Well, after a good deal of procrastination (as in, it was due on 25/08/2015), this chapter has been finished.
Anna, deciding a moment's introspection only to be right and proper, was not one unaccostumed to unusual events. In her centuries of life, she had experienced many adventures with her beloveds, but these last several years, they had ceased altogether, which had been just fine by her. Truth be told, she preferred as much.
This realm had been a paradise in the years since the Pharaoh had defeated the Great Leviathan, and she could imagine nothing better than spending eternity here with Yuma and Tori.
The sight that now met her gaze gave her a feeling in her gut that their tranquil life together was nearing its end.
Sheppard and Crowler looked, mildly taken aback, at the red-haired human in monk's robes. The lanky man noted his/her resemblance to Jaden as almost startling.
"Who are you two and what is your reason for being here?" Anna was quick to ask, arms folded inside her sleeves. She regarded them with a modicum of curiousity.
The two men glanced wearily at the other. What were they to tell her, wondered Sheppard; what summation of their situation would not sound dubious, at the least? 'We are here because the school we work at, in a parallel dimension, is under siege by a cult hellbent on either the subjugation or the end of mankind'?
"Well, I..." Crowler paused with a sigh. "You likely won't believe me, but we aren't from this world. Rest assured, we'll be leaving momentarily, so there's no cause for concern on our account."
Anna looked squarely at them. "Perhaps you could recount the whole story; I and my friends would gladly provide assistance with whatever predicament you are in."
"That would be very much appreciated," Sheppard replied immediately.
Zane glanced into the room, and grimaced. On that room's floor were rows upon rows of claw-like spikes; in scattered places were splotches of dried blood. On the walls were placed an assortment of instruments. On the far end, he caught a glimpse of a chair. Around the room's air was draped something pungent.
"I don't want to know what happened here," Zane closed the door again.
He cast another glance down the hall; the hallway was every bit as long and huge as the last few times he had done so, and so quiet that he felt reminded of the phrase, silent as the grave. If someone else, friend or foe, was down here with him, he could neither hear nor see anyone. He preferred to think that a good thing.
What ought he to do? The hall looked as though it went on forever in both directions, and if the rest of the doors concealed more nasty surprises like this one and the previous ones had, he would prefer not checking each of them in the least.
Quickly shaking the thought off, the Kaiser began his trek down the corridor's left end. Three doors and almost a minute's silence later, a fit of morbid curiousity came over him and he moved to check out the left-side door.
Before his very eyes, there was a creature whose arms and legs were shackled in dozens of chains, that looked as though it was burning.
Zane beheld it. It beheld Zane.
A moment later, the ninth level Duel Monster began screeching frenziedly at him with its mouths and its ears and body-parts Zane couldn't recognize, and thrash about in a struggle to break loose. Truesdale calmly closed the door on the angry beast.
He moved on and checked the next door. It contained another smaller passage, whose walls were adorned with masks of seemingly every shape and size and design he could think of. "Fact," thought Zane, they were facing real life Duel Monsters; it was equally a fact that there existed many Spell and Trap cards depicting masks. He concluded that these objects were the cards.
In a room with no exit, The Chazz was pacing back and forth. His face was scrunched over with irritation at being stuck where they were. He was dead sure that that there was something he could summon to get them outta here, but what? His W-to-Z machines had proven of as little help as Armed Dragon LV5. Burning Dragon would probably roast them alive if he tried to conjure it.
Alexis, the White Night King and Queen flanking her, eyes lit with gold, glared in frustration at the frozen wall. Evidently, she griped, the two of them attacking together hadn't been the solution to getting them outta here, so what would be? Together their special abilities could destroy anything in a Duel, but this wasn't one, so would that work? Even if it did, would it be safe to do?
"Hey guys?" Alexis voiced idly to her comrades, her arms folded. "If this dorm was a card on the field in a Duel, would you consider it a face-up card or a face-down one?"
Sitting over by the wall was Syrus who blinked; he wondered if he had heard her right. Chazz stared almost incredulously. A momentary silence came and passed before she got an answer.
"Well, I guess I would say an active Field Spell card, what with all the moving rooms and stuff," Syrus ventured. "Why? You're not planning to blow this place up... ... ... are you?"
"I was considering it," Alexis answered promptly, half glancing in his direction.
Chazz scoffed throatily. "Just give us a warning first."
A renewed silence fell. The trio of Duelists and students and incarnations of dark magic pondered their situation, as best they were able. Waving a hand, Alexis dispelled her manifested creatures, having decided against the idea. Chazz continued pacing about. Contemplative and tense moments passed dully.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. . . . . . . . . .Ticktockticktockticktock-
Tick. Tock.
"Well, I was just thinking, guys," Syrus began, looking down. The pair looked at him. "About everything we've seen and done as long as we've been friends, these past few years. You're probably literally the best friends I'll ever have, and, well, I love you guys. I figured, since we probably aren't getting outta here alive, I might as well say it."
Syrus looked up.
Chazz's reaction was somewhere between skepticism and amusement.
Alexis looked briefly speechless, then her lips formed a pleased smile. "Love you too, Syrus," she said after a pause.
The pair turned to Chazz, looking expectantly at him. "Yeah, no, not getting in on it," The Chazz rebuked; they continued to stare unwaveringly, Syrus well into puppy-dog-eyes territory. "Okay, fine; just as long it stays here between us, The Chazz has a rep to uphold: You mean more to me than I really have words for, and while I probably could imagine my life without all of you in it, I'll really rather not. That goes for all of you; Jaden too, no matter how he deserves a kick in the balls."
They grimaced in discomfort, fleetingly, at that last bit.
"How about a group hug?" voiced the Slifer Red, enthused.
"Don't push your luck," the black-coated Obelisk rolled his eyes.
"Nice try, Sy," Lexi seconded, amused. "Also, for the record, we are getting outta here one way or another."
Syrus stood up, and shot her a glum glance. "Not to sound unnecessarily pessimisstic, but you remember that, A, we're in the Abandoned Dorm, B, the walls keep moving around to trap us, C, the Shadow Riders are probably waiting to take us out one by one, and that, D, Kagemaru might have the Sacred Beasts already, right? It's not exactly a fun day at Kaibaland in here."
"So?" Alexis smirked. "What else could challenge us anymore?"
Syrus simply nodded. He wasn't entirely convinced that their odds were anything resembling good, but Alexis was onto something; how would their magic stack up against the remaining four Shadow Riders, or even against the Sacred Beasts?
"About Kagemaru," began Chazz,"what's the plan for dealing with him? In case you've forgotten over the years, last time it took Jaden at the top of his game with Banner's pretty over-powered card to pull it off."
Yet again, a silence thick with thought and anxiety enveloped them, momentarily.
"Fortunately for you, The Chazz has the plan," he announced, a smirk growing wide. They turned slightly in his direction. "A battle royale: Us against him. Now I know what you're thinking, that he'll never agree, unless, we appeal to his ego, bait him by calling the power of the Sacred Beasts into question."
A silence practically so potent that one could hear sub-atomic particles on earth move on another planet ensued. The Obelisk and Slifer processed the suggested tactic. Unspoken went the agreement that they needed some edge up on Kagemaru to match the aces-in-his-Deck that were the Sacred Beasts.
"It can definitely work, but we need a fall-back position," Alexis eventually said. Her eyes literally lit up, a sight no longer unfamiliar to the two boys. "Three guesses what's it gonna be."
Silence abounded once again. The building, which had been watching the people wandering about inside and finding them amusing, dedicated a literal minute of its time to arrive at the conclusion that indulging those three humans would be fun to watch.
In the left wall of their room, they quickly noticed that the wall was coming undone; in seconds, it had formed a new corridor.
On almost the bottom floor of the Abandoned Dorm, a region of the place where the floor was engraved with a ceremonial marking and the walls were little more than giant rocks haphazardly put together, Kagemaru was to be found in his life-support-slash-travel-machine. At the far left side of the room, embedded in a particularly huge slab of stone was a single eye glowing red, watching the human's every move.
Appearing to be soundly asleep in his tube, his front side was facing the column in which the Sacred Beasts had been resting and biding their time, just as he was, but were now freed from.
The bearded man was busily conducting a villainous monologue, oblivious to the cliche of it. "Yes, the moment is at hand. It has taken me years, years of waiting and plotting and preparing, but at long last my youth will return to me!" the man howled ecstatically in a voice both elderly human and machine monotone.
A bare-bones designed mechanical arm moved to take the sacred cards from the energy sphere holding them, and slid them into a standard-Central-model Duel Disk's Deck compartment.
The super-intendent gave them a scrutinizing glance through half-lidded eyes. Dozens of human souls had been sacrificed to empower the Sacred Beasts, to fuel their arcane abilities with spiritual energy, and though he felt a twinge of guilt or regret or something, he knew it to be justified. Thousands died each day across the planet; fifty lives was but a drop in the ocean of that. It was all a question of the bigger picture.
"Heed my voice, oh ye Sacred Beasts," the old man murmured reverently. "Lord of Searing Flames, Lord of Striking Thunder, Lord of Phantasms; grant me eternal youth, the power unrivaled!"
For a moment, it seemed they would do nothing, that he was to be denied the prize.
Then, the cards began to glow both scarlet red and golden yellow and vivid blue.
In the tub, Kagemaru felt their boundless power flow through. He howled in ecstacy, almost feeling every cell of his body burn. He felt his hair grow; his skin smoothen; all his muscles bulge; his body expand and practically explode with strength he had never thought possible.
He opened his eyes. His sight was restored to what it had been in his prime. Pleasing, to say the least.
Balling his fist, he punched the glass. The glass was splintered and the hand was lacerated. Fighting down the pain of it and his nausea at the sight as best he could, he fixed his attention on his blood-drenched hand while the tank's fluids rapidly poured out.
The cut was deep, but already the injury was mending, he observed with satisfaction. In moments, there was naught but unblemished skin there."So, this marvelous gift is a part of the blessing of the Sacred Beasts," he said to himself, pleased with the sound of his voice. "How grave a wound might I survive? How much of my body can I stand to lose?"
Gripping the fractured glass, he found it as yielding as paper. A grin formed as the seriously ripped old-turned-young man began tearing out of his metaphorical cocoon. Once he was free, he took a minute to admire himself. The mostly-naked-save-for-a-really-long-waist-sash-thingie guy glanced down, finding that he now had some striking abs.
He suddenly heard the distinct sound of steps, and looked to the room's exit. There were a short Slifer Red, an Obelisk Blue, and a guy in a black coat. He arched his eyebrows, because he knew for a fact that they couldn't possibly be down here; the Royal Magical Library shouldn't have allowed them to get this close to him.
"What have you done?" he growled as almost a whisper. Dismissing that bit of treachery for now, he fixed his attention on the intruders. He quickly noted that they carried Duel Disk, which made their intent readily apparent.
"We're here to Duel," he heard the blonde speak first. "Your three Sacred Beasts against the three of us."
"Unless you're too scared to take us on," he heard the black-coated teen remark matter-of-factly. "No wait, I take that back, that was rude of me: You are scared to Duel us, that's perfectly understandable, I should be more considerate, shouldn't I, guys?
Syrus was about to speak before Kagemaru cut in. "That's quite enough. I don't know what it is you're playing at, but if you're so eager to be consumed by the shadows, then so be it! I accept your challenge," he snarled and activated his Duel Disk. "Let this Shadow Game commence!"
Alexis grimaced. "This would've been so much easier if we'd gone with the magic," the blonde griped under her breath, heard only by her two compatriots who mentally agreed.
Around the cavernous hall, in the mouths of the seven serpent statues, golden lights appeared at once with an audible chime. Beams shot forth, intersecting in the middle of the room, and conjuring the Eye of Horus from golden light, as an addition to the floor's decor. Both the mystical symbol and Kagemaru seemed to stare them down.
The fabric of reality was reshaped and recolored as the Shadow Game began.