Recap:
"Queen Elementess, attack Zane's Cyber End Dragon with Elemental Rage!" I shouted. The attack hit its mark and Zane's life points went down to zero.
"That's game!" I shouted over the roar of the crowd.
"Sadie," Zane called to me.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Your wrists," he answered, staring at them.
I looked down at them, and was shocked at what I saw. On both of my wrists were marks that were glowing. I recognized the mark from my time in the Shadow Realm as the Millennium symbol. Suddenly, a pain that felt like white hot metal pressed against my skin erupted from my glowing wrists. Then the pain shot through me, reaching each and every corner of my body. I screamed out in pain as it happened, the roar of the crowd suddenly died. I heard someone calling my name as I started to fall and let unconsciousness claim me.
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I started to slowly open my eyes, or at least I thought I was. When my eyes were fully open, I was surrounded completely by darkness. I was floating along through a blackish purplish haze, and I started to shiver. The Shadow Realm, I thought. I was scared. I never wanted to return here, not when I had just reunited with Jaden. "I don't want to be here," I cried. "I want to go back to Earth, I want to go back to Duel Academy, I want to go back to Jaden."
"I intend to let you go back."
"Who are you?" I asked. "Where are you?"
"Neither is important. This is just a message."
I was very confused, and even more scared than I had been before, "What message?"
"We know that you've returned to Earth, and we know that you are back in contact with your twin."
As scared as I was, I decided I wasn't going to let whatever this was know, "Yeah? What's it to ya?"
"You will join the Shadows, whether you like it or not."
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"Your curse. It is your destiny, you cannot deny it."
"Destiny shmestiny. I can choose what path I take," I told it. "No damn curse is going to decide what I do with my life."
"Think what you wish, you can't fight it."
"I may be a girl, but you'd be surprised by my upper body strength," I said.
"That's not what I meant."
"Well, that's what I meant," I replied with a smirk. "So be a good spirit thingy, or whatever you are, and let me go."
"We're going to find you, you should know. We'll be coming for you and your twin soon."
"Whatevs," I replied shortly. "I'm leaving," I told it. I concentrated as hard as hard as I could, wishing I would wake up back on Earth.
When I opened my eyes, it was the complete opposite of the last time. The lights in the room seemed blinding compared to the darkness I was just in. "Oh yeah, I won!" I shouted. "I think," I added as an after thought. I heard a groan of pain suddenly coming from the floor. I leaned over the edge of the bed I was in and spotted Jaden there, rubbing his head. "Sorry, Jaden," I said as a sweat drop appeared on the back of my head.
"Sadie! You're awake!" he yelled as he stood up and gave me a suffocating hug.
"Jaden, I can't breathe," I gasped.
"Sorry," he said as he let go. "I was just worried, that's all."
"Hey, Jay," I started, "what happened exactly?"
He paused for a moment before answering, "Well, I'm not really sure. I mean, you had just won your duel against Zane, and he said something to you, I couldn't hear what. Then you looked down at your hands for a moment. Then it got really scary. You started screaming so loudly, like you were in so much pain. I jumped out of my seat, and managed to catch you before you fell and hit the ground. And you've been unconscious since then," he finished.
I just stared down at my wrists through the entire thing, reliving every moment. I noticed that there was a faint outline of the symbol still on both of my wrists, like a faint scar from many years before. "I was in pain," I said finally. "It felt like my skin was on fire, and then someone yelled my name, and then everything goes black from there."
"Yeah, that was me who yelled your name," he said.
"So," I started, looking back up at him with a small smile, "is our cover blown?"
"Nope," he smiled. "I just told them that we had become fast friends that day during class since we were sitting next to each other. I just said we passed notes, explaining why we were so quiet," he said. "You know, just being nice to the new girl." He looked at the clock on the wall, "Actually, my friends should be here any minute."
"You're going to introduce me, right?" I asked.
"Of course," he said. "Before they get here, I'll give you a quick run down. Okay, first is my best bud Syrus. He's Zane's little bro, and in Slifer with me. Zane should be coming too, but you already know who he is. You know Bastion already too. There's Chazz Princeton, he's a cool dude, and rich. He used to be in Obelisk, but then he dropped out, and when he rejoined DA, he had to start at Slifer. And then there's Alexis. She's in Obelisk blue, and—"
"Is she your girl friend?" I asked slyly.
"What?!" he shouted. "No, she's just a friend, who just happens to be a girl."
"I was joking, Jaden," I said laughing. Suddenly the door opened and five people, four boys and a girl, came walking in. "Oh, hi. You guys must be Jaden's friends," I said, greeting them.
"Hey, they're your friends, too," Jaden said.
"Yeah," the girl agreed. "Hi, my name's Alexis Rhodes," she said holding out her hand.
I took it with a smile, "Hi, I'm Sadie Tosa."
She looked from me to Jaden, then back to me. She looked happy on the outside, but she definitely didn't feel the same way about me on the inside. What did I do to her? I wondered.
"You're an excellent duelist," Bastion said. "I'm Bastion Misawa."
"Thanks," I replied, a faint blush appearing on my face. I always act like that when someone compliments me. I'm too modest for my own good. But luckily no one noticed.
A small Slifer with light blue hair smiled, "Hi, I'm Syrus Truesdale."
"Chazz Princeton's the name," the boy with the black jacket and black spiky hair said.
"And I'm Zane Truesdale," Zane said.
"Right, I met you before," I smiled. "Thanks for showing me to the Chancellor's office."
"Speaking of which, the Chancellor decided to put you in Obelisk," Bastion said.
"Awesome! Well, it's nice to meet you all," I smiled at them all. "So, anyway, how long was I out for? A few hours?" The all shifted uncomfortably a bit. "Oh, well, a few days isn't bad."
"Um, Sadie," Jaden started.
I just kept rambling on, "At least there isn't too much homework to make up."
"Sadie," Jaden said, a little bit louder.
"Yeah?" I asked, hearing him this time.
"Um, you were out for about three weeks," Jaden muttered.
"Three weeks? THREE WEEKS?!" I shouted. "I think I'm gonna pass out again."
"That's why everyone was so worried," Alexis said.
"It didn't seem that long," I muttered.
"What?" Jaden asked.
"Oh, nothing," I replied. I thought that conversation was a lot shorter than three weeks. It couldn't possibly have been longer than a few minutes. But then again, time is distorted in the Shadow Realm, I sighed. Suddenly, my stomach rumbled. "I guess I'm hungry," I laughed.
"Well, you haven't eaten in three weeks," Bastion smiled.
"Let's head down to dinner," Chazz said. "The Chazz needs to eat."
"Wait, I don't think I'm allowed to leave yet," I told them.
"Ms. Fontaine said you could leave once you woke up," Jaden said.
I grabbed a pad of paper off of the bedside table and a pen and started writing, "I still want to leave a note."
[Good ol' responsible you. Jaden smiled. I smiled back.
(Next day in Banner's class)
I sat in Banner's class with my new Obelisk uniform on. The second I saw miniskirt, I knew I had to do my own taloring. After I had finished with it, the skirt had become a cute pair of blue cargo shorts.
"At least Professor Banner was nice enough to not make me do my three weeks worth of missed homework," I told Jaden. "Dr. Crowler on the other hand, not so much."
"That's rough," Jaden sympathized. "If you want, I can help."
I smirked, "Thanks, Jay, but I've seen your grades. Bastion is helping me."
"Jaden Yuki! Sadie Tosa! Chancellor Sheppard wants to see you both," Professor Banner called out suddenly.
"We didn't do it!" we both yelled in unison.
"You're not in trouble. I've been called down as well. He also wants to see Chazz, Bastion, and Alexis," he told us as we made our way down the steps.
We walked down the hallway to Chancellor Sheppard's office. When we got to the door, I saw Dr. Crowler and Zane coming our way.
"Oh so you all were called here too. Oh wait which one of these looks out of place?" Crowler said smirking a Jaden.
"He's not outta place. Chazz was called here too," Jaden said. I chuckled a bit. You can be so dumb sometimes, Jaden, I thought to myself.
"He means you!" said Chazz glaring a Jaden.
"Let's just go in, guys," I said. We went inside and lined up in front of Sheppard's desk. I've got a bad feeling about this.
"Thank you all for coming down," he started. "I've called you all down here to tell you about the Three Sacred Beast Cards."
Yeah, that bad feeling I had just got a lot worse, I thought.
"These cards are extremely dangerous," he told us. Yup, I knew it was gonna be bad. "Therefore they have been looked away and buried away here at Academy Island."
"So where are they buried? Under the volcano?" I asked.
"No, as a matter of fact, they are much closer than you think," he said. "They're right under you."
"They're under the school?" I asked, shocked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaden lift up his foot, as if expecting to find one of the cards under his shoe.
"One of the many reasons why this school was built was to protect the 3 cards. Anyway, according to the legend if any of the demon cards see that light of day, it will mean destruction to the whole world. Darkness will fall. That's how powerful these cards are. There are people who want to free the cards. Eight of them to be exact. They call themselves the Shadow Riders. There isn't much known about them, but I know that one of them has arrived on the island already."
Why do the Shadow Riders sound unpleasantly familiar? I asked myself.
"Well, that's a pleasant thought," Bastion said.
"How are these riders expecting to get the cards?" Alexis asked.
"The door to the cards is protected by eight keys." Sheppard said. He pulled out a box from under his desk and placed on top of his desk. When it opened, I saw eight little pendants with symbols and markings on them. "I want you eight to protect these keys," Sheppard told us. "But be careful because the Shadow Riders will seek you out to get the keys."
"Seek us out? You mean take us out," said Chazz.
"Not necessarily. The keys can only be won with a duel," said Sheppard.
"A duel?" asked Zane.
Sheppard nodded. "So I've selected my eight best in the school. Please, will you protect the keys?" asked Sheppard. "Now I understand if you refuse, this is a big responsibility I'm putting on you," said Sheppard.
I took a small glance at Jaden and saw him glance at me. [So, how 'bout it, Jaden?
[Why not, it's not everyday you get to save the world.
[Yeah, you're right. I'm in.
[Me too. Jaden reached forward and grabbed one of the keys, "Yeah let's save the world," he said putting it around his neck.
"I'm in too," I said grabbing a key of my own, and slipping it around my neck.
Chazz then grabbed one as well, followed by Zane, Alexis, Bastion, Crowler, and lastly Banner.
(Later that night)
I sat outside on the docks, fiddling with my pendant that I now had to protect. I started to think about who the Shadow Riders would be going after first. If I were the first Shadow Rider, I would want to go after the weakest person first, so I'd have an easier chance at a key. That's went it hit me. I stood up and started to sprint towards the Slifer dorms. With that Slifer Red jacket on, they're bound to go for Jaden first! As I was running, I saw Alexis running in the same direction I was. I veered over to her path. "Worried about Jaden?" I asked shortly.
"Yep," she answered. She looked slightly miffed as she turned away from me, but I ignored it. Right now, Jaden was more important. Just when we got to the dorms, a blue light was shining from Jaden' room.
"Jaden!" we both yelled as we ran to his door and opened it up. I saw this blue warp thing, and I saw Jaden too, so I ran forward. The sounds of footsteps next to me told me Alexis had come in too. Suddenly a blinding light enveloped the room, and I had to close my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I saw myself standing on a large floating disk that was hovering over the mouth of the volcano. I looked around and saw Alexis next to me and Jaden a little farther in front of us. On the other side of the disk was a man in a black cloak and mask.
"You're a Shadow Rider, aren't you?" Jaden asked.
"The name's Nightshroud," he said. What kind of mother would name their kid Nightshroud? I thought. "But that's not really what you should be worried about," he said, pointing to his right.
I followed the direction he was pointing, and my eyes fell on Syrus and Chumley in a bubble sort of thing floating on some rocks over the lava.
"The only way to save their lives, and yours, is to duel me and win," he said. "Oh yeah, and if you lose, I get your key, and your soul."
My eyes widened in terror.
---"Once you lose this duel, your soul will be trapped in the Shadow Realm."---
"Jaden, think about this first," Alexis said.
"I just did. Nightshroud, get your game on!" Jaden said.
"Jaden, wait!" I cried. Tears were streaming down my face.
"Sadie, what's wro--," he stopped. "Oh."
[Jaden, I can't watch you go through this! It's painful! This is real!
[Sadie, I know you're worried, but this isn't my first shadow duel.
[It's not? When did you--
[It was while you were unconscious, I'll tell you later. Sadie, if I don't do this, what will happen to Syrus and Chumley?
[I don't know. I looked down at my feet, tears still falling. [I'm not sure I can deal with it, Jay.
[Don't worry, sis, nothing will happen to me, I promise.
I looked up at him [Twin telepathy pinky swear? I knew it was corny, but he had never broken one yet, and I hoped this time wouldn't be an exception.
He smiled [Twin telepathy pinky swear.
I smiled too as I wiped away my tears, "Take him down, Jay."
Jaden nodded and turned towards Nightshroud, "Nightshroud, get your game on!"
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Nightshroud fell to the ground in defeat.
"That's game," Jaden said weakly.
The platform that was holding us all up started to glow so bright that it was blinding. I was forced to close my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I was aching all over. I looked around and saw that I was lying on the ground, at the foot of the volcano. I had better not have been out for three weeks again, I thought as I propped myself up. As I sat up, I looked around again, and noticed Alexis sitting up a few yards away from me. I scanned around to locate everyone else, and my eyes fell upon Syrus and Chumley who were by Jaden. Syrus woke up, and he nudged Chumley so he woke up too.
I took my time getting up, seeing as I was still in pain. I walked over to Jaden to find that he was still unconscious. I kneeled next to him and I felt myself on the brink of tears. I forced them back, knowing that there was nothing to worry about, and that he had won the duel and would wake up soon, he was just exhausted. As I reassured myself, the pressure on my eyes subsided and I took a deep breath.
I helped get Jaden on Chumley's back and we started to head over to where Alexis, Zane, Chazz, Bastion, and the unconscious Nightshroud were all huddled. The others must have just come, I thought. As we headed over, I realized that I was limping. Why am I in so much pain? No one else seems to be, with the exception of Jaden. Maybe that's the thing, maybe I'm sharing some of Jaden's pain, I pondered.
We reached the group, and I saw that Alexis was clutching Nightshroud's body, crying. The mask had fallen away.
"Zane, it's him. It's my brother," Alexis cried.
"Atticus?" Zane asked.
"Yeah, that dark thing inside him got locked away in that card when he lost," Alexis said, looking at a card on the ground. As I looked closer at the card, I noticed it was a picture of the mask that used to be on Nightshroud/Atticus's face.
"So this is the power of a shadow duel," Zane said.
"Yup," I answered, looking at Jaden's unconscious body.
Zane followed my gaze, "If this is what happens after you win a duel, I'd hate to see what happens if you lose," said Zane.
"Trust me, you don't want to," I muttered so no one could hear me.
We stared out over the horizon, just as the sun was breaking over the top, all scared of what was to come…