Chapter 47, The Dark scorpions.

Robin woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of his phone ringing, the half-asleep Robin reached out to grab his phone and noticed that his room seemed to be unusually cold as he did so.

Robin grabbed his phone and saw what time it was, it was 2:30am, "Who could be calling me at this time" thought Robin as he answered his phone, "Hello" he said rather groggily.

"Robin, Robin this is terrible, their gone, their all gone" came Alexis's voice she sounded very panicked, "Wait, what are you talking about" asked Robin now a little more awake, "The Spirt keys, their all gone, someone's stolen them" said Alexis, "What" said Robin as he jumped out of bed now fully awake.

Robin reached up to his lightshade and realised that his Spirit key was gone as well, he then turned around and saw that his balcony door was wide open explaining why his room was so cold.

"Alexis, my key's gone too, what are we going to do" said Robin, "Chazz called me and he said to look around our rooms for any clues, then he said to meet him at the Slifer dorm, I think that he's trying to figure out who did this" said Alexis, "Ok, I'll be there soon" said Robin.

Robin began to search his room when a horrifying thought occurred to him, "Wait, if someone's been in my room then they could have also take" he thought as he almost dived under his bed.

Robin emerged from his bed with the small black metal box that he had brought with him to Duel academy, Robin opened the box and was relieved to see that the contents was still there.

"Well, at least they didn't get this" thought Robin as he returned to box to it's hiding place, after this Robin returned to searching for clues.

Less than an hour later all four of the Key keepers had gather at the Slifer dorm, Detective Magure was also there in order to help them find the thief.

Thanks to everyone having to rush in order to get here most of the group was still wearing their bedtime attire, Robin was wearing black pyjamas, he had thrown on his shoes, and he was also wearing his gloves to hide his hands.

Alexis was wearing a sky blue nighty and a pair of fluffy white slippers, Jaden was only wearing his boxershorts and his Slifer red jacket, and Chazz was the only one who was fully dressed.

"I'm sorry children but I've searched the areas and I can't find any clues" said Magure, "That's because we've already searched the areas ourselves" said Chazz, "Oh, I see, so did any of you find anything" asked Magure.

"I did" said Alexis, "I found this press on nail in my room" she said as she presented everyone with a shiny red nail, "Isn't that yours" asked Magure, "I don't wear fake nails" said Alexis sounding slightly offended.

"Good, did anyone else find anything" asked Chazz, "Well there was this huge hole in the wall in my room" said Jaden, "You didn't hear someone breaking a hole in your wall" asked Robin, "Someone could kick Jaden's door down and he wouldn't wake up" stated Chazz.

"Did you hind anything in your room Robin" asked Alexis, "I found this piece of metal on my balcony, I think someone used it to pick the lock on my balcony door" said Robin as he showed the group a piece of broken metal.

"So Detective do you know who did this" asked Jaden, "I'm sorry, but there's simply not enough evidence, and we don't have any suspects, I'm sad to say that it looks like the thief got away with it, but at least none of you got hurt" said Magure.

No one seemed satisfied with this conclusion, least of all Chazz, "It's funny that you say that, because I already have a few suspects, in fact they should be arriving any minute now" said Chazz.

At that moment the group was joined by the Slifer student Chick, the cleaner Gorg, the nurse Meanae and the security guard Cliff, "What are they doing here" asked Magure, "I told them that you wanted to meet with them here" said Chazz.

"Wait this was a trick" said Meanae sounding a little worried, "Chazz do you really thing that these four would steal your keys" said Magure, "It make sense, one of them was there when each of us hid our keys" said Chazz.

"He's got a point, they are the most likely suspects" said Robin, "True, and Meanae does sometimes wear fake nails" stated Alexis, "Be that as it may, there still isn't enough evidence, you can't accuse someone without knowing the truth" said Magure.

"The truth is that we can't trust a word you say Detective" said Chazz sounding very confident, "What are you talking about" asked Jaden, "While you guys was searching your rooms I called Chancellor Sheppard and asked him about this Detective that he hired, and do you know what he said" said Chazz.

Jaden didn't seem to understand what Chazz was talking about, but Robin and Alexis seemed to catch on, "He's nether heard of him" stated Robin, "Exactly, Chancellor Sheppard never hired a Detective to help us" said Chazz.

Everyone stared at Magure with accusing looks on their faces, Magure tried to think of an excuse but he couldn't think of anything, "Well Chazz you've certainly proven that your smarter that you look" said Magure.

"Wait, so you really are behind this" said Jaden, "Of course I am" said Magure as he turned to Meanae, Chick, Gorg and Cliff, "So team, should we show them who we really are" he said and the others agreed.

Magure, Meanae, Chick, Gorg and Cliff all ripped off their disguises revealing that they was all wearing matching grey and red uniforms underneath, they also all had the same tattoo of a scorpion on their right arms, "We are the Dark scorpions" they all said together.

"The Dark scorpion? Do you mean that small series of duel monster card" said Alexis, "Now I know where I've seen this Detective before, you're really Don Zaloog, the leader of the Dark scorpions" said Robin.

"True, although it doesn't matter now, we already have the keys and with them we can free the Sacred beasts" said Zaloog, "Actually there's something I wanted to tell you about that boss, you see the keys don't work" said Meanae, "What, but how" said Zaloog.

Chazz started to laugh, "How stupid are you, didn't you know that you have to beat us in a duel for the keys to work" he said, "Chazz why did you tell them that" thought Robin.

"That's right, Kagemaru did tell me that" said Zaloog, "So you have no choose but to duel them" said Meanae sounding a little worried, "Don't worry I can handle them" said Zaloog as Gorg handed him a duel disk.

"Can't we wait until morning, it's 3:30am and I don't even have my duel disk with me" said Robin, "Yeah, I left my duel disk in my room as well" said Alexis, "And I'm tired" yawned Jaden.

"No need, I'll duel right now on the behalf of all four of us" said Chazz as he put on his duel disk which he had brought with him, "Wait, I didn't agree to that" said Robin but it made little difference, "Great this means that I only have to beat you in order to get all of the keys" said Zaloog.

Chazz and Zaloog activated their duel disks, "Don't worry Chazz, I won't take your soul or anything, the Dark scorpions never hurt people, we just want the money that Kagemaru is paying us" said Zaloog.

"Well at least Chazz doesn't need to worry about getting hurt in this duel" said Jaden sounding relieved at the thought, "If Chazz loses my key, then I'll be the one that hurts him" said Robin clearly angry that Chazz was betting all of their keys on one duel.

"I'll go first" said Zaloog as the duel started, "I summon a monster in defence mode and play one card face down, now I end my turn" he said.

Chazz started his turn, "I summon Lancer lindwurm in attack mode, and I'll use him to attack your monster" said Chazz as Lancer lindwurm attacked and destroyed Zaloog's monster which was revealed to be Sangan.

Lancer lindwurm ATK 1800 DEF 1200 LV 4 WIND dragon.

Sangan ATK 1000 DEF 600 LV 3 DARK fiend.

"Lancer lindwurm's effect allows him to deal piercing damage so you still take damage even though your monster was in defence mode" explained Chazz.

Zaloog LP 4000 – 1200 = 2800.

"That doesn't matter, because you've activated Sangan's effect, when he's sent to the graveyard I can add a monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck to my hand" said Zaloog as he added Dark scorpion – Chick the yellow to his hand.

"I'll play a card face down and end my turn" said Chazz.

By now the other three Key keepers was all feeling the effects of fatigue from their lack of sleep, and they was all struggling to stay awake.

Zaloog's turn started, "I activate Graceful charity, this will allow me to draw three cards and then discard two" he said as he drew three cards and then discarded Bacon saver and Nightmare's steel cage.

"Next I'll activate Reinforcements of the army, this card will allow me to add a level 4 warrior monster from my deck to my hand" said Zaloog as he added Dark scorpion – Meanae the thorn to his hand.

"I hope that your ready, because I summon myself to the field" said Zaloog as he stepped onto the field, "Next I'll activate Mustering of the Dark scorpions, since I'm on the field this spell card will allow me to summon one cope of each of the other Dark scorpion monsters from my hand" explained Zaloog as the other four members of the Dark scorpions stepped onto the field.

Don Zaloog ATK 1400 DEF 1500 LV 4 DARK warrior.

Dark scorpion – Meanae the thorn ATK 1000 DEF 1800 LV 4 DARK warrior.

Dark scorpion – Cliff the trap remover ATK 1200 DEF 1000 LV 3 DARK warrior.

Dark scorpion – Chick the yellow ATK 1000 DEF 1000 LV 3 DARK warrior.

Dark scorpion – Gorg the strong ATK 1800 DEF 1500 LV 5 DARK warrior.

"Now I activate my trap card Dark scorpion combination, since I have all five of us on the field this card will let us all attack you directly but we'll only deal 400 points of damage each" explained Zaloog.

All five members of the Dark scorpions attacked Chazz directly dealing a total of 2000 points of damage.

Chazz LP 4000 – 2000 = 2000.

"But that's not all, since we just deal damage to you all of our effects activate" said Zaloog, "First I'll destroy your face down card" said Cliff as he destroyed Chazz's face down which was Chthonian blast.

"Second I'll send one card you control back to your hand" said Chick as he returned Lancer lindwurm to Chazz's hand, "Next I'll send the top card of your deck to the graveyard" said Gorg as he sent Ojama blue to the graveyard.

"Now I'll send one card from your hand to the graveyard" said Zaloog as he sent Armed dragon LV3 to the graveyard, "And finally I'll add a Dark scorpion card back to the boss's hand" said Meanae as she added Dark scorpion combination back to Zaloog's hand.

"And now to end my turn I'll play Dark scorpion combination face down again" said Zaloog as he ended his turn, "Chazz needs to do something or else he'll lose on Zaloog's next turn" thought Robin.

Just then Robin felt something on his shoulder, he looked down and saw that Jaden had fallen asleep with his head on his shoulder, an annoyed Robin move out of the way and allowed Jaden to fall to the ground, although surprisingly he didn't wake up.

Chazz started his turn, "I activate Cost down, by discarding one card this card will reduce the levels of all of the monsters in my hand by two" said Chazz as he discarded Ojama yellow.

"Now I can summon Armed dragon LV5 without a tribute" said Chazz as he summoned Armed dragon LV5.

Armed dragon LV5 ATK 2400 DEF 1700 LV 5 WIND dragon.

"Now I'll use my monster's effect, by discarding a monster I can destroy one of your monsters with a lower ATK, and I think I'll destroy Meanae the thorn" said Chazz as he discarded Lancer lindwurm.

The other four members of the Dark scorpions watch in horror as Meanae was destroyed and disappeared, "Meanae I'll make him pay for this" whisperer Zaloog.

"Now my dragon attack Chick the yellow" ordered Chazz, "I don't think so, I'll use the effect of Bacon saver, by banishing this card from my graveyard I can negate your attack" said Zaloog as Armed dragon's attack was stopped.

"I'll play a card face down and end my turn" said a frustrated Chazz.

Zaloog drew his card and smiled, "I activate the spell card The warrior returning alive, this card will let me add a warrior monster from my graveyard to my hand" said Zaloog as he added Meanae back to his hand.

"Now I resummon Meanae the thorn in attack mode" said Zaloog, Meanae breathed a sigh of relief as she reappeared on the field, "Thanks boss, I knew I could count on you" she said, "Any time my dear" said Zaloog.

Dark scorpion – Meanae the thorn ATK 1000 DEF 1800 LV 4 DARK warrior.

"Now it's time to end this duel, I activate Dark scorpion combination so we can all attack directly again" said Zaloog as he activated his trap card, "No you don't, I activate my trap card Threatening roar, thanks to this card you can't declare any attacks this turn" said Chazz.

A very frustrated Zaloog ended his turn.

Chazz drew his card and smiled smugly, "I activate Level up! This card will let me send my Armed dragon LV5 to the graveyard in order to summon Armed dragon LV7 from my deck" he said.

Armed dragon LV7 ATK 2800 DEF 1000 LV 7 WIND dragon.

"Now I'll use Armed dragon's effect, by sending one monster from my hand to the graveyard I can destroy all of your monsters that have a lower ATK" said Chazz as he discarded Axe dragonute.

Because Axe dragonute had 2000 ATK points Armed dragon LV7 was able to destroy all of Zaloog's monsters, Zaloog was sent flying off of the field while the other members of the Dark scorpions was completely destroyed, "No, my gang" said Zaloog as he looked hopelessly at his empty field.

Chazz took little notice of Zaloog's despair and ordered his monster to attack, Armed dragon LV7 attacked Zaloog directly.

Zaloog LP 2800 – 2800 = 0.

Zaloog didn't seem to notice that he had lost the duel, instead he appeared to be crying over the lose of his friends, slowly Zaloog reached up and removed the golden eyepatch that he was wearing.

"My gang is dead, I should be with them" said Zaloog as he crushed the shadow charm eyepatch in his hand, seconds later Zaloog disappeared in a flash of light and was gone.

Chazz turned around to face the other Key keepers, "Did you see that, that's how you take out a Shadow rider" he said clearly pleased with himself.

However none of the group seemed to be impressed, Jaden was laying on the ground fast asleep, Alexis was resting her head on Robin's shoulder with her eyes half closed and Robin looked like he could fall asleep at any second, "Can we go back to bed now" asked Robin.