A/N: Sorry for the wait, FFnet. wouldn't take this...for some reason.
Izual walked through the forest. His mind wandered around as he took his walk. He was thinking of why everyone was showing up NOW. He had recognized Culex's appearance and name, and he being there didn't exactly make him the happiest duelist on the island. Culex and Izual were never the best of friends. They were more like the worst of enemies, though Culex considered him as crap. Culex considered Shade his only "worthwhile" opponent. A rival, if you would. They fought ALL the time, mostly draws. Izual chuckled to himself, recalling being taken hostage just to get Shade to fight Culex. Then Shade came into his mind, and he quickly banished all thoughts of him. He hadn't quite handled his death yet. He sigh, hoping to find some relaxation in the forest, then he hit something, somewhat hard. He looked up to find a face staring at him, with eyes glowing red.
"Hello." said the face and Izual jumped back against a tree…or so he thought 'till he realized he had hit wooden puppet. The puppet itself, wrapped it's arms and legs around Izual and pulled an extra pair of arms from it's sides, to wrap Izual even more tightly, thus making him unable to move.
"What the?" asked Izual as he noticed the face he had hit was part of another puppet, that was done pretty good. It all needed was painting and it would look like a real human.
"Puppets are cool, wouldn't you agree?" asked Culex as he walked from a bush, to face Izual. Izual groaned. He fell easily into his trap.
"What are you doing here? How did you get here?" asked Izual, wondering how he got to the island.
"I came here to do what Shade couldn't do. Get the Sacred Beast, that is. I sneaked on the boat of the all girl school. " said Culex. Izual looked at him with angry, trying to keep all thoughts of Shade away from his head. Culex turned around. "Pretty good ride"
"Why can't you just leave?" asked Izual. Culex turned around to face Izual and slapped him. The pain from the slap stung.
"Fool. You are nothing but a fool. A job was supposed to be carried, but it wasn't. And YOU, out of all people, had to stop it. I fail to see how you could have stopped Shade. His fighting style was excellent, way beyond yours. The control of his sound-manipulating device was much more efficient than yours. And let's not forget he was fueled by Lilith's power, I just don't see how. That angers me, you know?" asked Culex, glaring at Izual.
"I thought you didn't like Shade? I thought you would be glad I…I…" said Izual, unable to say the words he didn't utter to believe. Shade punched Izual's gut, and he groaned immediately.
"You are too dumb. You would never understand." said Izual. "For now, I will merely finish my job. If you get in my way, you will get killed. Don't think of this as a warning, think of it as a threat"
"You idiot, don't you realize Lilith's controlling you? She's using you for her own bidding!" said Izual as he looked at him walk away. Culex merely chuckled.
"Lilith has no control over me. I made my choice to help her. And just for making that comment, I'm leaving you there." said Culex as he exited. Izual started shouting in frustration, but to no avail. The puppet's hold was too strong. He sighed. He couldn't stay there all day, right? Besides, night was coming, so he couldn't possibly stay there. Sadly, no one came. Hours passed, and he remained there, stuck to the puppet. The hours of standing made him weak, tired, and , most of all, sleepy. But he fought the sleep to remain awake. His body wouldn't let him. He knew that he fell asleep, and animal or something could get to him. Not like being awake helped much in his position, but it did bring a certain feeling of safety. He had considered crying for help, but at this time of night, he was sure no one would come. From what he could of assume by the position of the moon, it was midnight or near it. He sighed, as his fight against sleep started falling a part, he started to slowly close his eyes. He almost feel asleep instantly till he heard some utter a single word. "Izual?". He opened his eyes and noticed Jasmine.
"Jasmine?" he asked, he walked towards her, but was pulled back by the strings that held the puppet. She looked somewhat shocked to find him there, and tied to a puppet.
"What happened? What are you doing here?" she asked as she examined the puppet. Izual decided to just evade questioning.
"Culex played a prank on me." said Izual as he sighed. Jasmine chuckled a bit.
"He got you good. Here, let me set you free. " said Jasmine as she tried breaking the strings.
"I have a dagger on my left pocket, you can use that." suggest Izual. Jasmine nodded as she dug through his pocket and found the dagger.
"Why exactly do you carry a dagger with you?" asked Jasmine as she started cutting the various strings.
"Safety?" said Izual as she slashed the strings. Jasmine chuckled a bit. "So why are you here? Isn't a little late"
"Never too late for a midnight stroll…quite literally" said Jasmine. Then she hugged him. His eyes opened a bit, surprised. Jasmine and him had never been quite the same affect the whole incident before Shade's death. Having Shade die a few minutes after that didn't exactly make it a better friendship. While they would often talk at times, they both delayed talking about that incident.
"Hold on." said Jasmine as she held him and slashed the last string, which made him drop on the floor a bit. Jasmine made sure he wouldn't stumble over. She started breaking the puppet's arms with the dagger as she let go off him and rested him against a tree. Izual wasn't sure what to say. He was grateful indeed.
"…umm…Thanks Jasmine…" he said, unsure of what to say in the silence of the night. She smiled as she broke the first pair of arms off him.
"No problem. Just be glad I decided to take that walk, and that I'm helping. I could have just left you here…for the whole night." said Jasmine, grinning as she broke the other pair arms and was working on the legs of the puppet.
"I owe you one, eh?" said Izual as she finished chopping the last of the puppets leg and he finally just fell on the floor due to his tired state. He sat down, lying against a tree.
"You okay Izual?" asked Jasmine as she sat next to him. She could tell by physical state that he must have been there a good while.
"Yeah, I'm just tired. Thanks ag…" Izual couldn't finish his last statement. As he was free of the puppet, his mind immediately stopped his survival instinct. He felt safe, despite he wasn't out of the forest yet, being around Jasmine. Thus, all the pain he was holding back. He felt the extreme tiredness, and immediately fell to the side, his head landing on Jasmine's lap. Jasmine slightly blushed at his reaction.
"Izual!" she said, but then notice he was sleeping, apparently deep. "I can't leave him here…who knows what could happen to him. " said Jasmine to herself. "I can't take him to the boys dorm though." She wondered what to do and decided just to stay there. She would have to watch over him. She sighed and slowly closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
…
The sun shined through the forest. Izual felt the rays of light hitting his face. He slowly groaned a bit as he opened his eyes a bit.
"Too bright…" he said, to himself. Then he notice his surroundings. He looked up saw and Jasmine. "Jasmine…" He slowly recalled the events of last night. She actually remained here. He even felt comfortable in her lap, but he wouldn't admit that to himself, much less her. Then, his mind started realizing that…today was Friday. There was class today! He wasn't sure how to wake up Jasmine. Thankfully, she woke up. She opened her eyes a bit, and looked at Izual. "Hi Izual…" she said, yawning a bit. Izual looked up at her.
"Hey…we got class to go…" said Izual as he stood up from her lap. Jasmine yawned again. "You are right." She stood up as well Izual.
"We have around 10 minutes to get to class. Let's go!" said Jasmine as she grabbed Izual's hand and ran. He ran as well. They were bit a far from class but managed to make it. Both of them were panting as they made to the class, a minute or two to spare.
"Glad for you two to join us." said Dr. Crowler as he looked at the two. They both sighed. Izual looked at their hands and slowly unclasped it out of her hand. Jasmine didn't seem to have noticed as they both walked to their seats. Izual wasn't sure what had happened there. May giggled.
"What were you two doing? For the looks of it, you were busy all night." said May to Izual. He looked at her and sighed.
"No, you see I-" said Izual, but he was cut off by Dr. Crowler.
"Class, today you are going to be doing an assignments in pair. This assignment is important for the big test tomorrow. May, work with Culex. Izual work with Jasmine. Bastion, work with Suri. Syrus work with Chazz. Now, get to work." said Dr. Crowler as he turned around and was about to walk away when someone in the crowd started speaking.
"Wait!" shouted the kid. Crowler turned around.
"Yes?" responded Crowler, wondering what the student wanted.
"What about the rest of us?" asked the kid.
"Sorry, I only pair up main characters. Now go work." said Dr. Crowler and with that, he went to grade some papers. Izual went to sit next to Jasmine.
"Hey." he said, smiling a bit then groaned at the assignment.
"C'mon, don't be lazy." said Jasmine, as she started working on it. "Here, go look up these terms." She pushed a big book titled 'The Art of Busy Work: Duel Monster's Edition'. Izual sighed even more and went looking up the terms. Meanwhile, Suri complained at the work.
"So much work!" said Suri, as she looked at the paper. Finding all those terms would take them at least an hour. She wondered how she was going to find them all…and then Bastion merely nodded.
"There. Done and done." said Bastion. Suri looked up.
"No way." said Suri as she looked over Bastion's paper. She was left open-mouthed. Every question was filled. "That's crazy! How!?"
"I know most of these answers, shows what studying can do eh?" said Bastion, chuckling. Suri sighed.
"I still gotta finish my half…" said Suri as she got to work, but then Bastion slowly pulled her paper.
"If I may…" said Bastion as he filled her answers. Suri looked confused.
"Huh?" said Suri, then she noticed Bastion filling in the answers. "That's crazy. I seriously owe you!" Suri was just amazed. Most of the other groups were only starting, and they were already done.
"It's cool." said Bastion, merely chuckling.
"Seriously, first you gave me that tour of the school yesterday, now the answers? It's crazy." said Suri, her green eyes beaming with joy.
"Nah, I don't need anything from you. said Bastion
"Well, could you help me study for the test?" asked Suri, hoping for a yes. Bastion chuckled. Meanwhile Culex looked at the work.
"No way." said Culex. May looked at him.
"What do you mean? C'mon, it won't be that hard, promise." said May, smiling. Culex looked at her and laughed a bit.
"You are funny, you know that? How about I steal the answers?" asked Culex. May looked at him disbelief.
"You can't do that." said May. Culex gave her a look.
"Why not?" asked Culex. May just grinned a bit.
"You'll get caught. They are right on his desk." said May, as she pointed to the papers.
"Wanna bet?" said Culex, as he grinned. May chuckled.
"What are the stakes?" asked May
"If I win, you'll duel me again today." said Culex, obviously setting the stakes slow.
"Sounds reasonable, and If I win?" asked May, but Culex seemed to have ignored her as he pulled a small puppet. He looked as his hands with his gloves on. He covered the sight of his hands and the puppet with his back, then the puppet seemed to be walking. May looked up and noticed the puppet had strings attached to it. The strings glowed green and moved as the puppet walked forwards. May wondered how it could move forwards, but then notice the strings were extending as it moved forwards. May realized Culex must be a great puppeteer. She wondered how she could do it, but with him blocking the sight of the strings that she assumed were coming from his fingers. Due to Crowler being too busy with the papers, and the fact that papers covered the puppet, he could easily steal the answers. Then, Culex just pulled the strings as if rewinding them. Then he covered the view from the puppet and stayed like that for a few seconds. Then, he stashed the puppet in his pocket and pulled the paper.
"I believe you lost." said Culex, grinning. May sighed.
"Fine, when do you wanna duel?" asked May. Culex chuckled.
"Tonight, when the sun sets. For now, let's just copy these answers." said Culex. May nodded. Meanwhile, Izual looked at Jasmine, as he had finished some of his work.
"How you doing?" asked Izual. She seemed a bit sleepy. Izual could tell Jasmine was not used to sleeping so little. He started wonder if she had even slept that night. He easily fell asleep, but it could have been harder for her. He noticed her slowly nodding off, resting her head on the desk. "Great…" As much as he hated to, he decided he had to not be a slacker for the day. He did owe Jasmine after all. He started working hard, to finish the paper. He was the last one to finish. He sighed as he turned it in to Crowler, who didn't really care. He walked to back to Jasmine, who still nodded. He sat and watched her sleep. He chuckled to himself.
"We're even now." said Izual, smiling a bit. Then, he noticed Crowler was making an announcement.
"Class, Duel Academy is going to hold a tournament. This tournament shall be testing some new technology to make the game more…realistic." said Crowler, everybody in the class started murmuring about this new technology. "This might increase the risk of injury of duels, and causing the duelist to feel actual pain. However! The price of the tournament is something I know you would all enjoy." Everybody quieted down to hear what it was.
"The price for the tournament is…Raviel, Lord of Phantasm!" said Dr. Crowler. Everybody was left speechless. A Sacred Beast? Being used as a PRICE!? This was unheard of. Lot's of whispering started occurring as Crowler grinned. "The tournament shall be held on Monday, so you have the week to prepare and to sign up if you would like to be in it. And with that, class ends." As if on cue, the whole class started leaving the room, considering the tourney.