"What possessed him to follow us?" Alexis asked, when they finally stopped for breath. "He absolutely hates these sort of things…"
"I dunno, I don't understand the guy." Jaden shrugged, somehow looking chipper as ever. How running through a forest full speed never affected him, Jesse never knew.
"Come on, we got to hurry!" Syrus shouted urgently, and took off without the rest of them.
"Sy, wait!" Jaden called, but it was far too late. "For the love of…wait up, can you!"
"I don't have to! It's over here!"
A trampling of feet later, and the others joined Syrus standing at the edge of the well. The stones were worn off and crawling with ivy and lichen, evidence this place had not been visited for a very long time. A few glances around, but there was no evidence anyone had been around here, not even footsteps.
"I don't….see anyone…"Syrus said, downcast. This was sure to be the place, wasn't it? Jesse wandered around, checking the bushes in case Chazz was hiding inside a couple of them. Jaden meanwhile, was taking the direct approach.
"CHAZZ! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" He shouted, the sound fading quickly into the trees.
Minutes passed.
They regrouped and stared at each other, at a loss for words. "Well…maybe he was here earlier." Syrus said, hopefully.
"Are we sure Chazz even went here? I mean, all we have is the word of that Obelisk student," Jesse said.
"That's one of Chazz's fanboys. I don't think he'd lie about stuff like this." Alexis glanced around again. "Still, something seems off about all of this."
They all nodded in agreement. It was as if a strange silence permeated the clearing. It was not quite evil, but rather a touch of something that set their hair on edge.
While their backs were turned, a strange sound started to emanate from the bottom of the well.
"Um guys….did anyone bother checking inside the well….."Syrus said slowly.
Jesse slowly turned around and stepped to the edge, Jaden with a hand on his jacket so he didn't fall in.
At first, it looked dark but the longer he stared, the more he could see. And slowly, a shape began to appear, cloaked by a dark jacket.
"CHAZZ!" He shouted once it became clear. "He's in the well!"
The ground shook, rocking the group backwards as the evil air began to rise. This time, however it was visible, and the transfer student scrambled away from the dark tendrils pouring itself out of the well. No one made a sound-no one could make a sound, as the force kept rising and rising. It seemed as thick as tar but could not take an actual form, at least not until a hand grasped the edge of the well and pulled itself up.
Jesse wanted to say something but he was frozen like the rest of them. Chazz slowly climbed out of the well, bit by bit, shedding the pieces of darkness all over the forest. He stood up fully, ignoring the rips in his clothing and the blood trickling down from various wounds. He looked, needless to say, something like a zombie.
The voice that came out of his mouth was not human either. It was HIS voice but….there was a horrible edge to it that the boy normally never had.
"Well, look who decided to show up…"
The group stared at him in horror. Chazz's eyes were dead, and he didn't even seem to feel the pain as he limped forward towards Jaden.
"The almighty king, come to visit his loyal subject, how nice…"
Jaden looked about as clueless as Jesse felt. "Um Chazz, you sound kinda weird. You sure you're okay? I mean you're…bleeding and y'know..acting kinda weird…"
"Weird? I've been sitting in a well, all day, listening to nothing but your LIES, and you have the nerve to ask….if I'm okay. What you should really be worried about…is yourself." Chazz growled, grabbing Jaden's wrist in a painful grasp.
Jaden yelped, trying to twist himself out, but Chazz seemed to have gained strength from the shadowy thing possessing him.
"Chazz, let me the hell go!" He was pulled upright. Jesse sprung up as well, rushing to help his friend, but the look on both of their faces made him stop. Jaden was desperate, and more then a little confused, and in Chazz's eyes was something…odd. He looked angry, his face twisted in a way that none of them had seen.
Was he…jealous?
"You don't even want to duel me? How sad. The great Jaden Yuki always loves a duel against a strong opponent. I'm SORRY I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR YOU." Jesse winced. Those last words carried more weight in them. These must be his true feelings, brought to light by whatever was in the well.
"Big bro, Big bro! Are you okay?!"
"What is that thing?"
There were shouts over to the side, but Chazz was not listening. He focused in on only his prey and Jesse had to do something, that was his friend and he was the only one close enough.
"You want a duel, I'll duel you!"
Both of them turned their heads. Jaden shook his head but Jesse held up a hand. "Jaden, that thing isn't Chazz. I'm not sure what happened to him in the well, but this is all wrong. You let him go, and duel me!" The last sentence he shot at the possessed boy, not sure whether he would accept or not.
In contrast, the rival seemed to be quite pleased with the offer, his lips cracking into a wide smile.
"Well now, Jaden's little boyfriend offering himself up? How sweet. Looks like I can crush you from here to Sunday, right now!" The shadow's under Chazz's eyes grew darker, and Jesse swallowed hard.
"Jesse, don't, I can duel him-" He grabbed the Slifer's jacket and shoved him towards the others, holding up the arm with his duel disk.
"Come on, don't leave me hanging," He said slowly. Jesse had to do this quickly, Chazz didn't look in very good shape, and he wasn't all that sure about the thing in the well either. Syrus had been right and Crowler was an idiot for not sealing it off.
Chazz silent stood there, but his duel disk set in the ready position, counting up Life Points. Jesse mirrored him, waiting to see if he took the first move or not.
He did not, so Jesse drew his hand first.
"Game set. I set one card in defense position and place one face down. Your turn." He was relying on his emerald tortoise's defense points here, and right now, it was better to wait and see what was happening. Nothing about this duel, or Chazz, was normal. Was he even still playing the same cards?
"I draw. I play the magic card Frontline Base which allows me to special summon a level four union monster from my hand. I summon Y-Dragon Head with this effect, and normal summon Z-Metal Tank as well." Chazz's voice was very clinical, unlike his normal passion-filled duels. It made Jesse even more worried for his-Jaden's friend.
"With this, by removing them both from play, I special summon YZ-Tank Dragon!" He raised his hand, and the giant hologram rose from the ground, lightning crackling around the edges. The air snapped around him, and he involuntarily took a step backwards. This wasn't a hologram, was it?
"Are you paying attention?" Jesse's head snapped back to Chazz, who was grinning. "If I discard a card, my tank's effect makes your little monster go bye-bye." He shoved a card into his graveyard and his defense was destroyed.
"Yeah, but since it was a crystal beast, it gets reformed in my magic and trap zone." Jesse called out, pointing at the green crystal that reformed.
"What the hell EVER, that doesn't matter, because now my tank's attacking you. DIRECTLY." The black-haired boy let out a maniacal laugh and sent the tank rumbling towards the crystal duelist. Jesse bit his lip. This wasn't his style but he needed to wrap this up quickly. "I activate Negate Attack!"
A laser shot out of his card and the rumbling of his tank stopped, much to the possessed Chazz's dismay. He let out a growl and set one card face down, ending his turn. Jesse drew again, too worried about that feeling of realness to pay much attention to the face down. "Okay, I summon Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, in attack mode!" Another blue crystal appeared in his magic and trap zone, but the glint in Chazz's eye caught his gaze.
"I activate my trap! Ring of Destruction!" The face down card slowly flipped up to reveal a spinning ring, which descended quickly on the tank. "FACE WHAT YOUR FEELINGS HAVE WROUGHT!"
Shit, he really needed to activate that, he had to reach it before it went off-
The bomb exploded, catching both of them in the blinding blast.
