Chapter 53, the seventh Shadow rider.

Jaden was walking down the halls away from the infirmary, he was incredibly frustrated by Robin saying that they should just wait for the last Shadow rider to reveal himself, "Jaden slow down" called Syrus, Jaden slowed down and allowed Syrus and Chumley to catch up to him.

"Jaden what are you going to do" asked a worried Syrus, "I'm going to find this Shadow rider and take him down" said Jaden, "But Jaden don't you realise how dangers that is" said Syrus.

"That's why I need to find him, so he can't hurt anymore of my friends" said Jaden, "But if this guy took down Chazz then he must be really good" said Chumley, "That doesn't matter I can still win" said Jaden.

Jaden began to walk away but Syrus and Chumley continued to follow him, "In that case we're coming with you, we can't let you take this guy on alone" said Chumley, "No, I can't put you guys in danger" said Jaden.

"But Jaden" said Syrus, "No, you two need to stay at the red dorm until I beat this guy, it's the only way that you'll be safe" said Jaden.

With that Jaden walked away leaving Syrus and Chumley behind, "I sure hope that you know what you're doing" thought Syrus.

Now alone Jaden began to search the entire island for hours for any sign of the seventh Shadow rider, however no matter how hard he looked he was unable to find a single clue.

"Man, whoever this guy is he sure is good at hiding" thought Jaden as he sat besides a tree, "Think Jaden, if you was a Shadow rider where would you hide, probably in the shadows" Jaden laughed at his own thoughts.

Jaden noticed that it was starting to get dark, he knew that all of the students would soon be returning to their dorms, "Chazz was attacked while he was walking back to his dorm, so maybe that's when this Shadow rider will come out" he thought.

"I guess I should go and see the others, maybe they've seen something" thought Jaden as he stood up and started to walk in the direction of the blue dorms.

For a moment Jaden wondered who he should ask first Robin or Alexis, however it only took him a few seconds to decide, "I'll ask Alexis, me and her get along better than me and Robin do" he thought as he made his way towards the girls dorm.

Jaden approached the Obelisk blue girls dorm, by now most of the girls was returning to their dorm for the night, Jaden waited for Alexis to show up hoping that she might have seen something.

Finally Alexis appeared she was walking back to her dorm with Mindy and Jasmine, Jaden was about to go and talk to her when he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye.

Turning his head Jaden noticed that there was someone hiding behind the trees watching Alexis, Jaden had a very bad feeling about this so he quickly made his way around the trees so he could surprise the mysterious person from behind.

The mysterious person looked like he was about to come out of hiding but before he could Jaden made his presence known, "I'm guessing that you didn't come here to talk to Alexis as well" said Jaden.

The mysterious man turned around in surprise, he was wearing a long grey cloak with black robes underneath, his face was hidden by a black mask and his hair was hidden by his hood.

"You, you're the last Shadow rider aren't you" said Jaden, the man recovered from his shock very quickly, "Yes, but I'm sorry Mr Yuki, but I'm afraid that you are not my current target" he said.

"What do you mean I'm not your target, you need all of our keys don't you" said Jaden, "Yes, but I'll defeat you once I have defeated the other Key keepers" said the Shadow rider as he turned away from Jaden.

However Jaden grabbed a hold of the Shadow rider's arm before he could leave, "Hey, don't think for a second that I'm going to let you go, I'm not going to let you hurt anymore of my friends" he said.

The Shadow rider sighed, "You certainly seem to be determined to protect them, perhaps you are ready after all" he said, "Ready, ready for what" asked Jaden, "You shall soon see" said the Shadow rider.

The Shadow rider reached into his robes and pulled out a duel disk that looked very similar to the academy's duel disk but with a darker colouration.

"Hold on, before we start I want to know who you are and what do you do to Chazz" said Jaden as he activated his own duel disk.

"Me, you may refer to me as Amnael, and as for Mr Princeton I put his soul in here" said the Shadow rider as he showed Jaden a strange book that looked to be very old.

"This is my Shadow charm, the Emerald tablet, it is the current prison of Chazz Princeton's soul, and if you lose this duel then is shall become your prison as well" explained Amnael, "Only if I lose" stated Jaden, "Yes Mr Yuki, only if you lose" said Amnael.

"Now before we begin I think that we should have a little more privacy" said Amnael, suddenly the Emerald tablet began to glow and then both Jaden and Amnael found themselves floating in a strange void that resembled outer space.

"What, what have you done, where are we" asked Jaden as he looked around, "Relax this is merely so that we won't be disturbed, we will return once the duel is over" explained Amnael.

"Fine then, get your game on" said Jaden.

The duel started, "I shall go first" said Amnael.

"I activate the continuous spell card Dimensional fissure, while this card is on the field all of our monsters that would usually go to the graveyard are banished instead" said Amnael.

"What, my monster won't go to the graveyard" said Jaden in shock, "That is correct" answered Amnael, Jaden already knew that this meant that some of his cards was now completely useless.

"Next I'll summon D.D. survivor in attack mode and now I'll end my turn" said Amnael, "Your move Mr Yuki".

D.D. survivor ATK 1800 DEF 200 LV 4 DARK warrior.

Jaden started his turn, "I'll activate the field spell Skyscraper, and now I'll summon Elemental HERO ocean in attack mode" he said.

E HERO ocean ATK 1500 DEF 1200 LV 4 WATER warrior.

"Now Ocean attack his monster" said Jaden, "And thanks to Skyscraper my monster gains a 1000 ATK boost for this battle" he added, D.D. survivor was destroyed.

E HERO ocean ATK 1500 + 1000 = 2500.

Amnael LP 4000 – 700 = 3300.

E HERO ocean ATK 2500 – 1000 = 1500.

"Next I'll play one card face down and end mu turn" said Jaden, however Amnael didn't seem worried, "Impressive move, but I'm afraid that you've activated my monster's effect, when D.D. survivor is banished while it is face up on the field I can summon it back during the end phase" explained Amnael as D.D. survivor returned to the field in attack mode.

D.D. survivor ATK 1800 DEF 200 LV 4 DARK warrior.

Amnael's turn started, "First I summon D.D. warrior in attack mode, next I'll attack your monster with my D.D. survivor" said Amnael, Elemental HERO ocean was destroyed.

D.D. warrior ATK 1200 DEF 1000 LV 4 EARTH warrior.

Jaden LP 4000 – 300 = 3700.

"Now D.D. warrior attack him directly" ordered Amnael, D.D. warrior attacked Jaden directly, "Next I'll play a card face down and end my turn" said Amnael.

Jaden LP 3700 – 1200 = 2500.

Jaden started his turn, "Alright time to get serious, I activate Polymerization to fuse Burstinatrix and Lady heat, with these two monsters I can create Elemental HERO Nova master" he said.

E HERO nova master ATK 2600 DEF 2100 LV 8 FIRE warrior.

"Now Nova master attack his D.D. survivor" said Jaden, Nova master attacked and destroyed D.D. survivor, "But that's not all, whenever Nova master destroys a monster I get to draw a card" explained Jaden as he drew a card from his deck.

Amnael LP 3300 – 800 = 2500.

"Now I'll place one card face down and end my turn" said Jaden, since Jaden ended his turn D.D. survivor returned to the field in attack mode.

D.D. survivor ATK 1800 DEF 200 LV 4 DARK warrior.

"A valiant attempt Mr Yuki, but it won't be enough" said Amnael as he started his turn.

"I summon D.D. warrior lady in attack mode, and now I'll attack your Nova master with D.D. warrior" said Amnael, "Thanks to my D.D. warrior's effect Jaden's monster will be banished and then I'll be able to attack him directly" he thought.

D.D. warrior lady ATK 1500 DEF 1600 LV 4 LIGHT warrior.

"Not so fast, I activate my trap card Mirror force, this will destroy all three of your monsters" said Jaden as his trap card destroyed Amnael's monsters.

"I'll place one card face down and end my turn" said Amnael, D.D. survivor returned to the field in defence mode thanks to its effect.

D.D. survivor ATK 1800 DEF 200 LV 4 DARK warrior.

Jaden took a deep breath as he started his turn, he knew that he had a chance to win this duel, Jaden drew his card and smile at what he drew.

"I summon Elemental HERO Sparkman in attack mode" he said, "I'm sorry to say that you have just made a critical mistake Mr Yuki" said Amnael.

E HERO Sparkman ATK 1600 DEF 1400 LV 4 LIGHT warrior.

"I activate my trap card Torrential tribute, since you just summoned a monster this card will destroy every monster on the field" explained Amnael as every monster on the field was destroyed while Jaden looked on in horror.

"And I'm afraid that it gets worst, next I'll activate my other face down card, it's a trap card called D.D. dynamite, this will inflict 300 points of damage to you for each of your banished cards" said Amnael.

Jaden quickly began to count how many of his monsters had been banished and he was completely stunned then he added up how much damage he was about to take.

Jaden LP 2500 – 1500 = 1000.

Jaden knew that there was nothing else that he could do now so he had no choice but to end his turn, this coursed D.D. survivor to return to the field in attack mode.

D.D. survivor ATK 1800 DEF 200 LV 4 DARK warrior.

Amnael started his turn, "First I'll make sure that you can't stop my next attack by using this, Cosmic cyclone, this spell will require me to pay 1000 LP but in exchange it will banish your last face down card" he said.

Amnael LP 2500 – 1000 = 1500.

Jaden's face down card which was revealed to be Charge of hero – reflector ray was banished.

"Now D.D. survivor attack him directly and end this duel" ordered Amnael, D.D. survivor attacked Jaden directly.

Jaden LP 1000 – 1800 = 0.

The space like void disappeared and Jaden and Amnael returned to where they was before the duel had started.

Jaden fell to his knees in defeat and disbelief, "No, how could I have lost" he thought, Amnael pulled his book from his robes in order to take Jaden's soul, however despite the fact that he had won the duel he didn't seem to be happy.

"I'm very sorry that you lost Jaden, I really thought that you was the one" said Amnael sadly, "What are you talking about" asked Jaden, "I had hoped that you would be the one to defeat me, but perhaps you simple haven't had enough experience yet" said Amnael.

"I don't understand, what do you mean I haven't had enough experience" asked Jaden in confusion, "Jaden I'm sorry, I did everything that I could to prepare you for this, but it seems that it wasn't enough" said Amnael.

"Prepare me? What are you talking about, I've never meet you before" said Jaden who was now even more confused, "Not so, we have meet many times" said Amnael as he reached up and removed his mask revealing his face.

Jaden's eyes widened in a mixture of confusion and disbelief, "No, that's impossible, your" he said, however before Jaden could finish him sentence his soul was pulled from his body and sucked into Amnael's book.

Jaden's now soulless body fell limply to the ground, Amnael looked at Jaden's body sadly, "Perhaps there truly is no way to stop what's coming, or well perhaps this means that I can save myself after all" he thought.

Amnael put his mask back on and walked away knowing that someone would find Jaden's body in the morning.