Lee here to welcome you to the next chapter of Dual Guardians. War of the Planets is, of course, continuing in this chapter and rather than going back to spend time with their families the friends of our heroes decided to remain behind to help. With that recap done, let's see what happens next! Also want to give a big happy holidays to all our readers, thank you for your continued support and enjoy.

Chapter 31

War of the Planets

Evil Alignment

Night

Duel Academy

Deep in the shadow of a tree near the Slifer dorm, Erhard counted the lights that were still on. As he went down the rows he reminded himself whose room each light was coming from (unsurprisingly, his own remained off) and how long they were likely to stay on.

He paused when he got to the dining hall window. More students than he'd thought were sitting together, laughing and smiling over a holiday meal. They're lucky they have each other, he thought. I wonder if I could just…sneak in? Pretend to be some other German exchange student and join them?

Heh, like Nick and the others wouldn't see through me right away. Still…it'd be nice to see my friends again. Even if it's just for a little.

He closed his eyes, picturing the very people in front of him. Though they were soon replaced by a shadowy figure that extended their hand to him.

I will grant your truest desire…

The promise of his Mistress echoed through his head, making him tighten his fist, and release a deep breath before refocusing on the mission.

Soon enough, the sound of crunching grass caught his attention as he turned to find his two allies arriving behind him, each of them pulling two cloaked individuals with them.

He walked up to them with an irritated look on his face.

"What took you so long? This is a time sensitive mission and you know it," he hissed.

"You try finding some decent duelist on this worthless island," Tauni retorted. "I swear everyone even halfway competent went home."

"Are they here as expected?" Ivor remarked, ignoring Tauni's complaining.

"Of course they are," Erhard replied. "Their guard is completely down, and they probably think they have the upper hand on us to boot. Which will make what we're gonna hit them with even more satisfying."

"So we just go charging in?" Tauni questioned.

"…Tauni. The building's security systems are fully armed, and even if we thwarted them we'd be up to our necks in security guards," Ivor deadpanned. "I know I explained this to you before."

Erhard took another look and saw that they were already wearing their duel disks and deck cases. "Well, I'm glad you came prepared. If we're done sniping at each other, let's wake up our puppets, shall we?"

Tauni and Ivor stood next to Erhard, and the trio raised their arms. Seconds later, dark energy swirled around them, and four shadow people emerged from the ground.

Afterwards, each shadow entered one body, causing them to shake and shiver before what looked like individual masks appeared on each of their faces.

With that, their possession was complete as they soon kneeled down in front of their masters.

"Listen well," Erhard began as he summoned his darkness.

Soon enough, full images of Nick and Barclay along with their friends were shown to all of them.

"These 6 are the targets we seek. The biggest are the two that hold the Gate and Key, the others can be useful as hostages or even bait for them. Once we have them, your task will be fulfilled and you will be released back to your world. Fail and the Mistress will make your worthless lives even more painful."

The possessed nodded as they stood up and awaited further instructions.

"One last thing. At any point of this operation, should you hear my whistle, retreat immediately. That includes you two," Erhard said to Ivor and Tauni.

The two didn't respond, simply nodded as he turned back to his puppets.

"By the end of the night, we'll have what the Mistress wants," he announced with determination.

Slifer Dorm

Though the lights were on in the building, the halls that would normally be filled with the sounds of conversation and solidarity were now quiet. Despite the silence, there was still some manner of life found within the main dining hall.

What was normally separate tables scattered across the room was now lined up together, all in one row to accommodate for the large feast that was happening (courtesy of Kanoa).

Most of them were enjoying the food, talking to one another about random stuff.

Though a few weren't at the table, they were in the common room with their friends from Ra Yellow. While they had plates of food with them, they were also looking at a battle plan of their making, well some of them.

"Sho…" Barclay said around a mouthful of ham and mashed potatoes. "You can see the dilemma we're dealing with."

"That you've forgotten your manners, for one," Sera chided. "But, yes, the island having so many potential entry points is a problem. So, how about, instead of trying to cover all entrances, why not make certain points seem more appealing?"

He nodded in response before swallowing his food.

They both heard footsteps approaching as the others came back from getting seconds, having already finished their first plates.

"Are you two still on that?" Laura remarked as she stuffed another piece of chicken into her mouth after sitting down. "Come on, we spent more than enough time making sure we know where to cover. Come on, just relax."

"She's right, I mean it's bad enough you and me almost killed ourselves training our power, we gotta relax," Nick remarked as he sat down.

"It was crazy that you two could channel those powers enough for us to actually see," Atsuko added as she drank some tea.

"Yah, i'reawy bwew my mi'!" Takashi agreed through a mouthful of food.

Everyone chuckled at how ridiculous he sounded as the large student choked down the mouthful, breathing air of relief.

Atsuko handed him a new cup of tea.

"Aye, we may be somewhat ready," Barclay sighed. "But it's better to have preparations ready and not need them than to need them and not have them."

"You keep stressing like this and you're going to make yourself sick," Sera fretted. "You've already been complaining about headaches, this much stress just isn't good for you."

"I'm fine…" Barclay replied, while trying to nonchalantly rub his temple. "A good night's sleep and I'll be right as rain."

They all sighed and continued eating, finishing their food and taking their dishes to the kitchen to put away with the rest of the plates.

With that out of the way, most of the remaining students decided to hit the hay, wanting to enjoy the free time they had doing their own stuff.

Nick, however, had his own idea.

"Hey, since we've got the TV to ourselves, how about a movie? I happened to pack some Christmas specials before I left," Nick remarked as everyone looked at him with surprise.

He left them for a minute, returning with a handful of DVD boxes in hand, each one having a festive Christmas theme to them.

"What exactly did you bring?" Barclay asked. "If it's not a proper Christmas special, I'm going to bed."

"You offend me, sir, check these out. I have Christmas Carol, Nutcracker, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the Little Drummer Boy."

"You got Rudolph?!" Laura cheered. She ran up to Nick and gave him a tight hug.

"I've never seen any of those…" Takashi mused as he looked at the selection in front of him. "Though, I think I've heard of Nutcracker… that's a dance, right?"

"A ballet, yes," Atsuko added. "And yeah, I haven't seen any of these either. How'd you even get them here? I thought they confiscated things like that?"

"I… well, I had to hide them on me, so there was that," he replied sheepishly.

"Sneaking contraband into the school?" Barclay laughed. "Mister Goody-two-shoes isn't as clean as he likes to act, eh?"

"I disapprove of this breach of the rules," Sera said. "But, Laura's been trying to describe this… Rudolph to me for months now, and I might as well see what it is."

"Haha, I'm kidding, I asked Kanoa if he had anything we could watch and he lent me these."

"Indeed I did," said person added, coming down to check on them. "You kids are probably the only ones who appreciate the classics."

"Classics?" Barclay muttered. "Who even still uses these? DVDs are practically ancient, aren't they?"

Sera elbowed him in response.

"True, but they also said that about some of the older archetypes, and they came back around," Kanoa replied with a smile. "Anyway, just try not to stay up late. Especially not our two visitors; if Meryem finds out I let you stay in this dorm she's gonna break my kneecap with a wrench."

Laura and Sera looked at Kanoa in shock.

"Specifically this one," he added while pulling a wrench that was probably on his belt.

"Is that busted sink finally repaired?" Barclay asked.

The two girls sighed in relief by what he said, realizing that he only had it to fix something.

"It was a worthy foe, but I got the better of him."

The Slifer students sighed at his joking.

"Anyway, if you are gonna stay, just be sure you're gone before curfew," he said before walking away.

"Does this sort of thing happen often?" Laura asked.

"Every day," all the Slifer students replied in unison.

"Anyways," Sera said. "If we're going to be gone before curfew, we'll need to pick a movie now. Half a movie with friends is better than no movie at all, right?"

"Actually, you might be able to watch a full one," Barclay pointed out. "Some of these are pretty short."

They finally picked one and took their spots around the TV, all of them watching the previews that appeared before them.

An Hour Later

The dorm lights had turned off automatically, leaving only the still-playing TV as a light source. The group of teens were still sitting around it, but rather than paying any attention to the story, they were all dozed off in prime teasing positions.

Sera had fallen asleep, leaning on Barclay's shoulder while his head was resting on top of hers.

Takashi was leaning forward slightly, snoring a bit louder than the others with Atsuko curled up next to him like a kitten.

Nick had his head leaning back, mouth open with a slight snore as one arm was over the couch, and the other hugging Laura as she was snuggling close to him with her face into his chest.

The peace didn't last however as two new lights soon triggered, originating from Nick and Bar's hands, and causing them to wake up.

Disoriented at first, their focus came when they saw what had caused the disturbance.

"You feel that?" Barclay demanded, jumping to his feet as Sera fell to the couch, causing her to wake up.

"Wha-?" Sera gasped.

"Big time," Nick remarked as he sat up and gently got Laura off of him.

"What's wrong, honey?" Laura muttered sleepily, making Nick blush in embarrassment."Did something happen?"

"Yeah, explain what's happening, honey," Barclay said, trying not to laugh as he moved towards one of the windows. "But wake the other two first."

Nick glared at Bar before going to gently shake Takashi and Atsuko, getting them to wake up as they sat up on the couch and rubbed their eyes.

"What's going on?" Atsuko mumbled.

"We've got a situation on our hands, I think they're here," the red-haired teen announced as the group widened their eyes in shock.

"So soon? I thought we'd have more time," Takashi said uneasily.

"Strike when they enemy least expects it," Barclay replied. "Honestly, we should have planned for an attack like this."

"Right, as if we would be able to plan for every situation," Nick retorted.

"So what is the plan?" Sera asked.

"What else? We're gonna go find those assholes and show them that we aren't gonna take this lying down!" Laura proclaimed.

"Great," Barclay muttered. "Run out into the dark against unknown numbers."

"Not unprepared of course," Nick added, giving Barclay a look as he extended his left marked hand.

Barclay rolled his eyes, but placed his right marked hand on top of Nick's anyway.

"Are we seriously doing a group cheer now?" Laura questioned.

"Come on, I can't get into the right mindset otherwise," Barclay snarked, earning a hit from Nick.

"Well it's not exactly that. We figured that if there was gonna be a chance any of us would live through tonight, it'd be if you guys also had something to protect yourselves. So we talked with our Duel Spirits and turns out, we can actually pass a fragment of our power to you. You won't be completely invincible, but it's better to have some back up just in case."

Their eyes widened once more when they heard that.

"Are-are you sure that's even possible?" Takashi questioned as Atsuko was shaking nervously.

"Is it something you've ever been able to do?" Sera added.

"It took us a bit to learn how to do it, but thanks to the time we had, we finally figured out how these marks more or less work," Barclay replied. "Figured they'd never get better if we never used them, you know?"

"We were able to purify someone by using the marks, so it should be possible to give some of that energy as well," the red-haired teen added.

"I guess that makes sense…" Atsuko agreed quietly.

The others looked at one another, almost as if they were asking if they were really going to do this. After a few seconds, they nodded and walked forward, putting their hands on top of one another.

Nick and Bar took this as them being ready and closed their eyes to concentrate.

In seconds, light began to shine through the hands as it glowed brighter and brighter, causing the others to close their eyes from the brightness. After the light stopped, they opened their eyes and pulled their hands back, seeing if there were any changes done to them.

Sure enough, a small diamond-like shape was on each of their hands, making them all look in awe.

"Whoa, this is crazy," said Laura.

"Admire it later, for now we need to get our stuff and take the fight to them," Nick reminded them.

The group nodded as they went to the corner of the room where their duel disks were, grabbing them, and inserting their decks into the disks before walking out the front door.

Little did the group know, they were in for the fight of their lives.

Academy Forest

With their supplies in hand, the group left the Slifer Dorm and began their walk into the darkness, steeling themselves for whatever lay ahead. Lucky for them, the Gate and Key Nick and Barclay had illuminated the path in front of them.

The two looked back to see their friends, seeing that they were determined, but still had looks of fear on their faces, especially the girls.

"You guys doing ok?" Nick asked.

"F-ff-fine," Atsuko stuttered, holding onto Takashi's sleeve like her life depended on it.

"We'll be fine as long as we're together," Takashi remarked warmly.

"This is terrible…" Sera muttered. "It's starting to feel too much like those horror films… is it too late for me to go back to the dorm and wait until morning?"

"Probably? …I mean, as long as we don't do anything stupid we should be fine," Laura replied with some uncertainty.

"Great," Barclay said. "We'll last about half an hour, then the opening credits can roll and the real victims the viewers will care about can be introduced."

A yell was soon heard, causing them to stop walking, looking around to find any hint of where it would've originated from.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate you?" Nick responded with frustration in his voice.

Sera, and after a moment Laura, discreetly scooted closer to Takashi's other arm. He looked more confused than visibly frightened.

The duo in front extended their marks forward, causing them to glow brightly in the direction of the yell, heading towards a broken-off path.

"Oh no… it's too late, we should just go back and wait till morning," Sera squeaked.

"Y-yeah, I mean maybe they're like day monsters, only hurting others when there is light out," her roommate added.

Atsuko could only shake in fear and couldn't give her answer.

"Guys, we can't go back, especially if someone is in trouble," Nick reminded them.

"Y-you're right," the large student added.

The girls however, looked at the duo with pleading eyes, trying to get them to change their minds.

"We might still be able to help whoever screamed," Barclay pointed out.

"Or the scream is a trap!" Sera was also shaking by this point.

"Believe in yourselves guys, believe in us," Nick declared with kindness.

This caused the trio to calm down and take a deep breath before nodding.

As they continued onward, their environment soon started changing the deeper into the woods they went to. It was almost as if the entire forest was becoming more and more desolate.

The trees and leaves looked almost ash-like with the shadows dancing around them, almost as if they were welcoming them into their home of fear.

They eventually found their way into a meadow, surrounded by blackened trees that looked almost demonic, making the girls hold onto Takashi tighter.

Nick and Bar saw their marks glow brightly and looked at one another, then back to their allies.

"I think this is where the yell came from, but I don't see anyone," Nick said with worry.

"Even with high stress and the dark… this feels far too evil," Barclay added.

"What was your first clue, Captain Asshole?!" Laura snapped.

"T-turning on each other w-won't help," Sera stammered, her voice barely audible.

Atsuko simply kept her face hidden in Takashi's jacket, trying her best not to faint from fear.

"Guys, I know it seems bad, but we can't forget that someone may be in serious trouble," Takashi reminded them.

"No, I think we just walked into a—"

Before Barclay could finish, a large surge of electricity shot at the group, hitting them and forcing everyone to their knees with a collective cry of pain.

Nick and Barclay's marks glowed in response, and while the electricity arcing over them did weaken, it wasn't enough to completely neuter the trap.

"Typical heroes. Feel a bit of darkness, hear a cry for help, and you come running into a trap like cattle to the slaughter."

The duo looked up to find themselves surrounded by seven cloaked and masked figures, all of them looking at the helpless victims of their trap.

The two figures on each end of the group had basic white masks with a single design in the center. The one on the far left had a golden ring circling its face with a dot just above the nose, and their neighbor's mask had what looked like a silvery-blue cross with an extra curve on the bottom. The third mystery person's mask bore a "female" symbol in copper. Last and most oddly, their (her?) neighbor's mask had a stylized silver number that looked like a cross between 2 and 4.

The three in front of them wore completely different masks compared to the others, but even through the energy trap, Nick and Bar felt the darkness that they came across before.

Ivor was wearing one that was more a white helm with a wider white disk around the face where it then protruded forward in the center like a bascinet. A blue visor blocked the eyes from view and gold accents broke up the disk around the face.

Tauni wore a porcelain colored mask with a single large blue eye with shadow under to make it seem sunken in, while the other eye was covered by bandages with a dull brown line running down from it while a darker brown blotch sat over the center of the forehead. Dull pink colored the lips and two lines ran from the corners of the mouth to the chin. Blonde hair covered the rest of the head.

The last one was Erhard, who wore a mask with seven points, somewhat resembling spike hair, the three central points were a sapphire blue color while the rest were solid black. Black ran across where the mouth would be while the sapphire outlined the eyes, which appeared to glow red. On the forehead was a golden design that was currently indistinguishable.

"Wow, your plan actually worked. Plot twist," said Tauni, whose voice sounded like she was talking into a high-powered fan.

"Very well done, comrade, finally we have our prey in our sights," Ivor added with his voice similarly distorted. "We have finally fulfilled our mission."

"Let it be a lesson, don't ever underestimate me," Erhard said, sounding less like a person than a text-to-speech voice.

Nick and Barclay were trying to speak, but the energy surrounding them also kept them from forming words.

When all hope seemed lost, a miracle occurred.

Their hands were close enough to each other that it unintentionally caused both the Gate and Key to trigger, creating a powerful light that began to expand around them. The intruders were surprised by this as they found themselves being caught in the energy.

In an instant, the energy shot upward towards the sky, releasing 6 individual lights to different parts of the island, leaving the others behind.

When they could see again, the cloaked figures could tell that their prey escaped, making Erhard tightening in fist in rage.

"Don't just stand there, you worthless freaks! Go after them!"

The minions scattered, followed quickly by Tauni and Ivor. Erhard took a moment longer to compose himself before disappearing as well.

Wow, some ending am I right? Ray here, and thank you all for reading the start of what will be the craziest winter break in Yu-Gi-Oh history. Quick explanation about Ivor's mask: A bascinet is a light steel helmet from the medieval era that fits the head pretty closely. After about 1330 they started being made with visors and chain-mail curtains for extra protection. The mask's "actual" inspiration, Night Express Knight, doesn't have chain-mail that we can see, but it's not like our heroes would recognize it as a monster's mask either. Thanks again to our dear beta, Eneko95, for all her hard work, and we'll see you after the holidays.