For those of you who don't like blood, feel free to skip this chapter.

Chapter 27 – She Strikes

Midnight. About a week after the examinations. There were many unique sounds coming from the island at night: the croaking of frogs, the buzzing of insects, the hooting of an owl, the snap of a twig as a woman walked through the woods…wait, WHAT?! Rewind that! Uh-huh. Yes. That's exactly what I wrote. A woman with pale skin, black hair, and a red gown walked through the thick woods. She soon came upon what she was looking for. Her amber eyes narrowed at the sight of Duel Academy's main facility.

"They are in there," she spoke, holding up a card. "Retrieve them for me…" The card started to glow…

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The next day, Pharaoh the cat ran through the halls of Duel Academy as fast as his stubby legs could take him. He seemed to be following a disembodied voice in an orb of light.

"Faster, Pharaoh!" the voice said. "We have to alert Dr. Crowler immediately!"

And as soon as they reached Dr. Crowler's office, Pharaoh swallowed the light ball and started clawing at the door, which opened only seconds afterward.

"Yes, may I…?" Dr. Crowler was about to ask, but saw no one around. It was only after he turned around, that he saw Pharaoh scampering around his office, knocking down a stack of rather important-looking papers. Apparently, Jaden Yuki had gotten yet another zero on his latest pop quiz. Poor guy.

Dr. Crowler started fuming. "That's it! You've had it, you filthy animal!" Pharaoh watched as Dr. Crowler ran to get a net from his closet. Pharoah immediately bolted out the door with Dr. Crowler giving chase. Several students watched in disbelief as Dr. Crowler swung around his net like a madman, accidentally snagging one or two Slifer students in the process.

"Stop running from me, you beast!" Dr. Crowler yelled.

The chase eventually led them to Chancellor Sheppard's office, where Pharaoh hid behind Sheppard's door. Dr. Crowler barged in huffing and puffing, as if he would blow the whole place down, but suddenly remembered his etiquette and bowed. "Forgive me for intruding, Chancellor, but…" That's when the bad doctor saw something awful. Something more drop-dead horrible than Crowler himself.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" (A/N: I wish there was a size thing for this. It's the only way I can show how loud Crowler really screamed)

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"Attention," Dr. Crowler's anxious voice rang on the PDA. "Nurse Fonda Fontaine, please report to the Chancellor's office immediately! This is an urgent matter! Everyone else, GET BACK TO WORK!"

Of course, Weevil and Rex weren't going to get back to work. Rex actually had his hat confiscated by Dr. Crowler about an hour before the announcement and he was never going to let that one go! The boys ran as quick as they could to Sheppard's office.

"What do you think happened, Rex?"

"How should I know? I thought this was about that dumb cat! Hey, that Jaden kid's here too!"

Indeed, Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale were already there. This time Sy was sporting a spiffy new Blue blazer (Sweet!). But despite that, but they couldn't get into the office, as it was being blocked by a pair of Obelisk boys that Dr. Crowler had called up earlier named Torimaki Taiyou and Mototani Raizou. Torimaki had jet black hair that seemed to droop to one side as well as half moon glasses while Mototani was well built and had spiked brown hair.

"Jaden!" Rex shouted as they arrived. "What's going on?!"

"That's what we're trying to find out!" Jaden yelled. "Now let us in, guys!"

"No can do, Slifer Slacker," Torimaki said in a smug fashion. "Dr. Crowler gave us orders not to let anyone inside."

"Yeah," Mototani said, "so why don't you just run along now, ya brats?"

"Why don't you just run along?" Syrus retaliated. "In case you've forgotten, I'm an Obelisk now too."

Torimaki raised an eyebrow and walked over to Syrus. "You may be wearing that blue Obelisk coat now, but you're still the same scared little Slifer squirt we always know…"

"Oh, is that how it is?" a familiar snide voice in a black coat chimed in, approaching the Obelisk pair. "So if what you're saying is true, then even though I'm wearing my black coat," Chazz was now getting up in Torimaki's face, threatening to poke his eyes out with his spiky hair, "then I'm still an Obelisk Blue! Is that right, punk?"

"…I didn't say that."

Chazz growled before the door opened again and Chancellor Sheppard stumbled out with a frantic Nurse Fontaine right beside him. Everyone winced at this appearance. There were bloody slashes across his chest, a splotch of blood on his forehead, and his breathing was rushed and heavy.

"Please, Chancellor! You need to stay still!" Ms. Fontaine almost squealed, holding onto his arm.

"I'm…fine…Fontaine!" Sheppard said, defiantly trying to stay on his feet. "I…have to…get…them…back…" That's when he fell flat on his face.

"Someone get this man a stretcher!" That was the last thing Sheppard heard from Ms. Fontaine before he passed out.

"So what happened to him?"

"Dr. Crowler told me he was attacked last night, but how any madman could get all the way to this island, I'll never know!"

"Maybe he snuck on the plane with the other students."

"It's more than likely, but we can't be certain yet."

In that order, it was Jaden, Fontaine, Weevil, and then Fontaine again. Not long into the debate, Chancellor Sheppard's closed eyes twitched. He opened them slowly to notice that he was in the hospital room. Judging by the low light outside, he could tell that the sun had just started to set.

"Look! He's waking up!" This came from Rex, who was sitting on another medical bed.

Everyone (Jaden, Syrus, Chazz, Weevil, Rex, Ms. Fontaine, Dr. Crowler) turned to Chancellor Sheppard who tried to sit up straight. He had bandages around his head and around his left arm after his recent tumble and was now wearing a pale green hospital gown, which also covered the bandages wrapped around his waist.

"Unhh…my students…?" Sheppard spoke, groggily. "What brings you here?"

"We want to know what happened!" Jaden shouted, almost immediately. "What happened to you?!"

Sheppard sighed. "Well, as most of you can tell by now, I was attacked."

"Well, we can see that," Dr. Crowler said in his usual I'm-better-than-you voice. "What we want to know is who did this to you!"

Sheppard had to stop and think, just to make sure he didn't see wrong. He then remembered the slashes on his chest. No human could do such a thing. His office was so dark back then, he couldn't remember exactly what he saw. "It looked like…a ghost."

Jaden raised an eyebrow. "A ghost?"

"What would cause some ghost to do something like this?" Syrus asked nervously.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Sheppard answered, "because not only did it attack me without any warrant, I assure you, but it stole all the Shadow Charms from my vault!"

"THE SHADOW CHARMS?!" Everyone shouted in shock (except Weevil and Rex who had no idea what they were).

"We still have those?" Jaden asked.

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Meanwhile, back outside, a voice cackled. This was not the woman from last night. This woman was different, as she had green skin and a raggedy brown dress. She cackled while fawning over seven oddly shaped items.

"My mistress will be pleased," she spoke in a raspy voice, "but there's no reason to deliver them now. I can have some fun with them first!"

From the items, she picked up a circular pendant emblazoned with an eye with a ruby in its pupil.

"This Shadow Pendant should do wonders for me…heh heh heh…"

"Is that what you believe?"

The green woman was shocked to hear that soft cold voice. She slowly turned around to see the woman in red, glaring down at her with emotionless eyes.

"If it is fun you want," the red woman spoke, "then it is fun you shall have."

"You…you are not disappointed with me?"

"I will say I am a bit displeased that you did not bring the Charms directly to me as I have asked, but perhaps it was fate that my walk through this forest brought me to you."

The green woman bowed anxiously and pathetically. "I'm sorry! I did not mean to disobey your orders!"

"Worry not." The woman in red smiled. "Because you disobeyed a minor order, I will let you off easy this time. But next time, do not disappoint me. Tomorrow night, you will get back up there…" A black aura seemed to emanate from the woman, causing the green woman to flinch. "…and you will KILL THE OLD MAN LIKE I TOLD YOU TO!"

Syrus: Who is this mysterious woman? I'm sorry to say that the author hasn't gotten that far yet.

Duo-san: Syrus, I was gonna get to that!

Pharaoh: Mrrrow!

Jaden: It's a good thing Dr. Crowler found out about this or Chancellor Sheppard would be a goner for sure!

Pharaoh: MRRROWR!

Chazz: Will someone calm down this stupid cat?!

Jaden: What is it, Pharaoh? Is it feeding time already?

Pharaoh: Listen to me! The ghost is returning! You must prepare for battle!

Next Chapter: The Dark Game at Midnight

Just for the record, Torimaki Taiyou and Mototani Raizou are a couple of Obelisk students who hung out with Chazz during the first season. I officially confirmed their names on my Spirit Caller DS game.