Chapter 2: The Arrival of the Dark Ones
Jaden and co. rushed towards the Ra yellow dorm. After pushing through trees and leaves, they reached the clearing and gasped at what they saw.
One of the Ra Yellow students was face down on the ground while a monster laughed maniacally. It resembled Panther Warrior in the sense of appearance, but it was a darker version, with gray and red armor in place of the traditional blue and yellow and a wicked sneer. He also held a distorted saber in his right hand while a black shield sat at his feet and a duel disk took its place on his left arm.
"You lost, boy," it sneered, raising its sword, "Now you pay the price!" and he brought the sword down.
"Stop!" Jaden yelled out. The sword stopped an inch away from the Ra Yellow's head, and the panther sneered.
"What's this? Has some child come along to play pretend hero? You'd better think twice, kid, or you'll face the wrath of my blade." The cat pointed the sword at Jaden menacingly.
"Let's settle this with a duel, you overgrown house cat!" Jaden said, activating his duel disk, "Or is the big, bad house cat really a scaredy cat?"
The panther growled angrily, "You're on, kid," and he activated his duel disk, "When I win, I'll gobble you and the yellow brat up for dinner. Let's duel!" Syrus and Hassleberry dragged the Ra to safety.
"Get your game on, House Cat!" Jaden shouted.
-Duel Start-
"By the way," the cat said, drawing his cards, "I never gave my name. It's Necro Panther Warrior, but you can call me Necro for short."
"Fine, Necro," Jaden said drawing five cards, "Mine's Jaden Yuki. And I'll go first!" Jaden drew his card and looked at his hand, "I'll summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in attack mode!" With this, everyone's favorite bubble themed superhero took the field, "And thanks to his special ability, I draw 2 more cards! *draws cards* I'll throw down a face down and end my turn!" A card appears face down and Jaden's turn ends.
"Not bad. I draw. *draw* I activate a spell card, Painful Choice!" He placed the spell on his disk and it depicted the card, "Now I choose 5 cards from my deck, and you decide which one goes to my hand while the others go to my graveyard. Now, choose!" The Painful Choice card vanished and was replaced by five new cards. From the left, they were: 1) Giant Rat; 2) Panther Warrior; 3) Giant Rat; 4) Thunder Nyan Nyan; and 5) Sangan.
"I choose Sangan," Jaden said, the others fading away as Necro added Sangan to his hand. Necro sneered at this.
"Now I activate Monster Reincarnation! I discard Sangan to add Panther Warrior to my hand!" Sangan went to the grave and Panther Warrior returned to his hand, "And thanks to Sangan's effect, I get to add Prevent Rat to my hand. I summon Panther Warrior in attack mode, and combo him with Scapegoat!" Panther Warrior appeared followed by 4 Scapegoat tokens.
"I don't like where this is going," Jaden said worried.
"Too bad! Panther Warrior, I sacrifice one token so you can attack Bubbleman!" A Scapegoat token faded away, and Panther Warrior lunged at Bubbleman. With one swing of his sword, the battle was over.
[J: 2800-N:4000]
"I activate Hero Signal!" Jaden said, his face down lifting to reveal Hero Signal, "With Bubbleman gone, I summon Clayman in his place!" Then, the hero of the earth element took the field in Bubbleman's place.
"I end my turn."
"My move!" Jaden said, drawing a card, "I switch Clayman to defense mode, and I summon Neo-Spacian Air Humming Bird in attack mode!" Clayman crouched down and the red bird hero (no, not Robin the Boy Wonder!) took his place along side Clayman, "I activate Humming Bird's effect! I gain 500 life points for each card in your hand, and I count 4, so I get 2000 life points!" 4 flowers sprouted from Necro's hand, and Humming Bird flew over and pollenated them, raising Jaden's LP to 4800.
"Not bad, brat," Necro said.
"You think that's good," Jaden said, "Wait till you see this! I attack your scapegoat token. Go, Sky Strike!" Humming Bird flew into the air and drop kicked one of the tokens, causing the sheep to burst into pixels.
"You'll pay for that," Necro growled.
"I'll finish with one more face down. I end my turn!"
"My move!" Necro drew his card and sneered, "I'll start by summoning Prevent Rat in defense mode," and a large green rodent with a blue, spiky shell appeared, "I also activate my trump card, the field spell card, Nightmare Woods!" The clearing in front of the Ra dorm morphed into a dark, creepy forest. The trees were purple and their leaves were red, and hanging over head was a red full moon.
"Wh-what is this place?" Jaden said startled.
"This is Nightmare Woods," Necro explained sneering, "Here, beast, beast-warrior, and winged beast monsters gain a 400 attack point boost, and once per turn, by skipping my draw phase, I can add one beast, beast-warrior, or winged beast monster from my deck or graveyard to my hand. But you can worry about that second part later. The red moon will turn my Panther Warrior feral, and boost his attack!" When Panther Warrior looked up at the red moon, he started changing. His fangs, claws, and fur grew a bit, and his eyes became blood shot. He let out a blood chilling howl and the transformation was complete. (A: 2400)
"Man, he almost looks just like you now!" Jaden exclaimed.
"Now, my beast, attack Air Humming Bird! Feral Panther Slash!" Another Scapegoat disappeared and Panther Warrior charged blindly towards Humming Bird, sword drawn and howling for blood.
"Activate trap card! Go, Heroic Arrival!" The face down flipped to reveal a card depicting Elemental Hero Sparkman standing between a cowering Kuriboh and a group of evil monsters, "This card activates when one of my monsters is selected as an attack target. It lets me special summon an Elemental Hero from my hand and redirect the attack to him! I summon Elemental Hero Bladedge in attack mode, and with 2600 attack points, your out of luck!" The trap disappeared and the golden hero of Jaden's deck, Bladedge, appeared in front of Air Humming Bird. He faced Panther Warrior as it was charging and cut through his sword and him with his own blade. (N: 3800)
"It seems your meat is a bit tough for my tastes," Necro said, placing a card face down on his disk, "I'll end with a face down. Your move, brat."
"And it'll be one heck of a move, too!" Jaden said, drawing a card, "I switch Clayman to attack mode. Now, Bladedge, attack Prevent Rat! Golden Hero Slash!" Bladedge dashed towards the rat and cut through it with ease, "And Bladedge can also inflict piercing damage!" After the rat disappeared, Necro's LP dropped to 3200.
"Now," Jaden said, "Humming Bird and Clayman, take out Scapegoat and direct attack! Sky Strike and Clay Tackle!" The two heroes of earth and sky charged then separated, Humming Bird taking to the sky and Clayman still charging. Humming Bird took out the last sheep with Sky Strike while Clayman tackled the Panther Warrior impostor. (N: 2400)
"Nice! Jaden's one turn away from winning!" Syrus cheered from the sidelines.
"You sound like that's shocking," Hassleberry said, "The serge had it wrapped up as soon as the war started!"
"Insolent brats!" Necro growled at them, making them shudder, "I haven't even shown my best card yet! But that'll change this turn! I activate my forest's special ability, skipping my draw phase to add a beast to my hand," he took a card from his deck and sneered his wickedest sneer yet, "I activate Emergency Provisions, ditching my forest for 1000 life points!" The forest faded away and his LP rose to 3400.
"What happened to that forest being your trump card?" Jaden gloated.
"It is!" Necro sneered, "The final effect of Nightmare Woods is that when it's sent from the field to the graveyard, I can special summon a beast, beast-warrior, or winged beast from my hand! And I special summon the one I just got! Go, Necro Panther Warrior!"
There, in front of him, the same monster that Jaden was dueling against appeared. (2000/1600)
"It's him!" Jaden gasped.
"B-b-but I never even heard of that card before!" Syrus said terrified.
"That's because there isn't any other in existence," Necro growled, "It's my host card, for I am a Dark Duel Spirit!" Everyone gasped at this shocking development. Just then, the ghostly forms of Yubel and Winged Kuriboh appeared at Jaden's sides.
Winged Kuriboh cowered behind Jaden's shoulder, whimpering.
"Winged Kuriboh is right," Yubel said trembling, "This creature is letting off an intense amount of dark energy. It's almost like a duel spirit, but...powerfully evil and malicious."
"The fur ball and the dark fairy are right," Necro said, receiving a look of surprise from Jaden, and a look of confusion from Syrus and Hassleberry.
"You can see and hear Yubel and Winged Kuriboh?" Jaden asked.
"Of course," Necro responded, "We're both duel spirits after all. Except for one important thing." He took his sword which he had re-sheathed at the start of the duel and slashed a nearby tree in half, earning a look of fright from Jaden, Syrus, and Hassleberry. "I can be seen and affect this world and its inhabitants," and stuck his sword in the ground.
"So," Hassleberry said scared, "this guy's a real monster?" to which Necro turned and sneered as he nodded, scaring Hassleberry some more.
"So what?" Jaden said, shaking off his fear, "We faced these kinds of guys back in the Duel Spirit Dimension and won! I'm not afraid of an oversized alley cat with a chunk of metal in his hand!"
To this, Necro laughed, "You are brave, aren't you? You don't fear my sword? Or claws? Or rows of razor sharp teeth?" this comment earning a gulp from Syrus and Hassleberry, "I say, that bravery, or maybe stupidity, will make my meal even more delicious when I win. Now let's continue the duel! I summon Nightmare Wolf in attack mode, and thanks to his special ability, I can add Nightmare Woods from my graveyard to my hand!" Along side the second Necro appeared a black-furred wolf with red eyes, who let out a menacing howl (1400/500). The real Necro took the Nightmare Woods in his graveyard and added it to his hand. "I now replay my Woods!" and he placed the card in the field spell slot of his duel disk, the woods returning. Necro Panther Warrior's attack jumped to 2400 and Nightmare Wolf's to 1800 as they became feral.
"And here I thought I was finally out of the woods," Jaden said.
"Make jokes all you like, I'm still going to win. I attack with my wolf and panther! Go, Midnight Take Down and Necro Slash!" The wolf dashed towards Humming Bird and bit through him, the bird bursting into pixels. Necro Panther Warrior charged towards Clayman and sliced through him with his saber. (J: 2200)
"Wait!" Syrus said, "Doesn't Panther Warrior have to sacrifice another monster to attack? Why could Necro Panther Warrior?"
"Because," Necro explained, "instead of sacrificing a monster to attack like his good twin, Necro Panther Warrior can only attack after removing from play a beast or beast-warrior monster in my graveyard from play. I ditch my Giant Rat and I can attack!" He took the Giant Rat card from his graveyard and pocketed it.
"So that's why he ditched all those cards with Painful Choice, so when his Panther came out, he could attack all he wants," Hassleberry said.
"Now before I end my turn, to keep my Panther safe from Bladedge, I activate Dark Spell Saber! I ditch my face down 'Dark Hole' and I equip the saber to Necro Panther Warrior, raising his attack by 1000!" The face down lifted to reveal Dark Hole, then was skewered by a black katana, which Necro Panther Warrior drew, shattering the card as his attack points rose to 3400.
"Jaden doesn't stand a chance against that cat now!" Syrus cried out in despair.
"Don't worry, Sy," Jaden said calmly, "My deck hasn't failed me before, and it won't fail my now. I place my trust in my deck to grant me victory!" He drew his card and smiled.
"What's this?" Necro said curiously, "Have you drawn some miracle card or something?"
"Miracle card?" Jaden said smiling, "I guess you could call it that. I pay half my life points to activate Heroic Miracle!" Jaden's LP dropped to 1100 as a card appeared in front of him, depicting Sparkman, Bubbleman, Burstinatrix, Avian, and Clayman forming a circle around Elemental Hero Neos, with energy from the five filling him.
"Heroic Miracle?" Syrus said, "I've never seen Jaden use that card before."
"That's because Chumley sent it to me from Industrial Illusions yesterday as a present,"
Jaden explained, "It has three effects, the first letting me summon an Elemental Hero from my deck, and I choose Elemental Hero Neos!" Then, the incredible space hero himself appeared, "Next, I activate Skyscraper!" and the forest turned into a nighttime city filled with tall buildings and a skyscraper in the middle, where Neos was standing atop.
"Not so fast!" Necro said, "Since my forest is gone, I summon a second Prevent Rat in defense mode!"
"Not a problem!" Jaden said,"The second effect lets me add a spell card to my hand. I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman and equip him with the Spark Blaster I just added to my hand! I switch your wolf to defense mode and your rat to attack mode!" The electric hero appeared armed with his Spark Blaster. He fire a bolt of electricity from it at Nightmare Wolf, making it yelp and switch modes, as did Prevent Rat, "And finally, I activate the final effect, to fuse a monster in my grave with a monster on my field. I combine Clayman with Sparkman, to form Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!"
The electric hero disappeared and was replaced by a giant, electricity hero.
"Incredible!" Syrus said, "Bladedge, Neos, and Thunder Giant all at once!"
"I also activate my Giant's ability! I can destroy your rat since it's original attack is less that 2400!" The giant shot a bolt of blue thunder at Prevent Rat, making it burst into pixels, "Now, I attack Necro Panther Warrior with Neos! And since Skyscraper is out and your monster is stronger, his attack rises by 1000! Go, Galactic Hero Fist!" The space hero leapt from the building, his power rising as he fell, and his fist, filled with the energy of the cosmos, collided with Necro Panther Warrior, shattering the evil monster. (N: 2900)
"My host card!" Necro roared out in despair.
"It's not over yet!" Jaden said, "I attack your wolf with Bladedge, inflicting piercing damage!" The hero sliced through the wolf and brought Necro's LP to 800, "Now Thunder Giant, finish this with Hero's Thunder!" The giant shot a bolt of electricity at Necro, reducing his points to 0.
"Nooooooooo!" he howled.
-Duel Over- [Winner: Jaden]
Necro fell to his knees, defeated. Syrus and Hassleberry ran over to Jaden to congratulate him on his victory.
"Not yet," Necro Panther Warrior hissed, the three heroes turning their attention to him. He pulled his sword out of the ground and lunged towards Jaden!
"I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS DEFEAT! IF I CAN'T WIN, THEN YOU CAN'T LIVE TO TELL THE TALE!" He held his sword above his head and was about to strike. Jaden fell on his end, frozen in fear, unable to run or summon a monster to defend him.
Suddenly, though, Hassleberry tackled the cat out of the way, knocking it out.
Syrus and Hassleberry helped Jaden to his feet and asked if he was fine.
"I'm fine," he said, "Just a bit shaken. What about you, Hassleberry?"
"So long as nothing happened to you, I'm fine," the dino-soldier responded, "I've never see someone do something so crazy like that over losing a game, though."
But when they turned their attention back to the cat, they saw him dissolve into black steam, until nothing was left but a card. Jaden picked up the card, seeing it was Necro Panther Warrior.
"I've never heard of this happening to a duel spirit before," Yubel said, appearing next to Jaden, "We should hold onto this card. It's still giving off a dark aura, and who knows what could happen if it fell into the wrong hands." Jaden nodded in agreement and slipped the card in his pocket.
"Well, then," Syrus said, breathing a sigh of relief, "It seems everything is back to normal. Let's get this Ra Yellow to the nurse's office and call it a day."
"I agree with the Private!" Hassleberry said, "You coming, Jaden?"
"Yeah, let's go," he responded. As they walked with Hassleberry carrying the Ra, Jaden thought, "Something tells me this isn't over yet. I just hope this isn't the calm before the storm."
_Chapter End_
OC card data time!
1} Nightmare Woods (Field Spell)
Pic: a dark clearing in a forest of purple trees with red leaves and a red moon over head
Effect: "Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast type monsters gain 400 attack points. Once per turn, you can skip your draw phase to add one Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast type monster from your deck or graveyard to your hand. When this card is sent from the field to the graveyard, you can special summon one Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast type monster from your hand."
2} Nightmare Wolf (Effect, Beast, DARK, level 3, A: 1400/ D: 500)
Pic: a black-furred wolf with red eyes, howling at the red moon in Nightmare Woods
Effect: "When this card is normal summoned, you can add one "NIghtmare Woods" to your hand from your deck or graveyard."
3} Heroic Arrival (Trap)
Pic: Elemental Hero Sparkman standing between a cowering Kuriboh and a group of monsters
Effect: "Activate only when a monster on your side of the field is selected as an attack target. Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero' from your hand, regardless of summoning conditions, and redirect the attack to it."
4} Necro Panther Warrior (Effect, Beast, DARK, level 4, A: 2000/ D: 1600)
Pic: a darker version of Panther Warrior, wearing gray armor with a red cape
Effect: "For this card to attack, you must remove from play one Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast type monster from your graveyard."
5} Heroic Miracle (Quick-play Spell)
Pic: Elemental Heroes Bubbleman, Burstinatrix, Avian, Sparkman, and Clayman forming a circle around Elemental Hero Neos and giving him power
Effect: You must pay half your life points to activate this card. You can activate any of the three effects only once during the turn this card is activated:
You can special summon one 'Elemental Hero' from you deck or hand.
You can add one spell card from your deck to your hand.
You can fuse an 'Elemental Hero' on your field with one in your graveyard or hand.
6} Dark Spell Saber (Equip Spell)
Pic: a black katana piercing a "Pot of Greed" card
Effect: "To activate this card, you must sent one face down Normal Spell Card to the graveyard. The monster equipped with this card gains 1000 attack points. The equipped monster cannot attack after this card is activated until the next turn."