Izual looked at the sleeping Jasmine. He'd figure he would let her sleep. He patted her head and she mumbled a bit. He smiled as he left the class with the rest of them. Rather than go to his room and rest, or study as some were doing, he merely went to the woods and sat on a branch. He slowly made sure to inspect the surroundings, making sure no traps were around. He lied down on the branch and enjoyed the shade of the tree, leaving him in a cool spot on the sunny day. He looked through his cards and smiled as he found a particular one he liked.
"You and I will get that Sacred Beast, can't let Culex get the best of us." said Izual to card. "And to think, I used a DEFENSE deck over you, must've been crazy eh?" There seemed to be a small moment of silence. "Yeah, yeah." He slowly placed his deck back on his pocket and started enjoying the spot. It was nice and relaxing, so much that he started feeling sleepy. While he did get some sleep from last night, it was considerably less than his usual amount. He slowly let the feelings of sleepiness come to him and fell asleep on the tree.
Izual slowly moved around in what seemed to be an endless plane. He looked around and saw nothing for miles. The surrounding itself looked unreal.
"Where am I?" asked Izual as he walked around.
"Izzy." Izual quickly turned around. He could have sworn he heard something.
"Who's there?" asked Izual trying to find anyone, but to no alas.
"Izzy!" This time, the voice sounded if he wanted to get Izual's attention.
"Who ever it, show up right now!" shouted Izual. He walked forwards a bit then, he tried to look around and saw no one. Then, he felt someone poke him. He immediately jumped forward in scare. Then he turned around and saw a figure in a black robe with the hoodie down.
"Hey Izzy." said the figure and Izual just looked shock as he took more steps back.
"It can't be…you…you are dead…Shade!?" he asked as he noticed at the figure. Shade looked like a zombie. He seemed to have no expression, except or a small smile.
"Things aren't as they seen, but sometimes we have to accept some truths." said Shade. Izual still remained scared.
"What do you mean?" asked Izual taking more steps back.
"I'm gone, but I'm not. Lilith is more closer to you than I'm, then again, my body is close to you, as close as Lilith." said Shade. Izual didn't understand. His body? What did he mean by that?
"Lilith? How can she be close to me? Isn't she trapped?" asked Izual. Shade shook his head.
"She is closer to you than ever, try asking Darius, after all, he knows his people." said Shade. Izual remained his confused face.
"Who's Darius?" asked Izual, still confused. Somehow, the thought of how he got to his current location , or how he is talking to someone he killed were pushed to the back of his head.
"It seems my time is up Izzy." said Shade as he walked towards Izual stopped in front of him. "It was nice talking to you…" Izual still couldn't believe. Then, he watched Shade pulled his sword. It was the same one he wielded that faithful night. Then, he stabbed Izual right through the stomach. He felt extreme pain in his stomach and as he staggered back.
"What …was that for?" he asked, as things became to become fuzzy.
"Call it payback." and with that everything turned black once more.
…
Jaden poked the sleeping Izual. Izual quickly opened his and stumbled like crazy, falling on the floor with a look of great fear.
"Whoa, you okay?" asked Jaden. Izual just looked up, as if in shock. He seemed to be panting. What….what happened? he asked in his mind. Had he really seen the person he had killed? Had really talked to Shade? But how? Where did he go? His mind wandered through all this question as he looked at his stomach, and noticed it was fine. "Yo?" said Jaden, and Izual looked up to see Jaden sticking his hand out to help him up. He remained very pale, almost unsure of what had happened and if it had happened. Somehow, he found a way to push the thoughts away for at least a moment.
"What are you doing here?" asked Izual, as he still felt strange after all of that. Jaden chuckled.
"Well, the author decided to give me a cameo, so yay. You didn't come to the dorm last night, and the guys and I got worried. We were going to ask you, but you came too late in the morning. You okay? You look like you seen a ghost." said Jaden. Izual looked at him. He would have smiled at the irony, had he not been so scared.
"You could say that" said Izual, as he took Jaden's hand and got up. "Thanks." He let go of Jaden, and scratched his head, as he pondered many thoughts. Did all that really happened? Was Shade…is Shade alive? he thought.
"C'mon, some food will get you good to go." said Jaden as they started walking towards the Ra dormitory. In their way, they notice Culex lying against a wall of the main classroom, surrounded by many Obelisk girls.
"…He would always say, 'You've got to be honest; if you can fake that, you've got it made.'" said Culex, all the girls laughing.
"How does he do that?" asked Izual. Despite him being on the new guys around, he already managed to get a good amount of the Obelisk girl's attention.
"I don't know. 'Tis a gift I assume. One thing is for sure definitely a ladies man." said Jaden. Izual nodded. As they moved closer to their dorm, the last saw thing was Culex slapping a girl's behind. Izual and Jaden shook their heads.
"So, you going to enter the tournament?" asked Izual as they entered the room.
"I don't see why not, get a chance at a sacred beast? Sign me up." said Jaden, chuckling. "Let's work on our decks, eh?" Izual nodded.
…
A few hours later, night was around. May looked at the full moon from the docks with her duel disk at hand.
"Lovely night, isn't it?" said Culex as he arrived. May turned around to face him.
"Yes it is. So are you ready for the duel?" asked May as she prepared herself.
"Maybe. Up for a wager?" asked Culex, May sighed.
"What is it with you and wagers?" asked May. Culex shrugged.
"I play to win." responded Culex.
"So what are the wagers?" asked May, curious. Culex grinned.
"How about this: If I win, you'll give me a kiss." said Culex. May rose an eyebrow, and let out a laugh.
"And if I win, you'll never hit on me?" suggested May. Culex stopped grinning.
"Sounds good. Go first." said Culex as May started playing.
"Play Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode and set spell or trap. End." said May. Culex chuckled.
"I wonder what that is…" said Culex as he drew. "But I have the card to stop this. I play Mind Control" As he played his spell cards, puppet strings appeared on Gearfried's armor. The strings slowly controlled him to walk to Culex's side of the field. Culex chuckled as he held the strings of Gearfried.
"Mind Control allows me to take your monster though I can't tribute it or attack." said Culex. May looked at him confused.
"Then what CAN you do with it?" asked May. Culex chuckled.
"Use it as a Martyr, of course. I summon Mysterious Puppeteer." said Culex, as the purple-robed puppeteer appeared. May still looked confused.
"As a martyr? But wouldn't that require a tribute?" asked May. Culex chuckled.
"Incorrect. Let me show you. I play Gift of Martyr" said Culex as Gearfried's seemed to disintegrate
"What happened to Gearfried?" asked May, wondering what was the fate of her monster.
"Gift of Martyr allows me to send monster cards off my side of the field, and increase a monster by the attack of the monster I sent. Seeing as it was not a tribute, Mind Control has no problem." said Culex, gleaming as his puppeteer grew in attack power. His weak 1500 attack power into 3300. "This power boost is merely till the end of the turn, but that's okay." Culex declared an attack, and from the hands of the puppeteer, green glowing strings appeared. They elongated until a puppet appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It glowed green, similar to the strings. The puppet was in the shape of a small boy with a knife. The puppeteer commanded the puppet to charge straight at May, the knife pierced her leg. She groaned in pain a tad. She was just glad it was a hologram, despite the pain feeling somewhat real.
Culex: 4000 May: 700
"I will set a pair magic or trap card face-down, and call it a turn." said Culex. May growled. How could she lose over three quarters of her life points in the first turn? She drew a card.
"I play The Warrior Returning Alive." said May. "It allows me to retrieve warrior from the graveyard and add it to my hand, so Gearfried comes back." She added Gearfried back to her hand. "I play Marauding Captain." A young warrior with blonde hair rose, wearing a light armor with a pair twin blades. Then Culex's life points rose.
Culex: 4500 May: 700
"How'd you get life points?" asked May.
"Every time you or I summon normal summon a monster, I get 500 life points. That's Mysterious Puppeteer's effect." said Culex. May sighed as she summoned Gearfried. "Whoa, you can only normal summon once per turn"
"It's a special summoned, that's MY monster's special effect. It allows to special summon a Level 4 or lower monster from my hand." said May. May flipped her face-down card, The A. Forces. "This card increases all warrior monsters on my side of the field by 200 for every warrior or Spellcaster in my side of the field. I count two, so that gives them each a nice 400 attack bonus. " Marauding Captain's attack rose to 1600, as Gearfried's rose to 2200.
"This is gonna hurt…." said Culex as he watched May declare an attack with Gearfried. The Iron Knight ran straight for the Puppeteer and slashed it in half with ease. Then Marauding Captain went straight for Culex's life points. He slashed twice, once with each sword. He groaned in pain.
Culex: 2200 May: 700
"My turn!" shouted Culex as he drew a card and smiled. "I play Rogue Doll!" the strange purple-cloaked doll appeared on the field. "Attack Marauding Captain." The Rogue Doll threw a fireball at Marauding Captain. The blonde warrior was not dumb, as he threw a sword at doll, piercing it, thus a kamikaze. However, the from the remains of the battle a glowing circle appeared, and Magical Marionette appeared out of it. "The wonders Magician's Circle can do. " said Culex as he noticed Gearfried's attack power dropped to 2000, since Marauding Captain left the field. The marionette rushed towards Gearfried. He slashed it in half, but the puppet itself exploded, killing both monsters. Culex was once again, open. He sighed and ended his turn by setting a card. May chuckled.
"Very big let down, Culex." said May as he smiled at her card. Ring of Destruction, not bad. This could help me out. she thought. She set it down then played Command Knight on the field. A female knight appeared on the field. She seemed very strong, with a leather hat and a brown cape. Her own attack rose to 1600 by her own effect, then to 1800 because of A. Forces.
"This is gonna hurt…." said Culex, May chuckled as her knight ran straight at Culex, and slashed him.
Culex: 400 May: 700
Culex chuckled. "Time to end this." said Culex as he summoned a strange puppet that looked like Chuckie. It was a young boy in blue overalls holding an axe as big as his body. He had a solid 1600 attack, but it wasn't enough to take down Command knight.
"Now, I flip my face-down card, Mask of Brutality!" said Culex as a hideous masked got equipped on Command Knight's face. Her attack rose to 2800, while her defense went down to 900.
"Why would you power up my monster?" asked May but her question shortly got answered by Culex's Shield and Sword card. The Malice Doll became 1700 attack, while Command Knight became 900, however, A. Forces still rose her attack to 1100, thus making her survive a blow by the doll.
"That's only enough to drop me to 100, it's not over." said May. Culex chuckled as he played another card from the field, Shrink. May looked shocked. That was an awfully rare card.
"How'd you get that?" asked May as she noticed her knight became a puny 550 attack monster. Culex just chuckled.
"I 'unno. Now attack for game?" said Culex as his doll ran to Command Knight. May looked at her Ring of Destruction face-down. She knew she could ring her Command Knight, which would inflict enough to damage to beat Culex but not herself, however she did a different play.
"I play Ring of Destruction on Malice Doll of Demise" said May as a ring of grenades appeared on the Malice Doll and it exploded, giving both duelist 1600 damage thus ending the game in a tie. Culex growled but then looked at her as she grinned and walked past by.
"Wait…you could have won the game!" said Culex as he watched her walk past him.
"I know." said May, leaving the docks.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Culex as he watched her walk away.
"Gotta work for it, puppet boy." said May and with that, she was gone.