And now the thrilling conclusion….enjoy

----

Mario drew a card before looking towards Jaden. He knew for the first time he should be concerned about him. This was someone who had only been defeated by a few people according to the database he hacked into. But he could feel it; the savage beating of Jaden's heart was too incredible to miss. He needed it. He needed to feast on it.

"I'll play Inpachi to attack mode and then use Invigoration on him to increase his attack power by 400 points and decrease his defence by 200" The same cards as in the last duel appeared on the Mario table. The giant wooden robot glowing with a yellow aura as it loomed down over Jaden.

(2000/1700)

"One card face down and it's your turn" Mario spoke as he put one card face down on his side of the field.

Jaden drew a card before grinning "I play elemental hero bubble man in attack mode"

A man dressed in blue and wearing armour that resembled a scuba diving kit, on his arm was a small gun (800/1200)

"And with his effect I draw two more cards because he's the only monster on my side of the field!" He drew two more before slapping down a magic card with a picture of an orange spiral on it.

"Now I play polymerization to fuse together bubble man with elemental heroes Sparkman and avian to summon elemental hero tempest" The three cards combined in a vortex of light. Spark man a hero wearing completely blue and yellow and an arrow like helmet, while avian was a man with white wings and birds feet, he was dressed in completely green except for the red face mask over his eyes.

As the three combined together they formed a muscular man monster whose chest armour was the same as spark mans yet it had wings like avian. There was a visor over his eyes and his right arm was a huge gun.

(2800/2800)

"Then I'll play one card face down and attack with tempest!" The warrior rose into the air before aiming the gun at Inpachi and firing out a beam of blue lightning which blew the wooden giant to pieces.

Mario Life points: 7200

Mario cursed as he put the card in his graveyard. Why had he bothered using Ryan's weak cards in his deck? He drew another card before looking through his hand and placing one card face down.

"Ok I'll now play one card face down and summon Blazing Inpachi to attack mode!" The flaming Inpachi rose from the field looming down over Jaden just like the previous Inpachi. (1850/0)

Jaden looked up at the monster. He could feel the heat of the roaring fire. This was no ordinary duel. This was a shadow game. He had felt this before many a time. He didn't flinch. He knew what to do to win.

"Now I'll use Ultimate Offering and sacrifice 1000 life points to summon another Inpachi…and sacrifice the Blazing Inpachi bring fourth…" The same trap card flipped up and another Inpachi was summoned to the field in defence mode. As for Blazing Inpachi it began to disintegrate into purple smoke.

Mario's life points: 6200

"Magical Marionette" The purple smoke formed into a puppet like creature wearing a long red hooded cape. Its face only had one single red eye and from his hands hung a wooden puppet.

(2000/1000)

"Now I'll equip him with the axe of despair to increase his attack power by 1000 points" An axe with a human head on the handle appeared. Jaden wouldn't have worried or blinked twice. But when the axe of despair was appeared in the marionettes left hand he noticed:

"Whose head is that?" He yelled out as fear and disgust filled the bottom of his stomach. He couldn't think he could barely breathe as he looked at the head on the handle.

"That Jaden is Ryan he's the last little boy I killed" And he was right. The boy's dark head of hair and deep blue eyes hung on the handle with a blade coming out of the side of his head, blood dripping off the horrified face of the kid.

"Now let's stay focused here Jaden" Mario chuckled in a sinister tone licking his lips "My Marionette gains 1000 attack points (3000/1000) plus because of his effect I also gain one spell counter on him" The marionette's puppet jerked in it's right hand glowing with a red aura.

"Marionette slice up tempest" The puppet lunged at the warrior slicing him in half from the waist. Blood splattered the floor in front of Jaden.

Jaden's life points: 7800

"Tempest!" he yelled out as the two halves came down onto the field "What kind of sick game is this!" he yelled his eyes suddenly filling with tears as he looked at the corpse of his fallen warrior.

"In this game Jaden you are not sheltered from the harsh reality" Mario spoke in a solemn tone "Monsters die, blood is spilt exactly how it is in real life" Mario's tone seemed to darken as he said this. The sick grin had faded from his face.

Jaden wiped his eyes "This is too cruel…but…but I won't give up Tempest can return when I give up the Fake Hero magic card on my side of the field!" The magic card flipped up before it melted away into the graveyard. A blue light engulfed the corpse of Tempest before suddenly it formed once again into a healthy Elemental Hero.

"I end my turn by placing a face down card on the field Jaden" Mario called out the grin returning as he played a card face down on the wooden table. Jaden would want to protect his monsters. He wouldn't want them to die and see the blood gush from their bodies, "Do something quick to save your tempest"

Jaden drew a card from his deck. He was afraid. He did not want to see Tempest cut in half like that ever again.

"I now play defusion!" A magic card with a yellow spiral going the reverse direction to the spiral on polymerization appeared. Tempest glowed with the same yellow aura and spun around twice before forming into the three separate cards on the field.

Spark man (1600/1400)

Avian (1000/1000)

Bubble man (800/1200)

"And in response to that" Mario interrupted before Jaden could speak "I now play the card Solemn Wishes that lets me regain 500 points for every card I draw" Mario called out as a trap card with a woman in the rain flipped up on the field.

"It doesn't matter!" Jaden snapped back at him as he slammed a card down "I'm going to play one card face down and use my next polymerization to fuse bubble man and clay man to create elemental hero Mud ball man!" a machine like creature appeared. It had a circular orange head and the rest of its body was brown armour.

The two monsters disappeared in a tornado before forming a new monster. A huge brown ball with blue armoured legs and arms (1900/3000)

"I'll play this in defence mode along with Avian and Sparkman and end my turn!" Jaden declared before Mario drew a card.

"I gain 500 life points because of solemn wishes"

Mario's life points: 6700

"Now I'll summon another Inpachi and then sacrifice another 1000 life points to summon and sacrifice a Giant Rat for Wood Borg Inpachi in attack mode!" A giant rat appeared on his side of the field before it was instantly crushed beneath the newly formed Woodborg inpachi (500/2500)

Mario's life points: 5700

"By the way you should know that because of the defusion and polymerization cards you activate last turn Magical marionette now has three spell counters on it" He grinned as the puppet in magical marionettes hand grew a brighter red "And if I remove two spell counters I can destroy a monster on your side of the field…which will be Mud ball man"

"No!" Jaden exclaimed in fear as the puppet in marionettes hand flew at Mud ball man and tied him up with the puppet strings.

"Mud ball!" he was cut off as Mud ball man was sliced into clean chunks by the puppet wires. His heart sank. He had failed to save a Hero from death.

"How sad that one Hero really did have to die…" Mario murmured before applauding sarcastically "Oh well he won't be alone soon…Marionette attack!"

"I play Junior Confrontation!" Jaden yelled out his body still shaking, a card with two kids on it fighting each other with game controllers stuck in their back was flipped.

"This card negates Marionettes attack and then makes the monster with the lowest attack on your side of the field attack the monster with the lowest defence on my side of the field.

Mario monsters: Two Inpachi's in defence (1600/1900), Marionette in attack (3000/1000), Woodborg Inpachi in attack (500/2500)

Jaden smirked "So that means you have to attack avian with Woodborg inpachi" The machine began to move toward Avian at a slow pace. Avian straight away knocked the machine backwards with one hand.

Mario's life points: 5200

Mario growled at Jaden as Woodborg was forced backwards, "I end my turn"

Jaden drew a card before smiling, he felt his heart warm as he looked at Fusion recovery, he would be able to bring back one of his elemental heroes, "I play Fusion recovery to bring back a polymerization card to my hand along with elemental hero clay man to my hand which I'm now going to combine with Sparkman!"

The two heroes leapt into the air as Jaden played the cards forming into a new monster. It was a huge giant covered in purple and yellow armour and had a circle on its chest which sparked with electricity. (2400/1500)

"This is elemental hero Thunder Giant now I can destroy any monster whose original attack is less than Thunder Giants!" Marionette was struck down by a huge lightning bolt leaving its smoking puppet carcass behind.

"And now I'll attack Woodborg with Thunder Giant!" The giant put both hands together and charged a lightning bolt in between its hands.

"No you won't" Mario declared as a trap card flipped up "I play the trap card Ready for Intercepting to put your thunder giant into face down defence mode" as the face down card revealed itself Thunder Giant disappeared into a face down position card.

Jaden looked at his hand, he had a strategy but it was all down to luck, if he didn't draw the right cards then he would be finished, "This is bad I have no card in my hand except for this…but I'll play it anyway Mirage of Nightmare!" his hand was now completely empty. It was all riding on this next turn.

Mario smirked before drawing a card, Jaden was already prepared as he draw four cards "Mirage of nightmare lets me draw four cards from my deck so long as next turn I can send four cards to the graveyard at random" The card was a strange weakened looking man surrounded by ghost like creatures. It was risky but it was now his only option.

Mario just shook his head "Well first let us not forget I have 500 life points more thanks to solemn wishes"

Mario's life points: 5700

"Now I'll play premature burial which will bring back the Inpachi in my graveyard" Inpachi rose from the earth the monsters all glaring down at Jaden.

Mario's life points: 4900

"Now I'll sacrifice 500 life points to summon another giant rat but he's not going to be out long…"

Mari's life points: 4400

The rat appeared on the side of the field in between the machines.

"I now play cost down by discarding one card from my hand I can reduce the level of all monsters in my hand by 2 levels! So when I sacrifice giant rat I can summon Perfect Machine King!"

The same robot appeared as the Giant Rat disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It opened its missile launchers prepared to strike.

"And remember he gets 500 attack power for every machine minus himself"

Jaden froze as he watched the machine draw power from all the Inpachi cards on Mario's side of the field. The machine looked even more menacing than before as it stood glowing in the aura of the machines on Mario field. (4700/1500)

"Now I'm going to switch all my monsters to attack mode!" Mario laughed as all three of the Inpachi's rose to their feet. Woodborg poised ready to ram into Jaden full force.

"And now I'll attack your face down thunder giant with my first Inpachi!" (1600/1900)

The Inpachi jumped into the air before coming down on the face down card. Thunder giant appeared under its huge wooden legs, its body broken in half.

"Now my next Inpachi will attack your Avian!"

The second Inpachi crushed him under a sphere like fist. Jaden turned away retching at the sight of his cards being killed in front of him, now he was getting angry, now he could feel the rage build up inside of him.

"Then I'm going to attack you with the third inpachi, woodborg and Perfect machine king!"

500 + 1600 + 4700 6800

Jaden turned as he watched the machine's loom over him. Woodborg slammed full force into him sending him to the ground sprawled out.

Jaden's life points: 7300

The next Inpachi punched him straight in the chest with a wooden fist sending him flying backwards again.

Jaden's life points: 5700

Jaden groaned in pain as he got up slowly. His body ached but his was not going to die yet. He had to avenge his heroes. He didn't pause not even when Perfect Machine King fired a barrage of missiles which exploded around him.

Jaden's life points: 1000

He felt it. Hot shrapnel embedded in parts of his body. It hurt; it was unimaginable pain that burned hot metal into his skin. He reeled and let out a cry of pain. But he didn't care. He was too mad to care. He wanted revenge, he clenched his fists tight.

"How are you enjoying the pain?" Mario asked with a wide smirk on his face.

"This…" Jaden murmured "This…is for my Heroes" he felt blood dripping down his hand from the metal embedded in his shoulder. But that didn't stop him from drawing and discarding four cards even if some of them were soaked with blood. He knew exactly what he had got left to play.

Jaden smirked at Mario a fire lighting up in his eyes "I've discarded Elemental hero's blade edge and wild heart, my Hero kid and my magic card Heated H to the graveyard but it doesn't matter because I got Miracle Fusion!" He played the magic card down onto the field with a growl his fists clenched.

"And now I can fuse any elemental hero card from my graveyard! So I'm going to fuse elemental heroes' wild heart and blade edge to become elemental hero wild edge!"

A barbarian and a golden armoured robot creature appeared on the field before fusing into a barbarian looking man with a huge sword and gold armour on some parts of his body appeared. (2600/2300)

"That card can't beat me Jaden" Mario muttered under his breath as glared at the monster that was staring him down.

"It doesn't matter! Because first of all I'm going to use Wild edge's special ability to attack all your Inpachi monsters!"

Mario froze. Now he understood, "You're not going to try and destroy my Machine King…your going after my life points"

"Exactly now Wild edge destroy all his Inpachi's!" Jaden roared as the warrior drew his huge sword from its sheath and cut through the three inpachi's and woodborg.

Mario began to panic. That in total was 5100 points of damage to him and he only had 4400 life points. Any moment now he was going to feel the effect of it all, his life draining away.

"That's what you get for killing my heroes!" Jaden yelled his fists clenched. He was still bleeding. He now was able to realise that the shrapnel was embedded not only in his shoulder but in his leg and hip as well. But still he wouldn't care. This one had been too harsh he deserved this loss.

"Jaden…" Mario murmured clutching his chest "I'll confess why I killed people"

Jaden froze. This he hadn't expected. Why would Mario admit that all of a sudden? Then he remembered the image of the Ryan's head grafted on the axe of despair.

"I killed because of…her…" Mario motioned to the table that was now folding up back to the form of the female puppet with no legs and a crudely drawn face.

"I…I ate…their hearts…because it's part…of the ritual…to restore…Clarissa's body…she was caught in a car accident…they could only drag out half of her body…I found the shadow realm…I used it to make her corpse into a puppet…I just wanted her to live again" Mario looked at the ground clutching his shirt. Tears fell from his grey face. He sank to his knees.

Jaden didn't know what to do. He didn't expect Mario to come clean from him being beaten in a shadow game. Usually they would be cured of their curse or the game would simply end. There were times when they bet their souls, but he had never bet his soul.

"I'm sorry Clarissa…I'm sorry Jaden…I'm sorry all you children" He choked.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jaden called out to him feeling his body shake with confused emotions. He didn't know whether to hate him or not.

"Because…I'm dead" were the last words that came from Mario's mouth before he let out a strangled cry.

Jaden cried out as he watched the sight before him. Mari's head had just come clean off. And the murderer was right in front of him.

Elemental Hero Wild edge. His sword was covered in blood and he held Mario's head high like a trophy.

It was then Jaden knew as he lost consciousness.

He had just killed Mario.

----

Gah! Jaden's deck is reaaaaaaaaaally hard to write into a fanfic it takes ages wraps fingers up in bandages well that's the next chapter done. The next chapter takes us to England but that doesn't mean we haven't seen the last of Jaden and pals

Please review pleeeeease