Chapter 25—Revealed
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The person wouldn't answer so I shined the light in his or her face to reveal…
Vinyl Rose.
"It was you?" I demanded. "You were the one blackmailing me? I thought you were a good guy!"
"Shane, you are so trusting," she said with a light laugh. "I placed the cameras in the Arena so that I could study other duelists' styles. I was surprised when I discovered your gifts, and with the upcoming competition I figured I could use this to keep you out. I didn't realize you would still enter. When you got past the first round and I sent the video to your parents, you still didn't back down."
"Why didn't you send the video after the second round?" I asked her.
"After the second round, when I got knocked out. I realized that you were the best chance of beating Blakk. I may not mind ghoul slugs, but I don't want him getting his hands on a Boon Doc slug. Turning a slug like that into something so evil and powerful…it just doesn't make sense," she explained. She tossed me the chip and I caught it. "That contains the video and all of its copies. Your aunt is good with computers, but not good enough. Do me a favor, Shane, and beat Blakk so that he can't get the Boon Doc."
Before I could say anything else she vanished.
I looked around for her for a few minutes, but when I couldn't find her I went to the dorm room and destroyed the chip before climbing into bed and falling asleep.
The next day during lunch I explained the issue with the blackmailer to my friends, but didn't reveal her identity. I believed she could still change for the better.
"So the person just gave you the videos?" Aunt Karina demanded when I told her about it.
"Yep. I destroyed them, too, so we won't have to worry about it," I replied.
"That's good. Now, you and Luke need to worry about beating Blakk," she told me.
"We are," I said.
That day during the third round Luke was knocked out along with another person, so it was just Blakk and I left.
"Good luck, Shane," Blakk growled when our names were announced. "You're going to need it."
I just frowned and walked over to my friends.
"You're going to need to practice non-stop in order to beat him," Luke told me.
"I know," I replied. I pulled out the list of rules for the competition and reviewed it several times checking for a rule that would go against what I plan. There was nothing.
"Dad, can I borrow Shiner for the final round?" I asked Eli, referring to his Phosphoro slug.
"Yeah, why?" he replied, holding out Shiner.
"I need him for my last trick. It's tricky, though," I told him.
"I'm sure you'll do great," Eli assured me.
"Thanks," I said. I said 'hi' to Shiner and placed him in a slug tube. I would've borrowed a Phosphoro from the school, but I practiced the move before with Shiner at home, so I knew I could trust him to do what I needed.
That night I woke up at around eleven at night and brought Yang, Speedy, and Shiner with me as I went to the Arena.
"I just need you to cover the seats in darkness," I told Yang. I wasn't sure where every camera was hidden, but it was the best place to start. I Mega-Morphed Yang and launched him into the seats, where he flew around the entire Arena, cloaking the seats in darkness.
"Let's try this, guys," I told Speedy and Shiner. I loaded Speedy and launched him at one of the walls. He ricocheted off the walls, pillars, and ground before finally getting the right angle.
"You know what to do, Shiner," I told Shiner. I tossed the slug into the air and Speedy caught him, going straight up.
Near the apex of his height Speedy threw Shiner as hard as he could. Shiner managed to reach velocimorph, but didn't finish the trick so that we wouldn't attract attention.
"Good job, guys!" I congratulated my slugs. "If we can get more speed we'll have the trick in the bag!"
The slugs cheered as I caught Speedy and Shiner.
"Hey, Speedy," I said. "Wanna see if you can Mega-Morph?"
He nodded and began chirping rapidly about always wanting to Mega-Morph.
"Let's try it, then," I told him. I loaded him into my blaster and I loaded him with energy before pulling the trigger.
He velocimorphed almost immediately, and a second later he let out a bright light before Mega-Morphing.
"Good job, Speedy!" I congratulated him as he ricocheted around in excitement.
When he returned to protoform I looked at his Mega-Morph protoform. His front looked the same, but there was a bright silver streak down his back and the gray shell that was on his back darkened a shade, making the silver stand out even more.
"Cool look, little guy," I told him. He smiled and chirped some more.
After I performed the trick a few more times I returned to my room so that we could get a bit of sleep for the final round.