Episode(s): 44 – 46

"It'll be okay, Jaden," said Syrus as he looked at Jaden who had his head in his arms.

'Poor Jaden. He must really miss Professor Banner,' thought Rose as she looked at her friends who were sitting in front of her.

"I wonder who they are going to have substitute the class," wondered Alexis out loud. Rose looked at her friend.

"Knowing our luck, it's going to be someone who sucks," said Rose, causing Chazz to snort on the other side of Alexis. He was about to say something when he notice a teach come into the class hall.

"Fuck. Looks like you're right," he said as they all looked at Professor Crowler. All the students started to complain.

"Good morning students. Guess what?" said Crowler as he started to walk toward the desk. "Due to Professor Banner's absence, I will be you substitute teacher for the day. Aren't you lucky! Because I'm certainly not. It was supposed to be my day off!"

The students watched as he slammed his books down and fumed. He then started to set up everything for his lessons.

"Let's see here," he said as he put something on the projector. "The Mark of Amnael. Yes, it looks like that's where Professor Banner left off. More Duel Alchemy Nonsense, I'm sure."

'How can he say that?' thought Rose in anger.

"Hmm, well, according to these tomes, the basics of this are, hm, nor that, well, that doesn't make any sense. I don't even know how to pronounce that word."

'Why is he here?' thought Rose with a sweat drop.

"What gibberish!" yelled Crowler as he slammed the book close. "This makes no sense! And he's teaching you it!? Perhaps it's a good thing he's missing! After all, he's polluting your young minds with twaddle! It's grade academic tripe! Pure rubbish! Useless Prattle!"

~Some Time Later~

"Alright. It's time for some lab work. According to the syllabus," said Crowler as he messed around with some chemicals. He then put a metal into a chemical mixture. "Now let's see here. I think this is right."

"Oh!" said everyone in shock as it started to glow. It then exploded.

'Karma?' thought Rose with a sweat drop as Crowler pulled the metal off of his forehead and screamed in pain. Rose and Alexis tried not to laugh.

"What gobbledygook Duel Alchemy is! What pure drivel!" yelled Crowler as everyone else laughed. He then looked at Jaden who was talking to Syrus.

"Mr. Slifer Slacker!" yelled Crowler, causing Jaden to straighten up.

"Uh, yes, sir?" said Jaden in shock.

"Chancellor Sheppard would like a word!"

"Me?" said Jaden in shock as he stood up.

"That's right. And the rest of the gang. Report to him at once!" said Crowler causing Bastion, Chazz, and Rose to look up in shock.

~Chancellor Sheppard's office~

"What do you mean he's still lost?" asked Jaden as he put his hands on the desk. He and the rest of the group were standing in front of Sheppard's desk along with Zane. "Professor Banner couldn't have just vanished into thin air! Could he?"

"Who knows," said Sheppard with his arms crossed from where he sat in his chair, eyes closed. "Bottom line is we've looked everywhere and can't find him."

"And there's no log of him leaving the island," said Crowler from his position, standing next to Sheppard.

"So, then I think we all know what happened," declared Chazz as he closed his eyes and tilted his head up. "Banner got sucked into the shadows.

"Don't say that!" said Rose with a glare.

"No. If he lost a shadow game, a spirit gate would have opened and there's been no new activity," said Sheppard with certainty.

"But still," said Jaden with a look of concern, "I have a feeling that the Shadow Riders have something to do with all of this. But what? That's what we got to find out!"

~Later That Day~

"Maybe we should run some of this by Atticus?" said Alexis to Rose as the two girls walked around. Rose had just finished telling her what had happened with Sheppard and the others.

"Maybe," said Rose with a smile as she looked up at the sky.

"Well, I need to go and finish my report for class, so I'll see you later!" said Alexis as she started to walk away from her friend.

"Later!" said Rose as she started to walk toward Atticus' room. She walked for a while in silence, trying to think of reasons for Banner's disappearance.

Once she got toward the boys' dorms, she looked up with a smile at Atticus' room. Her smile quickly turned into a frown and she started running.

Rose ran until she got to Atticus' room and saw the door ajar. Rose pushed it opened to see that the room was a mess. The windows broken, furniture turned over, plants knocked over.

"Atticus!" yelled Rose in shock. "He's gone!"

She looked down on the grown to see something glowing. She glared at it as it disappeared.

"Alright! Who's there!" she called out. She ran to the balcony to see a hooded figure running away. She jumped onto the railing and followed the mysterious person into the forest.

"Where is Atticus?" she called out to the person as she chased them. They ran for a while, until the mysterious person stopped underneath a tree and looked at her with glowing yellow eyes.

"Let me guess, you're a Shadow Rider," said Rose in annoyance. The mysterious person only got their duel disk ready. "Let's go. I plan on getting Atticus back to his sister and you are not about to stop me!"

"Let's duel!" yelled Rose as the duel started. "Me first! I play Polymerization and fuse Flower Dance and Thorn Heart to create Thorn Dancer! Thorn Dancer attack!"

Before the attack could hit, the duelist pulled out a trap card.

"Shit," said Rose with gritted teeth. 'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?'

Without saying a word, the duelist played a card. Rose watched in shock a meteors fell from the sky and melted her monster.

"Fuck. My Thorn Dancer! She's gone!" said Rose in shock. She then looked up to see a shadow behind the duelist. It was a monster. "And now I'm wide open to an attack!"

The monster attacked, wiping out the rest of Roses life points. She fell to the ground and fainted, her cards falling out of her duel disk and onto the forest ground.

The mysterious person walked up to the unconscious girl and opened a book. A green light surrounded Rose and she disappeared into the book. The person then walked away, leaving the cards on the floor.

~Sometime Later~

The island shook as three keys were placed into the lock. Geysers of color shot up around the school.

"What's going on?" yelled Syrus as he, Jaden, and Chumley tried to keep their balance.

"I don't know, but I know it ain't a good thing!" yelled Jaden in shock and fear.

~Inside the book~

"What?" said Chazz as he woke up. He looked around to see two bubbles in front of him with people in them. "Rose? Atticus too?"

Neither teen moved at the sound of their name.

"Where on earth am I?" he said as he looked around, only to notice that he was looking at the earth. His eyes widened and he looked on in fear. "I mean where off the earth am I!?"

"Mm. What happened?" said Rose as she sat up. She then gasped. "I lost my duel!"

"Rose!" yelled Chazz as he noticed she was awake. He was banging against his bubble.

"Chazz?" said Rose in shock as she stood up.

"When we lost to that mysterious person, we must have been sent here," said Chazz as he nodded to the bubble next to her. Rose turned around to see Atticus.

"Atticus!" she said in shock. She then turned back to Chazz. "How do we get out of here?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we want to get out of the bubbles yet," he said as he looked toward the earth, causing Rose to gasp.

"Well, we're fucked," said Rose as she glared at nothing.

"So, it looks like. Fucking Jaden better win!" said Chazz, causing Rose to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you cheering Jaden on?" she said with a smirk.

"No! He's just the only person left since Banner is missing!" yelled Chazz with red cheeks, causing Rose to giggle, making his face redder.

"What's the light!" said Rose in shock as a bright light started to engulf them.

As the light shined, the two where knocked out. When the light disappeared, the three teens were back where they where when they lost their duels. Rose and Chazz were in the forest while Atticus was in his room.

There they laid until Jaden and company found them and took them back to the school.