Chapter 24: Planning for the Future
Ghassan came onto the beach. The wind blew harshly, and the cold temperature made Ghassan wish that the discussion was indoors instead. Ghassan took a look at his watch and saw that it was 11:45 pm. 'Guess I could have waited a while. Whatever.' The Slifer Red dorm was the closest to the seaside, so he arrived way earlier than Damian and Scott. As one would expect, the beach was almost entirely empty. When he arrived, he saw Adrian facing the sea.
"Looks like we just need to wait for your brother and your friend now." Adrian said.
"How can you tell that it's me specifically when your back is turned?" Ghassan asked.
"Being honest, I didn't. I was kind of taking a guess there." Adrian turned to face Ghassan. "So, odds are you're wondering why I told you three to meet with me, right?"
"Yeah. Also wondering why you came to Central Academy when you said you had no interest in getting Jaden expelled. What made you change your mind?"
"I didn't. I don't want Jaden Yuki expelled. If your plan for the tag duel succeeded, everything would have been ruined."
"Wait, why do YOU care if Jaden gets expelled or-" Ghassan suddenly remembered the conversation he, Scott, and Damian had with Banner, and the professor's motives for why he didn't want Jaden expelled. "The Sacred Beasts. You're after them too, aren't you?"
Adrian nodded. "And thanks to you three, everything was almost ruined."
"Well right now, our plans changed. We aren't trying to get Jaden expelled anymore. We're planning on using the Sacred Beasts to get The Light of Destruction back to it's full power."
Adrian said nothing for a little while. "Sorry. I can't risk you messing things up." As if on cue, a figure jumped out from the ocean. A green, lizard-like creature with cybernetics all over him.
Ghassan knew where this was going. He turned around and ran off. 'Shit! Adrian's here to kill us?! Damnit, I knew he couldn't be trusted!' Soon, Giga Gagagigo intercepted him. "What the?!"
"I'm a Duel Monster. Most humans aren't as fast as me." The monster grabbed Ghassan by the throat. "I was personally hoping your brother would arrive first, but you'll do." Giga Gagagigo immediately put more force on his grip.
Ghassan's vision started to get blurry He tried to yell out for help, but nothing came out. He punched and kicked Giga Gagagigo several times, but the monster wasn't so much as flinching. 'Damnit...I can't die...we need to get home...'
Just then, Ghassan felt a tingling in his head. And from what Scott and Damian told him, Ghassan knew exactly what it was. "Let me..." The Light of Destruction said.
Damian was lying in bed, thinking about Adrian's words after he beat Damian.
'You jeopardized your task and your secrecy all for your wish fufillment. For all that talk you give to the Obelisks about their need to validate their ego, you're just as guilty of it as they are, if not more so.'
Damian didn't like to admit it, but Adrian was right. Damian wanted to feel special at this academy. To have a ton of attention brought to him. And this desire led to Kaiba and Pegaus finding out about the trio. Thinking about it, his desire for attention was why Chazz cut off their friendship too.
"You just wanted to look like the hero. You didn't once think about how it would make me look pathetic. Give people more reason to disrepect me."
He took a look at his clock. It was 10 minutes until midnight. 'Time to meet up with Adrian I guess.' Damian got out of bed and walked out of his room. 'What does he want to speak with us about anyway?'
"Hey man." A voice said. Damian turned around and saw Scott walk up to him. "Ready to meet up with Adrian I take it."
Damian nodded. "Is Ghassan coming?"
"Yeah. He texted me saying he was on his way to the beach. So, any idea why Adrian requested to duel you?"
"Probably to lecture me if the end of the duel's any indication."
Scott shrugged. Damian told him and Ghassan what Adrian told Damian after the duel. "You gotta admit, he had a point."
"Yeah, yeah." Damian and Scott exited the Ra Yellow building and headed to the beach.
"So, do you think Adrian's somebody we can trust?" Scott asked.
"Probably not. Adrian's somebody who'll ally with and betray anybody as long as it helps him with his goals."
"Precisely why I don't particularly trust Gecko either." The Light of Destruction said in Scott's head.
"If you don't trust him, why did you ave him work for you?" Scott asked. Damian was confused but realized Scott was talking to The Light.
"Same reason I have you three work for me despite not trusting you. Leverage over you and your knowledge of the world."
"So Adrian's usefulness outweighs the risk of having him. And the leverage you have over him minimizes the risk in your eyes."
"Precisely."
"Any chance on telling us what it is?" The Light didn't respond to Scott's question. "Figures."
Eventually, the two arrived at the beach. Upon arriving, their eyes widened in shock. Ghassan was surrounded by a white aura, Adrian and Giga Gagagigo watching. "What the-?!" Damian yelled.
Ghassan turned to the two. His eyes were glowing red, and he was giving a wicked smile. "Glad to see that you two have came."
Scott clenched his fist. "The Light's taken over Ghassan."
"No way..." Damian said
Adrian raised his hand. "Hold on. This isn't us betraying you or anything like that."
"Unfortunately." Giga Gagagigo glared at Damian.
"Then what's up with this then?" Scott demanded.
The white aura surrounding Ghassan disappeared before he fell to the ground. "Ugh...how long did he possess me for?"
"About three minutes." Adrian answered.
"Can somebody explain what's going on?" Damian asked. He and Scott walked up to Ghassan, helping him up.
"To gain part of The Light's powers, he needed to let his mind open up more to it." Adrian answered.
"Gain The Light's...wait a minute. So you had him possess me so I could gain supernatural powers?" Ghassan asked.
Adrian nodded. "You don't trust The Light of Destruction, so there's no way you'd do it willingly. Had to put you in a scenario where you'd let The Light take over your body, at least temporarily."
"And it worked like a charm." A voice said in Ghassan's head. It was exactly like Scott described. After letting The Light take over his body, The Light could freely communicate with Ghassan.
"If you guys have The Light's power, you'll be able to absorb souls for him, just like Gagagigo. But more importantly, if somebody finds out about you guys, you can brainwash them into joining The Light. If we fail to take control of The Sacred Beasts, then we can still gather forces for The Light of Destruction, so we can still have a leg up during the second year."
"Just like Sartorius." Damian said.
"So all of this was just for a backup plan?" Ghassan asked.
"You need to think ahead a few steps in case things go wrong. If you knew that, maybe Kaiba and Pegasus wouldn't have found out about you two." He pointed to Ghassan and Damian, who both got frustrated.
"Wait, back up. Take control of the Sacred Beasts? I thought we were just using them to restore The Light of Destruction to it's full power?" Scott asked.
"You don't know about The Gentle Darkness, do you?" Giga Gagagigo replied.
"Some ability Jaden has to control Duel Spirits or something, right?"
"I get it now." Damian said. "You're going to do what Kageguy tried to do. Absorb Jaden's soul, gain The Gentle Darkness, take control of The Sacred Beasts, and use ithem to restore The Light of Destruction to it's full power. That way, we'll be killing two birds with one stone."
"What do you know? Looks like you can think ahead after all." Adrian smiled.
"Of course, there's no guarantee that your plan will succeed. That's why I'll keep absorbing souls of other duelists for The Light." Giga Gagagigo stated. "I only came here to get that Ghassan boy to let The Light take over."
Ghassan clenched his fist. On one hand, being able to brainwash people with The Light of Destruction's power would without a doubt be useful. But that just led to The Light being a step closer to taking over their bodies entirely.
"So, what was up with you requesting to challenge me?" Damian asked Adrian.
"I take it you know about the Spirit Keys, right?" Adrian asked. The trio nodded. "Sheppard will give them to the best duelists at the school to protect from the Shadow Riders. So I plan on becoming one of them to get a Spirit Key. Dueling and beating you was a way to make my talent known."
"And if Sheppard entrusts Spirit Keys to me and Damian as welll, that'll mean we'll have three of them." Scott added.
"And that'll give us a leg up on getting our hands on them." Adrian said.
"But the true way to awaken the Sacred Beasts is with Duel Energy." Damian pointed out. "The Spirit Keys will just let us get the cards, it won't be enough to get them to grant any wish of ours."
"True, but getting our hands on the cards themselves will be beneficial. We'll be able to collect duel energy for the Sacred Beasts without even needing to be on the island. Say that we fail to awaken the Sacred Beasts this year. We can still gather Duel Energy to power them up over summer vacation. Not to mention that, if we want to absorb Jaden's soul, the power of the Sacred Beasts will definitely help out."
Damian and Scott said nothing. In their world, they both knew that the Sacred Beasts were pretty impractical cards. Their summoning conditions made it difficult to summon even one of them. Combined with the fact that they had no protection from card effects meant that they were rarely worth the resources it took to summon them. There were a few later support cards that fixed some of the issues with the Sacred Beasts, but they still scarcely saw anybody run a Sacred Beast deck. If it weren't for the fact that they could restore one's energy in this dimension, they wouldn't even bother with trying to revive the Sacred Beasts. However, in the anime world, impratical summon methods hardly ever stopped a duelist from summoning them, so maybe they would be useful in a duel here.
"Well, Jaden almost lost to the Sacred Beasts twice. Both times he would have lost if it weren't for cards from other people. Banners Sabatiel-The Philosopher's Stone and Jesse's Prism Wall." Damian said. "If we stop Jaden from getting that Philosopher's Stone card, we can beat him with The Sacred Beasts."
Ghassan nodded. "And that's how we'll absorb Jaden's soul and get his Gentle Darkness."
Damian was uncomfortable with how casual his brother talked about killing a friend of theirs. Then again, Jaden was never supposed to really be their friend. And it's not like they had no reason for it. "If we want to take Jaden's soul, we'll have to take out Kage-guy first."
"Kage guy? Do you mean Kagemaru, the chairman on Duel Academy?" Adrian asked.
"Right, him. He's trying to absorb Jaden's soul to control the Sacred Beasts like we are. Plus he has a Shadow Charm to channel the power of the Sacred Beasts into himself, and to absorb somebody's soul if he beats them in a duel. If we want to use the Sacred Beasts to restore The Light to it's power, that charm will probably be needed."
Scott and Ghassan were struggling to grasp what Damian was talking about. Shadow Charms? Were those like discount Millenium Items or something? However, Adrian smiled. "Glad we have most of our plans set up then. Scott, Damian. Since you two are going to be Shadow Riders, that means you'll be the ones who have access to Kagemaru. When you get the opportunity, take his charm. If you have to kill him to do it, then do it."
"Geez..." Scott said. "I mean, I know it's for the best, but still feels wrong."
"What, did you think working for a creepy abomination with glowing red eyes would mean you'd never be doing bad acts? Besides, from what Damian said, the old man isn't exactly a good guy."
"He has a point." The Light said in Scott and Ghassan's head.
"Scott, Ghassan. Brainwash students into worshipping The Light here and there, but don't have them do anything yet. Like I said, The Society of Light is just a backup plan. If they suddenly start singing your praises for letting them see The Light, you'll definitely look suspicious."
"I'm...not sure if we can do that. We don't exactly have experience with mind control." Ghassan replied.
"Simply order them to continue acting out their days like normal." Giga Gagagigo answered. "I've brainwashed a few Duel Spirits to work for The Light of Destruction upon defeating them. Unless instructed otherwise, they'll try to spread the word of The Light."
"I...see." Scott said. It was surreal to find out that he and Ghassan suddenly had the power to absorb souls and brainwash people.
"That's all I wanted to talk to you three about. It would also be best if I limited further interaction with you three, at least publicly." Adrian said.
"To limit suspicion right?" Ghassan asked.
"Exactly. Anyway, I'm off to my new Obelisk Dorm. Remember, don't mess this up." Adrian began to walk off.
"Wait! Can you tell us why you're working for The Light?!" Damian called out. Adrian said nothing, continuing to walk off.
"He's willing to work with us, but he doesn't exactly trust us." Scott stated.
Damian thought about Adrian's motivations in the show. Despite several immoral actions he took along the way, Adrian wanted to rule an alternate dimension as a benevolent king and create a utopia without suffering. Did The Light offer Adrian a deal like that? Help him destroy the universe, and Adrian gets another universe to rule over or something?
"I'm going to leave too." Giga Gagagigo turned to Damian. "If it weren't for Adrian's suggestion, I would have killed you right now. Consider yourself lucky."
"Seriously, what's your problem with my brother?" Ghassan asked. "Before you were just sent by The Light, but now it's like you have a grudge against him."
The monster snarled. "He acts as if the threat of death in battle is something to be excited over. It's absolutely insulting."
Ghassan and Scott widened their eyes, and turned to Damian. Nearly dying against Gagagigo was exciting to him?
"So, Gagagigo. I think I know why you joined The Light of Destruction." Damian said.
"What are you talking about?"
"See, in our world, there's a storyline about you. I don't remember all the details, but I remember that you were friends with another monster. Marauding Captain. Both of you guys were in a war against some other monster, don't remember what though."
Giga Gagagigo glared at Damian, but said nothing, so Damian continued. "You were wounded fighting against that monster, but you had your like saved by...Kozaky I think? Either him, or Magical Scientist. You were made into a cyborg by him and became more powerful, but the machinery drove you lost your heart and redemption."
"Wait, seriously?" Ghassan asked.
"Yeah. There's lore behind a few of the cards." Scott replied.
"So, what does this have to do with my reason for following The Light?" Giga Gagagigo asked.
"Revenge on the monster that nearly killed you. You might not care about justice anymore, but you still have a score you want to settle." Damian answered.
For a while, Giga Gagigigo said nothing. Then it started chuckling, before outright laughing. "Gyahahaha! I see why The Light and Adrian haven't killed you by now. Your knowledge of our world outweighs the risk of having you."
"So I was right."
Giga Gagagigo nodded. "I joined The Light to gain more power. There are two Duel Spirits I want revenge on. One is the monster you mentioned earlier. The Invader of Darkness. The other is a warrior who humiliated me time and time again, Freed. Still, I don't have the urge to speak in much detail about this." Giga Gagagigo started to shine before disappearing.
"...Geez." Damian sat down on the beach. "I always figured it would happen, but I guess I never wanted to think about killing people for The Light."
Ghassan sighed. "I don't like it, but-"
"I know I know. It's to get back home. It's just that...I wish being transported in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh wouldn't be making me feel guilty."
"Well you can't be thinking about fun all the time. Sometimes you have to grow up." Scott said.
"Alsom we're going to have to talk about what Gaga...whatever said." Ghassan added. "You were excited to have your life risked?"
"It just made me feel like a Yu-Gi-Oh character you know? Dueling with your life on the line." Damian stood up. "Anyway, I'm going to bed."
"Damian, we're not-" Ghassan stopped. He figured his brother wasn't going to speak any further about the matter. "Fine. It's late anyway."
Damian nodded and walked off. Scott walked up to Ghassan. "He's definitely feeling the most conflicted on this."
Ghassan sighed. "I told him he was too attached to this world." He turned to face Scott. "Look, I'm not gonna act like Damian's never came around for us. He helped you beat Jaden and Syrus, and he's been letting us know about important info about the Yu-Gi-Oh world for months. Without him, it'd be way harder to come up with plans."
"I'm sensing a 'but' coming." Scott said.
"But the person feeling the most guilty about what we're doing is the one whose most likely gonna change sides."
"So what do you think we should do about it? I HIGHLY doubt you're going to want to kill him."
"Of course not." Ghassan looked at his palm. "But remember...we can apparently brainwash people now."
Scott's eyes widened. "Dude..."
"I hate the idea Scott. I really do. Let's...let's give it some time. If Damian's too much of a risk, you know what to do. You're more likely to beat him in a duel than I would be." Ghassan walked away as well.
Scott sighed. "You're enjoying our frustration, aren't you?"
"Do you even have to ask?" The Light replied.
Not any dueling in this chapter, but a great amount of planning for the future has been set up. Will Ghassan and Scott resort to brainwashing Damian into obedience? And how trustworthy of an ally is Adrian?
In other news, I'm finished with my junior year of college. Now that it's summer for me, I'll have way more free time to work on chapters. Hopefully they'll be coming out much quicker. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a nice day!
