A/N: Oh no! It's been over a month…well, you have proven your patience with me, which I really appresh, by the way! :) How do ya'll like the pictures I made? I did them in Photoshop with multiple concept art, screenshots…it was a lot of fun, and I really hope they portray a nice cover for the story. I was thinking about drawing it…but…it just doesn't work out. I like fan art, but I only like to draw fan art if it is my style of drawing, and…I don't know, I don't like it. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter! :)

LoZ! GX AoS – Ch. 25: Following Adrian

Now, Link and Zelda are the only two left in the gym. Everyone else went outside to see what the surprise was. Just to be sure of it, though, Link takes multiple glances around the area to make sure no one could be listening on.

"What do you think of that Adrian lizard?" Link asked his sister in a whisper.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Walls might hear me…" Link shrugged, "Just answer the question."

Zelda crossed her legs and looked down at her slender hands, "Did we not already go through this?"

"I don't remember," Link said, "Answer the question."

"I think he is okay. And his name is Adrian Gecko."

"I'm suspicious about him. Doesn't he seem….suspicious?"

Zelda sighed, "Yes, I know, baby brother…"

"Don't avoid the question!" Link was still whispering.

After a moment of thought, Zelda looked up at Link, "Yes…actually, he is a strange fellow. He just disappeared…where is he?"

"I don't know. No one knows where he is, probably."

Zelda looked around the giant empty room as well, "Wow…this room is so big…" She looked at Link with her eyes, "Want to find him?"

"….Adrian?" Zelda nodded, "How do you suppose we do that?"

"Duel spirits come to life here, remember? Summon something that can track well." Zelda whispered.

"….Like a wolf?"

Zelda shakes her head with a grimace, "Wolfos are stupid creatures."

Link thought hard about this. What in a Hylian deck can track and is not "stupid" according to Zelda. Well…Zoran are good at catching things, maybe not tracking. The monster doesn't have to use his nose, he could use something like…vibrations in the earth. Molgera!

"Molgera can detect things above ground from under it. We are surrounded by sand. I think he would be at home here." Link told Zelda.

She nodded enthusiastically, "Good thinking. We need to get outside first."

"I thought you wanted me to stay inside."

"I do, but…that's because of the old you. You seem much healthier now."

Link smiled wide, "I feel healthy."

"Then let's go!"

And just like everyone else, the two abandoned their place here, and they went outside, so they could find Adrian Gecko, the slippery lizard. The two took the backdoor of duel academy so they will not be detected by the people out front. This is where Link summoned Molgera. The giant worm-like creature pops out of the sandy ground and faces down at the siblings, his pinchers sharp and lethal. He lowered his head to Link for a moment, and then he dived into the ground. Both Link and Zelda proceeded to follow the trail of flying sand that Molgera generated.

For a moment after traveling for a little bit, Molgera suddenly stopped. He emerged from the sand and flies high above the two blondes before coming back down and relaxing in front of Link. It stared at him with the pearl eyes on either side of his face. It made a strangled sound, indicating a question.

"You don't know him, but his name is Adrian Gecko," Link said as if replying to a question he understood, "He's tall um…6 feet at most, muscular…maybe 160 pounds, skinny, um…pointy red hair, he has a lot of metal around his neck…"

At this, Molgera shifted, as if looking down. And he jumped back into the sand, resuming his travels. At some point, very quickly, indeed, Molgera must have found Adrian, because he sped up. Zelda and Link were then running in order to keep up with him. It was not long before they see him. He was crouching behind a hill of sand. Jaden was far to the other side of this area with Blaire and Bonaparte. Something was happening, and Duel Ghouls are cornering them.

"Molgera, stop!" Link commanded.

Thankfully, he is too far from Adrian for him to hear the shout. Molgera comes out of the sand, and Link removes his card from his silver disk.

"I'm sorry, but we have to be sneaky from here on out, but you did well." Link whispered to Molgera's card.

Now, Link and Zelda did as Adrian was doing, and they were watching the commotion to the far right of them. It was nearly impossible to hear anything that was going on over there, but Link could have sworn he saw Marcel.

"Link, look!" Zelda whispered.

Adrian was on the move. Link and Zelda made sure to be a distance away from Adrian, but also, they made sure they could see him. There was one problem with this though. If Adrian turned around, he would spot the hylians. Whatever Gecko is up to, they needed to find out, though.

"I have an idea," Link pulled out his deck and searched for a rare spell card in one of his Hylian decks.

He actually had to swap out his deck a couple of times with the ones in his jacket, because he could not find the right one, "Ah!" He exclaimed when he finally found it.

"I play the spell, Arbiter Essence, twice, and equip to us." He was not sure if it would work, seeing as though Link and Zelda are not duel monsters, but it actually worked!

Now, both Link and Zelda were invisible. They could not see each other, but they could see each other's duel disks. Despite the desperate situation they have been in for such a long time, they actually laughed. Now they know how the damned feel! It was always so easy to spot a poe, despite the actual being's disappearance, due to the lantern that shone brightly. Now, the same issue has damned the siblings.

"I guess we just have to stay lower to the sand. Since we are uphill, it will be more difficult for Adrian to see at an instant glance." The two siblings held hands and crouched to the sand a little before moving on.

Following Adrian consisted of constant movement. He did not stop for a second, which means he has a destination…

"What is with this guy?" Link whispered.

"I don't know, but I'm sorry." Zelda replied.

"…For what?" Link asked her, genuinely surprised.

"For doubting your judgment." Zelda said, "All year, I have not been listening to you like I should have been. I should have known better. I should have trusted you, and learned from my previous mistakes. I'm sorry, Link. But I promise you, it will never happen again, Link."

Link smiled at Zelda, "Don't worry, Zelda. I don't blame you for not trusting my judgment, I mean…look who I was for so long. I wouldn't have trusted me, either." Zelda also smiled at Link, and they treaded upon Adrian's trail continuously.

Before they knew it, they were underground, having taken some stone stairs down into the sand world's basement. Adrian somehow seemed to know exactly where he was going, as if he has been down here before. He did not even look around at the rock formations. This place seemed like it was carved by a great beast or two…very threatening, it was.

The rooms got narrower, and the ceiling dropped. Adrian came to an instant stop at what seemed like a stone doorway from afar. And he spoke…

"Hope you're planning to share." He said.

So…he was following someone! Maybe he really was on the good side, he just was more of a lonely hero. Nevertheless, Link and Zelda just stayed back and observed. Adrian crossed his arms, and he was just walleyed at whoever was in this next area.

Just barely, Link and Zelda were able to hear, "Not without a fight!" And then there was a laughter.

"Marcel!" Link whispered, "He was following Marcel. Maybe he is on our side!"

Both Marcel and Adrian enter a duel quick as a flash, but the information the siblings got from the conversation they had prior answered Link's question once and for all.

"Can you feel their power Adrian?" Marcel's possessed voice asked.

Adrian gasped, "So it is true!"

"That's right Adrian. Within this case lie the three Sacred Beasts!" Marcel announced.

"Why do you want them? What are you after?" Adrian sounded angry.

"More power! What do you think?"

"Power for what?"

"My revenge." There was a pause after this for a moment.

"…Question. What about the agreement we had? You owe me!" Adrian was truly furious now.

"Of course. But what if I could offer you more? If you duel me, and you win, the three Sacred Beasts that are in this case could be yours. With them, you could even rule this world." Marcel waited for a moment before continuing, "What's it gonna be, Adrian?"

It did not take too much longer for Adrian to reply, "I hope you're ready to lose! Those cards are gonna be mine."

"Alright then," Marcel sounded.

"Game on!"

When Link got a good look at Marcel, he noticed the demonic, red duel disk. This was growing out of his arm, which was of the same skin. It looked wet and bloody…quite disgusting and horrifying.

Marcel went first, "Get ready to lose! I summon Mad Reloader, in DEF. And then I place one card face down and end my turn."

Link and Zelda moved a motion closer to the doorway. They are now further away from the door, and instead in the center of this room, dueling for a case. They remove their duel disks from their arms so they can get a closer look at the duel taking place between the possessed Marcel and traitorous Adrian Gecko.

Adrian drew a card, "I activate a spell card, Summon Cloud. With it, I can call up a level four or below Cloudian monster from my hand. Now, I'm about to blow you away! First, I'm gonna play Cloudian Sheep Cloud," (0 ATK) "And then I'll activate the Exploding Cloud spell card. Now I can destroy one monster on the field in attack mode, and then take damage equal to that card's attack points. With my Sheep Cloud having zero attack points, I'm safe. But with Sheep Cloud in my graveyard, I can now summon two Sheep Cloud tokens."

Link sighed, "Geez…human duels are so boring. Look at all the maneuvering they have to do just to get to a point. We summon a monster without a problem." He whispered.

"Actually, human dueling is a lot harder than Hylian dueling. They have a lot more rules you have to follow. We were much more lenient when we created our version five thousand years ago…"

"…I guess."

"I sacrifice both Cloud Tokens to call forth, Cloudian Eye of the Typhoon in ATK!" (3000) "Now, Eye of the Typhoon, attack his Mad Reloader! As you can see, Eye of the Typhoon's ability switches every monster's battle position, and now your monster's in ATK. Go perfect storm!"

Marcel's life points stand now at 1000.

"Nice move…but when Reloader gets destroyed from battle, I'm allowed to take two cards from my hand, send 'em to my deck, and draw two new cards." Marcel told Adrian

"And then I have to reduce my Eye of the Typhoon's attack points all the way down to 2500. Finally, I play a face down and end my turn."

Marcel smiled sinisterly, "Well played just as I had expected. I knew this duel would be a great challenge. Your wish to acquire the Sacred Beasts has you focused more than ever. But why do you need such power? What can you hope to gain? Perhaps it's not what the power can give you, but rather what it can replace."

This made Adrian cringe. This Marcel knows something about Adrian. Something dark from his past, maybe…

"Remember how it felt when he was born? You were the heir to everything your parents owned, and then he came along. All of a sudden, you were a "nobody", and you knew you were, no matter how hard your friend tried to convince you otherwise. It was true! And yet you chose to stand by his side and do all that an older brother should do. You vowed never to hold it against him. It was so good of you to bottle up your true feelings, and it is so clear now why you're fighting so hard for this power. You've been second best all your life. And now…you want to be number one. But it's too bad, because it will be your undoing!"

Adrian yelled back, "The only undoing that is going to happen here is me undoing the seal to those Sacred Beasts!"

Link swallowed. That is just like what Majora did to him. Adrian was being manipulated and he is being manipulated now. Link wanted to shout. He wanted to scream at Adrian to snap out of it. Get over his childhood and his family problems and move on! Because this just isn't worth losing his life over…

"Now, where were we?" Marcel asked, "Ah yes, it is my turn, and I place one card face down. That's it." Marcel lowered his hands, "Adrian if you want power, you have to earn it. In your world, you were denied glory for far too long, but we're not in your world anymore. We're in mine. And I'm the only thing standing between you and true power. Don't hold back!" Adrian gritted his teeth, "Beat me if you can!"

There was a slight pause in the whole world, at least until Adrian brought his hands up to his duel disk again, "My turn. With this being the standby phase, I must take a card from my hand and send it to my graveyard, or else Summon Cloud gets destroyed, but you know? I think it served its purpose, so I'll let that cloud dissipate and keep all my cards. Now that I've cleared the air, I think it's time you do so as well. So fess up! Is all you've been doing only about getting revenge? Tell me!"

Not a word came out of Marcel's mouth. He did not even move. It is almost as if he is still stuck in that worldly pause. Nothing swayed him.

"Fine, don't talk. Let's see if Eye of the Typhoon can get some answers." At the attack of Adrian's Cloudian, Marcel suddenly came back to life.

"Thanks for the pleasant breeze!" He said, "But my next move will blow you away!"

The fierceness in his voice made both the siblings and Adrian shiver.

Marcel looked up with dark eyes, and continued, "I'll start by revealing my trap cards, which both happen to be Break the Seal trap cards. Now, I can put two cards in my hand, so long as it has "The Forbidden One" in its name. Blown away yet?"

Adrian looked panicked, "Forbidden One?!" He repeated, "No way! You're gonna summon Exodia?"

Link and Zelda did not really understand this. They had never heard of Exodia, but it must be quite the powerful card if Adrian is reacting in this way. A black smoke covers the entire room.

"What is that?" His Eye of the Typhoon is destroyed, "What's happening?"

"The Sacred Beasts have escaped!" Marcel exclaimed, even though calmly.

"What?!" Adrian panicked.

Marcel began to glow orange, much like the color of Link and Blaire's previous wound, "Don't worry, they can't stay around too long. Their seal isn't broken. They must be curious of their new master! Now, back into your cages until I say so!" The so-called Sacred Beasts got close to Marcel and Adrian's bodies, but at the shorter boy's command, the beasts retreated back into the cage whence they came, as well as the black mist.

Marcel put away his cards, except for the four in his hand and began to walk away, "I think you're safe now."

Adrian ran after him, "Wait! Let's finish this!" He grabbed Marcel's demonic wrist to keep him from walking away any further.

Link cringed at the contact, and Marcel dropped the cards in his hand. When Adrian looked down at them, he gasped loudly and stared, wide-eyed. Link and Zelda couldn't see what cards they were, but they truly shocked Adrian.

"If you would have drawn one more card, by using Break the Seal, you would have completed Exodia, and you would have won the duel." Adrian let go of Marcel without a sound, and backed away from the younger boy.

"That's correct, but this duel wasn't about winning or losing. It was about seeing what you were made of. Now I can still give you what I promised, but you must work with me and not against me!" Without pausing for a breath, Marcel shouted, "Three Sacred Beasts, break your seal!"

Now, the three cards that were in the container to the far side of this room came out as projectiles from a bright white light. They flew directly to Marcel's demonic duel disk, and it disappeared through the circular base. The whole room began to light up, and Adrian's amazed smile was the last thing the two saw before this white light flooded the whole area, and neither of them could see anything.