-1Chapter 8: Flashback

Shade slowly walked and noticed what seemed to a clear room, with dark blue walls, and a light blue marble on the floor. There was a small pillar, about 5 feet high, with the three Sacred Beasts on the top, standing up with glass covering them. "Seems easy enough…" said Shade as he walked a small beeping sound triggered. "Hmm?" He looked at the walls as they slowly opened like elevator doors, revealing crossbows, loaded with arrow. "Grr-ate." said Shade as all seemed to be still for one second. It was an eerie silence. He jumped forward and all the crossbows started firing. Shade quickly ducked his head and ran till he got behind the small pillar, and managed to block the arrows coming from in front of the pillar. However, the ones from behind him hit back directly, puncturing it. He winced as well as let out of made a small sound, signaling his pain as the arrows pierced his back. Just as he pulled the arrows off, the floor from under him and the pillar opened up, making them both fall. Grr…I'm falling into every trap! thought Shade as he fell. He noticed he was falling through an small space then quickly stuck out his hand to block the fall. Meanwhile, the pillar kept falling till it left the small space into a bigger room. It landed solidly on the room, then the floor under the pillar started to moving to one side, the pillar going with it. The other part of floor that surrounded the pillar started moving the other way. Shade growled softly, then slowly moved down, then he noticed the floor. "What to do, what to do…" said Shade to himself then his hands glowed. He smiled. Very classic of Lilith…helping me through flashbacks thought Shade as he started to see flashback.

…

Shade started to see a vision of his younger self, a younger Izual and young girl who had short girl with elegant red hair that was beautifully parted down the center, and her bangs flowed like fiery water falls, stopping short of the pools of green that were her eyes. They seemed to be staring at a small rectangular pool. The water was clear, and was only limited by a wall that enclosed the pool, and the room itself, making the pool, literally, the room. At the end of the pool, however, there seemed to a platform, with a door. There seemed be giant lily pads in the pool, arranged in lines. There was one big line of five lily pads, and two other lines of three lily pads on the sides of the pool, and next to the wall. The one's on the sides seemed to be farther apart, making a jump from one to the other almost impossible.

"I bet you I can make it in four jumps." said Izual to the girl. Shade laughed a bit. It was obvious, to Shade, that Izual was trying to impress the girl.

"No you can't. That would require the side route, and no one can jump that far." said Shade. Shade knew that Izual must have been very confident in order to this. Shade realized that Izual couldn't swim, so he knew this could be dangerous.

"Still, it be funny to watch, eh brother?" asked the girl. Shade nodded. Izual growled.

"Just watch." Izual braced himself as with a big leap he jumped on the first lily pad.

"That's one. Don't worry, once you fall, we'll come rescue you" said Shade, grinning a bit. Izual grinned. He took a deep breath, then jumped against the wall and used the momentum to take three steps on the wall, then jumped from it, barely making it to the next lily pad. Shade looked surprised.

"Go Izzy!" shouted the girl, excited. Izual grinned at Shade.

"That's two." said Izual as he ran a bit then jump from the border of the lily pad, far into the wall, then took two extra steps then bounced off the wall onto the next lily pad, making it shake a little.
"That's three…" said Shade in disbelief. Izual jumped to the rock platform.
"…and that 's four." said Izual. The girl clapped.

"Looks like he outsmarted you, eh brother?" asked the girl. Shade smiled.

"I guess he did…"

…

It seemed as if time had stop as he saw that flashback then realized what he had to do. "Thank you Izual." said Shade as he dropped down to the floor and landed perfectly. He noticed the pillar moving away, while the rest of the floor seemed to go against it. He quickly ran as he noticed the floor slowing him down and he jumped against the wall to get a quick boost, then bounced against the floor and did it again. It was tiring, but it allowed him to move faster than the pillar. He finally caught up, then jumped from the floor to the pillar and held on to it for dear life. He panted as he moved one hand to hit the glass, but before he could, he noticed the floor stopping moving forward, but rather it went up. He looked up and noticed there were many floors. He merely ignored then tried cracking the glass, then as he did , he looked at the cards. They were fakes.
"AH!" shouted Shade, smashing his fist against the pillar. He groaned in pain. "Bad idea…" said Shade, then the floor stopped moving revealing a wide hall way, almost the size of a room, but it was long. Then to the other side, there was an identical pillar to the one he was on. He looked behind and noticed a wide window, about 6 feet high and 10 feet width, then he turned to look at the other pillar. There was only one obstacle. Actually, there were three. Three swordsman, identical in look, were in his way. They all had blonde hair, wearing a strange green armor with sharp blades. "You gotta be kidding! Those look identical to Neo the Magic Swordsman! They have to be illusions." said Shade. He showed them his palm and sounds wave came from it. Shade closed his eyes, and felt the waves bouncing off the body, and back to him, similar to how a bat does it.
"We are real." said one of them.

"And we will…" said the second one

"Stop you." said the third one.

Shade noticed their speech. It was almost…robotic. That's it! thought Shade. Robots.

"Bring it." said Shade as he pulled as his short sword. Then, the swordsman rushed towards Shade. Shade ran towards one side, and eventually one of the Neo's caught up to him and tried to slash him. Shade blocked him the blow with the sword, and noticed it was a hard blow. He quickly counter-attacked with a slash, but noticed it was ineffective. Another swordsman slashed Shade, on the side. He shouted in pain as he jumped back. He examined his wound, with blood coming out. It slowly dripped from his wound, almost like a tear. "Stay away, jeez!" shouted Shade as he ran for the pillar with the real cards. As he managed to get away, one of the Neo's seemed to just glide through the floor, as in of skate. Then it stopped in front of Shade. Then, there seemed to be electrical charge going through the sword, super charging.

"That is so wrong." said Shade as he jumped back before Neo could slash. "Or as Jaden would say, trippin' on cold stones? Or was it stone cold trippin'? I'll never know." Then he noticed another Neo close to him, and he jumped to the side. He looked up to find the third Neo, about to stab him. He used his hands to go between his legs and ran towards the wall, and panted. "This can't possibly get any worse…"

"Hey Jasmine." said Izual as he noticed her sitting. "What….'s up?" He noticed she was wearing a skimpy white two piece swimsuit. She looked beautiful, and was astonished.

"Hey Izual!" she said, looking cheerful. She looked at him and grinned at his expression. "Why aren't you down there with the rest of the people?" It took Izual a couple of seconds then he snapped out of it.
"Umm, why aren't you there?" he answered, as he looked at the stars.
"Well, I saw you up here, and decided to see why you weren't down there. Besides, things were getting weird…

Flashback

"…so yeah, I am certifiably insane" said Jaden, in the crowd with Bastion, Syrus, and Christy, while holding her hand.

"HEY!" said Christy. Jaden looked at her. She cuddled up next to him. "WE are certifiably insane." Jaden smiled.

End of Flashback

"…And you?" asked Jasmine, moving from side to side.

"Can't swim. Besides, I like to look at the stars. It's relaxing at times." said Izual. He pointed out in the air. "See that connection? That's the little dipper." Jasmine strained her eyes, and saw it.
"I see it!" said Jasmine, as she looked at the stars then turned her attention to Izual. "so you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." said Izual just looking at the moon. Jasmine smiled.

"Good, don't want the old pervert to be depressed." said Jasmine

"Depressed? Why would I..HEY! I'm not a pervert!" said Izual, growling a bit.
"Yeah you are. Remember? You were peeping on Christy, Alexis, Mindy and I." said Jasmine, laughing a bit.

"But I…." said Izual, and sighed. He knew what ever he said, she would just find a way to counter it. "I give up."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I know it was an accident." said Jasmine, she looked the other way as she started to get up, then stopped. She turned to face him. "But next time you want to do something like that…just ask." Jasmine started to get and it took Izual no more than a second what she meant. He immediately stood up to stop her.
"Wait!" he said, and accidentally knocked her to the ground. He stumbled himself, and fell on top of her. Izual's head rested on Jasmine's shoulder. She immediately blushed as Izual slowly rose his head bit to find himself staring at Jasmine's face. They were a few inches away from each other.

"Izual…I want you…to…"