Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

Chapter 4: The Vanishing Students

Sophie nervously headed for the abandoned shed where Mick had asked to meet with her. She had no idea what Mick wanted to talk with her about, but she had been thinking about it during the entire duel between Jaden and David. Sophie had been so preoccupied with the matter she had hardly paid attention to the duel. Sheila had told her that Jaden had handed David an upsetting defeat using Winged Kuriboh, but she had to take her word for it. Sophie had been so busy trying to figure out what Mick wanted to tell her that everything else was a total blank.

The truth was that Sophie had more than just a crush on Mick. She was in love with him. She had been ever since she had first laid eyes on him. Sophie had bumped into Mick during her first day at the academy. She had tripped over a rock while wander the grounds and Mick had spotted her and helped her up. The two of them became friends soon after that event, but Sophie had never gotten up the nerve to tell Mick how she really felt about him. She had always been quite shy, and the fact that Mick always seemed to have female admirers around him didn't make things any easier.

After a few minutes of walking, Sophie finally made it to the old abandoned shed. She saw Mick there waiting for her in front of the door. Sophie's heart began to pound a bit faster. After taking a big gulp, she began to walk over.

"There you are." Mick greeted with a warm smile. "Thanks for showing up."

"I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" Sophie asked.

"Not at all." Mick assured her. "In fact I needed a few minutes to prepare before you got here."

"So… what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Sophie nervously asked.

"Not out here." Mick replied. "We'll talk in the shed. I want this to be private."

"Oh, uh… okay." Sophie agreed.

Mick opened the door and let Sophie go in first. Inside, Sophie saw a table against the far wall of the shed lit with candles. Drawn on the wall above the table in what looked like chalk was an odd almost star-shaped symbol with what looked like an eye drawn in the center. The two points on the side curved upward to look like horns. Mick closed and latched the door behind them and the light of the candles completely filled the room.

"Mick, what's going on?" a confused Sophie asked. "What is all this?"

Suddenly Mick gently grabbed her by the arm and pinned her against the wall, causing her gasp. Sophie found herself looking deeply into Mick's dark-blue eyes. His eyes had a look that she had never seen before. There was something wild and predatory about them. It terrified Sophie a bit, but at the same time it greatly excited her. She was seeing a side of Mick that she never knew was there and found that she was enjoying it.

"You're a real pretty girl, Sophie." Mick told her as he gently stroked her left cheek. "I've had my eye on you for some time now."

"You… you have?" the surprised blonde asked as her face turned bright red.

"I know how you really feel about me Sophie." Mick continued. "And I thought that maybe it was about time I showed you how I feel about you?"

"Mick, what're you…?" Sophie attempted to ask.

Before she could finish, Mick kissed her hard on the lips. She quickly felt his tongue pressing against her mouth. Eagerly she opened her mouth to allow him access. Their tongues began to move against one another. After what seemed like an eternity they broke apart for air. Sophie's mind was frantically trying to figure out what was going on, but her brain didn't seem to want to function right. Everything seemed to be happening so fast.

Mick smiled and pulled off Sophie's glasses. "You have such lovely eyes."

"Mick, I…" Sophie began to speak.

The white-haired young man quickly captured her lips in another deep kiss. As their tongues mingled, Mick's hands went to work unbuttoning Sophie's uniform jacket. After he removed her jacket and let it drop to the floor, Mick pulled up the pink shirt that was underneath, revealing Sophie's white bra. They broke for air again and Mick reached behind and undid the bra, causing it to drop to reveal her breasts.

"Beautiful." Mick spoke as he began massaging the blonde's bare chest.

Sophie moaned softly as Mick began kneading her breasts. She had become lost in the pleasure that he was giving her. Before long Mick stopped and looked Sophie straight in the eye.

"I want to make you mine, Sophie." Mick told her. "Will you give yourself to me?"

"…I would do anything for you, Mick." Sophie told her.

Mick smiled and took a moment to open his jacket and undo his belt before pulling down his pants, finally releasing his hardened manhood. He lifted up Sophie's skit and pulled aside the crotch of her panties, revealing her moist opening. Mick pushed his hardened rod into her, and Sophie felt a wave of pain wash over her. He began moving his hips very slowly to allow her to get used to the feeling. It was not long though before pain transmuted into pleasure.

Sophie wrapped her legs around Mick's waist, causing him to buck his hips harder and faster. The walls of the old shed began to creak with their movements. She had never felt such intense pleasure before in her life. All sense of time seemed to vanish as Mick thrust into her with all his strength. An eternity passed, and Sophie could feel herself coming close to the edge.

"Mick! I think I'm going to…" Sophie managed to say.

Mick said nothing and simply picked up his pace. For a moment Sophie thought she was going to be pushed through the wall. With one last thrust from Mick, they both came to a hard climax at the same time. Sophie's mind was completely blown as she felt a warmth rush into her.

With Sophie in a daze, Mick grinned and pulled a ceremonial dagger from his jacket pocket. "By the will of Zott, you will now serve me."

After doing a little asking around, Jaden finally found the classroom where Alexis was helping out as an assistant. By the time he got there, the class had already wrapped up and the students were flowing out of the room. Jaden peeked into the room and saw Alexis standing behind a desk stacking papers. There was no one else in the room, which meant that she and Jaden were alone. Jaden found that he was feeling a bit nervous, but it seemed like he might not have a better chance for him and Alexis to talk.

Taking a deep breath, Jaden walked into the classroom. "Hey Lex. Got a minute?"

"Huh?" Alexis responded as she looked up from her papers. "Oh, hi Jaden. I'm afraid I don't really have time to talk right now. The next class starts in about five minutes and I need to get everything ready."

"Please Lex, it's important." Jaden told her. "I have to know… is there something going on between you and David?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Alexis asked.

"Are you and he… like a couple?" Jaden managed to ask.

"And what if we are?" Alexis responded as she began placing the papers she had been stacking on the student desks. "It's not like you'd actually care if we were."

"What did I do to make you mad at me?" a confused Jaden asked. "If this is because I haven't kept in touch with you, I'm sorry. But hey, it's not like I've heard from you all that much either."

"Yeah? Well I've been busy training to become an academy teacher." Alexis told him. "Not everyone can just wander around the world having fun like you, ya know! Some of us have to work hard to achieve our dreams."

"And what the heck is that supposed to mean?" Jaden asked.

"Just why are we having this talk?" Alexis demanded to know. "What is it that you're trying to say to me?"

Jaden was about to say that he thought he was in love with her, but the words became caught in his throat. He wanted to tell her, but he was afraid of how she would respond. With the mood Alexis was in, it seemed like she would simply bite his head off.

"Look, I don't have time for this." Alexis told him with a frustrated sigh. "I have work to right now. Just get out of here and leave me alone."

"But… Alexis." Jaden responded.

"…Jaden, you and I… we're just too different now." Alexis continued. "You have your world and I have mine. I think it's best if we just kept it that way."

Defeated, Jaden left the classroom to let Alexis continue what she was doing. As he walked down the hallway, Jaden couldn't help but wonder what Alexis had meant when she said that they had become too different from one another. Yubel appeared to float alongside him. He could tell that the Duel Monster spirit was angry with Alexis.

"The nerve of that woman!" Yubel spoke. "If I had five minutes with her, I'd… well, you wouldn't want to hear what I'd do. Look, the way I see it Jaden, you're a lot better off without her."

"What did she mean when she said that we're too different now?" Jaden wondered. "Is there something different about me that she doesn't like?"

"Look, she might've been talking about herself." Yubel pointed out. "It could be that she's the one who's changed."

Yubel's theory made Jaden stop in his tracks. "I can't believe that. She may be busier than she used to be, I know she's still the same Alexis."

"Are you sure about that?" Yubel asked. "It could be that she's moved on. Maybe it's time you did the same."

"…Not yet." Jaden told her. "Not after I just figured out how I feel about her. I want to try a little longer."

Yubel gave a heavy sigh. "Okay, but be careful. I don't want to see you getting hurt by this."

"Thanks. I'll try." Jaden replied.

Mick walked the halls trying to decide on his next prey. Since taking Sophie for himself, he had conquered three other girls. But he wanted add more to his collection. Fortunately for him, he had quite the selection to choose from. The academy was full of attractive young women, and many of them were his groupies so it was easy for him to lure them in. He could have practically any girl that he wanted, save for the ones already initiated into the order. Electra had told him that there were a few.

As Mick turned a corner, he finally spotted his next target. It was a sixteen-year-old girl he knew as Freda Evans. She had straight pink hair that was tied in a ponytail and lovely violet eyes. Freda also had quite the fiery personality, but Mick knew that he could tame her. After all, Freda was one of his most devoted fans.

"Hey Freda, you got a second?" Mick asked as he approached.

"Oh, hi Mick." Freda responded as she turned around. "What's up?"

"There's something I want to talk to you about, but I don't want to do it here." Mick explained. "Can you come by the old shed later this afternoon when you're done with class?"

"Sure thing." Freda agreed. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I'll be waiting." Mick replied as he turned to leave. "Later."

Mick grinned as he walked off with his hands in his pockets. He knew he was going to enjoy adding Freda to his growing collection.

Three days went by, and Jaden still had no idea what to do about Alexis. They hadn't even seen one another since the little incident in the classroom. The whole time, Jaden had been trying to figure out the best way to approach her. He couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Yubel was right. Maybe he had waited too long to get in touch with Alexis. Maybe somewhere along the line her feelings for him had changed, that she had somehow outgrown him. Or perhaps she had never seen him as anything more than just a friend.

As Jaden walked grounds that afternoon lost in thought, he suddenly felt himself bump into something. He looked and saw that the thing he had bumped into was Sheila. Jaden noticed that she seemed to have a worried look on her face.

"Oh, sorry Sheila." Jaden told her. "I guess I've got so much on my mind right now that I didn't see you."

"That's fine. I wasn't exactly watching where I was going either." Sheila admitted.

"Is something wrong?" Jaden asked.

"It's Sophie." Sheila explained. "She's been missing for about three days now."

"What happened?" a concerned Jaden asked.

"Nobody knows." Sheila answered. "She disappeared almost right after your duel with David Rabb."

"Has anyone tried looking for her?" Jaden asked.

"Well… no. That's what's really weird. It's like the teachers aren't bugged by this at all." Sheila revealed. "And Sophie's not the only student who's just vanished off the face of the earth. Students started disappearing from here about three weeks ago. And since Sophie vanished it seems like it's been getting worse. About seven more students have disappeared in the last three days."

"You're kidding!" Jaden exclaimed.

"The creepy part is that the students who're disappearing have all been girls." Sheila continued. "I don't really feel safe walking around here knowing that some psycho's prowling around here."

"Do you know anything about these girls that might explain why they've disappeared?" Jaden asked.

"Not really." Sheila replied. "I don't really know a lot of the other girls at this academy besides Sophie. But there is a list of their names on the school bulletin board."

"Why don't you show it to me." Jaden suggested.

With that, Sheila took Jaden to the large bulletin board near the academy's main entrance. In the middle of the board was a handwritten list of all the academy students who had gone missing. Jaden looked over the list and a name seemed to stick out at him, Ronda Manetti. He couldn't help but think back to his duel with Trent when he used a card called Sacrifice Maiden Ronda for a Ritual Summon.

"Looks like you and I are thinking the same thing." Yubel observed as she appeared next to him. "That card of Trent's wasn't normal."

"Uh, Sheila? Do you know the girl on this list named Ronda Manetti?" Jaden asked.

"Like I said, I don't really know a lot of the girls here too we besides Sophie." Sheila reminded him. "Although… come to think of it I may have chatted with her once during this festival we had here not too long ago. In fact I might have a picture of her on my phone."

Sheila pulled her smart phone out of her pocket and began looking through all the pictures she had saved on it. After finding the one she was looking for, the redhead held up her phone to show Jaden. The picture on the screen showed Sheila standing in front of what looked like a refreshment stand with a chocolate ice cream cone on her hand. Standing to her left in the picture was Sophie, and on her right was a young woman with long dark-green hair. Jaden and Yubel instantly recognized her as Sacrifice Maiden Ronda, and Jaden also recalled the instance when he saw Trent out the window having sex with a girl that had long dark-green hair.

"What is it?" Sheila asked, noticing the expression of shock on Jaden's face. "Do you know something?"

"Yo Jaden!" a familiar voice called before Jaden could answer. Jaden and Sheila looked to see Atticus walking towards them.

"Oh, hi Atticus." Jaden greeted back.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Atticus observed.

After a moment, Jaden told Atticus about the missing students. Afterwards he explained to both Atticus and Sheila about what happened during his duel with Trent, particularly about how Trent had played a card that was a dead ringer for Ronda Manetti. Both Sheila and Atticus were unsettled by this news.

"Let me get this straight… you're saying that guy who's in a coma right now used a card that looked like an academy student?" Sheila asked.

"Yeah, and I think I saw Ronda before that duel too." Jaden confirmed. "Atticus, do you remember that girl we accidentally saw Trent getting it on with out the window? She had the same hair as Ronda."

"Oh boy. I don't think I like where this is headed." Atticus responded.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sheila interrupted. "Are you guys saying that some of the guys here have gone psycho and are having sex with girls before killing them, chopping up the bodies, and making weird cards that look like them?"

"Not exactly." Atticus answered. "More like some of the guys here are turning the girls they have sex with into cards. Is that what you're getting at Jaden?"

"I think so." Jaden answered. "Or at least removing their souls to put into cards."

"You guys are talking crazy!" Sheila told them. "How can people be turned into Duel Monsters cards? It's just not possible!"

"Trust me, Jaden and I have seen enough weird stuff at our old academy to know that it is." Atticus assured her. "Hell, I was possessed by a demon for a few years."

"…What?" Sheila responded with a look of disbelief.

"You know Jaden, I've been hearing a rumors about these disappearances too." Atticus continued. "One of them is that a few of the girls were going to see a hotshot here on campus named Mick Silver before they vanished. The gossip is that these girls went to go meet up with him at some old shed."

"Sheila, do you know the shed that he's talking about?" Jaden asked.

"Well… yeah." Sheila answered. "But hey, Mick's a nice guy. He wouldn't be doing stuff like this."

"Trent came after me because someone or something brainwashed him." Jaden pointed out. "The same thing might've happened to Mick. And now that I think about it, wasn't Sophie going to meet up with Mick before she vanished."

"Well yeah, but… oh god!" Sheila responded.

"I think you better take us to that shed." Atticus suggested.

Sheila nodded and led Jaden and Atticus to the old shed. By the time they got there, the three of them thought they saw a flash of white light through the crack under the door. A few moments after, the door opened and Mick walked out with a sinister grin on his face. Jaden could immediately tell that something was off about him.

"Hey!" Jaden called as they walked up, getting Mick's attention.

"Oh, Jaden Yuki. I didn't expect to see you here." Mick responded.

"You can drop the act." Jaden told him. "Now what have you done with Sophie and those other girls? We know you have something to do with why they've vanished."

"I see…" Mick responded. "Well, I guess it was just a matter of time before my little secret came out. It's just as well though. I think it's about time you and I faced off… Supreme King!"

"Supreme King?" a confused Sheila repeated. "What's he talking about?"

"I was told that anyone who defeated you would be richly rewarded." Mick continued as he activated his duel disk. "Once I take you down, I'll be hailed a hero in the glorious new age of Zott!"

Jaden glared back at Mick and activated his own duel disk. "Game on!"

Author's Note: Originally I had thought about listing the genre of this story as Romance/Horror instead of Romance/Adventure. I may change it to that later on, because there are a few horror elements to this story. Anyway, in the next chapter we find out a little bit about what's happened to the missing students. So stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.