Chapter 35, Gravekeeper's trial.
Jaden woke up and found that he had a horrible headache, "Aw man, it feels like my head is going to explode" he said, Jaden opened his eyes and saw that he was in a city made mostly of stone.
"What the, what is this place" asked Jaden even though no one was around, Jaden heard a gentle sound next to him, Jaden turned around and saw Whinged kuriboh floating next to him, Jaden failed to notice that Winged kuriboh looked far more solid than usual.
"Hey little guy, nice to know that I'm not alone" said Jaden, Winged kuriboh made a happy sound, Jaden looked around "Any idea where we are" he asked, Winged kuriboh shrugged showing that he had no idea.
"Man, this place looks awesome, someone should pinch me because I think I'm dreaming" said Jaden, Winged kuriboh floated up to Jaden and pinched his cheek using his tiny claws, Jaden jumped at the pain and rubbed his cheek, "Ow, Kuriboh that hurt" said Jaden, a second later he realised what he just said.
"Wait, that hurt?" said Jaden in confusion, Jaden reached out and to his amazement realised that he could touch Winged kuriboh, "What's going on here, I've never been able to touch you before" asked Jaden, however because Kuriboh was unable to speak Jaden had no way of knowing if he knew anything or not.
"Anyway we can't just sit here, let's go and find the others" said Jaden, as Jaden stood up he noticed that there was something at his feet, Jaden reached down and picked up his duel disk.
"How did this get here, I thought I left it in my room" said a very confused Jaden, "Oh well, I might as well take it with me" he said as he strapped his duel disk onto his wrist.
Jaden began to search the city hoping to find someone, finally after several minutes of looking Jaden saw someone wearing a black cloak, "Hey excuse me do you know where I am" asked Jaden.
The cloaked person turned around revealing herself to be a young woman, she appeared to only be about twenty years old or perhaps even younger, she had black hair and grey eyes.
Before ether of them could say a word they heard the sound of footsteps coming their way, Jaden was about to call out to whoever was coming, but the woman suddenly covered Jaden's mouth and dragged him into a nearby building.
Jaden still being held by the woman watched as several armed men passed the building, luckily none of them noticed Jaden, the woman released Jaden once she was sure the men was gone.
"Stranger, you must leave this place at once" said the woman, "Sure I'd love too, except I don't know how, plus I've got to find my friends" said Jaden, "Your friends" whispered the woman as a thought occurred to her.
"Stranger wait here, and I will see if I can find your friends" said the woman, "You will, gee thanks a ton" said Jaden, the woman was about to leave when Jaden said something, "Hold on, what's you name anyway" he asked, the woman stopped at the doorway, "Yasmin, my name is Yasmin" she said before she left the building and disappeared from sight.
Jaden waited for what felt like hours for Yasmin to come back, "She sure has been gone a long time, you don't think she's in trouble do you" Jaden asked Winged kuriboh, Winged kuriboh only made a confused sound.
Before Jaden could decide on what he should do he heard voices coming his way, suddenly several cloaked men carrying weapons appeared at the doorway and restrained Jaden, now that Jaden was restrained the Chief walked in closely followed by the veiled woman.
"Who are you, and where's Yasmin" asked Jaden, "She is of no concern to you right now, you should be more worried about yourself and your friends" said the Chief, "My friends? What have you done to them" demanded Jaden.
"Your friends was caught trespassing in our city, and our law says that any intruders with be buried alive" said the Chief, "What you can't be serious, we didn't even want to come here" said Jaden.
"Perhaps you would be willing to fight for your friends freedom" said the Chief looking at Jaden's duel disk, "What kind of fight, do you mean a boxing match" asked Jaden, the Chief sighed at Jaden's naivety.
"No I was thinking of something you may be more familiar with" said the Chief as he signalled one of his men to bring him something, within a few seconds the man returned with a duel disk made entirely of stone.
"You want to duel me, alright that sounds fun" said Jaden happily, "Trust me, this will be a duel like none you have ever experienced before" said the Chief, "Guards take him to the valley".
Soon Jaden and the Chief was standing on opposite sides of a deep valley, "Alright this is going to be awesome" said Jaden, "I don't think the others think this is as you say awesome" said the Chief, "What do you mean" asked Jaden, "Look down there" said the Chief pointing to the valley below.
Jaden looked down and saw to his horror that Robin, Alexis, Bastion, Chazz and Banner had all been wrapped up like mummies except for their heads and placed in coffins with the lids waiting at the sides.
"Hey, what's going on here" asked a very confused Jaden, "Don't you see, if you lose then you and your friends will be buried alive here" said the Chief, "What, this has got to be some kind of joke, right" said a slightly panicking Jaden.
"I can assure you that this is no mere joke, this is very real, now then shall we begin" said the Chief as he placed his stone duel disk on his arm, which much to Jaden's surprise began to glow with a mystical light.
At the bottom of the valley Robin and the others was very worried, "What are we going to do" asked Chazz, "I'm afraid that the only thing we can do if hope that Jaden wins this duel" said Banner, "If Jaden's our only hope of survival then we're doomed" thought Robin.
"I will go first" said the Chief, "I activate the field spell Necrovalley, this cards prevents us both from moving any monsters from the graveyard, and it also increases all of my Gravekeeper's ATK and DEF by 500" said the Chief.
"Next I summon Gravekeeper's curse in attack mode, and when I summon this monster you take 500 points of damage" explained the Chief.
Gravekeeper's curse ATK 800 DEF 800 LV 3 DARK spellcaster.
Gravekeeper's curse ATK 800 + 500 = 1300 DEF 800 + 500 = 1300.
Jaden LP 4000 – 500 = 3500.
Jaden felt an intense pain shoot though his body as his LP went down, also as Jaden lost LP the coffin lids slowly began to move into place "What happened? I actually felt that" said Jaden, "I warned you, this duel is very real" said the Chief.
At this point Jaden's smile disappeared as he realised how serious the situation was, "Wait you really meant it when you said that you'd bury us alive" he said, "Of course I did, now make you move" said the Chief.
Jaden started his turn, "I summon a monster in defence mode, and end my turn" he said.
The Chief's turn started, "I summon Gravekeeper's spear soldier in attack mode, and when this card attacks a monster in defence mode it deals piercing damage" explained the Chief.
Gravekeeper's spear soldier ATK 1500 DEF 1000 LV 4 DARK spellcaster.
Gravekeeper's spear soldier ATK 1500 + 500 = 2000 DEF 1000 + 500 = 1500.
"Now Spear soldier attack his monster" ordered the Chief, Spear soldier attacked Jaden's defence monster which was revealed to be E HERO clayman, luckily Clayman had just enough DEF points to survive the attack.
E HERO clayman ATK 800 DEF 2000 LV 4 EARTH warrior.
The Chief ended his turn, looking very annoyed.
Jaden drew his card, "Ok, I summon E HERO stratos in attack mode, and when I summon this card I can destroy one spell or trap card for every other HERO monster I control, and I'm going to destroy your Necrovalley" said Jaden.
E HERO stratos ATK 1800 DEF 300 LV 4 WIND warrior.
Necrovalley was destroyed and both of the Chief's monster's ATK and DEF returned to their original values.
Gravekeeper's curse ATK 1300 – 500 = 800 DEF 1300 – 500 =800.
Gravekeeper's spear soldier ATK 2000 – 500 = 1500 DEF 1500 – 500 = 1000.
"Now Stratos destroy Gravekeeper's curse" ordered Jaden, Gravekeeper's curse was destroyed, the Chief's LP dropped but unlike Jaden the Chief didn't seem to mind the pain, "Alright, I end my turn".
Chief LP 4000 – 1000 = 3000.
The Chief drew his card, "I discard Gravekeeper's commandant, this allows me to add another copy of Necrovalley to my hand, and I think I'll activate it right now" said the Chief as he activated Necrovalley.
Gravekeeper's spear soldier ATH 1500 + 500 = 2000 DEF 1000 + 500 = 1500.
"Now I'll summon Gravekeeper's nobleman in attack mode, and activate the spell card Gravekeeper's servant, as long as this card remains on the field you must send the top card of your deck to the graveyard every time you attack" explained the Chief.
Gravekeeper's nobleman ATK 1000 DEF 1000 LV 3 DARK spellcaster.
Gravekeeper's nobleman ATK 1000 + 500 = 1500 DEF 1000 + 500 = 1500.
"Now Spear soldier attack Stratos" ordered the Chief, Spear soldier attacked and destroyed Stratos, "I end my turn".
Jaden LP 3500 – 200 = 3300.
"Ok it's my turn" said Jaden, "I activate Polymerization to fuse Crayman and Bubbleman to summon E HERO mudballman in defence mode, and I'll also summon E HERO heat in attack mode, and this guy gains 200 ATK points for every E HERO I control including himself".
E HERO mudballman ATK 1900 DEF 3000 LV 6 EARTH warrior.
E HERO heat ATK 1600 DEF 1200 LV 4 FIRE pyro.
E HERO heat ATK 1600 + 400 = 2000.
"But that's not all, now I'll use the spell card H-heated heart, this will give Heat an extra 500 ATK points until the end of the turn, now Heat destroy that Nobleman" said Jaden, Jaden sent the top card of his deck to the graveyard, which was E HERO necroshade, and Heat destroyed Nobleman.
E HERO heat ATK 2000 + 500 = 2500.
Chief LP 3000 – 1000 = 2000.
"When Nobleman is destroyed I can summon a Gravekeeper's monster from my deck in face down defence position" said the Chief as a new monster appeared on his side of the field, "I end my turn" said Jaden.
E HERO heat ATK 2500 – 500 = 2000.
The Chief started his turn "First I'll flip my face down monster, Gravekeeper's assailant" he said, as Assailant appeared on the field Jaden recognised her as the same veiled woman who had been with the Chief earlier.
Gravekeeper's assailant ATK 1500 DEF 1500 LV 4 DARK spellcaster.
Gravekeeper's assailant ATK 1500 + 500 = 2000 DEF 1500 + 500 = 2000.
"Next I tribute Spear soldier to summon myself" said the Chief, "Wait a minute you can't summon yourself in a duel" said a confused Jaden, however much to his surprise the Chief himself stepped out onto the field as if he was a monster, "I believe I just did" said the Chief.
Gravekeeper's chief ATK 1900 DEF 1200 LV 5 DARK spellcaster.
Gravekeeper's chief ATK 1900 + 500 = 2400 DEF 1200 + 500 = 1700.
"And when I'm tribute summoned to the field I can summon a Gravekeeper's monster from my graveyard, and I chose Spear soldier" said the Chief as Spear soldier returned to the field, "But that's not all, as long as I'm on the field my graveyard is unaffected by the effects of Necrovalley".
"So that guy's really a monster card" said Alexis, "Don't be too surprised, after all we did battle Jinzo not too long ago" said Robin, "Jinzo? What are you two talking about" asked Banner, "If we survive this I'll tell you all about it" said Robin.
"Now Assailant attack Mudballman" ordered the Chief, Assailant noticeably hesitated before attacking, thanks to her effect Mudballman was switched to attack mode and destroyed.
Jaden LP 3300 – 100 = 3200.
E HERO heat ATK 2000 – 200 = 1800.
Assailant returned to her side of the field and the Chief slapped her, "Don't ever hesitant again" he said as she cowered before him, "Hey you can't treat your monsters that way" said Jaden although the Chief ignored him.
Down below the others had been troubled by what they saw as well, "That guy has no respect for his monsters" said Robin.
"Spear soldier attack Heat" ordered the Chief, Spear soldier attacked and destroyed Heat, "And now I will attack you directly" said the Chief as he attacked Jaden.
Jaden LP 3200 – 200 = 3000.
Jaden LP 3000 – 2400 = 600.
As Jaden's LP dropped the pain in his body increased, he was finding it difficult to remain on his feet and his vision was starting to blur, "It's your move" said the Chief although Jaden could hardly hear him.
Jaden drew his card and looked at the cards in his hand, he was currently holding, E HERO bladedge, O-oversoul, and Megamorph which he had just drawn, "Man, this isn't good there's nothing I can do, I can't use O-oversoul because of Necrovalley, wait Necrovalley stops me from summoning monsters from the grave, but it can't stop monster's who's effects activate in the grave" thought Jaden as he realised something.
"Alright, I use the effect of Necroshade, once while this card is in my graveyard I can summon a high level E HERO monster from my hand without a tribute" explained Jaden as Bladedge appeared on the field.
E HERO bladedge ATK 2600 DEF 1800 LV 7 EARTH warrior.
"And now I'll equip Bladedge with the spell card Megamorph, because I have less LP than you do this card will double Bladedge's ATK" explained Jaden.
Bladedge ATK 2600 + 2600 = 5200.
"Bladedge attack the Chief" said Jaden, Bladedge attacked and the chief was blown back off of the field by the attack, Jaden took a deep breath, he wasn't sure how much longer he could have stayed conscious if the duel had continued.
Chief LP 2000 – 2800 = 0.
"Well done young man, you have passed the trial" said the Chief as he stood up, the Chief snapped his fingers and some of his men climbed down the valley to untie the others.
Soon everyone was back in the city standing in front of a large stone archway, "This archway will return you to your world, but before you go it is tradition to give a gift to the one who has bested me" said the Chief.
The Chief reached into his cloak and pulled out a gold pendant and handed it to Jaden, "Wow thanks" said Jaden, as he looked at the pendant and noticed that it seemed to have been broken in half, "Did somebody break this" he asked.
"In all my years as the Chief of this city there has only ever been one other who has defeated me, he has the other half" explained the Chief, everyone was just about to leave when Jaden remembered something.
"Wait what happened to Yasmin" asked Jaden, the Chief chuckled "She has been here the entire time" he said gesturing towards the veiled woman, the veiled woman removed her veil revealing her face.
"Yasmin your Gravekeeper's assailant" said a very shocked Jaden, "Yes, I'm sorry that I deserved you, but it was my duty, if you see the owner of the other half of that pendant please tell him that I am well" said Yasmin, Jaden nodded and he and the others walked through the archway.
There was a blinding flash of light that forced everyone to close their eyes, when they opened their eyes they all saw that they was standing back in the ruins.
"We're, we're back" said Chazz almost crying in relief, "Does anyone know what happened to us" asked Bastion, "I don't know, but I'm not staying near these ruins anymore, I say we get out of here before they literally send us to Hell" said Robin.
Everyone agreed and they left the ruins, as they left Jaden looked at the pendent he had received, "Well at least I got a souvenir" he thought.
