Recap:
(end of duel)
Camula fell to her knees in defeat. "No!" she yelled.
Suddenly, Illusion Gate appeared behind her. Camula turned around to look at it. A large claw came out of the door and grabbed Camula by the throat and pulled her soul out. The claw went back into the gate, Camula's soul screaming in its grip as the door closed. Camula's body turned to dust and her shadow charm, along with Crowler and Zane's doll, fell to the ground.
The two dolls turned back to their normal form, Crowler and Zane returned to normal.
The castle then started to shake. Alexis, Bastion, Syrus and Chumley went up to the platform and quickly got the unconscious Dr. Crowler and Zane. Everyone ran out of the castle just in time.
Once everyone was outside, the castle crumbled and fell into the lake. The dark clouds disappeared from the sky and the sun shone brightly down on us like it was just a normal day.
"It was like living in a nightmare," Jaden said as he looked up at the blue sky.
"And the rest of our life wasn't?" I muttered so only he could hear me.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he muttered back.
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I lay on my bed, hands behind my head, and stared at the ceiling fan spinning above me. I sighed as I tried to keep track of one of the blades as it spun around over and over…
I sighed again as I snapped out of my trance. Ceiling fans are mesmerizing, I thought.
I took one of my hands and held the pendant lying on my chest in my hand. Two down, six to go. I let the pendant slip out of my hand and I stared at the same wrist. I thought I was done with this once I left the Shadow Realm. I guess you can't get rid of your shadow, so why should this be any different? Why? Because it's annoying as hell. It's like that annoying little kid who's your neighbor and will never leave you alone. Only difference is that the little kid isn't trying to make you be a servant of darkness and isn't trying to trap you in the shadows every moment of the day…they might throw stuff at you though…
My hand fell limp to the bed as I focused on the fan again, Yup, sure is mesmerizing…
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Later on that day, I was walking through the corridors and noticed most of the students muttering about something.
"Oh man! This is terrible!" I overheard a Ra Yellow student saying.
"What's terrible?" I asked, walking over to him.
"Haven't you heard?" another Ra said.
"No, obviously I haven't, or else I wouldn't be asking," I frowned. "What's up?"
"Chazz's brothers are trying to buy out the school, and if Chazz doesn't duel them, then the school is theirs," one of them said.
"Okay…so?" I asked. "Chazz can win easily. Where's the problem? I don't see how this is terrible."
"There are certain conditions to the duel," he explained. "Chazz's brother can use any rare card he wants, and Chazz can only use cards with Attack Points 500 or lower."
"What?" I asked, shocked. "What kind of loser needs to resort to those kinds of conditions to win a duel? But, anyway, who cares? Chazz will still find a way to win."
"Problem is," the other Ra said, "Chazz won't duel."
I frowned, "What do you mean, 'Chazz won't duel?' To hell with that. If he doesn't want to duel, I'll force him to."
With that, I stormed away from the Ra Yellow guys and walked down the hall. I was furious with Chazz, so furious, it made my mouth dry. I stopped at a water bubbler to take a drink, which is when more muttering broke out.
"There's Chazz."
"This mess is all totally his fault."
"I heard that he's already accepted defeat."
"Of course he has."
"He probably wants his brothers to win."
"We should have never let him back here."
"Yeah, totally."
I spun around to face Chazz and shout out my own comment at him when I heard a voice from down the hall.
"Well, you know what I think?" Jaden asked.
[That you want a cheeseburger?
[No! Well, maybe that too, but just listen!
[To what? I asked angrily. [Chazz's excuses for bailing out on the duel?
"I think you're all dead wrong," Jaden said to the crowd. "I know Chazz can win this duel, because I've dueled him myself! And duelists don't come much tougher."
"Yeah, I know," Chazz said cockily. "That's exactly the problem, Jaden."
"What's that mean?" Jaden asked.
"Honestly, Chazz, you're not making any sense," Bastion said, walking up to us with Alexis.
"Bastion's right," Alexis said. "Being tough is usually a good thing, Chazz."
"Look, it's--" Chazz started.
"Oh, I get it!" I said, the reason just dawning upon me.
"It's about Chazz being too tough in, specifically, his deck," Zane said, walking up behind me. I turned to look at him, but when we made eye contact, I hastily turned my head to my shoulder, pretending I had to cough, as I felt my cheeks burn. "It's about Chazz not even being able to duel."
"What do you mean?" Syrus asked.
"He means that Chazz's deck isn't built with monsters with less than 500 Attack Points," I explained, my anger at Chazz quickly subsiding as I realized his situation.
"Wait," Jaden said, picking up on what I said. "So then--"
"My cards are all too powerful," Chazz finished. "Because of that condition my bros set up, my deck is useless." He pulled something out of his coat pocket. "All I've got left is him," he said, holding up his Ojama Yellow card.
Muttering broke out again.
"What?" Jaden said, shocked. "Just him? You can't make a deck with one card!"
"He may not need to," someone said. We turned to see Professor Banner looking at us, sitting on a nearby staircase. "This is but a rumor, but given the circumstances, it may be worth investigating. Now, supposedly, my students, deep in the woods sits a very old well, and within this well lay a great many cards. You see, they were discarded there by duelists who believed them too weak to ever use in their decks. Of course, the spirits of all those cards are quite angry for being left behind."
I'd be angry too if I were dumped in a well because someone thought I was useless.
"Oh yeah?" Chazz said. "Well 'the Chazz' has a feeling they're gonna be perking up real soon. I'm gonna find that well and enlist some new monsters for my deck."
A round of cheers broke out at this.
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Jaden and I decided we'd follow Chazz to the well, for different reasons. I wanted to see these abandoned spirits for myself. Jaden...well, actually, I didn't know why Jaden was here.
But I had another reason for wanting to go to the well. For a long time, I've been searching for a certain card that would give my deck an awesome boost. This card is only cohesive with my deck, because if it isn't used in a precise setting, it's pretty much worthless. I was hoping that a duelist had found this card and had dumped it into the well.
"Hangin' out with your crew in the schoolyard, yeah!" Jaden sang. "Findin' trouble, never--" ( a/n: lol, sound familiar?)
"You know," Chazz finally said, "you don't have to follow me everywhere."
"Yeah, but who's gonna look out for you if you get jumped by angry duel spirits?" Jaden said. "I mean, the whole academy is counting on you, Chazz."
"Way to load the pressure on him, Jay," I sighed.
"And why are you here?" he asked coldly.
Jaden was about to speak up, but I shut him up with a stare. [Leave it, Jay.
[No one talks to my sister like that.
[He doesn't know I'm your sister, Jaden! You can't go protective brother on me here.
"Same reason as him," I answered Chazz, ignoring the glare Jaden was giving Chazz behind his back. "Can't have the school's last hope attacked by duel spirits, can we? Oops, that's more pressure." I couldn't tell him the real reason, that I was searching for a rare card that appeared worthless, but really wasn't.
"Gimme a break," Chazz said. "Like Banner said, it's probably just a rumor anyway." Suddenly, a white duel spirit rose up in front of Chazz, and then started circling above us with other spirits. "Ah, or not."
"Whoa, those things really don't look too friendly," Jaden said, forgetting his anger in a flash.
"Please, they're harmless," Chazz decided.
My eyes narrowed, Yeah, harmless to you maybe, but Duel Spirits affect me differently.
"Look," he said as a couple Duel Spirits soared down at us. One went through Chazz, another one through Jaden, and a third through me. I winced a bit as a sharp pain hit my head, but other than that, I masked it well. The pain left as quickly as it had come.
"Nothing happened," Jaden said. Speak for yourself.
"Course not," Chazz said. "Remember, these are weak spirits. Kinda like the annoying roommate I got crashed in my deck."
We walked a little further, when suddenly, Jaden exclaimed, "Look! There's the well!"
I looked ahead and saw the well in the ground.
"What tipped you off?" Chazz yelled. "The big hole in the ground?" He threw a rope ladder over the side of the well and we all climbed down.
"Check out these cards!" Jaden said as Chazz knelt down, looking at cards. Jaden knelt down beside him. I walked away from the two and started my own search for the card I was looking for, though still keeping an eye on Chazz and Jaden and listening to their conversation.
"It's just like Banner said," Chazz said.
"You could build a weak deck in no time with these," Jaden said.
Suddenly, two little Duel Spirits popped up in front of Chazz.
"In case you knuckle-heads haven't noticed, this here is private property!" one of them, the black one, said.
"Yeah, that's telling 'em," the other, green one, said.
"What?" Jaden asked.
"Numbskulls like you ditched us here, so we don't want ya here," the black one said. The green one cackled loudly.
"They have a right to be mad," I muttered quietly.
"You've got that right," a little spirit said, popping up in front of me. "Duelists don't realize our potential. That's why I was tossed down here."
"Hmm...'Don't realize your potential...'" I repeated quietly. My eyes widened as I knelt down to speak at her level. "You're name wouldn't happen to be Impette, would it?"
"Yup!" she said. "Impette is my name, dueling is my game! Well, it's your game really; you're the one with the duel disk."
"These two are a few cards short of a deck." Chazz said a little ways away.
"Hey!" the black spirit snapped. "Who're you callin' short, chowder head?"
"Yeah!" the green one added.
"Listen," Chazz said, obviously irritated, "we didn't leave you here, but somebody did, 'cause you're weak."
"It's true," the black one said.
"We're weak!" the green one cried.
Suddenly, they started crying and hugged each other. Their wails pierced our ears like a banshee's cry. Our hands flew to our ears as we tried to smother the sound.
"Give it a rest!" Chazz yelled. "I'm sorry, okay?"
"We're all sorry," Jaden yelled as all of the Duel Spirits started wailing too.
"Nobody likes us, do they?" the black one cried.
The wailing started becoming unbearable, when suddenly, Ojama Yellow appeared over Chazz's shoulder. "Quit the racket!" he said. The two Duel Spirits stopped crying instantly.
"Is that--?" the black one asked.
"Yes!" the green one said.
"Black? Green?" Ojama Yellow asked. "Is that you?"
"Our long lost brother!" Black and Green said together. "Ojama Yellow!"
"Yay!" Ojama Yellow cried, jumping to them. "My brothers!"
"Welcome back!" Ojamas Black and Green yelled, their arms outstretched.
"Whoa," Jaden said as the Ojamas hugged each other. "What a family reunion."
"Yeah, maybe a dysfunctional one," Chazz said, standing up.
"It's about time those two found Ojama Yellow," Impette said, turning my attention back to her. "They've been incredibly annoying."
"Impette, you said people didn't realize your potential," I said. "Does that mean you're stronger than you're letting on?"
"Yeah," she said, suddenly becoming sad. "But no one knows how to make me stronger."
I smiled at her, "I think I do. How would you like to join my deck?"
"You know how to help me?" she said excitedly.
"Yup," I said. "So how 'bout it?"
"Sure!" she said, jumping onto my shoulder. I leaned over and picked up her card and slipped it into my deck. I turned back behind me to see how the Ojama family reunion was going.
"I'm going," Chazz said.
Obviously not well, I thought, walking quietly back to Chazz and Jaden.
"Going?" Jaden asked. "But why, Chazz?"
"Boss isn't a fan of Duel Spirits," Ojama Yellow explained to his brothers. "He might, uh, decide to leave the two of you here."
"Leave us?!" Black and Green said.
"Who does he think he is?" Black yelled, turning to Chazz. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
"I'd do what he says!" Green chimed in. "He gets violent!"
"So much for weak," Jaden said.
"You're taking us," Black and Green said with folded arms.
"And us too!" other spirits said, coming up to us. "Don't forget us!"
"Chazz?" Jaden asked.
Chazz sighed, "Well, it can't hurt. Fine. Whoever wants to can come with me." The Duel Spirits caused an uproar with their cheering. "But there's one condition."
"Let me guess," Ojama Yellow said. "Lots of hugs?" Ojama Yellow went over to Chazz who swatted him away.
"Hugs coming up, Chazz!" Black and Green said, going over to hug Chazz. Chazz tried swatting them away.
"Finally, freedom!" the Duel Spirits cheered. "Freedom!"
It was time for the duel between Chazz and his brother Slade to start. I sat next to Jaden, Syrus was on his right, then Alexis, then Bastion, and Zane sat behind us.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Today's match determines the fate of Duel Academy! Slade Princeton verses Chazz Princeton! And now, are you ready to duel?!"
"If you want to back out, tell me now," Slade said.
Chazz held up his duel disk, "Does this answer your question?"
"Ha!" Slade laughed. "Bring it!"
"Duel!" they yelled.
(after the duel)
Slade fell to his knees in defeat as his Life Points fell to 0.
"Chazz did it!" Syrus cheered. "Yeah!"
"He saved the school!" Jaden said.
The crowd started cheering madly until Chazz held up his hand. "Wait," he said, "you know the cheer. Chazz! It!--"
"Up!" Jaden, Syrus, and I finished.
"Of course!" Alexis and Bastion yelled.
"Chazz it up!" Chazz yelled.
"Chazz it up!" the crowd cheered.
Over the roar of the crowd, my ears focused on Chazz's brothers.
"You imbecile!" Jagger said to Slade. "How could you lose this?"
"Relax, Jagger," Slade said, glancing at Chazz over his shoulder. "It's only one duel."
"One duel?!" Jagger said. "Just listen to them! This 'one duel' has turned Chazz into a hero! And a major headache for us."
I smirked, Looks like their plan backfired.
"You've got that right," Impette said, appearing on my shoulder.
"You know, Impette, I think we're gonna get along just fine," I smiled.
"I think so too," she smiled back.
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Right, so, some of you have noticed that these have updated really fast. Unfortunately, this will not be the case from now on. I've been in the process of uploading my stories, all of which are still in progress. I need to finish uploading the rest of my stories before this is updated again. But thanks to those of you who reviewed already! I wasn't expecting reviews to come so fast!