Chapter 34: Joining The Shadow Riders

It was late at night, many days after the deaths of Banner and Zane. Adrian and Damian walked through the forest, Adrian having several bandages placed on him, and was carrying a shovel. He was released from the infirmary a few days ago, so thankfully, it wasn't hard to sneak out. "So, Camula has a card that holds souls hostage, right?"

Damian nodded. "Yeah. Illusion Gate. She used it to hold Syrus' soul hostage, forcing Zane to surrender. She used it against Jaden too, but the Shadow Charm pendant of his prevented her from wagering any of his friends' souls. If it weren't for that though, who knows if she could have been beaten? For all we know, she might just be able to wager the soul of her opponent, and that GUARANTEES a victory for her."

"So to make sure she doesn't use that to instantly win any duel, we need Jaden to have the Shadow Charm."

"I called the reporter to have him hack into Banner's emails again. Apparently, Banner was planning on taking Jaden here for some test before he died." Adrian said.

"Yeah. To be honest, I would have completely forgotten about this if you hadn't mentioned it." Damian answered.

Adrian sighed in annoyance. Eventually, Damian and Adrian made it to their destination. Broken pillars were scattered around, and the area was paved with stone bricks. The ruins of what looked like an ancient civilization. "So, is this the place?" Adrian asked.

Damian nodded. "Somewhere underground is a rune that has the symbol of the Eye of Wdjat. It's not too deep under. Banner's cat uncovered it within seconds of digging. If you find it, you'll be transported to a Spirit World and duel Gravekeeper's Chief in a Shadow Duel. Beat him, and he'll give you half of the Shadow Charm Pendant. Jaden will get the other one when he duels Nightshroud."

"Got it." Adrian started to dig into the ground with the shovel he was carrying.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Damian asked.

Adrian nodded. "You need to be at school by the time Sheppard chooses the key keepers. Considering how I was 'brainwashed' by a Shadow Rider, the odds of me being chosen are far lower than they would be otherwise."

Damian shrugged. "Suit yourself." Damian turned around. "By the way, The Light mentioned to Scott that he has leverage over you. I take it has to do with Echo?"

Adrian widened his eyes as he forcefully stabbed the ground with the shovel. A few seconds later, he left to start digging a seperate hole. Looks like Damian was on the mark. "Guess you don't want to talk about it. Well, I'm off. Be careful." Damian walked away.

Adrian continued to dig various holes in the ground. "The coast is clear." Adrian eventually said.

In seconds, Giga Gagagigo materalized next to Adrian, still carying Jinzo's corpse. "Good thing you only brought that Damian boy with you. Since Scott and Ghassan have The Light's power, there's the chance they could see me, even if I was in spirit form."

"Remember. When I get the tablet, you'll leve the Spirit World and deliver it to Jaden. I'll be staying behind."

The monster nodded. About 10 minutes later, Adrian felt hit shovel hit something. "Bingo." Adrian dug up a round artifact with an ancient eye-like figure in the middle.

"Yup. That's the Eye of Wdjat." Giga Gagagigo stated.

Adrian leaned downwards and picked it up. "Finally. I'm going to a Spirit World again." The artifact started shining a green light before pillars of similarly colored light shot out all around Adrian and Giga Gagagigo. 'Just you wait, Light'. Adrian thought. The sky morphed into a rainbow-like void as the sun split in three. Soon, the life engulfed the two of them.


Adrian and Giga Gagagigo suddenly found themselves in front of a pyramid. The crumbled ruins that used to surround them were in a repaired condition, thought on the walls were slash marks and small crumbled pieces of the wall on the ground. Several monsters such as Gravekeeper's Guard, Curse, and Assailant were on the ground, either unconscious or dead. A fight seemed to have broken out. "This is a Spirit World, right?" Adrian asked.

Gagagigo took the Shadow Charm Eyepatch off Jinzo's body. Jinzo's body remained. "It must be. Otherwise, Jinzo would have disappeared by now."

Adrian took a look at the monsters. "This is different than how Damian described. Any ideas what this could be about?

"No. But I doubt we'll need to know too much. You just have to beat Gravekeeper's Chief in a duel and get half of that pendant, right?"

"I'd rather know enough about this place as possible."

Gagagigo chuckled. "Something tells me you have more interest in this place than just to get half a pendant for that Jaden boy. Want to restart your failed plan of becoming a king?"

"Think for a second. If this dimension was attacked, then there could be an enemy here that we weren't prepared for. Even worse, what if they made off with half of the Shadow Charm?"

The cyborg lizard shrugged. "Fair point."

"We need to find answers to what happened, so we shoud-" Adrian was intterupted by the sound of a ton of footsteps. Adrian and Giga Gagagigo turned to the pyramid, and saw a squad of musucal green goblins with bronze helmets and spiked clubs charging towards them.

Giga Gagagigo snarled before dropping Jinzo to the ground. "The Goblin Attack Force." Soon, Adrian and Giga Gagagigo were surrounded by the monsters.

"Intruders!" One of them yelled.

"State your business, and we'll kill you!"

One of the goblins turned to his comrade. "Umm...it's OR we'll kill them Osborne."

"Jareth, I know what I said."

Adrian calmly put his hands in the air. He didn't have a good grasp on Yubel's powers yet, and while he could summon his Cloudians like they were real, he didn't like the odds they were facing. "We don't want any trouble. We're just here to pick up half a broken pendant, and we'll be on our way."

"Pendant?" One of the Goblins asked.

"Oh! I think he means the one that Lightning Punisher snatched after killing that chief guy."

"Oh yeah! That!"

"So...can you give it to us?" Adrian asked.

"Why should we do that?"

Giga Gagagigo unsheathed his claws. "I can give a few good reasons."

"Well well well. It seems that we have a familiar face." An echoey voice stated. Two figures came down the steps. One was a somewhat muscular man with spiky white hair, no mouth, and no eye pupils. He was carrying a broken half of an ancient pendant in his right hand. The other was a yellow, demonic creature shrouded with a black cloak.

"Boss!" The goblins exclaimed.

Giga Gagagigo was gritting it's teeth angrily at the sight of the two monsters. "Hey Adrian. If you get the pendant from Lightning Punisher, don't wait up for me. Just get out of this dimension."

"I take it one of these two is the guy you want revenge on?" Adrian asked.

The lizard nodded before decapitating three goblins in one slash. "Out of my way! I don't have time to deal with you small fry!"

Lightning Punisher began to build up electricity in it's hands before the cloaked figure put a hand on his shoulder. "Let me deal with him." The figure then turned to face Gagagigo. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time Invader of Darkness." Gagagigo crouched down before leaping at the demon "DIE!"


"So class, would any of you like to explain what makes the difference between a polar covalent bond and a nonpolar covalent bond? And please, try going into more detail than just the name." A young professor with long dark hair requested. He spoke in monotone to a hilarious degree.

"Man, the replacement for Banner could put people to sleep even if they aren't Jaden." Chazz whispered to Damian. He was wearing the same jacket he wore when he represented North Academy. Despite being demoted to Slifer Red due to him leaving and returning to Central Academy, Chazz refused to actually wear the Slifer uniform.

Damian gave a bit of a chuckle in response before turning back to the professor. They were in a chemistry course for freshman. What relevance chemistry had to dueling was an answer Damian still didn't know.

If Damian was correct, this was the professor from Season 3 who was a washed up pro duelist and went to teaching to support his family. Stein hated Jaden because he encouraged people to skip his classes and worked with Viper because of it. Damian felt kinda bad for the guy and all, but maybe he should have tried making lectures interesting in some form. It's not like other professors had empty classes because of Jaden.

'God this is boring. Every class is just him asking questions from the books or what he explained, and spending 5 to 10 minutes per question trying to get a student to answer.' Ghassan thought. He took a glance at Jaden, who was wearing a sheet of paper with a face obviously drawn on it over his actual face to make it look like he was awake. 'And I guess Stein views Jaden as a lost cause since he isn't bothering to call him.' Syrus didn't look like he was paying attention either, though for a much different reason. After the school found out what happened to Zane, it was a no brainer that Syrus would be distracted.

Ghassan then noticed something. Nothing was around Jaden's neck. 'Hmm. We still have time before Camula, but this is still a bit worrisome. Did Adrian just not give it to Jaden yet, or did he fail at getting the pendant?' Now that Ghassan thought of it, he didn't see Adrian all day. He was let out of the infirmary, so it's not like he was pretending to recover anymore. This might be a bad sign.

Scott looked out a window and started to think. A little over a week passed since Zane's body was discovered. Though for some reason, even though his soul was stolen, his body remained. Even The Light wasn't sure why that was the case, but based of it's guess, people with strong enough wills can fight off having their body destroyed as well, not just the brainwashing. According to Damian, when Aster lost to The Light of Destruction in the anime, he was seemingly aged to dust only to have his body appear on a scale. There was also something about Hassleberry becoming a spiritual dinosaur to destroy a satelite, so maybe he just shouldn't try to rationalize the nonsense that was GX.

Zane was taken to the infirmary, just like when Atticus was in a coma in the show. He wasn't waking up anytime soon though, so the group wouldn't have to worry about their secrets being exposed for a while. Alexis was also resting there. Adrian told them that he pretended to be posessed and enacted a duel against her with Yubel's power, causing Alexis to be wounded during the duel. How Adrian still had a portion of Yubel's powers in this timeline was beyond even him.

But perhaps the biggest thing that was on Scott's mind though was what The Light said when it looked like Zane was going to beat him.


"At this rate, I'll have to find new candidates again!"


Apparently, The Light has done stuff like this before. Dragging people from their dimension to work for him. What happened to them? And why did The Light never mention them before?

"You know, you could just ask me directly." The Light pointed out.

"Right. Almost forgot that you were still in my head. So what's up? Didn't you say we were the first people in our dimension you could find?"

"Yes. Of YOUR dimension. That doesn't mean I never did this before."

"Huh. How many times did you do this shit where you go to alternate timelines to undo your defeat?"

There was a vibration in Scott's head, almost as if The Light of Destruction was musing the question. "Probably around 60 or so. Most of them didn't go too far. I've had people such as Chazz, Crowler, Viper. In fact, this isn't even the first time I've had Adrian work under me. Whether I would put their consciousness within the bodies of their past selves, or simply subtly possess them while their unaware of my influence would vary. And as you predicted, I've dragged duelists and even duel spirits from alternate dimensions as well. I'd avoid the heroic types though for obvious reasons of rebellion."

"And every time you'd fail?"

"Yes. More often than not, my presence led to Jaden regaining his memories of Supreme King early, and even reunite with Yubel. But half the time when that happened, even when I'm defeated, Jaden would take over the dimension as the Supreme King, so at least I leave some chaos. Aster Phoenix was the second most common person to defeat my candidates, but thankfully, he has no powers of darkness, so he never threatened my existence. There were a handful of times where Yugi Muto found out about me, even in timelines where a candidate managed to get Jaden out of the picture, and you can predict how that led to my downfall. And there's the large amount of times where my candidates are killed, imprisoned, or simply unable to get anywhere close to eliminating Jaden."

"Geez, you've been doing this a lot. Someting tells me that if we finally get you to succeed in taking over the world for you, you'l have no idea what to do next." Scott replied.

"Of course I know what to do next. Wipe out the universe, and do this all over again in another timeline."

"Huh?" Scott reacted. The Light didn't just want to take over the world?

"Scott Sheaffer. Maybe you'd like to answer?" Stein suddenly said. He must have noticed that Scott wasn't paying attention.

There were some snickers amongst the students, and an Obelisk Girl whispering 'busted.'

Scott stood up. "Polar Covalent Bonds are bonds between two atoms where electrons are unequally shared. Nonpolar Covalent Bonds have the electrons shared equally."

Stein gave a smile. "So you DID actually pay attention."

Scott sat back down. "I guess you didn't know. I wasn't trying to hide it. It just never came up." The Light told Scott.

"What do you mean do this all over again? Why even bother taking over the world in the first place if you'll just destroy it and go back from scratch?" Scott asked.

"Throughout my lifetime, I've drifted around with no purpose. The universe would die out due to heat death, and then start all over again. It was an utterly boring experience. But when I discovered this planet countless millenia ago, I saw something that gave me true bliss above all else. Destruction. Be it from wars, natural disasters, tyrants, it created a truly wonderful experience. Witnessing it had me realize my purpose. To have the universe's ultimate fate end in a far more blissful manner. Not through a slow, uneventful inevitability. But through beautiful annihilation. Sadly, there was never a time where I outright caused the universe to end, but when that day happens, I know I'll finally be complete."

"Then why even do it again? Won't once be satisfying enough?"

"Aren't there families that have multiple children despite the first birth providing the biggest experience? Aren't there those who strive to win multiple tournaments despite the first one providing the biggest sense of pride and accomplishment?"

Scott was at a loss for words. He knew The Light was cruel, but he didn't think it was completely insane.

"Now class, can anybody-" Stein was interrupted by the ringing of a bell.

Jaden enthusiastically rose up his head. "Alright! School's over!"

"Wait, you weren't even really asleep?" Chumley asked Jaden.

"Don't get too excited Jaden. Chancellor Sheppard wants to see you in his office." Mr. Stein said.

"Huh?"

"Jaden, what did you do this time?" Syrus half-heartedly asked.

"It's not just Jaden. Sheppard also wants to see Chazz Princeton, Damian Abunura, Scott Sheaffer, and Bastion Misawa." Mr. Stein sttated.

The called on students stood up and walked out of the class. Scott and Damian, as well as Ghassan, knew what this was about.

"So, what do you think Sheppard's calling us for?" Jaden asked.

"Perhaps he's hosting a school tournament and we've been selected as some of the participants." Bastion suggested.

"Heh. If that's what this is about, hope you guys like dueling for second place." Chazz boasted.

Eventually, they reached Sheppard's office. As they arrived, a familiar face reach the door as well. "So, you were called by Sheppard as well." Professor Crowler noticed. Unusually, he didn't have any snide remark towards Jaden. The news about Zane must have been dimming Crowler's mood as well.

Damian wasn't too surprised. 'Looks like Crowler's chosen like in canon. Honestly, if it weren't for Adrian giving up his chances to help us out, Crowler probably wouldn't have even been chosen.'

"Well, let's not keep him waiting." Crowler said. He walked into the door, the others following. There, they saw Sheppard at his desk, and Alexis standing near it. She had bandages on her limbs and face and gauze wrapped around her head.

"I'm glad that you've arrived. I finished explaining the situation to Alexis." Sheppard said. He was looking pretty tense.

"Situation?" Jaden asked.

Sheppard nodded. "As you know, Zane went into a coma last week and Banner has vanished without a trace. But I've been hiding my suspicions for what caused that."

"Wait, you had an idea foer what caused it?" Damian asked in fake shock. "Why did you hide it?"

"First of all, I believed there needed to be a moment of rest for the students. But second, I didn't want to start a panic."

"A panic about what?"

"Zane was attacked by a Shadow Duelist." Alexis answered.

Scott raised an eyebrow, pretending to have not expected the answer. "You're kidding right?"

"No. A Shadow Duelist attacked Adrian and forced him to send a message to Zane to duel him at the beach alone. Apparently, the Shadow Rider knew about what happened to Atticus. I took Adrian to the infirmary, but then he went into a trance and dueled me. The Shadow Duelist that attacked him must have brainwashed him or something. During the duel, the damage was real."

This took Jaden, Chazz, Bastion, and Crowler by surprise. "Wait, so there's someone on the island that can start actual Shadow Games?!" Banner asked in shock. "I've read about them, but I never thought they were actually real!"

"Unfortunately, they are. And if this is what I think it is, it's not just one, but seven. The Shadow Riders." Sheppard said.

"Umm...who are the Shadow Riders?" Jaden asked.

"Before I answer that, I need to tell you about the Sacred Beasts. See, this academy wasn't only built to teach. It was built to contain the Sacred Beasts. They're contained deep underneath this island."

"Wait, why not just lock them behind a safe or something?" Scott asked. "Seems kinda excessive to build a whole school on top of them."

"Unfortunately, these aren't any ordinary cards. They were designed as counterparts to the Egypitan God cards, and rivals them in power."

Damian put has hand over his mouth to hold in his laughter. Sheppard acting like the Sacred Beasts held a candle to the Egyptian Gods was too much for him to handle.

"Is something wrong?" Sheppard asked Damian.

"Mph. Sorry sir. I was just...surprised."

"I see. Anyway, the Sacred Beasts cards pose a massive threat to the world. If unleashed onto the surface, there wicked power will cover the entire planet, and plunge the world into chaos. All life on Earth itself could end as a result of their awakening."

Everyone else seemed worried about this, but Damian and Scott knew that the legend was an exaggeration. In the anime, when Kagemaru unleashed the Sacred Beasts, the worst they would drain away all Duel Monsters cards and make them blank. The end of dueling, true. But not the end of the world itself. It's probably why The Light only saw them as a way to regain power rather than to destroy the world.

"Thankfully, their power has been sealed underneath this academy. Seven pillars known as the Spirit Gates protect the cards. But that seal is at risk of being undone."

"By these Shadow Riders, right?" Chazz asked.

Sheppard nodded. "Correct. To unlock the Spirit Gates, one needs the Seven Spirit Keys." Sheppard placed a box on the desk. "I've asked you to protect them."

"Protect them? But how?" Bastion asked.

"The only way to have a Spirit Key be able to unlock a Spirit Gate is by winning it in a duel. Naturally, this might lead one to think we can simply refuse to duel them, but then they'll simply attack the islands, students, and faculty indiscrimnately and cost countless lives. So I called for you seven. The finest duelists we have available. Albeit, some were to make up for the number issue."

Crowler turned to Jaden. "He's probably talking about you."

"Wait, what about Adrian Gecko?" Bastion asked.

"He told me it would be best if he wasn't a key holder. He's worried that, since he was brainwashed by a Shadow Rider, they might still have control over him."

This took Damian by surprise. 'Adrian ASKED not to be a key holder? I thought he was just predicting Sheppard's decision.'

"Feh. Figures he'd be too pampered to want to get his hands dirty." Chazz said. It was clear that, just like in canon, he resented Adrian, viewing him as someone who was handed everything in life. And of course for having a richer family than him.

"So, these Shadow Riders. Do you think Banner's disappearance is linked to them?" Scott asked.

"It's a high probability." Sheppard opened up the box, what looked like beige puzzle pieces, each with a black rune transcribed. Tiny holes were in each of them with a string wrapped around it. "Now, this is dangerous, so I won't force you to take them if you're afraid."

Alexis was the first to take a spirit key. "First Atticus, then Zane...I can't just stand back and let these guys take away everyone I care about." Alexis put her head through the string, wearing the Spirit Key like a necklace.

"I'm in too." Jaden took a key and put it around his neck. "There's no way I'd miss out on something like this."

Soon enough, all seven of them took a spirit key. "Thank you all for agreeing to this. Remember, these aren't ordinary duelists. You could be attacked by the enemy at any time. Be on guard."

Everybody walked out of Sheppard's office and split off, Damian and Scott walking together. "Just one thing left to do now, huh?" Damian whispered.

"Yeah." Scott got out his PDA. "We both got a message that told us to come to the cave late at night tonight. And it's pretty clear that it's Kagemaru."


It took a while to find the cave the message was talking about, but Damian and Scott eventually arrived at the location, both wearing their backpacks. "You came prepared, right?" Scott asked Damian.

Damian nodded. "I ordered the costume last week, and it arrived two days ago. I have a disguise."

"And the Short Circuit cards?"

Damian pulled out several copies of the card from his pocket. "If Kagemaru tries to attack us, he can say bye-bye to his life support."

Scott nodded, before the two walked inside the cave. During the walk, Scott was thinking about The Light's true intentions. He had to admit, knowing that he was working to help cause the end to a whole dimension definitely hit differently than thinking he was just taking it over.

"Does this mean you plan on betraying me?" The Light asked inside Scott's head.

"...No. Take over the world, destroy the world. Whatever you plan on doing, our goal is the same. Get back home."

"That's what I like to hear."

"Though I have a question. You say that you need us to restore you to your original power. But you're recruiting monsters from Spirit Worlds, taking people's consciousness back in time, and of course, dragging me, Damian, and Ghassan from our dimension to this one. Are you really weakened? Or do you just want to gain more power?"

The Light chuckled in Scott's head. "Mixture of both. In several of the timelines, I nearly got destroyed due to Jaden's Gentle Darkness, resulting in me getting weakened and needing to start all over to regain my power. I'm far closer to restoring my power now thanks to the souls absorbed by The D and several Duel Spirits. But I need to do more than simply have my power restored. I need to be able to overpower the Gentle Darkness. Then, the universe can be bathed in beautiful light."

"So long as you send us home. We don't want to die alongside this dimension."

"You made it." A voice said. Up ahead were four people. A muscular amazonian whose hair was tied in a ponytail, a young man in pharaoh's clothing, a pale woman with long green hair, and the eye catching one, a withered old man inside a stasis tube carried by a spider-like contraption.

"Kagemaru." Damian said. He then turned to the other three. "Camula, Tania, and Abidos. Huh. Where's Don Zaloog and Nightshroud?"

The amazonian, Tania, smiled. "He really does know about us. Not bad."

"Yeah, as a heads up, I know that you're looking for someone to marry, and I have no interest in that."

"Playing hard to get while using your knowledge about us to impress me, eh? Well it's not NOT working."

"To answer your questions, Nightshroud already went off ahead to duel Jaden. Don Zaloog can't materialize because you stole his Shadow Charm." Kagemaru stated.

"Hey. Banner was the one who took it for Jinzo." Damian said defensively.

"Regardless, Don Zaloog and the Dark Scorpions won't be able to help. So, there's another position open."

"Which can be filled by Damian." Scott stated.

Damian suddenly remembered Kagemaru's answer for Nightshroud. "Wait, didn't you guys find out that Kagemaru plans for Jaden to be alive?"

The woman with green hair, Camula, stepped up. "Yes. We all watched what my bat displayed. And naturally, were shocked that Kagemaru lied to us."

"So...why are you still working for him?"

"Because I'M the reason they can accomplish their goals." Kagemaru said. "Notice how all of them have Shadow Charms?"

Damian and Scott took a second look. He was right. There was a choker around Camula's neck, a gauntlet over one of Tania's hands, and a headband around Abidos' head. All of them with the Wdjat Eye. "I get it. If they ever betray you, you could negate the powers of their Shadow Charms with yours, right?"

"Correct. Abidos would go back to the afterlife, Tania would revert into her true form as a tiger, and Camula would be unable to steal souls to revive her species, forcing her to return to hiding."

"Wait, what." Scott asked.

"She's the last of her kind. People hunted vampires down, she went into hiding, sworn revenge on mankind, yada yada." Damian quickly explained.

"Accurate, if inelegant." Camula responded.

"So, we decided that so long as we don't initiate Shadow Duels against Jaden, we can still find what we want." Tania stated. "Hell, I was never planning on killing anyone to begin with. I'm just trying to find a many to marry."

"So long as I find a worthy opponent, it doesn't have to be this Jaden." Abidos said.

"And can still gather souls to revive my kind." Camula said.

"Huh. You guys responded to finding out you were basically death bait pretty well." Damian said.

"Eh. Not much we can do when the person we'd want to kill can deactivate our Shadow Charms whenever he wants." Tania replied.

Damian realized that this must have been why Banner revealed to Camula that Kagemaru viewed them as people to be killed by Jaden. It would discourage them from going after Jaden, protecting him.

"Unfortunately, Nightshroud is an exception." Kagemaru stated. "He doesn't need the Shadow Charm to possess Atticus, nor initiate Shadow Duels. When he found out I never intended to have him duel Jaden, he ran off to duel and kill Jaden. And he intends to kill me next if he defeats him." Kagemaru turned to Damian. "Boy. In your dimension when we were a show, how did the duel end?"

"Jaden beat Nightshroud. But in the likely event that Nightshroud gained new cards, that might change. Originally, Jaden beat Chazz in the School Duel, but with how things changed, it led to a draw."

"Hmm. This could be problematic then." Kagemaru's machine turned around. "Banner pretty much forced us on to eachother. He provided proof that we could turn into Sheppard to get you expelled, but at the same time, let you find out that you could tell Sheppard the truth about the Sacred Beasts so he could destroy them like any other cards. No doubt he wished for us to conflict with and sabotage eachother."

"I want Jaden to be saved, but I don't want any of my original Shadow Riders to duel Nightshroud to stop him. If they lost, it would be a waste." Kagemaru subtly turned to Damian from within his tube. "I'd want someone more expendable."

"I get it. You want me to duel Nightshroud in a Shadow Duel." Damian stated.

"Yes. Consider this your initation test since Scott proved his skills against Banner and Zane. Even if you lose, you can hopefully weaken Nightshroud enough for Jaden to defeat him. Then, if you're able to defeat Nightshroud, you'll duel Jaden. You can't initiate Shadow Duels, so I don't have to worry about losing him as a source of Duel Energy even in the unlikely event you beat him."

"Unlikely?" Damian repeated, feeling offended.

Scott turned to Damian. If Ghassan were here, he'd probably protest this. But the idea made sense. Damian weakens Nightshroud enough for Jaden to defeat him, and if Damian died, then Scott, Ghassan, and Adrian would no longer need to worry about being betrayed by him.

Scott suddenly widened his eyes, shocked at himself. Was that seriously his first thought at the idea of his friend being killed?

"Fine." Damian said. His hands were shaking a bit. "I'll duel Nightshroud, and if I beat him, Jaden. Will I duel disguised, or as myself?"

"Disguised. If you duel as yourself, Nightshroud might expose you in front of Jaden. We can't take that risk. Besides, if you win, you'll duel Jaden next. I take it you've brought a disguise?"

Damian nodded, put his bag on the ground, started to unbutton his Obelisk Blue jacket.

"Dude, don't change in front of us!" Scott yelled.

"Ah, don't be such a killjoy." Tania told Scott.

"I'm with Scott. Change behind a rock or something." Kagemaru said to Damian.

"Ok, ok, sheesh." Damian took his bag and went out of sight to change.


Ghassan was lying in bed anxiously. So many important things were going on. But none that he had anything to do with. He wasn't picked as a key holder, he wasn't joining the Shadow Riders, and he wasn't with Adrian to find half of the Shadow Charmm Pendant. All he could do right now was worry.

Soon, he heard a knock on the door. "Guess Scott and Damian came back to report. Or maybe it's Adrian?"

Ghassan got out of his bed and opened up the door. It was Adrian, holding half of the shadow pendant. He was covered with cuts and burn marks. "Sorry it took so long." He gave the pendant to Ghassan.

"Oh hey! You passed the test huh?"

"Not exactly. There was no test." Adrian responded.

"So, they attacked you and you had to fight for it then?"

"Not the Gravekeepers." Adrian walked inside, Ghassan closing the door. "The dimension that I was sent to. It was attacked by other Duel Spirits. They killed almost all the Gravekeepers, and then captured me when we arrived. I managed to escape my cell with Cloudian-Poison Cloud though."

Ghassan widened his eyes, but shrugged. "Well, it doesn't concern us now that you mannaged to swipe the pendant."

"You're wrong." Adrian turned to Ghassan. "I got the pendant, but now those monsters know about our dimension. And it'll only be a matter of time before they invade it."

"What's the big deal? The worst they can do is corrupt a few duelists or something, they can't physically appear like Gagagigo can unless they're summoned."

"That's the problem. Giga Gagagigo brought Jinzo's corpse with that Shadow Charm Eyepatch. And he got captured by the Invader of Darkness."


No dueling this chapter, but quite a lot has occured. Damian and Scott have joined the Shadow Riders. Damian's first task? Duel the defected Nightshroud. and then duel Jaden. Meanwhile, it seems that Giga Gagagigo's old enemies are taking an interest in the home dimension. Who knows what this'll spell out?

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and are looking forward to the next one!