Combat (1600/0) easily tore the Armed Dragon Level 3 to pieces using it's metal claws. "Perfect," Kross said confidently, "Now his effect goes off again. Letting me draw a card," he did so, examining it as he continued, "then return one to my deck." He did so as well.

"I play my trap card!" Chazz interrupted as a trap card depicting a monster being erupted from the ground appeared. "It's called Grave of Enkindling, and I can only use it when I lose a monster. It's lets us both bring a monster back to the field in defense position. You, however, lack any monsters, so only I get this effect. I bring back my Armed Dragon!" The little orange dragon appeared again, still hiding its face in its metal claws.

Kross smiled and finished his turn by playing one card facedown, it appeared behind the robo within seconds.

Chazz drew his card and thought to himself for a moment. "I'll use my Armed Dragon's special ability now!" The orange dragon began to grow and mutate as he explained, "During my Standby Phase, the Armed Dragon Levels up! From Level 3 comes Level 5!" The dragon grew to a tremendous height and roared proudly as its stats were displayed (2400/1700).

"Nice card Chazz," Kross commented darkly, "good thing you've used that thing before, or wouldn't have known to use this! Go Status Quo!" A trap card appeared and glowed brightly.

"What the-" Chazz said, surprised Kross had anything planned for his dragon at this step.

[Status Quo

Trap card

You can only activate this card when your opponent special summons a monster. Special summon your own monster from the same place you opponent did his or hers in defense position

"Now," Kross elaborated, "Since your Dragon came from your deck, I too get to special summon a monster from my deck. Say hello to B.E.S. Tetran! (1800/2300)!" The trap card faded away and a new monster appeared. It wasn't a monster per say, more of a giant ship scaled down to a more appropriate size. A large ball of light, covered in a tinted window, radiated from its core.

Chazz kept his cool and continued his turn. "Well,"he thought to himself,"That Tetran thing may look big, but my monster can kill it no matter what mode it's in. That means I'm much better off attacking his Robo."

"Alright, Armed Dragon Level 5, attack his Helping Robo for Combat!" The giant Dragon accepted its responsibility and led a furious claw attack, slicing the robo in half before it shattered.

[3500/3100

"Next, when my turn ends, my Armed Dragon levels up to level 7!" The Dragon glowed brightly again and grew twice as large. It now bore monstrous claws and a tail.

Kross did not seem to be bothered by this at all. He drew his card and nudged at Miya, who was still standing fairly close to him. "Could you, umm… back up a bit?" he whispered to her.

Miya looked away from the duel and stared at Kross's face; she had been leaning on his shoulder. "I'm… sorry," she muttered, taking a few hesitant steps backward, keeping her eyes on Kross the whole time.

Once Miya had stepped back, Kross began his turn. "Alright Chazz, let's get this over with." He glanced at his hand and took a card from there. "I play B.E.S. Repair Ship!" A spell card depicting a small space vehicle zooming through space appeared. "This nifty device lets me pay 300 Life points to add a counter to any B.E.S. Monster on the field!"

Chazz looked a little confused, a face most people would never see him wear. "A B.E.S. monster?" he asked inquiringly.

[B.E.S. Repair Ship

Continuous Spell

Twice per turn, you may select one Monster on your side of the field with "B.E.S" in its name or is named "Big Core". Pay 300 Life points. Add one Counter to the selected monster.

The card shimmered as the bright light inside the B.E.S. Tetran glowed. This lasted for a short moment, before both objects returned to normal.

"Care to explain what the heck is going on?" Chazz spat, clenching his fist.

Kross sighed as if he had explained this several times before and was very tired of it. "Well, Chazz, as you should already know, Tetran here is a B.E.S Monster, AKA, a monster with B.E.S. in its name. See, when I normal summon it, or any other B.E.S. monster, he'll gain some counters. These counters prevent my monster from being destroyed in battle."

"Just in battle huh?" Chazz pointed out.

"Let me finish," Kross replied, "Because I Special summoned Tetran here, it gained no counters. That's why I played B.E.S. Repair Ship, it'll give me the counters Tetran never had."

Kross laughed confidently. Chazz scowled, "So what? My Armed Dragon can cream your B.E.S. monster!"

Kross abruptly brought to an end his case of mild humor and replied hotly, "I thought you'd think that, but I didn't add the counters so I could use them to survive battle. Oh no. I intend to use my B.E.S. Tetran's only counter to use his effect! Go Destroy Chazz's facedown trap card!"

Suddenly, lights and deranged noises began to sound from the giant ship. Two lasers, perched in the front of the ship, turned their gaze and targeted Chazz's single facedown card. In a blink of an eye, the trap had been shattered. Chazz barely had enough time to cover his face from the spark of dust this attack had created.

"But I'm not done yet, Spazz!" Kross declared. "I sacrifice my B.E.S. Tetran for B.E.S. Crystal Core (2100/1000)!" The metal B.E.S. Tetran faded away and was replaced with a new monster. It was similar to Tetran, yet the B.E.S. Crystal Core was covered in ice. Two long mechanical arms extended from within ice.

"I'd say something obvious here," Chazz commented, "but I'll assume your Crystal Core also has an effect?"

Kross smiled and nodded. "Indeed, Chazz. B.E.S. Crystal Core has a very special ability. One that lets me change your Armed Dragon into defense mode!" Just as Kross finished talking, the Crystal Core extended its long armed, fiercely grabbing the Armed Dragon and forcing it to take a knee (2800/1000). "Now, B.E.S. Crystal Core, attack and obliterate the Armed Dragon!"

At that, the Crystal Core shot several violent lasers, breaching the Armed Dragon's hide and easily destroying it. Chazz, again, shielded himself. He looked up, and the Crystal Core was again hovering silently in front of Kross. "It lost a counter," Kross stated, his armed folded as he waited patiently for Chazz to make a move. "Just thought I'd tell you."

Chazz scowled as he drew his card. "Thanks for the play-by-play!" he scoffed. "I turn! I play… eh?" He paused as the little sprite that was Ojama Yellow appeared next to him. "Blah, don't tell me I just drew you again!" He yelled.

"Hiya Boss!" the dueling spirit yelled triumphantly. "What's going on? You dueling Kross again?" He said this very fast, not that Chazz really cared. Ojama Yellow squinted at Kross's side of the field. "Hmmm…" he said as if mustering some sort of strength. "There's something different about him. Like, he's lost something since we saw him last."

"Who cares?" Chazz yelled, looking at his cards and trying very hard to ignore the Ojama.

"Just hear me out Boss!" the little ugly thing complained. Kross looked up and it began to explain, "Well, the last time we faced him, he had a very dark aura around him, as if a dark shadow was overshadowing him, making him do stuff he may not have wanted to do. But this time… he seems to have lost that interesting fact."

Chazz was back looking through his hand and he whispered, to prove he had been listening, "What does that change? I'm still the good guy here."

The Ojama put it's hands behind its back and looked at Kross, as if making a keen observation. "Actually Boss, I would have to say you're the bad guy here."

"What?" Chazz said in disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Ah, I kid you not, Boss. See, without that aura, Kross is no different than you. Just a regular kid standing in front of another regular kid." The Ojama floated around and noticed Miya standing behind Kross. It didn't seem to care for her fate as it added to Chazz, "But then again, you're the boss here, not me. You make the call. You never know what may happen…" And with that, the Ojama popped and returned to its card art.

Chazz had lost his cool. "I'm… the bad guy here?" he said to himself. "How am I supposed to get Alexis to like me if I'm always the bad guy!" He slammed his fist against a nearby tree. "Unless…."

Chazz turned his attention to Kross. "OK, I'm playing two card facedown and ending my turn."

Kross grunted and said, as he drew his card, "Took ya long enough." He glanced at his draw and played it on the field immediately. "I summon B.E.S. Hazard Core (1600/700)!"

A ship, much smaller then the B.E.S. Tetran appeared. It shared resemblances to Tetran, however it seemed to have been built quicker, as if made for more direct assaults without the risk of a high damage repairs. It looked ready to be abandoned should it be put into too much danger. It had red designs painted on an otherwise grey exterior. A large ball of energy radiated from its core.

[B.E.S. Hazard Core

1600/700 -FIRE

Machine/effect

When this card is normal summoned, place one counter on it. This card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle. When this card battles with a monster, remove a counter from it at the end of the damage step. If this card battles a monster without a counter, destroy this card at the end of the damage step.

"Alright," Kross said, taking a breath. "Go, B.E.S. Hazard Core, attack Chazz directly!"

"Wait!" Chazz said, springing what was obviously a trap. "I activate Call of the Haunted, bringing back my Armed Dragon Level 7!" His trap card appeared and produced an infinite symbol on the floor in front of it. From that symbol, the Armed Dragon arose from the earth. (2800/1000)

"You ought to have learned by now, Chazz," Kross said, smiling. "I use B.E.S. Crystal Core's effect to switch that giant seat cushion to defense mode! Now, B.E.S. Hazard, attack it!"

The mechanical arms of the Crystal Core extended and latched onto the Armed Dragon holding in place as the B.E.S. Hazard shattered it with one quick ramming attack. An explosion rocked the field and from the air, a flipping B.E.S. Hazard landed safely on Kross's field, while the Dragon burned to the ground.

"Now, Crystal Core, do your stuff! Attack Chazz directly!" Kross ordered, and of course the ship obeyed, firing its lasers and projectiles from its base. Chazz shielded himself from the on coming blast.

[1400/3100

"Dah!" Chazz said, flying backwards.

Kross just gave a lighthearted laugh. "See Chazz, you're not cut out to take down my foe. Give up now and save your humiliation." He awaited a reply and when it never came, he finished simply, "So be it…"

Kross effortlessly shoved a card into his duel disk. "I didn't want to do this, Spazz, but you leave me no choice. I play Elite Rush! This nifty little card allows me to sacrifice all B.E.S. monsters on my field, then, you lose life points equal to half those monsters attack points, plus 500 more for each of their counters!"

[Elite Rush

Quick-play Spell

Tribute all face-up monsters with B.E.S. in their named or are named Big Core. Inflict damage you your opponent's life points equal to half the combined ATK of the tributed monsters. Then, inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent for each counter the tributed monsters had on them.

All of Kross's monsters burst in horrific explosions sending pounding shockwaves through the air. They caught Chazz off guard has his life points hit zero.

(Crystal Core: 2100/2 1550 + 1 counter x 500 2050)

(Hazard Core: 1600/2 800 + 0 Counters x 500 800)

(800 + 2050 2850)

Chazz collapsed to the floor. "Good," he whispered, "Just hope he doesn't say anything to Alexis…"

[0000/3100

After a time to catch his breath, Chazz looked up at Kross. He had already reset his duel disk and was now conversing with Miya. "Come on Chazz!" Kross yelled at him. "I know you just want to be the hero, you're just lucky I can't do this alone."

Chazz wasn't exactly expecting an easy welcome, but more than gladly took the offer. "Another shot," he said to himself, "Another chance to prove myself to her."

Meanwhile on the other side of the island, a group of students hid behind a rock, staring at the oncoming sea.
"So now what?" Chumley Huffington asked his friend, Syrus, who was sitting next to him. However, it was Zane Trusdale, Syrus' older brother that answered:

"I think that is increasingly obvious," Zane said. "We have to go and take back our school King Armageddon kills our friends." Zane was much taller and much darker then his younger brother. His hair, for one, was much darker than Syrus' light blue-ish hair. He was the best duelist at Duel Academy and was highly regarded of that title.

"What?" Chumley jumped, "Go back? We barely made it out the first time!"

Zane stood up and folded his arms, turning to face the direction of the school. "See that Chumley?" he asked.

Chumley climbed onto the back of the boulder, he instantly noticed Zane's point.

There, where the stadium of the Duel Academy once stood, was now a large black castle. Firelights from windows could be seen in the distance of the tall building, its height only beaten by the volcano just north of it.

Around the tower stood rubble and debris of the old stadium, more like the walls of it, keeping the towers of the Castle enclosed within. They could just see the windows of the old stadium, glimmering in the moonlight, though on the other side of the windows stood only the castle.

"With a power like that," Zane commented, "making a 14th century castle appear instantly, it's really only a matter of time before he finds us."

Syrus and Chumley nodded in compliance.

Inside the large black castle was a large black throne, decorated with red rubies and jewels from around the world. Around the throne was a long gathering place. Dark bricks and torches supported and lit the room, with only one wall seemingly out of place, this piece of the wall was made of hard metal, with flashing lights and computer screens.

Of course, seated in that throne, in that Throne Room, was none other than Demise, King of Armageddon. He still wore the same black armor he wore when he trounced the hero that was Jaden Yuki; his axe rested a nearby pillar to his left.

A woman entered from his left. She was tall and thin, long white hair flowed behind her. "Ah, my King," she whisper succulently to a frustrated ruler. "What troubles thee in this beautiful moonlight?"

The King grunted, not fully responding in anyway.

"Oh, come now," she said, a vile curl in her lips. "What troubles you?" She leaned over on the back of the throne, letting her arms and hands, covered in a long linen glove, dangle on the Kings shiny armor.

"Please, not now Ruin," Demise said sharply jumping out of his chair and taking several steps forward. "I need time to think."

"Think of what?" she retorted, sliding herself into the King's vacant seat. The King stepped farther away from her. "Oh I see," She continued, lightly strolling from which she came, "Very well then, I will leave you to it, I don't want to get in the way, though I wish you'd spend more of your precious time with me..." And with that, she had elegantly walked out of the throne room.

"Ruin!" Demise thundered through the caster. The queen popped her head inside the room again. "Tell Exodus to meet me her as soon as possible." An unwelcome smile covered the Queen's face, as she departed again.

Moments transpired. But within time, the one known as Exodus arrived.

Slowly, a small black puddle of who knows what leaked onto the floor. It took only a second for Demise to notice it, as when the puddle had grown large enough, it produced a figure.

The man rose from the puddle as if it were means of transportation. "What took you so long?" Demise spat at him.

The figure replied with a dazzle of flare, "Your Wife, sire, seemed troubled. I had to comfort her. I-"

"Forget about her!" Demise roared. "Don't you see the problem here? The problem this time through?"

The man was wearing a dark blue trench coat with thorns and decoration on to suggest the making of a bat over a very classical attire from something a rich business owner. His attire was quite 18th century. The inside of the coat was a brilliant crimson red. The man's hair was also peculiar, it being a very midnight blue.

"I'm afraid," the man said, "I don't see your problem."

Demise grumbled. "It's…" he paused, walking over to the portion of his throne room that had been extracted from the Duel Academy's security system. He pushed a few buttons and one of the screens flashed. "There!" he said, pointing to the screen.

The man covered his face from the bright screen and tried to observe it. Kross, an unconscious Jaden, Chazz and Miya were all walking along the rocking cliffs of the northern island toward Demise's castle.

"Exodus," Demise ordered. "I want you to take care of this boy," he pointed his armored finger at the Chazz Princeton. Exodus looked at him too and curved a smile.

"Of course sire," Exodus said as Demise turned and began to leave. "Anything else? What of the others? What of the girl."

Demise stopped just beyond the door his wife had exited. "Leave the other boy. Do what you wish with the girl."

"Of course sire," Exodus said keenly. "If there's one thing we Vampires know how to do, it's follow the orders of our employers."

Demise didn't even look at Exodus as he muttered, "Good. Then get to work." He left, following his wife's footsteps.

Exodus laughed to himself silently. "As you wish, my lord…" And slowly, another dark puddle appeared at his feet, and he quietly sank into it.

Chapter Twenty

The Charms of Fire

(Part One of Two)

In what was being the longest night of their lives, Chazz Princton, carrying Jaden Yuki upon his back, and Kross Forester, directing Miya by her hand, walked the shoreline of Duel Academy Island. The wind was blowing in a hasting pace; leaves rustled across the ground and raindrops hit their faces.

"Kross?" Miya asked innocently, "Where exactly are we going? Is this how we always get to school?"

Kross, holding her hand as it was, didn't feel like explaining the entire ordeal of what occurred to the school, particularly because of his contribution to her near death experience. "It's a long story," he replied simply, "It would take more time then I have to explain it all."

Miya sighed, as she let her hand slip from Kross. While he noticed, Kross wasn't worried as long as she followed him directly. They continued to walk toward the castle that Demise hid built, not even really sure of what they'd do when they got there.

"Alright!" Chazz yelled, annoyed. "I'm tired of lugging this loser around! Let's rest here for a minute, if I have to carry him any further than that castle, I'm leaving him there!" Chazz slopped Jaden against a nearby tree and sat on the ground, resting his tired arms.

Kross sat down as well, thinking of a strategy to defeat Demise in a duel. He had completely forgotten about Miya, who, though she heard them take a break, had decided on her own to wander back into the woods.

It was a thicker part of woods this time. Vines that looked like snakes hung from the branches and a quite chirping sound was in the distance. She reached a clearing where the small stream that flowed through these trees passed, leaning against a tree, she thought to herself, 'It's so weird, I feel as if I should know this place, as if I should know who I am…' she crossed her arms as she went on,'Why don't I remember?' Strange images flashed before her eyes and her breathing pierced. She calmed herself and slid down the tree to the floor. 'Why does it hurt?' she wondered, grasping her head and cuddling into a beetle position, teetering back and forth.

'Maybe there isn't any thing for me to remember…' she thought, coming across dreadful dreams of night's past. 'Maybe… before now, my life meant nothing to anyone. Maybe it still does…' she shed a few tears, quietly sobbing to herself. Rolling off her face, the tears meaninglessly hit the ground.

"Oh you are such a cry baby!" A voice yelled from above her. Miya jumped, but found her fear preventing her from standing. She hesitantly looked up and noticed a small girl with red hair sitting carelessly on a high branch. "I've only been here for five minutes all you've done is question yourself! Why can't humans every just deal with the hand they get?" The red headed girl rested her hands behind her head as she looked to the sky, leaning her had against the tree.

"Who…who are you?" Miya question hesitantly. "How did you know…"

The red headed girl eyed Miya suspiciously. "The name's Hiita, the Fire Charmer," she added lazily, as if she weren't quite fond of her title. "I know everything about you Miya, or at least as much as you know." She again rested her gaze to the night sky.

As Miya got a better look at her, she realized that she already knew her from somewhere. She couldn't remember why, but this girl was familiar. Hiita had red hair that extended to about her shoulders. She wore brown boots and a brown vest and she carried several small vials of strange liquids in her pockets. Behind her, Miya could see a long black staff hung on another branch.

Hiita took a fruit growing off the tree and began to eat it, still not paying much attention to the alarmed Miya. "Why do you know so much about me?" She demanded. "Is there something I don't remember that I should?"

Hiita looked at Miya from the corner of her eye. "Don't take it personally Drooly," Hiita mocked, taking note to Miya light sobbing. "I was sent her to watch out for you. You know…" she mumbled: "Protect you…"

Miya was even more baffled then before. "Pro-protect me? Where were you when I couldn't remember who I was?" She suddenly grew tense and very frustrated.

"Hey," Hiita said, putting her arms up and sitting up, letting her short legs dangle from the branch. "There are a lot of things you don't want to know about your past Miya. If I were you, I wouldn't be in such a rush."

Miya wanted to say more, something from behind her startled her. An unnatural wind blew, knocking her over and causing birds to rustle from their nests. "Well, well, well," A dignified voice said threw the trees. "What do we have here?" Slowly, the night gave away revealing a very strange scene.
It looked like a long thick poll was supporting a faraway tree. Thick, bulky… and twitching with life; the tree was a hideous sight. "Hmm? No response little girl? No yelp of fear?" the voice laughed. "This must all be new to you…"

Miya clenched her fists as a sudden rush of anger and hate rushed through her veins. She glanced back up at Hiita, only to find that she had vanished. Or was she even really there? Suddenly, Miya was questioning herself again.

Slowly, the thick blue pole unraveled itself; it spread itself open like a butterfly. But this was hardly a common metamorphosis, the blue turned out to be a cape and the pole merely a human attached to the tree upside down.

In a rush, the 'human' detached from the branch and glided in the air toward Miya, stopping just a few inches from her face.

"Boo," he said playfully, but still Miya didn't move.

"Be brave…" Miya could hear Hiita whisper in the woods.

Exodus stood tall above Miya, wearing a vile grin. "You lost?" He laughed, "No worries, when I'm done with you, you be right at home…" he let his sentence trail with a hollow laugh. His eyes glared at his prey as he unveiled a duel disk, one very similar to the one Demise had given Kross, from under his trench coat.

Miya stepped backward, not quite sure what to do. Hiita whispered to her again, "Fight this loser, Miya!" she said in a sort of bossy tone.

The wind blew and Miya's could feel her left arm get very warm. When she examined it, she could see it had somehow caught fire! She almost screamed, but realized that, though she could feel the warmth, the fire wasn't burning her. Slowly, the spinning flames on her arms slowed and light red duel disk appear attached femininely to her arm. Another small flame appeared in the deck slot of the duel disk, but it quickly went out, leaving a deck of Duel Monster's cards in its place.

"I see that you are a very special little girl," Exodus said succulently. "All the better, the way I see it. I can still sense your fear…"

Miya grew angry and knew she had to fight. Her veins pounded with a sudden lust for power. "Who are you!" She screamed as Exodus took his place several feet away from her.

"I am your enemy, Miya Ark," Exodus replied firmly, "That is all you need to know."

'For this will not last longer enough for my name to matter,' Exodus thought to himself. 'You're merely a stepping stone…'

"NOW!" Exodus shouted, "Show me what you've got!" He relentlessly drew his five cards. Slowly, Miya drew her cards too, and with each one her eyes glowed hotter.

"Duel!" They both shouted.

[4000/4000

They took a moment to examine their draws. "I can do this," Miya whispered to herself. "I'm not crazy. That Hiita girl is by my side. I can do this!" She drew a sixth card, and glanced it, feeling almost stupid.

'Oh god,' she thought, 'what the heck am I doing? I can't duel!' she quickly reminisced the duel she witnessed between Kross and Chazz only about an hour ago. They both had tenacity, courage, and a mix of rage. All of those things Miya felt she suddenly lacked. 'Think Miya,' she thought, her head pounding, 'this can't be too hard!'

Miya picked the center card in her hand and, deciding it was worth a try, placed it horizontal on her duel disk. "Aussa the Earth Charmer," Miya said slowly.

There was a flash, and a short girl with brown hair and glasses appeared. The monster was holding a staff similar to Hiita's, something Miya had taken to account when she played it. At the same time, a small brown animal no larger then her head had appeared nest to the monster. The monster, though in defense position, glared at Miya from the corner of her eye. Miya could of sworn that, right then, it winked at her. (500/1500)

"Nice monster," Exodus said sarcastically. "Now I'll show you mine! I summon Regenerating Mummy (1800/1500)!" Another flash, and a decomposing humanoid appeared, dragging poorly wrapped bandages. "Now go! Destroy the Charmer!"

The Mummy gave a low moan and walked slowly, approaching its target, and destroying it in one fell swoop of its dieing hand.

Miya wasn't sure who she was more afraid of, her opponent's monster or her opponent entirely. "Make a move," Exodus demanded.

Miya hesitantly drew a card and was surprised at her draw. "Oh, It's you," she murmured to the card. "I guess I must be crazy." She continued to look at the card, but felt no reassurance.

"I… umm… play this facedown…?" a horizontal board appeared in front of Miya. She almost jumped a little; surprised that summoning that had caused no other hologram.

Afterwards, Miya stood still. She knew her new monster would not be able to stand up to the Regenerating Mummy, but she had no idea what to use to defend it. Suddenly, a card in the center of her hand glowed brightly. Miya's eyes grew big at the sight of it, but she wasn't sure what it meant.

She took the card, and placed it facedown, shrugging her shoulders.

Exodus didn't say anything as he drew a card. Another moment of silence later, her called out, "I summon Wandering Mummy (1500/1500) in attack mode!" Another corpse, this one livelier then the first appeared in front of a proud Exodus. "Go, Regenerating Mummy, attack her facedown monster card!" He ordered, and sure enough, the dead creature approached Miya's monster again.

Something told her she was ready this time. The wind blew and her right hand grew uncomfortably warm. As if directing her, Miya moved her hand from the heat, only to find that no matter where it went, it was still warm. The wind blew again, very roughly, and her now numb hand drifted to her duel disk, landing right on an 'activate' button.

Instantly, Miya's facedown card appeared. "Earth Shaker!" she found herself yelling.

[Earth Shaker

Trap card

Remove one EARTH monster from your graveyard to activate this card. Reduce the ATK of all monsters on your opponent's side of the field by 1000 points, and switch their battle positions.

Exodus, who was keenly watching his monster slowly wander to its target, was taken back as it suddenly stopped, and knelt to the floor. "What did you do?" he asked rudely as his turn came to an abrupt end.

Miya wasn't quite sure; all she knew was that the monster that was destroyed last turn had slid out of her duel disk.

"She used Earth Shaker," a familiar voice said. Miya looked up, and suddenly, her facedown monster flipped up, revealing Hiita the Fire Charmer in all her glory. "A nifty card that stopped your attack," Hiita continued, "And you can guess there's more where that came from!"

Hiita looked the same as before, when Miya saw her hanging around in a tree, but now a small brownish red fox was accompanying her. Hiita's face was stern, being very upset about something.

Exodus raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "Ah, Hiita, it's been some time," he smiled in a satisfied way, "I imagine all of your friends have allied with this incompetent girl? Pah! This will be even easier then I first thought!"

Miya was bewildered. A mere duel monster's hologram had begun to converse with her opponent! Plus, they sounded as if they knew each other! Miya kept her mouth shut as Hiita cursed openly as Exodus.

'What in the world is going on here?' Miya wondered her eyes wide open in confusion.

Chapter Twenty-One

A Dark Night and Rainy Morn

(Part Two of Two)

Kross Forrester awoke in a fright as a wind howled through the night.

When the wind died, he stretched his legs and arms, glancing around his surroundings inconspicuously. Chazz was still asleep against another tree; Jaden slumped on the ground only a few feet from there. It took Kross some time before he realized she was missing, "Miya?" he called out to the setting a moon. "Miya, where are you?"

The wind blew again, this one from the ocean, towards the trees of the Islands dense forest. Leaves rustled and branches twitched. "Miya?" he said, staring into the dark woods. "Miya…" he repeated, approaching the thicket of trees slowly, entering Miya's privacy being the last thing he wanted to do.

Still no reply came. He wandered into the forest, as if hunting a mysterious game. "Miya!" he shouted, he could see the morning sun through the trees. "Miya!" he yelled and the suns rays overshadowed him. The wind blew even harder this time, leaves blowing across Kross's face. "Miya!" he shouted again. But even he would not a make a reply as the sun's rays consumed him.

"Dah! What's going on?" he hollered as the light became brighter and brighter.

"Came into the light Kross Forester," a feminine voice said. "Come to the light and learn your destiny…" The lighted slowly faded away; Kross had vanished with it.

Kross returned later that morning, a new hope and vitality in his veins. Chazz heard him walking through the trees and turned from the small fire he had built to see him, he was surprised not to see Miya with him.

"We've you been?" Chazz demanded.

Kross turned his eyes onto the Chazz. He was silent for a moment, and then he said, "She's not here?" His voice sounded unalarmed.

"Well obviously," Chazz spat, turning the fire.

Kross looked back into the trees. The sun was only just peaking through. "She'll be back soon," Kross informed. "Something tells me she's doing something she must do for herself."

Chazz, a little surprised with the drama in Kross's voice, shook his head and finished, "Yeah, well, she'd better hurry. We got a lot to do today."

Kross nodded.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, the duel continued.

[4000/4000

"Well, well, well, young Miya Ark," Exodus muttered, "Do you know who you're dealing with? I am the top Official of his highness the King of Armageddon, do you know what kind of power that gives me in this pre-apocalyptic world?"

Miya didn't listen to him, instead choosing to follow Hiita's words. "Listen to me carefully," Hiita said, "Whatever happens, you can count on me. Just believe in yourself. You are, or at least were," she added, "a Duelist! You can do this!"

Miya nodded, fully prepared to embrace her task. "Alright!" she yelled, "I play this in response to my Fire Charmer's Flip Summon! Go Elemental Affinity!"

[Elemental Affinity

Quick Play Spell

Pay 500 Life points to activate this card and select one monster on your side of the field. All Monsters on both players field's attributes become the same as the selected monster for the remainder of the duel.

Exodus knew exactly what was going on, particularly why he wasn't startled to his two weak Zombies suddenly burst into flames.

[3500/4000

"Impressive," Exodus nodded. "Impressive indeed."

Miya couldn't hear him though. "Now that your monsters are all Fire Monsters, Hiita can control them!" she yelled, clearly proud of her accomplishment. Meanwhile, Hiita swung her short fire staff in a swirling motion. It went faster and faster and faster until the Regenerating Mummy turned around and took several steps backward toward Miya, prepared to attack its former master.

"Traitor," Exodus spat. His voice grew higher as he addressed Miya, "It seems that though you managed the little task of controlling my Zombie, you fail to see that due to your Earth Shaker Trap card, it's not strong enough to take out my remaining Zombie's defense points!" He gave a light chuckle, "Nice try little girl."

"I'm not done yet!" Miya said, concentrating and letting her orange-red duel disk glow. Suddenly, the small brown fox that rested its small body near Hiita's feet howled into the sky and the Regenerating Mummy finally burned away.

"What?" Exodus said in almost disbelief, "What are you doing? Ah!" Exodus covered his face with his cloak as a bright light filled the area.
Hiita had suddenly begun to glow as she slowly levitated off the ground, her hair beginning to spread out as if she were on the floor. The Fox howled again and it burst into flames. The flames of the fox spiraled around Hiita's body and her eyes went hollow. Slowly, Hiita landed on the floor again, her face unemotional (1850/1500).

"Now," Hiita and Miya said together, "see our power!" And with that, Familiar Possessed Hiita lunged at the Wandering Mummy (500/1500). The Mummy burst into tiny pieces instantly at contact with Hiita's flaming staff.

[3500/3650

Exodus didn't even flinch toward the damage he took, though he was curious as to how it got there. "I didn't expect the trample ability to be one of the many hidden Charmer effects," he said. "None the less, the damage changes nothing!"

"We'll see," Hiita and Miya said in stereo as a facedown card appeared behind Hiita.

"Indeed," Exodus agreed as he drew a card and glanced at it, smiling. "Ah, the perfect card for this particular moment," he mumbled. He turned his glare to Miya, who stood there confidently prepared for whatever he had in mind. Exodus chuckled. "You surprised me, young Miya," he said slowly, "but you are still no match for me!" He eyes bulged with sudden rush of power. "Allow me to show you why when I play this! Call of the Mummy!"

A spell card depicting a fully wrapped mummy awakening from it's coffin appeared. However, similar to Level limit Area – B, it produced no other holograms, making it's presence felt only through the holographic card.

"With this!" Exodus began, "I can summon the most powerful and good looking," he added thoughtfully, "Monster in the world!" The Call of the Mummy spell card glowed a thunder rocked the skies. "That's right…" He said leisurely, "I summon myself! The Vampire Lord (2000/1500)!"

Thunder shook the earth as Exodus vanished, then exploded from the ground a few feet closer to Miya. He bore the same vile grin and waved his long dark blue cloak in the wind as Miya hesitantly slipped her foot backward.

The Thunder subsided as Exodus yawned. "It feels good to be a mere spirit again. Oh Hiita, you would not believe the troubles of living and breathing in this Human world. It's devastating." Hiita growled, though Miya wasn't sure if it was her talking or the small fox that seemed to have been controlling her body. "Nothing to add you cunning little animal? Very well." At that, Exodus dashed toward Hiita, revealing a small knife enclosed in his sleeve.

"No!" Miya yelled in despair, but it was too late, Hiita took the full blow of the deadly knife attack from Exodus and, though she seemed to survive it at first, gasping for breath with her eyes wide open, shattered into tiny pieces.

Exodus quietly repelled off Hiita's body, before it shattered, and landed safely on his field. "And it only gets worse little girl," he concluded, "Too make you feel more alone, I will discard one monster from your deck!" He waved his hand, and an 'Element Dragon' monster card slid out of her deck and into the graveyard.

Miya was completely shaken up. She fell to her knees, shivering as the preceded thunder finally produced light rain. She was alone again.

Exodus gave a silent smile. He glanced at a bizarre watch-like device on his arm and his smile quickly turned to a disappointed frown. "Humph, that's enough for now…" he said. "We'll finish what we started when you can stand your own ground…" He quietly produced a black puddle of ooze at his feet, and began to sink into it. "Till then," he finished as his head submerged below the earth.

Moments pasted without a sound, except for the pouring rain.

"Alone…" Miya said to herself.

"Phew, there she is; Miya!" Chazz yelled from the distance. "Miya! We got to get out of here!" Miya turned her head to see Chazz and Kross running in her direction. "Hurry, stand up! This rain is no cause of nature!"

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Darkness in Demise's New World

Chazz and Kross came rushing toward the frightened Miya. She stood up and embraced the rushing Kross as he ran into her face first. "Oh, um… sorry," he said, backing off slowly. He shook his head and said, "Come on, Chazz is right, we gotta move!"
Miya looked around him and could see rushing winds and turbulence flowing from where they came. She nodded her head and the group headed off. All the while Miya couldn't help but think of Hiita's last words to her. "Whatever happens, you can count on me." She had told her. "Just believe in yourself." If she could always count on her, how is it that she is gone now?
She continued running, trying to shake of the early morning events and tailing Kross, who was carrying Jaden on his back, and Chazz closely. As she ran and pondered Hiita's words, Exodus's words came to her as well. "I am your enemy, Miya Ark, That is all you need to know." Was it all she needed to know? Did Exodus know something of her past? His words continued to rush through her head: "Ah, Hiita, it's been some time. I imagine all of your friends have allied with this incompetent girl…?" Exodus and Hiita had a past. Would she ever learn of it?
Suddenly she stopped. Chazz didn't notice, but Kross immediately halted and faced her saying, "Miya! What's wrong? Let's go!"
But Miya kept her eyes away from him, facing the impounding energy that was now rustling the once quite forest behind her. The Wind slowly grew sharper; leaves began to leave small cuts on her face and ankles. "Miya!" Kross yelled again, keeping his eyes on the rising sun behind him and Miya all at once. "Miya!"
She still didn't listen. She was determined to find out if what Hiita said was true. She stood her ground and opened her arms wide to the oncoming danger. "Miya!" Kross yelled advancing toward her as the wind howled and rain as sharp as bullets began to fall.
Miya kept her eyes open and in time, she could see it: A dark and evil veil of darkness coving the horizon of the forest. It was advancing remarkably fast, forcing all natural barriers under its veil. She stood her ground again, the wind rushing her light red hair. She expected Kross to yell at her again, but it never came.
Ten feet: the darkness was so close, but Miya was still not satisfied. Five feet: closer still, but she still did not move. Inches away: She began to feel her fear eat away at her. She closed her eyes, ready to die.
But if that was death, it definitely was not what she thought it would be. The winds had stopped, and the rain was no longer piercing her cheeks.
Her eyes opened, and Hiita the Fire Charmer stood in front of her, producing some form of shield against the oncoming darkness. She was breathing hard, as if what she was doing was draining her strength. "Hiita!" Miya exclaimed excitedly. Hiita did not respond. She kept her body facing away from Miya and toward the darkness, gripping her torch-like staff tightly.
Miya blinked. When she opened her eyes however, Hiita was gone and the darkness was rushing toward her.

"It's a lie," a voice said in Kross's head as he suddenly awoke inside a small hut. "A lie…" the voice said again, as Kross shook his head and looked around.
"What happened?" he asked himself. "Where am I?" He looked around; he was inside a small wooden hut, sitting on a bail of hay for a bed. The hut wasn't decorated very much, though a blaring fire was consuming the wood in the fire grate. He could hear it raining lightly outside.
Kross stood up, brushing small pieces of hay of his jacket and walking toward the thick tarp that was used as a door. "Hello?" his voice echoed in the hut, "Miya? Chazz? Anyone?"
Kross was almost to the tarp when a girl Kross easily recognized entered. "Wha!" the girl said, dropping a heavy basket of fruit at Kross's feat. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't think you were awake yet…"
"Alexis!" Kross said in disbelief. "What- Where are we? What's going on?"
The blonde girl that Kross only knew as Alexis stared at him. "Alexis?" she repeated. "You must be mistaken, my name is Asuka."
Kross looked at her. While she did look like Alexis, she wasn't in Alexis usual girls Obelisk Blue dorm uniform. Instead, she wore wet dress made of what looked to be more suited for a potato sack. Her hair was carefully tied back with a long blade of grass.
Kross knelt down and picked up a few of the fallen fruits, though he was still lost as to how Asuka looked just like Alexis.
"No, no," Asuka said, "Please, enjoy the day. I took you travelers in, so as guests, you shouldn't clean up my mess. Your friends are in the village. They said they would not wonder far."
Kross looked at Asuka again, then stood up and went right around her out of the hut. Once he was outside, he really wished he hadn't have listened to Asuka.
Outside was a town full of small huts just like the one he was just inside. Everyone in the town looked like counter-parts of those Kross used to recognize at school. Throughout the town, people Kross recognized were dress in clothes similar to Asuka's, only varying by gender. The town itself was just a line of houses, all aligned on a single dirt path that stretched all the way toward Demise's castle.
"Surprised, huh, Kross?" Chazz spat from behind him. "I guess that makes three of us then."
Kross looked at Chazz, he was unchanged from when he had last saw him only hours before. "Where's Miya?" Kross asked urgently.
"I'm here!" Miya said happily, carrying a basket of fruit alongside Asuka, who had emerged from the hut behind Kross only moments ago. "This place is great, isn't it Kross? If in only it wasn't so dark all the time…"
Miya was indeed correct. As Kross examined the sky above him, he too noticed that it seemed to be covered with unnaturally dark clouds in all four compass directions. Lightning shot across the sky violently ever few minutes.
Miya smiled happily as she and Asuka went back inside the hut to put the fruit away.
Kross shook his head. After blinking a few times, he noticed something he didn't expect to see. There, walking by him carrying in his arms what looked like a stone duel disk was Jase Kingston. He made to talk to him when Chazz grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Don't bother Kross," Chazz said, "I know what you did to him; don't ask how, but I know he isn't exactly supposed to be here." Chazz paused, looking to Kross for confirmation of what he just told him. He continued: "A lot of people, Jase Kingston, Juliana Li, and practically everyone I know of that got pulled into that giant purple bubble Demise had created yesterday, is here. But they don't go by their real names, instead using rather foreign names."
Kross sighed before the impossible hit him. His mind began to race and his thoughts ended in several places. 'Could she really be here?' he thought to himself, 'is that possible? No… but…'
instantly Kross sped down the dirt path, Chazz already knowing where he was going, quietly following. Kross ran down the town's one street, hearing passerby say things like, 'Who's that?' and 'What's he wearing?'
Kross ignored them, still thinking to himself, 'Not there, not over there, come on; she's got to be here! Ah…' He came to a halt in front of another wooden hut. It looked the same as the others, except its occupant was more important to Kross then the others.
Had the window not been open, he wouldn't have even seen her through the corner of his eye, lying in a straw bed in the corner of the home. He could hardly believe it, yet, there she was.
Chazz, using a casual stroll, caught up to Kross and rested his arm on his shoulder, turning him around. "Kross," he told him, "I know what you want to do, but I'm going to tell you now, you're going to be disappointed. Just look around you," he referred to all the familiar faces around them, "Nothing good can come from this Kross, but…" he sighed, "I can't stop you. Go it you want."
Kross looked at Chazz, surprised at the sudden trust, and nodded, turning back around and heading for the hut. "Just don't do anything stupid Kross," Chazz yelled to him, "Miya and I will meet you at Asuka's place later."
Kross kept walking until he finally entered the hut. Chazz was right though; he was going to be disappointed. Mary Dowd was inside the house, but as he would learn, she wasn't sleeping.
"Oh…" a feminine voice said as Juliana Li, or as she was known now, Shi, stepped away from the bed. "It's you. The prophecy said you'd come. 'A man named Kross will come to reveal the secret buried within her'," Julian recited, "Your name is Kross, correct?" Juliana was crying softly. "If only you'd come sooner, she's…she's…"
Kross approached the bed Mary occupied. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared to very warm and in pain. "Mary…" Kross said. "Mary… it's me, Kross… can you…" he was trembling, "hear me?" He reached out and felt her forehead, she was burning up very fast she too was trembling.
"Oh, Kross," Shi said, "Please Kross, if you can, heal her! Please! You must!"
Kross looked at her, and then to Mary again. He wasn't sure what to do.
The door behind him creaked open. "Kross?" Miya said as she poked her head into the hut. "Chazz said I'd find you here. There's something you need to see-… oh… I'm sorry." Miya noticed the ill girl on the bed and entered the hut fully walking over next to Kross. "Is she… dying?" Miya asked slowly. Kross nodded hesitantly. "I'm sorry… did you know her?" Kross nodded again.
The hut was silent for a minute; only the town's folk outside could be heard. Kross closed his eyes, imagining Mary's sweet face and smile from months before.
"I'm going to be OK," a voice said and Kross opened his eyes. Mary was still unconscious, but the voice sounded like hers. "Kross… there's so much I need to tell you…"
Kross had blinked, but he was sure it wasn't Mary talking. He turned his head just as Miya continued, speaking quickly, "Kross, it was Demise. All of this, it was him. None of this is your fault." Kross jumped slightly. Miya's eyes had gone hollow, looking similar to that of Familiar Possessed Hiita's.
"M-Mary?" Kross bellowed.
Miya turned her head toward him, "Yes," she replied, her voice now faint.
"The devil has come!" Shi yelped in fear.
"Mary…" Kross said, ignoring Shi, "I'm sorry for everything that happened. Before the tournament, after… I'm sorry. I-"
"Kross," Mary continued though Miya, "It's not your fault. It was Demise. He has been in control of all of this. All of it."
Kross shook his head, "No, it was me, I… I killed so many people. I killed," he looked for a moment at the cowering Shi, then back to Miya. "I did it…"
"Kross, listen to me," Mary demanded through Miya's body, "All of this, all the rage you had, all of the frustration, it was Demise! He planted it. He did it all…"
"Mary, I can't simply forgive myself like that. Getting rid of Demise is my responsibility," Kross paused but got no response. He waited a little while longer, but still nothing. "Mary?" he asked.
Miya blinked and looked around. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked hesitantly, not sure what to think of Kross' stare.
Kross sighed, and looked back to Mary. She had stopped twitching… and breathing. "Mary…" Kross said again. "How could this, like before, not be my fault?"
Another moment of silence later, Miya led Kross outdoors. "I'm really sorry Kross, I didn't know you had any friends in this village." Miya cracked a low smile, still oblivious to the fact that this 'village' hadn't been here yesterday. "Otherwise," she continued, "Since I've been around here for more than a day, would have told you about her sooner." Miya casually looked at one of high branches of a tree, just above Mary's home. She gave a wink, which Kross didn't see, and continued walking.
Kross nodded and followed her back to Asuka's hut. Chazz was waiting there for them, looking impatient. As they got closer, someone suddenly rushed passed them. It was Shi, or Juliana, and she looked scared. As Kross's eyes followed her down the road, he realized something. The town was suddenly deserted.
"Come on!" Chazz said, "Hurry up! We can't wait out in the open!" He looked at Kross's confused face and explained, "Kross, he's there, just where the road meets the castle. Demise is here!"
Thunder cracked as the usual dark sky began to produce hard rain. "Hurry, inside! We don't have much time!" Chazz yelled. They hurried into the hut, Miya more urgently than Kross.
The rain sped up quickly as the group reentered the hut, only to find, to Kross's surprise at least, that Asuka wasn't there. Chazz instantly crouched to the floor and hid himself cleverly behind the fire grate.
"What's going on?" Kross asked.
"Be quiet!" Chazz urged.
Silence passed as the rain only grew harder. Miya, who was hiding in the bail of hay that was used for a bed, whispered: "Kross, whenever it rains like this, it means that King Armageddon is going to come out of his castle to 'greet' his people."
"Yeah," Chazz whispered as well, "And unless you want to get caught now and die from Demise's annoying army, I recommend staying low until he's gone."
Kross, bewildered, nodded his head and kept quiet, keeping his voice down. He could hear the masses only a little whiles a way yell: "ALL HAIL DEMISE OUR KING".
Meanwhile, nearby the mass of villagers bowing to their king, a survivor and his comrades prepared for their assault on the castle. Zane was more then ready, after witnessing for the past week how Demise treats he people, to defeat this 'ruler'. Thunder rocked the sky as Zane folded his arms and gave a confident smile. "If there's one duelist you can't beat," he said, "It's me."

Chapter Twenty-Three

Undefeatable

"What were you thinking?" Demise spat to his wife as she tied a long cape around his neck. "I don't need this. My purpose is to destroy this world, not rule it."

Ruin gave a succulent sigh, "Ah, but my King, you have been so flustered. Something must be done to make my powerful king happy again." She examined her long fingers and beckoned him to follow her to the castles balcony.

"Humph," Demise scuffed, "Happiness, something I can never feel…"

Demise sighed again and picked his axe off the wall it had been leaning on. Though he didn't notice, the axe's handle had left a small hole in the wall, and when he picked it up, the entire wall there shattered, leave a small hole where the axe had been.

With heavy steps, Demise walked onto his balcony. Made of black stone and wood, the balcony stood high above the nearby village's single street. As he approached the railing, he could see the mass number of students he had captured. They all stood there in adoration of their King.

Demise was silent for a moment. Finally, something caught his attention. It was very much like Demise to have a good idea of what was going on around him at all times. In this case, he was being watched from afar.

"Hmm, pathetic human…" Demise whispered, bringing his axe to his shoulder and taking a powerful swing at the railing, easily shattering it.

"My King!" Exodus, who had been leaning on a wall with his arms crossed, shouted.

Demise ignored him, picking his axe up again and staring out among the houses. "Show yourself!" he demanded. "My senses do not play tricks on me!" Demise turned around sharply and saw his opponent standing confidently on the other side of the large balcony.

"Go get him, Zane!" Syrus shouted to his older brother. "You're our last hope!"

Demise carelessly dropped his axe and stared at Zane, a hazardous smile curving underneath his helmet. "It looks like I missed you three," He said calmly, referring to Zane, Syrus and Chumley. "But it is no matter. I could use some real fun."

Ruin was in complete shock. "How-how did he get here? How did he not get captured?" She stammered.

They both ignored her as Zane readied his duel disk and Demise let his produce from black ooze that spouted from his armor. "Let's do this," Zane said confidently. Demise nodded.

"When I defeat you, Sir Trusdale," Demise mumbled to his opponent, "you can imagine no other reward then death. Prepare for the end!"

[4000/4000

"I will go first, if that's alright with you," Demise declared, drawing a card. "Hmm… a simple facedown card and monster will do for me. I hope you can muster better than that."

Zane scoffed the request, tossing a monster on his duel disk. "Your first mistake! I summon the mighty Cyber Dragon is attack mode (2100/1600)!" Thunder rocked the sky and the metallic dragon appeared with a deafening roar. "Next I'll play this, Cyber Shock Cord!"

[Cyber Shock Cord

Spell Card

Destroy one monster on your opponent's side of the field. Then, your opponent activates one of the following effects:

-Draw one card.

-Inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent's life points.

"This card," Zane continued, "destroys your facedown monster!" With an explosion, Demise's facedown card was gone.
"Indeed," Demise replied, "but the second effect of that card will inflict 500 points of damage to your life points!"

Zane seemed unimpressed as the spell card faded away. "Now," he began, "Cyber Dragon… attack this king directly!" Another roar and the Cyber Dragon shot a powerful blast of energy toward Demise. As the dust cleared, it became evident that the attack had left a small crater in the balcony floor.

[4000/3500

"What?" Zane said; going from a stern look with is arms folded, to a surprised and almost worried look. "Why didn't you take any damage?"

Demise chuckled in response. He smiled, saying: "Sir Trusdale, do you really think they call me undefeatable for nothing?" he chuckled.

Zane growled and persisted: "What did you do?!"

Demise laughed again, letting Lighting reflect off his shiny armor. For a moment, the armor reflected a dark purple. But in an instant, the black coloring returned. "Do you see this?" Demise asked, clearly amused. "This… what I am wearing, represented by the trap card I played earlier, is what makes me unbeatable!"

A faded trap card appeared, depicting a set of soldiers working hard on a project inside a boiling mine. "It's called Chthonian Diamond Armor," Demise explained, "A trap card that when played, nullifies any and all damage done to me!"

"No way," Zane said, "no trap could simply do that. It must have an unbelievable cost."

Demise abruptly stopped laughing and explained: "In a literal sense… no. But as an effect, not a cost, this trap will discard the top card of my deck for every 1000 points of damage it negates!" At that, two cards flew off of Demise's duel disk. "As an added bonus, the card will take three cards from my deck at the beginning of my turn."

Zane growled again, "I fail to see how that's a bonus."

"Just wait and see, Sir Trusdale. Just wait…" Zane trembled as Demise let loose another terrifying fact. "Just so you don't waste any cards," he said, "I'll let you know that my armor is completely invulnerable to being destroyed by any spell, trap or monster effect." He laughed proudly again. "Your death is coming Sir Trusdale. It is coming."

Zane was completely out of character. He had never faced such a powerful card, even it its unofficial costs could deplete Demise's deck; it still meant that Zane would have to play a strict defense for the entire duel. Something he wasn't sure he could do. He glanced to his hand, over looking the Mystical Space Typhoon card that was there. "I have no choice," he said.

Zane looked to Demise. "I set one trap card facedown and end my turn."

"Very well," Demise replied, drawing a card. "It is now time for you see why I call my armors effect a bonus. Ha, ha, ha, come forth: Despair from the Dark (2800/3000)!"

The Kings deck glowed and three cards flew off it. While two of them flew harmlessly to the graveyard, another stayed and glowed brighter until a terrible shadow produced itself from behind Demise.

[Chthonian Diamond Armor

Continuous Trap

During each of your standby phases, discard the top three cards of your deck. The effect of Spell, Trap, or Monster effects cannot destroy this face-up card. Reduce any damage you would take to 0. For every 1000 points of damage this effect reduces, discard the top card from your deck. Each time this card is targeted by Spell, Trap, or Monster effects, discard the top card of your deck.

Lightning flashed again as the townsfolk below the balcony viewed with awe and it began to rain even harder.

"Now…" Demise chuckled to himself. "Despair from the Dark, OBLITERATE his Cyber Dragon!"

The dark red-ish shadow extended a long purple claw and violently slashed the Cyber Dragon to pieces.

[4000/2800

"Come on, Zane!" Syrus shouted from behind his brother, "You can still beat him!"

"Yeah," Chumley agreed, "we have the utmost faith in you. Do it Zane!"

After a nodding glance to his comrades, Zane looked into his hand again. "My trap card could have worked there, but I've got a better idea now." He whispered to himself.

"I play Premature Burial," Zane declared. "And pay 800 Life Points to bring my Cyber Dragon back!" The spell card appeared and produced the 'equip' symbol on the stone floor. A second later, the Cyber Dragon was produced (2100/1600). "Next, I play Polymerization and fuse the Cyber Dragon on my field with the two in my hand to create: Cyber End Dragon (4000/2800)!"

[4000/2000

The Cyber Dragon the field vanished and in its place, the mighty Cyber End Dragon made its appearance. Each of the monster's three heads was coded by a different color. The machine growled menacingly as its shiny exterior reflected the shadow monster before it.

Demise paid no tribute to the arrival of such a powerful monster. "No matter how strong it is, it cannot defeat me," He said. "Your monster means nothing."

Zane seemed convinced that his monster was more then what he needed to secure his victory. "I'd like to see you take down my monster before you declare yourself the victory. Next to only two other monsters, excluding the Egyptian God and Sacred Beasts cards, this monster is one of the strongest in the game of Duel Monsters!" Thunder crashed behind him, "Just try and beat it. Go, Cyber End Dragon, Destroy Despair from the Dark!"

Demise squinted his eyes from behind his visor as his giant shadow was destroyed by the powerful blast erupted from the Cyber Dragon's heads. "You dare doubt my power?" he taunted, "Pah, I'll show you a powerful monster!"

Demise drew his card, as he did so; three more cards flew off of his duel disk. This time, two of them glowed while the other floated to the graveyard. "Perfect," Demise muttered, "I summon two Fear from the Darks in attack mode (1700/1500)!" Two monsters, similar to Despair from the Dark only smaller, appeared in front of Demise.

"Alright!" Demise yelled. "Your untimely death has come! Go, End of the World!" The rain poured down heavier as the ritual spell card appeared and shook violently. "With these two shadows as sacrifices, I summon the most powerful monster in the world… Myself: Demise, the King of Armageddon (2400/2000)!"

Similar to when Exodus summoned himself, Demise vanished only to reappear a few feet closer to his opponent. "THE END IS NIGH!" Demise said wielding his axe and bringing it down in a crushing slam to the stone floor. With it, a powerful blast of energy erupted from its tip; destroying everything in its path, save for Zane and his comrades.

As the energy faded away, it became clear that Cyber End Dragon had been wiped out entirely, with not even a small piece of metal remaining. "No way!" Chumley said in disbelief. "He destroyed Zane's best monster!"

"Syrus…" Zane said slowly, preparing for a final onslaught. "Run…"

Demise examined his axe and, noticing a deep crack running through it, tossed it aside, now drawing on a sword he had attached to his belt. He pointed the long blade to his opponent and gave a solemn good bye.

"Time to end this charade," Exodus whispered to himself, just as Demise began a rapid charge to cut down his opponent.

Despite Demise's armor, he was remarkably fast, each step barely making any noise at all and each leaving only small indentations in the floor. Demise brought his sword to a full swing he suddenly came to a halt. Several Zombies had appeared and were blocking his path. "What is the meaning of this?" he yelled as he cut each mummified creature down to size. "Exodus!"

Meanwhile, Zane, Syrus and Chumley were slowly being seeped under the ground from the black puddles that Exodus had silently produced. By the time Demise had finished with the zombies, they were gone.

"Exodus!" Demise roared, slamming he heavy sword against the wall and trapping Exodus's neck on the flat side of the blade. He had no trouble breathing, as Exodus didn't need to, and he kept his head despite that a flick of the wrist from Demise could severe it from his body. "I surely hope for your sake that you have an explanation for this!"

Exodus calmly replied: "Sire, if I may, I've been told that enemy you seek is in this village. I simply thought it best not for you to waste any more energy, not with your final obstacle so close."

Demise leaned in close to Exodus, giving a stern glare, before sliding his blade off of Exodus's neck. "I would advise you to tell me this sooner should the time come. Next time, I will not use the flat edge of my sword."

"Yes sire," Exodus replied, sinking into the shadows and out of sight.

Demise returned his sword to its kilt and stomped back inside the castle. "Wait!" Ruin pleaded, "What should I do with them?" she referred to the townsfolk still observing their king.

"I care not for their fates. Do with them what you wish." And at that, Demise threw his cape aside and stormed his castle. Ruin looked displeased, as if her suspicions had been proven true and she did not like results.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Strange Happenings

After what had seemed like an hour, Kross stood from his hiding place in Asuka's hut. "She should be back by now," Chazz noted. "What could take so long? Alexis, I mean, Asuka said that that 'King' was only made appearances for the sake of publicity. Heh, unless he's taken up real advertising, I don't think it could've taken that long."

Kross looked at him, only to look up a second later as what sounded like thunder hit the ground, shaking the straw roof. "Well, I don't feel like standing here and waiting. We should-"

Suddenly, Asuka burst through the door, soaking wet and panting as if she'd run a marathon. "Chazz, you and your friends need to get out of here!"

Chazz stood up now. "What? What did Demise say?"

Asuka leaned on the wall next to her tarp door and slowly slid down it to the floor. "That's just it. He didn't say anything as he left. Some strange things happened when he won his battle with Sir Trusdale and-"

"Sir Trusdale?" Chazz interrupted. "Could…. No, there's no way he'd lose." Chazz began to rapidly pace the floor. Asuka was too confused to continue.

Luckily, Kross knew exactly who 'Sir Trusdale' was and persisted. He was about to ask Asuka what he looked like when the roar of oncoming people filled the room.

Asuka peaked outside her hut, only to quickly pull her head back in. "He's coming! Hurry! You must go now!" Asuka got up off the floor and buried herself in the bail of hay that made up her bed. She reappeared and whispered softly to them: "I put my bed here cause there's a weak wall right behind it. Break it, I don't care anymore." She lugged something from underneath her and Jaden Yuki's head popped up. "He can stay here. Trust me, he isn't waking up soon."

As Chazz and Kross conversed with Asuka, Miya noticed something on Chazz's shoulder: A small yellow blob-like creature with eyes. Her eyes grew wide with horror as the creature noticed her too and seemed to realize that they could indeed see each other. The blob winked and putting finder in front its mouth, motioning the 'shh' noise.

Kross and Chazz looked at each other, and then to Miya, who hadn't ever looked more frightened. "GO!" Asuka yelled at them.

"But, sire," Exodus protested as Demise, bearing a new axe in hand, approached Asuka's hut. "The information came over an hour ago from some girl. She was delusional! Apparently her friend had just died and-"

"Enough, Exodus," Demise bellowed to his aid. "You had the nerve to stop me in the middle of a fight. So unless you want to admit you were lying to me now, and take your punishment, you would do well to close that vile trap of yours." Exodus slowed down his pace, taking a lead in front of the many legions of guards and other minions of Demise.

It was still raining. It seemed to Kross, as he crawled through the small hole in the back of Asuka's hut, that in this town it was always raining.

Demise pushed his way through the brown tarp on Asuka's door. "Where are they!" he demanded of the girl inside, picking her up by her clothes and threatening her with his axe.

Asuka, now overwhelmed with fright, fainted.

"Hmph," the dark king grumbled. "Useless whelp," He turned to his minions, having thrown Asuka's body into the pile of hay in the back of the hut. Demise stepped heavily out of Asuka's hut and left, muttering unrecognizable words under his breath.

"Where are we?" Syrus Trusdale asked, wandering the darkness and seemingly going nowhere.

"It seems to be some sort of never ending vortex," his brother pondered. "No matter what direction you go, none of us are going anywhere."

Indeed Zane was correct. Since he had almost lost his duel with Demise, Zane, his brother, and Chumley Huffington had been seemingly trapped in an infinite darkness.

"You don't think this is the Shadow Realm, do you Zane?" Chumley asked nervously.

"Of course it's not," a voice spat from in front of the group. They all turned their heads to see the blue-haired vampire Exodus casually strolling toward them.

"Hey, I know you," Zane examined, recognizing the vampire from the sidelines of his last duel. "You work for the King of Darkness."

"Indeed, I do," Exodus, replied, still walking freely toward them. "Which is why I am here." He cleared his throat and continued, "I must say that your attempt to defeat Demise was quite idiotic. You didn't stand a chance that entire time…"

"You leave my brother alone!" Syrus shouted, taking a step toward Exodus, but in reality not moving at all.

Exodus stood directly in front of Zane and smiled. "There is only one way to defeat his Diamond armor. Heh, heh, I happen to be holding it right here…." Exodus reached into his coat and pulled out a duel monsters card. It was a spell card, the group noted, and was called: Extodamous.

"Extodamous?" Zane said, clearly puzzled and saying the word incorrectly.

"Yes, Ex-toh-dam-ohs," Exodus corrected. "This card is the one card that can truly help defeat Demise."

Syrus and Chumley looked at each other and listened as Zane said: "Why are you bothering to show this to us? Clearly you have no intention of letting us go."

"Quite the opposite really," the vampire replied, waving his arms as the dark warp-like background changed into a cold hard dungeon. The group looked around at the rock walls. Syrus and Chumley moved toward the stairs located only a few yards away.

"Sir Trusdale," Exodus explained harshly, looking at Zane with a keen eye, "I need you to deliver this card to someone for me…."

The evening came and went and Miya Ark sat alone against a tree as Chazz and Kross built a small fire in a nearby clearing. Or at least, she looked alone.

"Hiita?" Miya asked, the red headed charmer appearing in the branch above her. She wanted to ask a question, but she wasn't sure how to do it. "I saw something today that didn't make much since to till now."

Hiita swung her legs freely below the branch and hopped down, landing in front of Miya was surprising posture. "Spill it then," she snapped.

Miya hesitated and then said, "It was inside Asuka's hut. On Chazz's shoulder," she pointed to Chazz who was currently frustrated with two branches as he tried to make fire, "it was… a monster." She waited for Hiita to respond, but whatever Miya saw, didn't seem to surprise Hiita, so she continued: "I thought I'd never seen it before, but actually, I did. It was a card is Chazz's deck. I remember looking at it when he helped me fix my deck."

Still, Hiita did not reply. "I was wondering," Miya, continued, pulling out the 'Hiita, the Fire Charmer' card from her pocket, "if what I saw on Chazz's shoulder is…"

At this, Hiita spoke. "You want to know if I'm a dueling spirit," she said plainly. "I guess humans are a lot less 'seeing is believing' than I thought." The small red fox that Hiita always seemed to have with her curled up beside Miya as Hiita eyed her suspiciously.

"YES!" Kross said from behind them, satisfied with himself that he, and not Chazz, had got a fire going. "Miya come here!" he shouted. "I need your help protecting it from the rain!"

Miya looked back at Hiita and extended her arm, nonverbally asking her to help her up. Hiita, slowly and almost cautiously (something quite out of character for the hot-headed fire charmer), extended her hand as well. The two hands met, but passed right through each other.

They both quickly retracted their arms and, after an awkward silence, looked at each other.

"Miya?" Kross said, pushing away one a set of branches.

Hiita quickly vanished.

Chapter Twenty-Five Betrayal and Murder

Night came and Exodus freely returned to his King's throne room. "Good Evening Sire," he said to the king in his throne. "While I must admit I am loving this constant darkness, even a Vampire needs his sleep."

He stepped around the stone throne and headed toward the exit. Demise stood up, his head hung low. "Exodus?" he asked.

Exodus was only a few steps away from the doorway on the other side of the room when he stopped to hear his King's call. Demise lifted his head and walked toward him with his heavy footsteps. "Exodus," he repeated, "What have you been doing these past hours?"

The Vampire gulped and trembled lightly. "D-doing? I-I have been serving you, my lord." He made to leave as quickly as he could, but something hard hammered him in the chest.

"Exodus," Demise bellowed again. "Do I sense your betrayal?" He had his former servant by the throat with the edge of his sword.

Exodus gulped again. "B-Betrayal? Why that's preposterous I would never-" He winced as Demise held him to the wall with his elbow and pushed his sword through his chest.

"You lie," the dark king said. "And I will see to it…" he pushed the sword in farther, "That you do not do so again!"

Exodus's cries of pain filled the night air as Zane, his brother Syrus and Chumley Huffington ran away from Demise's castle.

When the screaming faded, Zane stopped and looked back at the castle. Clearly troubled, Syrus yelled to him: "Come on Zane! We got to get out of here!"

Zane didn't move. He stayed where he was, staring back at the dark midnight castle. "I need you to deliver this to Kross Forrester, the Prince of Darkness" Exodus had told him, only an hour before. "It is of extreme importance that the prince have this weapon, with his showdown with Demise at hand."

"Kross Forrester?" Zane had replied, advancing on the vampire. "From what I understand, this entire situation is his fault! Besides, why would I give this to 'The Prince of Darkness'?"

Exodus replied soundly, turning his back to Zane, "Sir Trusdale, as you should know, Light and Dark complement each other. One cannot exist without the other, for without them… there, lies only Chaos. Demise, this King of Armageddon, is the result of Chaos. Only the heirs to the Throne of Light and Dark can put an end to the Chaos…."

Exodus's speech trialed off in Zane's memory and Syrus tugged on his jacket, pestering him to go. He looked at his brother, and followed him into the forest.

Meanwhile, Exodus lie near death in the short hallway just off of Demise's throne room. Demise, satisfied with seeing his prey die there alone in the corridor, returned to his throne to think again. Suddenly, quick steps were made on the hard stone floor.

The steps sounded feminine, very quick and obviously on high-heels. The Queen of Oblivion almost tripped over the fallen vampire as she entered the throne room. "My King, what has happened here? Can you not see your dieing servant in this corridor?"

Demise did not answer immediately, his mind deep in turbulent thought. "The fool thought he could betray me," he said slowly. "I made sure he would never do such again."

The King stood up and recognized his lady's entrance. Giving merely a nod of the head, he departed for his chambers.

Ruin turned back to the fallen traitor and whispered to him: "Where is it? Did he get it?"

Exodus, just barely alive answered: "I-I have dealt with it. It is out of my hands now…"

"With who, brother Exodus!" she demanded. "With who?"

Exodus's eyes closed and opened again slowly. But he did not respond.

"Come," Ruin, insisted, "come with me to my quarters. I will make you well again, my brother." She extended her arm to attempt to carry her sibling, but he resisted.

"No. Ruin," Exodus protested, "my beloved sister, it is over for me. I have but one last task, and it is one I must do alone."

"What possible task could this be?" Ruin shot back.

"I must see my daughter, make sure she and her sisters make it to this side safely," Exodus replied, "It is my only wish that, though my own luck may have failed, I have one that can consider me her father and be with me as I pass…"

Ruin helped him stand and watched her older brother stammer away, clutching his wound. "I admire you, Exodus," she said. "Despite circumstances you always see your adopted children through. It was never your fate, your mission to help such helpless creatures, but you made it so. You are a true man, worthy of this world…"

Exodus gave a weak smile, but lacked the effort to face Ruin, Instead climbing onto a windowsill. "Sister, tell our brother to remember me, and to do his part when it comes. I will never see young Zorc again in this world. Let him know, that I cared…"

With his last words, Exodus left a trail of blood as he plummeted from the window into a thicket of trees and bushes.

Ruin gave a sigh or grief. "It looks like it is my turn to do my part as well. I can only hope it is enough…." She stood up and walked back to her own room.

The castles walls were dingy and many rooms were empty. But the three that contained anything of worth were the sleeping quarters of Ruin and Demise, as well as their own private quarters, each on separate sides of the castle.

Ruin entered her room with a heavy sigh; turning to the large treasure chest in it's back corner, behind a rocking chair and aside a dresser. She heaved it open and peered inside.

The treasure chest was filled primarily with jewels and folded robes. She quickly turned these objects aside till she found, buried beneath her clothes and wrapped in an ancient cloth, a large stone in the shape of a crescent moon.

She lifted it from its slumber and attached it to her right arm, as it was intended by her father years ago. She produced a deck of Duel Monster cards, tucked in her dress, and placed them on top of the stone.

Quickly, the stone shattered and lost any sharp edges it had, revealing gems and other bright stones beneath a layer of rock. It retained its crescent moon shape, but was now smoother and decorated with beautiful stones. A small alcove had formed, and by lifted her hand up, the deck slide into place.

"Time to comply with my prophecy," she said to herself as she stormed her chambers to search for Demise.

Ruin entered Demise's throne room intending to pass through it to the other side of the castle. She was surprised to find, however, that Demise was already there, duel disk at hand, facing her with a growl of anger.

"So… you've come to betray me too, have you?" he bellowed to his wife. "I should have known… Ruin… Protector of Oblivion."

Ruin nodded her head and drew five cards from her Lunar Duel Disk.

Demise scoffed and drew his cards as well. "Prepare to meet your fate!" he yelled.

[4000/4000

"And so it begins," Ruin stated, drawing a sixth card and glancing at it. "I play one card facedown, with an additional monster placed on the field in defense mode. Make a move, oh King of Armageddon."

A brown board appeared in front of Ruin, with a second closely following horizontal to the first.

"A standard play," Demise pointed out, draw his own card. "I play a spell card known as Death Dealer."

A spell card depicting a vile blackjack dealer appeared. Demise laughed as he explained: "This card allows me to discard the top card of my deck, then destroy one card on your field that is presumably the same type as the card I just discarded."

[Death Dealer

Spell card

Discard the top card of your deck. Then, destroy one card on the field that is the same card-type as the card you discarded (if the target is facedown, flip it face up. If the facedown target is the not the same type, flip it facedown again).

Demise snickered as a card slid off his duel disk. The card fluttered in the air before Demise snatched it. He snickered again. "I've just discarded Fear from the Dark, a special monster that, when discarded from my deck, is special summoned to my field in attack position!" he gave a hearty laugh and stated: "This world has not love for you anymore."

A shadow monster appeared, drawing images in the darkness (1700/1500). "And now," Demise declared, "your facedown monster is revealed to me, as either an effect monster, like my Fear from the Dark, or a bland normal monster." Ruin hung tight as her Angel of Creation – Venus (1600/0) was revealed, and shattered.

Demise proudly finished, "Now go, Fear from the Dark, attack my former wife directly! Binding Shadows!" The arrogant shadow creature Demise had summoned extended a long claw, only for it to fade away as the air around Ruin grew thin. She coughed and almost collapsed at the devastating pressure felt by the attack.

[4000/2300

The attack left no physical marks, but Ruin's breathing would remain constricted for the rest of her life. She glared at her enemy and tried to remember why she was doing this. It was for her family, for their honor. It was her family's profession to protect the human world from Oblivion at all costs. But could she alone stop the King of Armageddon? She shuddered at the thought of her fate.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Business

(Part Two of Three)

A helicopter roared over the stormy seas just off the coast of the Duel Academy. The ocean raged as the white copter's pilot difficultly spotted the devastated island. "Mr. Kaiba!" the pilot yelled to his passenger. "Are you sure you want to come here? Dah!" Lightning struck across the sky, scaring the pilot. "It seems pretty dangerous!"

The pilot's passenger smirked and said: "When a personal investment of my own doesn't contact me when it's supposed to, I make it my business to investigate, Lancer," He folded his fingers and finished, "Just don't chicken out like the coward you are."

At that, Lancer gave an unsteady salute and continued to attempt to land his burden.

Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba, dressed in an orderly white business suit and tie, muttered to himself: "That tournament was supposed to end two days ago." He folded his fingers and leaned back in his seat. "A one day delay is one thing, but two? Plus this storm…" He looked out his window and could see the rain pelting it like bullet fire.

Seto was very much a 'down to earth' businessman. While appealing to his little brother when he can, Seto often runs his company harshly with strict expectations of his employees. His hair was brown and he normally keeps it formal in a trademark point over his forehead, and points down the back of his neck.

"Mr. Kaiba!" Lancer devastatingly called out. "Look over there!" He pointed toward his empty co-pilot's seat.

Quickly, Kaiba rushed up to the cockpit and glared out the window. There, just barely visible through the storm, was Demise, the King of Armageddon's dark and shadowy tower.

"What is that?" Kaiba said in disbelief. A moment passed as Kaiba thought to himself as quick as possible. "Land the copter!" he yelled.

"What? Here? We'll just barely hit the shoreline!" Lancer debated.

"Do as I say! Land this hunk of metal now!"

Meanwhile, inside the dark stonewalls of the castle, Ruin, the Protector of Oblivion drew a card off the top of her deck, determined to make her next turn count.

[4000/2300

"I set one card facedown," Ruin declared. "Then summon this! Come forth: Bountiful Artemis in Defense mode!" With a burst of light, a large caped creature standing like a top appeared. It had large wing-like objects and two sets three-fingered claws.

"Interesting," Demise, said as he began his turn, "Yet it is futile! I now…" he glared expectantly at his drawn card. "Excellent," he said. "I play one card facedown and summon…. Knight of Nightmare (1400/400)!"

Once the card was played on Demise's wicked Duel Disk, the Knight emerged from the shadows. It bore the armor of a fifteenth century European soldier, protected in pieces of heavy armor.

However, just as quickly as the monster had appeared, it vanished. "What?" Demise said, confused. He looked up to Ruin and was not surprised to see a trap card shining brightly.

"Good move, Demise," Ruin spat, drawing a card from her deck. "But my trap card, Forced Back, does exactly as it's name implies. Your monster has returned to your hand." Demise growled as she continued, "Plus, since Bountiful Artemis is on my field, I draw one card when a counter trap is activated."

Demise grumbled again, mainly for his loss of field advantage. He seemed uncaring for Ruin's extra card. "Very well, Ruin. I end my turn for now. Let's see what that move earned you."

Ruin didn't respond right away. "OK," she said after thinking it over, "I summon Majestic Mech – Goryu!" Bountiful Artemis vanished and was replaced with a large white dragon-like creature. It's tail extending far behind Ruin, the monster roared and stared down its enemy.

"Impressive," Demise admitted. "But we all must learn the hard way, no?" He gave a low laugh then heaved: "I activate Chthonian Diamond Armor!" The trademark trap card arose from the facedown position and vanished. A second later, a purple aura covered Demise's armor.

Ruin, though disappointed, didn't say anything.

Demise mumbled, "Looks like your plan is useless now, isn't it? Without the ability to damage to me, you will lose!"

"We'll see about that!" Ruin finally yelled. "While your armor may protect your life points, it makes another way of defeating you twice as vulnerable! Now!" She swung her arm and pointed to Demise's only monster, 'Fear from the Dark (1700/1600)'. "Majestic Mech – Goryu… attack Demise's monster!"

With a cry of strength, the large dragon-like monster pummeled the small shadow creature with its palm.

[4000/2300

Demise muffled something under his breath and raised his duel disk, letting one card fly off it and glide into his graveyard. "Nice try," he said, "but you'll need to pick up the pace if you want to defeat me!"

The night drew on as Kross, Miya, and Chazz made there stop for the night having finally produced a long lasting fire. It was about midnight now and Miya had volunteered to take watch of the fire and for any oncoming threats.

Miya, sitting on the floor, stared deep into the blazing fire. Her eyes blurred, she began to ponder things over in her head until she heard a noise come from behind her. It sounded like rustling leaves and branches. Whatever it was that made the noise, it was big enough to break the branch.

Miya blinked and almost fell backward at the startle of the noise. When she got up, she looked behind her for the source of the noise. Nothing was there as far as she could see.

After checking that Kross and Chazz were indeed still asleep, Miya stood up and followed the noise into the woods. She almost tripped over her discovery, and it couldn't have been more repulsive to her. She wound up her leg to kick the dying creature when a voice called out:

"Wait, Miya! Don't hurt him!"

Seto Kaiba's helicopter just barley missed some jagged rocks as it landed on the shore of Duel Academy. He swung open the hatch door of the copter and leaped onto the sandy beach.

Taking a few strides forward, Seto stopped to gaze up at the black shadowy castle that now stood where his school once did. He clenched his fist and looked back to his helicopter pilot, who was shivering in the cold rain.

"Good evening Seto Kaiba," a misty said from behind him.

Kaiba turned back to the castle, but could see no one. "Who's there?" he called out. Slowly, a woman came into view from the shadowy darkness around him. She was tall with black hair, wearing a long tan robe with fine jewelry on her wrists and neck. "You?" Kaiba spat to the woman. "What are you doing on this island? And more importantly, how?"

Ishizu Ishtar gave stern face to the business man and answered: "You wouldn't meet with me in your office, Seto, so I decided to pay a personal visit, whether you'd like one or not."

Kaiba grumbled to himself and said just as sternly, "Well, obviously I didn't want to get pulled into another one of your little 'quests', Ms. Ishizu. And no matter where you ask me, here or at my office, the answer will be same."

Suddenly, Kaiba spun around to the sound of a twig breaking and discovered that Ishizu was not the only unexpected visitor on his island. "Pay better mind to my sister, you oaf!" Marik Ishtar, Ishizu' younger brother shouted.

Kaiba turned back to Ishizu. "Brought company, huh?" he spat.

Ishizu ignored his comment and walked towards him. "Seto, I'm afraid I have some news that is, in fact, something I promise you'll be interested in."

"Is that so?" Kaiba said sarcastically.

Ishizu either didn't catch or ignored the sarcasm as she nodded her head. "Seto, if you would join my on my brother's jet?" she pointed up a nearby cliff just as a flash of lightning illuminated the area. Just on the cliff was indeed a large grey jet more then twice the size of Kaiba's helicopter.

Kaiba looked back to his own vehicles pilot, who was still shivering like a baby, and nodded; following the Ishtars up the cliff.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Prophecy

(Part Three of Three)

"Look at you," Demise taunted to his former wife. "I'm about to destroy you, yet you stand there strong as if nothing is the matter." He grumbled, "Tell me, my wife, why have you betrayed me?"

Ruin swiftly answered, "I would never betray me husband, you monster."

Demise raised an eyebrow from underneath his helmet. "Ah… so you know who I am? Ha, ha!" he gave a hearty laugh and stared down his opponent. "I should be concerned, but by this time… it doesn't matter now does it?"

Ruin held her ground as Demise forcefully drew his next card. At the same time, three more cards slid off his wicked duel disk to the graveyard. "Amusing…" Demise said. "One of the cards I just discard was this… Shadow of Demise (2300/1900)!"

A shadowy aura erupted from the earth as a silhouette of Demise appeared. It moved like Demise, had the same presence and posture as Demise, but it was devoid of any detail, being simply a black shadow.

[Shadow of Demise

2300/1900 -DARK

Fiend/effect

This card may be special summoned to your side of the field if it is discarded off the top of your deck. If it is, pay 500 life points and add one 'Demise, King of Armageddon' to your hand.

Ruin didn't move or say anything. She just stared at her opponent's new monster.

"With this," Demise added, "I pay 500 life points to add Demise to my hand." He laughed. "He was the perfect pawn…"

[3500/2300

Meanwhile, Miya had just met face-to-face with someone she thought was an enemy. But things are never what they turn out to be…

"Miya!" Hiita yelled, "Don't hurt him!" The red-haired charmer was just in time before Miya kicked the stuffing out of Exodus. "Father," Hiita referred to the fallen Vampire. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Just then, Kross and Chazz appeared behind Miya. At Chazz looked bewildered. "What's going on?" he stammered.

Exodus, limping, managed to stand with his adoptive-daughter's help. "Thank you, my dear," he said.

"Miya! Get away from those two!" Chazz yelled, "They could be servants of Demise!"

Miya turned her head, but remained where she was.

"S-Servants… of Demise, the King of Armageddon?" Exodus wheezed. "Indeed… we are…" He paused, "But the one you know as Demise is not my master. He-"

"Father, please," Hiita protested, "I'll explain it to them…"

Exodus, struggling, managed to prop himself against a nearby tree. He turned to Hiita and said, "Hiita, I am glad to see you made it to the other side. When I saw you last night… I wasn't sure if it was you or…"

"No, father," Hiita revealed, throwing her hand through Miya's body. Miya, though surprised, didn't react. "I-I am not here. Not really…"

Miya wanted to say something, but found her will subdued. "It's ok," Exodus, explained, "Once your sisters arrive… that should clear up… ack…" he tried to adjust himself against the tree, only to aggravate his terrible flesh wound.

"Someone want to explain what's going on here?" Chazz mumbled. "I'm lost."

Kross folded his arms and nodded his head. "I'm not," he said, "You're Lord Exodus, right?"

Exodus lifted his arm to see all the blood his wound was leaking, but he quickly put it back down. "I see… Ruin… managed to do her part after all," he said. "Do…do you have what she told you to keep?" he sighed is agony.

Kross lifted his blazer and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a deck of duel monsters cards. He took the top card and showed it to Exodus. "I do," Kross said.

"Very…arg," he slid down the tree to the cold hard earth. "Very good he finished.

The duel was over. Ruin no longer had any cards on her field at all. Demise's field was now devoid of the silhouette and was replaced by the real thing. He was staring down his enemy.

[1500/2300

"You still stand there all so confident," he sneered. "What are you, some sort of fearless angel? Pah! I'll cut you down to size and show you fear!"

Ruin and given up on the duel. She had her moon duel disk at her side, but with no cards on it, it was useless. "I am here to comply with a prophecy," she informed. "Everything that has happened this night, has done so the will of the prophecy."

Demise snickered. "Prophecy huh?" He drew his sword and pointed it to his opponent. "Well then… Let's see it save you now!"

With that, Demise wound up his long blade and charged his opponent. In one quick slice, she was gone. Ruin, the Protector of Oblivion fell to her knees… and died. Her body glowed, and faded away.

"The fool," Demise said confidently, "Nothing can stop my objective." He turned to leave.

As he did, a duel monster's card shimmered from the moonlight. It landed right where Ruin had been slain and vanished.

"I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" Chazz thundered as Exodus continued to ignore him.

Chazz continued ranting, and as he did, a glow appeared in Exodus's jacket inside pockets. He steadily reached inside and pulled out a duel monster's card. "Oh my sister, the prophecy has been… completed." He turned to Miya, who was only a foot away from him and said: "Here, Princess of Light, she is yours to wield now."

Miya's eyes widened. Exodus thrust the card into her hand and she fell backward, unconscious.

"Miya!" Chazz yelled. He reached out to pick her up, but Kross stopped him.

"Let her be Chazz," he said, "She'll wake up soon."

"DAH!" Chazz yelled again, "WHAT is going on?"
Exodus, with his last bit of strength, looked at him and said: "Chazz, as I believe that is your name, the one you know as Demise is not truly Demise. He is… a monster. A terrible beast dwelling inside the corpse of Demise."

Chazz didn't look as if he was buying it. "I've met him," Kross interrupted, "The real Demise. He's not like the Demise you know. He's a better person, a person with values."

"But-" Chazz wanted to interrupt, but his question was quickly answered when Kross showed him the duel monsters card he had pulled out of his pocket. "You… you still have that? But how?"

"Because Kross is the Prince of Darkness. Half of chaos, Kross is darkness. Just as…" he weakly gestured his hand toward the unconscious Miya, "young Miya here is pure Light. The Princess of Light."

Just as Exodus finished his sentence, Miya's eyes burst open, she was breathing very hard. "Was… was I dreaming?" she stammered.

"No, your highness," Exodus said as his voice trailed away.

"Father!" Hiita whelped.

"You've done well, Hiita," Exodus said in his final breath, "But my time is up… … now grow strong…." With that… his eyes closed, and he passed.

Hiita didn't say anything. She looked back to Miya, both of them teary eyed. Hiita looked back her father, and began to fade away along with her stepfather. "Hiita!" Miya whispered. She didn't respond. Within moment's Hiita and Exodus were gone.

Kross looked up as if something was there and said, "They're gone, Demise." There was no answer, but he eventually nodded his head and said: "That's it guys."

Miya and Chazz turned to look at him. "That's it. We're ready now." He looked up again, as if listening to someone. "Exactly," Kross said. He looked down, "Miya, are you ready? Did you hear that?"

Miya, still shaking, nodded her head.

They both walked away through the forest toward the castle.

"WOW did you see that boss?" Chazz looked to his shoulder and noticed the annoying Ojama Yellow standing there. "Just look at those four, so powerful. Will we ever be that strong?"

Chazz, annoyed, closed his eyes and said, "What are you talking about, you annoying little twit?" When Chazz opened his eyes, looking straight ahead at Miya and Kross, he noticed two other figures walking with them.

One was a tall black night that stood proudly like a tower over Kross, while the other was a beautiful white-haired woman who stood only about a foot taller then Miya. The taller figures looked hazy, almost transparent. "Wow," Ojama Yellow said again, "Those guys are so cool."

Chazz, awestruck, didn't say anything and simply followed Kross, Miya, and the taller figures toward the castle.

"Kaiba," whispered Ishizu as her brother prepared their jet for take off. "What I am about to tell you is merely speculation, as there is no written lore to confirm this at all."

Kaiba nodded his head expectantly and folded his arms. He was almost uncomfortable in the Ishtar's spacious jet. The seats were leather and very comfortable, but the most troubling thing was that the jet had the 'Industrial Illusions' logo at it's front. Otherwise, the jet was like any other personal flier, with elaborate carpet schemes and a bar.

Once the jet had taken off, Marik appeared from behind a curtain, obviously where the captains room lied. "We're off," he said. Marik hadn't changed much since the Pharaoh had last seen him. He wore light colored vest and dark jeans, and his ears were pierced in a variety of places and ways. Marik's hair, almost as usual, was untidy and looked like a lackluster brown.

"Good, Marik," his sister replied to him, "Now that we're off and safely away from that place, I can explain what has happened here."

As it was, Kaiba was stretching his patience. He nodded his head again and eyed his hosts suspiciously.

"First off," Ishizu began, "how familiar are you with European history?"

Kaiba squinted eyes at this question. "I think my own local history is more important then that," he replied. "Are you trying to tell me that Europe is behind this?"

Ishizu nodded her head in a 'no', but continued, saying: "Of course not. What mean is…Have you ever heard of…The Knights Templar?"

Now it was getting interesting. Of course Seto Kaiba had read into the phenomenon that was the 'Holy Grail' out of mere interest and was somewhat familiar with the legend.

"So the Holy Grail is on my island?" he taunted, almost amused at the idea.

"Not exactly," Marik interrupted. Kaiba was surprised to hear from him, but kept his comments to himself as the man continued: "See, rumor has said that the Knights Templar, once a powerful legion in Europe, fled their continent for the New World. That world being the Americas." He paused to clear his throat, but Ishizu picked up from there.

"Reports of treasure," she said, "buried by the Knights in Canada have been made all over the Eastern coast, even in some parts of the U.S. But… with this revelation of the castle and mysterious power on your island…" She paused for the big moment, "It has occurred to me that perhaps the Knights did not stop in Canada. Perhaps they continued to flee… towards Asia."

"Now you're joking," Kaiba said, sounding remotely unimpressed. "That treasure, from what I've read, is supposed to still be in Europe! Some say it hasn't moved at all!"

"And yet other say it has," Marik observed, resting his arm on the back of his seat and leaning backwards.

"But what proof could you have?" Kaiba protested again, "And besides, what does it have to do with my island?"

"It has everything to do with your island," Marik said, now a little frustrated. "With what occurred on you island, it's obvious that some sort of power is at work there. Power that is unnatural to Asia. Power that originated is Europe."

Kaiba stood up and clenched his fist. "I don't even know what happened on my island yet!" he roared.

"Relax Seto," Ishizu said calmly, gesturing him to sit down. "We were getting to that." He took a breath, and explained: "A shadowy creature has invaded the sanctity of your island. Provoking the hidden powers that protect the treasure we presume is there, a King has rose from the earth to protect it. I king history calls, King Norithan."

"When Treasure comes to be disturbed," Demise recited in his throne, "A powerful ruler will be unearthed. King of Darkness and Queen of Light protect the Chaos."

The King slammed his fist on his thrones arm rests. "They are gone. But where is the Chaos?" he thundered.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Beginning of the End

(Part One of Four)

"So," echoed Demise's voice as he came into view. "It has come to this, eh, Sir Forrester?" He swung his axe gracefully and pointed at his opponent. "You think you can defeat me?"

Kross, Miya, and Chazz had all returned to the demolished dueling stadium where Demise had defeated Jaden Yuki. Coming from the north, Demise's castle was to their left, along with what was left of the dueling dome's seating arrangements. To their right more barren ruble and empty seats.

"I know I can't defeat you alone," Kross answer fiercely, clenching his fist and staring at the tall dark King.

"But together," Miya continued for him, taking a step onto the dueling platform (or what was left of it) and clenching her fist as well, "We can!"

Demise looked startled, but at the same time was not. "So…" he said, "Do you know who I am, Sir Forrester?"

Kross nodded, but didn't answer verbally.

"Interesting," Demise wheezed through his helmet, "But, I'll let you know, it'll take more then just your confidence to defeat me." He raised his arm and summoned his wicked duel disk. "Shall we?" he taunted.

Kross, out of instinct, swung his dueling arm. The black ooze that had once erupted from it when the Voice was on his side appeared again. Transforming Kross's student required Duel Disk into a Wicked Duel Disk. Miya swung her arm too, her duel disk taking a slight color change from grey to a light red.

"Duel!" Kross and Miya shouted. However, it was Demise who shouted: "Shadow Game!"

Instantly, the dark night around the destroyed stadium became darker and the decaying building was lost to the shadows.

[Demise/Kross and Miya

[4000/4000

Miya was almost confused at the score reading, but she understood when Kross nodded his toward her. They were playing with one set of life points. Any damage one of them took would equally affect the other.

"Let's do this!" Demise roared. "I summon Knight of Nightmare (1400/400) in attack mode!" A short knight surrounded in a veil of shadows appeared, swinging a short sword with a blood-red tip.

[Knight of Nightmare

1400/400 -DARK

Warrior/effect

This monster is unaffected by monster effects.

"Then," Demise continued, "I play one card facedown to end my turn." He did so, a brown board appeared behind the Knight.

"My draw!" Kross shouted proudly, "And I summon this! B.E.S. Hazard Core (1600/700)!" The same battered spacecraft from Kross's duel with Chazz the night before appeared. It's red core shining brightly. "Now," Kross ordered, "Hazard Core, destroy the Knight!"

The spacecraft waited a moment, and then made a full power charge on the knight, rearing with lasers and sounds. It made contact with the Knight, then repelled off it, landing safely on Kross's field.

[3800/4000

"I'll end my turn," Kross said, "With this: Boss Rush!" A Continuous Spell card appeared depicted a stampede of space vessels. It produced no other holograms. "Now," Kross explained to his opponent, "When a Monster like B.E.S. Hazard Core is destroyed, this card lets me summon a new B.E.S. monster from my deck!"

Demise looked unimpressed as he watched Miya draw her sixth card.

"I summon this," she called out, "Hiita the Fire Charmer (500/1500)!" Hiita appeared in a flash of light. Miya looked at the Hologram hopefully, but got nothing in returned. She sighed and said, "I play Mystical Space Typhoon, letting me destroy your facedown card, Demise!"

A bolt of lightning later, the facedown card had vanished. However, something else too it's place.

[Wicked Token: 1000/1000

"What's that?" Chazz asked from the sidelines. The answer would come, but not from a point where he could hear it.

"That's a Wicked Token," Zane Trusdale explained to his younger brother and friend. "An annoying little creature that comes from the trap card 'Statue of the Wicked.' You may remember how Doctor Crowler used this Card."

Zane sighed from the top of the ruble of the stadium and look to Syrus and Chumley. To them, Demise was on there right, whereas Kross and Miya were to their left. "Demise," Zane continued, "was counting on someone destroying that facedown card. Otherwise, it wouldn't have gone off."

Syrus looked at the small golden creature that had appeared to protect Demise. "That thing looks stronger then the Fire Charmer," he observed.

"Cause it is," Chumley answered. "Gee, I hope Miya and Kross figure out a good way to destroy it before Demise can tribute it like Dr Crowler does."

The group nodded as Zane examined something he had pulled from his pocket. It was small, and Syrus couldn't quite make out what it was from all the darkness around him. A memory seemed to have flashed in Zane's head as he looked up abruptly and put the object back.

'If he really is the Prince of Darkness,' Zane thought, 'he'll get it himself.'

"I don't have much of an option," Miya said, somewhat mad at herself for wasting a card. "I play one card facedown and end my turn." A brown board appeared and Demise chuckled, beginning his second turn.

He glanced at his card, and then smiled, setting in facedown on his field. "I think I'll play this card, Death Dealer!" The card he had used against Ruin appeared and shined brightly as Demise discarded his top card and looked at it. "Funny," he said, "I discarded another Death Dealer Spell card. However, this is no matter…"

Suddenly, Kross's Boss Rush card exploded into several tiny pieces. "No way!" Kross called out through the falling pieces. Demise gave a hearty laugh.

"Now with that thing out of the picture," Demise mumbled through his laugh, "I'll summon this, Minion of Armageddon (1700/1600)!" A black creature with armor that resembled Demise's appeared and swung two small axes. "Go, my minion," Demise ordered, "Destroy the Hazard Core!"

The Minion leaped and used both axes to slice the spacecraft in half. A small-scale explosion took its toll on Kross and Miya.

[3800/3900

Demise glared at Kross, and non-verbally motioned him to take hi next turn. Kross drew his card forcefully, and sent a shock to the very core of the evil inside Demise.

"You-You brought… him?" he bellowed fearfully.

Kross looked at his draw card. He nodded his head toward Demise, then added that card to him hand.

Demise was clearly spooked now. "And-and you," he shifted his glaze to Miya, "She's here too, isn't she?"

Miya nodded and looked up to see the shadow of Ruin, Protector of Oblivion standing tall behind her.

"We know how to defeat you, you beast!" Kross called out. Demise looked worriedly back to Kross. "That's right," Kross finished, "You're not in control of this any more!"

Demise looked above Kross and saw the mighty King Norithan standing behind him. Demise smiled from behind his helmet. "It's been some time, hasn't it Charles?"

King Norithan's shadow squinted his eyes. "Too long," he replied. "But I have nothing to fear. I trust you haven't quite found what it is you seek?"

Demise growled in temperament. "Err… No. But I believe I have you to thank for that, don't I?"

"Believe, what you want to believe," Said Norithan. "But know this, we," he gestured to Miya, Kross, Ruin, and himself, "Will NOT let you live in this world, or any world."

Demise laughed loudly. "And you think no one will take my place? Ha! You're a bigger fool then I first thought."

Kross looked at Norithan, and Miya looked at Ruin. In unison they nodded as Kross played his next card. "I call…" Kross yelled, "3 Days!"

Chapter Twenty-Nine

3 Days Passing

(Part Two of Four)

"Seto," Ishizu began, getting up from her seat and approaching the private bar. "King Norithan was a short lived ruler that controlled a part of what is not France and Belgium." She reached behind the bar and pulled out a laptop. She opened it and showed Seto a map, dating from roughly 1300, to 1310.

"That Country," Marik continued, "was different then most other European countries at the time."

Seto looked intrigued. "How so?" he asked.

"It wasn't Christian," Marik said plainly. "The people of that country believed in a sorta of afterlife similar to the one believed in Egypt. This Afterlife gave the country its name: 'Armageddon.'" Marik folded his hands and looked casually out the window as Ishizu finished for him:

"Armageddon was the name of the country, as well as the name of the Afterlife its people belived in."

Seto smirked. "Well there's your problem," he said. "The Knight's Templar where Christian. Why would they trust Christian treasure in the hands of someone who wasn't Christian?"

"An unlikely place to find Christian treasure, isn't it Kaiba?" Marik interrupted. "In a country that doesn't exist within three years of the Templar's disappearance?" He paused, "Let alone one that isn't Christian."

Seto looked to Marik, who had returned to looking out the window. "Are you saying," he referred to Ishizu, "that the Knights caused this country to disappear?"

"Perhaps," Ishizu corrected, digging through the laptop at the same time, "That it wasn't the Knights, but what the Templar's gave them that destroyed Armageddon."

"3 Days?" Demise bellowed. "How… interesting. Care to explain?"

Kross squinted at his enemy and answered, "Gladly. This card lets me summon any Ritual Monster without the ritual spell card required. All I have to do is ante up enough sacrifices and its done."

Demise laughed. "And the catch?"

"I can't use it until three turns have passed since I played it." Kross looked at Miya, then back to Demise. "It looks like when it becomes my turn again, the days will have passed."

Demise smiled from behind his helmet. "Not just you… Miya too," He echoed. Kross nodded, as he played a spell card:

"I play Frontline Base!" He declared. "This lets me Special summon a Level 4 or lower Union Monster from my hand once per turn!" The card materialized along with a new monster. "I summon Z-Metal Tank (1500/1300)!" A golden tank with the millennium eye perched in its center appeared.

"Then I sacrifice it!" Kross went on, "To summon B.E.S. Tetran!" The Tank vanished and was replaced with a large green-ish Space vessel. The vessel made a few clanking noises before it began to hover soundlessly off the ground.

"Now I use Tetran's ability!" Kross called out. "It can attack any spell or trap card on the field and… destroy it instantly!" Kross pointed his finder at Demise's sole facedown trap card and Tetran fired an impressive laser blast at it. When the dust settled, the card was gone, but Kross noticed a hint of purple in Demise's armor.

[B.E.S. Tetran counters: 2

Kross noticed the purple, but took no interest in it. "Go, Tetran! Now destroy his monster!"

Again, B.E.S. Tetran fired a mighty blast of energy, hitting its target dead center. The Minion of Armageddon (1700/1600) took the blast and erupted quickly to ashes.

[3800/3900

"What?" Miya yelped. "Why didn't he take damage, Kross?"

"I… I don't know…" Kross answered as Demise burst into laughter.

"Kross…" he mumbled. "You ought to pay more attention!" He shifted himself into the small glimpse of Moon Light fading through the Shadows and his armor reflected itself covered in a purple veil. Demise's trademark trap card appeared in shadow next to him.

"This is called Chthonian Diamond Armor," Demise explained, banging his arm proudly on his armored chest. "This card protects me from every form of damage thought possible when it was created in 1301. Not only that, my armor is completely dent resistant and cannot be destroyed!"

Kross grunted at Demise's overwhelming passion for his trap card. "So what's the catch?"
"The catch, Sir Forrester," Demise said slowly, "is that for every 1000 points of damage I take, I lose a card off the top of my deck. Something you failed to do," he added, "Plus, I lose three cards from the top of my deck at the beginning of each of my turns." Kross didn't respond to Demise's triumphant tongue, but he smiled and ended his turn.

"My turn now, Demise," Miya yelled loudly. "You're gonna pay for everything you've done!" This is when things got interesting for Miya.

"What do you mean, I've done?" He said sourly.

"Shut-up Demise!" Kross said sternly. "We've heard enough of your- your lies!"

"Lies, are they?" Demise said, clearly growing angry. "Tell me, Kross Forrester, was it or was it not you who attack the young Alexis Rhodes?" Demise looked away from Kross and to the bleachers on his left. A lonely Alexis, or as she is known currently, Asuka, was now sitting there, emotionless and blank of thought.

"And wasn't it you who killed three of your fellow students, Kross?" Demise continued; bringing the faces of Jase Kingston, Juliana Li, and the 'Zombie' that Syrus had dueled against to the stands.

"Jase…" Demise counted.

"Stop!" Kross yelled out, furious.

"Juliana…"

"Stop… or I'll…"

"And of course, little Sora…"

"Stop!" Kross yelled so loud he could feel a dark energy pulsing in his veins.

"I did this?" Demise laughed through Kross' screams for him to stop. "I don't think so, Sir Forrester. "All of this; all of this destruction that I have wrecked onto your world… IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Miya looked at Kross, stunned with what she was hearing.

"STOP!" Kross roared, as a pulse of dark energy ripped across the field, starting with the area surrounding Kross' feet. The pulse rocked across the shattered arena, destroying the lifeless dolls of Jase, Juliana and Sora and effortlessly knocking Chazz off his feet ("Whoa!" he said, falling backwards).

When the energy subsided, Kross was out of breath. Miya could barely look at her ally, but couldn't help eye him from he side of the field. The stadium was silent, except for some clapping coming from Demise.

"Very Good Kross," Demise bellowed. "It looks like you still have all the rage that you had when I first met you…" He chuckled. "You can't hide it Kross, the only thing you can do is embrace it! Let is consume you! Let every thought and deed center around the darkness in your heart!"

"NO!" Kross shot back. "I won't go back!" He looked tiredly back to Miya. "Miya… I know what I did was wrong. I know that now. Everything I did, it was wrong. But I've learned now that I can't let the Darkness win! Miya! Please, don't turn your back on me!"

Miya was still speechless. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"Are you going to take that, you pathetic little girl?" Demise bellowed. "Don't you know what he did to you? Everything you had, all the memories… he stole that from you! He killed you!"

"No!" Kross argued. "Miya, you have to understand! I wasn't me! I-"

"Who…" Miya said slowly. Kross immediately stopped talking as she finished: "Who… were you then?"

Kross looked troubled at this question, but he answered swiftly: "I was Kross Forrester. The Broken Man… Kross Forrester…" He looked down, disappointed in himself. He couldn't deny it. Everything he did back then was valid now. He had committed murder. But deep inside, he had changed. He just had to show Miya that.

Miya took the answer, and though she hadn't been the one who was screaming, she felt out of breath and faint. "Kross…" She said. "You were yourself… You were…"

"Darkness."

Chapter Thirty

Light and Darkness

(Part Three of Four)

Kross looked at Miya, sorrowfully accepting what he believed to be simply a name for evil. Wallowing in self-pity, Demise continued: "Well, while Sir Forrester recuperates from your vile taunts, Lady Miya, why don't you make a move?"

Miya looked at Kross, whose head was hung over his shoulders depressingly -his eyes hidden in shadow. "Fine," she replied. She looked at her and continued forcefully, "I'm playing the spell card: Cost Down."

The spell card the depicted a monster card be struck by swords appeared and glowed as Miya discarded a card from her hand. "Now I can summon a level eight monster as if it were a level six monster! I sacrifice Hiita to Summon Goddess of the Charmers (2900/2500)!"

Hiita the Fire Charmer, Miya sole monster for the moment, disappeared and was replaced by a tall woman wielding a long staff. The woman had a sense of Wisdom in her as she gracefully swung her staff, her dirty white hair flowing as she did. She wore a brown gown with leaves and such sticking out of its pockets. She seemed to be at one with nature.

[Goddess of the Charmers

2900/2500 -LIGHT

Spellcaster/effect

This monsters attribute is also treated as FIRE, WATER, WIND, and EARTH (even while the card is in your hand).

Miya triumphantly declared an attack. The tall woman swung her staff again, causing a small-scale earthquake on Demise's field. As the earthquake surfaced, Fire and Water erupted as well, all carried by an elusive wind. The combination of four elements shook the field, but only made Demise laugh.

"My armor will protect me from that breeze," he taunted. "No let's see what I discard…" he took the two top cards from his deck and glared at them. "Well look at that, Shadow Claw was discarded."

[Shadow Claw

300/200 -DARK

Fiend/effect

If this monster is discarded off the top of your deck, special summon it to your side of the field. If this card is special summoned in that way, look into your opponent's hand and discard one card from there. After being special summoned this way, if this monster is sent to the graveyard, as long as it remains in the graveyard, your opponent loses 500 life points during each of his or her standby-phases.

"When this card is discarded," Demise said slowly, "It comes to my field… and when it does that, you will lose one card from your hand, Lady Miya."

Miya squeaked as vile creature burst onto the field and latched onto her body. She shivered, feeling the creatures weight and disturbing texture. The monster extended a gooey claw, and snatched a card from her hand, discarding it.

From there, the Claw leaped off and onto Demise's field; but not without leaving Miya with a parting gift. "Young Lady," Demise echoed. "When my little friend here is destroyed, the sickness he just plagued you with will take 500 of your life points away. Heheheh, sounds amusing, no?"

The moment Demise started his turn Miya began to feel sick. She quickly turned pale and appeared about to vomit.

Kross looked up from his pity to look at her. "Miya…" he said. "Miya! I'll save you! Miya!"

"Oh relax boy," Demise ordered from his field as he sacrificed his Shadow Claw for a monster is defensive position. "You'll have all the time you want to help her die when you lose this duel!"

"NO!" Kross roared. "I will not let that happen!" He looked to Miya, who had become so weak that she was kneeling on the ground.

"What's this?" Demise wondered, "You care for someone now, you monster of Darkness?"

Kross looked at Miya, and then to Demise again. He nodded his head sincerely.

"That's enough," King Norithan's shadow thundered. Kross looked up at him. "Kross," Norithan explained. "Just because you are Darkness doesn't mean you are evil. Darkness is just a point of view, a way of seeing things. Kross, it is your understanding of this that will make you strong."

Kross looked back at Demise, whose turn had ended. "Yeah, strong." He looked to his left, just as the '3-Days' spell card disappeared. "This is it!" he yelled. "I send B.E.S. Battle Station to the graveyard and summon the ritual monster: "Demise, the King of Armageddon (2400/2000)!"

King Norithan's shadow disappeared and he appeared in full flesh just in front of Kross. He wore a similar armor to Demise, but had taken off his helmet, keeping his finely groomed beard in plain view. Norithan had small, beady eyes, but he carried a dignity bigger then anyone could dream.

"Now!" Norithan and Kross declared together. "Unleash the Darkness! Go Sunset!"

Kross tossed a spell card into his duel disk and a bright light erupted from the ground. King Norithan slamming his Axe on the ground, as the light traced a figure in the ground, creating the image of a setting sun. The moment the image was completed, it erupted in flash of darkness, obliterating Demise's facedown monster.

[3800/1900

[Sunset

Spell card

You can only activate this card if 'Demise, King of Armageddon' is face-up on your side of the field. Pay 2000 life points. Destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field and send all cards in your opponent's hand to the graveyard. Then, remove up to 3 cards from your opponent's graveyard.

The cards in Demise's hand vanished, and one card flew from his graveyard to the same fate. At that moment, Miya felt her strength return.

"Kross…" Miya said slowly, feeling the Light inside her grow as she spoke.

"Miya! It's the darkness that makes me strong! The Darkness makes me who I am. It's my Darkness, and your Light, that will win this fight!"

Demise snorted. "Quite," he said. "But do you know what will happen when Light and Darkness fight as one?" He gave a slow chuckle. "Go ahead. Do it. Unleash both sides of Chaos."

King Norithan grew angry. "That's enough!" he yelled.

"Oh come now, Charles, did you intend to hide it? To hide the truth?"

King Norithan sighed, picking up his axe and resting it on his shoulder. "No, of course not. But I have no intention of them finding out now!"

Demise laughed again. "Of course not. But what can you do? It's their choice after all…"

Kross, though confused, kept a straight face. He ended his turn and let Miya begin hers. She looked to the shadowy silhouette of Ruin standing above her. "Isabelle," She asked, "can I… do this? Can I…" she searched for the right word, "Unleash, the Light?"

Ruin, known better as Queen Isabelle, nodded her head. "Let me come forth, I will help you."

Miya smiled and nodded her head. "Listen up, Demise!" she screamed. "I'm using Kross's 3-Days Spell card to sacrifice my Goddess of the Charmers to summon Ruin, Queen of Oblivion (2300/2000)!"

The dirty white hair of the Goddess vanished and Queen Isabelle stepped forth. She was almost similar to the Goddess, expect her hair was finely groomed and clean, not to mention her attire was less of a witch and more of a queen.

Miya concentrated as Isabelle raised her blue staff into the air. "I…" Miya focused, "Call forth… the Light. Something so beautiful, so… majestic, it cannot be stopped. I call forth, Moon Light!"

Isabelle's staff released a blue light that traced the image of an impacting moon in the shadowy sky. When it was finished, both Isabelle and Miya swung their arms, targeting Demise's trap card. "Power of Light, reveal the truth, destroy the Diamond Armor!"

[Moonlight Spell Card

You can only activate this card when 'Ruin, Queen of Oblivion' is Face-up on your side of the field. Pay 1000 life points. Destroy up to two spell or trap cards on the field. Then select up to two monster on your opponents side of the field and switch them into Attack Position (if they are not already in Attack Position) and reduce their ATK to 0.

One of the craters drawn in the moons image shot a beam of blue light at Demise. He resisted, but quietly accepted the attack. "There is only one way to win…" he bellowed. "With both the powers of Light and Darkness at work this night, it has been unleashed. Bring forth… the Chaos!"

Suddenly, Kross's duel disk glowed and began to shake violently. "What…?" he stammered as a bright blue light pushed its way free of his deck.

"Impossible," Zane Trusdale said from his place in the stands. He and his brother watched the duel, but Syrus wasn't paying attention. He and Chumley watched the duel occur just as confused as Kross and Miya.

"What is it Zane?" Syrus asked, sensing the disturbance in his brother's face.

Zane looked inside his coat pocket, finding that what he tucked that earlier was gone. He sighed. "Maybe… he is worthy…" he whispered.

"Who's worthy?" Syrus pestered.

Zane looked at him, giving him a face that clearly read: 'none of your business'.

Syrus sheepishly retreated back to his seat and watched the duel.

"Prince of Darkness…" Zane whispered. "Princess… of Light. They… share a throne. Thrones of power unlike I've ever seen. But…

"Is it possible to control…"

"Chaos?"

Chapter Thirty-One Chaos and Aftermath

(Part Four of Four)

"What…what's going on?" Kross yelled as a rush of strength suddenly flowed through his veins. "What…what is this?"

King Norithan's gazed glowed back to Kross. "Kross…" he said as Kross struggled to contain the power. "This… this is you. Darkness. A force of nature."

Kross, through a rush of black light erupting around him saw that Miya was experiencing a similar situation with a bright white light around her.

King Norithan and Queen Isabelle looked to each other. "It looks like my son has finally found his Darkness."

Isabelle nodded her head. "My people would be proud of their union."

Wind rushed by them. "Oblivion…" Norithan bellowed. "I've heard that it vanished when Armageddon fell."

Isabelle smiled. "Yes… I know. But my people… they still know. Their hearts live forever in Oblivion."

Norithan picked up his axe. "It's just as was predicted…" he sighed. "Shall we aid them?"

Isabelle lifted her blue staff and extended it in front of her. "Power of Light," she called.

Norithan lifted his axe and pointed it toward Demise. "Darkness." He bellowed.

"Unleash your might!" They called together.

At that moment, Kross and Miya erupted their contained power in a rush of black and white light. The lights met and forced themselves toward Demise. Once hovering above him, they formed a small bubble, incasing the evil creature inside.

The bubble swirled the light and darkness within it, until the two colors simply rushed around the outside of the bubble. Kross, through this power struggle, yelled: "Extodamous! CHAOS CONTROLLER!"

A bright spell card appeared and released a beam of light that connected to the chaos bubble.

Demise, meanwhile, locked inside the bubble of nothingness, erupted in laughter. "Here it is! What I have been searching for! I…" he tried to swing his arm, only to find the left one missing. "That's it… the power!"

Kross and Miya held their breath as they tried to keep the chaos inside its contained area, inside the bubble.

[2859/1900

"I… will not let this be!" Demise roared as more and more of his body faded away into tiny particles. "I will unleash it! No Extodamous!"

Demise's armor had faded completely, revealing the monster in its true form. A hideous creature Kross thought resembled a Shadow Ghoul. It was about the same size as Demise, but had a completely different build. It was green with at least four legs and six glowing red eyes.

Its three fingered claws clanged as the Ghoul put his arms to the sides of the bubble. Pushing with all it had, he tried to expand the bubble.

"Unleash… it…" he struggled.

Kross and Miya noticed this sudden outbreak as the bubble indeed did grow. They took another breath and focus more, inflicting more of their element into the chaos.

[1190/1900

"NO…" the monster yelled out in fury. "This power is too great to contain! I will free it…"

[934/1900

The Ghoul pushed harder and harder on the sides of its prison. Suddenly, however, the bubble began to shrink, slowing closing in around him.

[478/1900

The Ghoul sighed in exhaustion. "No…cannot…fail… must… release… chaos…ugh…" the monster collapsed as the Chaos shrank away, taking him with it.

[0000/1900

The Power in Kross faded away and he fell to his knees. "Such… power…" He said slowly. He looked to Miya; she too was on her knees, gasping for breath.

The duel faded away as Chazz, from the sidelines, approached them. "Is… is it over?"

Kross looked up at where the chaos had been. The power of Light and Darkness had left a small crater where it once was, but it, and the Ghoul, where gone.

"Yes…" Kross answered.

Days passed. The students of Duel Academy slowly began to reappear. King Norithan had said that the Ghoul's shadow powers would take time to wear off. As to what most people thought had happened, Kross, Miya, and Chazz had no choice but to tell the truth and hope for the best.

Demise's castle vanished only five minutes after the ghoul was defeated. But the Academy was still very much in ruins. "Hmmm," Chancellor Sheppard concluded sitting in what was left of his office. "So… This creature… caused all this damage?" He sighed. "It kidnapped the staff and most of the students?"

Kross, alone in the office with Miya and the Chancellor, nodded his head. "Well," the Chancellor continued. "I must say that destruction of this magnitude is not something the three of you could do." He referenced Chazz, despite the fact that he wasn't in the room.

"I highly doubt this could be explained any other way…" He walked around his office and picked up the phone, surprised that it still worked and tried to push the top-most speed-dial button. He waited. "It seems that the schools treasurer and owner is unavailable…" He put the phone back. "I have no idea how I'll explain this… The school… it may be gone forever if the treasurer doesn't believe me… and help to rebuild the school."

Kross and Miya looked at the floor, there was nothing they could do, but they felt partly responsible for the damages.

"Go," the Chancellor said to them. "I… can't say anything, but… just go. When…" he paused. "If… the school re-opens, you'll-"

Suddenly, the phone rang. The Chancellor, surprised, picked it up. "Hello, Chancellor Sheppard speaking." He jumped. "Mister Kaiba? I- umm, what good timing. We-"

The caller spoke to the Chancellor and he smiled. "Thank you, Mister Kaiba."

He hung up. "Five months." He said, laughing in disbelief, "Come back in five months."

That evening, most of the students had left island. Some happy that this school year basically ended, others worried that the friends they hadn't found yet were gone for good.

Kross, meanwhile, stood on the side of the island opposite of the ferry that would take him hope. He watched the sun set; just on the outside of the woods where he thought Miya had died.

He sighed; watching the sun go down over the horizon and watching the waves crash on the rocky shore.

"So what's left for you?" A voice asked from behind him. Kross turned to see Chazz Princeton behind him. "Are you coming back in a few months? Or…"

"I'm not sure," Kross answered quickly, turning back to face the ocean, his hands in his pockets. "I… I feel too many bad memories here." He sighed. "I think the students remember…" he sighed. "How I hurt so many people."

Chazz looked to the horizon now too. "I can't imagine how that must feel." He walked up the cliff Kross stood on.

"I feel like… I need to be somewhere else. Maybe…" he looked down to the bottom of the cliff. A weak wave crashed against it and Kross sighed.

"What?" Chazz taunted. "Is that your answer?"

Kross looked at him, sadly the only friend he knew he had. "I feel… cold. Like-maybe… I don't know. Maybe I wasn't meant to be what I am. That all of this-" He stopped, looking at his fist. "All of this was my fault to begin with, right?"

Chazz put his hands behind his head and walked up next to Kross, standing on the edge of the ocean. "But…" Chazz began, "I thought you'd said, yesterday, that your girlfriend, Mary, told you otherwise?"

Kross opened his fist and looked at Chazz. "I know." He looked out to the setting sun and horizon. "Maybe it's time I found out what she meant."

Chazz turned around and took a step forward. His head low as he passed Kross, he said: "I won't tell."

Kross looked at him, still facing the ocean. "Thanks," he said.

The last ferry; Miya wandered the lost boat home wondering how she could ever forget it. Pieces of her where still gone, her memories were still a fog. But she felt warm inside. 'There are a lot of things you don't want to know about your past, Miya'.

Hiita's words echoed through her memories. "Maybe she was right." She sighed. The shadow of Queen Isabelle appeared behind her.

"Don't worry," She said. "My brother trusted his daughter."

Miya, leaning on a railing now, looked at the Queen. "Will we ever see them again?" she asked.

Isabelle sighed. "I don't know. I can only hope so."

The ferry let go a loud horn just as Chazz boarded it. Miya's eyes followed him as he approached them. Isabelle's shadow vanished. "Where's Kross?" Miya asked him.

Chazz leaned on the railing and said, not looking at her, "Gone."

"Gone?" Miya repeated. "Gone where?"

"Gone." He Chazz said again. "That's it."

Miya got off the railing of the ship. "Why… did he go?" She asked slowly.

Chazz, who was obviously didn't want to say, stuttered as he told her: "He needed to be somewhere. Somewhere no boat can take him."

Miya seemed to come to some conclusion. "Did you see him go?"

Chazz turned away and nodded his head in neither a 'yes' nor a 'no'. "It was what he wanted." Chazz looked around the boat. Jaden and his friends were all there on the other side of the ship. "Miya…" he said as he walked away.

She watched him go. When he was out of earshot, Miya leaned on the railing again. Her hair blowing through the breeze, she whispered: "Good Bye, Kross, my prince. I hope you find what you were looking for…"

THE END