Turn 5: Find Them Out – Who are the Spirit Callers?

It was a three-day weekend at Duel Academy, and students were all either in their dorms relaxing, or out and about. Either way, everyone was happy for a moment, because classes were cancelled. Beatrix spent her time wandering around the empty Obelisk Blue arena, hoping to have gotten some dueling practice while she had the time. She stood in the middle of the giant platform; and after a while, stomped lightly in slight frustration. Freya, who had been in the middle of going somewhere, saw Beatrix in the corner of her eye. She passed the door, but then turned and ran back to the doorway so she could yell out, "Hey Beatrix, the duel arena is normally empty during the long weekends. Not many people want to duel when there's nobody watching them, and others don't like to take time away from other things. So, you know, there's no reason in waiting."

Beatrix sighed, "That's too bad. I wanted to challenge somebody today..." She whined, "Hey, Freya, how about a rematch?"

Freya shook her head, "No, I've got somewhere I gotta be. See you later!" She waved goodbye to her friend, and began walking to here destination again.

Beatrix remained where she was, hoping against hope that someone would come to play Duel Monsters. She stood in the center of the dueling platform just waiting patiently for several minutes. After what seemed like hours, she decided to give it up, and go back to her room, but then, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard coming in her direction. It sounded like it came from a football star, and it ran right into the duel arena. Beatrix looked on in horror as it came into sight; it was a huge rat with enormous glowing red eyes, a thick whip-like tail, and gray jagged teeth. It stood in front of Beatrix, standing on its hide legs it was two times taller than the frightened girl. It opened its mouth and came down upon Beatrix, and she covered her head with her arms, but before the rat could bite her head off, a bright white light erupted from Beatrix's Duel Disk, and it repelled the vermin back. Beatrix uncovered her eyes to see the rat standing ten feet away from her, but this time it had a dirty green device on its right arm. Beatrix studied the device carefully, and came to the conclusion that it was a Duel Disk, "Duel?" She asked in a meek voice.

With that, the rat drew six cards, and Beatrix drew five; the girl marvelled at how the beast knew the standard rule of challenger goes first. The rat set a card on its Duel Disk, and a large beast appeared before Beatrix. It looked like a white rhino, but it stood like a human on bird's legs whose colour matched perfectly with the wings. This beast dressed for war, and had a large wicked bludgeon in its right hand. Freya ran in through the door that the rat used to enter. She gasped as she saw her friend dueling the hideous creature.

Winged Rhynos ATK 1800 DEF 500

The rat made no other action, and so it was Beatrix's turn, she drew her card and began her move immediately, "I activate the ritual spell, Shinato's Ark, and offer Majestic Mech – Goryu as a sacrifice to summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane!"

A translucent image of the great heavenly dragon appeared before Beatrix for a moment, and when it disappeared, the purple skinned seraphim who ruled the fairies descended from upon high, bathed in a bright light. The angel settled in front of Beatrix, floating a few inches from the ground.

Shinato, King of a Higher Plane ATK 3300 DEF 3000

Beatrix was not done with her turn, however, "I now activate Revival of the Light, which allows me to discard as Light attribute Fairy type monster to revive a Light attribute Fairy type monster already in the graveyard, such as Majestic Mech – Goryu!" Another beam of light shined down from heaven, and illuminated the path for Beatrix's other monster, a great wyrm with a golden city on its back. Goryu floated high above the ground, just above Shinato, and it let out a deafening roar that struck fear into the rat.

Majestic Mech – Goryu ATK 2900 DEF 1800

"Finally, normal summon Bountiful Artemis in attack position!" Beatrix added.

Freya smiled, "Well, apparently Beatrix has got this all wrapped up."

Beatrix pointed at the giant rat, "I don't know where you came from, but its time for you to leave! Majestic Mech – Goryu, destroy my opponent's monster, and Shinato, King of a Higher Plane and Bountiful Artemis, attack the rat directly! Dominating Light Combination!"

The great heavenly wyrm breathed out white flames that destroyed Winged Rhynos with ease, and engulfed the giant rat, and when it had recovered from that, Bountiful Artemis threw a globe of white light at it, and finally Shinato came in with a shining punch that knocked it away. The rat collided with the wall, and subsequently shattered.

Beatrix shuffled her deck and then dusted her hands off dismissively, "I don't like rats." She added as if she were a movie hero.

Freya ran up to Beatrix and grabbed her hands with both of hers, "Wow, that was amazing Beatrix! You cleaned that things clock in one move!"

Beatrix blushed, "I just got lucky is all." Beatrix then realized that something very strange happened, and she had to ask about it, "Freya, do you know what that thing was? It definitely wasn't human."

Freya, with a calm head, explained to Beatrix, "It's a spirit Beatrix; I thought I told you about them."

Beatrix suddenly looked serious, "Yeah, but you didn't say anything about them attacking humans, or dueling, or whatnot!"

Freya turned away from Beatrix, and then turned back, "Well, I have heard a rumour." She started.

"What rumour?"

"A rumour that there is a group in Duel Academy dedicating to summoning the spirits of these monsters with the same magic that I have been studying. This must be proof of their existence."

Beatrix waved her arm to the side quickly, "This is dangerous! We have to alert the school board about this!"

Freya shook her head, "No, you don't want to do that." She said as she counted fingers to illustrate her points, "Firstly, you would be dismissed as a crazy girl; not good for picking up boyfriends. Secondly, they wouldn't even listen, though that goes with number one, its still worth mentioning. Thirdly, this is a secret society that has remained carefully hidden from the prying eyes of those at the academy. They wouldn't get caught even if somebody brought it to their attention." She then held out those three fingers out for Beatrix to see, "That's three good reasons right there.

Beatrix still looked adamant about doing something about this situation, her eyes flickered with an inner courage that not many were blessed with, "But we've got to do something! What if they summon more monsters? What if they get someone killed? I need to find them, and stop their evil immediately!" She said as she began walking off, not knowing where she was going, but at least knowing what she was going to do.

Freya held out her hand and shouted at her friend, "Wait! You can't do this alone! Let me come with you at least; I know about this magic, so I have more authority on this situation than you do."

Beatrix stood still and looked back at Freya, "Okay. I have no idea where to even start looking; do you have anything?"

Freya smiled, "I have something that may help you, but to use it, I'm going to need a copy of the card of the spirit that you have just defeated, a crystal pendant from my room, and your room."

"Why my room?"

"Because your room is in the North-East section of the Obelisk Blue Girl's dorm, mine is no good for scrying."

After an hour, all of the materials were brought to Beatrix's room, and Freya began a ritual that was completely foreign to Beatrix. She looked on with interest, but she could not make heads or tails of what was being done. Freya spoke in a language that Beatrix did not comprehend, possibly Egyptian, and she held the pendant over the card of Giant Rat that lay between the two girls, its top and bottom facing both of them. She swung the pendant in counter-clockwise rotation while she worked her magic. It took several dull moments before something strange happened. A thin purple cloud stretched out from the card, and went straight through the door and down the hall. Freya put her pendant away, and got up, "Okay, the trail will disappear in thirty minutes, so we've got to hurry!"

Beatrix got up as well, "Can everybody see the trail? Because I'm sure a purple line running through the academy will get some attention."

Freya shook her head, "No, only we can see the trail. It will lead us to the summoning location of the monster. If we're lucky, we might find a clue as to their whereabouts, now let's get going!"

Beatrix had no time left to ponder this oddity, as Freya took off like a missile right after saying her piece. Beatrix ran after her with all the speed she could muster; she was not used to running this fast, but she had to keep up with her friend. She had to stop these spirit summoners before they seriously hurt someone with their strange experiments. The cloud conveniently did not go in a straight line; it twisted and winded through the roads and through the hallways of the academy so the pursuers would not lose the trail. The trail lead the two girls to the Ra Yellow dorm, where they saw it go into a door on the side of the building. It was the entrance that janitors would use, and went directly into the janitorial room. Freya and Beatrix stopped at the door, both breathing heavily from their little run. Beatrix panted, and then looked angrily at Freya, "You had to run so fast?"

Freya laughed, "Didn't want to lose the trail!" She said with flair, "Now, how do we get in here? The door locks automatically?"

"Not only that, but only Ra Yellow students can get in there period..." Beatrix said as she contemplated the problem that was before them.

Freya twisted her mouth into a strange position while she thought of a solution, which only took exactly four seconds before she pounded her fist into her open palm, "I got it!" She said, before grabbing her cell phone and proceeded with her plan without informing Beatrix of what it was. It did not take long before her voice could be heard again, "Yeah, it's me. I need to call in a favour. Yes, two uniforms, I need access to the yellow dorm. Okay, thank you." Beatrix looked at Freya with an expression that voiced her confusion more than her words ever would, "What?" Freya asked her friend, "I helped these guys get by some tricky test before, they owe me!" She explained.

Beatrix looked around nervously, "Ahh, where are we supposed to change exactly?"

Freya put her hands on her hips, "The forest." Beatrix then gave her a very mad expression, "Aww, don't be such a girl." Beatrix's expression then got much more serious, "I was just kidding! What, did you really think we would have to get naked and change in the woods somewhere? Just put the yellow one over your blue one, it's not that difficult." She laughed.

Beatrix sighed in relief; she really did not want to have to change in the middle of nowhere where boys could possibly see her. Two Ra Yellow students came from inside the building and handed Freya the uniforms without exchanging words. The boys were dressed in street attire, since their only uniforms had just been given to her and Beatrix. Beatrix was sure to thank them, and told them that they would not be long. The boys nodded, and headed off toward the forest where they could hide, since being caught without a uniform was an offense punishable by detention. Wearing uniforms to sneak into another dorm was not in the code of conduct, due to the fact that no one ever dreamed that it would be done, but both Beatrix and Freya knew that the punishment would be worse than a week of detention if they were caught. They would need to be quick.

Freya and Beatrix snuck inside the yellow dorm without much trouble, and Beatrix took in the sights, as she had never been there before. The halls were clean, but they were thin and only had enough room for two people to walk side-by-side. On both sides of the halls, there was a door every eleven feet, signifying that the rooms were big, but nowhere near as luxurious as the blue dorm's rooms.

Freya and Beatrix continued through the halls to the janitorial room, and they finally arrived after several minutes. Luckily, there was nobody walking through the halls at the same time the girls were, and they were able to gain access to the room without gaining any unwanted attention. They entered the room with ease, and they found that it was much larger than they would have thought. There was a wide open space, and there was a fading magic circle on the ground just in front of them. Freya remarked as to what was going on for Beatrix's benefit, "Well, it seems they used a magic circle using their own energy; means that they can summon a spirit without leaving any hard to erase chalk marks."

Beatrix raised her hand to ask a question, a reflex trained in school, "Ah, question. If they summoned the monster here, how could it have made it all the way to the main campus and into the Obelisk Duel Arena without anyone noticing?"

Freya smiled, glad that her knowledge was finally coming in handy, "Well, this was a weak magic circle, it could not contain the monster's spirit, and as such, it was summoned somewhere inside the main campus building. Since there was no one in there, other than you, it was able to run free without any prying eyes. I was just on my way out when

I saw it appear, and run right for you. You probably smelled good, and it wanted to eat you."

Beatrix shivered and complained, "Well, why didn't it try to eat you?! You were closer than I was!"

Freya wagged her finger, "I was outside the door. It couldn't smell me from there."

Beatrix lowered her head, "Yeah."

"Hey, you took care of it, right? No harm, no foul."

Beatrix began looking around for clues, intent on accomplishing her goal of stopping these summoners, "This time. Next time may be different, and that's what we have to stop. Is there anyway you can track the summoners, not the summoned monster?"

Freya shook her head, "No, that's not possible. But there is a clue right were we're standing."

"What's that?"

"The Ra dorm. That tells me that the summoners had to be Ra students; it's not like they could get outfits like we did." Freya said in a proud voice.

Beatrix nodded, but she was not about to congratulate Freya yet, "Good observation, but there is a chance that they were not Ra students, even if it is small. Besides, if they were from this dorm, then that means that they are already in their rooms, and there'd be no way for us to find them."

Freya leaned on an empty red steel drum while she thought of what else she could do, "Hmm, that's true. But there's gotta be something..."

Beatrix looked toward Freya, and heard something other than Freya's voice. She took swift steps toward the drum, and without warning or fanfare, kicked the drum over. Freya, completely surprised by this action, fell to the ground with a thump that would bother her for the next couple of days for sure, but more importantly, exposed someone that did not want to be exposed. A yelp escaped the lips of the yellow clad boy behind the drum, but this was something that Freya did not hear. She simply rose to her feet, and instantly complained about Beatrix's action, "Heeeey, I'm helping you the best I can, and you punish me? I know you're frustrated, but..." She began to say before she realized that there was a straggler from the group that was in there, "Well, well, well, aren't you far away from home. So, are you gonna spill?"

The boy promptly stood up, and was all of a sudden, very confrontational, "Who are you? What are you doing here? This is our business!"

Beatrix's eyes narrowed as she spoke to this boy, "So, there are more of you? Tell me who the others are!"

"I will never sell out the others! Not on your life!"

"Well, maybe you will when I turn you in for endangering the lives of everyone here in the academy! This magic stops, one way or another, it stops!" Beatrix told the boy loudly.

Freya sidestepped closer to the boy and whispered in his ear, "Ya know, this is the girl that beat the stuffing out of Seto Kaiba! Yes, that one legendary duelist. She took out the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Ultimate Dragon, and since enrolling here, has taken down some of the most prevalent duelists around. And now, she's just starting to get mad. Do you want to see her when she's really angry?" The boy was visibly shaking in fear now, "So, are you gonna tell her what she wants to know?"

The boy, having been completely intimidated by the combined efforts of Beatrix and Freya, began telling them everything he could, "I'm just a foot soldier; I don't have any real rank so I don't know much. But I do know that they plan on meeting in the abandoned dorm for another summoning tomorrow."

Beatrix nodded, "Good. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

The boy cowered slightly, "W-well, I can tell you the ranks. We're all based on cards in a regular playing deck. There are foot soldiers numbered one through ten, I just so happen to be number three. We foot soldiers basically perform minor tasks and guard. Above us are the misfits; Joker and Ace, who don't join us in anything we do, but are called in by the face cards to do more important tasks. Finally, there are the founders of the Spirit Callers, the face cards. There are three face cards; Jack, Queen and King. That's all I know, I swear! They don't tell foot soldiers anything."

Beatrix frowned, and started walking toward the exit; Freya following close behind. She opened the door and took a look around; there were several people out and about. It was dinner time, and everyone was headed toward the cafeteria to get some food. Under this guise, they would have no problem getting out of the dorm, "Do yourself a favour: get out of this organization. When I topple this thing over, the students responsible will be expelled, foot soldier or not. This is your only warning." With that, Beatrix and Freya both disappeared in the crowd.

After that event, Beatrix and Freya found the two yellow students that had helped them get uniforms. They were beginning to get impatient, and it showed on their faces. They wanted to eat before it got too late, and the girls could sympathize; they were not going to make it in time for their meal. Beatrix knew that it would be cruel to hold the two boys away from their meal just because they would miss theirs, so she gave them their uniforms as quickly as possible and bid them farewell.

Beatrix lead the way back to the girl's dorm, Freya followed not too far behind; not because she was being lead, but because she was tired and could not walk as fast as Beatrix, who had seemed to have gained an energy boost from the whole ordeal. Both of their stomachs were rumbling, but neither girl was about to complain about it. They made the decision to go after the Spirit Callers, so they had to accept the consequences. Beatrix, more than Freya, was ready to take these consequences, and as such she was not even thinking of food, whereas her friend could not help but think of all the food they were missing at that very moment. By the time they arrived at the lake in front of the girl's dorm, the dining hall had closed and all they had to look forward to was a long hard canoe ride back to their dormitory.

Beatrix had her head down in thought; she thought about the day's events, about the Spirit Caller organization, and about the path that lay in front of her. She knew that she would have to find these face cards, but she had no idea on how she was going to stop them. Would she duel them? Would that even accomplish anything? Would she have to drag someone like Dr. Crowler to their headquarters, if they even had one, and show them definite proof of their existence? Maybe the Spirit Callers were prepared for this encounter, and if so, how prepared were they? So many unanswered questions, but there was no time to worry about that. Beatrix had to stop them; it was like a call to duty within her own soul. Sure, she could ignore it, and lead a normal life, but it was not like that for her. Her stomach turned at the slightest hint of the thought, or it could have been the lack of food in her gut, but the feeling was still there. The gauntlet had been laid down, and she had picked it up, almost instinctively. It was truly her lot in life to stick her neck out for others, because if she did not, who would?

By the time the dock came into view, Freya saw the visage of a man standing just before it. As he came into view, Freya could see that it was Earole, their headmaster. She ran ahead, and when she did, Beatrix picked up her head to see her headmaster. He was waiting for them to arrive, and Beatrix and Freya could see that he was smiling, "Well, so you're finally here? I got worried when I heard from Amada Kai that you were not at the dining hall. Come, I thought you'd be hungry, so I have a small meal prepared for you."

Beatrix and Freya both smiled back at their headmaster, "Thank you Mr. Earole." They both said in unison, and the three went off to eat.

The day's events were indeed strange ones, and they set Beatrix on a path she never expected she would be on, but it was an important part of her life. While she did not yet know it, she would find that the road ahead of her would be much more wondrous, and much more dangerous than she could possibly imagine. This was no mere school, this was Duel Academy.

Free Talk: Okay, a fairly short turn compared to the other turns, but it's fairly important. While the meat and potatoes of a Yu-Gi-Oh! episode, the duel, is missing, I needed this turn to set up events down the road. The duel with the Giant Rat was not supposed to be a long and/or intriguing duel, it just needed to show two things: Beatrix can be dominating, and that monster spirits were being summoned. I mean, come on! A Giant Rat really wouldn't be that good of a duelist after all, eh? Anyway, despite the short duel, I hope you all enjoy Turn 5 and have a good day. Remember: fair play, fair duel.

Today's Strongest Card

Revival of the Light/Normal Spell Card

Discard 1 LIGHT attribute Fairy type monster in your hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon a LIGHT attribute Fairy type monster in your Graveyard (excluding the card discarded to use this effect).