Ch. 7 A Shadow Game
"As I reached for the rare card in the water, a hand grabbed me and dragged me in!" Syrus said. Chumley jumped up and screamed while Jaden and Mana yawned.
"What are you doing?" Professor Banner's voice said from behind Syrus, causing him to jump onto Chumley.
"Hey Professor Banner" Mana said.
"We're telling ghost stories." Jaden said. "You draw a card from the deck. The higher the level on the monster, the scarier your story has to be."
"I see." Banner said as he drew a card. The monster card was a level eight. "Have you guys ever heard of the Abandoned Dorm?" Banner asked in an eerie voice. Syrus and Chumley both said no as Mana and Jaden looked at Banner with great interest. "The dorm was used to train students with exceptional dueling skills such as Jaden and Mana here; however, students began to soon began to disappear from the dorm without a trace. The dorm was shut down shortly after and is now constantly watched over by the night patrol to keep students away. Those students who disappeared are still missing to this verey day." Banner got up and left the room.
"I-I think I'll t-turn in for the night." Chumley said before leaving.
"You guys going to bed?" Syrus asked asked as he noticed a strange look pass by Jaden and Mana as if they might have just discovered something important.
"No, I think we'll check out the Abandoned Dorm." Jaden said as he and Mana Got up and began to leave.
"What?" Syrus shouted. When Syrus realized Jaden and Mana were serious, he quickly followed, shouting, "Wait for me!"
Alexis stood in front of the Abandoned Dorm and placed a rose in front of a gate made of a single chain with a sign that read, "Keep Out". Alexis released a deep sigh full of sorrow before whispering, "I hope you're safe brother, where ever you are..." After a few more minutes, Alexis went to turn around and leave but was met with a man in a black cloak and a mask.
"You re coming with me." The man said. Alexis let a quick scream before a gas was sprayed in her face and she passed out.
"Was that a scream?" Syrus asked, getting worried.
"That sounded like Alexis!" Jaden shouted. "It came from up ahead! Let's go!" Jaden, Mana, and Syrus ran and discovered the Abandoned Dorm. Jaden noticed a card on the floor in front of a passage way and picked the card up. Jaden's face turned emotionless as he saw that the card was Doble Passé.
"Let's go inside." Mana said in a serious tone, her expression also emotionless. Syrus was shocked into silence at the way the usually cheerful Jaden and Mana were acting as he followed them inside and down to the basement. What they saw made their blood turn cold. Alexis was inside of a coffin as a man stood in the middle of the room. Jaden and Mana silently gasped upon seeing the power of the shadows surround Alexis.
'The shadows only surround a Shadow Duelist when their in trouble. Jaden thought. 'Is Alexis a Shadow Duelist like me and Mana?'
"My prey has come to me." the man said with an evil smirk. 'My name is Titan and this will be the last duel you ever play." Titan gasped as Jaden walked past him and toward Alexis without showing any sort of fear. 'Why is he not afraid of me?' Titan thought in surprise and anger.
Jaden reached Alexis and gently began to shake her. "Wake up Alexis." Jaden said softly. Alexis's eyes opened slowly before she was fully awake.
"Jaden?" Alexis asked as she looked around at her surroundings. When Alexis saw Titan, she gasped. "That's the guy who attacked me!"
"I know." Jaden said with venom in his voice as he helped Alexis out of the coffin. "His name is Titan, an S-class criminal who forces people into duels and claims to use the power of the shadows to send his victims into comas."
"I do use the power of the shadows." Titan said as he took out what appeared to be the Millennium Puzzle. "It's all thanks to this Millennium Pendent." A blast of dark energy hit the pendent in Titan's hands and vaporized it. Everyone except Jaden turned to see Mana with a sphere of black energy being held in her hand while she held her hand in front of her.
"First off, it's called the Millennium Puzzle." Mana said before the black energy vanished. "Second, if it were the real thing, that low level attack wouldn t even have left a tiny scratch, let alone destroy the entire thing."
"And third," Jaden began to say before a dark fog surrounded the entire room, "me and Mana are real Shadow Duelists." Jaden then activated his duel disk as a small burst of wind appeared around him. "If you win, you walk free; however, if you lose, you have to face a Penalty Game."
"Are you really a Shadow Duelist?" Alexis asked, surprised, as she looked at Jaden with wide eyes.
"Yeah." Jaden said. "Kaiba hired me and Mana to find out about the missing students and to protect some cards that were sealed away here."
"You're telling me everything later." Alexis said in a commanding tone. 'I want to know exactly who you are Jaden.'
"Alright." Jaden said in a soft voice. "I planned to eventually."
"Enough!" Titan shouted with a hint of fright in his voice. "Let s duel!"
Jaden-4000/Titan-4000
Titan drew a card before saying, "I play the field spell Pandemonium! Next, I play Infernalqueen Archfiend!" Infernalqueen appeared on the left side of Titan as the field changed to the picture on the Pandemonium card. "Now I use the Spell Card, Double Summon to summon Terrorking Archfiend!" Terrorking appeared on the right of Titan. "I end my turn."
"Draw!" Jaden said with a venom filled voice before he looked at the cards in his hand and glared at Titan. "I'll show you no mercy for kidnapping Alexis and everything else you've done! I activate Polymerization to fuse Clayman and Burstinatrix to summon Elemental hero Rampart Blaster in defense mode." Clayman and Burstinatrix disappeared inside of a twister before Blaster appeared on Jaden s right. "Next I use Dark Factory of Mass Production to return Clayman and Burstinatrix to my hand before fusing them together with Dark Fusion to summon Evil Hero Infernal Sniper in defense mode." Once again Claymand and Burstinatix disappeared inside of a twister, this one made of darkness, before Sniper appeared on Jaden's left. "I activate both of their special abilities! While Blaster and Sniper are in defense mode, they can each deal 1000 points of damage to my opponent!" Both Blaster and Sniper launched an attack each at Titan.
Jaden-4000/Titan-2000
Titan, Alexis, and Syrus gasped as half of Titan s body vanished. "What's happening to me!" Titan looked at Jaden, his eyes revieling how scared he truely is now.
"The loser of this duel will be trapped in the Shadow Realm." Jaden explain as he placed a card face down in his Spell and Trap Card Zone. "That is the Penalty Game the loser of this duel must play. You'll lose in my next turn. I end."
"Draw!" Titan said before he smirked evilly upon seeing the card he drew. "I discard one card to activate Lightning Vortex! This card destroys all of my opponent's monsters!" Lightning struck down onto Jaden s field, destroying Rampart Blaster. "How did Infernal Sniper survive?"
"Sniper can't be destroyed with Spell Cards." Jaden said with a smirk.
"Fine." Titan growled out. "Since Infernalqueen raised the attack of Terrorking to 3000, I attack with him!"
"I activate Negate Attack." Jaden said, causing the attack to be swallowed up.
"I end." Titan said.
Jaden went to draw a card when he felt a pulse from his deck. 'You wish to punish him? Alright then.' Jaden thought as he drew his card. "I activate Card of Sanctity to allow each of us to draw until we hold six cards in our hands" Jaden now have 6 cards in his hand, making sure to hide 1 of them from Alexis s sight. "Now I activate The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh to special summon Winged Kuriboh before I use De-Fusion to bring Clayman and Burstinatrix onto the field." Sniper split before becoming Clayman and Burstinatirx as Winged Kuriboh appeared in front of Jaden.
"What do you plan to do with such weak monsters?" Titan laughed.
"I sacrifice all three to summon Obelisk the Tormentor!" Jaden roared as he placed Obelisk into a Monster Card Zone. Titan gasped in horror as he watched Obelisk rise and tower Jaden and the startled Alexis from behind. "I told you that 'I'll show you no mercy'!"
"But, how?" Titan gasped out in fear. "That card belongs to Yugi Muto, the King of Games!" Titan slowly backed away from the leering Obelisk.
"I'm sure you heard of the rumor about Yugi taking in an apprentice and eventually being beaten by him." Mana stated as she glared at Titan.
"I remember hearing about that." Syrus said as he looked at Obelisk it awe.
"Jaden was the apprentice." Mana said. "Yugi gave Jaden the Egyptian God Cards after Jaden beat him in a duel as proff of being The King of Games."
"Time to finish you off." Jaden said. "Obelisk, attack Infernalqueen!" Obelisk nodded before he obeyed Jaden's command and destroyed Infernalqueen.
Jaden-4000/Titan-0
"No!" Titan yelled as the shadows devoured him until there was nothing left. The dark fog disappeared right after.
"Mana, tell Syrus everything back at the dorm." Jaden said. "I have a few things to discuss with Alexis."
"Sure." Mana replied before she and Syrus left. Jaden turned around to look at Alexis.
"So, you're the King of Games." Alexis stated, not asked.
"Yeah." Jaden said. "Sorry I couldn't tell you before, but can you imagine how everyone would react if they knew?" Alexis tried to imagine what would happen, and did not enjoy the results as she envisioned duelist from all over the world demanding to duel Jaden and every girl trying to date Jaden. That last thought caused Alexis to feel rage and anger to boil inside of her before she blushed at what she was thinking. Luckily for Alexis, Jaden did not notice the blush.
"I see your point." Alexis said with a nervous giggle before she remembered what Jaden had said only a few moments ago. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"I think you're a Shadow Duelist." Jaden answered with the most serious tone Alexis has ever heard from him.
"What?" Alexis gasped out. Jaden continued by explaining what happened to her when she was passed out and what it means. "I'm really a Shadow Duelist?" Alexis asked in shock.
"Yeah." Jaden said. "I could train you, but you'll have to do all of your schoolwork on Sunday's like me and Mana."
"Earlier you said you were looking for the missing students who disappeared after going into this dorm, right?" Alexis asked. Jaden was confused about the change of subject but responded with a yes. "One of them is my missing brother, Atticus. I'll let you train me and help you so I can find him."
"I'll do everything I can to help find him and bring him back to you." Jaden told Alexis. Jaden them repeated the informed Sheppard of the recent events before walking back to Alexis's dorm discussing all of the events in Jaden's life, including telling her all of the stories Yugi told him, along the way.
