22. Whispers in the Dark

Now joined by Grave, Mario and his allies try to unravel the mysteries of the Glitz Pit.

Their search leads Grave, Goombella, Mallow and Luigi to a storage room where they are met with Ruby Mowz and an unknown Duelist.

Mario returned to the hotel, he was closely followed by Grave, Mallow, Luigi and Goombella were sitting outside on the terrace enjoying a drink, the moment Luigi saw Grave he leaped up almost knocking over his drink.

'Easy Luigi.' Mario said, Grave stayed on a distance. 'Grave is here to help us.' When Luigi heard that he sat back down, everyone was looking at Grave. 'Yo.' Grave said then he came closer, took a chair and sat down.

'So.' Grave started: 'I'll get down to business, Mario and I drew out the Nephilim.' Mallow got closer to the table. 'So we know who it is then?' He asked, Grave shook his head. 'Too bad we don't. you see I used a bit of Shadow Magic to draw out the Nephilim, during the Duel Rawk Hawk stepped outside the VIP room, the moment he got out the energy of the Nephilim went all over the arena, couldn't tell where it came from and that is bad.' Grave paused for a second. 'That Nephilim can be everywhere, it could be Rawk Hawk, the Nephilim could have been in the VIP room, or in the stands but Rawk Hawk is the prime suspect.'

Mario took over from Grave: 'I continue the tournament so I can challenge Rawk Hawk, that Duel will point out if Rawk Hawk is or is isn't the Nephilim, in the meantime you guys and Grave will work together to gain more intell on the Nephilim, but there is haste, the Nephilim might know we are onto it, whatever he plans he might finish it soon and escape.' Mario finished. 'Yeah and then there is another thing.' Grave took over again: 'Mario told me about the paper with the mysteries on it, one of them being an unbreakable wall, well I broke it Mario found some dubious papers behind it but that Jolene took them from us before we could actually see them, so that will be our second objective, take back these papers.'

'So what do we do next?' Luigi asked.

'Tomorrow is Sunday, there will be no Dueling, the arena should be almost clear from people, so I suggest you go with Grave try to open that locked storage room, I want to know what is behind that door, strange noises were reported coming from that place, I'll go find out a way to deal with Rawk Hawk's Dirty Fighting Deck.' Mario stood up. 'I go to bed, we all should.' Grave watched as Mario's friends followed his advice, Grave stayed behind, he said he wanted some time to think.

That evening when Mario was asleep Goombella sneaked out of the room, when she came outside Grave was sitting on a bench gazing at the stars, he turned his head when he heard Goombella. 'Shouldn't you be in bed?' He asked, Goombella said nothing she sat down next to Grave.

The two of them were sitting there silent when suddenly Goombella broke the silence: 'So during the Duel between you and Mario you used a different Deck why?' Grave looked hard at Goombella: 'That Deck I used to capture Rozalin, I didn't want to hurt her.' Goombella gave Grave a confused look.

'Shadow Games.' Grave started: 'Each Duelist need something to channel their energy, in the old times these were Millennium Item, but now that Shadow Magic is more common anything goes to channel it, being a Duel Disk, clothes or even a Deck, in my case it will be my Skull Servant Deck, so if I use my Skull Flame Deck I am suppressing my Shadow Magic, I didn't want to use Rozalin so I didn't use my Skull Servant Deck.'

The next morning:

Mario didn't found Goombella in the room, so he had assumed she was out already, when Mario came outside he found Goombella and Grave still on the bench, Goombella was leaning against Grave, Grave on his turn had his arms around Goombella.

'You guys alright?' Mario asked, Goombella slowly opened her eyes. 'Mario? Yes I'm fine, Grave and I, we have talked all night, at some point we must have fallen asleep.' She said: 'You know Grave had shown me his soft side.' Goombella stood up, at that moment Grave woke up.

Around the same time Luigi and Mallow walked outside.

Mario and the rest walked up to the arena, Mario took a left to the library while the rest entered the Glitz Pit.

The moment Grave closed the door the D-Gazer of everyone went off, X appeared on it. 'You are close to solve one of the mysteries, the door to the storage room is open, I have left a key in the Watering Hole so you can enter the cellar.'

When X stopped the message Grave stepped to the front. 'This reeks of a trap, I have checked the door to the storage, it was locked.'

After a couple of minutes they got the key from the Watering Hole, they sneaked through through the arena they reached the door, Grave checked it, the door was indeed open, when they stepped inside they entered a rather large room with a few shelves hanging on the walls, there stood several boxes on the shelves, on the other end of the room was another door this one was locked, Mallow wanted to use the key to unlock it when they heard the click of a gun: 'Slowly turn around.' A strange man told Mallow, when Mallow did he looked into the face of a rough-looking guy, he wore a ragged shirt with a jacket over it, ragged trousers and black combat boots and a Duel Disk on his left arm, for the rest he wore a spiked collar, he was almost bald except for a red mohawk.

The man motioned everyone to stand in a corner then he took a tablet-like device from out of his pocket. 'I know three of you.' The man said after a minute he pointed at Luigi, Goombella and Mallow. 'The camera feed I hacked into shows me you were with Mario, but you I don't know.' He continued now pointing his gun at Grave.

Grave stared the man in his eyes, showing no fear. 'Tell me who are you.' Grave demanded. 'Tell me your names first.' The man replied.

'Okay, I am Grave, the tall guy in green is Luigi, the other guy is Mallow the girl is Goombella.' Grave said. 'You may call me Gonzales.' The stranger said, he put his gun away, while activating his Duel Disk.

'You hand me over the key now.' He threatened Mallow shook his head. 'No chance Gonzales.' Then they heard another sound. 'Show yourself!' Gonzales shouted, a female figure stepped from out of the shadows. 'Ruby?' Mallow said surprised. 'If someone takes that key, it will be me, whatever is behind that door must be valuable and thus I claim it.' Ruby said, Gonzales looked at Mario's friends first then Grave then Ruby.

'I shall deal with Ruby.' Mallow stated.

'Then I take Gonzales.' Luigi replied, they both activated their Duel Disks and their D-Gazers.

Everyone was looking at each other, Ruby was smiling deviously Gonzales noticed as did Luigi and Mallow. 'Luigi.' Mallow whispered: 'Ruby plans to attack Gonzales as well, this whole Duel will be turned into a huge Free-for-All, Gonzales and Ruby has us to fight off as well as each other, this should be an easy Duel.' Mallow continued, Luigi nodded. 'Duel!' All four of them shouted.

(Mallow: 8000) - (Luigi: 8000) - (Gonzales: 8000) - (Ruby: 8000)

Grave watched Gonzales closely, then he silently left the room, Grave took a D-Gazer from his pocket and activated it, seconds later Mario appeared on a screen. 'Mario, we might have a problem.' Mario said nothing in response. 'We're investigating but we were assaulted by an unknown foe, goes by the name of Gonzales, when we wanted to face him, Ruby suddenly showed up thinking there was a treasure now Mallow and Luigi are facing these two in a free-for-all style battle.'

Mario was scratching his chin. 'Well a thing like that won't go unnoticed, I shall create a small diversion, you will know when it happens and when it does Grave I need you to cause an uproar to draw the attention of security, but remember no casualties.' With these words Mario broke contact.

Mallow faced Ruby. 'You can have the first turn.' Ruby said.

'Well if you want that...' Mallow replied, he took a card from his hand. 'I summon Luster Dragon!' The dragon appeared with a roar in the storage room. (1900 ATK) 'I end my turn with a facedown card.' Mario stated the card appeared behind his Luster Dragon.

'My turn!' Ruby shouted she drew her card. 'I summon Gem-Knight Alexandrite!' A warrior clad in medieval armor appeared before Ruby, his armor was covered in small Alexandrite stones. (1800 ATK)

'I use the Effect of Alexandrite, I sacrifice him so I get to summon a Normal Gem-Knight monster from my Deck!' Ruby's first warrior disappeared then she took her Deck and searched through it, then she played the card. 'I summon Gem-Knight Crystal!' Another warrior clad in armor appeared his shoulders and wrists were covered in crystals. (2450 ATK) 'Next I use Monster Reborn!' Ruby yelled, the holy Ankh appeared and Alexandrite appeared out of the ground. (1800 ATK)

Mallow saw Ruby gazing at Gonzales and Luigi.

'I shall take the first turn.' Luigi stated, he choose a card from his hand. 'I set two facedown cards.' He stated first a reversed monster appeared and behind it appeared a facedown Spell or Trap card. 'I end my turn.'

Gonzales casually drew his card. 'I start with two facedown cards.' He stated two Spell or Trap cards appeared. 'Now give it up for a champ in the making! I summon Battlin' Boxer Shadow!' At first Luigi saw nothing then a man appeared before him mostly clad in black the man was ninja-like wearing boxing gloves he threw a few quick punches. (1800 ATK)

'Attack that hidden monster!' Gonzales bellowed Shadow charged forward, Luigi's facedown card disappeared and Clayman appeared in it's place. (2000 DEF) 'I activate A Hero Emerges!' Luigi's facedown card spun around. 'You select one of the cards in my hand if it is a monster I get to summon it.' The three cards appeared above Luigi's head. 'I choose the left one.' Luigi showed the card it was Bladedge, the warrior clad in golden armor leaped upon the Field. (2600 ATK)

'Since this creates a replay I choose to cancel my attack and end my turn.' Gonzales stated, Shadow withdrew back into the shadows before he reappeared before Gonzales.

'This is turning out be quite a free-for-all.' Ruby said. 'Crystal take down that Shadow!' She shouted, Mallow was surprised Crystal leaped at Gonzales' warrior, Shadow tried to evade the attack but was caught by surprise, Shadow fell to the ground knocked out.

'Alexandrite direct attack on Gonzales!' She continued, Gonzales took a fighting stance he exchanged a few blows with Alexandrite but was punched in the gut eventually Gonzales staggered. 'Low blow man, ain't fair.' He groaned.

(Mallow: 8000) - (Luigi: 8000) - (Gonzales: 5550) - (Ruby: 8000)

Just as Ruby wanted to call the end of her turn a loud alarm started to roar.

'Damn they must have found out we're here Dueling.' Mallow shouted but his voice was lost in the sound of the alarm.

Grave stood outside the door watching the Duel when the alarms started to roar, Suddenly the lights went out, the holograms created by the Duel Disks disappeared for a few seconds until back-up power was restored to the arena, the monsters reappeared emergency light turned on. 'Nice distraction Mario.' Grave mumbled, unseen he slipped away.

Grave ran down the hallway, he materialized his scythe out of mid-air, quickly he put on his mask.

Security came running down the hall, Grave blocked their path. 'You won't get passed me.' Grave's eyes started to glow under his mask.

Suddenly the hall filled itself with bones, a hundred or-so Skull Servants emerged from the bones, the guards activated their Duel Disks in panic a few seconds later a wide variety of monsters filled the hallway.

The monsters of Luigi and the others also reappeared, the alarms went silent.

'Seems Grave created a distraction, now we can end this.' Mallow said.

'Luigi you are with me now, Gonzales and Ruby must know for themselves if they team up.'

(Mallow & Luigi: 8000) - (Gonzales: 5550) - (Ruby: 8000)

'Seems we can continue our Duel, so now it is my turn.' Luigi drew his card. 'Bladedge attack Gem-Knight Crystal!' Bladedge leaped forward crushing the knight with the blades on his arms.

(Mallow & Luigi: 8000) - (Gonzales: 5550) - (Ruby: 7850)

'I end my turn.' Luigi stated.

'Good my turn again draw!' Gonzales shouted. 'Take the stage Battlin' Boxer Switchitter!' A new boxer appeared this one wore a metal mask, his left limps were also made of metal, he made a few quick jabs with his left arm then a few with his right. (1500 ATK)

'I use Switchitter's Effect, when he is summoned I can summon one monster from my Graveyard!'

Battlin' Boxer Shadow stepped out of the shadows. (1800 ATK)

'Next I create the Overlay Network with these two monsters!' Gonzales' two monsters changed into two red orbs they disappeared inside the black vortex. 'Xyz Summon! From the times of the ancient Roman times! Take the stage Lead Yoke!' A muscular man dropped out of the vortex, he a Roman Gladiator style outfit, around his neck he wore a yoke that restrained the warrior. (2200 ATK: 2 ORU)

'Lead Yoke attacks Bladedge!' Gonzales shouted, slowly Lead Yoke stepped forward he tried to hit Bladedge but the Hero simply stabbed Lead Yoke in his guts. 'I activate the Effect of Lead Yoke, by Detaching a monster he survives the battle, and when a monster is Detached from Lead Yoke he gains 800 attack points.'

Lead Yoke broke the chains around his left hand, some of the lead pipes that hindered him fell from his back. (2200- 3000 ATK: 2- 1 ORU)

'My turn ends here.' Gonzales stated.

(Mallow & Luigi: 8000) - (Gonzales: 5100) - (Ruby: 7850)

Mallow quickly drew his card. 'Luster Dragon attacks Alexandrite!' Mallow commanded, the dragon unleashed its breath upon the Gem-Knight the knight tried to resist it but to no avail. 'I end my turn.'

(Mallow & Luigi: 8000) - (Gonzales: 5100) - (Ruby: 7750)

Silently Ruby drew her card. 'I activate Pot of Greed!' Ruby shouted the happy pot appeared she drew two cards. 'I activate Polymerization!' Ruby shouted the vortex appeared. 'I Fuse three Gem Knights!'

Three Gem Knights stepped into the vortex. 'I summon Lady Brilliant Diamond!' Ruby shouted, the lady wearing fancy armor stepped out of the vortex. (3400 ATK)

'Next I normal summon Emerald!' Ruby continued, this time a warrior clad in green armor, decorated with emeralds appeared. (1800 ATK)

'I activate the Effect of Brilliant Diamond, by sacrificing Emerald I get to summon another monster from my Extra Deck.' Emerald disappeared the Fusion vortex opened up again. 'I summon Lady Lapis Lazuli!' A young-looking woman dropped out of the vortex, she wore blue robe-like armor, her deep blue eyes looked at Mallow. (2400 ATK)

'I activate Lapis Lazuli's Effect, by sending a monster from my Deck or Extra Deck to my Graveyard I get to inflict 500 points of damage to my opponent for each special summoned monster on the Field!' She pointed at Mallow, Ruby took a monster from her Extra Deck it was Gem-Knight Ruby, Mallow quickly counted: Bladedge, Lead Yoke, Lapis Lazuli and Brilliant Diamond. Then a jolt of electricity struck both Mallow and Luigi.

(Mallow & Luigi: 6000) - (Gonzales: 5100) - (Ruby: 7750)

Brilliant Diamond attacks Bladedge!' Ruby shouted.

'I activate Ego Boost!' Mallow replied his facedown card spun around.

'I don't think so bro!' Gonzales replied on his turn. 'I activate Jolt Counter which negates the activation of your Ego Boost!' Mallow's Spell card exploded and Brilliant Diamond cut clean through Bladedge.

'Lapis destroy Clayman!' Lapis Lazuli started to chant suddenly Clayman exploded. 'I end my turn here.' Ruby concluded her turn.

(Mallow & Luigi: 5200) - (Gonzales: 5100) - (Ruby: 7750)

Luigi drew his card. 'I activate a Polymerization of my own!' He shouted.

'I summon Flame Wingman!' Avian and Burstinatrix stepped in the vortex and the famous Hero leaped out of it. (2100 ATK)

'Next I activate Skyscraper!' The Field changed into the city Flame Wingman was lifted from the ground by a skyscraper.

'I attack Lapis Lazuli!' Luigi bellowed Flame Wingman leaped down the skyscraper his dragon hand incinerated the Gem-Knight then Flame Wingman stopped before Ruby unleashing his flames upon her.

'I'll end my turn with this facedown card.' Luigi stated, the card appeared behind Flame Wingman.

(Mallow & Luigi: 5200) - (Gonzales: 5100) - (Ruby: 4650)

Quickly Gonzales drew his card. 'I activate Call of the Haunted!' Gonzales' other facedown card spun around, Shadow leaped back on the Field. (1800 ATK) 'Next I use a second Shadow's Effect from my hand, by Detaching one monster from an Xyz monster I control I get to special summon it and Yoke's Effect activates at the same time!' Gonzales removed the card, the yoke around the warrior's neck completely fell off now. (3000- 3800 ATK: 1- 0 ORU) 'Yoke attack Luster Dragon!' Gonzales shouted. 'Then I activate Negate Attack!' Luigi roared, Yoke slammed against a barrier.

'You're stalling now, well I end my turn.' Gonzales cursed.

'Luigi thanks.' Mallow said.

'No problem we're partners right.' Luigi replied.

'I activate Swords of Revealing Light!' Mallow shouted, swords descended all over the Field. 'Next I use Ancient Rules which allows me to summon Luster Dragon #2!' With a roar the bigger dragon appeared next to its little brother. (2400 ATK)

'I set a card facedown.' Mallow continued the card appeared behind his monsters. 'Finally Luster Dragons attack the two Shadows!'

Gonzales' monsters tried to fight back but the dragons were too strong.

(Mallow & Luigi: 5200) - (Gonzales: 4400) - (Ruby: 4650)

'My turn again.' Ruby said, she drew her card. 'I activate Card of Demise!' Quickly Ruby drew five new cards. 'First of all I destroy these Swords with Mystical Space Typhoon!' The tornado swept away the Swords of Revealing Light. 'Then I normal summon Iolite!' The warrior clad in blue armor appeared he readied the cannons on his wrist. (1300 ATK)

'I'm gonna show you a monster I missed the last time I faced you Mallow, if I had it that time I would have won that Duel.' Ruby said, then Iolite disappeared, the Fusion vortex opened. 'I summon Gem-Knight Master Diamond!' A man clad in full armor stepped out of the vortex, his armor was decorated with diamonds his two-handed sword was decorated with several gems on the blade. (2900 ATK)

'Master Diamond gains 100 Attack extra for each Gem Knight in my Graveyard.' Ruby explained. (2900- 3600 ATK)

'I activate Premature Burial!' Ruby shouted, Lady Lapis Lazuli appeared from out of the ground. (2400 ATK)

The attack of Master Diamond dropped to 3500. 'I use the Effect of Lapis Lazuli to send Garnet to the Graveyard.' Ruby got the card from her Deck she discarded it, Master Diamond rose to 3600 ATK.

Lapis Lazuli started to cast her spell. 'The damage is for you Mallow!'

Mallow counted: Master Diamond, Brilliant Diamond, Lapis Lazuli, Yoke, Luster Dragon #2 and Flame Wingman. Mallow and Luigi screamed when lightning struck them.

(Mallow & Luigi: 2200) - (Gonzales: 4400) - (Ruby: 3950)

'I am not quite through with you yet.' Ruby said. 'I activate Swing of Memory which allows me to summon Garnet from my Graveyard!'

A warrior that seemed to made out of Garnet appeared on the Field. (1900 ATK) The ATK of Master Diamond dropped to 3500.

'I use Master Diamond's second Effect, by Banishing a Fusion from my Graveyard Master Diamond gets that Effect and I Banish Ruby!' The Ruby on Master Diamond's sword started to glow, the attack of Master Diamond dropped to 3400.

Next I send Garnet back to my Graveyard so Master Diamonds gets the attack of Garnet, which is Ruby's Effect!' Ruby explained, the sword of Master Diamond started to glow. (3500- 5400 ATK)

'I attack Lead Yoke!' Ruby shouted, Master Diamond used his sword to cleave Lead Yoke in half.

(Mallow & Luigi: 2200) - (Gonzales: 2900) - (Ruby: 3950)

'Lapis Lazuli attack Gonzales directly!' Ruby shouted.

'Luster Dragon #2 intercept the attack!' Mallow shouted, Luster Dragon leaped to Gonzales' side of the Field to protect him, Luster Dragon and Lapis Lazuli clashed but in the end they got both destroyed.

'Gonzales I didn't do this to protect you, just to destroy that Lapis Lazuli.' Mallow said. 'In that case I attack your Flame Wingman with Brilliant Diamond!' Ruby shouted the woman charged in. 'Then I activate Widespread Ruin!' Mallow roared his Trap card spun around. 'This might not stop the attack, but it does destroy Master Diamond!' The mighty warrior gasped before it exploded, Brilliant Diamond looked back in shock then she cut Flame Wingman in ribbons out of revenge.

(Mallow & Luigi: 1000) - (Gonzales: 2900) - (Ruby: 3950)

'My turn again!' Luigi shouted, he drew his card.

'I activate Monster Reborn!' The holy Ankh appeared together with Master Diamond. (2900 ATK) Ruby gave Luigi a dirty look.

'Gonzales time to kick you out of the Duel!' Master Diamond charged forward. 'No you won't Luigi! Nobody uses my monsters without my permission!' Brilliant Diamond leaped to Gonzales' side, she quickly struck Master Diamond.

(Mallow & Luigi: 500) - (Gonzales: 2900) - (Ruby: 3950)

'You gave me one more turn, dumb move end your opponent when you can.' Gonzales said he drew his card. 'I summon Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw!' A green, muscular man appeared on Gonzales' side he had huge black boxing gloves, his jaw seemed to be made of glass. (2000 ATK)

'Since everyone is throwing this card around I shall do so myself!' Gonzales' Monster Reborn appeared and with it Lead Yoke took the stage again. (2200 ATK)

'Next I activate Shrink on Brilliant Diamond!' Ruby shrieked as her monster suddenly shrunk to half her size. (3400- 1700 ATK)

'Glassjaw take her down!' Gonzales roared, Glassjaw knocked out Brilliant Diamond with an uppercut.

(Mallow & Luigi: 500) - (Gonzales: 2900) - (Ruby: 3650)

'Lead Yoke knock out the man in green!' Lead Yoke wanted to charge at Luigi, Mallow wanted to send in Luster Dragon. 'Mallow no, this Duel started as a free-for-all, so I take half our Life Points and separate from you, Mallow saw Luigi making a quick movement with his hand, then Lead Yoke struck Luigi down.

Luigi landed sprawled on the ground his cards spread around him. 'Need to take a break, that hit hurt.' He gasped as he slowly stood up and gathered his cards, Skyscraper slowly disappeared from the Field.

(Mallow: 250) - (Luigi: 0) - (Gonzales: 2900) - (Ruby: 3650)

'Next turn I shall end the both of you.' Gonzales said.

'Not if I end it on this turn.' Mallow stated he drew his card.

'I activate Rising Air Current!' Mallow bellowed his Field Spell activated and the storage disappeared they now stood in mid-air.

'Then I sacrifice Luster Dragon for Raiza the Storm Monarch!'

A strong storm whipped up as Raiza appeared on the Field. (2400- 2900 ATK) 'I use Raiza's Effect to send Lead Yoke back to the Extra Deck!' Mallow shouted, Raiza created a storm Lead Yoke was blown off the Field.

'Next I use Quill Pen of Gulldos, I move both Luster Dragons back to my Deck and Glassjaw back to Gonzales' hand!' Mallow retrieved the two cards another storm appeared this time Glassjaw was blown back.

'I'm not done yet because I Banish a Wind Monster for Garuda the Wind Spirit!'

'You cannot!' Gonzales shouted: 'You only had the two Luster Dragons in your Graveyard!'

Mallow chuckled: 'Luigi's and mine Graveyard were combined and Luigi left me a present.' Mallow took a card from his Graveyard it was Avian, a powerful wind started and the man with the bird head dropped down from the sky. (1700- 2200 ATK)

'I Equip Garuda with United We Stand!' Mallow shouted Garuda let out a war-cry. (2200- 3800 ATK)

'Garuda attack Ruby! Raiza Gonzales is yours!' Both Duelist were knocked on their backs by the powerful wind blasts.

(Mallow: 250) - (Luigi: 0) - (Gonzales: 0) - (Ruby: 0)

Ruby stood up she looked at Mallow and Gonzales. 'Well you may keep your treasure.' She scoffed then she ran off.

'So Gonzales, why are you here?' Mallow asked.

'I was a contestant at the tournament together with prince Mush and Rawk Hawk.' Gonzales started to tell: 'Around that time Rawk Hawk was undefeated, I had Dueled against him before and I figured his Deck was unbeatable, Mush and I had the same amount of points in the ranking, so we had to Duel to decide who would face Rawk Hawk in the finals, we Dueled and I lost, after the Duel we talked a bit and became friends, I told Mush what I had learned, Mush told me he had that figured out and said he had a way to beat Rawk Hawk's Deck that same night Mush disappeared, Rawk Hawk became the champion.' Gonzales walked to the closed door, Mallow followed him. 'Whatever Mush had planned is still around in the old Major League Locker Room, but that door is locked.' In the meantime Mallow had unlocked the next door. 'Whatever they are hiding from the public must be behind this door.' Mallow said before he opened the door.

'Guys, Gonzales is gone.' Luigi then noticed, Mallow looked at his friend: 'Let him be for now, I have send Mario a message, we wait for him before we continue.

Five minutes later Mario came rushing in, he and his friends stepped through the doorway, Grave hesitated Mario noticed: 'Something wrong Grave?' He asked.

'That feeling, can't you sense it?' Grave asked Mario closed his eyes. 'Yeah I feel it, something is terribly wrong here.' The room itself was filled with junk, broken lockers and benches, empty boxes, dirty towels, bags full of more junk.

Grave carefully looked around then he noticed something. 'Mario look here.' Mario approached Grave he looked at the floor where Grave was pointing. 'I see there is dust in this room everywhere, but clearly here is a trail of someone being dragged over the floor, there are some footprints next to it.'

Mario followed the trail to where it stopped. 'Trail disappeared here, Mario knelt then he fell back screaming. 'Mario!' Goombella shouted, the others helped Mario stand up. 'Damn that is some strong magic.' Mario cursed.

Grave carefully felt around until he quickly retreated his hand. 'That is some powerful magic indeed.'

Again Grave felt. 'I can feel inside the magic, I feel something that appears to be stairs.' He took a few steps back then started to chant, slowly before their eyes stairs appeared. 'So that solves one of the mysteries.' Mallow said. 'Now we'll see what they are hiding up there.'

Grave went first, followed by Mario the others waited downstairs, when Mario and Grave reached the upper level they found a dark room, Mario felt around until he found a light switch, when the light turned on both Mario and Grave were shocked. 'Mallow, Luigi!' Mario shouted: 'Come up here we need your help! Goombella run like hell and get a medical team here!'

When Mallow and Luigi climbed the stairs they were shocked, the room was filled with bodies, Mario recognized Bandy Andy and King K.

'Are they...' Luigi started, Grave checked the body of an unknown Duelist.

'They are not dead, I feel a weak pulse, but it seems they are completely drained of their life force, I have seen nothing like this before, but this can only be the work of the Nephilim.' Grave concluded.

'I count at least twenty bodies and there are more in the back.' Mallow said, then Luigi pointed at some bodies. 'I recognize these three.' Mario looked at the bodies: 'Me too, the girl there is a Japanese champion, the guy in the yellow shirt ended second place during last world tournament en the guy in blue ended first place in the same tournament.'

At that point Goombella came rushing in she climbed the stairs followed by Jolene, both were shocked at what they saw, Jolene wasted no time she checked every Duelist lying there. 'Yes these are all the missing Duelists except for one, Prince Mush.' She noticed, then she dialed a number. 'Grubba, we found the missing Duelists, at least their bodies, they are all there except for Prince Mush, we need to keep this discreet, don't want to cause a panic.'

A few minutes later Mario and the others sat in their hotel room, Jolene had send them away then she had cleared out the lobby, the medical team came in through a back-entrance, the bodies were brought to the hospital on a private part of the floating island.

'Grave the distraction, what did you do? I saw some guards they looked terrified.' Mario said Grave grinned: 'I had some fun with my Skull Servants, I didn't hurt them, well anyway when the distraction was gone I made them sleep with some sleep gas, they believe it was a nightmare caused by the gas.

Mario took the paper with the seven wonders on it. 'So this solves the stairs of mystery and the missing ones, well except for Prince Mush who keeps missing.

Grave took a paper and he started to write something down when he was done he showed the paper to the others.

Suspects:

Rawk Hawk: Managed to get an illegal Deck through the system, when he stepped outside the VIP room the Nephilim's energy exploded through the arena.

Prince Mush: Was not found with the bodies and nobody has seen him since. Could work in the shadows.

Gonzales: Knew we would be in storage room, he assaulted us and was gone before we discovered the bodies.

X: Nobody knows who he or she is, X seem to be helping us, but that help could be a set-up for a trap.

Mario nodded when he was done reading: 'I agree to that, but we should be quick, the Nephilim must know we have discovered the bodies, tomorrow I need to become the number two so I can face Rawk Hawk.' Mario said with a determined look in his eyes.


Next time:

Mario returns to the arena, now that they are probably discovered they need to act fast.

But between the champion of the Major League stands Gonzales and this time Gonzales has a new trick... 'Rock the Arena' coming next.