Yay! Now that the introduction to the arc is out of the way, we can get right into the action! Don't forget to review after reading the chapter!

Erick Guerra grumbled as he walked through a bustling city. He would turn his head every so often and scowl at someone with a crazy hairstyle before fidgeting with his hair.

I hate this. Begia should be ruling Duel Academy Island by now! We didn't count on a traitor. That Bryon Perez went missing after the incident, so it was probably him. Then again, logic isn't the best thing to apply to something like this. He turned his head upwards at the sight of someone with a very large mohawk. That's really taking it too far! Ugh, but anyway, I'd... Erick jumped as his phone started ringing. He quickly rushed into an alley and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Erick Guerra!" Erick became serious at that point, though it was clear that the person on the other end was not. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, er...I've been, good sir."

"Nasty setback with the island plan, hmm?" Erick started sweating.

"Uh...sir I can explai..."

"No need, Erick! No need! We're already on it! Unfortunate that there was a spy, but we know it's that boy who helped to burn down the Yellow Dorms, whatever his name was. But don't tell him I said that!"

"Of...course not, sir."

"Good good! Now, you remember that chemical we'd been working on?" Erick turned white as the person on the other end became deadly serious.

"Yes sir!" Erick answered quickly.

"It's ready, and I want you to inject a certain student at Duel Academy with it." Erick nodded.

"Who is it, sir?"

"His name is Chester Golding. I also want you to update his deck with the Fate cards." Erick nodded.

"Understood, sir. He'll be ready in less than twenty four hours." The line went dead.

Poor kid. Still, we need to use it on someone.

The next day...

Fay stretched in her bed and she grinned as she realised it was the weekend. She attempted to get back to sleep, but her stomach started to cramp, so reluctantly she got up.

Maybe I'll go and see Jasmine today...or maybe Colette...or Ethan... Fay's stomach felt uncomfortable as she remembered talking with Ethan yesterday. Best give him some space. Dammit! Now I don't feel like seeing anyone! I'll just go to the beach! Fay was annoyed at her lack of interest in talking to people, but figured it was just her stomach. She slowly walked down to the beach. When she got there her eyes bulged at the sight in front of her.

ARLENE!

Fay ran up to Arlene and gave her a big hug which caused Arlene to choke.

"I wasn't expecting a welcoming party." Arlene noted. Fay scratched the back of her head.

"I wasn't WAITING for you, Arlene! I wasn't even expecting you to come here today I..."

"Calm down." Fay felt annoyed that Arlene was treating her like a child, but was glad to have her back all the same.

"So where did you go? And what happened to Bryon?" Arlene's face darkened.

"Come on, let's walk back to the dorm. I'll explain on the way."

"So...Bryon...burned down the dorms?"

"No. Bryon only burned down the Red Dorm. There are four more students who helped." Fay gave a small scream.

"So, it could be anyone!" She was hysteric. "It could be Ethan! It could be..." Arlene had stopped.

"Did you just say Ethan?" Fay nodded. Arlene suddenly gave a look of wonder. "Do you know where he is? Can you take me to him?" Fay nodded slowly, surprised at the sudden burst of emotion from Arlene. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Fay jumped and started walking towards the Obelisk Blue Dorms with Arlene.

"How do you...?" Fay started.

"Less talk more walking." Fay was about to say something else, but the look on Arlene's face shut her up. They said nothing until they reached the dorms, where Ethan seemed to be looking around for someone. He spotted Fay and started running up to her, then stopped when he saw Arlene. Arlene was staring straight at him, her mouth open. Then a single tear slid down Arlene's cheek and she raced towards Ethan and hugged him. Ethan was initially stunned, but when Arlene started hugging him he came to his senses and hugged back. Fay slanted her head to one side at the scene.

"Ummm...mind filling me in here?" Ethan and Arlene suddenly seemed to notice Fay and they beamed at her.

"Oh! Of course! Arlene's my sister!" Ethan told her. Fay gawped at them.

"What. You two are siblings." They nodded and broke the hug. "Unbelievable." Arlene and Ethan's reunion was cut short by a student running.

"Chester's gone mad! Chester's gone mad!" He sobbed. Ethan perked up at this.

"Chester? As in the Chester I dueled? HEY! LITTLE MAN! Where is Chester now?" The boy was still crying.

"H...he's outside the Duel Academy b...building." Then he ran off. Arlene looked at Ethan and they both nodded, running to the Duel Academy Building. Fay hesitated for a moment before following them.

Ethan was stunned by Chester's transformation. Before Ethan had trouble remembering anything about his appearence. Now he could not forget. Chester was a small boy, but now gave the impression that he was very tall, almost like an aura. His eyes seemed hollow and lifeless and were a dull grey. He no longer had any hair on his head, and now had a strange green symbol on his forehead. Around him were the bodies of a student and Proffessor Macias, limp on the ground. Chester bellowed at a crowd of students who took a hasty step backwards at his words.

"Who's next? I need to seal one more person's fate! Who will it be?" Arlene shuddered.

He reminds me of Hayden... Ethan looked scared, but walked up to Chester.

"I'll be your opponent." Ethan announced. Chester gave a malicious grin.

"Very well. Let's duel!"

Ethan: 4000
Chester: 4000

"I'll go first!" Announced Ethan. "I'll summon Vorse Raider (1900/1200) to the field in attack mode and call it a turn." Chester picked up his card.

"Let's get rid of your monster with my Smashing Ground card, shall we?" A giant fist obliterated Ethan's monster. "And next I'll summon my Gray Wing (1300/0700) to the field! Next, I'll use its effect, discarding one card from my hand so that my monster can attack twice! Now Gray Wing, attack!"

Ethan: 1400
Chester: 4000

"Now I'll play the magic card, Preparations for the End! I pay half of my life points and remove from play all cards with Fate in their name from my hand, deck or graveyard!" Chester removed six cards from his deck.

Ethan: 1400
Chester: 2000

"That'll be all." Ethan frowned.

Fate cards? What do they do? Hmm...I'd better finish this duel before I find out!"

"I summon my Gemini Elf (1900/0900) to the field, and it'll destroy your Gray Wing!" Chester smirked as his monster was destroyed.

Ethan: 1400
Chester: 1400

Man, of all the luck, my hand's full of monsters! Ethan thought to himself.

"I end my turn." Chester picked up his card and grinned.

"I'd like to show you a card that was recently introduced to my deck. It's called Dragon's Pain, and here's how it works. I can remove up to three dragon types from my graveyard, and inflict 500 points of damage to you for each one. So, I remove my Gray Wing that you destroyed, and my Masked Dragon (1400/1100) that I discarded to inflict 1000 points of damage!" Shadowy replicas of Chesters monsters flew straight and Ethan, causing him to gasp with pain as they struck.

Ethan: 0400
Chester: 1400

"I'll end my turn by setting a monster." Ethan was calm as he picked up his card, but gave an inward curse as he drew another monster card.

Of all the times my deck decides to churn out normal monsters it's now...oh well. May as well attack.

"I'll attack your face down with Gemini Elf!" Ethan's monster went to attack but was knocked back by a giant dragon.

Ethan: 0300
Chester: 1400

"You ran into my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave (1300/2000) so no luck for you!" Ethan ended his turn.

"Now, Ethan. It's time to draw this to a close. I'll switch my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave to attack mode and summon my Luster Dragon (1900/1600)! Luster dragon, attack Gemini Elf, and Dragon Dwelling in the Cave will end this!" Ethan looked stunned as his monster was destroyed and his life points reduced to 0.

Ethan: 0000
Chester: 1400

What happened to Chester to change him so much in such a short space of time? Ethan thought. He thought that was the end of the duel, but suddenly five holograms of cards appeared on Chester's side of the field.

"And now to decide what will happen next!" Chester announced. "You remember me sending some cards out of play with my Preparations for the End? Now it's time they came on to the field!" Chester looked monstrous now, with the green mark on his forehead pulsing. "The first one that needed to be activated was a card simply known as Fate. It can only activate from my out of play zone, and only when a player loses. I then select up to 5 other cards with Fate in their names from my out of play zone, and the loser has to randomly choose one. Beware though," Chester warned, his eyes no longer holding a trace of humanity, "your life could be on the line!" Ethan laughed and looked at the crowd's faces, but none of them smiled. They had all seen the power of the Fate cards.

Is he for real? My life on the line? Yeah right. Arlene looked impassive on the side lines, but deep down she was afraid.

This guy sounds serious, but he can't be...losing your life? It's only a card game... After facing Hayden however, Arlene had difficulty believing that.

"Yeah, yeah, this is really funny, Chester." Chester looked insane at this point, with a freakish grin and his green mark.

"You think this is a game? What do you think happened to that student and your beloved teacher?" At this point one of the students found the courage to say something.

"How could you do that to them? What had they ever done?" Chester's grin was replaced by a furious scowl.

"That STUDENT was a traitor! If it weren't for him the plan would be right on schedule! And your teacher...I need to seal the fates of three people! Now, Ethan! Pick your card!" Ethan looked at the backs of the five cards.

"I pick the middle one." Chester gave a high pitched laugh that sent shivers down everyone's spines. The card turned to reveal a picture with a man holding his head in agony as a green beam of light shot forth from it.

"So unfortunate," Chester crooned. "The traitor got the death card, and the teacher got the one that sends her into a deep sleep. But you, Ethan...you picked the card known as The Infection of Fate! Now, students, watch as this boy becomes infected!" Ethan was suddenly writhing on the floor as a dark green substance emerged from the card and sunk into his skin. There was a burst of green light from Ethan's forehead. Ethan screamed at the top of his lungs, and Arlene looked on mortified as her brother continued screaming.

This is real! No! Ethan can't go! Not when we just found each other! The screaming stopped and Ethan turned round. His eyes had become the same as Chesters. He gave Arlene a wicked grin, then looked up at the sky as a helicopter approached. A ladder was thrown down, and Ethan and Chester picked up the bodies of the student and Macias before climbing up the ladder. The helicopter flew off, leaving a mass of confused and frightened students. There was no one more affected by this than Arlene, who let tears fall down and screams ring out.

New cards...

Preparations for the End
Quickplay Magic
Image: A group of people carrying boxes while up in the sky a meteor speeds towards them.
Effect: Pay half of your life points. Remove from play from your hand, deck and graveyard all cards with "Fate" in their name.

Dragon's Pain
Normal Magic
Image: A Dragon that looks in pain with a sword sticking out of its leg.
Effect: Remove up to 3 Dragon type monsters from play. For each one you remove, inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent.

Fate
Quickplay Magic
Image: A Tarot Reader about to turn over a card.
Effect: This card can only be activated from your out of play zone, and only when a player's life points are reduced to 0. Select up to 5 cards from your out of play zone with Fate in their name and place them face down between you and your opponent's field. Your opponent then selects one of these cards.

The Infection of Fate
Quickplay Magic
Image: A man holding his head in agony as a beam of green light shines on his forehead.
Effect: If this card is chosen by your opponent due to the effect of "Fate" your opponent is now infected.