Author's Notes: I'm not sure if the Shadow Duelist dude was ever named in the dub, but anyway, his name is Titan in the original. So, that's what it is here. 'Kay? Don't worry about this fic being abandoned guys, I'm not going to get writer's block for a long, long time. I mean, I have an entire anime to steal plot from. It's mostly just being kinda uninspired cuz sometimes it seems like no one's reading this. I know it's a weird premise and all, but gimme a chance? Pleaaaaase?

Oh yeah, you may have noticed I'm leaving some stuff out of this fic. For example, I'm going to take a wild guess and assume most of you know that Crowler was the one who brought Titan to the island and hired him to scare off Jaden.

You may also notice that I actually combined this episode with the beginning of the monkey duelist episode. XD

---

Turn 6

Titan, the Hell Dog! The Haunted Dorm of Shadows

The moon shone dimly on the humble Moltres Red dorm, and an eerie wind rattled through the inadequate walls. These effects only accentuated the dark yarn that Syrus was spinning, and his two roommates were listening with rapt attention.

"And then, in the dark cave, I couldn't see anything, not even two feet ahead of me," He waved his arm in front of his face for emphasis, "All I could smell was old rotten moss growing on the wet rocks, and then, this horrible sound came wailing through the shadows -- aroo!"

Syrus tilted his head back and let out his best, most frightening howl, but he sounded more like a puppy yipping for a playmate than anything. Jaden tried to muffle himself, but he couldn't hold back; his giggles broke past his hand and he leaned over, setting his head on his folded arms and laughing into the desk. Syrus's howl died in his throat and he huffed, "Well, I'd like to see you do better!"

"Sorry, pal," Jaden grinned up at him, "But all you've been doing is telling us about these scary smells and sounds. No ghosts, or deranged killers, or anything. What kind of a campfire story is that? Well, candlelight in our case."

"Hey, he can stick to spooky sounds if he wants," Chumley muttered. He wasn't a big fan of ghost stories.

"I guess some things you just have to be a canine to understand," Syrus sighed, "Maybe you'd be scared if I told you a story about... a haunted fly swatter, or a giant mutant Zubat with a taste for moths!"

"Now you're talkin'," Jaden sat up, listening with interest. Syrus sat back thoughtfully, trying to think of a new tale, when the voice of their headmaster suddenly spoke and made them all jump and topple out of their seats.

"Telling scary stories around flickering candlelight, are we?" Banner loomed in the hallway, glasses reflecting the wavering light. Pharaoh was curled up in his arms, either asleep or immensely bored.

"Hey, Sy, is being scared out of your skin by a big cat part one of those canine things?" Jaden looked over at his friend, who was currently sprawled out on the floor.

Sy lifted his head and glared up at him. "You jumped too, Jaden! I saw it!"

Banner just chuckled. "Mind if I join? I know a few good ones myself, nya."

"Sure, Dr. B, I think Sy could use a break," Jaden helped his friend back into his seat and sat back down himself. Banner looked out the window to the moon outside.

"Have any of you heard of the haunted dorm?"

"Haunted dorm?" The three boys wondered in unison, and the Persian nodded.

"There is an old abandoned dorm on the other end of the island, that is inhabited by angry, restless ghosts."

"Like Haunters and stuff?" Jaden clarified, and Banner shrugged.

"No one knows if they are Pokémon, 'morphs that have gone crazy, or the actual spirits of the dead. Anyone who has gone investigating has disappeared... including a number of students."

They stared up at him in quiet disbelief, until Pharaoh meowed impatiently. "Well, I had better go feed Pharaoh before he gets really scary. I will see you all tomorrow."

Banner left the room, and Jaden's antennae perked. "You guys think this place is real?" He looked back at Syrus and Chumley, "Let's go see if we can find out tomorrow night! Who's up for some ghost huntin'?"

"What? I don't want to disappear!" Syrus hunkered down in his seat, and Chumley nodded.

"Aww, come on, it'll be fun," Jaden waved his hands, "Besides, if we find it, we'll be able to tell all the other kids that we went to the haunted dorm and survived!"

"If we do survive," Chumley mumbled ominously.

Outside, unbeknownst to them, Crowler was listening intently. The Ice-type smirked broadly, already hatching another scheme.

---

"Jaden! Jaden!" Syrus ran down the stairs into the classroom, stopping by Jaden's seat and panting to catch his breath. "You won't believe what I just heard, it's awful."

Jaden looked up at him with a grave expression. "They didn't cancel lunch, did they?"

Syrus blinked at him and shook his head. "No, Chazz is missing! No one's seen him since that fight with Bastion, not even Ms. Kaen."

"Hey, I'd make myself scarce too, if Kaen was looking for me," Jaden scratched the back of his head, and Syrus scowled slightly.

"Jaden, this is serious! What if he's in trouble? What if..." Syrus's ears dropped as something occurred to him, "W-what if he went to that abandoned dorm?"

"Well, that's all the more reason for us to check it out," Jaden stood up, looking around, "It's pretty late, school's almost over -- no one will notice if we ditch now."

Syrus hesitated, looking around. "Are you sure? What if someone sees us?"

"Sure I'm sure! No one will see us -- remember that one TM you got?"

"You mean...?"

Jaden nodded, and Syrus sighed in defeat.

---

The ground just outside the entrance of Battle Academy was suddenly disturbed. Syrus dug through the top soil and stuck his head out of the ground, and Jaden popped up behind him. "Naa, I knew Dig would come in handy!"

"Speak for yourself, I'm filthy," Syrus sighed. His nose had been turned brown by dirt.

Jaden glanced down at him, then swiped his thumb across his tongue and reached down, rubbing Sy's nose. "There, all better!"

His companion 'eee'd and laid his ears back, staring up at him past his glasses. The Venonat proceeded to clamber up out of the hole, then reached down to help the shorter Eevee. After a short trip back to the Red dorm to collect Chumley, the trio followed the edge of the campus up to the forest and entered.

"Too bad Dr. B didn't mention where this dorm was," Jaden frowned, "Can you sniff anything out, Sy?"

"No, there's... There's a lot of weird smells out here," Syrus looked up at the gnarled branches hanging over their heads, laying his ears back when he caught glimpse of a wild Spearow glaring down at him. The shadows of the forest got longer as the sky darkened, and it wasn't long before a chorus of hoots and trills drifted through the twilight.

"Jaden, we don't even know if this place is real," Syrus warned him in a hesitant voice, struggling to follow him through some bramble. The bug-type looked behind him and stepped on the briar with his oversized feet, and Syrus and Chumley stumbled over to him. They were both wheezing from their impromptu hiking expedition.

"Banner's got no reason to lie to us," Jaden scanned the forest ahead of them. Night was falling rapidly, and Syrus grimaced, sticking close to his side. Even Chumley seemed unnerved, and the large morph yelped when an unseen branch raked his back lightly.

"We shoulda brought flashlights, I can't see a thing out here," he complained in a small voice, trying to regain his composure. Jaden grinned back at them.

"Don't worry fellas, I can see in the dark no problem. Looks like there's gonna be a full moon tonight, so as long as you guys can see me, we'll be fine."

"Yeah, until we run into the ghosts," the Snorlax muttered under his breath, hunching his shoulders.

"Or some wild Ursarings," Syrus added, exchanging a paranoid look with the much larger normal-type, "Or Migthyenas, or..."

"Hey, just remember, if you guys are scared, poor Chazz is out here all by himself," Jaden shook his head and trudged forward, elbowing low-hanging branches out of the way, "I mean, if he is out here."

"I wouldn't worry about a guy who can shoot lightning from his fingertips," Syrus followed him though, reaching out to grab onto the tail of Jaden's bright red coat.

"Well, we're not too shabby ourselves, right? Between the three of us, we could take anything this forest has to throw at us!" Jaden thrust his fist in the air victoriously and disturbed a cluster of leaves. A half dozen Murkrows exploded from the shadows, cawing at them angrily.

"Eeee!" Syrus tugged on Jaden's jacket hard enough to yank him backwards, burying his face in the taller boy's back. "I wanna go home!"

Jaden recovered from the surprise quickly and shook his head. "We'll be okay, Sy. I'm not gonna let anything getcha -- you either, Chumley."

The Venonat gave a thumbs up to the big 'morph frozen still and silent with fear behind them. When Syrus relaxed his iron grip on him, Jaden continued forward, scowling at yet another briar patch. "It'd help if they got some landscapers out here or something--" He shoved a tall, thorny shape out of the way.

The shape recoiled and some of the briar drew back as if offended, and an otherworldly light flicked on and shone in their faces, blinding them. "Hey, watch it!"

"Naa!" Even Jaden was taken back by that, and the three boys fell into an undignified pile in the undergrowth. The thorn-thing loomed over them in the dark, and soon another shape with glowing canine eyes joined it. Both stepped aside for a ghostly white form that hovered above the earth eerily, and Syrus wailed.

"Ghosts!" He threw his arms over his head and fell to the earth, curling into a defensive ball. Chumley joined him. "I knew this was a bad idea!"

Jaden drew up in front of his friends protectively, settling into a fighting pose, "Whatever you are, you'll hafta get through me to -- oh, hi, Alexis."

Mindy aimed her flashlight away from their faces. The Gardevoir and her two friends were not amused in the slightest. "What are you three doing out here?"

"We're looking for the--hey! The haunted dorm!" Jaden leaned to one side to look behind Alexis. In the distance was a clearing, and there a dilapidated building that had long ago fallen prey to overgrowth and rot stood on creaking foundation. Shadows shrouded the broken windows, and they were thick enough to hide the interior of the building even from his keen eyes.

"Why would you be looking for this place?" Alexis folded her arms, "It's dangerous, especially for freshman."

Syrus finally realized that Jaden wasn't addressing a ghost, and lifted his head, adjusting his glasses. "We... We were looking for Chazz, he's gone missing."

Jaden nodded. "Yeah, and Dr. B told is this dorm had a bad habit of making students vanish, so we wanted to come out here and check things out."

Alexis's scowl faded, and she looked back at her friends. "Him too? Well, still... You shouldn't be out here. It isn't just a ghost story, people really do go missing around here."

"Really? You know -- hey, why were you out here if it's so bad?" Jaden raised an eyebrow, and Alexis looked down, revealing the contents of one of her ribbon-like hands. She was holding a small bundle of flowers.

"Because my brother is one of the ones that went missing. I come here sometimes to... never mind, it's none of your business." Her gaze turned to the ground, and her voice went soft despite her defensive words. Jasmine and Mindy reached out to touch her shoulder reassuringly, and the boys frowned.

"Woah, sorry," Jaden bit his lip, antennae drooping slightly, but they rose up again in determination, "Listen, whatever thing in there that's taking kids can't possibly take all of us. If we all go in, maybe we can find some clues -- and Chazz too, hopefully."

"Don't worry too much about Chazz," Alexis lifted her head, "He has a habit of going off to sulk in some hole whenever he's in a mood. I don't think he's in danger. But we are, if we go inside. Besides whatever is in there, just trespassing here could get us all expelled."

"Veh," Jaden shook his head and circled around Alexis's friends, "Then you guys can all stay out here if you want, I'm not gonna leave till I get some answers outta this place!"

"Jaden!" Syrus reached out to try and call his friend back, but sighed quietly and looked at everyone else, before running ahead to follow him. Chumley, not wanting to be left with the disgruntled girls, meekly trailed after them. Alexis rolled her eyes and hovered in the opposite direction.

"Come on, guys. If those idiots want to get themselves in trouble, who are we to stop them? Let's go." She muttered, and her companions just shook their heads in exasperation.

---

In the dark interior of the abandoned dorm, Syrus and Chumley could had just the sound of Jaden's feet clicking on the worm-eaten floorboards to guide them. The only light was the occasional shaft of moonlight from one of the broken, dust-caked windows, and Syrus had to bite his tongue to avoid screaming whenever he brushed past some old cobwebs. The Eevee had taken to clinging to the coattail of his friend again, though in the pitch black, Jaden's illuminated, crimson insect eyes and glinting fangs were not the most comforting sight.

"Really wanting that flashlight now," Chumley sighed behind them, nervously filling the silence.

"It'd probably help. This place isn't as bad as it looks like from the outside," Jaden tried to assure them, "It needs to be cleaned up, sure, but hey, fix the lights and paint it up, and it could be almost as awesome as the Moltres dorm! And I haven't seen a single ghost yet -- hey, what's this?"

Jaden stepped into a patch of moonlight. It illuminated a small, framed portrait sitting on the shelf, a photograph of another Gardevoir, wearing the white coat of an older Articuno student. Aside from his dark hair and slightly broader frame, he was the spitting image of Alexis. He was striking a pose and flashing a charming smile at the camera, and there was a stylized signature at the bottom, written in quick, sloppy pen like an autograph. It read 'Atticus Rhodes!', a silent exclamation. The S in the last name swirled around the bottom of his signature like a road winding into the distance.

"This must be Alexis's brother," Jaden murmured, and Syrus peered forward briefly, before looking around the room. He didn't loosen his grip on Jaden's jacket.

"There must be something in here, to make him and all those other students--"

A shrieking, frightened cry rang out from the woods outside and made everyone freeze. The Eevee's ears shot straight up. "That sounded like Jasmine!"

The trio ran out into a central room. Moonlight flooded into the old lobby through a hole in the ceiling. Jasmine and Mindy where there, looking panicked and fighting to catch their breath.

"Guys! Where's Alexis?" Jaden ran up to them, and Jasmine laid her ears back.

"We, we were headed back through the woods... I was leading since I could light the way, and I guess we got a little separated, and..."

"Some huge guy came out of nowhere and attacked Alexis!" Mindy finished, covering her mouth with her blossoms, "We couldn't even see what he was, but he had huge horns! He looked like some kinda demon!"

"He tried to get us, too, but we ran," Jasmine admitted guiltily, all her tails lowered. "We... we should've tried to fight him off, but like Mindy said, this guy was a giant, and he must have been strong if he could take Alexis out without a fight... He has to be some big dark-type."

Jaden's eyes narrowed slightly and his face fell into a rare serious expression. "Did you see where he went?"

"I-I think he was following us," Mindy whimpered, glancing behind herself fearfully.

"That means he must be in here somewhere," Jaden scanned the room quickly, then looked at Syrus and Jasmine, "Can either of you catch her scent?"

The two vulpine morphs blinked at him and nodded, sniffing the air carefully. Their gazes fell on a particularly ruined hallway, "I think," Syrus stepped forward a few feet, "This way, maybe, Jasmine probably knows her better than I do..." She nodded her confirmation.

"Then we're going that way," the Venonat spoke with conviction and lead the charge, running into the darkness and leaping over a moldy chair. "Hold on, Alexis! We're coming!"

The others hesitated, looking amongst each other, but they gathered their courage and followed the bug-type into the shadows.

---

The hallway became a flight of treacherous stairs, then lead down into what seemed for all the world to be a mine shaft. The group ran, relying mostly on their secondary senses to guide them through the darkness, while the Venonat lead the way and called out directions and warnings.

After that perilous chase, they finally found themselves in a large circular chamber, with smooth rock walls and arcane markings on the floor. It was inexplicably lit, little hovering orbs circling the room and bathing it in hazy grey light.

Jaden slowed to a walk and strode into the center of the room fearlessly, his friends close at his back. "Alexis?"

"There she is!" Syrus pointed, and everyone turned. In the far end of the room was a the crumpled white shape of Alexis, sprawled on the stone floor and unconscious.

"Alexis!" Everyone ran forward, and they had nearly reached their fallen friend when a blood-curdling howl rang out from somewhere in the room, echoing off the circular walls. The morphs all whirled around in confusion, trying to pinpoint the sound, when a towering shape stepped out of the shadows. It -- he -- was an adult, cloaked in a black trench coat and standing at least two heads taller than all of the students, and he blocked the way to Alexis completely.

Mindy and Jasmine clung to each other, Chumley stumbled backwards, and Syrus tucked his tail between his legs. Only Jaden stood his ground, and he glared up at Alexis's captor unwaveringly. If he was intimidated by the large Houndoom or his long, curving rack of bony horns, he didn't show it in the slightest. The Venonat almost growled. "You must be the jerk that hurt Alexis!"

The Houndoom pulled his lips back in a canine grin, showing off an array of fangs. "Correct, little bug." The hell-hound lifted his muzzle, baring his teeth at Jaden's entourage, "Which one of you would care to join her first...?"

"If it's a fight you want, you got one!" Jaden raised a fist in the air, "And you must, 'cause no one hurts Jaden Yuki's friends unless they're cruisin' for a bruisin'!"

"Ah... so you're Jaden," the Houndoom was unimpressed, still sneering, "It's not often my opponents get a chance to introduce themselves -- they're usually too busy screaming."

Jaden raised an eyebrow and fell into a fighting stance. His friends drew back to the wall, close to Alexis. The Venonat stretched his neck and grinned, "Well, you don't hafta worry about that with me. You don't scare me, ya big mutt!"

"The name's Titan," the dark-type growled, slightly off-put by Jaden's fearlessness, "And if I don't scare you yet, I will soon."

Titan threw his head back with a toothy cackle. But the laugh was more than a show of villainy; thick, noxious smoke started roiling from the Houndroom's muzzle, burbling up from the depths of the dark-type and spilling across the floor. The students grimaced and stepped back, and Jasmine and Syrus were the first two to start ucoughing.

"I-it's a Smog attack!" Jasmine tried to cover her nose and fan the poisonous gas away with her tails, but it was no use. Soon everyone was doubled over and coughing violently, except for Jaden. Being a poison-type, he was fortunate enough to be unaffected by the attack, but his companions didn't fare as well, and they soon started collapsing.

"Guys, just hold on! I'll..." But his antennae drooped when he realized there was nothing he could do to help them. He curled his claws into fists in frustration and whirled back to face Titan, "That's it, you're asking for it!"

The Venonat charged the much larger morph, digging his talons into the floor to launch himself into the air and hit the Houndoom with an enraged tackle attack, but the dark-type was ready. Just before Jaden connected, Titan dove forward to meet him and let loose a deafening roar -- accompanied by the roar of flames. Jaden couldn't avoid running straight into the vicious Flamethrower attack, and throwing his arms up did little to save him from being seared in the inferno.

The flames dispersed and the room went dim again. He fell to the stone floor, jacket and fuzz blackened, and grimaced with pain. His consciousness wavered -- that blow had nearly knocked him out. "Venooo..."

"Like a moth to a flame," Titan sneered, stepping forward to loom over the boy. "I'm impressed that you managed to survive that, but it won't take much more to finish you off."

"I..." Jaden's hand lifted from the floor, shaking in the air.

"Oh, are you going to beg? By all means, be my guest," the Houndoom crouched, leering like something feral. "I'll wait until you're finished to put you out of your misery."

"I... I don't..." Jaden finally shook off the pain and raised his head. Titan blinked in confusion at the boy's victorious grin. "I don't give up that easy!"

Without warning, Jaden's hovering hand shot forward and grabbed the hell hound's thick ankle. Jaden yanked it out from under him as if he were as light as a feather, and Titan crashed to the ground. Jaden stood, hoisting the fallen dark-type's ankle in the air -- and much to Titan's surprise, the rest of him as well.

The short Venonat managed to throw the 6-foot-something Houndoom into the air with impossible strength, and he raised his hands above his head, catching the dog before he plummeted back down to the earth. He spun the thoroughly disturbed 'morph on his hands like someone tossing pizza dough.

"What... How could... Let me down!" Titan was too stunned to even struggle as the room spun around, and Jaden laughed.

"Confused? It's called Strength!" Jaden smirked, and stopped twirling his opponent. Titan wheezed, dizzied, and barely had the chance to yelp before Jaden threw him across the room and into a wall. "Y'see..."

Titan groaned and held his head, struggling to his knees. He looked up just in time to see Jaden charging forward like a rhinoceros -- or more appropriately, a rhinoceros beetle. "My old man was a Heracross!"

Jaden threw himself into the Houndoom bodily, and the Strength-powered Tackle attack sent both of them through the thick stone wall in an explosion of rubble and dust. There was another chamber next to the room, and the remnants of the Smog attack still hanging in the air started to disperse through the hole.

With the toxic gas cleared, Jaden's friends started to stir. Syrus mumbled and wrinkled his nose, still woozy from the attack. His eyes widened and he adjusted his glasses -- across the room, through the hole, he could see that Titan and Jaden had dispensed with formal moves and had taken to all-out wrestling. Jaden was holding his own impressively against the towering dark-type. It seemed like Titan was barely able to fend him off, trying to squirm away more often than countering his moves.

The Eevee quickly shook the others awake, and they started to cough and rub their eyes. "Jaden's in trouble!"

"That idiot... He's trying to fight a half fire-type?" Jasmine blinked, awed by either the Venonat's courage or stupidity. "He's going to get seriously hurt! It looks like he's already been burned!"

Jaden had managed to pin Titan, but the exertion aggravated the burn the Flamethrower had given him, and the Houndoom threw him off easily. Titan took the opportunity to grab the smaller morph and trap him against the wall. He grinned at bug with a rabid snarl, "No more playing around, boy..."

The Venonat opened his mouth to retort, but he was cut off when Titan lurched forward and sank his fangs into Jaden's shoulder. Jaden uttered a muffled sound of surprise and agony, and his friends collectively gasped when they heard what sounded like the sickening crunch of exoskeleton.

Jaden stared down at Titan in disbelief, before wrenching his shoulder out of the Houndoom's vice-like jaws. Jaden's friends started to run to his aid, but Titan pulled back, and his smile became wicked. They all stopped and paled when they saw thick red liquid staining the hell-hound's fangs, stretched between his teeth like spittle when he opened his mouth. It ran from the rip in Jaden's jacket and matted down the purple fuzz beneath.

As violent as even formal fights could get sometime, never drawing blood was such a cardinal rule that even the lowest cheaters dared not break it. Fights were intended to be a sport and entertainment, even if they were something that might be occasionally painful. But thanks to the durable anatomy of most 'morphs and the technology of Pokécenters, they were never really dangerous.

They shouldn't have been, anyway.

However, as horrified as his friends were, Jaden looked more confused than anything. Titan leered at him and made a show of licking off his fangs, "This isn't one of your childish school matches, boy. This is real."

"Real?" Jaden's eyebrows quirked, and his fangs slid out of his mouth when he smirked, "This has been about as real as those goofy horror movies Chumley's so afraid of!"

Titan -- not to mention everyone else in the room -- gaped at Jaden, uncomprehending. Jaden reached up with his free hand, ran his claw through the sticky fluid staining his fuzz, and brought it to his mouth, sampling it. He started laughing.

"I thought so -- karo syrup and red food coloring! You had one of those things in your mouth like they use in the movies when someone gets shot or somethin'," Jaden grinned. It was the Houndoom's turn to look horrified. "I was suspicious ever since you used that Flamethrower -- I'm pretty tough, but come on, that should've done me in right there."

Titan actually dropped Jaden and scooted backwards. Jaden stood, brushing himself off, "And then you could barely hold your own when we were wrestling -- Sy puts up more of a fight than that! Let me guess," the Venonat folded his arms, "You're not really that strong, are you? You're good at sneaky moves and making a big show of being scary, but I bet you're not used to someone actually fighting back!"

The Houndoom stuttered, pinning back his small ears. "That's not true! I've just been -- toying with you! Lulling you into a false sense of security!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jaden shook his head, "Listen, if you let Alexis and us go, I won't tell anyone your secret, all right?" He looked over at his friends and winked, "You won't tell anyone that ol' Titan here's all bark and no bite, will you, guys?"

But his friends were not quite as nonchalant, and Mindy pointed forward. "Watch out!"

Jaden barely had time to spin around again before a furious and humiliated Titan lunged forward to launch a real Bite attack. Jaden yelped and stumbled back, with no way to dodge --

Suddenly, a clawed, ethereal hand burst from the shadows and grabbed Titan's tail. The Houndoom's attack fell short as he fell to the ground and snarled back over his shoulder at his unseen opponent. His expression fell when he saw what lay behind him.

While Jaden had been talking, shadows had started to amass in the darkest parts of the room. They now glowed with dozens of pairs of dead eyes and the outlines of ghostly smiles and leers. A haunting chorus of unreal, raspy laughter crept around the room, and Jaden's friends all huddled close together, paling. Even Jaden looked somewhat unnerved, but he shook out of it quickly. "Well, I'll give you credit, you have some awesome special effects up your sleeve..."

"I'm not doing anything!" Titan all but whimpered, and he really did cry out when more hands shot forward, talons made of darkness and shadow digging into his ankles and coat tail. The amorphous hands started dragging the large 'morph backwards, and he scrambled, digging his claws into the floor. "Help!"

Jaden's antennae fell, "Whatever you are, let him --" But it was then that he realized how dark the wall behind him had become, and felt a chilling touch on his pants cuff. Hands started reaching for him now, and he became preoccupied with trying to spin away from their grasp. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed shadows encroaching on Alexis's still form, and dove over to his friend, gathering the lightweight psychic up in his arms and trying to wave away the ghosts with his hands.

Titan wasn't having as much luck. He was up to his waist in shadows, and more and more hands fell on him, yanking him into their dark embrace entirely. The last thing they heard was another howl -- this time, one of terror.

The shadows became thicker around Jaden as well, until he was reduced to huddling over Alexis protectively. Even if Titan had been mostly show, using Strength and getting blasted by fire had taken a lot out of him, and there wasn't much he could do against the ghostly onslaught. Claws started grabbing at his shoulders and feet, and it wouldn't be long before he was enveloped as well --

When a blinding arc of fiery light burst in the air above him and dispersed the shadows. "Will-o-Wisp!"

Jasmine's attack blinded the ghosts and gave Chumley and Syrus enough time to get to Jaden's side and help him to his feet. Though the two normal-types had no moves that would work on the ghosts, they were able to act as crutches for Jaden as he carried Alexis, and they made their way out of the room quickly. Jasmine ran forward, her Will-o-Wisp orb following her and lighting the way, deflecting the attacks of any other malicious shadows, while Mindy followed up the rear and kept the ghosts at bay with her flailing, thorn-studded vines.

Operating on pure adrenaline, the panicked group managed to find their way back to the lobby of the haunted dorm and burst outside into the comparatively bright light of the moonlit forest. They didn't stop running until they were well away from the haunted dorm, near a stretch of fence encircling the campus proper. The menagerie of students collapsed against the chain link fence, gasping for air and fighting to regain their wits.

"That... That was close," Syrus mumbled breathlessly, sticking close to Jaden's side. He looked up at his friend, and his ears fell. Jaden had been singed pretty badly, and though it might have been fake, the wound on his shoulder looked awful. "Are you sure none of that's really blood, Jaden? We should get you to the Pokécenter, that looked like it hurt..."

"It did," Jaden winced, and handed Alexis to Mindy and Jasmine, unable to carry her any further. "But I knew right away it didn't even break the skin."

"How?" Syrus helped him push off his jacket anyway, examining the bite mark closely. "I sure couldn't have..."

"Well, for starters," Jaden managed to grin a little, flicking away some red-dyed syrup, "Titan didn't do his research... We bugs don't have red blood."

"Oh," Syrus smiled with relief, but looked back in the direction they had run from. "I hope... I hope we don't ever have to find out what color it really is, Jay."

Jaden frowned slightly, looking around at the exhausted and shaken group. His gaze came to rest on Syrus, and he shook his head faintly. "Me either, Sy. I'll be happy to stick to regular fights from now on, rules and all."

Syrus looked hopeful. "That mean no more ghost hunting?"

"No more ghost hunting," Jaden smiled, "I promise."

---

Next Time...

Syrus: Did he say expel!

Jaden: Looks like we're in serious trouble, Sy. But hey, Crowler's being fair -- if we can win in a tag team fight, we'll be off scot-free! Piece of cake, right?

Syrus: No, it won't be! I'll just hold you back...

Jaden: Aww, come on, I know you have a powerful move somewhere in you. You just gotta believe in yourself!

Syrus: I can't... I can't use it, Zane said... He said I wasn't strong enough.

Jaden: Pff, this Zane guy can't tell you what to do! Who is he, anyway? I'll show him a thing or two about being strong!

Syrus: Jaden, don't! Eee... Next time, A Forbidden Move! The Truesdale Brothers. You're just going to get hurt, I know it, and it'll be my fault...