Happy New Year everybody! I just made this update to say, I finally have a working deck for the last duel of the third season and in the process of working it out. It's tough for the duel, but I'll make it work. Until then, here it comes! Another two-parter made into one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or the rest of the franchise or any music in this story, I own Claudio Osbourne and the Jukebox Hero Archetype, aside from a select few made by all the authors/readers who submitted them. And all other OCs and cards submitted © original creators.
Chapter 36: Shadows, the True Self
At the secluded caverns, Sarina sat in the same place, staring at the eight candles, with four of them lit. Hanabi sat in a corner, playfully tossing up her bear in the air. They were also waiting for Makoto to return from her pursuit of the rogue Light Brigade members.
"T-Bone and Thunder went bye-bye," Hanabi exclaimed as she cuddled her bear.
"Unfortunate for our forces," Sarina stated, "But necessary in finding out the strengths of Claudio and Aster. Now all we need is a duelist to test out Jaden Yuki..."
"Maybe we can invite our new friend to play with him," The youngest sister offered.
"Tempting, but we also need to cover an oversight," The miko replied, "But let's wait until Makoto returns..."
They didn't have to wait long as a large vulture swooped in and landed behind Sarina.
"Makoto's back," Hanabi cheered as the vulture transformed back into the middle sister.
"Finally, I got the rats," She declared with a shadow of a smile, "What's next on the agenda?"
"Sisters," Sarina announced, "It seems the students of Duel Academy have delayed our efforts in testing out our targets. It might be difficult to test Jaden now with the possibility of interference."
"So we can't play with Jaden yet," Hanabi asked, "Aw..."
"And how do we deal with that problem," Makoto asked.
Sarina stood up and faced her sisters, "If they want to interfere with us, then will give them what they desire."
Suddenly, a shadow of a man and a small tornado of wind emerged in the cavern. From the shadow, a black-haired man appeared with black shades over his eyes, a black muscle shirt and black jeans over his muscular form. Next, the tornado blew away and left another person wearing a green bandana over his head, a white muscle shirt and green sweatpants over his slim form.
"We've heard your call, Mistresses," The black clad person said.
"What are your wishes," The green clad man asked.
"We have some... mishaps regarding the matter of several Duel Academy students roaming around Domino City," Sarina explained, "And your previous cohorts have fallen before them..."
The miko then threw four cards to the ground in front of the duo, each showing terrified face of Frost, Thunder, Blaze and T-Bone.
"Ha. So they screwed up, didn't they," the black clad person laughed.
"Sad, isn't it," Makoto said, "But enough of the weak, we need you two to rack up any other Academy students you can find. Deal with them however you like, Red, Yellow or Blue jacket duelists."
"No sweat," The green clad person grinned, "We ain't the elite of the Light Brigade for nothing!"
"Then, I expect nothing but good things..." Sarina stated as she threw two more cards at them, "I just hope you don't have to use them... otherwise, Hanabi will have two new dolls to play with..."
Staring at Hanabi's innocent smile, the Light Brigade duo gave an uneasy stare back.
"I guess we are clear on the consequences," Makoto smirked, "Now, you'd best get to work!"
"We shall," the duo declared, disappearing into the shadows and the wind.
With the sky still darkened by the clouds, Jachin found it harder to get out around the city. Even with the Guide Book, the Slifer lost himself passing by every landmark at least four times each!
"Come on, where's the stupid hotel," He growled at no one particular, "I'm tired of being lost. At this rate, I'll be back at the docks for the boats!"
Appearing to the sides of him were Phaeton and Konohana in transparent forms.
'You're the one trying to chase after Allen and Lyra,' the toga wearing boy stated, "You could've found another person to pal around with."
"Hey, everyone was being paired off too quickly," The Persona duelist protested, "I wanted to hang with someone new for a change. Plus, with all this Society of Light business there's strength in numbers, right?"
"It's why you have us, is it not," the priestess added with concern, "You know we'd protect you from harm."
"I know, but with Chazz a part of that crazy cult, it's frustrating," Jachin sighed as he pulled his Persona deck, "I almost became one of them if it wasn't for the trap I sprung in the end."
He then pulled out a different deck, causing both his spirit friends to gasp.
"That isn't..."
"It is, the next time I face Jason I'll use a deck he hasn't seen," He stated, "And I'll have to bear this alone. Aside from all that, he said he'd back off."
"You know you can't trust that side of..."
"Konohana, he's a part of me," Jachin told her, "No matter how hard I try to forget my past. Those days when all those kids angered me, when Slade and Jagger used for their world domination game... that's where it all came from. I've already accepted that part that's angry for people using me and berating me. And, I may be angry for Sartorius brainwashing Chazz, the only other person who can look me in the eye as a person and duelist, but I can hold my fury."
The Personas sighed, seeing there was no talking him out of it.
"Just don't let him win okay," Konohana pleaded as she and Phaeton vanished.
"Got it," The Slifer nodded.
'Easier said than done...' A voice in his head said.
Jachin froze up hearing that voice in the dark recesses of his mind. He was about to voice a rebuttal when...
"Jachin!"
The Slifer turned around and saw Bastion sprinting down the street and then dropping to the ground, Indian-style, catching his breath.
"Bastion, what happened to you?" He asked.
"Left... behind..." The Ra breathed out, "Not even... waited for me..."
"Oh, I thought you'd be with Claudio and Melody," Jachin said, feeling bad for the intellectual duelist, "Never thought you'd be left out..."
"Well, if you haven't noticed, I've been left out ever since the Society of Light came onto the island," Bastion huffed, "Not even seeing me as a threat..."
The Person duelist looked at him strangely, "Are you for real? You should be happy they're not going after you! I know I am among the rest of us not in the SOL."
"Still, it's upsetting not being seen a top duelist," The Ra sighed.
"Maybe, it's because you have some sort of predictability about you. Like a hollow victory..."
Bastion glared at him, prompting the Persona duelist to hold his hands in apology.
"Don't take it like your weak, I mean I hear you have six decks based on the six attributes. If you put some time into making a single deck with several solid strategies, they won't know what hit them."
"Hmm..."
Suddenly, something fell between the two boys, making them look down. It looked like a small, sliver canister used for air freshener spray and it was already unleashing a white gas. Both tried to escape, but they unwillingly inhaled some of the gas and soon fell to the ground in a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, Claudio and his group made it back to the hotel. It was a tall building, yellow in color and looked to be for the high-class. Unfortunately, the tenants weren't so kind to the group... since it was taken over by the Society of Light. The J-Hero duelist found that out the hard way once he tried to step through the doors, only to be pushed back by the several members, one of them being Kenji.
"Let us pass, Kenji," Claudio demanded as he tried to push through the members to get through to his brainwashed friend, "We gotta talk to Professor Sojourner!"
"And that's where I must stop you, Claudio," Kenji stated, "You won't find your teachers here at this hotel."
"But this where the Academy students are staying," Melody protested, "You can't keep us from going in!"
"As a matter of fact; we can," the ninja duelist declared, "There are not enough rooms to accommodate you all, especially with the number of Society members taking up residence. You Yellows and Reds have your own accommodations."
"And where are we supposed to sleep," Alexis asked, not liking the treatment she and her group were receiving. "The Obelisks have nothing!"
"Wherever you like, just not here..."
With a snap of the fingers, the white-clad flunkies threw Claudio away from them. Luckily, Isaac was in the line of fire and caught him.
"Oh, and I advise you to tell Jaden and any of the others he's not welcome either," Kenji said as he and his cohorts left inside the hotel.
"Just when I heard all the good things about this place," Isaac sighed as he stood Claudio up straight, "You okay, man?"
"I'll live," He grumbled staring at the hotel doors, "This is messed up..."
"You said it," Melody added, "Now they resort to violence to be noticed around here! They're lucky we don't have a big enough group or I'd start whacking them over the head with rocks!"
"Easy, Mel," Claudio said, rubbing her shoulders to calm her down.
"Hello! Did you not remember what they just did to you?" She protested.
"Great," Alex interrupted in a loud voice, "Now how are we supposed to get inside from this dark storm?"
"Any moment now, we might see a spaceship and reenact a movie where a large spaceship blows this place up," Jeremy muttered.
"Will you two quit it," Lily grumbled, "We gotta find out where Professor Sojourner and Fontaine went to. At any rate, they found a safer place than this."
"And we did..."
The kids turned to see the Slifer Red Headmaster and Obelisk Blue Headmistress walk up to them. They sighed in relief seeing them both alright.
"Thank goodness, you two are okay," The dragon duelist stated, "We just had a bad run-in with the white dorm."
"So, did we," Spencer stated, "Turns out, Crowler and Bonaparte left enough money for the round boat trip and lodging."
"But they failed to mention the little matter of the number of students," Fonda grumbled.
"So, what do we do," Isaac asked, making himself known to the teachers, "I got a place in mind if we can find the others. It may not be what you all have in mind, but at least you'll be comfortable."
"Oh, hello there," the Slifer Headmaster greeted, "You must've been the tour guide Melody mentioned."
"I'm her older brother, Isaac," the elder Hikarii greeted back.
"Well it's nice to meet a relative of one of our students," The Obelisk Headmistress smiled.
"Likewise to a teacher," Isaac stated, "And I remember a small hotel a couple of blocks down. If we hurry, we can get you all some rooms."
"Really!?" The kids asked.
"You can get that," Claudio asked further.
"For this crisis, it's high time to keep helping you guys out. Especially when some white-clad gang pushes you out..."
"Yeah..." Alexis sighed.
"Anyway, follow me to the hotel," Isaac said as he led them down the still darkened streets.
"Uh..."
Jachin's eyes slowly opened and looked at his surroundings. The room he found himself in looked like the inside of a carnival tent, but with only one ring taking up the entire floor. In the middle of the ring, the symbol of the Millennium items in a square pulled up to resemble a table with two duel disks on top.
"Duel disks," He whispered.
"What happened...?"
The Slifer then turned to his right and saw Bastion getting off the ground from the corner nearest him.
"Bastion, you alright over there," Jachin asked.
"I'm... fine..." The Ra replied as he looked around himself, "Where are we?"
"Don't know," The Slifer answered as he looked around the Guide Book, "It's not in this guide, but from looks of this place I think we found an underground dueling arena."
"Then we found ourselves in a tough spot, Jachin," Bastion stated seriously, "We have to get out of here."
"Well, from the looks of the duel disks on the table over there, we have to duel our way out," Jachin said as he pointed out the duel disks on the table and then ran over to them.
"Wait a moment," The Ra protested as he stopped the Persona duelist from grabbing one, "This could very well be a trap!"
"Look around you," Jachin stated, "It's safe to say we're as good as trapped now. Or did you forget how we got knocked out?"
Bastion sighed as he picked up a duel disk, "I just don't like how this is all setup."
"Let's just see who we have to deal with," the Slifer shrugged as he picked up the duel disk next.
When the last duel disk was lifted, the table slid into the floor and a tram moved the surprised Duelists to opposite corners, yet on the same side, of the ring.
"It is a trap," Bastion shouted.
Shackles came out and latched onto their ankles.
"Make that hostage situation," Jachin cringed at how tightly his ankles were being held.
But all of that went to the back of the mind when two saw blades popped out of the sides of the circle.
"And that would mean your lives are in danger..."
The boys looked to the door furthest from them that was covered by a curtain. Appearing out of it were two men, both about 6' tall and wearing black leather jackets and duel disks on their left arms.
The first guy, a black-haired person wearing black shades over his eyes and black jeans over his muscular form and the second one wore a green bandana over his head and green sweatpants over his slim form.
"Look Cutter," The dark-clad person said to his cohort in a deep voice, "Fresh fish!"
"And they're prepped and ready for the shredder, Shadow," The green-clad person said in a scuff voice and grinned.
"Alright, who are you," Jachin demanded, "And why have you trapped us in here!"
"My name is Shadow," The dark duelist introduced.
"And I'm Cutter, bro..." The green duelist stated, "And as for the location, it's a shame you duel kids don't know this place!"
"Enlighten us," Bastion said, narrowing his eyes.
Shadow grinned, "This is the spot where Yugi Moto dueled for his life against the Illusionist Arkana! But thanks to us, it's a lot wider for a tag duel, don't you think?"
"And they played with the same stakes and conditions as you both are about to play," Cutter added with a smirk.
"And that is..." The Academy kids asked.
"Look above the blades and tell us what you see," Shadow told them.
Bastion looked to his right, while Jachin looked to his left. On top of the blades were life point increments by the thousands from 8000 on down.
"Life point counters," Jachin said.
"Once they reach zero, our legs will be cut off," Bastion added.
"Yup, and look below you," Cutter pointed at between the Academy duelists' feet. A gold box appeared from the floor with the number 8000 displayed on top, "With that score, comes from the Shadow's life points for the red and my life points for the yellow. Once our life points hit zero, the box will open up to a key that will unlock the shackles."
"And you're not playing these stakes because..." The Ra asked.
"He does have a point, Cutter," Shadow shrugged as he stepped down to his corner across from Bastion's and was locked in place with the third saw blade appearing over Jachin's.
"Oh well, not like we're losing our legs anyway," Cutter sighed as he mimicked his partner's actions and got locked place with the fourth saw blade appearing over Bastion's, "Happy now?"
"As long as we're equals in this," Jachin stated.
"Good then gear up!"
All players activated their duel disks and inserted their decks inside them.
'I just hope I can use this deck without having to resort to extreme measures,' Jachin thought, looking at his deck.
'Why not sooner than later?"
'Be quiet, this is my duel!'
'Yet it is my deck, and I can properly wield it without fear!'
"Jachin, focus," Bastion called out to him as he drew his opening hand.
"Oh right," The Slifer said as he drew his hand.
Both Shadow and Cutter nodded to each other before drawing their hands.
"DUEL!"
Shadow: 8000 + Cutter: 8000
Jachin: 8000 + Bastion: 8000
"Here it comes, kid," Shadow grinned as he drew his sixth card, "First I'll use the Allure of Darkness to draw two cards from my deck."
A black aura surrounded his deck, as he drew his two cards.
"But now I must remove a DARK monster from my hand, to keep my cards. So I'll send Cyber Ouroboros away," He continued, pocketing his monster card, "Now I can use its effect to discard one card from my hand and draw a new card!"
He then discarded another card before he drew another card.
"And it continues as I summon another in defense mode!"
Erupting from the darkness, a long metal snake appeared and coiled itself on the field, biting its own tail. (2/100/600)
"A Cyber Monster," Bastion gasped.
"You run a deck like Zane's," Jachin asked, surprised to see the metal snake.
"Nah, but you'll see in a minute as I play Machine Duplication to bring the third out," Shadow continued as another cyber snake appeared, assuming the same stance as the first. (2/100/600) "And I'll finish here."
Jachin took a deep breath, 'Okay, just relax... it's just another duel.' He then looked to the spinning saw to the right of him, 'except with the possibility of getting your legs cut off!'
'Plain and simple, kid! Just let me free, and I'll make sure they lose their legs!' The dark voice in his head shouted.
'Shut up! I got this... even if I'm using your deck now...' Jachin stated as he drew his sixth card, "I summon Witch of the Black Forest to the field in defense mode!"
A three eyed, purple haired woman appeared in a black robe dress. She chuckled at the weak, metal snakes. (4/1100/1200)
"Finally, I place one card facedown and end my turn," He concluded.
"Time for the winds to change," Cutter replied as he drew, "I activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards and ditch two!"
The green clad duelist drew out his three cards and then chose two out of his overall hand to discard.
"I now remove the monsters I just sent, Eagle Eye and Grey Wing to summon Silpheed and Garuda the Wind Spirit!"
A powerful gust of wind blew over and brought out two figures. The first, a purple-skinned fairy clad in a white suit outlined in red and blue appeared with a green, fan-shaped weapon in hand. (4/1700/700)
The second monster appeared looked like a red feathered eagle by the head and wings, but it had the body of a man with red pants. (4/1600/1200)
"Next, I summon Battlestorm in Attack mode!"
Another birdman, like Garuda appeared with a bird-like shriek of its own. This one clad in a dark purple and white bodysuit with crimson highlights, wearing golden bracers and greaves. He spread out his black and purple feathered wings. (4/1700/1000)
"And this bird gains 100 ATK for every Winged-Beast on the field!"
Battlestorm's wings glowed with energy. (4/1700-2000/1000)
"And he's got another great effect, since I currently have 3 Winged Beast monsters, I can destroy a spell or trap card on my opponent's field!"
The dark Winged Beast aimed his wings at Jachin's facedown cards and fired sharp wings, piercing it through.
"And I'll set two cards of my own as well!"
Two reversed card appeared at his feet.
"I'm up," Bastion stated as he drew, and then put two cards onto his disk, "I set a monster on the field and one other card and end my turn."
A reversed card and a set monster appeared at his feet.
"And back to me, kids," Shadow declared as he drew, "Now, I play Fiend's Sanctuary to summon a Metal Fiend Token!"
A small, ball-bearing monster appeared, floating in mid-air. (1/0/0)
"Now, I sacrifice it to summon Caius the Shadow Monarch!"
The token shattered apart unleashing a black mist across the field. Emerging from it, a Monarch unlike the previous ones... the armor was still similar, but with a dark purple color and a tattered, pitch-black cape attached to the back. But he didn't wear a helmet, showing off his demonic face with red eyes and yellow horns. (6/2400/1000)
"That's different," Jachin muttered.
"All a part of the shadows, my friend," The Shadow duelist replied. "Now for his special power, I can remove one card on the field from the game!"
'Try it and I'll spring it,' the Persona duelist thought.
'He's not doing that, idiot,' The voice mocked him.
"And if you think I want that facedown card off the field, think again," Shadow stated, "I'll remove one of my Ouroboros monsters from the game!"
The Shadow Monarch created a dark void in its hands and forced the cyber snake into it.
"Why do that your own monster," Bastion asked.
"Because, when a DARK monster is removed from the game by Caius' effect, the opponent loses 1000 life points!"
The dark void turned into a glass orb and flung it at the shackled Slifer, making him clutch his gut.
Shadow: 8000 + Cutter: 8000
Jachin: 7000 + Bastion: 8000
"Uh oh, look out for that buzzsaw kid!"
Jachin gasped as he saw the metal blade move down towards the 7000 mark and stopped.
"Also, since Cyber Ouroboros was removed from play, I can send another card from my hand to the graveyard and draw again!"
He discarded once again and drew another card.
"And now, I can activate the special ability of the two monsters in my graveyard! By reducing the level of Caius by 1, I can summon Level Eater to the field! And I have two!"
Two shots of light erupted from Caius' body... (6-4/2400/1600)
... And with the energy from the Monarch, two small ladybug like creatures appeared. Instead of black spots, they had one big yellow star on their backs. (1/600/0) x2
"Three monsters," Bastion gasped.
"Nice adding skills, yellow kid," Shadow smirked, "But I'll also discard one card to activate Dark Core!"
A reversed card appeared at his feet, emptying his hand.
"Finally, I activate Nobleman of Crossout to destroy and remove Yellow boy's facedown monster!"
A sword pierced through Bastion's facedown revealing to be a bronze Arabian Lamp.
"Finally, my facedown card activates," Cutter intervened, "Dust Tornado, destroy the Yellow boy's facedown card!"
Baston's facedown card was destroyed.
"And then I'll attack directly with Caius and the Level Eaters! Go Shadow Spirits and Level Strikes!"
The Monarch created another dark orb above him and fired vengeful spirits to strike down the defenseless Slifer. In the midst of this, the star spot ladybugs tackled him to ante up the damage.
Shadow: 8000 + Cutter: 8000
Jachin: 3400 + Bastion: 8000
"It's not looking good," Shadow said tauntingly as the Jachin's saw blade moved swiftly across the floor and then stopped a little before the 3000 mark.
"Jachin, are you alright," Bastion gasped at his partner's predicament.
"Never... better..." Jachin replied, shaking off his damage done to him.
'It's going to keep happening, if you don't let me play,' the dark voice stated.
"I end my turn," Shadow concluded, "All I need is another high powered monster to shut you down and it's bye-bye legs!"
"Or I could finish him now," Cutter grinned, "Then, chop chop!"
"Jachin, I hope you have a plan," Bastion warned him.
'It's the only card I could use, but it's not in my hand yet...' Jachin thought as he drew his next card, but groaned, "And this isn't it..."
'That's it, next turn I'm taking over!'
The Psychic Duelist fought the voice inside his mind and then threw out a reversed card and a set monster on the field.
"Your turn..."
"Thank you," Cutter smirked as he drew, "First, I use Battlestorm's effect to destroy the facedown card!"
"Not so fast, I activate Scapegoat to bring 4 sheep tokens to the field," Jachin interrupted.
Four different colored sheep appeared, unaware of their surroundings... (1/0/0) x4
"That should keep me safe from your three attacks!"
"Let's what this move says," the winged-beast duelist grinned as he took a monster from his hand, "I'll sacrifice Garuda to summon Raiza the Storm Monarch!"
Garuda sacrificed itself to the winds and brought out a large, green armored, humanoid creature appeared. It wore a large green cape around the armor and carried a bird-shaped crest on the front of the helmet. (6/2400/1000)
"And his effect takes one card on the field and returns it to the top of the owner's deck, like that facedown monster Red Jacket has!"
Raiza removed the cape from its armor and created a fierce wind that blew the card off the field. Jachin growled as it returned to the top of his deck.
"And next, I'll activate my other facedown card Conscription!"
Cutter continued his move with a trap card showing a king ordering his guard around.
"This lets me pick up the top card of your deck and if it's a monster that can be normal summoned, I can put it on my field!"
Jachin growled as his top card revealed to be Sangan.
"Now come here!"
The card shot out from Jachin's hand and set itself on Cutter's duel disk, revealing the three-eyed furry fiend. (3/1000/600)
'It keeps getting worse...' The Slifer cringed.
"And now, my four monsters destroy those sheep!"
Sangan lunged at the orange goat and ripped it apart with its hands and teeth.
Silpheed then flung its fan weapon and sliced the blue goat down the middle.
Battlestorm flew up to the sky and then dived down to crush the orange goat.
Finally, Raiza created a razor sharp blade of air and sliced the final magenta goat into pixels.
"And then, I'll use the spell card Swallow's Nest," The winged-beast duelist grinned to the annoyance and surprise of Jachin and Bastion. The spell revealed Battlestorm rising out of a large, dark branched nest, "It switches out Raiza to the graveyard to summon a Winged-Beast monster to the field with the same level as the sacrifice!"
Raiza disappeared in a flurry of green feathers, letting Cutter grab his desired monster from the deck, "Now, I summon Alector, Sovereign of Birds!"
Another large tornado formed and unleashed a tall, white armored and red-feathered humanoid bird with four, large wings keep it aloft. (6/2400/2000)
"They're just gonna keep coming," Jachin growled as he braced himself for another attack.
"And though I get the thrill of damaging the Red and nearly putting the blade to his legs," Cutter said as he turned to Bastion, "But I'll settle for attacking the Yellow one. Alector, do your worst!"
Alector created a sharp, slicing windstorm that blew across the field and ensnared the Ra in its grasp.
Shadow: 8000 + Cutter: 8000
Jachin: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
Now, the blade on Bastion's side started to move away from its starting point and moved a little past the 6000 mark.
"And now I satiated my boredom, I'll end my turn to let the inferiors finish their dumb moves," Cutter concluded.
"Inferior," Bastion snapped.
"You two are supposed to be Academy-brand duelists but you're letting yourselves get knocked around by a couple who couldn't make the cut," The winged-beast duelist stated, "And last I checked the weakest link are supposed to be Slifer Reds, so we singled him out."
"And let's face it, Yellow," Shadow added, "If you were really a Ra Yellow duelist, you'd be more aggressive in your dueling. No wonder we're here to polish off the leftovers...," He then turned to Jachin, "And you're no top dog yourself."
Jachin narrowed his eyes.
"You heard me, twerp," the shadow duelist continued, "I only heard two good Slifer Reds were around the block, and it appears you're not one of them! I guess it's true that the rest of ya are weak punks!"
"Weak..."
"Weak, stupid, loser, a freak among inferior duelists... you're not even third-rate! More like a dead last..." Shadow laughed.
"I guess he was nothing more than the punching bag of the Academy," Cutter cackled along with his partner.
Hearing all those words, took Jachin back to his early childhood, remembering all of those taunts.
(You're such a loser!)
(No wonder you're always by yourself!)
(No one wants to be your friend!)
(Face it, wimp! No matter how much you play, you can't win because you're a freak!)
He suddenly lost himself in a sea of his own misery and torment, letting a certain part of it feed on it.
'Great, he's feeling that torment again! All I need is that card to be drawn, and I'll do things my way!'
The Ra suddenly felt his anger flow after hearing the insults to himself and Jachin, and seeing his partner's long-mile stare towards the ground pushed it...
"I'll show you who's inferior!"
The Light Brigade foes stopped their laughter to see the angry look on the intellectual duelist's face.
"I draw," Bastion declared as he drew his next card, "I set another monster in defense mode..."
A reversed monster appeared.
"Like hiding will help you," Cutter yawned.
"It's rude to interrupt," Bastion smirked as he inserted his spell card into his disk, "I'll use Book of Taiyou to reveal the Slate Warrior I hidden!"
Rising from the set card, a blue looking monster appeared in a yellow colored armor and red armored pants, holding a long brown staff. (4/1900/900)
"Oh great, he finally gets a good card..." Shadow groaned.
"And his effect, when flipped summoned he gains 500 ATK and DEF!"
A dark blue energy surrounded the fiend, letting grow stronger. (4/1900-2400/900-1400)
"And with enough power backing him up, I'll attack Shadow's Level Eater with Slate Staff Strike!"
Slate Warrior leapt into action as it leapt across the arena and jabbed the ladybug through the abdomen, shattering it to pieces.
Shadow: 6200 + Cutter: 8000
Jachin: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"Now gentlemen, see how irony is played when the saw moves closer to you!"
But despite Bastion's proclamation, the blades never made a move! Even Jachin looked up to confirm it himself and glared at the grinning foes.
"What," Jachin shouted, "Your blades are not moving!"
"Oh really, silly us," Shadow grinned. "They don't work!"
"And maybe they'll really freak out after seeing this..."
At the end of Cutter's words, he and Shadow kicked the shackles off their feet, shocking the Academy duo as they stepped out of the ring.
"Even if we lose we're in the clear," Cutter laughed, "Played you fools for saps!"
"So you just sent us down here to suffer," Jachin shouted.
"And the last horse crossed the finish line," Shadow mocked as applauded, "We're not fools like Arkana was, becoming a part of his own game! So, prepare to die!"
Bastion growled as he put two cards into his disk, "Two cards facedown and end my turn!"
"So angry, but don't worry, I'll put you do death as soon as possible," Shadow mocked as he drew, "I activate Foolish Burial to send my Archfiend of Glifer to the grave!"
The shadow duelist took out his deck and searched for his monster and dropped into the graveyard.
"But that activates its special ability," Shadow grinned as a dark claw reached out of the graveyard and gripped Slate Warrior by the head, "And it's to weaken a monster by 500 ATK!"
Slate Warrior struggled in dark grip, but was unable to break free. (4/2400-1900/1400)
"And, I'll continue the darkness with my Dark Jeroid!"
A dark portal appeared and brought out a fiendish, yet strange looking monster out to the field. It looked to be a bizarre six-legged creature with sharp spikes growing from the back and the face where the torso connected the body. (4/1200/1500)
"Repulsive," Bastion cringed.
"I'll say," Jachin added.
"And it gets uglier as I get to weaken a monster by 800 ATK, like Slate Warrior," Shadow continued as the fiend shot a purple beam at the restrained warrior, forcing his movement to slow down. (4/1900-1100/1400)
"Now Jeroid, attack his Slate Warrior!"
The ugly fiend snarled as it charged up another dark beam to fire and...
"Afraid not," Bastion shouted as he revealed his one his facedown cards, go Windstorm of Etaqua!"
When the beam fired, a fierce windstorm blew across Shadow's and Cutter's field, forcing all the monsters to kneel down and cross their arms.
"This changes the battle position of all monsters on the field! And that means all of your monsters have to switch into defense mode!"
The Slifer sighed in relief, "That was close..."
"We just need to stay alive long enough to get these shackles off of us," Bastion told him.
"As if," Shadow scoffed, "I'll just switch Caius to attack mode and end my turn! So little Red, I hope you don't choke!"
"I show you, my move," Jachin growled as drew out his next card and immediately played it, "I play Pot of Greed!"
He drew two more cards. He narrowed his eyes at the last card in particular.
'Dark Hour,' He shouted within his mind, 'I can finally shut these guys up!'
'Meaning it is show time!'
Suddenly, Jachin held his head and started grunting in pain, "N-No..."
"Jachin..." Bastion said, "What's wrong... AH!"
Suddenly, a dark aura surrounded the Persona duelist's form letting him scream out.
"Let me out, it's time for the rightful owner of this deck to claim his due!"
"No! I can... handle it," Jachin shouted as his head throbbed with more pain, "Let me..."
"Sorry, but I'm here and I want to deliver them your true self!"
"AAAHHH!"
The dark aura engulfed the Slifer duelist as he screamed to the ceiling. The cry freaked out Bastion and even more so, Shadow and Cutter.
"What is up with the aura," Shadow shuddered, feeling the power that was coming.
"I don't know man," Cutter said, shaking also.
Inside his hotel room, Sartorius felt a dangerous jolt going through his hands, making him shudder and dropped his tarot cards all over the table and the floor.
"There's a disturbance in power..." He whispered in fear. He looked down to notice all of his cards were still facedown, all except for two cards...
The upright Magician card and the upside down Moon card...
"The darkness of the Magician representative will soon awaken," Sartorius gasped as he felt his white aura surround him, "But will it hinder my plans... this time, I cannot foresee!"
Back to the duel...
Suddenly, the blinding dark aura finally diminished, leaving the Slifer standing still with his eyes closed.
"Jachin," Bastion called out, "Are you alright!"
Then, he finally opened them... but instead of his normal, black eyes... they became a glowing yellow color and his smile became vindictive.
"Uh, Jachin," The intellectual duelist asked again, feeling worried for what was about to happen next...
The Slifer turned to Ra, scaring the daylights out of him with the yellow eyes.
"Jachin? Jachin is not what I associate with being my name... Mr. Misawa..." The Slifer spoke in a warped voice, "You can call me Jacinth, if you please."
"'Jacinth'? Who the heck are you trying be," Cutter scoffed.
"And what's up with the fake aura," Shadow added, feeling his fear lifting for a moment, "When did you grow a back bone?"
The Slifer smirked, putting the fear back on everyone else's minds and hearts, "Oh, let's just say my other is not fit to take you two on," Jacinth stated, "Which is why I'm taking charge..." He then looked to Bastion, "And you better step up, otherwise I won't be there to save you..."
"And what do you plan to do what Jachin failed to do," Bastion asked, with fear evident in his voice.
"To say what he won't, to do what he can't...," Jacinth grinned as he turned towards the Light Brigade duo," To remove those that insult and torment him... And since you two have awakened the hatred he tried so hard to control, it's time I take advantage of that and those psychic powers of his!"
The darkness around the boy started to spread around the field, creating a thin barrier around playing area.
"And if I recall it was my turn..."
Shadow: 6200 + Cutter: 8000
Jacinth: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"But where was I," Jacinth grinned as he looked at his hand, "Oh right, I activate the field spell card that will darken the nightmares of every human being and unleash my personal shadows, it's Dark Hour!"
Once the field spell was inserted, the card started to warp the entire basement into a dark setting. The field became a black city with a large green moon over the horizon. Behind the newly acclaimed Shadow duelist, a large red tower with red puddles along the floor. The only spot left of the old room was the shackled floor and spinning buzz saws.
"What the heck is this card about," Shadow asked, looking across the field.
"Oh, you'll see," Jacinth grinned as he placed his next card on the field, "With this Field Spell in play, I can summon the Arcana Shadow Magician in attack mode!"
From one of the puddles, a white mask held by a green hand appeared. The hand turned the mask from side to side until it settled on Shadow, Cutter and their monsters. Suddenly, six more hands pulled out of the puddles to pull out the body... only to everyone's shock, another six arms popped out with their hands holding silver blades and finding that the body was the entire jumble of arms! (1/1000/1000)
"What the Hell," Shadow shouted.
"Arcana Shadow," Bastion wondered, "Where did these monsters come from? I thought he wielded the Personas?"
"From the dark recesses of my mind," The shadow of Jachin stated, "Now Magician, tear his Level Eater to pieces!"
The Shadow crawled across the black floor with a growl and chopped down the Ladybug. But what was terrifying is how real that felt to Shadow as he felt the pixels blow across from them.
"W-w-wha...," The shadow duelist gasped as he felt the aftermath of the Level Eater's demise, "It's a weak monster... b-but what just came... was that real...?"
"And then, I'll activate the Dark Door and set two cards facedown to conclude my turn," Jacinth concluded as giant door rose in the middle of the field, "Do you feel the true terror of the Shadows! The full extent of a Psychic Duelist! There is so much more to give, boys!"
Bastion gasped, 'So this is what he was living through during his childhood...'
"Finally he gets some real strategy out," Cutter grinned as he drew, "I was getting bored with just killing him! And since I can only attack with one monster, I'll switch Alector to attack mode..."
The white armored bird stood up and took flight once again.
"Now Alector, rip that freak apart!"
The giant bird created another slicing windstorm that reached the Shadow Magician, ready to cut it apart.
"I don't think so," Bastion shouted, able to shake off the fear and reveal his facedown card, "I activate the Spirit Barrier trap card to stop the damage flow!"
Once the windstorm tore apart the Shadow Magician, separating its thirteen arms across the field and then dissipated into darkness, a yellow barrier blocked the damage to Jacinth.
The Shadow turned to Bastion and grinned, "You're too kind..."
'I may not know why this is happening to Jachin of all times, but I can't let him die in here,' The Ra thought.
"Oh and since my Shadow Magician was destroyed, I can summon Arcana Shadow Priestess to the field from my deck!"
A card shot out of Jacinth's deck and slammed itself on the duel tray.
Another shadow puddle emerged and created a tall, female shadow monster with all white on its left and all black on the right and her hair waved out across the back. She wore a black-eye mask and a long black and white skirt. The Shadow glared with its bright yellow eyes. (2/1200/1200)
"Oh great, more of these things," Cutter groaned as he inserted a card into his disk, "I'll end my turn with one facedown card. You won't get far..."
"And my move now," Bastion declared as he drew his next card, "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown card!"
A harsh storm cut apart the winged-beast duelist's facedown card.
"Next, my Card of Demise to draw five cards," Bastion continued as he drew five more cards. He smiled as his find and looked to his enemies, "Alright, I use Double Summon to bring out Whirlwind Prodigy!"
A small tornado emerged and from it, a young blond kid appeared wearing a green hat and jerkin with grey pants. (4/1500/1600)
"Next, I sacrifice it to summon Simorgh, Bird of Divinity!"
The prodigy was sucked up into another tornado, much larger than the previous one and brought out a large, regal, light green bird with its large wings, yellow tail feathers and small red crown upon its head. (7/2700/2000)
"He has a Simorgh card," Cutter gasped.
"Impressive isn't it," The Ra smirked, "Now watch it action as it attacks Battlestorm with Sacred Windstorm!"
Simorgh let out a large call as it flapped its wings and created a giant storm that caught the black man-bird in its wake and shattered it.
"I end my turn with another facedown card," Bastion concluded, "And on the End Phase, Simorgh's effect damages everyone with 1000 points of damage!"
"Oh no," Shadow and Cutter shouted as Simorgh's crown began to glow and a bright green wind blew across the field. Bastion's Spirit Barrier card image and his facedown card stood up straight, but the latter hiding its identity along with Jacinth's Dark Hour and his facedown card blocked the damage from them. But the Light Brigade duo weren't as lucky as the winds blew past them.
As it ended, both developed a bloody cut on their cheeks.
Shadow: 5200 + Cutter: 7000
Jacinth: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"Did that... cut them...?" Bastion gasped.
"Impressive," Jacinth laughed, "I didn't think you had it in you!"
The Ra turned to his partner and narrowed his eyes, "You did that, didn't you!?"
"Didn't I tell you, not only I'm unleashing my powers but this field spell will unlock a torment of its own," The Arcana Shadow duelist grinned.
"He wasn't bluffing...," Cutter whispered as he looked at his surroundings, "We may not be in those shackles, but now we're in hot water!"
"You're going to be sorry you did that to me," Shadow growled at the Slifer as drew his next card, "I'll place this facedown so I'll only take 500 points of damage!"
Cutter gasped, "You got nothing!"
Shadow sighed as he shook his head.
"Uh oh," Jacinth mocked, "Watch out for those cutting winds!"
Simorgh's crown glowed again and sent its divine wind across the field again, with Jacinth's and Bastion's cards providing the shield. Shadow's lone facedown card blocked part of the slicing winds while Cutter blocked with his arms as best he could, leaving cut marks on his arms.
Shadow: 4700 + Cutter: 6000
Jacinth: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"Alright," Jacinth grinned as he drew, "It's going to be fun! I use my Card of Demise," He declared, drawing his five cards and laughed as he placed another card on the field, "Next, I summon Dark Elf in attack mode!"
Floating out of the darkness, a dark skinned, green haired elf emerged wearing a dark green robe and a vindictive smile on her face. (4/2000/800)
"And next, I use the spell Thousand Punisher," He continued as the spell card image appeared behind Dark Elf and pulled her in with black tendrils as she screamed in peril.
"What's going on," Shadow demanded as the spell image moved behind Arcana Shadow Priestess.
"I sacrificed Dark Elf to make my Shadow Priestess' ATK go to 1000," Jacinth replied as the image phased through the Arcana Shadow and surrounded herself in Dark Elf's image, "But don't laugh; she can now attack for every multiple of 1000 ATK from my Dark Elf! So, two attacks are coming your way!"
"So my Cyber Ouroboros is going to die, big whoop," The shadow duelist scoffed.
The Arcana Shadow duelist grinned, "Oh, they're not the ones I'm after! Now I use the Negative Energy Generator! Now one DARK monster has tripled its ATK, guess who?"
The dark Priestess cackled as she grew two times her normal size and towered over Caius and Alector! (2/1000-3000/1000)
"What's with this kid," Cutter shouted, staring at his opponent, "First we have him on the ropes, now he comes back with all this freaky powers and crap!"
"I'm still figuring that one out," Shadow shuddered as he stared at the giant monster.
"And while you're doing that, I'll activate my facedown cards, Fatal Abacus and Skull Invitation," Jacinth continued as he revealed his two trap cards. The first card showed a demonic looking abacus that appeared in front of the Slifer. And from the second trap emerged a horned, blue-skinned demon in a black robe holding out his hand.
"Now the pain is set, go Shadow Priestess and attack Caius the Shadow Monarch and Alector with Punishable Crash!"
The shadow moaned ominously as her hair wrapped around the target monsters and hung them in the air. With an unforgiving squeeze, Caius and Alector perished into the darkness. Next, the hair lunged again and started to squeeze out the screams from Shadow and Cutter before dropping them unceremoniously to the ground.
Shadow: 4100 + Cutter: 5400
Jacinth: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"And with Fatal Abacus and Skull Invitation together, you're losing 800 points for your monsters!"
The demon floated over to the abacus and rearranged the beads to match the number 800 and then rushed at the Light Brigade duo, clawing at their chests and making them scream.
Shadow: 3300 + Cutter: 4600
Jacinth: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"This is so much fun, destroying all the high and mighty people," The Shadow Arcana duelist laughed, "And then I'll end my turn, to let my partner's Simorgh deal more damage!"
Once again, Simorgh sent another green windstorm ripping at the Light Brigade duo, but keeping Jacinth and Bastion safe. Once it passed, Shadow and Cutter were left kneeling and holding their various wounds.
Shadow: 2800 + Cutter: 3600
Jacinth: 3400 + Bastion: 5600
"Jachin, Jacinth... you have to stop this," Bastion protested, seeing his opponents in pain.
"Stop," Jacinth scoffed, "When this duel's over..."
"It might as well be," The Ra pointed out, "They can't fight back!"
"Oh well, they mocked us so it's only fitting we show them all the pain they'll have to take!"
Bastion gasped, "You're... not serious... Jachin wouldn't want this!"
"Actually, he does," the Shadow stated, "But since he won't follow through, I'm taking control and charge to make sure it happens!"
Everyone else shuddered in fear at the malice in his voice.
"Shadow, we better do something quick," Cutter shouted as got to his knees and drew his next card, "I play the tag-exclusive spell card; Turning the Page!"
A spell card image floated to the top of the field, showing off a young man crossing over from darkness into day while reverting to his young boy persona.
"With this spell card, I can turn over control to my partner, letting him take over! In other words Yellow boy, your turn is skipped!"
Bastion growled as the spell image vanished and a red X appeared under him.
"And for my turn," Shadow declared as he drew, "I activate Dark Prominence! This lets my partner and I draw four cards, but then remove the next four from the game!"
Shadow and Cutter felt a dark energy seep into their decks as they drew out their four cards and watched the next four top cards vanish.
"And then, I'll summon another Dark Jeroid!"
Another strange fiend copy appeared. (4/1200/1500)
"Next, I'll use his special ability on Arcana Priestess!"
Dark beams flashed on the shadow monster, making it weaker and kneel to the ground. (2/1200-400/1200)
"And then I'll use my facedown card, Heavy Storm destroying every spell and trap on the field!"
A heavy windstorm picked up and ripped apart every spell and trap card out of the field, even freeing Slate Warrior from the Archfiend of Glifer's grip. (4/1100-1600/1400)
But when the winds died down, the dark field spell remained!
"Why is this stinking field spell still here," Shadow demanded.
"It's should've been destroyed along with everything else," Cutter yelled.
"And therein lies the problem," Jacinth grinned, "This field spell can't be destroyed by card effects! So, be prepared to spend the end of your days here!"
"I'd rather not," Shadow growled as he held up another card, "Since I'm free from that dangerous combo, I can freely sacrifice my Cyber Ouroboros and my two Dark Jeroids to summon the Mad Profiler!"
All three monsters shattered into the darkness, leaving their pixels behind which reformed into a short, pale-skinned and purple-haired man with an insane look on his face. He wore a forest green robe with khaki pants. Finally, he sat on a high stool chair and pointed his left index finger to his forehead while staring at a black book. (8/2600/1600)
"And that's supposed to scare me," Jacinth asked and laughed, "Despite him being more than able to destroy my monster I'm still waiting on the spark."
"Oh you'll see it," Shadow grinned, "I can activate his special ability by sending one card to the graveyard. And that lets me remove a card of the same type from play!"
For the first time, Jacinth showed a little worry, 'If he removes my field spell, I'm sunk!'
Shadow held up the first of his two cards, "I'll send my Monster card, Necroface to remove Simorgh!"
A small card image appeared next to the Mad Profiler, letting him take it into his hands and stare at it. He then took his finger off his head and touched the card, making it vanish into thin air. Suddenly, a green aura surrounded the Bird of Divinity and then it vanished as well!
"What..." Bastion gasped.
"Now Mad Profiler, attack that boy's Priestess!"
The Profiler cackled manically as he jumped off his chair in a mad dash and slammed his book into the Shadow Arcana's face, killing her on impact.
Shadow: 2800 + Cutter: 3600
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 5600
The long forgotten buzz saw started to move down to the 1000 mark and nearing its end.
"One more good hit, and those legs are coming off," Shadow shouted, "I figure it's best to go after you now, so I can stop this pain... and there's no better way than death!"
"Oh, you think it's that simple, "Jacinth grinned, "How will you accomplish that when you keep giving me more monsters!"
"What!"
"By killing the Priestess you brought out two more of the shadows," The dark Slifer declared as two more monster cards flew out of his deck and planted themselves onto the disk, "Meet Shadow Arcana Emperor and my Shadow Arcana Empress!"
This time, a large dark puddle appeared and brought out two more monsters! The first looked like a giant, bulked up soldier wearing grey armor with a red cross on the front, a purple eye mask over the face and shoulder guards. He carried a large broadsword. (3/1400/1400)
Next to him, a fat and feminine shadow wearing a similar armor as the Emperor but with a white cape to add plus a white crown on her head. She carried a black wand. (4/1600/1600)
"Darn it," Cutter growled, "These things keep on coming!"
"And it's my turn," Jacinth declared as he drew, "I'll now use my Gift of the Martyr spell card, sacrificing Shadow Emperor to Shadow Empress! And that gives Emperor's ATK to her as well!"
The Emperor shattered into pixels and fused its essence into the Empress, letting her revel in the power. (4/1600-3000/1600)
"Now attack Cutter directly! Evil Touch!"
The fat shadow rushed herself over to the winged-beast duelist who shook in fear. She then took her wand and then summoned a large dark mist that suffocated Cutter in its wake.
Shadow: 2800 + Cutter: 600
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 5600
"Now I place one card facedown," Jacinth concluded as Empress' power returned to 1600 ATK, "Now get up and stop choking..."
The smoke cleared up, letting Cutter drop to his knees and clutched his neck.
"It was so... dark..." The green clad duelist shook.
"CUTTER!" Shadow shouted, "Get your head in the game! If you don't move, he'll kill you!"
Cutter gasped as he shot up to his feet, "No, I will not be hurt any longer," Cutter shouted as he drew, "I activate Ancient Rules to summon a Normal Monster from my hand," He then took his monster card and slammed it on his disk, "Now I bring out Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry!"
A golden radiance shined from the sky, blinding everyone except the summoner. It revealed Simorgh but now with golden feathers and all. The large bird let out a powerful call. (8/2900/2000)
"That's a Normal Monster," Bastion asked, "But it clearly has an effect color on the card."
"Well that's part of its effect: being a Normal Monster while in the player's hand," The winged-beast duelist smirked.
"Oh great, light..." The Shadow Persona duelist groaned.
"And it's gets better with its second," Cutter announced, "Now all players can summon WIND monsters with one less sacrifice, letting me bring out another Raiza the Storm Monarch for my normal summon!"
Simorgh's wings glowed, making a pathway from Cutter's hand to the field. In a flash, Raiza returned taking his guard. (6/2400/1000)
"Now that you're down to your last 1200, once Simorgh deals with your so-called Shadow, it'll be game over," The winged-beast duelist announced, "And with the main power away, the yellow boy will be easy pickings!"
'So that's why they mostly left me alone,' Bastion thought as he growled, 'He only saw Jachin as the threat! I continue to be ignored!' He then eyed his facedown card, 'But that will change soon enough...'
Jacinth felt his partner's anger and grinned, 'Well, well, someone's a little left out...' He then eyed his own facedown card, 'Even though, I can block his attack with my card, I wanna see what Bastion does...'
"Now, Simorgh silence the so-called dark one," Cutter commanded as the golden bird raised its wings up high, "Prepare to die!"
"I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!"
Everyone suddenly turned their heads towards Bastion once he shouted and revealed his trap card.
"I activate the trap card, Dark Spirit of the Silent," He announced as large, orange spirit flew out of the trap card and blocked Simorgh's wings from flapping downwards, "This trap card stops the current attacking monster and forces another monster on your side to attack. But the choice is mine to make!"
Cutter gasped, "You make the choice!"
"Yes, and I think of no better choice than the monster you stole Jachin, his Sangan!"
"But if Sangan attacks..."
The Light Brigade duelist didn't even finish his sentence as the long forgotten Sangan leapt towards the Shadow Arcana monster.
"It's over for you," Jacinth grinned, "Empress, Evil Touch!"
As soon as Sangan reached the Empress, the Shadow Arcana laughed as she pointed her wand in the fiend's line of fire and fired a dark blast obliterating it from the field. The impact of the blow managed to reach Cutter from the distance and sent him flying across the field, knocking him out and taking all of his cards out from the game.
Shadow: 2800 + Cutter: 0
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 5600
Shadow cringed watching his partner go down in a heartbeat.
"Looks like, I'm not the only threat around here," Jacinth stated, seeing the damage done to the winged-beast duelist, "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea in trying to take me out first."
Bastion narrowed his eyes at the fallen duelist as well and then turned to the Shadow duelist, "Now it's your turn!"
He drew his next card and immediately pressed a button on his face down card, "I activate the spell, Back to Square One!"
The spell revealed a large-scale version of a game board with various small monsters playing the game pieces. One of the most notable spots on the board actually said 'Back to Square One.'
"By discarding one card from my hand, I can send a monster of yours back to your hand," The Ra announced, "So in other words, your Mad Profiler is gone!"
The insane profiler vanished into a magenta-colored light and extracted itself back to the top of Shadow's deck.
"And to rack up the pressure, I switch Slate Warrior back to attack mode and use the spell card Rush Recklessly, giving another 700 ATK for the turn!"
As the fiend warrior stood up, a green energy surged through him... (4/1600-2300/1400)
"Now go and attack directly with Slate Staff Bash!"
The warrior let out a battle cry and flew straight at Shadow, striking him in the gut.
Shadow: 500
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 5600
"One more attack and you'll be finished," Bastion declared, "Better save yourself the trouble and give up!"
"Yes, we wouldn't want another loser among your team," Jacinth goaded, "Give up and let us go..."
Shadow grunted and laughed a bit, "If only it were that simple..."
"What do you mean," The Ra asked.
"End your turn and find out," Shadow told him.
"Fine, I will and then Slate Warrior's power returns to 1600," Bastion announced as the green energy left his monster.
"Alright, I draw my Mad Profiler," Shadow declared, knowing what his draw phase let him to, "And then, I'll use my spell card Mirror of the Nightmare!"
"Mirror of the Nightmare!"
Appearing behind Shadow, a large, circular mirror appeared with a demon inside the reflection.
"This is the end of the game, boys," the shadow duelist grinned, "It pays all my life points down to 100, but it's well worth the price and pain for now I can summon two monsters without the summoning conditions!"
The demon sprung out of the giant mirror and extracted a dark portion of Shadow's soul and devoured it.
Shadow: 100
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 5600
"Now, I can bring out Mad Profiler from my hand and Caius the Shadow Monarch from the graveyard!"
The mirror shattered, blowing a dark wind across the field. It sent shivers down Bastion's spine but did nothing for Jacinth as he embraced.
'Such power... I can't wait to see what happens next...' He grinned.
Through the dark winds, the Mad Profiler and the Shadow Monarch appeared, cackling manically. (8/2600/1600), (6/2400/1000)
"And now, since those Shadow Arcana monsters seem to come back after I trounce them," Shadow stated looking from Jacinth to Bastion, "I'll start beat you senseless, since you started to grow a backbone! Caius, make the first strike!"
The Shadow Monarch obeyed as it large another dark orb and fired it straight at the Slate Warrior, shattering it to pixels.
Shadow: 100
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 4400
"You triggered Slate Warrior's effect," Bastion announced, "The monster that destroyed him loses 500 ATK and DEF!"
Caius growled and clutched its head in pain. (6/2400-1900/1000-500)
"Whatever," Shadow laughed, "Mad Profiler, strike him directly!"
The insane man hopped his chair and then struck Bastion in his face, leaving a red imprint for the memories.
Shadow: 100
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 1800
Bastion's saw blade now started move after a long period of inactivity and stopped a little past the 2000 mark.
"Now, I end my turn and wait for the chance to cut those legs off," The Light Brigade duelist laughed, "No one makes me fear the shadows!"
"I wouldn't be laughing," Jacinth warned as he drew his next card, "There's a lot of things that can make you fear the shadows, including me."
"What are you talking about now, kid? Give it up; it's over for you and your pal!"
The Shadow Arcana duelist sighed "Tell me, have you come into terms with your dark side?"
Shadow just raised an eyebrow at that statement.
"No? That's sad... this will be over sooner than I thought," Jacinth muttered, "And that's the problem Jachin has now... he thinks he's one with his dark side, but the more he continues to push me away from his true feelings, the more I want to rise and fulfill his darkest desires."
"To hurt people," Bastion answered, "Why?"
Jacinth laughed, "You of all people shouldn't be questioning me? Your dark side's out in the open once you took out Cutter!"
"Beg your pardon?"
"I can see it in your eyes, you hate to be ignored. Why else would you steal the spotlight away from me? You're jealous of other's being worth more to enemies."
Bastion gasped as Jacinth narrowed his eyes and smirked.
"I'm right, aren't I? Don't deny it, or you'll get the same fate as this fool," He continued as he turned to Shadow, "Now, I won't go into detail for what I see in you. I'll just let you tell me!"
"Why do you keep babbling," Shadow growled, "Just get to the point!"
"Fine by me! I activate my trap, Metal Reflect Slime to summon my trap monster to the field!"
Suddenly, some sliver slime emerged from the ground and formed into a liquid metal spike ball. (10/0/3000)
"And now, both it and my Shadow Arcana Empress will go to the graveyard for my Shadow Mirror spell card!"
Appearing behind Jacinth, a small hand mirror rose up and floated in front of him.
"Prepare to meet your true self! Shadow Token, appear!"
Suddenly, glowing yellow eyes peered from the mirror and let out dark ropes that splattered across the floor. It then reformed and stood up creating a human-shape. But not just any human-shape... Shadow's human-shape with glowing yellow eyes! (12/?/?)
Shadow looked at it in fear and gasped, "No way..."
"I am a shadow... the true self," The dark entity announced, staring straight at Shadow. It then started to smile evilly, "Oh... playing the Shadow Man again!"
"Huh! That thing his talking about me!"
"Don't play that game with me! Don't run away from your lesson! But who am I kidding, that's all we know: playing games and running away from things we don't like to do!"
"Hey, stop that! I was never like that," Shadow shouted, "You don't know anything about me!"
"Sounds like a lie to me," Jacinth said, crossing his arms, "Don't deny the real feelings inside you, Shadow!"
Bastion gasped, 'the real feelings! That Shadow Mirror spell card brings out the real feelings of a person!' He then stared at the possessed Slifer in fear, 'What if that card was pointed at me...?'
"I never wanted to grow up..." The Shadow continued to rant, "but Dad says I'll never show any initiative or any things to get where I want in life!"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up," Shadow cried falling to his knees.
"But what does he know!? I know what I want! It's his fault! He's the reason, I run away! I've done everything I can but it's never enough! It will never be enough! Isn't that right... me!?"
"N-No..."
Jacinth smirked, 'Here it comes...'
At the top of his lungs, Shadow shouted...
"YOU'RE NOT ME!"
Hearing that set the shadow token off into a frenzy of dark aura and dark laughter.
"There I go again! I run and run and there's no stopping me! Guess it's time to show off my talent! Make me show how grand it is!"
The shadow token imploded in a cloud of red and darkness, knocking Shadow down on his butt. When the cloud dissipated, a huge monster appeared in its place. It looked like a young child but with a weird complex going on. Like Arcana Shadow Priestess, it was white on the left side with a white wing on the back, while the right side was black with a devil's wing on the back. In the hands, the child carried a note pad and a video game controller. (12/100/100)
"Now, pay for shunning me out!"
"That thing..."
"Is you," Jacinth declared pointing at the token, "And it even has its power based on the life points you have to prove it!"
"At least... my two monsters can protect me...," the Light Brigade duelist said shakily as he stared at his shadow, "I'm... still... t-t-too powerful..."
"Oh no you're not, I seem to have read the final part of that Nightmare Card you played," Jacinth pointed out, "When you only have the monsters summoned by that card, they can't protect your life points from battle! Meaning, you did nothing to protect yourself!"
All the color seemed to have been drained from Shadow's face as he backed up against the wall, "No... no..."
"Attack and end this duel," Jacinth commanded, "Destroy him!"
The shadow's face suddenly grew demonic and then lunged passed the Mad Profiler and Shadow Monarch, heading straight for the defenseless duelist.
"NOOO!"
The shadow opened its jagged maw and then clamped down on Shadow's duel disk and shattered it to pieces, exploding it off his arm and leaving it badly burned.
Shadow: 0
Jacinth: 1200 + Bastion: 1800
Winner: Jacinth and Bastion
Jacinth gave off a roar of laughter as the holograms disappeared and the saws intended to cut him and Bastion stopped, opening the chests from between their ankles.
"Ah, sweet freedom and victory," He stated as he took the key from the chest and unlocked his shackles. Bastion did the same, but was feeling wary of the Slifer's next move, "Now to take care of business!"
"'Business,'" The Ra asked as Jacinth walked over to the fallen and horrified form of Shadow.
"Now, now little Shadow, you have just witnessed the true darkness of your heart," the shadow Slifer stated as his eyes glowed, "But you failed to conquer it, so you'll have to pay the price!"
"W-What price," Shadow stuttered.
"Take a look around you, my prey..."
The Light Brigade duelist started to look around and gasped that the Dark Hour field spell was still active!
"The Field Spell!"
"Like it," Jacinth asked, "Well get used to it, because you will become a part of it for the rest of your days," He then stared at the fallen form of Cutter, "Him too..."
Suddenly, the ground started to rumble shaking both Shadow and Bastion to the floor. Jacinth stood his ground as he watched the terror unfold.
"NOW!"
At the shadow Slifer's command, Cutter's body was swallowed up in a black coffin and slammed shut before sinking back into the ground.
Shadow cried out, "CUTTER!"
"You're next," Jacinth grinned, "NOW!"
"AAAAHHH!"
Shadow was then trapped inside an upright coffin and screamed in terror as it was slammed shut and dove straight into the ground. The entire scene put horror in the face of the Ra and a look of delight on the shadow Slifer's.
"Now, my host can be purely satisfied," Jacinth stated as the Dark Hour spell finally disappeared, "It's been too long since I was able to duel again."
He then turned around to see the Ra's look of terror on his face and scoffed, "Oh don't tell me you didn't like that..."
"W-What," Bastion gasped.
"You heard me; they ignored you most of the entire duel. Surely, you had a dark satisfaction of seeing me take them down!"
"You're wrong," the Ra shouted, shaking off his fear on the spur of the moment, "I may have been angry about being ignored, furious for being caught up in a near-death experience, but what you've done is completely unaccounted for!"
"Please, you can lie about all you want," Jacinth stated, "But seeing the way you took down Cutter; it thrilled you to do that after what they said... You relished the pain when Simorgh's power became real to hurt them... You made sure they never forgot the name Bastion Misawa!"
"YOU'RE WRONG!"
At that point, Bastion felt a sharp chop to the back of his head, slowly removing the consciousness from his brain as he heard his attacker's words...
"It seems you need some time to think about that," Jacinth said in a low tone, "I'd rather take you down like the others, but right now... it will all seem like a bad dream..."
The whole world went black for the Ra as soon as his body hit the ground.
At the secluded caverns, Sarina woke up from her meditation and was struck with a cold shiver as two of the lit candles fell to the ground. She felt a sharp chill in her heart as she placed her hand over it.
"Sarina," Makoto shouted in a worried tone, coming to the aid of her elder sister, "What's wrong..."
"Shadow, Cutter... they're gone," the miko whispered.
"Gone...?"
"She's right," Hanabi whimpered, cuddling her bear, "Someone with scary, bad darkness beat them..."
Makoto started to feel worried herself as she was able to sense it as well, "No one could easily defeat our elite assassins!"
"Which is why, we need to speed up our attack on the students..." Sarina said, composing herself, "One of them holds the similar power, Sartorius once spoke about..."
"Hey Bastion, wake up! Come on man, you shouldn't be on the ground sleeping!"
When Bastion first opened his eyes, all he could see was a blur, then, as his eyes came into focus, he saw a close-up of someone's hand waving over him.
"AAH!"
"WAAH!"
The Ra jumped to his feet and saw a startled Jachin fall down on his back.
"Jachin!"
"What?"
"Where are we," Bastion said, quickly pulling up the Slifer to his feet and looking around the spot he woke up from. It turned out to be the same alleyway he and Jachin fell asleep in.
"We're in an alleyway," The Persona duelist replied, "I don't know how we suddenly felt the urge to take a nap, but because of this we need a shower."
Bastion took a whiff of his blazer and put on a disgusted look as he held his nose, "Oh dear Lord! How long have we been out!?"
Jachin shrugged, "Let's just go so our clothes don't mildew, okay?"
"Alright," The Ra said as he started walking down a pathway by himself.
As the Slifer was left alone at the moment, he suddenly got angry...
"You're lucky he didn't recall that battle we had," He growled, "You went too far, again!"
"Don't act like you didn't love it," Jacinth said from within his mind, "I felt the thrill of how I trounced those worthless duelists!"
"Okay, I'm up for knocking them out," The Slifer stated, "I would be able to turn them in to the police for putting me and Bastion into that mess back there," He then took out the deck he used and fished out one card "But doing this!"
Jachin was now holding up the Dark Hour card, but it had a new feature in the artwork.
It now had Shadow and Cutter running away in fear from the Shadow Arcana Magician!
"It will teach them not to torment us again," the shadow claimed, "Even now I can hear them begging for their lives to be spare by my Dark Hour denizens, hahaha!"
"I will get them out," Jachin declared, "And once I fully get control of my own thoughts again, you won't torment me again!"
"Aw, I'm sad. But you can't get rid of me, I'm you!"
The Slifer sighed as he followed the pathway Bastion took, "Of course I can't, you're the embodiment of my darkest secrets. But I won't let that stop me from living my life... I swear it..."
Well, I hope I didn't scar some people with that duel. And Trickymander, I hope I did this well! I will have him duel again, because there's more monsters and I need to play out effects.
Arcana Shadow Magician
Attribute: Dark
Level: 1
type: Beast/effect
Effect: This card can only be summoned when Dark Hour is on the Field. When this card is sent to the graveyard Special summon 1 "Arcana Shadow Priestess" to the field.
Attack/Defense: 1000/1000
Arcana Shadow Priestess
Attribute: Dark
Level: 2
type: spellcaster/effect
Effect: This card can only be summoned when Dark Hour is on the Field. This card can give up its attack phase in order to special summon two tiara tokens onto the field When this card is sent to the graveyard Special summon 1 "Arcane Shadow Empress" and "Arcana Shadow Emperor" to the field.
Attack/Defence: 1200/1200
Effect: This can only be summoned by the effect of Arcana Shadow Priestess. You cannot attack Arcana Shadow Priestess when this card is on the field. There can only be up to two tiara tokens on the field.
Attack: 1200/1200
Arcana Shadow Emperor
Attribute: Dark
Level: 3
type: Warrior/effect
Effect: This card can only be summoned when Dark Hour is on the Field. Once per turn, discard a monster card, this card will take the monsters attribute. This card can only be targeted by monster that is its attribute.
Attack/defense: 1400/1400
Arcane Shadow Empress
Attribute: Dark
Level: 4
type: spellcaster/effect
Effect: This card can only be summoned when Dark Hour is on the Field. Once per turn, discard a monster card, this card will take the monsters attribute. This card cannot be targeted by spell casters. When this card is sent to the graveyard Special summons 1 "Arcana Shadow Hierophant" to the field.
Dark Hour
type: Field Spell
Picture: A city that has a large green moon in the center of the picture and has coffins under the moon. There is a large tower in the background. And there are puddles of red water on the floor around the coffins.
Effect: All Warrior monsters that do not have Persona or Shadow in its name are switched into defense mode. All machine types that do not have Persona or Shadow in its name will be unable to attack and have their attack and defense points reduce to 0. Any card affected by Dark Hour cannot be destroyed in battle. This card cannot be destroyed by card effects.
Shadow Mirror
type: spell
Picture: A mirror that has Glowing yellow eyes in it.
Effect: Special summon one shadow token to the field by sacrificing all monster on your side of the field
Shadow token
Attribute: Dark
Level: 12
Picture: Jacinth's opponent with glowing yellow eyes.
Type: Fiend
Effect: The Attack and defense is determined by the opponent's life points. This card cannot be affected by card effects.
Personality: Depends on the opponent.
(The preceding cards were created by Trickymander. Creative card rights go to him, while the inspiration goes to the creators of the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series.
Mad Profiler
DARK
Fiend/Effect
Level 8
2600/1600
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Tributing 3 monsters. You can send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard to remove 1 card of the same type (Monster, Spell or Trap) on the field from play.
(Used by Kodo Kinomiya in the 5D's episode The Profiler. All rights to the creators.)
Thousand Punisher
Normal Spell
Tribute monster and select 1 face-up monster you control. Until the End Phase, that monster's ATK becomes 1000 and can attack once for each multiple of 1000 ATK the Tributed monster had.
(Used by Trueman in the final season of GX. All rights to the creators.)
Negative Energy Generator
Normal Spell
Target 1 DARK monster you control and triple its ATK.
(Used by Seto Kaiba in the first episode of the second series anime. All rights to the creators.)
Turning Back the Page
Normal Spell
Activate only in a tag-duel. End your turn immediately and your partner automatically starts his/her Draw Phase.
Mirror of Nightmares
Normal Spell
Pay Life Points until you only have 100. Special Summon 1 monster from your hand and in your graveyard, ignoring the summoning conditions placed on them. If you only control monsters that are summoned via this effect, your opponent can attack you directly.
(The preceding two cards are my own creation. Creative rights go to me.)
Next time: It's the final two Light Brigade members appearance as Lyra and Allen are caught up in their game. But in a place, where two of the Legendary Duelist had to fight to their doom.
Please Read and Review! Later!