A/N: here is…. chapter 5!

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Ch.5 Shadow Rider

Haru, his pals, and a bunch of other duelists who he didn't quite know yet, sat quivering by the river. Ren spotted the shadow rider with his keen eye and knack for finding things. Now they had to decide on a conclusion – who would confront the shadow rider and duel him? Haru had already decided by the look of the duelists in the circle. "You." Haru pointed to a medium height girl, long brown hair. She wore a skirt and a white top, and to cover her arms she wore an unzipped black sweater. Cute. "Your name is -?" He inquired, looking quizzically at her.

"My name's Ashley." She said gracefully.

"Well, I can't judge ya, but I just think you have a spellcaster deck. Am I right?" Haru smiled.

"…" She paused. "Yes, my deck is composed of magicians… otherwise, spellcasters. How did you -?" He stopped her mid-sentence. "I can just tell." He winked at her and she blushed. "Now go on, Ashley. Go and kick Shadow Rider ass!" he raised his fist into the air and everyone cheered quietly. "Don't worry, we'll go together." They got up and walked toward the figure aimlessly. He seemed to sit there, extremely still. Quiet and calm, not moving an inch. They investigated furthermore as they continued to trudge silently toward the figure. He was facing opposite them, but when they approached, they heard a laugh. The man grinned widely, evilly. "So kids, who's going to try and stop me?" He extended his arm and a duel disk opened up on it. "Let's get to it, shall we?" he jumped into the air, twisted, and landed facing them. Ashley stepped forward with her duel disk on arm. "All right, I'm ready to throw down you filthy shadow rider scum! You're not going to get anywhere near those dragons'! So keep dreaming!" she posed and grinned. "Let's Duel! Hah!" She drew a card from her deck and placed it in her hand. "I'll start things off by summoning, White Magician Pikeru!" A small girl spellcaster arose to the field. "With 1200 Attack and 0 Defense points she may look weak now, but just wait until later. Hehehe. I'll also throw down a facedown card! Now, it's your move."

"I can see that." He drew a card from his deck forcefully. "Ok! I'm going to start things off plainly by summoning Cave Dragon in attack mode. And I also place a card face down. Due to Cave Dragon's effect, I don't have anything else to do… for now." He grinned as his turn ended.

Ashley: 4000 L.P

Hand: Mystic Box, Ebon Magician Curran, Nightmare Steelcage, and Premature Burial

Shadow Rider: 4000 L.P.

Hand: Cyber Dragon, Tri-Horned Dragon, Tribute Doll, and Dragon's Rage

"My move!" Ashley pulled a card out of her deck and placed it in her hand. Perfect… "First off, I'm going to get rid of that Cave Dragon! And I'm gonna do it like this!" she pulled a card out of her hand and turned it over. "I play, Mystic Box! Here's the works. I choose a monster on each of our fields. Your Cave Dragon and my White Magician Pikeru. It destroys your monster! But there's a catch. Now, control of my Magician goes over to you. A small price to pay!" Ashley stated. "And now, I flip over my facedown card." She started as the card revealed itself. "Swords of Revealing Light! And this is going to save my life points for 3 whole turns. Now, I'll lay down one more facedown, and I'll leave it at that. Your move, big boy."

He grinned. "This is a very interesting match. Hah." He drew his card from the deck. Without adding it to his hand, he threw it down on the field. "I summon Dark Blade!" in seconds a powerful warrior with black armor, and a long sword rose to the field. "And that allows me to activate my facedown card!" he flipped it up. "Dragonic Attack. If you don't know what it does, I can easily explain it to you. You see it can only equip to a warrior type monster. That is, my Dark Blade. And with it, it treats Dark Blade as a dragon type monster! And that's not all it does. It also gives him a 500 attack point boost. So with 2300 attack points, and you wide open, in 3 turns get ready for a walloping. And that's my turn." Command shifted over to Ashley as she drew a card from her deck and placed it in her hand.

"Now, I'm going to start this turn off just like this." She took the card she just drew and placed it on her duel disk. "Lightning Vortex. Here's how it goes. I discard a card from my hand to the graveyard," she tossed her Nightmare Steelcage card to the grave. "And all the monsters on your side of the field, well… They go Bye-Bye! Go, Lightning Vortex!" she played the card and a cloud stormed above her opponent's field. It shot down 2 bolts of lightning, which struck Dark Blade and White Magician Pikeru destroying them. Along with Dark Blade went Dragonic Attack, as well. "And that's the way you play!" the shadow rider clenched his teeth and fists. "Now, I'm going to play this. Premature Burial! If you don't know how it goes, then listen up. I sacrifice 800 of my life points…and White Magician Pikeru comes back!" she sacrificed 800 of her life points and a mummy appeared on the field. It slowly disappeared into the grave and White Magician Pikeru rose back to the field. "And I'll also summon, Ebon Magician Curran!" a small girl with blonde hair with a dress and a rabbit cap arose to the field next to White Magician Pikeru. "Now with these two at my alliance, I should be good. Oh yeah, and did I mention? They're going to attack you directly!" Ashley pointed her finger towards the Shadow Rider and Pikeru and Curran ran up to him and lashed at him. "That's already 2400 points of damage. Not looking too good, now are we? I'm going to end my turn!"

Ashley: 3200 L.P

Hand: -

Shadow Rider: 1600 L.P

Hand: Tribute Doll, Dragon's Rage, Cyber Dragon, and Tri-Horned Dragon

"My draw, little girl." He pulled a card off the top of his deck. By the looks of it, it was good. His face stretched into a wide grin. "Well, let's get this started…and ended. Hahahahaha." Ashley looked confused. "Confused, are we? Well, not for long, I hope! I activate Pot of Greed, and draw two cards from my deck." He drew two cards from his deck and placed them in his hand. "Well, here goes. First, I'll summon Lord of D.! In attack mode!" suddenly, the Lord of D. appeared on the field. "And now…I play, Flute of Summoning Dragon!" a gasp was heard from across the dueling field. "Yes…With Lord of D. in play, I can activate it! Doing so, I can special summon 2 dragon type monsters from my hand! And I'm choosing Cyber Dragon and Tri-Horned Dragon!" in a flash, two powerful dragon monsters appeared on the field next to Lord of D. "Yeah, an in 2 turns from now, I'll be unleashing them on you! Victory, and your soul!"

"My soul? That's mad! You can't do that!"

"I can when we're in a shadow game… just look around you!" Around them was purple smoke riddled in the air. "This is a shadow game! And the winner takes all!" He ended his turn and left Ashley in fear. Sweat formed on the side of her head.

"A…Sh…Shadow Game…" She shook in fright as she drew a card to add to her hand. "Here goes…" when she looked at the card she'd just drawn, she forgot all about the Shadow Game and loss. In her mind screamed victory. "Yeah! Here goes pardner! I'm going to sacrifice Curran, and Pikeru on my field. And in their place…I'm going to summon…" They disappeared and went off to the grave. A magician in purple holding a green magic staff rose in their place. "…THE DARK MAGICIAN! Now who's gonna take a walloping?" She grinned but all she heard was laughter. "Huh? Hey, what's so fucking funny?"

"It's just…" he laughed on. "Look at my monsters, and then look at yours. See the attack point difference? That Dark Magician's too weak to go up against my Tri-Horned dragon!"

Tri-Horned Dragon: 2850/2350

"But your Lord of D. is going down! And Cyber Dragon is next! Go, Dark Magician!" the magician swooped over to the other side of the field and created a magical attack in his staff. He shot it downward and destroyed Lord of D., and he returned back to Ashley's field. "Say good bye to 1300 of your life points! And now, you only have 300 left to support you! So, So much for YOUR victory." She ended her turn and he took control.

Ashley: 3600 L.P

Hand: -

Shadow Rider: 300 L.P

Hand: Tribute Doll, and Dragon's Rage

"Draw!" He drew a card from his deck. "First off, I'm going to place a card facedown. And I'll leave it at that. Not much else to do…but I'm not going to just give up."

Ashley drew a card. Her swords of revealing light were destroyed afterward. "Perfect…" she placed the card on her duel disk. "I activate, Mystical Space Typhoon! And this baby allows me to destroy a spell or a trap card on your side of the field! Hmmm…I think I'll choose that facedown right there." The typhoon struck it, and his Megamorph card was destroyed. "Now then, Dark Magician, give him the proper ending to a good show. Dark Magic attack on Cyber Dragon!" he swooped over to the opponents field and charged his attack once again. He released the magical blast destroying Cyber Dragon, and taking out the rest of the Shadow Rider's life points to end the duel. The smoke cleared – this Shadow Game was finally over.

Ashley: 3600 L.P Shadow Rider: 0 L.P

He fell to the ground and shook. "As I promised… the winner… take all…" his head fell to the ground and he stopped moving. On the ground next to him, a card glowed. Ashley ran over toward him and picked up the card. Inside the card was the Shadow Rider. "His soul…trapped in this card forever… I feel so badly for him." She didn't cry, but she clutched the card in her hand, released it, and let it float back down to the ground. All the others were running towards her. "Ashley!" Haru called out as he ran towards her embracing her in a hug. She blushed. "Ashley, how'd it go?" he smiled at her as she smiled back.

"I won, Haru. I beat him!"

"Really? Aw yes I knew you would!"

"The only thing is…the Shadow Rider's soul got captured, and sealed into this card. He'll be there forever." She downed upon saying this. "Ashley… it's ok. When the doors are locked, everyone's souls will be relieved and returned to normal."

"Really, Haru?"

"Yes." He hugged her again. "Now come on. We have to go to Sheppard." Haru looked behind him at the other duelists. "Well hey this isn't a show! Come on people! We have to tell Sheppard about this!" Haru and the others ran toward the academy. Ashley stayed behind and kneeled next to the shadow rider. He had a mask on. She carefully removed it from his face, and was then in total shock. "D…Dad?"

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well, was it good at all? I put most effort into designing the duel! It took me a while! So, kind people, please read and review. Arigatou!