Chapter 2: Strange Behavior
Everyone stared in shock when they saw Scotch. There was clearly something strange about the way he was behaving.
"Scotch?! What the heck?!" Biff cried. "What'd you go off for?! And where do you get off coming back like this?!"
Scotch sneered. "Putting me down again, like always."
"Scotch!? Where did you go? And what are you talking about?" demanded Kalin.
Scotch strolled in with an uncharacteristic sneer. "I went with someone who opened me up to the truth," he said. "You all find me annoying. You wished I was gone! Well, now you have your wish. The old Scotch is gone for good!"
The others seemed content to let Scotch be spokesman for now. The kid kept glaring at Kalin.
"That's not true, Scotch!" Radley exclaimed. "I love your zest for life!"
"Biff doesn't," Scotch said. "He's always thought I was an albatross around his neck!"
"I never thought that!" Biff cried.
"What is going on?!" cried Carly. "It's like he's possessed!"
"Carly's right, Scotch! You're not yourself!" yelled Kalin.
"I am myself!" Scotch retorted.
"You nimrod!" Biff helplessly cried. "What the heck?!"
"Just shut up!" Scotch screamed. "It's because of things like that!"
"I never treated you like that," Radley exclaimed. "And Biff doesn't mean any harm..." Even though maybe he shouldn't do it...
"He's showing how he really feels about me," Scotch said bitterly.
"You fool! You are definitely not yourself!" yelled Jack. "Did you drink too much eggnog?"
"What do we do, Team 5ds?!" exclaimed Carly.
"SHUT. UP!" Scotch screamed.
"Guys, stop insulting him!" Radley exclaimed. "You're making it worse!"
"I don't know what to do," Yusei said. "We need to find out what they want."
"Well, do you have a better plan, Radley?" asked Jack. "What about you, Bruno?"
"Talking to him calmly," Radley said. "And don't invalidate his feelings!"
"Don't patronize me either," Scotch snapped.
"Ok, I'll try," shrugged Jack. "Scotch, remember we sang songs together for the New Year? That was a good time."
"Yeah, it was," Scotch said softly.
Before Kalin could get closer to Scotch, his eyes drifted onto the kid. There was something familiar about him.
The kid snarled at Kalin. "Do you remember me at all?"
Kalin stared at the kid. "You look familiar..."
"I should!" the kid spat. "I only followed you around everywhere on Satellite. I wanted to be you! ... Until I saw how much of a jerk you really were."
"I remember now..." Kalin sighed. "I did terrible things back in Satellite, but I was a fool then. I've changed for the better."
"Yeah, well, too little too late," the kid replied. "I don't like you anymore."
Angela finally came forward too. "Carly, you've always been a thorn in my side. Now I'm finally going to remove you."
When Carly spotted Angela, her glasses nearly fell off.
"Angela?! What are you doing here? Everyone said you disappeared!"
"I did, to get stronger," Angela said. "I met Scotch and Sect and realized we had similar goals and grievances."
"You're not acting right," frowned Jack.
"You guys secretly met? How did you escape our notice?" asked Crow.
"Angela, you don't have to dip this low," said Carly.
"How do you know? How does anybody know?! I change my personality all the time!" Scotch snapped.
"Oh Scotch," Radley said softly. That much was true.
"Dr. Portman arranged it," Sect said.
"I was always willing to do anything," Angela said. "You were always a goody-goody!"
"All I ever wanted to do was to discover the truth behind things!" said Carly.
"I mean you weren't willing to be shady and sell people out," Angela said.
"Who's Dr. Portman?" demanded Kalin.
"A great person!" Sect said. "She opened up all our minds to the truth!"
"But you never were willing to do absolutely anything to get it," Angela said.
"The truth? Of what?" asked Kalin. This sounded eerily similar to what the King of the Netherworld told him.
"Of course I worked hard! And my hard work paid off!" Carly was referring to Jack.
"And that's why she'll never succeed," Angela said.
"Of course, I'll succeed!" said Carly. I've been really fortunate too!" She touched her Fortune Deck.
"You can barely duel!" Angela said. "Now you think some great new monster makes you a big shot."
"That's why I took dueling classes!" exclaimed Carly.
"The truth of what you think of us and how you hold us back!" Scotch pulled out his deck. "Now we're all going to duel. And when you lose, that's it!"
Sect nodded. "Loser gets electrocuted."
"What?!" Radley cried.
"If a Duel is the only way to snap you back to your senses, then fine by me!" stated Crow. Perhaps his Signer Dragon would help Scotch.
"Electrocuted?! That's going too far!" yelled Kalin.
Sect sneered at Kalin. "After everything you did, you can say that? It's the sort of thing you did yourself."
"As I've said before, I learned from my mistakes. Please don't do this," muttered Kalin.
"You think I care? I just want you to pay!" Sect snarled.
"Carly would never do something like that!" retorted Jack.
"I'll duel Scotch," Radley said. He trembled at the thought of the punishment, though. Electrocuted ... just like he had been in the mines...
"You sure about that, Radley?" asked Crow.
"I know Scotch the best aside from Biff, and I'm the one who fully drew him out of his shell before," Radley said. He took his deck out and got it ready. Scotch snapped a device between their decks that looked like what the Enforcers had used to blow up decks.
"If that's the only way to bring him back to his senses, I won't stop ya." Crow stepped back to the sidelines.
"Man, this is crazy. Yusei, Bruno, we have to keep an eye out on all of these duels in case things get really out of hand," said Crow.
Sensing a disturbance in the air, Bruno transformed. "I'm afraid they will."
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Everyone separated into groups along the street. Scotch faced off against Radley, Sect pitted himself against Kalin, and Angela was ready to punish Carly. All the while Yusei, Antinomy, Crow, Jack, and the bunch observed from the sidelines.
"Scotch, what happened?" Radley pleaded. He would have to try to aim for a draw so neither of them would get hurt. "What did Portman say to you?"
"She opened me to the truth, like I said." The duel started and Scotch was vicious. He had new cards in his deck. It was still mostly zombies, but there were fire cards too. Some of them had abilities that limited ice cards.
"So, this Portman lady have the power to tap into someone's darkest desires or something?" asked Jack.
"Sounds a lot like what the King of the Netherworld could do," added Crow.
Kalin sighed and flipped open his duel gun.
"I hope I don't have a bad fortune today..." gulped Carly.
"Maybe," Radley frowned. "Only you can't convince me Scotch wants to kill me. It has to be another explanation, dark magic or ..." He trailed off, forced to focus on the duel.
For a while they were evenly matched. Then Radley started to come out ahead, destroying Scotch's monsters. But he trembled. What if he won? He couldn't let Scotch die...
"Carly can't duel alone!" Jack fumed.
"You won't let her fight her own battles?" Angela sneered.
"You can go first, traitor," Sect said.
"We have to find a way to turnoff those shock collars!" said Crow. "Who knows what will happen if they go off!"
Kalin said nothing as he placed a monster in Defense Position and three cards face down.
Radley looked down at the device chaining their duel disks together. It thankfully wasn't a collar or he might have already gone into PTSD from the mines. But the longer the duel went on, the more afraid he got.
"What is this?" Scotch said in annoyance. "I can't believe I forgot to flip the switch!" He flipped one, but his hand was shaking as he did. "Now ..." He destroyed one of Radley's monsters with a trap, which then also delivered life point damage.
Radley screamed as pain shot through him.
It's supposed to shock you a little with every life point lost," Scotch crowed.
Radley fell to one knee, shaking. Now the memories were coming back. The horror of the mines was written clearly in his eyes.
"Radley!" Billy cried.
"Scotch, what the heck?!" Biff yelled.
Radley got back up, shaking. "It was turned off until now. Maybe that wasn't an accident. I know the real Scotch would never do this!"
Kalin peered over his shoulder and was horrified at what he saw. A bit of his dark power was leaking out as his friend was wincing in pain.
"Radley...!" muttered Kalin.
"Hey! Pay attention to our duel, jerk!" Sect snarled.
"He can't," Yusei said. "Not when Radley is being hurt." He also saw the dark power and was concerned, but not surprised. This would definitely set Kalin's powers off.
"I'm okay," Radley tried to assure Kalin. He built up a defense and ended his turn. He didn't want to shock Scotch... What was he going to do?
"You don't want duel me, Sect. Not like this. Trust me, before you get hurt," Kalin said darkly.
Crow was debating whether to contact Officer Trudge or not.
"As if I'd ever trust you again!" Sect snapped.
Scotch summoned his powerful Fire Synchro and burned through Radley's defense. Radley screamed, falling to both knees when he was shocked more ferociously. Now he just knelt there, shaking, his eyes blank. He was remembering the torture in the mines ... dying ... how much it hurt...
"Scotch, you've gotta stop it right now!" Biff yelled. "Look what you're doing to him!"
"I ..." Scotch stared at Radley, and his eyes seemed to clear. "RADLEY!?"