Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, except my OC.
Chapter 6: Dueling in shadows part 2
Last time we saw the duelist, Titan was giving an evil smirk which unnerved Ethan.
"My turn, draw!" Titan said. "I play Pot of Greed!"
"Now I play Hinotama, Oookazi and Final Flame!" Titan exclaimed as the fire wave was sent at Ethan.
Ethan: 1400 (3300-800-500-600)
"I know this place's cold, but..." Ethan said, shaking off the flames. "...who overloaded the heater?"
Titan lifted his item once more and more parts of Ethan disappeared into the shadows, leaving only his hand floating.
"Do you feel despair now, brat?" Titan mocked Ethan.
"No way...I'm going...down!" Ethan exclaimed.
"Look into my Millennium item and feel yourself being devoured by the shadows!" Titan said as he lifted his item once more.
Ethan fell to his knees, gasping for breath.
"Ethan!" The Slifer Trio yelled in concern.
"Fall in the shadows..." Titan said. "Even if they are only in your mind."
'I can't...I won't...' Ethan thought, gathering his inner strength. '...LET IT END LIKE THIS!'
As Ethan yelled this in his mind, Dark Magician Girl's card began to glow brightly.
"Ethan!" A female voice rang in Ethan's head, a familiar one.
'That voice...' Ethan said. 'Dark Magician Girl, is that you?'
"Yup!" She exclaimed. "He's tricking you!"
'Tricking me?' Ethan asked. 'What do you mean?'
"I'll show you!" She said as the glow of the card increased.
The rays of light coming out of it showed the cave as it truly was. No Pandemonium, no shadows and his body was whole.
'Wait a moment...' Ethan said as he figured it out. 'The jerk's a fraud!'
Ethan opened his eyes and gave a glare to Titan worthy of Zorc Necrophades
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Titan yelled.
"I got your little 'Shadow Game' figured out" Ethan said as he got up. 'Thanks Dark Magician Girl.'
Dark Magician Girl giggled.
"Figured out?" Chumley asked.
"What does he mean?" Syrus added.
"What are you blabbering about?" Titan demanded.
"It means my soul's not in the menu anymore!" Ethan yelled.
Syrus, Chumley and Jaden looked at Ethan in awe, having recovered his strength so quickly and looking as pissed-off as heck.
'What's happening?' Titan thought alarmed. 'Why isn't he scared anymore?'
"My turn, draw!" Ethan said. "I use Heavy Storm!"
A huge whirlwind manifested and blew away the skeletal temple, leaving the cave as it was before.
"So what if you destroyed the Pandemonium?" Titan hollered. "I still have my Pendant." He said as he lifted it again.
"Be careful what you wish for..." Ethan said. "...you might get it!"
Using a great dexterity, Ethan grabbed a loose pebble from the ground and threw it at the trinket, making a gaping hole on it.
"It seems I broke it." Ethan said. "Hope I don't have to buy it!"
"What have you done?" Titan screamed in outrage.
As soon as the hole was made, Ethan's lost body parts returned to normal.
"You got your body back, Ethan!" Syrus exclaimed.
"I never lost it, Sy." Ethan replied. "This whole thing was a fraud!"
"A fraud?" Jaden asked.
"Just hypnosis, smoke and mirrors to make me think I was losing my soul." Ethan snickered. "He a sham. I mean, he must be a carnie reject!"
"I'm not a reject!" Titan whined. "I can get my job at the fair whenever I want!"
"Sure you can..." Ethan deadpanned. "and that hand-made item must be a hit with the little kids!"
"Be quiet!" Titan snapped. "It's real! I'm real"
"As if, Sideshow Bob wannabe." Ethan further mocked him.
"Seems you're forgetting something..." Titan recovered a bit of his bravado. "...or should I say someone?"
"Alexis!" Chumley exclaimed.
"Indeed!" Titan smirked "She's still trapped in a shadowy prison, the shadows devouring her soul!"
Ethan looked at him with a bored expression.
"You finished?" Ethan asked. "You're naive, you know."
"Huh?" Titan uttered.
We see a flashback when our heroes found the wall depicting the items.
"All the items were counted in that wall." Ethan's voice over said. "And yours would be the Puzzle, not Pendant."
We know go back to our aired duel.
"You don't have Alexis' soul!" Ethan said. "You never did!"
"So hand her over and the others as well!" Jaden exclaimed.
"Others? What are you talking about?" Titan said perplexed. "And for your snide comments, you can find her yourself!"
Titan took a smoke pellet from his oat and threw to the ground, releasing a thick back fog to escape.
"Oh no!" Ethan exclaimed. "You're not getting out that easily!"
Ethan ran after him. As he passed a series of carved snake heads on the walls of the cavern, the mouth of each lit up with golden light. By the time he reached the center of the field, which was rapidly fogging over with smoke, snake heads have lit up all around the room and each casts a thin, laserlike beam to the center of the field, where they meet, too perfect to be accidental. A large, golden eye lights up on the floor. The holograms from the duel fade.
"Color me impressed." Ethan said as Titan stopped. "How did you do that?"
"I'm not doing anything..." Titans said shocked.
The fog and shadows circled both until they compressed themselves into a pulsing dark sphere.
"E...ethan?" Syrus called out.
Inside the sphere, Ethan was looking around at the endless void of unnatural purple clouds, both amazed and frightened. Now this is starting to look like a shadow game. Titan is no less shaken, and possibly a lot more so.
"Wha...What is this place?" Titan exclaimed.
"Cut the tricks out!" Ethan demanded. "It's not even funny anymore!"
"Tricks?" Titan replied. "I can't do something like this!"
Just then, greyish blobs start to rain from above, each with a rather evil expression on their faces, very few with arms or any other distinguishing features. They gravitate to Titan, and encrusted him with gray slime.
"Help! Titan called out. "Ethan! Save me!"
Then a few wisps of the slimy blobs zip into Titan's open mouth, silencing him.
"What the heck?" Ethan said, shocked out of his wits.
Ethan looked down; more hungry-looking blobs were oozing around his feet, ready to pounce. Then Dark Magician Girl appeared and blasted them away with magic.
"Thanks for the save!" Ethan thanked her.
"Don't mention it!" She replied.
Meanwhile, Titan wasn't faring nearly so well. The wisps that got into his mouth are still making it fizz with a weird greenish light, and more blobs were rushing in.
"Too bad he doesn't have someone like you!" Ethan said. "What's up with him, Dark Magician Girl?"
But before she could reply, Titan got up, his eyes now glowing the same color as the blobs'
"Ethan Tidwell." Titan said. "The shadows starve for a soul. There can only be one victor."
"Red contacts?" Ethan exclaimed. "You really planned this out!"
The slimes moved father, making a circle where the holograms of the Magician's Valkyria and Skull Archfiend appeared back.
"This duel will end in the Shadow realm." Titan continued.
"You wanna take it to the end?" Ethan asked. "Fine by me!"
"My turn!" Titan declared. "Draw!"
"Since I lost Pandemonium, I have to pay for my Archfiend."
Titan: 2400
"You're aware you can't attack any of my monsters, right?" Ethan asked the obvious.
"Consider yourself lucky." Titan said. "For the moment."
"I place two face downs." Titan said as two cards appeared in the field. "And I summon Desrook Archfiend (ATK: 1100/DEF: 1800) in Attack mode."
The demonic mix of a skull and a rook piece appeared, snarling mutely at Ethan.
"My turn! Draw!" Ethan did so. "I play the Spell Card, Sage's Stone!"
A rock roughly the size of a fist appeared
"With this card, if I have Dark Magician Girl on the field, I can summon her master!" Ethan declared. "Come forth, Dark Magician!"
The Spellcaster appeared and looked at Dark Magician Girl who nodded back.
"Dark Magician Girl attack Desrook with Burning Magic!" Ethan ordered as Dark Magician Girl let out the magical blast, blowing the fiends up.
Titan: 2000
"I activate my trap card, Battle Scarred!" Titan said as the card flipped, revealing Terrorking slashing at Marauding Captain and drawing blood. "With this I can select one Archfiend monster in my field and now each time I have to pay for that monster, you'll pay the same amount of Life Points too."
"Aw, shucks!" Ethan said.
"I place a face-down and end my turn."
"My turn!" Titan said. "Draw!"
Titan: 1500
Ethan: 900
'I better think of something or I'm done for!' Ethan thought.
"I end my turn." Titan deadpanned.
"My turn! Draw!" Ethan looked at the card and his eyes widened along with a smirk forming in his mouth.
"What's so funny?" Titan asked.
"It seems it's time for you to be fired!" Ethan declared.
"What are you talking about?" Titan asked, not seeing the why.
"I sacrifice Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl to summon this" Ethan said out loud. "Appear, Sorcerer of Dark Magic (ATK: 3200/DEF: 2800)!"
The two spellcasters disappeared into a light which formed a new one. This one had armor different than Dark Magician, a mask to cover his upper face and a different staff.
"If you're awed by him, look at his ATK points!" Ethan smirked again at Titan's shocked face.
"And that' not all!" Ethan continued.
"Huh?" Was Titan's reply
"One monster in your side, three in mine." Ethan said. "Do the math."
"It can't be!" Titan declaimed.
"Sure it can!" Ethan said. "Sorcerer of Dark Magic, attack Skull Archfiend of Lightning with Celestial Blast!"
The sorcerer launched a magic fireball energy which obliterated Skull Archfiend of Lightning.
Titan: 800
"Magican's Valkyries, finish this!" Ethan ordered. "Double Magic Impact!"
The girls were happy to comply and sent the bolt right at Titan who screamed in pain.
Titan: 0
"This isn't over, Tidwell!" Titan yelled as the shadows devoured him. "I'll be baaaaaaack!"
"Sure you will, Terminator." Ethan joked.
As soon as he disappeared, the shadows receded and Ethan found himself again in the abandoned droms' cave.
The first thing Ethan noticed was the coffin holding Alexis was back and open, while she was still unconscious.
"Ethan!" Syrus and Chumley called out. "You okay?"
"Never better, guys!" Ethan replied as he waved at them.
"What happened in there?" Jaden asked him.
"Nothing much." Ethan confessed. "Just kicked his butt."
Ethan then went to where Alexis was and lifted her bridal-style.
"You're strong, Ethan!" Jaden said, impressed
"I work out." He replied. "Let's get out of here."
Elsewhere in the Abandoned Dorm, Crowler walks the hallway with a flashlight.
"Haha. Little Jaden or Tidwell must be beaten and paralyzed with fear by now." Crowler giddily said. "What's this?"
H noticed a piece of paper in the floor and picked it up.
"It's Titan's Pandemonium card! He wouldn't leave it unless..."
Crolwer mused "He lost! What kind of Shadow Duelist would give up?"
Leaving the clown wannabe, we go to the entrance of the dorms where Alexis in now leaning on a tree while Ethan pokes her.
"Nheeee." Alexis said as she began to wake up.
Well, well, good morning, sleepyhead!" Jaden greeted.
"Wha..." She then noticed everyone. "What are you doing here?"
Ethan stepped up to explain.
"Long story short; we found the bad guy, I beat him in a duel and rescued the damsel in distress!" Ethan explained. "Not to mention I carried you all the way here! You cuddled up just like a baby kitten."
Alexis went red in both anger and embarrassment and tried to bonk Ethan, emphasize on tried.
"He isn't kidding." Jaden stated. "He works out."
Alexis raised an eyebrow.
"What he said." Ethan replied her gesture.
"Right, that strange man snatched me and..." Alexis began.
"The rest is history." Ethan finished. "We found this by the way"
Ethan handed her back her Etoile Cyber card.
"And also this." Jaden said as he handed her a photo.
"That's my brother!" Alexis exclaimed. "This is the first trace I see of him!"
"We brought it to let you know we wanna help you find him!" Ethan said. "Aside that, we can't let you be kidnapped again if you go alone once more!"
"You guys were worried about me..." Alexis said, still a bit miffed of the kidnapped joke.
In the horizon, the sun was getting up.
"The sun, guys!" Jaden said as he began running. "Better go so they don't catch us here!"
"Way ahead of you!" Ethan said as he indeed had gone farther than Jaden.
"Wait for us, guys!" Syrus and Chumley followed
"And if someone asks..." Jaden exclaimed. "..we weren't here."
"Then where were we?" Ethan asked. "Silent Hill?"
The four Slifers laughed as they left.
As soon as the left, Alexis looked at the picture of her brother as the rising sun began to illuminate it.
'But you were here, guys...' Alexis thought. '...and you saved me. And now I, know, we might find my brother too!'