We'd like to give thanks to our Beta, Eneko95, for helping us fix up the chapters we posted so far. Now with her, we're finally going to be continuing with the story, and hopefully we'll be able to upload without waiting for a whole year.

Chapter 14

Initial Order Arc:

Walking Dead

Duel Academy

Outdoor Track/Exercise field

September made way for October in a hurry that year. Most of the international students didn't notice anything, but many of the Japanese ones could feel the air becoming a little more crisp. Some even found the change soothing.

Duel Academy may have been meant to prepare future champions, but it was still a high school, and thus had a normal high school curriculum alongside specialty classes. To many students' dismay, this included a strong physical education program.

On this particular day, a group of male students were running laps, all wearing the standard Duel Academy exercise outfit-a polyester track suit in the appropriate color. However, the way the tracksuits were worn gave the impression of where the students were originally from. The Japanese students and the ones from cooler climates wore the track jacket unzipped or tied around their waist respectively. Those from warmer parts, meanwhile, had their jackets zipped all the way up and the sleeves.

On that day though, there were two that stood out from the others due to their different situations.

Takashi had rolled his shirtsleeves all the way up to his shoulders.

Barclay was breathing extremely heavily and sweating bullets. With each step he took, it flicked off of him like a human sprinkler. Some of his fellow classmates even asked if he was okay, only to get a quick nod and then continued his running.

"You sure you're going to be alright?" Takashi asked, slowing down to match his classmate's pace.

"It's pure dead hot... e'en fur taps aff... efter Ah keel ower, someain drag mah corpse tae th' AC," Barclay panted angrily.

"You're just not used to all this sunlight," Nick commented as he caught up with the two. He was also sweating, but not nearly as much as Barclay.

After one more lap, the instructor blew her whistle and everyone stopped where they were. A few actually skidded to a halt, while Barclay straight-up face planted.

Most looked over towards the gym instructor, Fonda Fontaine, who had a clipboard in hand as she was writing some things down. She wore of a variation of the standard Obelisk Blue girls' uniform, consisting of a white jacket with blue trim, a pink skirt and heeled boots colored brown. Her red hair had one bunch that sticks out over the right side of her head. She also wore a pair of earrings, and her lips represent a soft shade of lipstick. Her large grey eyes complete her look.

"Great job, boys, you're getting better at these four-mile runs. But the girls' average times are still faster," she declared. The girls cheered as they walked over to her from where they were resting. Unlike the boys, none of the girls fully removed their tracksuit jackets. At most, a few of them unzipped their jackets partially.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Make sure you all get enough water in you and a good night's rest. I'll see you next week," she said before walking away.

The groups sighed in relief, and began walking to the locker rooms one by one in hopes of a quick shower before returning to their dorms. Nick, Laura, Sera, and Takashi stayed behind, fanning a still-sweaty Barclay.

"Geez, when you said you'd sweat like a river, I thought you were joking around." the albino girl remarked with worry as she handed him another cold bottle.

"Running for the sake of running is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of…" Barclay groaned, dumping the water more on his face than in his mouth.

"It's for your health, too, Mr. Fyfe," the teacher remarked as she walked towards them and stopped. "You may never need to run four miles outside of this class, but having the stamina to do so will keep you from getting sick. And feeling strong is enough of a reward in itself."

With that, she turned around and began walking towards the gymnasium.

Academy Card Shop

As had become tradition for many of the students, after classes officially ended for the day, everyone headed for the card shop to look for potential cards to use to update their decks. At the same time, many of the extracurricular clubs used this time to try and recruit more members outside the shop as well.

This led to loosely organized chaos as students haggled with each other and the clerks for cards while club presidents shouted pitches. Every kind of sport was being shouted about, every hobby was being called.

The group, after having been joined by their friends Atsuko and Erhard, stared at the crowds in surprise. They had expected it to be packed, but it looked like there was a sale going on that would only last for a few hours.

"I don't know whether to call security or the riot squad," Nick commented.

"That's what happens when there's a one-night-only sale," Laura replied before grabbing his arm and diving into the fray.

"...Well, our friend seems to have gotten himself into yet another situation," Takashi remarked, chuckling a bit as he saw them push through the students.

Atsuko nodded, feeling a bit sorry for her fellow student, knowing how pushy their friend could be. "I… I don't think I need new cards that much…" Erhard mumbled, looking at the massive crowd uneasily.

"Aye, you and me both." Barclay sighed. "I wouldn't expect you to be good with crowds, coming from a small town."

"Come on," Sera said, steeling herself to dive in after their friends. "We can't leave Laura and Nick alone."

"How can they possibly be alone in this madness?" Erhard asked.

"She means in terms of them together, especially given their relationship," the large student explained, making Erhard look over with a confused look still.

"Think of the poor guy's wallet," Barclay replied. "Laura's got him all but wrapped around her finger. She'll have him spend his entire budget on cards she wants."

"She doesn't always do that," Sera protested, defending her roommate.

"Just when the mood strikes her," Barclay said. "Did you notice the look in her eye when she said 'sale'?"

"…Oh no…" Sera groaned while facepalming. "Barclay, you, Erhard, and Takashi search the left, I'll take Atsuko and search the right."

"Right," Barclay replied.

"I thought she said you were going left?" Atsuko asked.

Sera chuckled a bit before grabbing the petite girl's hand and pulling her along while the trio of boys went the other way, avoiding the bumping from multiple students pushing to grab a pack. Luckily, thanks to Takashi's large body and strength, he easily pushed away most that were attempting to hurt his friends.

The two groups managed to pass through without too much trouble, finding themselves looking at Laura, who was holding some card packets while Nick was trampled on the floor. They all looked on with raised eyebrows at the scene in front of them.

"You look like Big Shield Gardna after a battle phase in attack mode," Barclay muttered to his roommate after crouching to help him up. His hair was a tattered mess with a few pieces of it out of place, and his clothes had both dirt and what looked like footprints on them.

"I feel like it," Nick replied, dusting off his clothes and fixing his hair from the mess it currently was.

"Laura verschlimmbessert deine gesundheit," Erhard added, making Laura turn to the black-haired student and raise an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry?"

He realized he'd said it louder than he'd intended to, and looked at the others nervously. All he got were a few snickers and confused stares. "Uh, it means 'You give us a real workout,'" he said. "Also, good work on getting those packs."

She raised an eyebrow and continued staring at him for a few seconds. Then she smiled and went off to pay for her cards.

They all sighed in relief; Laura's tantrums were almost a force of nature.

"COME, MORTALS!" a familiar voice roared over the noise of the crowd. "LEARN THE SUPERIORITY OF HORROR!"

The group looked towards the source of the shout and saw a familiar face; Dracul (also known as Eugene) in full vampire garb, hamming it up for the imagined audience against a cloud of smoke. Unlike the mall tournament, he had two students with him; one dressed in a ragged and dirty Obelisk Blue uniform with zombie makeup, the other in a similar outfit to Dracul's but less elaborate and including a hooded cape.

The two students tried to hand a flyer to everyone who walked by. Sadly, the crowd in general gave them a wide berth. Dracul's failed maniacal laughter didn't help.

"Well…" Barclay sighed. "At least he's having fun."

"Aw come on, Bar. He's just trying to get more people involved with his interest," Nick remarked as he saw the Obelisks head towards his group.

"Greetings, mortals." Dracul laughed as he approached. "Have you come to experience the glory that is the Horror Fan Club?"

"Absolutely not," Sera said immediately.

"Says the girl with the horror movie monsters in her deck," Barclay muttered.

"Frightfur monsters aren't the same," she protested.

"What she's trying to say is that some of us aren't big horror fans. I'm not sure about them myself, but I thought your entrance at the mall tournament was cool. How'd you pull that off?" asked Nick.

Dracul smiled proudly. "Ah, so you do wish to learn my secrets!"

"Yeah, some of them look amazing," Atsuko added as she looked at him with wonder.

"Well, I… thank you, I worked hard to get them all perfect," Dracul replied, dropping the act.

"I can tell. I'm guessing you use some kind of smoke bombs or pellets?" Erhard questioned.

"Mostly pellets, to be honest, but Dracul uses smoke bombs for events like this," the Obelisk dressed like a zombie replied.

"How do you carry them around? Does your cape have pockets?" Takeshi asked, leaning down to try and look.

"No, pockets would weigh the cape down and make it easier for me to trip," Dracul replied. "We just get used to having them in our pants. The problem being, of course, when they go off without you wanting them to…"

The student wearing a hood rolled his eyes. "Boss, I've told you before, using invisible thread to rip the things open won't ruin the illusion."

"But my finger going numb definitely will," Dracul snarked back.

Barclay laughed.

A few feet away, a handful of Obelisk students were giving Dracul the evil eye.

"Can't believe that traitor is talking to a bunch of Slifer slackers; and even worse, those stupid Ra's."

"How a weirdo like him ended up as one of us I'll never understand."

"Don't worry," the leader of the bunch said with malice. "He's gonna learn what happens to traitors."

Meanwhile, Laura had just finished paying for her packs, smiling with excitement as she wondered what kind of cards they had. With her small bag, she turned around and walked back to her group, though when she looked up, her joy turned sour.

"Hey! What are you doing with them?" the pale girl remarked with an annoyed tone, making her friends look over to see her coming towards them.

"Hi, Laura. Finally finished buying your packs?" Sera asked.

"Dracula was just showing us some of the special effects stuff they've got," Nick added.

"I'm flattered, but it's Dracul."

"Like how they make blood packs with corn syrup, red food coloring, and plastic bags!" he continued, ignoring the correction. "I didn't know you could do those kinds of special effects on a student budget!"

"What kind of horror movie fan club would we be if we couldn't?" the Obelisk zombie chuckled. "If you're interested in learning more, I can send you my favorite zombie makeup tutorial."

"Are you trying to convince them to join your ridiculous club?" Laura asked, her voice icy. "Um, Laura, he's just trying to be nice," Atsuko remarked nervously.

"Atsuko's right, there's no reason for all this hostility," Takashi added.

While the group was distracted by Laura's return, none of them noticed the approaching Obelisk students until both Dracul and his "minions" were shoved to the ground.

"Now what?" Barclay demanded, turning towards the newcomers.

Whether they noticed, Barclay and Nick had placed themselves between the two groups. While the two less than impressive Slifers did not do much to intimidate the new group, Takashi's massive bulk behind them helped cut the laughter short.

"Dracul, are you OK?" Atsuko remarked as she, Sera, and Erhard helped the three that were on the floor. Soon enough, they turned their attention back to the others.

"What's your problem?" Nick asked, glaring at them.

"Gonna let yourself be defended by some Slifer slackers, Nicolescu?" one of the new Obelisks taunted. "First your stupid movie club and now this? How much lamer can you get?"

"Not so tough outside the Mall, huh, Champ?" another one mocked.

Dracul and his friends, after getting back to their feet and thanking the others, were dusting themselves off or readjusting their outfits.

"Hah…! Foolish mortals!" Dracul boasted, getting back into the act. "The Vampire King cannot be felled by such pitiful tricks!"

"Geez, you're just as hopeless as ever. No wonder you can't get a date; girls can't stomach a stale ham and cheese sandwich."

"Hey, asshole, where the hell do you get off talking to him like that?" Nick demanded.

"I'd suggest you all leave immediately," Takashi added with a stern voice.

"Or what?" the Obelisk who seemed to be in charge countered. "Do you really think anyone is going to side with you losers over us?"

"Regardless of who sides with us, just know that you will suffer consequences," Barclay replied firmly.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Dracul stepped forward, placing himself in front of the group as if he were the leader of a crew. "THAT'S RIGHT! LEAVE NOW OR FACE THE WRATH OF—!"

The leader of the Obelisk group shoved him backwards before he could finish his threat. He landed heavily on his rear with an "Oof!" This was immediately followed by numerous popping sounds and hissing. Shortly after that a massive cloud of smoke began billowing out from under Dracul.

He yelled in pain and began rolling around, trying to put out the smoke bombs if not get them off him altogether.

"How's that for you, geek?!" the leader taunted. His friends threw back their heads and laughed, which of course got the rest of the crowd going too. Even Laura snickered a bit, to her friends' shock and concern.

The humiliated student jumped up and ran away from the card shop with tears in his eyes. His assistants ran after him in a panic, to the crowd's continued amusement.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" someone yelled from behind them. The crowd, now silent, turned and came faces-to-face with Ms. Dorothy, the card shop's owner. Her brown eyes looked uncharacteristically fierce, as did her plump face.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves, laughing at that poor boy's suffering! As for you three"—she pointed at the troublemaking Obelisks—"I better not see you anywhere near my card shop for the rest of the semester! Now get out!"

Most of the students quickly left the area to avoid making her even angrier. Only Nick and his friends remained.

"I gotta learn how to clear a room that fast," said Laura.

"Was that supposed to be funny?" Sera asked, glaring. "Because it wasn't. Just sad."

The boys (and Atsuko) didn't say anything, but the disapproving looks on their faces spoke volumes. They turned and walked off, leaving the pale girl standing alone and somewhat bewildered.

No one noticed Ivor sitting by himself and reading. He'd watched the entire incident go down, and got up once Laura left. He knew he had the perfect tool to draw the Gate and Key into the open.

Forest

The humiliated Obelisk Blue student fled the main areas of campus, smoke still trailing behind him. He didn't know where he was running, only that he needed to get as far away from everyone else as possible. In spite of his looks, Dracul was actually a pretty fast runner with good endurance.

When he finally tired out and came to a stumbling halt, he looked around and found himself somewhere in the island's forest. It was an older part of the forest that had clearly not seen any human activity in years. While he caught his breath and wiped his face, he saw an old, unused, rather decrepit looking building.

He stared at it in confusion for a few moments before it finally clicked.

"The old abandoned dorm?" he muttered, getting to his feet. "Huh. I've always thought this would be a great place for a Horror Fan Club midnight meeting."

He wiped a few tears from his eyes before opening the gates and walking forward. When he opened the front door, a loud creak and a cloud of dust greeted him. He coughed and waved the cloud away, and as he walked into the entrance hall…

A flashlight clicked on in front of him, revealing Ivor.

Both boys screamed, and Dracul almost fell on his butt again.

"Oh, prosti, comrade Dracul. I was not expecting to see anyone else here," said Ivor.

"Ah… uh… Y-yes!" he stammered, recovering his usual bravado. "Of course I'd be here! I am the Vampire King! This place is like my castle away from castle! What brings you here, mortal?"

"I had learned about this from some of our comrades, and it reminded me of the fairy tales Mama told me as a child," the white-haired student explained. He walked deeper into the dorm, motioning for Dracul to follow him.

"Fairy tales?" Dracul repeated. "Like what, Swan Lake? Sleeping Beauty?"

"Not quite," Ivor replied politely. "Those are Russian ballets based on German stories. Mama's favorite was the story of the Firebird and Princess Vasilisa. I used to have nightmares about being caught snooping around Baba Yaga's hut and made to do impossible things for her."

The two soon found themselves entering what was probably the student lounge. All the furniture was covered in dust, giving the room a solemn, almost oppressive feeling. The light that filtered weakly in through the boarded windows threw pillars of illuminated dust drifting through the air.

A cold tingle ran down Dracul's spine, the sensation he associated with a good horror film or a haunted location. Ivor then stopped and turned to face him with a serious expression.

"Uh…Ivor, is something wrong?" he questioned with an unsure tone.

"Not with me, comrade," Ivor replied. "But there is much wrong in your life, isn't there?"

"Well, I…uh…" the caped student began, even more unsure now.

"I've seen how the students, even our comrades, treat you. Thinly-veiled contempt, continuous ridicule, deliberately leaving you out…they don't even have the decency to use your true name. Frankly, it's unforgivable."

"W-what are you getting at?" Dracul asked.

"I can help you prove your true worth," Ivor answered. "Show all of them the true might of the Vampire King. All you have to do is ask."

"This better not cost me my soul or something…" he muttered.

Ivor chuckled. "Now that's one thing I can't do. There's no cost, you won't owe me anything; just say that you want the power."

He knew this was suspicious at best, but Ivor seemed to genuinely understand his feelings. The students at the card shop enjoying his suffering, his own helplessness and anger…and the sense that his dormmates only barely tolerated him. He couldn't deny it: He wanted payback and didn't care how.

"I want the power."

Ivor reached out his hand with a satisfied smile. The moment Dracul accepted it, a burst of black light filled the room, and he screamed like a banshee.

Oh no! Dracul's been forced over to the Dark Side! What's Darth Romanov got in store for our heroes? (Sorry, been on a Star Wars kick lately.) Anyways… hope you keep reading and hope we find more time to keep updating. (Damn you, Real Life!)

Translations:

"It's pure dead hot... e'en fur taps aff... efter Ah keel ower, someain drag mah corpse tae th' AC." - "It's pure dead hot... even for taps aff... after I keel over, someone drag my corpse to the AC."

"Pure dead" - dead means very, commonly combined with pure for extra emphasis

"taps aff" - tops off, means "it's a hot day"

"verschlimmbessert deine gesundheit." - "aggravates your health."

"Prosti" - "Sorry"

The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa - a story about a prince who essentially tricks his way into marrying the titular princess, with some help from his horse.

Baba Yaga - a supernatural being (her name roughly means "granny witch") who flies around in a mortar and usually takes the form of an old lady. Her house can move on its own using a pair of chicken legs.