Spooky Tales from Duel Academy, a yu-gi-oh gx fanfic

I Know That You Chazzed It up Last Summer!

"Thanks for joining me, guys," Alexis said. She was driving the van that was used to ship goods from the harbor to the card shop where Sadie and Ms. Dorothy were waiting so they could inventory the item that came in. They rewarded Alexis later by giving her extra credit. Jaden, Syrus, and Hassleberry tagged along to help her move the boxes and accompany her in the van, which was not all that hard to use. A kid could even drive it. Jaden had a go with it a couple of times, of course, his horsing around almost caused him to drive it off a cliff into the sea below.

"Yeah, no problem, Lex," Jaden said. "No problem at all. Such a shame I can't drive it. It's such a smooth ride."

Hassleberry looked up from his PDA. He was reading his digital copy of a Song from the Divines 10th RE-RE-REwrite Edition. "Well, doing donuts next to a cliff with a fifty-foot drop was the very reason why Ms. Dorothy prohibited you from ever driving it again. So, Alexis, how far are we from the loading dock?"

"It's not far," Alexis replied. She picked up the lace from her baby pink hoodie and put it in her mouth to chew and suck on it as a way to calm her nerves and relieve the stress of driving on a foggy night. "I'd go a little faster, but the road is starting to wind. And what's up with this fog?"

"Yeah, no kidding. It's hard to see," said Jaden.

It was a cool June evening. The moon was full and shined so bright that it washed the island in silver. There was so much light, you could see trees deep in the forest, something you wouldn't regularly see on a dark night. Sometimes the evenings would get so dark on the island that you could barely see the road ahead of you. Rows of street lamps were set up along the dirt road that connected the wharf with the academy. Despite the lights from the lamps and the moon, they did very little to keep Syrus from shivering in the back of the shipping van.

He was hiding underneath a thick packing blanket. As he was helping Hassleberry load some boxes into the van, he heard all kinds of spooky things in the jungle behind the gate. Shrieks, howls, barks, hooting. To know he was going in there inside nothing but this janky van terrified him. The walls were just tarp. A forest creature's claws could easily rip right through it and drag an unfortunate victim out. What if there was a werewolf out there? The Obelisk Blue students told tales of such a creature. Even Professor Banner and Ms. Dorothy would talk about it.

Not to his surprise, Jaden came up with the insane idea of going out into the night to find him and Duel him.

Amongst the sound of the van's old engine and the six wheels crunching the dirt and pebbles of the road, he could still hear the children of the night and the music they made.

"The fog's getting thicker," Hassleberry exclaimed a little loudly.

Alexis hit the steering wheel with her palm. "No, you think I can't see that?" She leaned forward to get a better look at the road. "Come on? Why did it have to be foggy on a tonight of all —"

BAM! WHOMP! WHOMP!

Alexis screamed and braked the van to a halt.

"What was that!" shouted Jaden.

"I...I don't know!" said Alexis. "I saw a shadow dart across the road and I hit it!"

"You hit something?" shivered Syrus.

Alexis reached over Jaden's lap and grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment. "Oh, please, be a possum." She turned on the light and opened the door.

"I'm going with you," said Jaden as he grabbed a second flashlight and opened his door.

They both stepped outside carefully, shining their lights through the fog against the road. Alexis followed the tracks until she saw a most chilling sight. A boot. And there was still a leg in it.

"Oh no," she sobbed. She rushed to the foot. She shined her light up the leg. She saw arms, a chest, and the head. She gasped in horror as the light revealed the bloody, mangled face of Chazz Princeton.

"CHAZZ!" she and Jaden shout together.

It was Chazz alright. His eyes were wide open, blood oozed down from his forehead and his broken nose. His face was locked in an expression of sudden terror and burning agony as the wheels broke his bones and ripped bits of skin off his hands and cheeks.

"What happened?" Hassleberry shouted, jumping out the back of the van through a slit in the tarps. He gasped when he saw the corpse. "Aw no! Aw no! We hit Chazz!"

"Chazz?" Syrus said, peering through the tarp. He saw his lifeless body under the glow of the flashlights. His cheeks puffed and turned green, then he vomited.

"Oh, God! Oh, God!" Alexis wailed, clawing her face with her fingernails. "We...we killed Chazz."

"W-W-W-WE killed Chazz!?" Jaden exclaimed. "YOU killed Chazz!"

Alexis burst into tears. Jaden was right. She was the one driving the van. She was the one who hit Chazz and mushed him up under the six wheels of the van. She was so sick with a million different emotions that she found it hard to stand up. The world around her was spinning. She killed somebody. And there was going to be consequences. Even though Slade and Jagger looked down on their brother, he was still their brother. And they had enough power to convince the judge, jury, and possibly even the executioner to be extremely harsh with her.

"Oh no. You're right! Oh, God! Oh, God! They're going to send me to prison. I can't! I can't! They'll mop the floor with me."

Hassleberry held his arms out. "Easy, troops! Easy! Chill out. Let's not lose our heads, all right?"

Alexis looked at him, panting heavily as she tried to control her emotions and find the right words to say. "You...you," she muttered hoarsely as though she ran a marathon. "You seem surprisingly unphased by this."

Hassleberry knelt over the corpse, his boots crunched the gravel underneath. "Meh, never liked the sum' bitch anyway. He was an asshole. And that jacket of his reeks like you wouldn't believe."

"But he was still human!" Alexis retorted. "He didn't deserve to go out like this."

Hassleberry shrugged to once again show his uncaring for Chazz's death. "He died with you on top of him. It's how he would've wanted to go anyway."

It took a moment, but Alexis finally discovered the crudeness within the joke. "What?"

Jaden burst out laughing a little too loudly, causing Hassleyberry and Alexis to look at him with disdain. "What? Sorry? I thought it was funny."

Alexis conked him upside the head.

"OW!"

"Make one more nasty joke about me and this will end up as a double homicide!" Alexis shouted.

"Calm down!" Hassleberry yelled again. "It's not entirely our fault. What in the Sam Hill was this dumbass doing walking in the jungle this late at night in a heavy fog like this? Something tells me Chazz was gulping down that Princeton family wonder tonic I keep hearing about. If anything, he got lost, didn't see where he was going and fell into one of the jungle pools over there."

Syrus peeked out from behind the van, his head wrapped under the blanket so only his face and tiny spectacles could be seen. "I heard of one that no one uses because it's so close to the well where the ghost cards are. The pool's supposed to be bottomless and leads to a cave or something."

"Now you're thinkin'," said Hassleberry. "They'll never find Chazz there. Come on. Help me carry him."

"This feels so wrong," said Alexis. "We can't just dump his body into a bottomless cave. He's a Princeton. He deserves a decent burial."

Hassleberry crossed his well-toned arms. "If that's what you want, Alexis. But I hope you have a good explanation to keep yourself from getting sent to the big house. My cousin Rae-Rae got sent to prison. Now his name is Boo Boo. I'm only looking out for ya, Alexis. You've got a long life ahead of you. You're young, you're beautiful, and you're rich. It's a shame to let it all go just to let a guy like Chazz Princeton get a decent burial."

Alexis gave a gulp. She stood still as she weighed her options. Damn that Hassleberry. Even when in the middle of a murder he seemed to find a way to make himself sound magnanimous. She rubbed her arms over her shoulder, shivering from both fear, guilt, and the coldness of the night. "Oh!...Oh, all right. Come on. Let's get rid of him. Sorry, Chazz."

Syrus stayed in the van alone while Alexis, Jaden, and Hassleberry took Chazz's body deep into the jungle. They found the dreaded pool that everyone talked about and laid Chazz down by the edge so they could catch their breath and rest. Hassleberry found a boulder nearby and used some vines to tie it to Chazz's ankles so he could sink into the so-called bottomless pool.

"Wait, hold on!" Hassleberry said. He knelt down and dug deep into Chazz's pockets. "Ah, found it."

"What?" asked Jaden.

"His Armed Dragon cards." He patted Chazz on the shoulder. "Spoils more, man."

Alexis raised her arms up in disgust and slapped them on her sides. "Seriously!? What in the world is wrong with you!? You're going to Hell, Hassleberry."

Hassleberry, stuffing the deck into his pocket, shrugged along with a smug expression. "Mmm-hmm, yes, well until then I'll enjoy some cool dragon cards for my collection. Can't wait to see how much they're selling fer on eBay."

They looked at Chazz's body for a while. It was getting really late so they decided not to waste any more time. They picked up Chazz by his arms and legs. Jaden cringed, for he could feel the broken bones in Chazz's arm. "One...two...three!" they all said together. And they tossed Chazz into the pool. There was a splash and a plop. Hassleberry shined his light down to see if he floated back up. They waited for five minutes. Nothing. The boulder was carrying poor Chazz further and further into the deep.

"Well, that's that," said Jaden. He ground his teeth together to keep himself from crying, but he eventually succumbed to his emotions, realizing what he had just done. "Chazz! Aw, Chazz! I'm so sorry, man!"

Alexis slowly paced toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's not you who should be sorry, Jaden. I'm the one who ran him over."

Hassleberry would hear none of it. "Hey, if he were smart, he wouldn't have been walking around late at night in the middle of the road. If anything we're the victims here. Why? Because he was a dumbass. Seriously? Who the hell walks around in the fog so late at night."

"It doesn't matter," said Alexis. She shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms as a chilling breeze shook the trees. Someone high up knew what she had done. How she took care of it. "He's gone now. Let's go before Ms. Dorothy starts worrying about us."

"I hear that," said Hassleberry.

Months had passed since Alexis killed Chazz. There was an investigation on his disappearance, but nothing was found. Indeed, the Princeton clan had been giving him some strange tonic. What it was, no one knew, but it sure did have a lot of alcohol in it. Enough to confuse it with a jar of vodka. There was also something else in the tonic. Some sort of powder made by an exotic plant from Russia.

If anything, it was the Princeton family that was suspected of wrongdoing. If they did supply Chazz with this strange drink, then they were responsible for what happened to him. Alexis couldn't believe it. The following week, Slade and Jagger were walked out of the courthouse in handcuffs. They admitted to supplying Chazz with this drink. Despite their explanations that it was for the benefit of his health, no one in the jury was swayed. The two brothers were sentenced to many, many years in prison for child neglect.

It was later concluded that Chazz must have gotten killed while under the influence of the tonic. He must have stumbled out of his room and got lost in the jungle. His body would probably never be found because there were so many pools with bottomless caves that connected to tunnels. The tunnels honeycombed under the island with powerful currents flowing through them. If Chazz had fallen in and drowned, the rivers could have carried his body into the tunnels and flushed him out to sea. If that was the case, it would be impossible to find him now.

The search was soon called off and he was pronounced dead.

What a break! Alexis thought. No one was ever going to suspect it was her that killed him. Sure, she was going to live with that on her conscience for the rest of her life, but she was free! She got away with murder.

"I'm going to be more careful, Chazz," Alexis said one night in her room. She looked to the sky as if he were watching down at her.

The summer months had faded and now the cold, crisp, days of autumn had arrived. As soon as September ended Duel Academia was decorated with Jack O' Lanterns, skeletons, and spider webs stretched across the hallway. Chancellor Sheppard even hired a fun entertainment company that installed holograms across the school that projected sheeted white ghosts moaning across the halls and hovering over the school grounds.

There were two holograms that everyone kept an eye out for; for they were programmed to pop out at you when you least expected. One was The Bistro Butcher. A fiendish cook that made meals out of the monsters he defeated in battle. He would jump out from behind the walls and swipe his sword around. The second was Chopman, the Desperate Outlaw, a Duel Monster that was based on a serial killer from Japan who killed children and was responsible for the Domino Lake Murders, a gory massacre involving ten boy scouts.

He was said to stalk the streets at night, waiting for his victims with an axe. Any child unlucky enough to cross his path was chopped to bits, sometimes even when they were alive.

The outlaw would fall from the ceiling, jump from behind seats, or burst out from behind doors before chasing his victim down the halls. It was the night of the Halloween dance, and it had a Dracula's castle sort of vibe. The atrium of the school was decorated with suits of armor covered in cobwebs, iron chandeliers, and gargoyles at the bottom and top of the stairs.

The classic Halloween song, The Monster Mash was playing loudly on the radio as the Duel Academia students danced the night away. Jaden was dressed up in a mish-mash of Duel Monster parts from the armor of monsters such as Breaker the Magical Warrior, Celtic Guardian, Neo the Magic Swordsman, Gearfried the Iron Knight, and so on. Alexis stole the show in an Ice Master cosplay and Syrus was dressed as Ultimate Baseball Kid.

"Where's Hassleberry?" Alexis asked. She had a plate of chocolate cake in hand. "He's missing all the fun. I hope that Guardian Grarl costume of his wasn't too difficult to put on.

"Same," said Jaden. "So, Alexis. It's been months since...well...you know. It happened. How've you been holding up."

Alexis paused for a moment. She threw her cake away. The memory of running over Chazz took away any desire to eat.

"Had to bring that up, huh?" Syrus said. "Come on, Jay!"

"Sorry."

"It's all right." Alexis started shivering at the memory of them tossing his body into the pool. She thought about his corpse, probably floating around down there at the bottom of the cave. Alone, cold, his spiked hair waving around in the darkness.

For the remainder of the night, the three friends just sat in the lounge by the atrium and just stared at the black and orange candles on the glass coffee table. They continued to wait for Hassleberry but he never came. Eventually, the party started to die down and the rest of the students returned to their dorms for the night. All that remained in the atrium were the janitors and the crew who set up the party. Chancellor Sheppard approached them in his vampire costume.

"Good evening, kids. Did you enjoy the party?"

"Oh," said Alexis. "Yeah, of course, we did."

Sheppard smiled. "I'm glad. It certainly was costly, but I dare say it's one of the best Halloween events we ever had." He suddenly looked at the ground sadly and tossed his cup around with his wrist. "Such as shame Chazz couldn't be here. What a promising student he was. His attitude sure was brash but boy could he put on a Duel. You can vouch for that, can you Jaden?"

"Uh...yeah. Yeah! He was a great Duelist. One of the best."

"He was a good man," Alexis said, raising her glass of lemon pop.

"Indeed he was," said Sheppard. "It warms my heart to see the comradery between you students. Well, I'd hate to send you off, but the hour is late. You kids need to go to bed now."

"Yeah, you're right," said Syrus. "We were waiting for Hassleberry to arrive but he didn't show up."

Chancellor Sheppard rubbed his chin. "Hmmm. Now that is rather concerning. All his teachers reported him absent all day. No one thought to call him."

"I tried," said Jaden.

"Me, too," said Alexis. "We figured he overslept and didn't charge his PDA...at the same time."

"Well, that is concerning. I better go send someone to check on him. You all hang out in that custom dormitory Chazz constructed, yes? If you could see if he's there, I'd greatly appreciate it."

"Hey, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," said Jaden. "He and Mindy were getting kinda frisky with one another these past few months. Maybe they went to have some alone time."

"I sure hope not. Actions like that are not tolerated in this school. Check to see if he's there. And if he is with Miss Mindy, please send them both to my office in the morning. All right, kids, off to bed now. Happy Halloween." He walked away.

"Hassleberry missing?" Syrus asked. "Where would he have gone?"

Jaden had that dumb comical look on his face. "You didn't by any chance go for a drive in the van last night, Alexis."

"Not funny!" she yelled, pointing her finger at him. "How dare you laugh at that!?"

"Come on, guys." Syrus stood up. "We've gotta find Hassleberry. He could be hurt."

They left the atrium right before the security guard locked it for the night. They stepped into a chilly evening. Crickets chirped all around them and katydids hissed in the trees. An owl hooted from somewhere in the forest. Thankfully, there were still a few students walking around outside looking for their dorms. This made Syrus feel a little better about walking back to the Slifer Red Dorm at night.

As they exited the forest, they heard the waves crashing against the cliff the dorm was perched on. They all noticed there was an eerie orange glow from Chazz's room. Also, the van used to transport goods from the docks to the academy was parked outside.

"What in the world?" Alexis whispered.

"See, what did I tell ya?" said Jaden. "Looks like he took the van out for a joyride."

"He better be all right," said Alexis. "Why must he worry us like this?"

Jaden walked up the steps and knocked on the door. "Hassleberry?" he said.

He knocked again.

"Hassleberry?"

No answer.

Jaden hit the door even harder. "Hassleberry, c'mon, man, Open up."

No answer still.

"Guys..." Alexis said. "I...I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Hold on," said Syrus. He fished around the pockets of his red trousers. "Hassleberry gave me Chazz's key. He nabbed it from it the night Alexis...er... never mind." Syrus continued to search for the key.

Once he felt it, Alexis let out a terrible scream. She stumbled backward and pointed at the door. In the light of the moon, a horrifying message was revealed.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!

"Hold on!" cried Jaden. He and Alexis embraced in a tight hug. "That...that wasn't there before. Where did that come from?"

The door slowly creaked open.

"Hassleberry?" Jaden whispered. Hopefully, this was some Halloween prank. Yeah, that's what it was. Hassleberry was probably going to pop out at any second and then they would pop some popcorn and tell ghost stories like they planned to. They stepped inside, each one of them embracing one another tightly.

"Hassleberry?" Alexis wheezed.

Suddenly candles flickered on the table nearby. It revealed a card. Syrus dared to break away from his friends to get a better look at it. He screamed as well when he realized that the card he saw was Armed Dragon LV 10. He was standing tall on a plastic easel. All around it were ripped-up Duel Monster cards. In the dim candlelight, they could see what remained of Gilasaurus. Black Stego. Dark Tyranno. It was Hassleberry's deck.

But where was Hassleberry?

All of a sudden the lights in Chazz's room started to flicker. They saw a hooded figure standing by the corner. He vanished each time the lights came on and off. Then, the walls were covered with the message on the door. Not just the walls. The windows, the curtains, the ceiling, the floor, the stairs, the furniture, the blades on the ceiling fan. All were covered with the words:

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!

Alexis, Jaden, and Syrus screamed at the top of their lungs and ran out of Chazz's room. The van! They had to drive back to the academy and warn Chancellor Sheppard. It was their only chance. Alexis flung the door open and jumped into the driver's seat. Jaden and Chazz followed. She found the keys were still in the ignition. She turned it on. When the headlights turned on, it revealed the hooded phantom standing in front of them. Now the walls of the whole dorm were covered with the message.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!

Jaden pointed at the windshield. It too was covered in the same message. So were all the windows. The seats, the walls, even the steering wheel.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" Alexis yelled. She put the van in reverse and drove into the dark jungle. The academy was so close but it looked so damn far. Alexis didn't dare, but she couldn't contain the urge anymore. She looked at the mirror on the side of the car.

To her horror, the cloaked phantom was right at their tail, soaring like a kite over the road. Its black cloak was washed with red from the taillights. Alexis screamed and hit the gas. She had to get her friends as far away from it as possible.

"God," Alexis prayed. "It's me, Alexis. If you truly love me, you'll save my life right now."

Her prayers were not answered. The good book always said that from above the wicked shall receive their just reward. Unfortunately for Alexis, hiding her crime was a wicked thing to do. Some sort of horrid case of divine intervention struck her, for the van's battery died down. The school wasn't even close. They would have to outrun the phantom. But if it could keep up with the van at such high speed, then that was going to be impossible.

Put-put-put-put-pttttttttt! The van came to a stop and all the lights went out.

"ALEXIS!" cried Syrus. "Why did you stop!"

"The battery! It died!"

"And we're next!" shouted Jaden.

All was still. The wind howled and the crickets chirped.

"Guys..." a familiar voice said from outside. "Guys...Please. Don't...don't run away from me."

"That voice!" said Alexis. "It can't be!" She grabbed a flashlight and opened the door.

"Alexis wait!" Syrus and Jaden called out at once.

Alexis shined the light at the cloaked figure. There was a face underneath the hood. The face of a young man. "Who are you?"

The cloaked figure removed his hood.

"CHAZZ!" Alexis, Syrus, and Jaden cried out.

"You're not dead!" Alexis broke into a sob. She ran to him and embraced him. "You're not dead."

Chazz smelled like seawater. But he was warm to the touch. Amazingly, he patted Alexis on the back. "No. I'm not dead."

"Where's Hassleberry?" Syrus asked. "Where have you been all this time?"

Chazz's bloodshot eyes darted from left to right. "I don't know where that dino dork is. As for where I was, I was sleeping with the fishes."

"Chazz." Alexis backed away from him, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Chazz I'm so glad you're all right. We need to take you to Chancellor Sheppard and Miss Fontaine so she can have a look at you. You...you're such a mess. You're so pale."

"I need my medicine," he said. "I need it now."

"It's okay, Chazz," said Jaden. "We'll get you all the help you need. And Alexis, we might as well fess up."

Alexis bit her lip. She looked over her shoulder and nodded. "Yeah. I have to atone for this crime. Chazz suffered a lot because of what I did. I'm sorry, Chazz."

"It's all right," he said. "Blame my dumbass for walking around in the jungle late at night."

"Hey," said Jaden. "Just where in the world were you doing out there so late?"

"I've got my reasons," said Chazz. "I ran out of medicine. That medicine keeps my condition stable. If I don't take it, I lose control of myself and do things like a lifeless corpse."

"You mean like sleepwalking?" Syrus asked.

"Sure. If that's how you wanna put it," Chazz replied.

Alexis put his arm over her shoulder. "Come on, Chazz. You need to get some medical help. You can explain more on the way to the school."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. Thanks, guys."

Jaden helped Alexis take Chazz to the front seat so he could sit next to her. They both grabbed the emergency charger from the back and powered the van back up. When it was ready to go, they climbed aboard and prepared for the journey back to the academy.

"So, Chazz," said Alexis. "Just what in the world has you so screwed up that you'd need that tonic your brothers made you."

"Call it a multipersonality disorder. Heh. One of the most severe cases in history."

"I didn't figure you for a cook, Chazz," said Jaden.

"Says the moron who talks to his Winged Kuriboh card," Chazz retorted.

"Do you think the school will have this tonic?" Alexis asked.

"Heh. No." Chazz conked his head on the window. "I don't think we need to worry if they have it or not."

Alexis notice he was giggling in his seat. She heard something rolling around the floor. A bottle. It had a strange blue liquid inside. "Is that it?" she asked.

"Yeah..." Chazz said coldly. He sniggered.

"I thought you needed it. Why haven't you taken it yet?"

Chazz didn't answer.

"Chazz..."

Chazz still didn't answer. But he was breathing heavily.

"Chazz. What really happens if you don't take that tonic? Chazz? Chazz?"

She reached over to tap him on the shoulder. Before she could, Chazz turned and let out a bloodcurdling scream like a woman being murdered. His face was gone. It was now that of a monster. The creature's skin was pale blue, with long, sharp, fangs, long ears, and burning, saucer-sized eyes, and a slanted nose. His hands were replaced with sharp claws, which he used to slash Alexis's throat. Jaden and Syrus attempted to flee, but they couldn't. The monster grabbed them both by the ankle held on tight. He wasn't going to let them get away.

He was hungry.

The van started to shake violently, loud pounding echoed from its walls, followed by the sounds of ripping and tearing. And the horrifying screams of the unfortunate teenagers as their lives were slowly and painfully taken away from them.