Chapter 11, The shadow duellist.
Dr Crowler was in his office thinking of how he could get rid of Jaden or Robin, "What to do, what to do, there must be something I can do to get rid of those two, I'd ever settle on just getting rid of one of them" he thought.
Crowler had been trying to think of an idea of the past few weeks without success. "Think Crowler, I wish I could just make them run away from duel academy as fast as… Wait that's it, scare them away, but how".
Crowler sat down and started to work out a plan to scare one of his most despised students, I can't do it myself I'll have to hire someone to do it" he thought as he began to search the internet for the perfect person for the job.
After some time Crowler found just what he was looking for, a man claiming to be a shadow duellist who says he'd take any job for the right price, "Perfect, just what I needed" thought Crowler as he sent an email to this man.
Over the next two days Crowler and the man discussed the job by email, after Crowler agreed to pay the man three months' worth of his salary they agreed to meet face to face.
It took the man the rest of the week to get to the island and when he did it was night time and Crowler was waiting at the docks for him "Excellent you've arrived, come we have many things we must discuss" said Crower.
Crowler snuck the man into his office then pulled a picture out of his desk draw "This is your first target Jaden Yuki, I what you to scare this boy out of ever wanting to pick up a deck of cards again" said Crowler.
The man took the picture of Jaden examining his target "Very well, give me forty-eight hours and the job with be done" said the man as he left Crowler's office.
The next day Jaden was sitting in a tree looking through his deck when he heard a voice "You should get down from there, you might hurt yourself", Jaden looked down to see Alexis standing below him.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing" said Jaden standing up, however as he did the branch he was on suddenly broke and Jaden fell to the ground, Alexis ran to Jaden "Jaden are you aright" she asked in panic.
Jaden looked up to her "Don't worry, I'm fine" he said, Alexis held out her hand to Jaden and helped him to his feet "Just be careful from now on, you could have really hurt yourself" she said.
What nether of them noticed was the man watching them from the trees "Interesting, it seems I've found my bait" thought the man as he started to follow Alexis.
Alexis was having a normal day after seeing Jaden in the tree she meet up with Jasmine and Mindy and spent the rest of the day with them. When it started to get late Jasmine and Mindy headed back to the dorm and Alexis said she'd catch up to them later.
Once she was alone Alexis picked some wild flowers and headed to the abandoned dorm, when she reached the dorm she placed the flowers at the gate, "Rest in peace Atticus" she thought, suddenly someone grab her arm and placed a damp cloth over her mouth.
Alexis breathed deep out of shock and immediately felt dizzy as her vision darkened and she passed out.
The next morning Dr Crowler was in his office getting the papers ready for his lesson today when he heard a knock on the door "Come in" he said, the door opened and the man he had hired walked in.
"So have you dealt with Jaden yet" asked Crowler, the man pulled out a envelop from his coat "Not yet, make sure he receives this, and come to that abandoned dorm at 10:30pm you can pay me there when it's over" said the man pacing the envelop to Crowler then leaving the room without another word.
During class Crowler was so distracted by the thought of finally getting rid of Jaden that he didn't notice that Alexis was missing, after class Crowler quickly left the room and made his way to the boys lockers before anyone else and slipped the envelop into Jaden's locker however as Crowler walked away he didn't notice that the envelope fell out of Jaden's locker a landed on the flour.
Back in the classroom Robin was collecting his things, he could see that Jaden had fallen asleep again and Syrus and Chumley was trying to wake him up. Turning around Robin saw Jasmine and Mindy and approached them "Excuse me girls, could I ask you something" said Robin.
Turning to him Mindy smiled while Jasmine frowned "What is it" asked Mindy happily, "I didn't see Alexis in class today is she ok" asked Robin, "Why should we tell you" said Jasmine coldly, "Hey, he was only asking" said Mindy, turning to Robin Mindy answered his question "Alexis didn't answer when I knocked on her door today so maybe she sick, but don't worry I'm sure she's fine", after that both Mindy and Jasmine left Robin by himself.
When Robin reached his locker to change his shoes he noticed a envelop on the floor, picking it up he saw that there was no name on it so looking around to see if anyone was nearby Robin opened the envelop and read the letter inside.
Jaden, If you want to see the pretty blonde girl again come to the abandoned dorm to the north of the island at 10pm, bring your deck and duel disk.
After reading the letter Robin heard the voices of Jaden, Syrus and Chumley heading towards him so he quickly ripped up the letter and throw the pieces in a nearby bin before leaving.
Over at the abandoned dorm Alexis slowly regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was how dark it was she couldn't see a thing, the next thing she noticed was that both her hands and feet was tied up and that she had been gagged.
Struggling against her bounds Alexis realised she was inside a box of some kind and she had no way to get out, after some time she heard movement outside the box, she could hear someone walking around and dragging something heavy into place.
Eventually the sounds stopped and Alexis waited in the box, hours went by and Alexis was getting both hunger and thirsty, whoever had kidnaped her wasn't bothering to give her anything to eat or drink and she began to fear that she might die in this box.
At the Obelisk boys dorm Robin was preparing his deck and duel disk, it was 9:30pm and he started to head to the abandoned dorm "Sorry Jaden but this seems too serious for someone like you" thought Robin.
Once Robin reached the abandoned dorm he immediately went inside, inside it was as quiet as the last time he was here, "Ok, whoever's behind this get the hell out here now!" shouted Robin.
Suddenly Robin heard a voice come from a nearby door "Ha, ha, ha, come Jaden and face me in a game of darkness", following the voice through the door and down some stairs Robin was led to the basement, when he reached the bottom Robin was shocked at what he saw.
The basement was covered in strange symbols that looked like they was part of some kind of occult ritual, the largest of these symbols was in the middle of the room with burnt out candles circling it, propped up against the walls of the room was several old wooden coffins.
Standing to the far side of the room was a large man with his back to Robin, he was wearing and long black coat and black hat. "Welcome Jaden, are you ready to fall into darkness" said the man as he turned around, the top half of his face was covered with a silver mask.
When the man saw Robin he was immediately shocked "Wait you're not Jaden, who are you" he said, Robin looked the man in the eye "Where is she" he said in a serious voice, the man looked back to Robin and said "I asked you who are you", "WHERE IS SHE!" Robin shouted.
The man was taken back by this and walked over to a coffin and opened it revealing Alexis inside, she looked very tired and a little dehydrated, then the man removed the gag covering her mouth, Alexis coughed a few times before forcing her dry mouth and throat to utter words "Robin be careful".
The man looked back to Robin "Robin you say, you was my next target so I guess this works out after all" said the man "Now then allow me to introduce myself I am Titan the shadow duellist".
Robin looked even more angry "Let her go" he said with venom in his voice, Titan laughed "Only if you can defeat me in a shadow game, and when you lose you will be sent to the shadow realm for eternity" said Titan, Robin clenched his fist "Then prepare to die" he said.
The two activated their duel disks and the game began "I always let my victims go first, so go ahead" said Titan.
Robin drew his first card, "I summon Maiden of macabre in attack mode then I activate Shard of greed and play one card face down, now I end my turn" said Robin.
Maiden of macabre ATK 1700 DEF 0 LV4 DARK spellcaster.
Titan began to laugh "You foolish boy, now I will call upon the powers of darkness" he said as he pulled a gold upside down pyramid from his coat, "With my millennium pendant I will turn this game into a shadow game".
As Titan finished his sentence the room began to fill with black smoke covering the flour, seeing this Alexis began to panic but Robin was unimpressed "Is this supposed to scare me" he said.
Titan laughed harder and said "I see you don't know what a shadow game is, you see with the millennium pendant" "SHUT UP!" shouted Robin "This isn't a shadow game, and that's not a millennium item, that's just a copy of Yugi Moto's millennium puzzle that they started selling in gift shops after he won Battle city".
As Robin finished Titan was beginning to look worried and Alexis was starting to laugh, however everyone went silent as the fake millennium puzzle in Titan's hand suddenly exploded into pieces followed by the smoke machines Titan had hidden in the room also exploding.
"What's going on" said Titan in panic as all the candles relit themselves and black goo started emerging from all the symbols in the room and started to cover the flour, walls and ceiling.
Once the goo had completely covered the room it looked as if Robin, Alexis and Titan was standing in a room made out of shadow, seeing this Titan began to panic even more and tried to run away but as he neared one of the walls shadowy hands reached out and attempted to grab him.
Titan jumped back "How do I get out of here" as he said these words all three of them heard a voice speak to them from the darkness "Play the game, the winner will go free, the loser will join us".
At this Titan turned pale "Ok, I have to win the game" he said standing back in his places, "I can do this, I can beat a child".
Titan drew his card with a shaking hand "First I send Archfiend general to the graveyard to add Pandemonium to my hand and I'm activating it now, next I play Cost down, by discard one card the level of all monsters in my hand are reduced by 2" said Titan as he discarded Black pendant.
"So now I can summon Skull archfiend of lightning without a sacrifice, now my Skull attack his monster" said Titan, "I activate Shrink" said Robin, Skull's effect was activated and a dice was thrown, if the result was a 1, 3 or 6 then Robin's card would be negated, the result was a 6 and so Shrink was negated, Skull then destroyed Maiden of macabre.
Skull archfiend of lightning ATK 2500 DEF 1200 LV 6 DARK fiend.
Robin LP 4000 – 800 = 3200.
Robin's turn started and one greed counter was placed on Shard of greed, "I play one monster in defences mode and end my turn" said Robin. "My turn" said Titan "I summon Terrorking archfiend in attack mode".
Terrorking archfiend ATK 2000 DEF 1500 LV 4 DARK fiend.
"Now my Skull attack his monster" said Titan, Skull destroyed Purple poison magician "Since you destroyed my magician I can destroy one face up card you control and I chose Terrorking" said Robin, Terrorking's effect was activated and a dice was thrown, Titan needed a 2 or 5 to negate Robin's card, the result was a 2 so Purple poison magician's effect was negated.
Purple poison magician ATK 1200 DEF 2100 LV 4 DARK spellcaster.
"Now Terrorking attack him directly, then I end my turn" said Titan, after Terrorking's attack Robin began to feel weak as he lost more of his LP.
Robin LP 3200 – 2000 = 1200.
Robin drew his card and a second greed counter was placed on Shard of greed "Now that there's two counters on Shard of greed I can send it to the graveyard to draw two cards" said Robin, as he drew his cards and smiled.
"First I activate Mystical space typhoon to destroy your Pandemonium, then I activate Swords of revealing light and play one card in defence mode" said Robin.
Titan's turn started "Stop! Now that Pandemonium is gone you have to pay 500 LP for your Skull and 800 LP for your Terrorking every turn" said Robin, Titan looked worried as he realised this.
Titan LP 4000 – 1300 = 2700.
Titan looked at the cards in his hand for anyway out of this, "I end my turn" he said without playing a card. Robin drew his card "I play another card in defence mode and end my turn" he said.
Titan drew his card then was forced to pay LP of both of his monsters, as his LP dropped Titan began to fell dizzy as the shadow game started to affect him.
Titan LP 2700 – 1300 = 1400.
Titan tried to think of a way to win "What can I do, there's not a card in my hand that can destroy his Swords and if I play a monster that will make my LP drop even faster", "I pass this turn" he said.
Robin drew his card "I play a monster in defence mode and one card face down, now I end my turn" he said. Titan started his turn and his LP dropped again.
Titan LP 1400 – 1300 = 100.
As Titan's LP dropped to 100 he began to feel very tired as his vision became bleary and darkened, suddenly Titan dropped the cards in his hand and fell to his knees as both of his monsters disappeared.
Titan began to sink into the black goo on the flour, "What, please help me" said Titan in a weak voice reaching out to Robin, soon Titan's entire body sunk in to the flour leaving no trace of him left.
After Titan was gone the black goo receded back to the symbols it had come from returning the room back to normal.
With the goo gone Robin ran up to Alexis and untied her "Are you ok" he asked, Alexis rubbed her whist where the rope had held her "Yes, but what happened to that other guy" she said, Robin looked at where Titan had been "I'm not sure where he was sent to, but I'm glad I'm not going there, come on let's get out of here".
Outside Dr Crowler was hiding in the trees "Ok just a little longer and Jaden should come running out screaming" he thought, looking at the abandoned dorm he saw Robin and Alexis leaving "What, what are they doing here and where's Jaden".
Robin and Alexis walked back to their dorm "I think it's best if we don't tell anyone what happened tonight" said Robin, Alexis nodded "Yes, I think your right" she said.
As they reached the crossroads to their dorms Robin turned to Alexis "Alexis wait, I need to ask you something" Alexis stopped walking and turned to him.
"Alexis I know you've been going up to that dorm every night to pay your respects but after what happened there tonight" as he said the next part he took her hand holding it with both of his "I want you to promise me that you won't go near that place again".
Alexis looked into his eyes and saw fear, worry and begging in them "Ok, I promise" she said, Robin smiled and then wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug, after a second of shock Alexis returned the hug.
Pulling away both Robin and Alexis had a deep red blush on their faces "Sorry about that, I was just really relieved" said Robin, Alexis smiled "No it's ok, that was, nice" she said.
The two stood there in silence for a second unable to look at each other before heading to their dorms glad that the awkward moment was over.
